Katharine Hayhoe is a highly regarded climate scientist. She’s a professor in Texas Tech’s Department of Political Science and director of the university’s Climate Center. In recent years, she’s been named to many prominent lists for her work researching climate change and communicating the direness of the Earth’s warming.
Last week, she was named a United Nations Champion of the Earth, an award established by the UN in 2005 to recognize individuals, groups and institutions taking action to improve the world. Hayhoe won in the science and innovation category, which honors individuals or organizations who advance efforts through technology and science for environmental benefit.
“I’m tremendously honored to be recognized by the United Nations in this way, but I really feel that this is a recognition or all of us who have recognized that it’s more than just studying this issue we have to talk about this issue we have to stick our heads out of the ivory tower and tell people it is real we really have checked. It is serious we know it’s getting worse the window of time to fix it is closing fast. The time to act is now. I’m sort of hoping it comes with a sword or at least a Captain Marvel outfit because I think I’m going to need it.”
Hayhoe is a big believer in people everywhere having conversations with others about climate change, a point she made in her recent TED Talk.
“So my TED Talk came out last December and this past May I was in the UK to give a lecture and man came up to me afterwards and he said I live in a little town about an hour and a half north east of London. We have about a hundred and fifty thousand people in our town and after I watched your TED Talk I decided to have conversations. Would you like to see the list of all the people I talked to? So, I said of course I’d love to. So he reached into his bag and I expected him to pull out maybe fifty or a hundred names. He pulls out a stack of paper with over ten-thousand names on it and he said because of these ten-thousand conversations we have had in just five months our town has declared a climate emergency. That is the power of a single conversation.”
Hayhoe says every voice speaking out in defense of the planet matters, and age isn’t a disqualifier. Teens like Sweden’s Greta Thunberg, who Hayhoe has spoken with, can educate and mobilize as well as adults.
“Greta and all of the children who are striking here in the US and around the world are showing us that no one is too small to matter; that single voices can make a difference and that’s a message of hope and encouragement for us all.”
Hayhoe, a native of Canada and an evangelical Christian, was lead author on many climate reports including the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s Second, Third and Fourth National Climate Assessments. She was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in 2014, Fortune’s 50 Greatest World Leaders and listed among Foreign Policy’s 100 Global Thinkers in both 2014 and 2019.
Hayhoe, who also was awarded the eighth Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication in 2018, says tools to address the climate crisis exist. But one thing is missing.
“At this point we really don’ t need more science to tell us what’s happening and we don’t even necessarily need creative knew solutions though they’re always welcome. Most of the technology we need is in our hands today. What we lack is the will to implement it.”
Hayhoe drew a comparison to Pascal’s Wager. It posits that if you believe in God and there turns out to not be one, nothing is lost. But if you don’t believe in a God and you’re wrong, there is everything to lose.
“Blaise Pascal was a scientist and a man of faith and I believe the if he were alive today he would apply his wager to climate change. What if we can transition to clean energy that provides abundant energy for all without polluting our air and our water? What do we have to lose? On the other hand, what if we say oh climate isn’t changing or humans aren’t responsible we have everything to lose. Not our planet. Our planet will survive. The question is will our civilization.”
Hayhoe says taking steps to pull back on activities that are causing climate change will cause some disruption. She foresees the balance of wealth and power worldwide being altered as individuals and countries wean themselves off of fossil fuels.