Institute at Brown for Environment and Society

Tune in to this week's episode of Possibly, IBES' podcast with Ocean State Media! 📚

Why is it so cold in libraries? One librarian told us she has to bring a hat and gloves to work in the summer. The Possibly team breaks down the science behind freezing cold libraries

Meet Laura Tanguay, IBES' new visiting assistant professor! Studying the intersection of extractivism, consent, and Indigenous governance in Canadian resource decision-making, Tanguay brings an engaged approach to both her research and her teaching that goes "beyond a textbook understanding of environmental issues."

Learn more:

Introducing Visiting Assistant Professor Laura Tanguay: Examining power, place, and politics in environmental decision-making Tanguay begins her new role as Visiting Assistant Professor of Environment and Society on August 1.

Breathe Providence lead Meredith Hastings, a professor in IBES and the Brown University Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, is among the authors of this new paper ⤵

Do You See What I Smell? A Participatory Visual Arts Method for Documenting Residents’ Experiences With Odors in Providence, Rhode Island | Published in Journal of Participatory Research Methods By Tracy A. Corley, Meredith Hastings & 7 more. This paper describes collage as an arts-based method in action research to challenge environmental racism and support community coalition building, using an air pollution case study from Providence, Rhode Island.

What would happen if polluters had to pay for the effects of climate change? Tune in to this week's episode of Possibly, IBES' podcast with Ocean State Media, to find out ⤵

What if polluters had to pay for the effects of climate change? The Rhode Island General Assembly considered a law this year to charge fossil fuel emitters for the costs of climate change. Possibly spoke with a co-sponsor of the bill about what comes next

This summer, IBES welcomed its first group of students into a new program designed to expand access to faculty-mentored research opportunities in climate and the environment.

Learn about the four current projects, with topics ranging from industrial pollution here in Providence to maritime risks in the Arctic: https://ibes.brown.edu/news/2026-07-09/eura-launch

Brown University Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences Brown University Department of Education Brown University History Department

IBES expands undergraduate research opportunities with new assistantship program This summer, the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES) welcomed its first group of students into a new program designed to expand access to faculty-mentored research opportunities in climate and the environment.

Tune in to this week’s episode of the Possibly podcast!

Can regenerative grazing make meat more sustainable? Regenerative cattle grazing gained momentum as a way to make beef production more climate-friendly. But on the ground, the actual results get complicated

Allan Just, an associate professor in IBES & Brown University School of Public Health, was interviewed about how extreme heat and poor air quality work synergistically to affect human health.

“Climate change is making this more severe, and this is going to be, unfortunately, a regular problem,” he said.

Read more in TIME:

What Are The Risks of Extreme Heat Combined With Bad Air Quality? Climate change means bad air pollution, wildfires, and extreme heat are all happening at once. Here's what to know and how to stay safe.

Tune in to the newest episode of Humans in Public Health, featuring insights from Meredith Niles (Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences & Environment and Society) and hosted by Megan Hall of IBES and Possibly!

LISTEN 🎧 It’s time to take off the carbon goggles and look at the health potential of sustainable farming. That's Professor Meredith Niles' big idea in the latest episode of Humans in Public Health. "Only focusing on climate, and carbon, has sometimes been detrimental, I think, to the other environmental and ecosystem services that we have to think about," she tells Megan Hall. Listen at the link or wherever you get your podcasts!
https://humans-in-public-health.captivate.fm/episode/growing-a-healthier-climate

Tune in to this week's episode of Possibly, IBES' podcast with Ocean State Media!

What’s Holding Back Glass Recycling in the US? This week on Possibly we weigh the different methods of recycling glass: single-stream, multi-stream and bottle bills. Could switching to a different recycling system make more sense for your community?