Sustainability: Human Factors

Associate Professor Geoff Boeing of USC Dornsife’s Spatial Sciences Institute and USC Price School leads a global research initiative that helps cities around the world measure their progress toward becoming healthier and more sustainable.

The Waverly Street Foundation grant — the largest in ERI’s history — will help the institute shape public understanding, support frontline advocates, and train scholars to advance climate and economic justice.

Microbes that filter methane from the ocean floor may hold new clues to addressing climate change, USC Dornsife researchers and collaborators find.

Trump’s efforts haven’t sunk global efforts to fight climate change — instead, new leaders are stepping up and working together, even within the US.

ShadeLA, a new USC-led initiative, unites civic, academic and community partners to expand urban tree canopy and shade infrastructure — building lasting heat resilience for Angelenos well beyond 2028.

Whether furthering the discussion on negotiating nuclear disarmament or working on biodiversity preservation, USC Dornsife’s cross-disciplinary efforts aim to combat Earth’s greatest threats and protect the planet’s fragile ecosystems.

The professor helping revive the region’s vital lands.

The heroic volunteer rescue efforts in late January 2025, saved 271 Steelhead trout and 760 tidewater gobies.

The new funding will expand USC Dornsife’s soil testing campaign in the aftermath of the Los Angeles wildfires — screening for a wider range of contaminants, speeding up lab results and increasing community outreach.

New research shows how a shipboard system using limestone and seawater could cut maritime CO2 emissions by 50%.

The latest USC Dornsife LABarometer survey finds Angelenos grappling with climate stress, doubting transit readiness for the Olympics and losing interest in electric vehicles.

While gold mining’s environmental toll is well known, a team led by USC Dornsife researchers has uncovered a hidden culprit behind the Amazon rainforest’s slow recovery: water loss caused by reshaped terrain.

As climate change intensifies across the planet, attention is turning toward technologies that offer novel ways to decarbonize our economy and our atmosphere. Yet, these solutions are not without their critics, who warn about unforeseen environmental and social repercussions.

As Earth’s temperature rises due to the effects of climate change, cooling the air in our lived environments is increasingly crucial. So, how do we meet the growing demand for cooling in a manner that is sustainable, energy-efficient, and accessible to all?

A growing number of political leaders and environmentalists support a renewed investment in nuclear power. Should it be a part of the clean energy strategy?

What lessons can we learn from more than 100 years ago, when L.A.’s water was an even more hotly contested commodity than it is today?

Learn how remote work is likely to affect workers’ quality of life, the profitability of firms, and the economic geography of cities and suburbs.

Understand the history of fire in the West, including Indigenous fire practices and fire’s many environmental legacies, which is crucial to determining a more sustainable path forward.