Chris Field honored for outstanding climate science communication
Chris Field will receive the 2015 Stephen H. Schneider award for the clear and compelling manner in which he has explained climate change science to the public. The award is named in honor of renowned Stanford climate researcher Stephen Henry Schneider. This year marks the fifth anniversary of Schneider's death.
By
Ker Than
July 21, 2015
Credit: Paul Sakuma/Courtesy of Stanford Woods Institute
Stanford scientist Chris Field has been awarded the fourth annual Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication.
The $15,000 award was bestowed upon Field by Climate One, a special project of the Commonwealth Club of California, the nation’s oldest and largest public affairs forum.
Field, a professor of both biology and earth system science, is the director of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University. He is also the Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies; and a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, the Precourt Institute for Energy and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
Field is also co-chair of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which produced a 2,000-page report in 2012 outlining the current state and fate of the world’s climate. In February, Field was nominated by the United States to serve as the next chair of the IPCC.
The Stephen H. Schneider award is given to a natural scientist who has made extraordinary scientific contributions and communicated that knowledge to a broad public in a clear and compelling fashion. The award was established in honor of renowned Stanford climate researcher Stephen Henry Schneider, who passed away five years ago this week. Schneider was a leader in the creation of the IPCC and was also known as a gifted science communicator.
In a statement, Climate One said that Chris was selected for the award because of his “rare ability to be both a superb scientist and powerful communicator in the mold of Stephen Schneider”.
“It is a real thrill to be to be associated with Steve Schneider’s approach to climate-change science and climate-change communication,” Field said. “We shared a deep commitment to getting the climate-change story right. For so many topics, Steve's insights and tactics continue to be the starting point for sophisticated communication on the climate issue. He was decades ahead of his time.”
Field will receive the award in San Francisco on Tuesday, Dec. 15th at The Commonwealth Club of California.
