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.

A snowy owl at an airport in British Columbia.

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.

Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its fifth big report, bringing with it a flurry of news coverage and strong reactions from both industry and environmental advocates. Does the assessment overstate or understate the dangers of global warming? Can the skepticism about whether humans are driving climate change finally be put to rest? As journalists, scientists, and citizens parse the findings, it’s worth pausing to consider just what the IPCC is and how it reaches its conclusions.