— Gerald R. North and Renyi Zhang

Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas

I’d like to thank AGU and the selection committee for awarding me AGU’s Climate Communication Prize. I’d also like to thank my nominators, Jerry North and Renyi Zhang, as well as my many colleagues who have supported my efforts to communicate the threat of climate change. The previous winners of this award include many friends and heroes of mine, so it is humbling to join their ranks. When I communicate, my goal is this: explain to anyone who will listen that climate change is not a scientific problem — thanks to the work of many AGU members, we largely understand what’s going on in the climate system. It’s also not a technical problem — we know how to generate energy without emitting greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Climate change is a political problem. The political elite has prioritized their own future over the future of humanity. That’s why the most important message I convey is that if you care about the climate, you should vote for candidates who share your concern. Gone are the days when being a popular public communicator was a detriment to your career. Most in the scientific community now recognize the crucially important role that communication plays in maintaining public support for science. In fact, I think it can be good for your career. At this point, I’m sure I’m better known for my Twitter feed than for my peer-reviewed publications. To those who want to communicate more about climate science, I have a message: DO IT! With social media, anyone can be a communicator. Find your voice and speak out! But also understand that no single individual will turn the tide of the debate by themselves. Instead, think of your climate communication efforts as being akin to a raindrop falling on a mountain. No individual raindrop will affect the mountain. But enough raindrops, working together, can wear the mountain down. Together, we must wear down the mountain of inaction. Climate change is an irreversible, multigenerational problem. We are in the privileged position of being one of the last, if not the last, generation able to take action to avoid dangerous climate change. We need to ensure that we do so. So please go talk to someone about climate change. — Andrew E. Dessler Texas A&M University College Station, Texas

For his creative and incisive studies of the influences of water and clouds in the climate system.

Andrew E. Dessler, Jose L. Jimenez, Stephen A. Klein, and Athanasios Nenes received 2012 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Awards at the 2012 AGU Fall Meeting, held 3–7 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “research contributions by exceptional mid-career scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences.”  

The Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU awards one of the four Ascent Awards to Professor Andrew E. Dessler of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University for fundamental contributions to the understanding of stratospheric-tropospheric exchange processes and the physics of ozone depletion and for attempts to unravel water vapor and cloud feedbacks in the climate system. In addition, he is commended for his ceaseless work in communicating the science of climate change to the public.

His letters of recommendation speak to his work and “path breaking” and imparting of a “major impact on science and on dissemination.” His work on climate feedbacks is described as “pioneering,” and his accomplishments “have enhanced our understanding and assessment of the intricate play among water vapor, clouds, and surface temperature increase in the Earth’s atmosphere.”

Andrew E. Dessler is well worthy of an Ascent Award and personifies exceptional scientific accomplishments in a field of difficult but important science.

—PETER J. WEBSTER, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

I’d like to thank the Atmospheric Sciences Section Award Committee for this recognition. I’d like to say that I’m humbled to join the illustrious group of former winners, but because this is the first time the award has been given, I leave that platitude for next year’s winners. Most of all, I’d like to acknowledge the entire climate science community. Over the last several decades, thousands of us have devoted our professional lives to studying climate, and the community has done a remarkable job of working out the physics of the problem. Ignored by many, demonized by some, I believe that future generations will look back and say, “They nailed it.” It has been an honor to work with all of you on this problem. —ANDREW E. DESSLER, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station