Environmental Studies

Director, Environmental Studies, associate professor of earth and planetary scie: Jan Amend

Home Page: http://levee.wustl.edu/enst/ Location: 108 Wilson Hall Email: enstadmin@levee.wustl.edu Telephone: (314) 935-7047

The natural systems that shape the Earth's environment are dynamic and highly interactive. As an example, ash injected into the upper atmosphere during volcanic eruptions, lowers atmospheric temperatures and leads to changes in weather. In addition to natural phenomena, human activities have begun to influence Earth's environmental systems in significant ways. The warming of the atmosphere by increased carbon dioxide associated with burning wood and fossil fuel - the "greenhouse effect" - and ozone destruction by the chlorofluorocarbon gases are examples of how human activities can also affect climate. The release of waste products into the Earth's rivers and oceans is another way in which human activities affect naturally dynamic systems. These and other processes profoundly affect the diversity and distribution of life on Earth and are major factors to contend with in conservation efforts.

News Stories & Tip Sheets:

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All shook up Midwest now worries about a different fault April 24, 2008 -- Two seismologists at Washington University in St. Louis think the New Madrid Fault may have seen its day and the Wabash Fault is the new kid on the block. "I think everyone's interested in the Wabash Valley Fault because a lot of the attention has been on the New Madrid Fault, but the Wabash Valley Fault could be the more dangerous one, at least for St. Louis and Illinois," said Doug Wiens, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences. "The strongest earthquakes in the last few years have come from the Wabash Valley Fault, which needs more investigation."

In the mix Research aims to produce energy on the farm April 15, 2008 -- David Kilper/WUSTL Photo Muthanna Al-Dahhan (left) and graduate student Rajneesh Varma are researching effective ways to take agricultural waste and make biofuel out of it. Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis, using an impressive array of imaging and tracking technologies, have determined the importance of mixing in anaerobic digesters for bioenergy production and animal and farm wastes treatment. They are studying ways to take "the smell of money," as farmers long have termed manure's odor, and produce biogas from it.

Saving the lemur New satellite imaging research could save the lemur in Madagascar March 3, 2008 -- Lemur population has declined sharply since the 1950s. Through education and conservation, a WUSTL expert hopes the trend will be reversed. Using satellite imagery, GIS and ecological and demographic data from the field, Robert W. Sussman, Ph.D., professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has studied the effects of deforestation on the ringtailed lemur population in Madagascar during the last forty years. He has determined that while causes of deforestation vary in different parts of the African island nation, the total lemur population has dropped by more than half since the 1950s.

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Faculty Experts:

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Ralph Quatrano Ralph S. Quatrano, Ph.D., is the Spencer T. Olin Professor in Arts and Sciences and chair of the Department of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. He is internationally known for his plant science work on patterns of embryo formation, and how the patterns lead cells to acquire traits or ... Expertise: Plants, plant biology, botany, moss, genome, algae, genes, … Direct contact: (314) 935-6850 / rsq@wustl.edu

Glenn Davis Stone Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology and Environmental Studies in Arts & Sciences Stone is an ecological anthropologist who has studied indigenous agricultural systems for the past 20 years. He has written extensively on intensification, labor organization, sexual division of labor, ethnicity and production, spatial organization and especially relationships between population, conflict ... Expertise: ecological anthropology, political and historical ecology, agricultural biotechnology, settlement patterns, population, ethnoarchaeology, Web-based scholarship, … Direct contact: (314) 935-5239 / stone@artsci.wustl.edu

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Related News Clips:

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A Climate 'Policy Wonk' in the Making NPR Morning Edition April 14, 2008 -- WUSTL junior Kelley Greenman is featured is today's Morning Edition program on climate change with Richard Harris. Greenman is interested in cliimate change policy issues. The story included a segment about an advising appointment with career counselor Karen Morton and Kelley. Includes an audio link to the story.

Depression: hidden cause of heart attack? The Wall Street Journal and 2 others April 26, 2004 -- You may have one of the biggest risk factors for heart attack, and your doctor doesn't even know it. While doctors screening for heart problems know to monitor smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, few pay attention to a potentially more serious foe: depression. "In cardiology there have been dozens of studies done on hypertension," said Kenneth Freedland, professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine, who has been studying the link between depression and heart disease since the 1980s. "We need to make sure the public and medical community understand that this is an important problem, too."

The Environmental Studies Program at Washington University offers students an opportunity to undertake a major or minor in natural sciences or in social sciences associated with the environment. The Program is interdisciplinary; it takes advantage of faculty expertise in Anthropology, Biology, Economics, Earth and Planetary Sciences, History, Political Science, and Engineering.