Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation

Hsu's work on urbanization in China and India featured in Yale podcast

Content Type: News - Fellows China's environmental situation is frequently scrutinized both within China and across the world. In the second half of a two-part podcast Angel Hsu, a China expert completing her PhD this May at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, discusses urbanization in China and India and China's push to develop sustainable ecocities.Listen to the podcast

Orenstein found single-family ranches may be harming biological diversity in the Negev

Content Type: News - Fellows Are single-family ranches harming biological diversity in the Negev? According to a new study, they may well be doing so in the long run.Read more (requires subscription)

Orenstein publishes environmental history of Israel

Content Type: News - Fellows The environmental history of Israel is as intriguing and complex as the nation itself. Situated on a mere 8,630 square miles, bordered by the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf, varying from desert to forest, Israel's natural environment presents innumerable challenges to its growing population. The country's conflicted past and present, diverse religions, and multitude of cultural influences...

Wolf's petition resulted in feds' proposed listing of 66 species

Content Type: News - Fellows The National Marine Fisheries Service on Friday proposed listing 66 coral species in the Pacific and Caribbean oceans as endangered or threatened.Corals provide habitat that support fisheries, generate jobs through recreation and tourism, and protect coastlines from erosion, said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Jane Lubchenco.Yet, scientific research indicates...

Year Two: International Program Director

Content Type: Other Switzer Foundation Grant Awards Global Diversity Fund, Inc. (GDF), received a $30,000 second-year grant to continue funding for Susannah McCandless's position as International Program Director.  GDF is an international community-based conservation organization focusing on biocultural diversity with programs developed and delivered in partnership with local organizations and community members.  Susannah is based in...

Summers work in Indonesia profiled with slideshow of new village murals

Content Type: News - Fellows A fingernail of a moon hung in the sky as a small group of Americans and Indonesians gathered in the village to join hands and dance on a dusty road that dead-ended at the sea.Rhythmic music blasted from a large boom box set on someone’s porch. Dozens more villagers appeared, some joining in. Round and round we went — step, step, kick, kick — smiling into the darkness, drinking in the night air....

Bacon speaking on coffee and sustainability in San Francisco

Content Type: News - Fellows Coffee is a daily necessity for many of us, savored quietly in the kitchen, downed at work as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up, or sipped at a cafe among friends. With the exploding popularity of coffee in recent years, there are more options than ever, and more confusing messages about what "sustainable" means. Which coffee should we choose? In the Bay Area, you won’t find any coffee farms, but you...

Rinker helps close deal to study effects of mercury contamination on wildlife

Content Type: News - Fellows Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) announced today that the Institute has endorsed a technical-scientific cooperation agreement on the issue of mercury with México’s major federal environmental agency, the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC). The agreement allows the Maine wildlife research group to conduct scientific research in México in full cooperation with that...

Christopher Bacon on "Coffee and Sustainability Panel Discussion"

Content Type: Events Coffee is a daily necessity for many of us, savored quietly in the kitchen, downed at work as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up, or sipped at a cafe among friends. With the exploding popularity of coffee in recent years, there are more options than ever, and more confusing messages about what "sustainable" means. Which coffee should we choose? In the Bay Area, you won’t find any coffee farms, but you...

Greacen on grid-tied decentralized power generation

Content Type: News - Fellows Visit on YouTube

Building Healthier Hospitals

Content Type: Switzer Network News We usually think of hospitals as a beacon of health, but they can have an impact on workers and patients. Switzer Fellow Mara Baum oversees sustainability implementation, research, consulting and education across HOK’s global healthcare practice, with current projects in California, New York, Indiana, Missouri, Utah and Germany.

Dolin's new book featured on NPR's All Things Considered

Content Type: News - Fellows You probably don't give much thought to the phrase "Made in China" when you see it written on the bottom of your coffee mug, or on the tag of your T-shirt, but Americans have traded with China for hundreds of years.In his new book, When America First Met China, Eric Jay Dolin takes us back to the beginning of the long and complicated trade relationship between the two countries.As Dolin tells Guy...

Eric Jay Dolin: "When America Met China" reading and discussion

Content Type: Events Visit event listing

H. Bruce Rinker: Cleaning the Beaches of Mahahual

Content Type: Featured Fellows And Collaborations The Los Angeles Times also ran an excellent story on this subject: "An exquisite Mexico beach, cursed by plastic" (January 27. 2012)

Coleman on potential for global hunger from food price spike after Midwest drought

Content Type: News - Fellows Oxfam, the international nonprofit, issued a report on Tuesday estimating how extreme weather events might affect food prices in the coming decades — forecasting that the prices of a number of food staples could surge far beyond the projected increases.“We will all feel the impact as prices spike but the poorest people will be hit hardest because they often spend up to 75 percent of their income...

Levin posts timeline of extreme weather events of 2012

Content Type: News - Fellows Over the past several months, extreme weather and climate events in the form of heat waves, droughts, fires, and flooding have seemed to become the norm rather than the exception. In the past half-year alone, millions of people have been affected across the globe – from Europe suffering from the worst cold snap in a quarter century; to extreme flooding in Australia, Brazil, China, and the...

Casillas video on improving policy tools for evaluating climate mitigation measures

Content Type: News - Fellows View the video on Vimeo

Lund on Africa's booming economy

Content Type: News - Fellows Africa is no longer the "lost continent" of popular imagination. The region has been growing rapidly for over a decade, the private sector is expanding, and a new class of consumers is wielding considerable spending power. And because of its young and growing population, the sky is the limit for future growth: Between 2010 and 2020, the continent is set to add 122 million people to its labor...