Maui. Canada. California. Greece.
Wildfires. Tornadoes. Hurricanes. Droughts. Annual 100-year floods.
Scientists say global heat has put 2023 on track to be Earth’s hottest year on record. As the frequency of weather-related natural disasters increases and the world forecast grows more dismal thanks to climate change, many of us wonder who, if anyone, can save the planet.
Who will bring emissions under control? Who will reduce the world’s carbon footprint? Who will keep our rivers safe, our soil fertile and our air clean? Who will undo the damage humans have done to this planet?
The recent presidential debate illustrates the reticence of many of those who aspire to be in charge to even acknowledge the problem, let alone fix it. So, as we often do when faced with ongoing, complex issues, we look to the youth to a) correct the mistakes of their elders and b) make a better future for their descendants.
Fortunately, the pool of young people eager to make that difference is growing, as evidenced by a rising interest in the study of climatology, meteorology, and environmental and atmospheric sciences. Most important, perhaps, is a growing interest in the study of climate policy, said Allison Michaelis, assistant professor of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.
Michaelis said that while enrollment in the study of meteorology, in terms of weather forecasting, has held steady over the past several years, “we are seeing a growing interest in the study of climate science, climate change and climate policy.”
All of that, she added, is good news, particularly the growing interest in climate policy.
“It’s really important to have well-informed scientists going into the policy realm,” she said.
Trent Ford, Illinois state climatologist with Illinois State Water Survey at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said,
“I have noticed — both in my time as a professor at (Southern Illinois University) in Carbondale and my current position here — a growing interest in climate-related education from students. That does not exclusively manifest as more majors or courses taught in climate science, but more interest in majors and classes that are related to or cover some aspect of climate and biodiversity issues, such as sustainability and renewable energy.”
Similarly, Jessie Choate, senior instructor and academic advisor for the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said that while the majority of the students entering that school’s program as freshmen are interested in severe weather or specifically tornadoes, many of those students “switch their goals through their undergraduate careers to a climate emphasis.”
To accommodate the growing interest, Choate said, the university has started adding more climate courses and has hired a new climate professor. In addition, they will be searching for a new faculty member in climate change as part of a new cluster hire within the category of “Sustainable, Just, and Resilient Society in the face of Environmental and Societal Change.”
“I believe our students are not only aware of the issues facing our climate future, but are committed to working towards a solution,” she said.
Michaelis said climatology is challenging because “we’re studying things we can’t prove. It’s not like a forecast where you make a hypothesis of what’s going to happen tomorrow and then, the very next day, we get to confirm whether or not the hypothesis verified.”
Climate study, she said, is looking at things that are going to happen in 50 to 100 years. “We won’t really know if we’re correct until that time comes to pass,” she said.
“It’s still the same scientific process in that we make hypotheses and then we carry out experiments to verify whether or not those hypotheses are right or wrong. But it’s different in the sense we don’t really use observations to do that; we tend to use these numerical modeling systems instead, where we can go in and tweak the conditions to say, all right, how can this event be different if we make the atmosphere warmer or if we increase the carbon dioxide or if we increase the moisture in the atmosphere,” Michaelis said.
At NIU, she said, research is being conducted on severe conductive storms, such as thunderstorms and super cells, hail and mesoscale conductive systems such as atmospheric rivers and snowstorms.
The university just introduced a new climate emphasis into its undergraduate curricula, Michaelis said. “I know other meteorologic and atmospheric science programs have also added more curricula on climate and additional faculty with specific climate expertise,” she said.
Even though the curriculum is already packed with required courses, it has the flexibility to offer seminar courses with a climate focus and to tie climate aspects into standard classes.
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How concerned is Michaelis, who teaches a course called “Climate Change, Science Impacts and Mitigation,” about the future of the planet?
“Very,” she said. She went into meteorology for two reasons. The Superstorm of 1993 that hit her hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina, on her birthday. And, “I was (and still am) scared of severe weather, and wanted to learn as much as I could to be better informed and prepared.
“It’s hard sometimes being in the thick of the research. It’s fun and exciting to run these experiments but then there’s the other side of it: This is real life, these are things that really might happen and this affects so many people. So, this is a really important place to be in this changing time and changing climate of doing our best to put out high impact scientific research so that we can then convey and get that knowledge out to people who can really make policy decisions on how to hopefully fix or mitigate what’s going on,” she said.
It helps, she added, knowing that the university is engaged in researching solutions.
“There’s a lot of really good stuff that we’re working on here,” she said. “From a scientist’s perspective, we’re doing everything we can, or a lot that we can, within the confines that we can. And we really are trying to educate the next generation on not just the foundations of weather and forecasting but also applied climatology.”
While the scientists do their part, there are plenty of things regular folks can do to reduce their carbon footprint, she said, such as reducing waste and turning off lights when you leave a room.
“I know we fall into trap of I’m just one person, what difference could I possibly make, but if everybody thinks that, of course, the future is going to be bleak,” Michaelis said.
Do what you can. And, of course, demand our leaders and policymakers to do the same.
Donna Vickroy is an award-winning reporter, editor and columnist who worked for the Daily Southtown for 38 years.