From the Institute Executive Director

As I write, delegates from around the world (including some from Dartmouth!) are gathered in Egypt for COP27, the annual UN climate summit. These global convenings — and the actions they spur — are critical to ensuring that we continue to make progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Wide scale, systemic change is absolutely necessary to reach our climate goals. But ultimately, as the saying goes, all action is local. We need both big ambitious change and also small transformative changes across communities for the change to sustain.

As I watched and listened to the nearly 50 Dartmouth faculty and researchers who presented their research at October's Faculty Symposium on Climate, Energy and Society, I was inspired by the multi-disciplinary contributions that our campus community is making toward meeting this urgent challenge. Over the course of the day, we learned about work being done from across the climate, health, energy and society spectrum. It was not only encouraging to hear about the contributions our Dartmouth community are making toward advancing a more sustainable energy future for all, but to see seeds for new collaborations being planted among participants.

The symposium was just one of a range of events and activities supporting high-impact local action that the Irving Institute hosted or collaborated on during this busy fall term. From open houses, to lectures, to new educational programs, to Dartmouth's inaugural Energy Week, we have been so excited to see how eager our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends have been to connect and engage in this important work. We're looking forward to connecting with you over the course of the coming months and finding ways to continue to work, with focus and purpose, together.
 

~ April M. Salas
 

April Salas Tapped as Irving Institute Executive Director

After leading the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society in an interim capacity since May, April Salas has been appointed the Institute's executive director, Provost David Kotz '86 announced in late October.

Under Salas' leadership, the Irving Institute is creating strategic interdisciplinary research hubs around areas of critical impact on climate, energy, and society and has launched a faculty affiliates program that is building research networks across campus. In October, the Institute convened a symposium that brought together more than 100 members of the faculty during Dartmouth Energy Week.

"We're just scratching the surface, connecting the dots on research that is revealing the full impact of a changing climate and an energy transition," Salas says. "What inspires me is the breadth and depth of interest and expertise that is present within the Dartmouth community around energy, climate, health, and society. We're creating opportunities for dialogue across disciplines that don't necessarily know about each other's work." Read more

Professor Mukul Sharma Receives Funding to Remove Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

Dartmouth Earth Sciences Professor Mukul Sharma recently received support from the Astera Institute, Grantham Foundation, and Schmidt Futures to explore two novel techniques for atmospheric CO2 removal.

One technique, if deployed, would use clay minerals sprinkled on the ocean to remove atmospheric CO2. The other would employ fortified biochar to create a pool of recalcitrant carbon in soils that could effectively store carbon in soils for centuries. Professor Sharma anticipates that both techniques will be ready for large-scale application within 10 years. Read more

Dartmouth Symposium on Climate, Energy and Society Spotlights Faculty Research Breadth and Depth

Sarah Crockett, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine, presents on her research surrounding the health impacts of climate change.

On Wednesday, October 19, faculty and researchers from across all of Dartmouth's schools attended the Symposium on Climate, Energy and Society, an all-day opportunity to learn about the breadth and depth of current Dartmouth work on climate and energy ranging from climate change modeling, mitigation and adaptation strategies, messaging, diplomacy, and social and health impacts.

Organized by the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society, the symposium was developed to facilitate cross-campus connections among researchers who are working on related or complementary problems but who may not yet be aware of each other's work. By seeding collaboration in this space, noted Vice-Provost and A. and R. Newberry Professor of English Barbara Will in her opening remarks, the College can "mobilize resources, academic knowledge, and technical expertise to avoid the worst impacts of climate change" in the critical years to come. Read more

Dartmouth Energy Week Highlights Collaboration, Connection, and Innovation

Members of the Dartmouth energy community connected, collaborated, and created during our first Energy Week in October. The week included receptions, dinners, the bi-annual meeting of the Irving Institute Advisory Board, a special session of TuckLAB: Energy, the Dartmouth Faculty Symposium on Climate, Energy and Society, the final round of the Tuck Renewable Energy Finance Challenge, and the inaugural Dartmouth Energy Alliance Energy Hackathon. Learn more.

Dartmouth Energy News

Greenland's Largest Ice Sheet Thinning Rapidly: The loss of ice from Greenland’s largest basin is occurring much faster and could contribute up to six times more to global sea-level rise by 2100 than climate models currently project, according to a study led by Dartmouth professor and Irving Institute faculty affiliate Mathieu Morlighem with researchers from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and the University of California, Irvine in a Nov. 9 report in Nature.

Climate Talks Convene with US and World Falling Short of Goals: Erin Mayfield, the Hodgson Family Assistant Professor of Engineering and Institute collaborator, says the climate-related legislation passed by Democrats in August could avoid more than 35,000 premature deaths and "spur record-setting growth in wind and solar capacity," in this Roll Call piece.

Heat Waves Have Cost World Economy Trillions of Dollars: Dartmouth study led by Assistant Professor of Geography and Irving Institute Faculty Advisor Justin Mankin and Christopher Callahan, Guarini’23, says measures protecting people on hottest days are needed now. This study was covered in New Scientist and other publications.

Dartmouth Energy Program Encourages Community Engagement: The Valley News recently ran this piece about the Dartmouth Energy Justice Clinic.