Speakers
The Honorable Al Gore served as Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. After serving in the army in Vietnam and working as a reporter, he was elected (1976) to the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee as a Democrat. In the Senate (1985–93), Gore emerged as a defender of environmental causes and an authority on nuclear arms control; his concerns for the environment were spelled out in his book Earth in the Balance (1992). As Vice President, Gore formulated policy for reducing the cost and size of the federal government and was an advocate for the Internet and for environmental protection, negotiating the Kyoto Protocol, which dealt specifically with climate change policy. He can currently be seen in the new movie An Inconvenient Truth, which chronicles Gore's crusade to educate the public about the devastating effects of global warming.
Elizabeth Kolbert, an award-winning journalist, was a political reporter for The New York Times for fifteen years and since 1999 has worked as a staff writer for The New Yorker. In 2005, she brought climate change to the pages of The New Yorker magazine for the first time in a three-part series, ‘The Climate of Man.' The articles were so influential she received the American Association for the Advancement of Science's magazine writing award. Her forthcoming book, Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change (2006), grew out of the series. In order to write the book Kolbert spent time with top scientists in Alaska and Greenland measuring the growing impact of climate change. The book provides a rational description of climate change, its environmental causes and likely scenarios for the future. She interviewed scientists and academics, as well as people affected directly by changing environments, to build up a scientifically-based and extensively researched picture while putting a human face to climate change. Kolbert was also awarded the Walter T. Brown Award for journalism. Her first book, entitled, Prophet of Love: And Other Tales of Power and Deceit (2004), is a collection of profiles of New York political figures from Boss Tweed to Hillary Clinton.
Thomas E. Lovejoy, Ph.D. has been the President of The Heinz Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment since May 2002. Before coming to The Heinz Center, he was the World Bank's Chief Biodiversity Advisor and Lead Specialist for Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean and Senior Advisor to the President of the United Nations Foundation. Dr. Lovejoy has been Assistant Secretary and Counselor to the Secretary at the Smithsonian Institution, Science Advisor to the Secretary of the Interior, and Executive Vice President of the World Wildlife Fund – U.S. He conceived the idea for the Minimum Critical Size of Ecosystems project (a joint project between the Smithsonian and Brazil's INPA), originated the concept of debt-for-nature swamps, and is the founder of the public television series Nature. In 2001, he was awarded the prestigious Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. Dr. Lovejoy served on science and environmental councils or committees under the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations.
Cameron P. Wake, Ph.D. is Research Associate Professor at the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. He researches global climate and environmental change, and reconstructs historical patterns of climate change through the collection and analysis of ice cores from around the world. Over the past 20 years he has been involved in research expeditions to Nepal, China, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, and Antarctica, and he is currently leading research programs to develop ice core records from glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau and in the Canadian Arctic. Dr. Wake is also involved in the NOAA-funded AIRMAP (Atmospheric Investigation, Regional Modeling, Analysis and Prediction) project, which seeks to improve understanding of New England's changing climate and air quality, and leads a team that is investigating the links between air quality and human health in New England. Dr. Wake also serves on the board of the Kittery Land Trust and Seacoast Area Bicycle Routes in Maine.
David W. Wolfe, Ph.D. is Professor of Plant Ecology in the Department of Horticulture at Cornell University and a member of Cornell's Biogeochemistry Program. He is a leading authority on the effects of climate change and rising atmospheric carbon dioxide on plants, soils, and ecosystems, with many peer-reviewed research publications and several book chapter reviews on the subject. He is the author of an award-winning popular science book on soil ecology, Tales From the Underground: A Natural History of Subterranean Life, published in 2002. His recent research documenting earlier spring bloom date of lilacs, apples, and grapes in the Northeast (International Journal of Biometeorology, 2005, vol.39, pp. 303-309), received national media attention. Dr. Wolfe co-authored the agriculture and natural resources sector reports for a Northeast climate change impacts assessment in the late 1990's, and is currently one of several scientists working on a new assessment for the region, scheduled for public release in December, 2006. He recently led a USDA-funded project to develop resource materials for agricultural educators and gardeners (including a new Web site: www.climateandfarming.org).
Panelists
Frances Beinecke became the Natural Resources Defense Council's second President after assuming the helm in 2006. Ms. Beinecke has been involved with NRDC since 1973, first as an intern, as a resource specialist with the Coastal/Marine program, as the Associate Director from 1990 to 1998, and as Executive Director. She has managed NRDC's programs, restructuring, and strategic planning process over the last decade. She also co-chairs the Leadership Council of the School of Forestry, serves on the advisory board of Yale's Institute of Biospheric Studies, and is a member of the steering committee for the Energy Future Coalition. Ms. Beinecke also serves on the boards of the World Resources Institute and New York League of Conservation Voters.
Peter C. Goldmark, Jr. is the Director of the Climate and Air Program at Environmental Defense, a non-profit environmental research and advocacy organization based in New York City. The Climate and Air team works on programs that help stabilize the Earth's climate and improve global and regional air quality by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. Before working at Environmental Defense, Mr. Goldmark served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the International Herald Tribune, as the Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, as the Budget Director for the State of New York during the City's financial crisis, and as the President of the Rockefeller Foundation where he encouraged their involvement in environmental issues, particularly energy. Mr. Goldmark is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a trustee of the Whitehead Institute, and a board member of the Land Lease Corporation. Mr. Goldmark received his B.A. from Harvard University.
Stephen B. Heintz is the President of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF). Mr. Heintz has held top leadership positions in both the nonprofit and public sectors. Before he joined the RBF on February 1, 2001, Mr. Heintz was Founding President of Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action. Prior to founding Demos, Mr. Heintz served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the EastWest Institute (EWI), where he worked on issues of economic reform, civil society development, and international security. Before his work at EWI, Mr. Heintz developed an extensive track record as a policy analyst and cabinet official in the State of Connecticut, where he served as Commissioner of the Department of Economic Development and Commissioner of the Department of Income Maintenance (Social Welfare). In 1988, he helped draft and secure passage by Congress of the "The Family Support Act," the first major effort to reform the nation's welfare system. He has published articles in The International Herald, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal Europe, and several books and journals. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Yale University.
Adam Markham was appointed as Clean Air-Cool Planet's founding Executive Director in February 2000. Before that, Mr. Markham directed the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) international climate campaign, based in Washington DC. He spent twelve years with the WWF, first in Switzerland and then in the United States. In addition to his climate work, he helped design and manage campaigns on tropical forests and on toxic chemicals. He has worked as a journalist, writing about arts and environmental issues, and is currently working on a book about the impacts of global warming on U.S. National Parks. He has written and edited several books including A Brief History of Pollution (St. Martins) and Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Tropical Forest Ecosystems (Kluwer). Mr. Markham received his B.Sc. (hons.) from University of Wales at Swansea, where he studied Zoology.
Bill McKibben is one of the leading writers on environmental issues in the nation today. The End of Nature, published in 1989, sounded one of the earliest alarms about global warming; the decade of science since has proved his prescience. Mr. McKibben is also a former staff writer for The New Yorker and a frequent contributor to a wide variety of other publications, including The New York Review of Books, Outside, and The New York Times.
