Energy, Environment & Sustainability

Cornell is a global leader in sustainability and climate change research, teaching and engagement. Our campuses are living laboratories for developing, testing and implementing solutions that address these most challenging issues.


Moving in, students absorb lessons on dealing with drought

With local creek water levels historically low as students arrive on campus to start the semester, Ithaca's 2016 summer drought has become a teachable moment.

Hospitality, Health and Design Symposium Oct. 9-11

Scholars and industry leaders are expected at the Cornell Hospitality, Health and Design Symposium, Oct. 9-11, which will examine relationships among hospitality, health care, senior living, design.

Plant disease clinic identifies new case of oak wilt

Earlier this year, the Cornell University Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic (CU-PDDC) used a new rapid test they developed to identify a small number of oak trees with oak wilt disease on Long Island.

Campus water-use restrictions remain in effect

New and returning Cornell students heading to campus for the fall semester are learning how Ithaca spent its summer vacation: very dry. Campus water-use restrictions remain in effect.

New minor focuses on food systems' equity, sustainability

Starting this fall, students can choose a new minor in Community Food Systems, a multidisciplinary minor that explores the agricultural, ecological and ethical dimensions of food systems.

Bacteria's own genome becomes food safety tool

Bacillus cereus can no longer hide. The food safety world now has a new tool to find foodborne illness – the bacteria's own whole genome, reports Cornell food scientists.

Klarman Hall receives LEED Platinum certification

Klarman Hall – the university's light-filled humanities building that opened last semester – was certified LEED Platinum July 29.

Cornell issues water use restrictions as drought worsens

Now in the most severe drought seen in Tompkins County since climate data records have been kept, Cornell has reached second-stage drought level and issued water use restrictions effective July 28.

Biological wizardry ferments carbon monoxide into biofuel

Cornell biological engineers have deciphered the cellular strategy to make the biofuel ethanol, using an anaerobic microbe feeding on carbon monoxide – a common industrial waste gas.