Climate & Environment

Winter never came to Colorado. What does it mean for water supplies?

Yvaine Ye — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 14:53:50 +0000

Winter never came to Colorado. What does it mean for water supplies? Yvaine Ye Tue, 03/31/2026 - 08:53

Lauren Lipuma , Yvaine Ye

For the past weeks, temperatures in Colorado have surged 20 to 30 degrees above average for March, normally one of the state’s snowiest months.

That’s on top of an unusually warm and dry winter for the American Southwest, a region already grappling with long-term water shortages since around 2000. In Colorado, snowpack sits at about 40% of normal levels, among the lowest since comprehensive modern records began roughly four decades ago.

In parts of the southern Colorado River Basin, a 250,000-square-mile watershed spanning seven states in the southwest, snowpack has dropped to less than one-third of normal. The basin provides water for 40 million people and 5.5 million acres of farmland.

Snowpack acts like frozen water towers, said Ben Livneh, associate professor in the department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering. As temperatures rise and the Southwest enters its typically hot and dry spring and summer months, melting snow provides about 80% of the water used by downstream communities in the Colorado River Basin.

In response to the snow drought, the city of Denver recently declared a Stage 1 drought, the first drought alert the city has issued since the summer of 2013. Other Front Range cities are considering similar measures.

“In Colorado, our peak snowpack happens around mid-April, so there is still a chance that we could get more snow,” said Livneh, who’s also the director of the Western Water Assessment (WWA) at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). According to the National Weather Service, a storm is bringing precipitation to Colorado this week, with the potential for a few inches of accumulation in the mountains. “But at this point, it does look like we have a long way to go to catch up.”

�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Today sat down with Livneh to talk about the impact of a snow drought on Colorado communities, whether drought is the new normal and what individuals can do.

How dry is it?

Colorado lies in a mountainous region far from the ocean, so our climate naturally varies a lot. As a result, it’s not uncommon to see big swings between wet years and dry years.

Right now, we are in a very dry period, and the numbers are pretty stark. There’s barely any snow on mountains in lower elevations, and some snowpack could melt early because of the warm weather. When we look ahead to the amount of water expected to flow into our reservoirs, which would be the water people actually get to use, the current forecasts fall among the lowest we’ve seen since the early 1980s when the detailed snow measurements began.

Across Colorado, snowpack sits at below 50% of normal levels as of March 30, 2026. (Credit: National Weather Service)

How does this year compare with previous drought years?

There were some years that were drier, like 1977 and 1981. But those years weren’t as warm as this year. Over the past 40 years, since we’ve had continuous observation data, 2002 and 2012 were also warm with low precipitation, but they weren’t as dry as this year.

We have a lot of systems in place that were specifically designed to handle individual bad years, like these big, impressive reservoirs. But we’ve been in a dry period for the past 25 years, and every dry year puts additional stress on our infrastructure.

What could be causing this snow drought?

We’re currently in the warmest 25-year period on record, and warming is one of the clearest signals of recent climatic changes. When it’s warmer, the atmosphere can hold more moisture.

At the same time, the climate in our region naturally swings between wetter and drier decades. It’s almost like a pendulum that shifts every 20 or 30 years.

What may be happening now is that those two things— climate change and natural fluctuations— are overlapping, creating something of a perfect storm for this year.

What is the WWA doing to help?

WWA is working to support decision makers to best manage their water, based on what is actually available, as well as what is forecasted in the Colorado River Basin.

Much of our regional economy relies on water, from the ski industry to food growers and power generators. The stress from drought is widespread.

Our region’s planning and treaties in the past were based on assumptions about historical conditions. Now we’re trying to figure out whether these dry conditions are a drought or perhaps closer to the long-term normal conditions.

We are also trying to get a better sense of what mountain communities are experiencing and what types of information they need, because many of them rely on the snowpack and snow melt as their primary reservoir for water.

Should people be worried about water shortages right now?

This is really a large-scale phenomenon, so if anything, I would encourage people to get curious about the science and what we can say about the current conditions. Indoor water use doesn’t consume very much, and cities are not really at risk of running out of water. But people should be mindful not to waste water outdoors. Pay attention to city rules for outdoor water use, like when you can turn on your sprinklers and water your lawn.

Other than that, I encourage people to go outside. This is certainly a big departure from what we think Colorado winters should be like, but it also offers opportunities for people to bike to work more often, or spend more time outdoors doing things they might not otherwise be able to do.

With snowpack at 40% of normal, a �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder hydrologist explains why this year’s snow drought stands out and what it could mean for the Colorado River Basin.

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Volleyball time during a warm spell on campus during Spring Break in March, normally one of the snowiest months in Colorado. (Credit: Glenn J. Asakawa/�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder)

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Students playing volleyball during a warm spell on campus in March, normally one of the snowiest months in Colorado. (Credit: Glenn J. Asakawa/�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder)

Investigation to evaluate water filtration options in community plagued by PFAS

Megan M Rogers — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 14:29:14 +0000

Investigation to evaluate water filtration options in community plagued by PFAS Megan M Rogers Tue, 03/17/2026 - 08:29

INSTAAR Fellow and Professor Riley Mulhern is launching a new study to evaluate the efficacy of home treatment options for PFAS in a contaminated area outside of Spokane, Washington.

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Scientists harness AI to reveal forces behind glacier surges

Megan M Rogers — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 17:17:02 +0000

Scientists harness AI to reveal forces behind glacier surges Megan M Rogers Fri, 03/06/2026 - 10:17

Glaciers are constantly changing and reshaping the Earth's surface. �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder researchers have developed a new machine-learning tool to better understand how Arctic glaciers suddenly surge.

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Bridging research and action: How collaboration has changed wildfire approach and response

Megan M Rogers — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 18:08:00 +0000

Bridging research and action: How collaboration has changed wildfire approach and response Megan M Rogers Thu, 03/05/2026 - 11:08

Researchers and practitioners who work at the intersection of communities and wildfire issues have formed a community of practice essential to the development of wildfire mitigation and preparedness across the nation.

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CUriosity: Why does Colorado have so many hot springs, and are they at risk?

Daniel William Strain — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 22:57:54 +0000

CUriosity: Why does Colorado have so many hot springs, and are they at risk? Daniel William… Wed, 03/04/2026 - 15:57

Daniel Strain

In CUriosity, experts across the �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder campus answer questions about humans, our planet and the universe beyond.

Shemin Ge, professor in the Department of Geological Sciences, shares how a source of clean energy known as geothermal power could pose unexpected risks to Colorado's iconic hot springs.

Visitors enjoy a winter dip in Strawberry Park Hot Springs in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. (Credit: Adobe Stock)

Shemin Ge remembers a winter drive she took around Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Ice had formed over the trees, and a blanket of snow lay over the landscape.

Then Ge saw something surprising in the middle of all that white.

“[There was] snow everywhere, all the way to the rim of the hot springs. There you have steamy things coming out,” said Ge, professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder. “What a beautiful, nice thing to see.”

Ge is a hydrogeologist, a scientist who studies the interactions between water and rock around the planet. In Colorado, she has plenty to explore.

The Colorado Geological Survey reports that the state is home to at least 93 “thermal areas”—places where hot water from underground bubbles up to the surface, forming pools and streams.

Hot springs play an important role in the cultures of many of the West’s Native American groups. They’re also a big draw for locals and tourists alike who enjoy long, leisurely dips with a mountain view.

Why are these relaxing features so common in Colorado?

Like so many things in the West, the answer comes down to the Rocky Mountains. Tens of millions of years ago, collisions between the planet’s tectonic plates caused the ground under the American West to buckle, building the mountains we know today.

That same uplift created a network of cracks and channels in the hard, rocky crust below the region—perfect pathways for toasty water to flow to the surface.

“Earth’s crust is thinner [in the West] compared to the eastern part of the country,” Ge said. “When the crust is thinner, it’s easier for the deep, hot mantle to come up closer to the surface.”

Ge’s own research has explored a modern human activity that could influence these ancient features.

In recent years, energy companies and other entities have begun investigating a potentially abundant source of sustainable power: geothermal energy.

Previously in CUriosity

How can you make your resolutions stick?

Or read more CUriosity stories here

Geothermal energy can come in many forms, but, in general, people dig deep wells to pump up hot water from underground. Once at the surface, that water can be used to heat floors or sidewalks, or even power turbines and generate electricity.

But when people pump hot water up, they usually replace that liquid with cooler water from the surface. This could, in theory, cool some hot springs down.

In a 2025 paper, Roseanna Neupauer, a professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder, and Ge explored this idea. The team used computer simulations, or models, to recreate the geological conditions under Colorado’s surface. In particular, the group tested what might happen if people installed a well near Mount Princeton, a hub of geothermal activity near Buena Vista, Colorado.

The possible impacts of that hypothetical well depended on how close it came to hot springs. If the well sat about 650 feet east of a spring, it might lead to cooling, and temperatures could dip by as much as 27 degrees Fahrenheit over the long run.

Ge said that scientists still have a lot of research to do before they can say for sure whether geothermal energy poses risks to Colorado’s hot springs.

But, she added, it’s important to ask the question. Nothing makes a frigid winter day better than a long, relaxing dip in one of Colorado’s many hot springs.

“Geothermal energy is a sustainable, renewable source of energy, and I would love to see it used more,” Ge said. “But we don’t want to cause a negative impact for the people who live nearby.”

Geologist Shemin Ge shares how a source of clean energy known as geothermal power could pose unexpected risks to Colorado's iconic hot springs.

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House fires release harmful compounds into the air

Megan M Rogers — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 20:55:23 +0000

House fires release harmful compounds into the air Megan M Rogers Fri, 02/27/2026 - 13:55

CIRES

New CIRES-led research shows that common synthetic materials used in homes, like plastics and insulation, can release harmful compounds into the air when they burn.

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Political polarization can spur CO2 emissions, stymie climate action

Lisa Marshall — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 22:39:15 +0000

Political polarization can spur CO2 emissions, stymie climate action Lisa Marshall Wed, 02/25/2026 - 15:39

Lisa Marshall

In recent years, studies and media reports have blamed growing partisan hostility in the U.S. for shattered marriages, broken families, ruined holiday dinners and increased stress.

New �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder research suggests it may have an even broader impact, hindering democracies’ capacity to address climate change around the world.

“There has been a lot of research on the effects of political polarization at the interpersonal level, but ours is the first study to look at how it impacts the ability of democracies to mitigate climate change,” said senior author Don Grant, professor of sociology and fellow with the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI). “We find that in democracies marked by deep interparty animosity, power plants—some of the world’s largest carbon polluters—emit CO₂ at significantly higher rates. And these outcomes are not unique to the U.S.”

More polarization equals more CO₂

In a study published in the American Sociological Review, Grant and his colleagues looked at the annual CO₂ emission rates (CO₂ emissions per unit of electricity produced) from 20,115 fossil-fueled power plants across 92 democratic countries. They also looked at each country's level of what is known as "affective polarization," scored on a 0 to 4 scale. They found that in countries with greater affective polarization, or intense partisan hostility, democratic institutions are less able to effectively enforce climate regulation.

Don Grant

The study distinguishes ideological polarization—policy disagreements that can stimulate innovation—and affective polarization, a more personal and corrosive form of division in which citizens distrust and demonize those aligned with an opposing party. While robust debate about policy can strengthen democracy, affective polarization mobilizes citizens into rival stakeholder coalitions determined to obstruct policies advanced by their adversaries, said Grant.

“As these coalitions harden, governance becomes more difficult, existing policies lose effectiveness, and legislative processes designed to foster compromise are increasingly undermined,” he said.

Research shows affective polarization is on the rise globally, and climate change is a key wedge issue.

After controlling for other factors that could influence emissions, Grant’s study found that in countries with more affective polarization, plant-level CO₂ emission rates are significantly higher.

For example, in Uruguay, which had the lowest affective polarization score, emission rates were 11% below average. In Poland, which had the highest affective polarization score, emission rates were nearly 8% above average. The U.S. ranked near the top for affective polarization and above average for emission rates.

Changing times

In the early 1970s, political parties were, in many ways, less divided over issues like environmental protection. The U.S. Senate unanimously approved the Clean Air Act in 1970, authorizing the Environmental Protection Agency to establish national air quality standards. And utilities routinely included green-energy stakeholders as key collaborators in decision making.

Times have changed.

Grant argues that as people have grown more reluctant to associate with those with opposing views, utilities have disenfranchised many environmental groups, and power plants have become insulated from citizen and regulatory pressure. As a result, even in democracies with formal climate measures in place, the institutions meant to hold polluters accountable have failed to function as intended.

The study found that in countries with heightened interparty hostility, climate policies are less effective at curbing plants’ emissions. Also, government-owned power plants are particularly prone to emit more carbon.

“When polarization is higher, it may be harder to fully implement policies and for public utilities to reconcile the concerns of both pro-fossil fuel and pro-environment groups,” Grant said.

He speculates that if affective polarization continues, it may result in the repeal of long-standing climate mitigation policies.

“We already see evidence of this happening in the United States,” said Grant, referring to the EPA’s move on Tuesday to repeal the 2009 “endangerment finding,” which classified greenhouse gas emissions as a threat to public health. “Affective polarization is becoming a runaway phenomenon that threatens to erode democracies’ capacity to protect the planet.”

A ray of hope

While full of somber findings and predictions, the paper ends on a positive note.

It points to Great Britain, which despite its long history of rancorous politics, has been able to rein in its worst-polluting power facilities in recent years.

In September 2024, Britain closed its last operating coal plant, ending more than 140 years of reliance on coal.

Britain accomplished this, said Grant, by framing the shift toward renewable energy as a national endeavor rather than a political victory for one side over the other.

“At the same time that the U.S. is retreating from its climate promises, places like the U.K. show how it is possible to overcome the effect of polarization and follow through on climate commitments,” said Grant. “They provide a ray of hope.”

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An analysis of more than 20,000 power plants across 92 democratic countries found that in nations with more political incivility, power plants emit more carbon.

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A power plant on the Ohio River in Pennsylvania. Source: Wikamedia Commons

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A power plant on the Ohio River in Pennsylvania. Source: Wikamedia Commons

Bushbabies reclassified as 'near threatened.' Scientists share how to protect these adorable primates

Daniel William Strain — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 22:25:30 +0000

Bushbabies reclassified as 'near threatened.' Scientists share how to protect these adorable primates Daniel William… Mon, 02/16/2026 - 15:25

Daniel Strain

Thick-tailed bushbaby (Credit: CC image via Wikimedia Commons)

Frank Cuozzo and Michelle Sauther first traveled to South Africa in 2012 to search for some of the most unusual primates on Earth—bushbabies.

These animals are nocturnal and small, often around the size of a housecat. Bushbabies have big ears, round eyes and get their names from the eerie, wailing noises they make at night.

Two species of bushbabies are native to South Africa: The thick-tailed bushbaby (Otolemur crassicaudatus) and the Moholbushbaby (Galago moholi). At the time, they had a reputation for being everywhere. They would sneak into towns to steal pet food from bowls and beg for handouts from tourists on safari.

But the more Cuozzo and Sauther looked, the more they realized that something didn’t seem right: They kept finding bushbabies killed on roads or mauled by dogs.

The dangers facing the animals, in fact, seemed to be mounting.

Thick-tailed bushbaby (Credit: Michelle Sauther)

Trail camera captures a bushbaby mysteriously grooming a bushbuck at night in South Africa. (Credit: Michelle Sauther)

Greater bushbaby seen crossing a canopy bridge at night. (Credit: Birthe Linden)

Now, after more than a decade of research by the primatologists and their colleagues, a major environmental organization in southern Africa has changed the conservation status of these cute animals. In January, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) redesignated thick-tailed bushbabies from a species of “least concern” to “near threatened.” This category isn’t as severe as “endangered” but indicates that bushbaby numbers are likely dropping at a concerning rate.

“Human threats are everywhere, for all species,” said Cuozzo, a scientist at the Lajuma Research Centre in South Africa and research fellow at the University of Pretoria’s Mammal Research Institute. “But we’ve been able to document that the human threats facing bushbabies, including deforestation and habitat loss, are increasing.”

Sauther, a professor of anthropology at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder, sees the new conservation listing as a culmination of years of work—and, perhaps, a new beginning for bushbabies.

“We don't want this species to ever become endangered,” Sauther said. “Now that we know they're near threatened, we can do something about it.”

The researchers also hope their findings will call attention to the many other plants and animals that live in the same forests as bushbabies.

“There are so many plant species there that botanists can’t even identify, the same with some of the reptiles and amphibian,” said Birthe Linden, a primatologist at Aberystwyth University in Wales. “It is a biodiverse area, and there are so many gaps in what we know.”

Rising deforestation

Thick-tailed bushbabies spend most of their lives in trees where they mostly eat acacia gum. They range widely across Southern Africa, thriving in the lush, green forests that grow around rivers.

Sauther said the animals never cease to amaze her.

Once, she and her colleagues caught a bushbaby on a trail camera grooming an antelope known as a bushbuck—the bushbuck stood still while the primate plucked insects from its fur and ate them.

“They’re our cousins, and they even have these connections to other species,” Sauther said. “They’re a lovely animal to understand.”

In 2023, she, Cuozzo and Linden began working with the EWT to reassess the status of this species.

The researchers aren’t sure exactly how fast bushbaby numbers are falling in southern Africa. But they gathered a wide range of data showing that the threats are growing.

Using satellite images, the researchers calculated that the habitats where bushbabies live are shrinking by about 3.6% per decade—faster than the average loss for natural areas in the region. Humans cut down bushbaby forests to make room for agriculture and suburban housing.

In one alarming example, bushbabies once abounded in the Mokopane Biodiversity Centre roughly 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Pretoria, South Africa. When a dam was installed upriver about 20 years ago, the primates’ favorite forests dried up and died.

“In 2015, we tried to look for bushbabies there, and there was nothing,” said Cuozzo, who earned his doctorate in biological anthropology from �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder in 2000. “We didn’t hear anything. We didn’t find a single individual.”

In previous studies, the team also showed that the pet trade, road kill and dog attacks might be taking a much bigger toll on primates in South Africa than scientists realized.

Keeping bushbabies safe

Cuozzo, Linden and Sauther hope their findings will inspire more researchers to take a closer look not just at bushbabies, but other understudied plants and animals around the world.

The researchers said South Africans care about their wildlife, and there’s a lot they can do to protect bushbabies today.

They encourage people not to feed primates or leave pet food out at night. These morsels encourage bushbabies to venture into human settlements where they can get attacked by dogs.

To stop roadkill, the researchers advocate for “canopy bridges.” They allow animals to cross roads without risking being hit by cars and can be as simple as two ropes stretched over a highway.

“We can’t protect anything if we don’t know about it,” Linden said. “There’s so little money available for conservation. The more we learn about a creature, the more we can spend that money in a way that’s really effective.

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After more than a decade of research by primatologists at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder and their colleagues, a major environmental organization has changed the conservation status of an unusual, and petite, species of primate that lives in southern Africa.

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Climate change media coverage fell 14% in 2025

Yvaine Ye — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 17:03:09 +0000

Climate change media coverage fell 14% in 2025 Yvaine Ye Mon, 02/16/2026 - 10:03

Brigitta Rongstad

In 2025—Earth's third warmest year on record—massive fires destroyed entire neighborhoods in Los Angeles, a deadly heatwave killed more than 24,000 in Europe and powerful storms triggered catastrophic flooding in Southeast Asia.

Scientists were quick to highlight the potential links between many of these disasters and a rapidly changing climate. But media coverage of climate change decreased by 14% in 2025 compared to 2024, according to a recent report from �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder’s Media and Climate Change Observatory (MeCCO).

Max Boykoff

“Over the past three and a half decades, climate change has become a high-stakes, high-profile, and highly-politicized venture involving science, policy, culture, psychology, environment and society,” said Max Boykoff, professor of Environmental Studies and a fellow at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES).

Boykoff, who is also the faculty executive director of the SPIKE Center for Sustainability Education, leads MeCCO’s efforts to track media coverage of climate change and understand messaging trends here in the U.S. and across the world. �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Today sat down with him to chat about the shift and the implications.

What is the Media and Climate Change Observatory?

MeCCO is a collaborative project that monitors and assesses climate change and global warming coverage in 131 newspapers, radio and television outlets spanning 59 countries and 14 languages. There is no other open-access resource like it available to researchers and practitioners, interested media outlets and decision-makers across anywhere else in the world.

How do �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder students support MeCCO?

In a new partnership between CIRES and the SPIKE Center for Sustainability Education, MeCCO is expanding student involvement and support at �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder. As part of broader MeCCO activities, �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder students also serve as SPIKE Student Emissaries, working with collaborators at universities, institutes and organizations worldwide. Together, the 30-member team monitors climate-related news and produces monthly and annual summaries and explainers. The partnership expands MeCCO’s reach while building competence and confidence among participating researchers and students.

How does your team track changes in media coverage about climate change?

In partnership with the University Libraries, MeCCO team members produce open access datasets each month at the global level for newspaper and radio coverage. The team also evaluates newspaper coverage in seven regions—Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North America and Oceania—as well as at the country level in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

We use existing news archives to assemble data, making sure we have broad geographic coverage, high circulation and reliable access to material.

Media coverage of climate change or global warming in seven different regions around the world, from January 2004 through December 2025. (Credit: MeCCO/�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder)

What contributed to the decline in coverage in 2025?

Ongoing political economic headwinds, and newsroom consolidation and reductions have contributed to this diminished coverage. Moreover, there is finite news space for competing stories, with the Trump administration flooding the public sphere with news stories across several domains.

News editors and reporters may also sense that their readers are getting tired of reading and hearing about climate change when making decisions about what stories to cover. Furthermore, journalists may be hesitant to connect the dots between ecological and meteorological events like wildfires, and a changing climate due to the ongoing politicization of climate science, despite the fact that those links are clear within relevant expert scientific communities.

How does this decline impact people’s awareness and understanding of climate change science?

People typically do not start their day with a cup of coffee and the latest peer-reviewed journal article. Instead, they turn to media—television, newspapers, radio, social media—to understand how science and policies could impact their everyday lives. This reality drives MeCCO’s work to monitor media coverage of climate change around the world and investigate how climate change coverage affects media consumers. When the media fail to cover these pressing climate issues abundantly and accurately, people may not recognize how climate change shapes their daily lives, livelihoods and challenges.

What are other ways scientists can reach people who might only hear about climate change issues from the news?

There are many ways scientists can creatively communicate and connect with different sectors of society. They can improve education and literacy, mobilize more effective advocacy efforts, raise individual-to collective-scale awareness, prompt behavior change and promote cultural change. Through video, theater, dance and writing, scientists can connect new and wider audiences to climate change—tapping into experiential, emotional, visceral and aesthetic ways of learning that go beyond traditional communication.

'Doom and gloom' messaging is prevalent in the media. How do you inspire hope?

There are many alternative pathways to effectively communicate about climate-related issues. In collaboration with �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder students, my colleague, Beth Osnes-Stoedefalke in the Department of Theater, and I have explored avenues like studying fast fashion communication strategies and environmental impacts (an industry that contributes significantly to global warming) and sustainable fashion alternatives.

We also explore how comedy may unexpectedly offer new routes to learning about climate change, overcoming often sober or gloomy scientific assessments through experiential, narrative, emotive and relatable storytelling. Humor can help increase accessibility to the complex and often-distant dimensions of climate change by bringing a long-term set of issues into the immediate social context. While comedy can provide relief amid anxiety-producing scientific results, it also serves to bridge difficult topics and overcome polarized discussions through entertaining and non-threatening ways to recapture a missing middle ground.

These activities then provide space for young people—college-aged students most centrally—to hope and to work toward desirable, sustainable futures.

�鶹��Ѱ��Boulder Today regularly publishes Q&As on news topics through the lens of scholarly expertise and research/creative work. The responses here reflect the knowledge and interpretations of the expert and should not be considered the university position on the issue. All publication content is subject to edits for clarity, brevity and university style guidelines.

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Despite rising impacts, climate change received less attention in media around the world in 2025. �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder sociologist Max Boykoff shares the reasons and implications.

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Examples of newspaper front pages with climate change stories relating to the Los Angeles, California area fires in January 2025. (Courtesy of the MeCCO team)

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Examples of newspaper front pages with climate change stories relating to the Los Angeles, California area fires in January 2025. (Courtesy of the MeCCO team)

Snow news day: The challenge of climate reporting as newsrooms cut back

Megan M Rogers — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 18:59:49 +0000

Snow news day: The challenge of climate reporting as newsrooms cut back Megan M Rogers Fri, 02/13/2026 - 11:59

College of Communication, Media, Design and Information

The College of Communication, Media, Design and Information's Water Desk has expanded the services it offers to resource-starved reporters who need help covering complex stories around the Colorado River and climate change.

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Climate & Environment

Winter never came to Colorado. What does it mean for water supplies?

How dry is it?

How does this year compare with previous drought years?

What could be causing this snow drought?

What is the WWA doing to help?

Should people be worried about water shortages right now?

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Investigation to evaluate water filtration options in community plagued by PFAS

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Scientists harness AI to reveal forces behind glacier surges

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Bridging research and action: How collaboration has changed wildfire approach and response

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CUriosity: Why does Colorado have so many hot springs, and are they at risk?

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House fires release harmful compounds into the air

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Political polarization can spur CO2 emissions, stymie climate action

More polarization equals more CO₂

Changing times

A ray of hope

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Bushbabies reclassified as 'near threatened.' Scientists share how to protect these adorable primates

Rising deforestation

Keeping bushbabies safe

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Climate change media coverage fell 14% in 2025

What is the Media and Climate Change Observatory?

How do �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder students support MeCCO?

How does your team track changes in media coverage about climate change?

What contributed to the decline in coverage in 2025?

How does this decline impact people’s awareness and understanding of climate change science?

What are other ways scientists can reach people who might only hear about climate change issues from the news?

'Doom and gloom' messaging is prevalent in the media. How do you inspire hope?

Related Articles

Snow news day: The challenge of climate reporting as newsrooms cut back

Related Articles

Climate & Environment

Winter never came to Colorado. What does it mean for water supplies?

How dry is it?

How does this year compare with previous drought years?

What could be causing this snow drought?

What is the WWA doing to help?

Should people be worried about water shortages right now?

Related Articles

Investigation to evaluate water filtration options in community plagued by PFAS

Related Articles

Scientists harness AI to reveal forces behind glacier surges

Related Articles

Bridging research and action: How collaboration has changed wildfire approach and response

Related Articles

CUriosity: Why does Colorado have so many hot springs, and are they at risk?

Related Articles

House fires release harmful compounds into the air

Related Articles

Political polarization can spur CO2 emissions, stymie climate action

More polarization equals more CO2

Changing times

A ray of hope

Related Articles

Bushbabies reclassified as 'near threatened.' Scientists share how to protect these adorable primates

Rising deforestation

Keeping bushbabies safe

Related Articles

Climate change media coverage fell 14% in 2025

What is the Media and Climate Change Observatory?

How do �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder students support MeCCO?

How does your team track changes in media coverage about climate change?

What contributed to the decline in coverage in 2025?

How does this decline impact people’s awareness and understanding of climate change science?

What are other ways scientists can reach people who might only hear about climate change issues from the news?

'Doom and gloom' messaging is prevalent in the media. How do you inspire hope?

Related Articles

Snow news day: The challenge of climate reporting as newsrooms cut back

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