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Bianca Brewster, head of the Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center at Laredo College, has spent more than 15 years caring for local wildlife, especially native birds. For her, the effects of climate change in South Texas are unmistakable.
“Birds are environmental indicators—they’re often the first to die when something is wrong in the environment. More and more of the birds that I have taken in come in dehydrated or starving.”
Local shifts in temperature and rainfall - exacerbated by climate change - have disrupted food and water sources for birds. This particularly affects migratory species that rely on seasonal resources like plants and insects for breeding.
“The change in temperatures may affect the timing of plant blooms and the emergence period of insects,” Bianca explains, leading to food shortages for animals that depend on these cycles. Extended droughts and changing rainfall patterns reduce wetland habitat, contributing to higher bird mortality during extreme heat (Pecl et al., 2017; Albright et al., 2010).
Bianca’s work includes exhibiting native local flora and fauna to educate the community about native species. She encourages the public to support wildlife during dry seasons. “I make Facebook posts to encourage people to put out water for birds and other wildlife,” she says.
Dry periods in Laredo worsen during El Niño cycles which intensify droughts and heat waves across many regions, including North America. The ENSO cycle—comprising both El Niño and La Niña—drives changes in global weather. For instance, El Niño causes warmer, drier conditions due to changes in Pacific Ocean temperatures (Cai et al., 2014) while La Niña intensifies drought in the U.S. Southwest (Trenberth et al., 1998). Such disruptions degrade ecosystems, reduce plant cover, and threaten the survival of heat-sensitive species.
Bianca is frustrated by the challenge of communicating climate issues to the public. “It’s going to affect everyone, not just wildlife,” she insists. “People, if they can’t see it, they don’t care about it because they’re not seeing it.”
Bianca recalls her time with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), where she learned how difficult it was to bring public awareness to invisible planet-heating pollutants like carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane.
Unlike visible pollutants, greenhouse gasses are invisible without specialized technology, limiting public understanding of their atmospheric impact. NASA’s OCO-2 satellite, which monitors CO₂ levels globally, helps address this gap by providing data on greenhouse gas concentrations (NASA, 2021).
Bianca hopes that visualizing such pollutants will spark greater concern: “We talk about them, but we can’t see them, so we don’t give them much importance.” This is especially relevant for regions like South Texas where the invisible nature of greenhouse gases makes it challenging for communities to connect local heat and drought with these invisible emissions.
At the LBV Environmental Science Center, Bianca focuses on educating children through hands-on interactions with animals. “Wildlife live with us,” she says, emphasizing coexistence with local species. Her philosophy stresses that the presence of wildlife is essential for a sustainable ecosystem rather than an intrusion. Bianca believes in inspiring conservation by cultivating empathy for the environment and wildlife. “All it takes is education, initiative, and pushing forward,” she says optimistically.
