Maxwell School News and Commentary

The development of the U.S. as a fossil fuel superpower is a “brazen disregard” for climate action, says Matt Huber, professor of geography and the environment.

Takumi Shibaike, assistant professor of political science, has co-written “Who Tells Your Story? Women and Indigenous Peoples Advocacy at the UNFCCC” (Cambridge University Press, 2025), with co-author Bi Zhao, assistant professor of political science at Gonzaga University. 

Scientific expertise itself is now being billed as a political liability, which opens the door to “a populist approach to what counts as valid scientific knowledge,” says University Professor Amy Fairchild.

Shannon Novak, professor of anthropology, has contributed to “The Routledge Handbook of Feminist Anthropology” (Routledge, 2025). Her chapter, “Blood, mud, and mucking around with waste,” examines the materiality and logic of separation practices involved in the gendering of landscapes, bodies and subjectivities at a mother goddess (Mariamma) temple in the industrial outskirts of Toronto, Canada. 

Co-authored by Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment, this study's framework generates storylines with the potential to advance transformative policies and new pathways towards climate-just futures. Published in Nature Cities.

Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment, and co-authors argue that recognizing and acknowledging historical foundations, academic and grassroots contributions for climate justice is the first step towards achieving justice in mitigation and adaptation. Published in Nature Climate Change.

Low income-households will need a month or more to recover financially and that will lead to more issues and needs, says Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs. “I would suspect to see increased need for food from food banks. Most likely going to have more utilities going unpaid,” she says.

“We well know Trump does not accept the science of climate change and the reality of climate change. He's very dismissive of it,” says Robert Wilson, associate professor of geography and the environment. “Certainly, I've seen no news account over the past week where he's acknowledged that climate change has played a role in making the wildfires in California worse.”

“Both drought and heat are known to be more likely in the context of human-caused climate change, so the fires burning now cannot be dismissed as anomalous events,” says Jacob Bendix, professor emeritus of geography and the environment.

Shannon Novak, professor of anthropology, has contributed to “Embodying Biodiversity: Sensory Conservation as Refuge and Sovereignty” (University of Arizona Press, 2024). The book was edited by Terese Gagnon ’18 M.A. (Anth)/’21 Ph.D. (Anth), a postdoctoral researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.