EARTHSCAPE DATE: 11/99

State of the Planet Conference

State of the Planet Speaker Bios
(in order of presentation)

Maurice Strong
Chair of the Earth Council and Senior Advisor to both the United Nations and the World Bank, Mr. Strong has forged a distinguished career of international environmental action. Former chief of both Ontario Hydro and Petro-Canada, he has served as Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Coordinator of the UN Office for Emergency Operations in Africa, and was Secretary General of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development. Mr. Strong also served as Secretary General of the UN Conference on the Human Environment and was the first Executive Director of the UN Environment Program in Kenya. Over his career, Mr. Strong has received numerous honors, including the Royal Order of Canada, the Swedish Royal Order of the Polar Star, and 37 honorary doctorates.

George Rupp
President of Columbia University for over six years, Dr. Rupp has dedicated his tenure to enhancing undergraduate education, building rapport with New York City and the communities of the Upper West Side, and enhancing the international orientation of the university. Dr. Rupp came to Columbia from the presidency of Rice University, before which he was Professor and Dean of the Harvard Divinity School. He has authored four books, including Beyond Existentialism and Zen: Religion in a Pluralistic World, and Commitment and Community.

Mikhail Gorbachev
Winner of the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize, Mr. Gorbachev is President of Green Cross International, and founder and President of the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies. He served as General Secretary of the Polit Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991, and as Soviet President from 1990 to 1991.

Kofi Annan
Mr. Annan was appointed Secretary General of the United Nations in 1997, capping a UN career already spanning 35 years. He previously served as Under Secretary General for Peace-keeping Operations, Assistant Secretary General for Human Resource Management, and UN Security Coordinator. As Secretary General, Mr. Annan's primary goal is to engage the member states in a dialogue about the best possible use of the tools of peace keeping, preventative diplomacy and post-conflict peace building. A 1972 Sloan Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a Master's of Science in Management, Mr. Annan also serves as a Trustee of the Institute for the Future.

Bill Baker
As president and CEO of WNET, Channel 13 for the past 12 years, Dr. Baker directs public television's flagship station while pursuing diverse journalistic, educational and personal interests. He carried the Explorer's Club flag to the North Pole in 1983, and traveled to the South Pole while taping a documentary on Antarctica in 1988. A Trustee of the Catholic University of America, he also serves on the boards of the American Polar Society and the Lighthouse Preservation Society. Dr. Baker has received four Emmy awards as a producer, as well as the 1987 Trustees Emmy Award for "outstanding contribution to the advancement of television."

F. Sherwood Rowland
The 1995 Nobel Laureate in chemistry, Dr. Rowland is Donald Bren Research Professor of Chemistry and Earth Systems Science at the University of California, Irvine, where he specializes in global atmospheric chemistry and chemical kinetics. His ongoing research interests include ozone depletion from the degradation of chlorofluorocarbons, and the role that leakage of liquefied petroleum gas plays in producing smog. Dr. Rowland has also received the American Geophysical Union's Revelle Medal and the American Chemical Society's Debye Award, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, as well as a member and past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Wallace Broecker
Dr. Broecker has probed the mysteries of Earth's dynamic environment for over 40 years as a geochemist at Lamont-Doherty. Often called a "grand master of global thinking," he tackles big issues, like whether Earth's climate is susceptible to changes that could threaten habitability. As Newberry Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, Dr. Broecker has also has taught and inspired countless students. In addition to many academic journal articles, he has authored a number of widely used geochemistry textbooks as well as the book, How to Build a Habitable Planet. Dr. Broecker is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the National Medal of Science, as well as the Blue Planet Prize and the Vetlesen Award.

Richard Lindzen
A Sloan Professor of Meteorology at MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Dr. Lindzen is a dynamical meteorologist who studies planetary atmospheres and the mechanics of climate. His current research interests include the role of the tropics in determining mid-latitude weather, and developing observational measures of climate sensitivity. Dr. Lindzen has been awarded the American Geophysical Union's Macelwane Medal and the American Meteorological Society's Meisinger and Charney awards. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

William Clark
Dr. Clark is Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Vice Chair of the University Committee on Environment. A former MacArthur Fellow, his research interests encompass the policy and management issues arising from interactions between human activities and the natural environment, as well as issues related to the critical appraisal of "expert" scientific and technological advice in democratic societies.

James Hansen
Dr. Hansen has directed the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies since 1981, while also serving as an adjunct professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University since 1978. His research interests include the development of three-dimensional global climate models, unraveling the mechanisms of climate change, and projecting the climatic impact of human activity, as well as radiative transfer in and remote sounding of planetary atmospheres. For NASA, Dr. Hansen has served as principal investigator for the photopolarimeter experiments aboard both the Pioneer Venus and Galileo Jupiter orbiters, and for the interannual climate variability portion of the Earth Observing System Interdisciplinary Investigation. In 1996, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Robert Hass
Poet Laureate of the United States from 1995 to 1997, Mr. Hass' books of poetry include Field Guide, Praise and Human Wishes. He also received the National Book Critics Circle Award for his book of essays, Twentieth Century Pleasures. Mr. Hass teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, and is editor of the poetry periodical, The Essential Haiku.

Gale Christianson
Distinguished Professor of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of History at Indiana State University, Dr. Christianson specializes in the history of science and world civilizations. The author of many academic and popular articles, he has also written seven books, including Greenhouse: The 200-Year Story of Global Warming, published last June. Among other awards, Dr. Christianson has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Huntington Library Fellowship and the Loren Eiseley Medal.

Cornelia Dean
As Science Editor at The New York Times, Ms. Dean directs the coverage of science, medical, health and fitness news in both the daily paper and the weekly Science Times section. She also writes for the paper, particularly on matters of coastal ecology, beach erosion and related issues. Ms. Dean wrote Against the Tide: The Battle for America's Beaches, published this year by Columbia University Press. She regularly presents seminars on science and the media and the craft of science writing.

William Clark
Dr. Clark is Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Vice Chair of the University Committee on Environment. A former MacArthur Fellow, his research interests encompass the policy and management issues arising from interactions between human activities and the natural environment, as well as issues related to the critical appraisal of "expert" scientific and technological advice in democratic societies.

Joel Cohen
Director of the Laboratory of Populations at The Rockefeller University since 1975, Dr. Cohen jointly serves as Professor of Populations at Columbia University, where he sits on the faculties of the Earth Institute, the Department of International and Public Affairs, the Center of Environmental Research and Conservation and the Center for Applied Probability. An applied mathematician and former MacArthur Fellow, he has written several books, including How Many People Can the Earth Support?, Food Webs and Niche Space, and Absolute Zero Gravity, a volume of scientific and mathematical humor. Dr. Cohen also serves as a Trustee of the Russell Sage Foundation, and is a member of the American Philosophical Society, as well as other scholarly organizations.

Paul Epstein
Paul Epstein holds a joint appointment on the faculties of the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. As a specialist in tropical public health and emerging diseases, he has worked extensively in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, co-editing an eight-part series entitled "Health and Climate Change," published by The Lancet. In 1996 Dr. Epstein served as primary core author of Human Health and Climate Change, a report of the World Health Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Peter Singer
Newly appointed to the Ira W. DeCamp Professorship of Bioethics at the Princeton University Center for Human Values, Dr. Singer has been a leading proponent of rationalist bioethics since the publication of his book, Animal Liberation, in 1975. Formerly Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Human Bioethics at Monash University in Melbourne, he advocates a philosophical system based on reason, rather than sentiment, self-interest or social conditioning. The author of more than a dozen other thought-provoking books, including Practical Ethics and Rethinking Life and Death, Dr. Singer serves as Foundation President of the International Association of Bioethics.

Robert Kaplan
A contributing editor to The Atlantic Monthly, Mr. Kaplan also writes for The New Republic and has published six best-selling books on international affairs that have been translated into a dozen languages. The Ends of the Earth, An Empire Wilderness: Travels Into America's Future, The Arabists: The Romance of an American Elite and Balkan Ghosts have all earned praise from The New York Times. Mr. Kaplan has reported from over 75 countries during more than 20 years as a freelance journalist, and his essays, such as "The Coming Anarchy" and "Was Democracy Just A Moment," regularly excite debate in the highest circles of government.

Wilfred Beckerman
Dr. Beckerman is an Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College at Oxford University, England, having recently retired there as a Fellow and Tutor in Economics. Previously, he had been Professor and Head of the Department of Political Economy at University College in London. Dr. Beckerman authored Small is Stupid, as well as several other books and numerous academic articles on economics, politics and the environment. Dr. Beckerman has served on the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, and chaired the Academic Panel of Economists for the UK Department of the Environment from 1991 to 1996.

Admiral James Watkins (U.S.N., Retired)
As founding president of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education, Admiral Watkins champions the interests of ocean research institutions worldwide, thus continuing his devotion to both public service and the sea. After capping a 40-year naval career with five years as Chief of Naval Operations for the Reagan administration, he chaired the President's Commission on the AIDS Epidemic and then served as Energy Secretary under the Bush administration, directing the development of the nation's first comprehensive energy strategy.

Ira Flatow
Well known as host of National Public Radio's "Science Friday" program, Mr. Flatow is also the founding president and news director of ScienCentral, Inc., which produces science and technology news for radio, television, and the internet. Mr. Flatow joined NPR in 1971 after receiving his undergraduate degree in engineering, and gaining early experience in broadcast journalism at his college radio station. From 1971 to 1987, he served as science correspondent for NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered."

Marc Reisner
Mr. Reisner is best known as the author of Cadillac Desert, which details the American West's ecologically disastrous dependence on dams and aqueducts in pursuit of an "artificial paradise." Cadillac Desert was made into a four-hour documentary periodically aired on PBS since 1997. Mr. Reisner also authored Game Wars, the true story of an undercover wildlife agent now due for production as a feature film, and co-authored Overtappped Oasis, a prescription for western water policy reform. Co-founder with the Nature Conservancy of the Ricelands Habitat Partnership, he also consults with the Institute for Fisheries Resources and the American Farmland Trust, and is at work on a new book about California's inclination toward natural and manmade disasters.

William O'Keefe
President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, Mr. O'Keefe oversees an organization representing some 400 companies involved in all phases of the oil and natural gas industry, from exploration to retrieval to distribution. He has been with API since 1974 and serves on the boards of the United States Energy Association and the Global Climate Commission.

Alan Meier
Dr. Meier is the building scientist for the Energy Analysis Department of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His research centers on investigating the real and potential energy savings from such conservation measures as efficiency improvements in buildings, the use of standby power modes for electrical appliances, energy test procedures, and the value of so-called "miscellaneous" end use. Dr. Meier has published over 100 papers and articles on efficient building and equipment energy use. He is executive editor of Home Energy Magazine, and editor-in-chief of the journal Energy and Buildings.

Jesse Ausubel
Mr. Ausubel directs the Program for the Human Environment at The Rockefeller University, where he studies industrial ecology, the network of all industrial processes as they may interact with each other and live off each other, a field Mr. Ausubel helped originate. Mr. Ausubel was one of the principal organizers of the first UN World Climate Conference in 1979, and the guest editor and lead author of the 1996 issue of Daedalus, "The Liberation of the Environment." His current work seeks to elaborate the long-range technical vision of a large, prosperous economy with zero or micro-emissions.

Michael M. Crow
Executive Vice Provost of Columbia University and a Professor of Science Policy, Dr. Crow directs the university's research enterprise, technology and innovation transfer operations, strategic initiative and interdisciplinary programs, and an assortment of other special projects. Before coming to Columbia in 1991, he was Director of the Institute for Physical Research and Technology at Iowa State University. Dr. Crow has authored many scholarly articles, and has written or edited several books dealing with research organization management and strategy and the theory and practice of science, technology, and public policy.

Joan Konner
Professor and Dean Emerita of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she served as dean from 1988 to 1997, Ms. Konner began her award-winning career in broadcast journalism at NBC News in 1965. She has written and produced more than 50 documentaries for both public and commercial television. Her work has been honored with 12 Emmys, the George Foster Peabody Award and the Alfred duPont-Columbia University Award. Ms. Konner serves on the boards of the Providence Journal and the Radio-Television News Directors Foundation, and is a Trustee of the Florence and John Schumann Foundation.

Lynn Sykes
A primary contributor to the evolution of plate tectonic theory, Dr. Sykes is Higgins Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University. Committed to the application of basic research to societal needs, he studies seismology with an emphasis on earthquake forecasting and prediction, the seismic character of tectonic plate subduction, and the seismological verification of underground nuclear test-ban treaties. Dr. Sykes has authored more than 130 scientific journal articles; he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has held both Sloan and Guggenheim fellowships, and has received AGU's Macelwane Award, the Public Service Award of the Federation of American Scientists, and the Vetlesen Award.

Dennis Mileti
Dr. Mileti directs the Natural Hazards Research Applications and Information Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he also chairs the Department of Sociology. The author of 100 publications dealing mainly with the societal aspects of emergency preparedness and hazard mitigation, he has chaired both the National Academy of Science's Committee on Natural Disasters and the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Board of Visitors, and served on the Advisory Board on Research at the U.S. Geological Survey. Dr. Mileti's coordination of a recent national project to review the management of natural and related technological hazards led to the publication this year of the book, Disasters by Design: A Reassessment of Natural Hazards in the United States.

Rutherford Platt
Rutherford Platt is Professor of Geography and Planning Law in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he specializes in land and water policy issues. He also holds a J.D. and is a member of the Illinois Bar Association. Dr. Platt has authored several books, including Disasters and Democracy: The Politics of Extreme Natural Events, Land Use and Society, and The Ecological City.

Brenda Bell
A journalist and essayist, Ms. Bell has published articles in National Geographic, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Utne Reader, Bellingham Review and others. Of particular note is her article, "The Liquid Earth," published in the January 1999 issue of The Atlantic Monthly and addressing the general failure of government in dealing with landslide hazards. This failure, Ms. Bell contends, "raises troubling questions about our awareness of the most elemental earth processes, our relationship to the earth, and human nature itself."

Encho Gospodinov
Mr. Gospodinov is head Delegate of the New York Liaison Office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. A native of Bulgaria, he previously served the IFRC in eastern and central Europe as both the Regional Information/Dissemination Delegate and Head of the Regional Delegation. Mr. Gospodinov holds a Master's in journalism and maintains particular interests in history, sociology, western European and American literature, political science, and TV journalism. He was named Bulgarian Journalist of the Year in 1985.

John Mutter
Director of Research and Interim Director of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Dr. Mutter is also a Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University. A student of marine seismology and tectonics, he conducts research into the mechanisms and processes of seafloor spreading, continental extension, and the development of passive continental margins. In addition to having written a number of popular science articles, Dr. Mutter has authored over 70 journal articles, and has traveled the world's oceans during more than 30 research cruises.