Combating the climate crisis at Duke University, the summer Climate+ Program used data-driven research to address the climate crisis. One Climate+ team discovered an effective solution to managing the effects of heat islands: planting more trees. 

Lydia Olander, director of the Nicholas Institute's Ecosystem Services Program, spoke with The Chronicle about Duke University's new partnership with the Network for Engineering With Nature (N-EWN). Olander explained how existing Duke programs will benefit from N-EWN, how Duke's expertise can contribute to other partners in the network, and why nature-based solutions are critical to addressing the climate crisis.

The New York Climate Exchange on Governors Island will be a laboratory for universities, corporations and public interest groups to develop solutions to the global climate crisis through education, research, workforce training, and community programs. During Climate Week NYC, several Duke experts explored Governors Island as part of a tour offered by the Exchange, Duke Today reports.

ERCOT is connecting power generators in Texas faster than any other electricity market in the country. In this episode of the Catalyst podcast, Tyler Norris, a Ph.D. student at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, talks about his recently published policy brief on how the United States could reform its interconnection process, applying lessons from ERCOT.

A growing body of research shows that people of color and people living below poverty levels are stuck in heat islands, much more so than their white and wealthier counterparts, reports Nature. “We have a lot of great research that we need to mobilize into feasible and effective policy solutions,” said Ashley Ward, director of the Nicholas Institute's Heat Policy Innovation Hub.

“There is a perfect storm of ingredients that make rural heat risk something that is not only important for us to think about, talk about, and understand better—but also very difficult to mitigate," Ashley Ward, director of the Nicholas Institute's Heat Policy Innovation Hub, told the Rural Health Information Hub. Ward spoke extensively about the health effects of extreme heat on rural populations and interventions to help keep people safe.

Staying hydrated—and knowing how best to do it—is more important than ever. This summer’s excessive heat isn't just a hot spell, but rather a taste of what we can expect from climate change, Ashley Ward, director of the Nicholas Institute's Heat Policy Innovation Hub, told National Geographic. “This is not your grandmother's heat,” Ward said.

Duke Divinity School alumnus Ben Chavis coined the term "environmental racism" during 1982 protests in Warren County that gave birth to the environmental justice movement. Duke scholars discussed the movement since with Duke Today.

Ashley Ward talked with 97.9 The Hill about her work as director of the Nicholas Institute's Heat Policy Innovation Hub to help improve policymakers' preparation and response to extreme heat. The hub is the first program in the United States dedicated to cross-disciplinary innovation on extreme heat policy and practice.

"Heat is not a singular, lonely event. It has far-reaching tentacles into many other aspects of society." Ashley Ward, director of the Nicholas Institute's Heat Policy Innovation Hub, talked with NBC News about the "shocking" human and economic toll of a summer that has broken heat records around the world.