Professor Don Wuebbles educates an audience beyond University students. 

A leader in the atmospheric science community, Wuebbles travels the country teaching the public and Congress about climate change. 

“I try to make (people) understand that this is very important to them and that they should be concerned about the effects on their own lives,” Wuebbles said. “But they should also be particularly concerned about the effects on their children and their grandchildren, because it’s only going to get much worse.”

Wuebbles spoke to attendees of the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Chicago about research challenges in climate change on Saturday.

Wuebbles organized the session and planned on bringing six speakers. Because of the snowstorm on the East Coast, some of his speakers were unable to attend.

“The assessment provides the basis for looking at where we’re at in science of climate change, and where are we going … where should we be by time want to do another assessment?” he said, referring to the Fifth Assessment Report of climate change in which he was a Coordinating Lead Author.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change commissioned the assessment. They recently released The Working Group I Assessment Report 5. 

Wuebbles spoke to an audience of about 100 members of the science community and press about the results of that assessment, but he focused on the results of the U.S. National Climate Change Assessment.

The results show the global temperature is warming, and scientists think occurrences of severe weather such as floods and droughts are likely to increase due to climate change.

When people ask Wuebbles if he believes in climate change, he responds that he doesn’t believe in climate change, but rather he knows the climate is changing.  

“There is no debate. Our assessments are peer reviewed documents,” Wuebbles said. “Over 97 percent of articles and peer reviewed assessments all agree this is a major issue. The few that don’t say that are proven to be incorrect very quickly.”

Wuebbles is a Fellow of the AAAS, as well as a variety of other organizations, including the American Meteorological Society. 

The American Meteorological Society recently awarded Wuebbles with the Cleveland Abbe Award for Distinguished Service to Atmospheric Science for his “tireless and highly effective contributions to society through rigorous scientific analysis and distinguished public engagement.”

“That means your peers have selected you for your knowledge and accomplishments. It’s really a special thing,” Wuebbles said.

Wuebbles is a leader in the atmospheric science community and has written over 400 scientific articles and has won a variety of awards for his work. 

As a member of the IPCC, he shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with members of the panel and Al Gore. Wuebbles’ certificate is displayed in his office.

Atmospheric science professor Eric Snodgrass agrees that Wuebbles, who began teaching at the University in 1994, is tireless in his work. Regardless of his accomplishments, however, Wuebbles remains grounded. 

“We have two entirely different ways in which we reach the world about the stuff that we do,” Snodgrass said. “While his interactions often deal with Congress and the President and big groups of people the world would call important, my interactions are with students, who I call important. And he sees us as equals, which is one of the things I really like about him.” 

One of Wuebbles’ public engagements is traveling to Washington D.C. to brief Congress on developments in climate change research.

“They usually want to know about a particular topic, but … the last time I visited the Senate, they wanted to know about severe weather and if that is related to the climate changing, and the answer is clearly yes,” Wuebbles said.

Although Wuebbles travels across the country giving talks about climate change, he still finds time to work with his doctoral candidates.

“He’s always very responsive and will call you if you need to have a meeting or need help with anything,” Janssen said.

Wuebbles is in his mid-60s, but he has no plans to retire yet because he is “having too much fun to retire.”

“The reason I’m here in the first place, doing what I do, is because God gave me the talent to do what I do — studying science,” Wuebbles said. “And I want to think back to how can I apply that talent to understanding how we are affecting the world around us and how is it impacting humanity.”

Angelica can be reached at [email protected].