Stanford University climate scientist Stephen Schneider died today at the age of 65. Andy Revkin has posted a brief account of Schneider's critical contributions to climate science and policy. And the Washington Post has this:
In 1992, he received a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation for his research.
"Steve, more than anything, whether you agreed with him or not, forced us to confront this real possibility of climate change," Jeff Koseff, Schneider's colleague at Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment, said in a statement.
Schneider also was a leader in research seeking to quantify future effects of climate change on various areas - from the insurance industry to farming - to help guide policy decisions, said Ralph Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences.
Throughout his career, Schneider was one of the world's most influential and public-minded climate scientists, contributing significantly not only to the emergence of the scientific consensus -- he was a leading member of the IPCC -- but to communicating the complexity of the science to the general public and to policy makers.
I heard Schneider speak on climate change when I was in graduate school in the late 1980s. What I was most impressed by was his ability to communicate clearly the concept of scientific uncertainty, and what it meant for public policy. In essence, he explained -- in no uncertain terms! -- that scientific research always entailed uncertainty, and that in fact science advances by defining the degree of uncertainty with greater precision. In the case of complex, long-term phenomena like climate change, uncertainty unavoidably enters into the public policy arena. Scientists, officials, and citizens must have a clear undertsnding of uncertainty as they shape policy. Needless to say, these are concepts that fall on too many deaf ears.
Schenider himself did not hesitate to shift from scientist to advocate based on his unwillingness to take unnecessary and avoidable risks with the world's climate. He (along with James Hansen and others) was notable in his willingness to act based on his knowledge and his understanding of risk. This became the focus of much of his recent work:
Schneider also was a leader in research seeking to quantify future effects of climate change on various areas - from the insurance industry to farming - to help guide policy decisions, said Ralph Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences.
"In recent years he was most interested in communicating with the general public, and the substance of his work was trying to quantify the odds and the probability of the outcomes of climate change," Cicerone said.
For those of us who are scientifically informed and concerned about climate change, respect for uncertainty and complexity is a mark of our integrity as scientists and critical thinkers in the public arena. For climate deniers, uncertainty and complexity are Achilles' heels, weak points to attack in defense of vested special interests, the status quo, political gain, and corporate power. Stephen Schnider was among our generation's bravest voices in bringing promoting scientifically informed policy, and countering the voices of apathy and denial. Future generations will remember and honor his important contributions in a time of crisis.