News

Keith Musselman: Warming Alaska Rivers Threaten Salmon and Indigenous Food Security, INSTAAR–Geography Team Finds

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 18:42:40 +0000

Keith Musselman: Warming Alaska Rivers Threaten Salmon and Indigenous Food Security, INSTAAR–Geography Team Finds Gabriela Rocha Sales Fri, 12/05/2025 - 11:42

A recent �� Boulder Today news article highlighted new research led by Peyton Thomas, a new Assistant Professor at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) and ENVS. Peyton was formally a postdoctoral researcher co-advised by Geography Assistant Professor Keith Musselman. The study, published in Scientific Reports, examines how rapid climate warming in Alaska is altering river conditions and threatening Chinook salmon populations that Indigenous communities have depended on for millennia.

For many Alaska Native and First Nations communities along the Yukon River, steep declines in Chinook salmon since the early 2000s have already caused major disruptions to food security, cultural practices, and travel across frozen rivers. The research team collaborated closely with tribal partners to understand ongoing changes and support community-led adaptation efforts.

Using a combination of climate simulations, hydrologic modeling, and fish growth models, the team assessed how future warming may affect two key subsistence species: Chinook salmon and Dolly Varden (a trout species). Their results suggest that by mid-century, summer river temperatures in parts of the region may regularly exceed the thermal tolerance of juvenile Chinook, further constraining populations. In contrast, Dolly Varden may benefit from slightly warmer water, offering a potential—though culturally complex—alternative for some communities.

Importantly, the team identified several river systems that are likely to remain suitable for Chinook habitat, highlighting priority areas for conservation and restoration.

This work reflects an ongoing collaborative effort between �� researchers and Indigenous communities across Alaska. Over the past two summers, Thomas, Musselman, and colleagues have visited numerous tribal communities to document environmental change, integrate local knowledge with modeling tools, and help identify strategies for navigating an uncertain future. The project also aligns with broader efforts to clarify how climate-driven shifts in hydrology are shaping ecosystems and livelihoods in Arctic and subarctic environments.

For those interested, the full University news feature provides deeper context on the study and its implications for future river management, salmon conservation, and community resilience.

/today/2025/09/10/salmon-disappear-warming-rivers-indigenous-communities-face-uncertain-future

The study, published in Scientific Reports, examines how rapid climate warming in Alaska is altering river conditions and threatening Chinook salmon populations that Indigenous communities have depended on for millennia.

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Pictures of the COGA Relaunch Party

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 22:34:51 +0000

Pictures of the COGA Relaunch Party Gabriela Rocha Sales Thu, 11/20/2025 - 15:34

See pictures taken from the COGA Relaunch Party that took place on November 17th, 2025.

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Ethan Carr Selected as Hindi-Kush-Himalaya-Arctic Climate Youth Champion

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 20:53:12 +0000

Ethan Carr Selected as Hindi-Kush-Himalaya-Arctic Climate Youth Champion Gabriela Rocha Sales Thu, 11/06/2025 - 13:53

Ethan Carr, Geography MA alum 2024 and current Geography Ph.D. student has been selected as one of 12 Climate Youth Champions at the inaugural cohort of the Hindu-Kush-Himalaya - Arctic Youth Leadership Forum. The Champions were chosen from 9 different countries. See full list of Champions. The goal of the Leadership Forum is to "establish an annual Youth Leadership Forum that promotes a new generation of mountain and polar youth climate leaders. The Forum will inform, empower, and support youth from the HKH and Arctic regions by giving them a platform to bring in their perspectives and voices, strengthen their leadership skills, build capacity, and promote intergenerational dialogue to help ensure more youth-focused climate decision-making processes on cryosphere and biodiversity."

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Measuring Heat, Uncovering Inequality: A Community-Engaged Approach to Indoor Thermal Exposure in Latin American Cities

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 17:36:58 +0000

Measuring Heat, Uncovering Inequality: A Community-Engaged Approach to Indoor Thermal Exposure in Latin American Cities Gabriela Rocha Sales Thu, 11/06/2025 - 10:36

Dr. Nubia Beray

Assistant Professor
Department of Geography
University of Indiana Bloomington

Abstract:

Human Biometeorology and Urban Climate research have significantly advanced our understanding of urban heat, particularly through models, satellite data and physical measurements of urban fabric, geometry, and surface characteristics. Yet these approaches can be further strengthened by examining heat alongside the socio-spatial conditions in which it is experienced — inside homes, within domestic spaces, and through bodies differentiated by race, gender and class. This talk draws on a community-engaged project that co-produces methods to monitor indoor thermal exposure in informal housing in Brazil, informed by Critical Physical Geography, Critical Urban Climatology and Geography of Climate frameworks. It approaches heat as a sociobiophysical phenomenon, shaped through the entanglement of built form and urban metabolism, everyday life, colonial histories and structural inequalities. Thus, it is not only essential to locate the intersections between thermal hazards and vulnerable bodies and homes; it is equally necessary to understand how extreme heat, exposure and vulnerability structure one another, rather than existing as separate domains. In this sense, knowing where the city is hottest is inseparable from knowing who bears that heat — and how both are produced together.

Zoom: https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/94268738609

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Practicing Abolition Methodologies

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 13:31:49 +0000

Practicing Abolition Methodologies Gabriela Rocha Sales Fri, 10/24/2025 - 07:31

Dr. Carrie Chennault

Assistant Professor of Geography
Department of Geography and Anthropology
Colorado State University

Abstract:

The Prison Agriculture Lab (PAL) and the Toxic Prisons Mapping Project (TPMP), two abolitionist collectives, work to advance the practice of abolition in daily life through scholar-activist projects focused, respectively, on food and environmental injustices in prisons. PAL is a collaborative space for inquiry and action that links innovative research, science translation, storytelling, and public engagement on prison agriculture. TPMP, a collaboration between academics and members of the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons, maps and shares the stories of environmental hazards that incarcerated people in prisons, jails, and detention centers face, working to support on-the-ground crisis response, public education, and long-term organizing. In this seminar, I will discuss the development of PAL’s and TPMP’s abolition methodologies—the concrete liberatory and life-affirming methodological practices we undertake to achieve abolition. Introducing five principles of abolition methodologies, I will show how PAL and TPMP have put these principles into practice through a range of strategic, educational, protest, policy, storytelling, and artistic projects including GIS maps, storytelling and story maps, a satellite image gallery, data visualizations, related resources for research, teaching, and public engagement, a zine, and a counter-archive and countermapping project. Through practicing abolition methodologies, we’ve identified possibilities (and some pitfalls) for supporting radical fights against the social-ecological crises innate to the prison system and broader carceral state.

Zoom Option: https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/99904170156

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Shae Frydenlund: Exploring Colorado’s untapped geothermal energy potential

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 14:04:54 +0000

Shae Frydenlund: Exploring Colorado’s untapped geothermal energy potential Gabriela Rocha Sales Wed, 10/22/2025 - 08:04

Copied for archival purposes on 10/22/25

10/21/2025

• By Charles Ferrer

A major question looms over Colorado’s energy future: why does geothermal energy — a natural renewable resource — remain virtually untapped?

Professor Bri-Mathias Hodge, based in the Department of Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering, along with Assistant Teaching Professor Shae Frydenlund from the Center for Asian Studies, will examine the technological and social barriers that have held back geothermal development in Colorado.

Geothermal energy comes from the natural heat stored beneath the Earth’s surface. It’s harnessed by tapping underground reservoirs of steam or hot water to produce electricity or provide direct heating.

Colorado is home to significant geothermal areas including the areas of Mount Princeton Hot Springs, Waunita Hot Springs and the San Luis Valley — yet no geothermal power plants currently operate in the state. That could soon change, thanks to growing collaboration among researchers, energy companies and policymakers.

“We know there is an abundant amount of geothermal energy potential in our state,” said Hodge, who brings two decades of experience in renewable energy integration and power systems simulation. “What we need is a better understanding of the social, economic and regulatory factors that influence its development.”

Bridging technology and community

Frydenlund’s work with Indigenous communities in Indonesia, some of whom oppose geothermal projects due to environmental justice concerns, sparked an interdisciplinary collaboration with Hodge.

“I became very interested in bringing together physical science and social science perspectives,” Frydenlund said, “and to understand why a place as geothermal-rich as Colorado hasn’t tapped into this natural resource.”

Her research, together with Geography Professor Emily Yeh, revealed that struggles over geothermal projects emerge in and through the politics of indigeneity, land tenure and uneven development.

“There are concerns over land rights, sacred territories, livelihoods and environmental justice,” she said. “We need to bring those perspectives as we think about using geothermal here.”

To capture both the human and technical sides of geothermal development, the �� Boulder team will combine tools, such as power systems modeling, spatial statistics and GIS mapping along with community forums, surveys and interviews. Gaining community input will be integral for this project.

One of their main goals is to create an interactive map tool of Colorado showing potential geothermal sites, layered with data on social and technological factors.

“Just because an area has strong potential doesn’t mean it’s a good place to develop geothermal energy,” Frydenlund said. “If it’s not culturally appropriate or desired by the community, resources can be wasted and projects can fail.”

The issue isn't unique to Colorado.

“We’ve seen this already in the U.S.," Hodge said. "Hawaii has been a leader in decarbonization goals and has great geothermal resources. Yet, there’s very little being developed there because you have to be mindful of the traditions in Hawaiian culture.”

The planning phase for the project includes three major steps: campus-wide town halls to connect with geothermal experts, identifying industry and community partners across the state and gathering preliminary data through stakeholder engagement. Between January and March 2026, Frydenlund will conduct fieldwork at six sites across Colorado, including Steamboat Springs, Buena Vista and Sterling Ranch in the South Metro area.

Building toward carbon neutrality

Geothermal exploration speaks directly to �� Boulder’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 and the Western Governors Association’s Heat Beneath Our Feet initiative, which announced $7.7 million in funding in May 2024 to advance geothermal technology in Colorado.

Geothermal technologies can operate at multiple scales from single buildings to community thermal networks to large-scale power generation.

“What’s really interesting from a power systems standpoint is that geothermal affects not only electricity supply, but also demand,” Hodge said. “If ground-source heat pumps became widespread, Colorado’s power grid could shift from a summer to a winter peak system.”

However, these technological advances alone can’t drive an increased transition to geothermal.

“Understanding the intimate relationships that people have with land and with energy and with each other will make for a much richer picture of what kind of future geothermal energy has in this state,” Frydenlund said.

The project is funded by a Research & Innovation Office New Frontiers Grant.

A major question looms over Colorado’s energy future: why does geothermal energy — a natural renewable resource — remain virtually untapped?

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Geography Alumni and Friends Dinner, October 2025

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 16:34:54 +0000

Geography Alumni and Friends Dinner, October 2025 Gabriela Rocha Sales Fri, 10/10/2025 - 10:34

In appreciation to our Alumni and Friends for their commitment to the department, the Department of Geography hosted a dinner on Sunday, October 5th at the Chautauqua Grand Assembly Hall.

It was an evening of celebration as we shared and showcased the successes of our faculty and students.

Thank you to all our guests for spending your Sunday with us, we can't wait to see you again at other Alumni and Friends events.

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Professor Jennifer Balch Named 2025 AGU Fellow

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 19:23:36 +0000

Professor Jennifer Balch Named 2025 AGU Fellow Gabriela Rocha Sales Fri, 10/03/2025 - 13:23

AGU Fellow: Jennifer Balch

CIRES Fellow Jennifer Balch was named a 2025 AGU Fellow. Balch is the director of �� Boulder’s Environmental Data Science Innovation & Impact Lab (ESIIL) and a professor of Geography. Balch’s research aims to understand the patterns and processes that underlie disturbance and ecosystem recovery, particularly how people are shifting fire regimes and the consequences. Balch has received international recognition for her work on wildfires. As an AGU Fellow, Balch will offer expertise on wildfire science, advising government agencies and other organizations outside the sciences upon request.

Kay, Moon, and Balch join a distinguished group of scientists, leaders, and communicators recognized by AGU for advancing science. Each honoree reflects AGU's vision for a thriving, sustainable and equitable future supported by scientific discovery, innovation and action.

Honorees will be recognized at AGU25, which will convene in New Orleans, Louisiana on December 15-19, 2025. Reflecting the theme “Where Science Connects Us'”at AGU25, the Honors Reception will recognize groundbreaking achievements that illustrate science's continual advancement, inspiring the AGU community with their stories and successes.

CIRES Fellow Jennifer Balch was named a 2025 AGU Fellow. Balch is the director of �� Boulder’s Environmental Data Science Innovation & Impact Lab (ESIIL) and a professor of Geography.

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Graduate Students Demonstrate Drone at MRS to Science Bound Students

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 13:56:16 +0000

Graduate Students Demonstrate Drone at MRS to Science Bound Students Gabriela Rocha Sales Wed, 09/24/2025 - 07:56

Thank you to our graduate students, Nic Tarasewicz, Holly Roth, and Bella Kamplain for helping out the Science Bound Research Retreat students at the Mountain Research Station. See pictures below of Nic demonstrating how a drone gathers infrared data.

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Colin Flint, MA 1992 and PhD 1995: Charting the rise and fall of great sea powers

Gabriela Rocha Sales — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 21:24:14 +0000

Colin Flint, MA 1992 and PhD 1995: Charting the rise and fall of great sea powers Gabriela Rocha Sales Fri, 09/19/2025 - 15:24

Copied from Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine for archival purposes.

Charting the rise and fall of great sea powers

�� alum’s book examines how the fate of the Netherlands, Great Britain and the United States as economic and political powers has been deeply intertwined with their ability to project power via the seas

Colin Flint, a University of Colorado Boulder PhD geography graduate and professor of political geography at Utah State University, researches the rise and fall of great world powers.

It’s a topic beyond simple academic interest to Flint, who was born in 1965 and raised in England during a period of seismic change in the country.

“At the time, Britain was still struggling to figure out that it wasn’t the world’s greatest power anymore, so my socialization and political coming of age was in a declined power,” he says. Additionally, Flint says being raised in the busy ferry port of Dover made a powerful impression on him by highlighting the country’s long history as a maritime nation.

Colin Flint, a �� Boulder PhD geography graduate, researches the rise and fall of great world powers.

“Dover definitely has influenced me, being so close to the water,” he says. “My high school was on a hill overlooking the harbor, which at the time was the busiest ferry port in the world, with ships going back and forth to France and Belgium. So, the notion was very much rooted in me that Britain drew its power, historically, from the sea.”

At one point, Flint entertained the idea of joining the Royal Navy before setting his career sights on academia. He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Britain, then pursued his PhD in geography at the University of Colorado Boulder thanks to fortuitous connections between his undergrad mentor and �� Boulder Department of Geography Professor John O’Loughlin.

“I moved to United States of America in 1990 to attend university, and the literature at the time and discussions were all very declinist. It was very much, ‘America has gone down the tubes,’” he says. “Broadly speaking, I moved from a declined power into a declining power, or so I thought at the time.”

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Flint says the idea of America as a declining power was largely replaced with a triumphalist narrative that saw the U.S. as the world’s only remaining superpower.

Ideas about what makes a country an economic and political superpower—and how a country can lose its status as a hegemonic power—had been percolating in Flint’s brain for years when he recently published his book Near and Far Waters: The Geopolitics of Seapower. The book specifically looks at the Netherlands, Great Britain and the United States for context on how the countries used sea power to project their economic and political influence across the globe.

Flint spoke with Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine about his book, while also offering insights on how current events are shaping the outlook for the United States and the world. His answers have been edited for clarity and condensed.

Question: What is the context for your book’s title: Near and Far Waters?

Flint: There are legal terms about coasts and the exclusive economic zone around the country’s coastlines, but I’m not using it in that way. I’m thinking about an area of ocean in which a country has interest and influence over and off its coastline.

"Near and Far Waters" by �� Boulder alumnus Colin Flint focuses on the Netherlands, Great Britain and the United States for context on how the countries used sea power to project their economic and political influence across the globe.

That is an important piece of ocean for a country because there’s resource exploitation, but it’s also a matter of security. If a country wants to protect itself from potential invasion, it needs to control those waters off its coastline—it’s near waters.

Some countries, once they’ve established control of their near waters, have the ability and desire to project beyond that, across the oceans into what would then become its far waters. If you think about Great Britain in the context of the British Empire, once it fought off European threats to its coastline—its near waters—it was then able to develop the sea power to establish its empire. It was in African far waters, it was in Indian far waters, in Middle East far waters and so on.

Another good example of this would be how the United States of America, over the course of history, pushed other countries out of its near waters. The Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico are good examples, where Spanish and British influence were ended over the 1800s and 1900s. And then by establishing control through annexation of Hawaii and the purchase of Alaska, America developed its Pacific near waters, too, which it expanded upon through the course of World War II, pushing the Japanese back and establishing bases in Okinawa, Japan; the Philippines; and Guam, etc.

Question: One of your chapters is titled ‘No Island is an Island.’ What do you mean by that?

Flint: I was talking about how the projection of sea power requires the control of islands. Often, the geopolitical goal and benefit of controlling an island is not the island itself—it’s how it enables projection of power further, or how it hinders other countries’ projection of power by being near sea lines of communication that you can have a base to try and disrupt. For example, when Hawaii became part of the United States, it allowed the U.S. to project power across the Pacific. Again, it’s not the island itself—it’s the projection of power across an ocean.

Projecting sea power is about more than just having a strong navy.

Question: If one country’s far waters extend into the near waters of another country, that would seem to be a recipe for conflict, would it not?

Flint: That is the kicker, of course, that a sea power’s far waters are another country’s near waters. And it has historically led to conflicts and even wars. It’s always involved violence—and not just between great powers and lesser powers, but also violence against the people living on islands or in coastal lands where sea powers are looking to establish dominance and exploit resources.

Question: China has been rapidly expanding its navy in recent years. Is it simply beefing up its sea forces to protect its near waters, or is it looking to supplant the U.S. as the dominant sea power? Or are there other motives at play?

Flint: You often see in newspaper articles written in the United States and maybe other Western countries that China has the biggest navy in the world. This always makes me laugh because, yes, it’s got hundreds and hundreds of tiny little coastal defense vessels, but even now that it has two aircraft carriers, it does not have the ability to project power like the United States of America, which has 11 carrier groups. So, I think that should always be recognized.

The other sort of trope that’s often wielded out there, which I think we need to question, is: The West is worried about China developing a navy, because it will allow China to disrupt trade networks. Well, wait a minute. China is very dependent on imports, especially of fuel or energy. Additionally, it is the world’s largest trading economy, and it’s worried about the robustness of its domestic economy. They cannot maintain their economic growth based purely on their domestic market, so they need to have a global economic presence for markets and for securing inputs into their economy.

Putting those two things together, it makes no sense why China would want to disrupt global trade. In fact, the country’s reaction to President Trump’s sanctions tells us that the last thing China wants is global trade disrupted. They’re very worried about the fragility of their own economy and whether that leads to social unrest, etc. The flip side of that is how the West could really hurt China by blocking those trade routes to prevent energy imports into China and exports.

China is definitely trying to grow its navy. I think what makes it so interesting is its simultaneous attempt to have a navy that can defend its near waters while perhaps preventing the operation of the United States in its far waters. To what extent China is attempting to establish a presence in its far waters is less clear.

"A sea power’s far waters are another country’s near waters. And it has historically led to conflicts and even wars," notes scholar Colin Flint. ("Naval Battle of 1812," Painting, Oil on Canvas; By Rodolfo Claudus; 1962/U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command)

Question: From your book, it seems like you have some serious concerns about the potential for a serious conflict arising from disputes over near and far waters?

Flint: In fact, I’ve never been so concerned or worried in my career, to be honest with you. When I started teaching my class on political geography many moons ago, let’s say in the mid-1990s, I used to start off with some structural model of global political change, which essentially says, we have cycles of war and peace, for the want of a better term.

And I asked my students to try and get them engaged: ‘Picture yourself in 2025. What are you going to be doing?’ It was staggering to me how many of them believed that they would be millionaires and already retired (laughs).

The point of that was that the model I was using predicted another period of global war, starting in 2025. I don’t do that exercise anymore, because it isn’t funny; it’s really quite serious. So yes, the risk of war is high, and I think it could emerge in a number of different places. One focus is on the South China Sea, the near waters of China, as that is clearly a potential flashpoint. Taiwan is the obvious focal point of what that conflict would look like.

I also wonder about potential flashpoints of conflict in Chinese far waters—and that could include the Arctic and the Northern Atlantic, because another factor that has to be considered is global climate change and the increasing possibility of a trade route through the North Pole, which would cut trade times from China into European markets considerably. Those waters represent U.S. near waters, so …

Question: Do you envision any sort of viable alternatives to a conflict between world powers over near and far waters, especially in today’s environment?

Flint: My motivation with the book was with an eye to waving some sort of flag about how to think about peace rather than war. Most of our lenses are national lenses. If we keep on this pattern of a national lens, then I see a strong likelihood to repeat these cycles of near and far water sea powers, which have always involved a period of global war.

We need to change that lens. We need to have a global view as to why countries are always seeking far waters, entering other people’s near waters and why that can lead to conflict.

Today, we’re facing a humanity-scale problem, which is global climate change. Is that the thing that will tell us we need to work together, rather than compete? I’m not saying it is; I’m saying, if I see a glimmer of optimism to your question, that’s it.

Question: Based upon your research, if a country loses its status as a hegemonic power, can it later recover that status? And, in the context of today’s world, what might things look like if the U.S. lost its hegemonic status?

Flint: The short answer is no, based upon past history, a country that loses its hegemonic status has not been able to reclaim it once it’s gone.

But to your second question, it goes back to the question about what China’s intentions are. In American popular culture, where every sports team has to be No. 1, even if they are eighth in some Mickey Mouse conference, there is this obsession that there has to be a singular winner or champion.

What I’m saying is that we shouldn’t just assume that if the United States declines there will be another emergent dominant power in the world. It’s quite possible that if the United States declines, what might emerge would be a multipolar world, although I don’t know what that might look like.

Geography alum’s book examines how the fate of the Netherlands, Great Britain and the United States as economic and political powers has been deeply intertwined with their ability to project power via the seas

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