Island Press Field Notes

I began my career as forest ecologist in the 1990s, cataloging the remarkable web-of-life in the old-growth rainforests of Prince of Wales Island. Since then, I have worked with rainforest ecologists around the world to document exceptional places like the Tongass and how they can contribute to a global climate change solution. Last April, hundreds of scientists, including myself, sent President Obama a letter asking him to include the Tongass as Alaska’s first line of climate defense.

Island Press is pleased to be co-sponsoring the 2104 Chico Vive conference at American University in DC this weekend. The conference brings together grassroots activists, NGOs, students, engaged scholars, applied scientists, policymakers, journalists, and others to discuss the development of the global grassroots environmental movement in the 25 years since environmental martyr Chico Mendes' death.

Sarah LeRoy of the Southwest Climate Change Network weighs in on the rising temperatures and their impact on current energy systems.  Climate change could substantially impact the energy system in the Southwest through less efficient power generation, reduced electricity distribution, and threats to energy infrastructure—all while peak energy demands increase.

The obvious questions provoke the obvious answers. From my reading of the literature over the last month, and from everything I have learned at Copenhagen, there can be no doubt that the scientific consensus on climate change is consistent and overwhelming. So it leaves us with a quandary. All of these researchers, across a half dozen academic disciplines, are either right or they are terribly wrong.