Cabot Institute for the Environment blog

Image credit Federico Respini on Unsplash When people think of the University of Bristol University, or indeed any university, they sometimes think of academics sitting in their ivy towers, researching into obscurities that are three stages removed from reality, and never applicable to the world they live in. Conversely, the perception of the Met Office is often one of purely applied science, forecasting the weather; hours, days, and weeks ahead of time. The reality is far from this, and today, on the rather apt Earth Day 2020, I am delighted to announce a clear example of the multidisciplinary nature of both institutes with our newly formed academic partnership. This new and exciting partnership brings together the Met Office’s gold standard weather forecasts and climate projections, with Bristol’s world leading impact and hazard models. Our partnership goal is to expand on the advice we already give decision makers around the globe, allowing them to make evidence-based decisio...

In March 2020, the third and final instalment of my PhD research made its way into Climate of the Past . In that article, I do my best to synthesise all I learnt over 5 years about an event that occurred 34 million years ago called the Eocene-Oligocene Transition. (Just so we are all on the same page: palaeoclimate scientists are interested in this period of the Earth’s history as it is when the first major Antarctic Ice Sheet appeared; before then Antarctica was warm and at least partially forested.) An image of what Antarctica might have looked like at the onset of the Eocene-Oligocene Transition. Four and a half years ago I wrote a piece for the Cabot Institute Blog about using a climate model to understand this point in the Earth’s history, and how many questions remained in our understanding. Why was the Earth so hot beforehand? What caused it to cool and eventually for Antarctica to glaciate? What other important changes would have occurred around the world at this time? A...

Do you feel like you learnt enough about climate change in school? Most likely, you didn't as only 44% in a national survey of students felt like they had. If you think that's disgraceful than I have good news for you. In the last few months the National Union of Students (NUS) launched a partner charity called Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS). SOS's first campaign is 'Teach the Future' which aims to incorporate sustainability into the wider English curriculum instead of the topic being squeezed into either Geography or Science. The campaign includes the first ever legislation to be drafted by pupils and students: The Climate Emergency Education Bill! The Climate Emergency Education Bill has extensive demands from students across the UK for sustainability to be included in all parts of their education, as well as a guide for supporting teachers and student voices. There's even proposed money earmarked for making educational buildings net-zero c...

The Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework 2020 ( LEAF ) marks the University of Bristol’s move to a greener future. Following on from the University’s ‘climate emergency’ declaration and 2030 carbon neutrality pledge , we’ve set a new ambition for 100% Green Lab Accreditation and institutional LEAF. This will make us the first University in the world to achieve this. Labs impact the environment, in fact they have a greater environmental impact than offices by at least five times. They use more water and energy, produce larger quantities of waste and generally use more resources. In order to tackle this ever-growing problem LEAF was created with lab users in mind and sustainable thinking at the forefront. LEAF is an innovative tool used to drive sustainability and efficiency within STEMed labs. In 2019 the LEAF national pilot took place involving 16 national Higher Education Institutions, including the University of Bristol. To gain LEAF accreditation each participating lab ...