HUMANnature is an evolving communications project of the School of Global Environmental Sustainability designed to aggregate and promote environmental science communication across the Colorado State University campus and beyond. The site is designed to provide a platform for students, faculty, research partners, and guests to communicate and discuss the pressing environmental, economic, and societal issues of sustainability and our future.

Anthropogenic dust pollution – the knowns and unknowns

Guest post by Haihui Zhu, 2025-2026 Sustainability Leadership Fellow and Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Atmospheric Science “A powerful storm kicked up a towering wall of dust that rolled through metro Phoenix on Monday (Aug. 25, 2025), darkening the

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Colorado’s cryptic creature: the white-tailed ptarmigan

Guest post by Nicholas Parker, 2025-2026 Sustainability Leadership Fellow and PhD Candidate in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, and Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL) Colorado’s mountain tops are a desolate place. If you were

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The Power of Playas: Why Temporary Wetlands Matter

Guest post by Megan Podolinsky, 2025-2026 Sustainability Leadership Fellow and Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability and Graduate Degree Program in Ecology Picture this: It’s mid-summer in western Kansas. You’re walking through a dry field, the

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What Losing 100 Pounds Taught Me About Quitting EVs

Guest post by Joshua Oluwatumise, 2025-2026 Sustainability Leadership Fellow and Ph.D. Student in the Department of Systems Engineering Three years ago, I stepped on a weight scale, and the number I saw pushed me to make a life-changing decision. Over

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What’s good for the gut may be good for the globe

Guest Post by Scott Wrigley, 2025-2026 Sustainability Leadership Fellow and Ph.D. Student in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Colorado State University  Growing up in the 90s, I remember Beanie Babies, Game Boys, Tamagotchis, dial-up internet, and

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Wildfire impacts on forest health!

Guest Post by Jacob VanderRoest, 2025-2026 Sustainability Leadership Fellow and Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Chemistry at Colorado State University The 2024 Alexander Mountain Fire was the first wildfire that I ever saw. On July 29th, 2024, I stood

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