The Frog has been quiet for a while. But big things are afoot.
I’m excited and proud to announce I have a new partner on rescuethatfrog.com. Dr. Howard Creel is a scientist and co-worker. Like me, he is not a climatologist, but he has spent a number of years directing substantial attention to developing a scientific understanding of climate change. I first became aware of Howard in 2006, when he organized a series of technical presentations, called Scary Futures, at the company where we both work. Featuring lectures by globally-recognized scientific experts on subjects such as water resources, food production, global pandemics (yes!), and climate change, the series was an eye-opening exploration of how human civilization is straining Earth’s natural systems and resources on multiple fronts, with potentially scary consequences. It may not surprise you that the 2006 lecture on the potential for a global pandemic, probably originating in Asian bats, seems to have been remarkably prescient.
Like I have, Howard has long made a sort of hobby of informing himself about the science of climate change. Unlike me, Howard has actually spent a good bit of his career working on technology for renewable energy. In the photo above, he is speaking at a renewable energy professional conference. The tie he is wearing is a hand-painted tie made by Dr. Lawrence Kazmerski, Executive Director of Science & Technology at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, who does a tie thing.
Howard “walks the walk” — his family home has rooftop solar panels that not only provide renewable energy for his family, but give electricity to the grid when the sun is shining on his roof and they’re not using it all. He loves sharing with me and other friends his solar power output graphs on sunny days. Howard also leads a technical club of scientists and engineers at our workplace that gets together to discuss climate change and technology and societal solutions for its manifestations, and educate other people about those topics.
So, as you can see, this represents a substantial level-up for the Frog Blog.
I know Howard will provide what you have come to expect from rescuethatfrog.com: solid, no-B.S., scientifically referenced information about our changing climate. Read more about Howard and what has inspired him on the About us page. And look for his posts. I know he’s already working on a couple you won’t want to miss.
