America's Climate Choices

Consensus

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Climate change is occurring. It is very likely caused by the emission of greenhouse gases from human activities, and poses significant risks for a range of human and natural systems. And these emissions continue to increase, which will result in further change and greater risks.

America's Climate Choices makes the case that the environmental, economic, and humanitarian risks posed by climate change indicate a pressing need for substantial action now to limit the magnitude of climate change and to prepare for adapting to its impacts. Although there is some uncertainty about future risk, acting now will reduce the risks posed by climate change and the pressure to make larger, more rapid, and potentially more expensive reductions later. Most actions taken to reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts are common sense investments that will offer protection against natural climate variations and extreme events. In addition, crucial investment decisions made now about equipment and infrastructure can "lock in" commitments to greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come. Finally, while it may be possible to scale back or reverse many responses to climate change, it is difficult or impossible to "undo" climate change, once manifested.

Current efforts of local, state, and private-sector actors are important, but not likely to yield progress comparable to what could be achieved with the addition of strong federal policies that establish coherent national goals and incentives, and that promote strong U.S. engagement in international-level response efforts. The inherent complexities and uncertainties of climate change are best met by applying an iterative risk management framework and making efforts to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions; prepare for adapting to impacts; invest in scientific research, technology development, and information systems; and facilitate engagement between scientific and technical experts and the many types of stakeholders making America's climate choices.

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Publication information

134 pages · 7 x 10 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-14585-6
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-14586-4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/12781

Suggested citation

National Research Council. 2011. America's Climate Choices. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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Albert Carnesale

Albert Carnesale is Chancellor Emeritus and Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He was Chancellor of the University from 1997 through 2006, and now serves as Professor of Public Policy and of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
His research and teaching focus on public policy issues having substantial scientific and technological dimensions, and he is the author or co-author of six books and more than 100 articles on a wide range of subjects, including national security strategy, arms control, nuclear proliferation, the effects of technological change on foreign and defense policy, domestic and international energy issues, and higher education. He chairs the National Academies Committees on Conventional Prompt Global Strike Capability and on Nuclear Forensics. In addition, he is a member of the FBI Director’s Advisory Board on National Security and Higher Education; the Mission Committees of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Los Alamos National Laboratory; the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Terrorism, Proliferation and Weapons of Mass Destruction; the Board of Directors of Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; and the Advisory Board of the RAND Corporation’s Center for Global Risk and Security. Prior to joining UCLA, he was at Harvard for 23 years, serving as Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Public Policy and Administration, Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Provost of the University. Before that, he served in government and in industry. Dr. Carnesale holds bachelor’s and master's degrees in mechanical engineering and a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

William L. Chameides

William Chameides is the Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, as position he has held since 2007. Prior to joining Duke he spent 3 years as the chief scientist of the Environmental Defense Fund, following more than 30 years in academia as a professor, researcher, teacher, and mentor. Chameides’ research focuses on the atmospheric sciences, elucidating the causes of and remedies for global, regional, and urban environmental change and identifying pathways towards a more sustainable future. Specifically his research helped lay the groundwork for our understanding of the photochemistry of the lower atmosphere, elucidated the importance of nitrogen oxides emission controls in the mitigation of urban and regional photochemical smog, and the impact of regional air pollution on global food production. He has led two major, multi-institutional research projects: the Southern Oxidants Study, a research program focused on understanding the causes and remedies for air pollution in the Southern United States; and CHINA-MAP, an international research program studying the effects of environmental change on agriculture in China. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, fellow of the American Geophysical Union and recipient of the American Geophysical Union’s MacElwane Award. Chameides has served on numerous national and international committees and task forces and in recognition was named a National Associate of the National Academies for “extraordinary service.”

Donald F. Boesch

Donald F. Boesch is a Professor of Marine Science and President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. He also leads the University System's Environmental Sustainability Initiative as Vice Chancellor for Environmental Sustainability. Boesch is a biological oceanographer who has conducted research in coastal and continental shelf environments along the Atlantic Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico, eastern Australia and the East China Sea. He has published two books and more than 85 papers on marine benthos, estuaries, wetlands, continental shelves, oil pollution, nutrient over-enrichment, environmental assessment and monitoring and science policy. Presently his research focuses on the use of science in ecosystem management, and he is active in extending knowledge to environmental and resource management at regional, national and international levels. Boesch has served as science advisor to many state and federal agencies and regional, national and international programs, and has chaired numerous committees and scientific assessment teams that have produced reports on a wide variety of coastal environmental and climate change issues. A native of New Orleans, Boesch received his B.S. from Tulane University and Ph.D. from the College of William & Mary. He was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Queensland and subsequently served on the faculty of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. In 1980 he became the first Executive Director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, where he was also a Professor of Marine Science at Louisiana State University. He assumed his present position in Maryland in 1990.

Marilyn A. Brown

Dr. Marilyn A. Brown is an endowed Professor of Energy Policy in the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology, which she joined in 2006 after a distinguished career at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. At ORNL, she held various leadership positions and co-led the report, Scenarios for a Clean Energy Future, which remains a cornerstone of engineering-economic analysis of low-carbon energy options for the United States. Her research interests encompass the design of energy and climate policies, issues surrounding the commercialization of new technologies, and methods for evaluating sustainable energy programs and policies. Dr. Brown has authored more than 200 publications including a recently published book on Energy and American Society: Thirteen Myths and a forthcoming book, Climate Change and Energy Security. Dr. Brown has been an expert witness in hearings before Committees of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and she participates on several National Academies Boards and Committees. Dr. Brown has a Ph.D. in Geography from the Ohio State University, a Masters Degree in Resource Planning from the University of Massachusetts and is a Certified Energy Manager.

Jonathan Z. Cannon

Jonathan Cannon is Professor of Law and Director of the University of Virginia Law School's Environmental and Land Use Law Program. Prior to joining the Law School faculty in 1998, he was at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where he served as General Counsel from 1995 to 1998 and as Assistant Administrator for Administration and Resources Management from 1992 to 1995. He also held senior management positions at EPA from 1986-1990. Prior to his work with the EPA, Cannon was in the private practice of environmental law. He has written widely in environmental law and policy, with an emphasis on institutional design and adaptive management. He received his J.D. from University of Pennsylvania Law School and his B.A. from Williams College.

Thomas Dietz

Thomas Dietz is Assistant Vice President for Environmental Research, Director of the Environmental Science and Policy Program, and Professor of Sociology and Crop and Soil Sciences at Michigan State University. His current research examines the human driving forces of environmental change, environmental values and the interplay between science and democracy in environmental issues. Dietz is also an active participant in the Ecological and Cultural Change Studies Group at MSU. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has been awarded the Sustainability Science Award of the Ecological Society of America, the Distinguished Contribution Award of the American Sociological Association Section on Environment, Technology and Society, and the Outstanding Publication Award, also from the American Sociological Association Section on Environment, Technology and Society. He has chaired and served on numerous National Academies panels and committees, including the Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change, and currently sits on the Steering Committee for the Climate Change Exhibition at the Koshland Science Museum. He holds a Bachelor of General Studies degree from Kent State and a PhD in Ecology from the University of California at Davis.

George C. Eads

Dr. George C. Eads is a Senior Consultant of CRA International. Prior to joining CRA in 1995, he held several positions at General Motors (GM) Corporation, including Vice President and Chief Economist; Vice President, Worldwide Economic and Market Analysis Staff; and Vice President, Product Planning and Economics Staff. Before joining GM, Dr. Eads was Dean of the School of Public Affairs at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he also was a Professor. Before that, he served as a Member of President Carter's Council of Economic Advisors. He has been involved in numerous projects concerning transport and energy. In 1994 and 1995, he was a member of President Clinton’s policy dialogue on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from personal motor vehicles. He co-authored the World Energy Council's 1998 Report, Global Transport and Energy Development -- The Scope for Change. Over the past four years, Dr. Eads devoted most of his time to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development's Sustainable Mobility Project, a project funded and carried out by 12 leading international automotive and energy companies. Dr. Eads is a member of the Presidents' Circle at the National Academies. He is an at-large Director of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He received a Ph.D. degree in economics from Yale University. He is currently participating in TRB study on “Potential Greenhouse Gas Reductions from Transportation” and recently completed service on the TRB study on “Climate Change and U.S. Transportation”.

Robert W. Fri

Robert Fri is a visiting scholar and senior fellow emeritus at Resources for the Future, a nonprofit organization that studies natural resource and environmental issues. He has served as director of the National Museum of Natural History, president of Resources for the Future, and deputy administrator of both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Research and Development Administration. Fri has been director of American Electric Power Company; vice-chair and a director of the Electric Power Research Institute; a trustee and vice-chair of Science Service, Inc.; and a member of the National Petroleum Council. He is active with the National Academies, where he is National Associate, vice-chair of the Board on Energy and Environmental Systems, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Marion E. Koshland Science Museum. He has chaired studies for the National Research Council on the health standards for the Yucca Mountain repository and on estimating the benefits of applied research programs at the Department of Energy. He currently chairs a study to evaluate the nuclear energy research program at DOE. Fri received his B.A. in physics from Rice University and his M.B.A. from Harvard University, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi.

James E. Geringer

James E. "Jim" Geringer was the 30th Governor of Wyoming. From 1967 to 1977, he served in the United States Air Force. After retiring from the Air Force, he worked at the Missouri Basin Power Project's Laramie River Station from 1977 to 1979. During that time, he went into farming and cattle feeding, eventually buying his own farm. In 1982, Geringer successfully ran as a Republican for a seat in the Wyoming House of Representatives. After serving there for six years, he won a seat in the Wyoming Senate. In 1994, State Senator Geringer was elected as Wyoming's governor. Geringer was generally a conservative throughout his political career. As governor, he helped pass laws that regulated class action lawsuits, reformed bankruptcy laws, toughened crime laws, legalized charter schools, and lowered taxes. However, he broke with the Republican Party in supporting environmental rulings and the Equal Rights Amendment.After serving as governor, he joined Redlands, Calif., Environmental Systems Research Institute as director of policy and public sector strategies. Geringer is one of the founding governors of Western Governors University (WGU) and is currently chairman of the WGU Board of Trustees. He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Kansas State University.

Dennis L. Hartmann

Dennis L. Hartmann is currently Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Senior Fellow and Council Member of the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean at the University of Washington. His research interests include dynamics of the atmosphere, atmosphere-ocean interaction, and climate change. His current research includes the study of climate feedback processes involving clouds and water vapor, which is approached using remote sensing data, in situ data and models, and attempts to take into account radiative, dynamical, and cloud-physical processes. Dr. Hartmann is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has served on numerous advisory, editorial and review boards for NSF, NASA and NOAA, and on multiple NRC committees, including the Committee on Climate Change Feedbacks (chair), Climate Research Committee, and Committee on Earth Sciences. He currently serves on the Board of Reviewing Editors for the magazine Science and is co-editor of the International Geophysics Series of Academic Press. Dr. Hartmann received his Ph.D. in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics from Princeton University.

Charles O. Holliday, Jr.

Charles O. Holliday Jr., is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of DuPont. Prior to becoming DuPont’s CEO on February 1, 1998 and chairman on January 1, 1999, Mr. Holliday, rose through manufacturing positions; led DuPont’s global Nomex® and Kevlar® businesses; and, from 1990 until 1997, served in a series of leadership positions in Asia culminating with his appointment as chairman of Asia Pacific. He was elected president of DuPont in 1997. Mr. Holliday started at DuPont in the summer of 1970 at the company's Old Hickory site after receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Tennessee. He is a licensed Professional Engineer.

Mr. Holliday is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, and he is past chairman of: the Business Roundtable's Task Force for Environment, Technology and Economy; the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD); The Business Council; and the Society of Chemical Industry – American Section. Mr. Holliday serves on the board of directors of Deere & Co. and is chair of the board of directors of Catalyst. In addition, he is chairman of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness and is a founding member of the International Business Council. He co-authored Walking the Talk book which details the business case for sustainable development and corporate responsibility.

Diana M. Liverman

Diana Liverman holds joint appointments between Oxford University (as Senior Research Fellow in the Environmental Change Institute - ECI) and the University of Arizona (where she co-directs the Institute of the Environment). Her research has focused on the human dimensions of global environmental change, including climate impacts, governance and policy; climate and development; and the political ecology of environment, land use and development in Latin America. She has current projects on climate vulnerability and adaptation, climate impacts on food systems, and carbon offsets, and has interest in connecting research to stakeholders and climate science to the arts and creative sector. She has led or coordinated major research programs for the Tyndall Center for Climate Change, the James Martin 21st Century School at Oxford, the Global Environmental Change and Food Systems project (GECAFS), the UK Climate Impacts Program, and the Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS). Her advisory roles have included the NRC Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (chair) and the scientific advisory committees for the InterAmerican Institute (IAI) for Global Change (co-chair). She has a BA in Geography from University College London, an MA from the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. from UCLA.

Pamela A. Matson

Pamela A. Matson (NAS) is Chester Naramore Dean of the School of Earth Sciences at Stanford University. She is also the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor of Environmental Studies and senior fellow in the Woods Institute of Environment and Sustainability. Her research focuses on biogeochemical cycling and biosphere-atmosphere interactions in tropical forests and agricultural systems. Together with hydrologists, atmospheric scientists, economists and agronomists, Matson analyzes the economic drivers and environmental consequences of land use and resource use decisions in developing world agricultural and natural ecosystems, with the objective of identifying practices that are economically and environmentally sustainable. With her students, she also evaluates the response of tropical forests to nitrogen deposition and climate changes. Matson joined the Stanford faculty in 1997, following positions as professor at UC Berkeley and research scientist at NASA. She is a past President of the Ecological Society of America, currently serves on the board of trustees of the World Wildlife Fund, and until recently was the chair of the National Academies’ Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992 and to the National Academy of Sciences in 1994. In 1995, Dr. Matson was selected as a MacArthur Fellow, and in 1997 was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2002 she was named the Burton and Deedee McMurtry University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford. She earned her B.S. at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, M.S. at Indiana University, and Ph.D. at Oregon State University.

Peter H. Raven

Peter H. Raven, President of the Missouri Botanical Garden, is one of the world’s leading botanists and advocates of conservation and biodiversity. He received the National Medal of Science, the highest award for scientific accomplishment in the United States, in December 2000. Raven has also received numerous other prizes and awards, including the Society for Conservation Biology Distinguished Service Award and the Peter H. Raven Award for Scientific Outreach, which was created to honor him. He also received the prestigious International Prize for Biology from the government of Japan; Environmental Prize of the Institute de la Vie; Volvo Environment Prize; the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, the Sasakawa Environment Prize, and has held Guggenheim and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowships. Described by Time magazine as a “Hero for the Planet,” Raven champions research around the world to preserve endangered plants and is a leading advocate for conservation and a sustainable environment. For three decades Raven has headed the Missouri Botanical Garden, an institution he nurtured to a world-class center for botanical research, education and horticulture display. He is also the Engleman Professor of Botany at Washington University in St. Louis, Chairman of the National Geographic Society’s Committee for Research and Exploration, and previously served as President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and as a member of the President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology. He served for 12 years as Home Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences, is a member of the academies of science in Argentina, China, India, Italy, Russia, and several other countries; belongs to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement. He was first Chair of the U. S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation, a government-established organization that funds joint research with the independent countries of the former Soviet Union. Raven received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1960 after completing his undergraduate work at the University of California, Berkeley. He has received honorary degrees from universities in this country and throughout the world.

Richard L. Schmalensee

Richard L. Schmalensee is the Howard W. Johnson Professor of Economics and Management. He served as the John C Head III Dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management from 1998 through 2007. He was as a Member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1989 through 1991 and Deputy Dean of MIT Sloan from 1996 through 1998. Professor Schmalensee is the author or co-author of 11 books and over 110 articles in professional journals and books, and he is co-editor of volumes I and II of the Handbook of Industrial Organization. His research has centered on industrial organization economics and its application to managerial and public policy issues, with particular emphasis on antitrust, regulatory, and environmental policies. His recent work has focused on two-sided, platform businesses. Professor Schmalensee is a member of the International Academy of Management and the National Commission on Energy Policy and a fellow of the Econometric Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a Director of the International Securities Exchange and the International Data Group, and Editor in Chief of Competition Policy Internationals. Schmalensee received his S.B. and Ph.D. in Economics from MIT.

Philip R. Sharp

Philip R. Sharp became President of Resources for the Future on September 1, 2005. His career in public service includes ten terms as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana, beginning in 1975. He was a driving force behind the Energy Policy Act of 1992. He also also helped to develop a critical part of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, providing for a market-based emissions allowance trading system. After leaving Congress, he served on the faculty of the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Institute of Politics at Harvard University from 1995 to 2005. Sharp was Congressional chair of the National Commission on Energy Policy (2004), the National Research Council's Committee on Effectiveness and Impact of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards (2001), and chair of the Secretary of Energy's Electric Systems Reliability Task Force (1998). Sharp is co-chair of the Energy Board of the Keystone Center and serves on the Board of Directors of the Duke Energy Corporation and the Energy Foundation. He is also a member of the Cummins Science and Technology Advisory Council and serves on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) and on the MIT Energy Initiative External Advisory Board. He served on the Board of Directors of the Cinergy Corporation from 1995-2006, on the Board of the Electric Power Research Institute from 2002-2006, and on the National Research Council's Board of Energy and Environmental Systems (BEES) from 2001-2007. In addition, he chaired advisory committees for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studies on the future of nuclear power and the future of coal. Before accepting the RFF presidency, Sharp was senior policy advisor to the Washington law firm of Van Ness Feldman, and a senior advisor to the Cambridge economic analysis firm of Lexecon/FTI. Prior to his service in Congress, Sharp taught political science at Ball State University from 1969 to 1974. Sharp graduated cum laude from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in 1964, and received his Ph.D. in government from Georgetown in 1974.

Peggy M. Shepard

Peggy M. Shepard is executive director and co-founder of WE ACT for Environmental Justice. Founded in 1988, WE ACT was New York’s first environmental justice organization created to improve environmental health and quality of life in communities of color. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her leadership and advocacy, including the 10th Annual Heinz Award for the Environment and the 2008 Jane Jacobs Medal for Lifetime Achievement. She is a former Democratic District Leader, who represented West Harlem from 1985 to April 1993, and served as President of the National Women’s Political Caucus-Manhattan from 1993-1997. From January 2001-2003, Ms Shepard served as the first female chair of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and is co-chair of the Northeast Environmental Justice Network. She is a former member of the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council of the National Institutes of Health and a member of the Environmental Justice Advisory Committee to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. Ms. Shephard is a former journalist, and was a reporter for The Indianapolis News, a copy editor for The San Juan Star, and a researcher for Time-Life Books. She has served as an editor at Redbook, Essence, and Black Enterprise magazines. Ms. Shepard began a career in government as a speechwriter for the New York State Division of Housing & Community Renewal and Director of Public Information for Rent Administration. She served as the Women’s Outreach Coordinator for the New York City Comptroller’s Office. Ms. Shepard is a board member of the national and NYS Leagues of Conservation Voters, Environmental Defense, NY Earth Day, Citizen Action of NY, the Children’s Environmental Health Network, and Healthy Schools Network, Inc. She is an advisory board member of the Bellevue Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic; the Harlem Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; and Mt. Sinai’s Children’s Environmental Health Center. She is a graduate of Howard University and Solebury and Newtown Friends Schools.

Robert H. Socolow

Robert H. Socolow is a Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, where he teaches in both the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He was the Director of the University’s Center for Energy and Environmental Studies from 1979 to 1997. His current research focuses on the characteristics of a global energy system that would be responsive to global and local environmental and security constraints. His specific areas of interest include the capture of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels and its storage in geological formations, nuclear power, energy efficiency in buildings, and the accelerated deployment of advanced technologies in developing countries. He was editor of Annual Review of Energy and the Environment from 1992 to 2002. He is a National Associate of the U.S. National Academies and a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was awarded the 2003 Leo Szilard Lectureship Award by the American Physical Society and received the 2005 Axel Axelson Johnson Commemorative Lecture award from the Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden. Socolow earned a B.A. in 1959 and Ph.D. in theoretical high energy physics in 1964 from Harvard University.

Susan Solomon

Susan Solomon (NAS) is a Senior Scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado. She made some of the first measurements in the Antarctic that showed that chlorofluorocarbons were responsible for the stratospheric ozone hole, and she pioneered the theoretical understanding of the surface chemistry that causes it. In March 2000, she received the National Medal of Science, the United States' highest scientific honor, for "key insights in explaining the cause of the Antarctic ozone hole." She is also a recipient of the Blue Planet Prize, the Lemaitre prize, the Rossby Medal of the American Meteorological Society and the Bowie Medal of the American Geophysical Union. Her current research focuses on chemistry-climate coupling, and she served as co-chair of Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which seeks to provide scientific information to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Solomon was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1992. She is also a foreign associate of the Academie des Sciences in France and the Royal Society of London. She received her Ph.D. degree in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1981.

Bjorn Stigson

Bjorn Stigson is President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. He began his career as Financial Analyst with the Swedish Kockums Group. From 1971-82, he worked for ESAB, an international supplier of welding equipment, in different positions, being responsible for finance, operations and marketing. In 1983 he became President and CEO of the Fläkt Group, a company listed on the Stockholm stock exchange and the world leader in environmental control technology. Following the acquisition of Fläkt by ABB, in 1991 he became Executive Vice President and a member of ABB Asea Brown Boveri’s Executive Management Group. From 1993-94 he ran his own management consultancy. In 1995 he was appointed President of the WBCSD, a coalition of some 200 leading international corporations. He now serves on the boards of or on committees advising the Chinese government, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the Clinton Global Initiative and the Global Reporting Initiative. He is a graduate of the Gothenburg School of Business Administration, the Swedish Management Institute and Harvard Business School.

Thomas J. Wilbanks

Thomas J. Wilbanks is a Corporate Research Fellow at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and leads the Laboratory’s Global Change and Developing Country Programs. A past President of the Association of American Geographers, he conducts research on such issues as sustainable development, energy and environmental technology and policy, responses to global climate change, and the role of geographical scale in all of these regards. Wilbanks has won the James R. Anderson Medal of Honor in Applied Geography, has been awarded Honors by the Association of American Geographers, geography's highest honor, was named Distinguished Geography Educator of the year in 1993 by the National Geographic Society, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Co-edited recent books include Global Change and Local Places (2003), Geographical Dimensions of Terrorism (2003), and Bridging Scales and Knowledge Systems: Linking Global Science and Local Knowledge (2006). Wilbanks is Chair of the National Research Council’s Committee on Human Dimensions of Global Change and a member of a number of other NAS/NRC boards and panels. In recent years, he has been Coordinating Lead Author for the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report, Working Group II, Chapter 7 (Industry, Settlement, and Society), Coordinating Lead Author for the Climate Change Science Program’s Synthesis and Assessment Product (SAP) 4.5 (Effects of Climate Change on Energy Production and Use in the United States), and Lead Author for one of three sections (Effects of Global Change on Human Settlements) of SAP 4.6 (Effects of Global Change on Human Health and Welfare and Human Systems). Wilbanks received his B.A. degree in social sciences from Trinity University in 1960 and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in geography from Syracuse University in 1967 and 1969.

Peter Zandan

Peter Zandan is chairman of EarthSky, a digital media company advocating science as a vital voice in 21st century decision-making. He is also senior advisor for Public Strategies, Inc., where he directs strategic initiatives and the research practice group. Peter has helped to launch, lead and fund numerous business and nonprofit ventures including: IntelliQuest Information Group (IQST NASDAQ), the world’s fastest growing market research firm in the 1990s; Zilliant, a venture-backed software company; and Evaluation Software Publishing, a K-12 education data analysis software and consulting firm. Peter has also served as a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is a lifetime member of the advisory board of the McCombs Graduate School of Business. He has been selected by Interactive Week as one of the “Unsung Heroes of the Internet” and awarded Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year.” He also serves on the management committee of the Explorers Club in New York City. He has been active in community organizations including Austin’s public television station, St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, and Austin’s 360 Summit. For his community activities, he has been recognized by the Austin American Statesman as a “Hero of Democracy,” by the Austin Chronicle as “Best Local Visionary,” and by Austin’s leading environmental group as “Soul of the City.” Peter received his M.B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.

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