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.


Toxic algae releases chemicals to suppress competitors

A new study examines how a cyanobacteria manipulates its environment to give itself advantages to take over the water column, leading to harmful algal blooms and mats in lakes during hot summers.

Climate change lowers precipitation, prolongs drought in Southwest

Researchers found that human-caused climate change and air pollution have directly reduced precipitation in the Southwestern U.S., making drought inevitable. 

Dairy farm modeling tool boosts sustainability, decision-making

The Ruminant Farm Systems modeling tool is available for open-source collaboration, and is available, free of charge, to all U.S. dairy farmers through the National Dairy FARM Program.

‘Farm of the Future’ showcased at Cornell PRO-DAIRY celebration

On June 30, dairy industry leaders from New York state toured the Cornell University Ruminant Center, a one-of-a-kind testbed for new technologies and strategies and a crucial resource for the state's dairy farmers.

Invasive Adirondack smallmouth bass evolve to counter control efforts

The bass rapidly evolved to grow faster and invest more in early reproduction in response to efforts to eradicate them.

Lasers match common herbicides at zapping East Coast weeds

The study found that the laser weeders worked as well as common herbicides in test plots of East Coast peas, beets and spinach.

To slow global warming, bury wood debris

Researchers project that burying the wood debris from managed forests could reduce global warming up to 0.76 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100.

Program seeks NYS volunteers to track wildlife with trail cameras

Snapshot NY aims to collect widespread data about animal populations throughout New York state - using thousands of trail cameras - and is engaging the public to aid the effort. 

Plants use 'weather radar' to sense temperature

For decades, researchers searched for a single “thermosensor”—a biological thermometer buried deep in the plant’s molecular machinery. But a new theory, led by Avilash Singh Yadav, postdoctoral associate at the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology and the Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is flipping that idea on its head.  

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