We Need to Act Fast to Electrify our Transportation Sector
I’m heart sore over the sudden and devastating losses from the recent tornadoes that tore through Kentucky and five other states. Scientists are seeing changes in the location and frequency of tornado...
View ArticleOn International Women’s Day, Acknowledging Toll and Triumphs for Women Leaders
I’m the President of the Union of Concerned Scientists, which is the honor of a lifetime! But I have to admit: my childhood dream was to be a doctor. I fell in love with science early. My Chinese...
View ArticleReconnecting with the Radical Roots of Earth Day
Happy Earth Day! I was only four years old when the first Earth Day took place. But as I began to work on climate change, I found it inspiring to look back at the photos from April 1970 and learn...
View ArticleDo We Really Need New Technology to Fight Climate Change?
I was invited to speak at a panel discussion last Wednesday as part of The Economist’s annual Sustainability Week, titled “What technologies are needed to avert a climate disaster?” True to the theme,...
View ArticleFinding Science, Faith, Hope, and Unity with the Poor People’s Campaign
Last month, 54 years after the historic Poor People’s March on Washington, thousands—including many of my UCS colleagues—gathered in Washington, D.C., for the Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’...
View ArticleDispatch from Greenland: the Courage to Face Climate Change
The sound of Greenlandic is in the air as I board the plane to Kangerlussuaq, my entry point to the world’s largest island and one of the most massive and active ice sheets on the planet. The...
View ArticleThe Paradox of Persistence: Q&A with Global Climate Advocate and Author...
Earlier this fall, I had the honor of facilitating a conversation with author, Indigenous climate activist, and international human rights lawyer Julian Aguon at a stop on his recent book tour,...
View ArticleOur Post-Election Plan for Progress
Yesterday, voters in our deeply polarized country sent a decidedly mixed political message. As of this writing, control of both the US House and Senate remains uncertain. I am now getting ready to...
View ArticleWorking for Science and Justice at COP27
I’ve just arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change—the UN’s annual global climate conference, aka COP27....
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My COP27 Takeaways from Sharm el-Sheikh
For nearly three decades, the United Nations—the world’s preeminent multi-lateral institution working to advance peace, dignity, and equality for a healthy planet—has been bringing together almost...
View ArticleTwo Years After the Insurrection, Democracy and Disinformation Continue to...
Two years ago, a mob defiled the very citadel of US democracy. Lies exploded into violence. And disinformation metastasized into insurrection, with the encouragement and complicity of those who...
View ArticleWe Can’t Control Putin—but Sensible Nuclear Weapons Policies Start at Home
On the eve of the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there’s been a lot of stock-taking. News outlets are tallying up the casualties and the dead, the cities and regions under attack, the...
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Farmers, Scientists, Rock Stars Come Together to Advocate for Climate-Smart...
Last week, hundreds of farmers and their allies from across the country gathered at the Rally for Resilience to advocate for a Food and Farm Bill that confronts the climate crisis head-on. They were...
View ArticleMens Sana, Sana Mundi: Healthy Minds for a Healthy Planet
If there’s one thing I’m hearing over and over again from the activists, teachers, counselors, and fellow parents in my life, it’s that our kids aren’t all right. This observation is backed by the...
View ArticleWe Must Do Right by Farmworkers, Slaughterhouse Workers, and Food Service...
The smell of a chicken processing plant never really leaves you. I remember the sickening aroma so well, even though my last trips to Northwest Arkansas, where the meat and poultry giant Tyson Foods...
View ArticleDanger Season Underscores Need for Strong EPA Power Plant Carbon Standards
As of today, 79% of people in the US have been under extreme weather warnings of some kind or another since May 1. Record-setting heat, heavy rains, and wildfires scientifically linked to climate...
View ArticleThe United States and China Must Collaborate, Not Compete, to Meet Today’s...
My grandfather, Dr. Edward Ching-Te Chao, was a big personality in our family and a legend in his field. A brilliant geologist, he was recruited in the 1940s by the United States Army and then by the...
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One Year After the IRA, UCS Is Hard at Work Bringing Its Benefits to Bear
What I remember most was the shock, then jubilation, among my colleagues at UCS last summer. After months of working to influence the whipsaw negotiations on a federal budget reconciliation bill that...
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A Diverse Federal Scientific Workforce Benefits All of Us
At the Union of Concerned Scientists, one of our top priorities is reminding the public—and at times, the government—that a robust workforce of federal scientists is necessary for representing the...
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Focusing on Science, Justice, and Systemic Solutions at COP28
The twenty-eighth annual United Nations climate summit—or COP28—has begun here in Dubai, UAE, where I’m joining the UCS delegation for another round of international discussions on how we can turn the...
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