We at Environmental Research Advocates are excited by the potential implementation of graphene in renewable energy technologies.

The carbon-based super-material is making technology news yet again, as scientists in Korea claim they have developed a graphene supercapacitor that has the potential to drastically improve battery performance in electric vehicles.

ERA Science Board Member and Director of the Climate Institute Michael MacCracken, joined by 19 other US climate scientists, signed an open letter to Gov. Jerry Brown, calling for a moratorium on hydraulic fracking in California. The state is a leader in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the experts believe the governor’s support of fracking will have major negative impacts on the fight to slow down global warming.

The risks of irreversible damage to the environment will increase significantly if the global average temperature increases by 2° C in the coming century, and the solutions will only get more difficult and costly the longer we wait.

The 2013 World Solar Challenge came to an end in Adelaide, Australia, with the Dutch Nuon solar racing team from the Delft University of Technology taking home gold in the challenger class. The win constitutes Nuon’s fifth in seven tries.

Last month the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the first segment of its 5^th report, which describes the scientific basis for climate change caused by humans. The IPCC’s goal is to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information concerning climate change, its potential effects and options for adaptation and mitigation.

ERA Science Board members Leslie Cordes and Dr. Omar Masera have been instrumental in addressing and finding possible solutions to one of the planet’s pressing environmental and health concerns. In impoverished communities across the globe, families prepare food indoors on unsafe cookstoves, createing harmful pollution with detrimental health impacts to the families, and a negative carbon footprint on the environment.

Peter Seligmann, an ERA Science Board Member and Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Conservation International, believes that a sustainable future for our planet and the human race relies on collaboration across border lines. The following was featured in the May 21, 2013 issue of the Huffington Post.

Future Relies on US-China Collaboration

By Peter Seligmann

Environmental Research Advocates founders Terry and Denise Avchen opened their home Sunday July 7, 2013 to celebrate the establishment of two Fulbright Canada Chairs annually at CNSI UCLA. Guests enjoyed remarks by Canadian Consul General David Fransen and CNSI Director Paul Weiss as they told the story of this collaboration and the role Environmental Research Advocates played. The entertainment continued as a mentalist engaged 2013 Fulbright chairs Shana O.

Professor Roberto Peccei has been selected to receive the American Physical Society’s (APS) 2013 J.J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics, awarded annually to recognize and encourage outstanding achievement in particle theory. He received the award at the APS meeting in April 2013, along with his Stanford University colleague, Helen Quinn.

An internationally renowned theoretical particle physicist, Peccei is the first UCLA recipient of the Sakurai prize, named in honor of a late UCLA physics colleague.

John Hoagland, who was an ERA Science Advisory Board Member and the chairman of the J-Net Group and Ecology Communications, passed away on Wednesday May 1 surrounded by family at his home in Cape Cod. He will always be remembered for his passion for the environment, commitment to the church, and his loving devotion to his family.