Cities & society

The Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment recently hosted a first-of-its-kind “boot camp” in which congressional staffers got a crash course from experts in climate, forestry, fire science, utilities, insurance, and other wildfire-related topics.

Soil-packed floors common in rural, low-income households in developing countries are breeding grounds for intestinal diseases. Stanford epidemiologists and engineers are developing a lower-emission concrete flooring that could improve families’ well-being with less environmental impact.

"I remember daycare trips to coastal parks, and for most of my childhood I fell asleep at night to a sound machine playing the sound of breaking waves. My parents are geologists who really enjoy nature, so we spent a lot of time outdoors. Most families have family portraits hanging on the walls, but we had vials of sand samples clustered along ours."

During the Stanford Sustainability Summit, business owners, government officials, and community leaders from around the world convened to share ideas and express enthusiasm to address sustainability challenges.

Researchers have developed a sprayable gel that creates a shield to protect buildings from wildfire damage. It lasts longer and is more effective than existing commercial options.

A new method for extracting lithium from briny water offers a more efficient, cost-effective, and environmental alternative to traditional lithium production. It could also help solve lithium supply chain issues.

In Brazil, climate and other human-made environmental changes threaten efforts to fight schistosomiasis, a widespread and debilitating parasitic disease. Stanford and Brazilian researchers have now developed models that can predict how disease risk will shift in response to environmental changes.

E-IPER PhD student Hannah Melville-Rea describes her research and why she believes that a local approach can be the most effective for addressing a global problem.

New Stanford program works to better understand connections between the environment and human health, and to pursue ecological solutions to public health challenges.

A new study reveals social factors that increase the risk of dying from air pollution and finds stark racial disparities.

Soaring water utility bills force many households to ration water use for essential needs while still falling behind on payments. Stanford scientists offer a new approach to measuring water affordability that could help utilities and government agencies identify and aid those most at risk.

Stanford researchers and others are assessing an innovative curriculum and infrastructure maintenance program that could provide a blueprint for more effective school-based sanitation and hygiene interventions.

Environmental law expert Deborah Sivas discusses the implications of the Supreme Court overturning the Chevron decision, which had established 40 years of precedent related to the independence of government agencies.

Supported by a Sustainability Accelerator grant, a multidisciplinary team is exploring policy options such as prescribed burning with the goal of reducing wildfire risk in California.

Stanford researchers are developing a technology to analyze wastewater for a range of pathogens. Their approach could lead to more timely and comprehensive public health guidance on issues such as drug-resistant pathogens and emerging diseases.

Leaders and experts from across sectors and countries show how investing in nature is an antidote to local and global crises and the foundation of a better future.

In two courses during winter and spring quarters, student groups developed policy reports with the goal of informing government decisions about how to incorporate fisheries and aquaculture into Indonesia’s national development strategy.

Researchers and collaborators in a densely populated California floodplain developed a way to help planners see how infrastructure designs, sea-level rise, and severe storms fueled by climate change will affect flood risk at the local level.

Researchers, educators, industry professionals, and policymakers discussed the health impacts of pollution at a recent conference, which was a collaboration among the Graduate School of Business, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, and School of Medicine.

The majority of people in the United States support affordable housing, but attitudes often shift when local developments are proposed. Stanford researchers have found that negative emotional associations with the idea of affordable housing, as well as racist beliefs, contribute significantly to neighborhood-level opposition.