[Amy Lynd Luers ’88]
An environmental scientist and California’s climate manager with the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), Amy Lynd Luers ’88 has co-authored a landmark study—Our Changing Climate: Assessing the Risks to California—that has led to California enacting the toughest global warming legislation in the United States.
Luers spends a lot of time thinking about ways that California and the U.S. can strengthen their policies on the environment and global warming, and she recently talked about her background and shared her wisdom with Middlebury Magazine.
On finding a career in science and the environment
I’ve always been science-oriented and contemplated studying physics, but I ended up majoring in philosophy. At Middlebury, I’m not sure I had a career path laid out. I was always into the outdoors. I knew it was going to be something related to the environment.
Right after Middlebury, I went to Nicaragua. I spent a bunch of years working on a drinking-water system. ... Nicaragua was my base for three years. I would live there and come back to raise money.
On her job now
I do a combination of science and research, but a lot of what I do is work with the scientific community in California, helping shape research questions and agendas that will affect relevant policy issues.
My work in particular is to manage our technical and policy team to develop our strategy for ensuring scientifically sound policies. For example, a key question we are struggling with now is, What should be the role of market mechanisms in meeting California’s emission reduction targets and what analytical work can we contribute to help answer key questions in this area? One analytic piece that we are currently exploring in this area is helping define the role of forestry and agriculture sectors in meeting emissions reductions.
I also play a lead role with California’s climate action team, coordinating the climate science adaptation subcommittee. This means conducting analytical work, attending meetings in Sacramento, and making presentations on climate science to people in industry, the legislature, community groups, and agency staff.
On California and climate change
California has established itself as a leader on comprehensive climate management plans—one that focuses both on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for the unavoidable impacts of climate change. This past year, California passed “AB32,” the first economy-wide cap on greenhouse gas emissions, requiring the state to reduce its emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
On concerns related to climate change
I think one of the biggest concerns that raises fears in the scientific community is that we really are doing an experiment with the Earth. I think it’s the unknown that’s the biggest fear. By the end of the century, we could be virtually snow-free in California. This sort of change has a huge impact on the ecosystems we know.
What we can predict is scary. But going into the realm of the unknown is the scariest.
On her hope for the future
As a scientist working on global change in California, I often think about this, and I really believe that history is being made. Changes are being made. I think of it as a time of optimism and real energy. I’m spending my time contemplating national bills and evaluating.
There are about a half-dozen national bills currently being considered by Congress that propose emission reduction targets and strategies to reach these targets. During the last several months,
I have lead UCS analysis that provides a basis to compare these bills within the context of the projected dangerous consequences of climate change.
On explaining the climate change we will continue to undergo
You can think of this as pre-heating an oven. We’ve set the dial of the Earth at a certain level but the planet hasn’t gotten to that level yet. The most important thing we need to do is get a cap on global emissions. I think one of the most important things individuals can do is let their representatives know that this is a critical thing that needs to be addressed now.
But if we get a bill that isn’t as effective as it needs to be, it might be harder to replace. So it’s a very difficult thing.
On talking about the environment with her 4-year-old son, Cedar
One of the things I think about a great deal is how to talk about such big issues with children.
It certainly makes me think about the complexity of the issue. In many ways, I think the most important way I can make a difference in my own life on these issues is to work to build important environmental and social values in my son. My husband and I work together on this, by building an understanding and curiosity about his surroundings. One of the challenges I face is, on the one hand, building Cedar’s confidence and a certain sense of power over his surroundings and, on the other hand, building within him an understanding of how it is humans’ power to control nature that has lead us to our current vulnerability.
— Brian Eule