Climatologists

"If you reduce the amount of , the level in the atmosphere goes down fairly quickly, within decades, as opposed to CO2, if you reduce the emissions to the atmosphere, you don’t really see a signal in the atmosphere for a hundred years or so. […] I had an invite to a meeting with Al Gore, some years ago now, and made these methane arguments, and he was really pushback. That’s just his argument, “It’s hard enough to get people to think about CO2. Don’t confuse them.” […] Some people say, “Well, let’s fix CO2, and then we can worry about methane.” Well, that’s the wrong. It’s the other way around that actually makes sense. Do something about methane, because you’ll get a response right away."

"“Our investment in prevention and research is an investment in our nations … it all depends on healthy people, the result of our knowledge must be prevention. If we trust treatment without an investment in prevention, then we have failed.”"

"He epitomizedeverything a Berkeley professor should be: visionary and innovative, but always focusing onhelping those who were poor and disenfranchised."

"“I never felt like it was an option [to not be interested], to be honest,”"

"“Some people say that your parents shape your political views, but it’s been much of the opposite [for me].”"

"“My first and biggest role model is my Mum,”"

"“These are real experiences and this is a very real issue that affects people on a very personal level. Not being afraid to show that vulnerability has been really, really instrumental in getting the coverage that we did.”"

"“I used to deal with so much climate anxiety and fear, thinking, ‘Wow, we are one day closer to that deadline’.”"

"“Growing up in Australia I consider myself really fortunate,” she says. “I got an education that helped me make sense of what was happening.”"

"In the limestone ranges of Western Australia’s Kimberley region, near the town of Fitzroy Crossing, you’ll find one of the world’s best-preserved ancient reef complexes."

"Here lie the remnants of myriad prehistoric marine animals, including placoderms, a prehistoric class of fish that represents some of our earliest jawed ancestors."

"If all jawed vertebrates, including humans, are nothing more than highly evolved placoderms, then key features of ourselves should be traceable to structures that first appeared in our fishy placoderm ancestors. This would include particular jaw and skull bones and the proportions of our face and brain."

"Imagine trying to identify and compare equivalent bits of anatomy shared between an oyster, a beetle and a blue whale. That is essentially the problem we face with early vertebrate fossils."

"I think our children and children everywhere deserve a more positive view of the future and their place in it."

"It is easy to say that everyone is in favor of nuclear disarmament and that nobody wants nuclear war."

"A very important concept escapes many Australians, including some politicians. It is that our country, knowingly or unknowingly, is engaged in preparations for fighting a nuclear war. There can be no mistake, no delusions and no cover-up about this very disturbing fact."

"I think our children and children everywhere deserve a more positive view of the future and their place in it. They display such disillusionment and despair because they do not see us, their elders, and the politicians in this place, doing enough to guarantee safe custody of our fragile planet to future generations. They see most adults as being too concerned with the immediate, with the dollar, and most of us with no vision for the future."

"It is ironic that a government which claims to be doing more for disarmament than any other government encourages the development of Roxby Downs, the largest uranium mine in the Western world."

"We need to be rid of the addiction of militarism, which is wildly excessive, out of control, and which must be confronted or surely it will annihilate us spiritually if not physically, especially because this excess occurs at the expense of present pressing needs of human beings."

"As climate scientists, we are disturbingly aware of the threats to society not only here in Australia, but all over the world."

"Art has always been a powerful portal to understanding how we feel about our world. Let’s hope it helps safeguard our climatic future."

"There was a shift in my perception of myself from being heterosexual to bisexual but certainly the biggest shift was just how society treated you."

"We had many years of being outward to the world, of being the perfect normal couple and then suddenly we had the experience of what it's like to be in a same-sex relationship."

"Trees tell us a lot about climate and ecological history, because they are the oldest living things on the planet and can live up to 4000 years."

"At the moment, we have many, many indigenous trees in the tropics, but we are selecting very few for restoration – we’re mostly planting exotic trees like eucalyptus, grevillea, and cypress."

"Because in temperate regions, you have clear climate seasonality – in winter, everything is dormant – so the growing period is very well-marked."

"The formation of this working group is just the beginning. It’s a platform for identifying the methods, sampling techniques."

"Trees are like people. Some species, some are opportunists. In good times they spend and grow like crazy. Some really conservative they grow better in difficult years. And the conservative tree could better cope with climate change."

"I have learned how farmers have changed in the last ten years. They are open and keen to use new technologies."

"We do not expect the Africa RISING project to establish on farm demonstrations or reach all the farmers in the village at once, and we also know the project will terminate after few years. But if you could train a few farmers, introduce improved varieties, technologies in the next few years others will follow in adopting the technology, we will have access to purchase seed and seedlings from our fellow farmers so this is what we expect from the project."

"The (AEJ, also known as the West African jet) is a prominent feature of the complicated structure that forms over in summer. ... The jet may be instrumental in creating an environment in which African wave disturbances develop through and instability (e.g., Rennick 1976; Thorncroft and Hoskins 1994a,b) and may play a role in determining the region’s precipitation distribution through these wave disturbances (e.g., Payne and McGarry 1977; Rowell and Milford 1993) or through its role in determining the large-scale column moisture convergence (Rowell et al. 1992). In addition, the African wave disturbances have long been identified as sources of activity in the Atlantic (e.g., Frank 1970). A better understanding of why the jet forms, and its sensitivity to surface conditions, will be useful for understanding the mechanics of the region’s basic climate dynamics as well as its intra- and interannual variability; such an understanding is necessary to advance our prediction capabilities."

"In the absence of regulation and/or some prohibitive cost attached to the release of es into the , will freedom in the climate commons bring ruin to all? Or will a more complex scenario develop, in which unequal use of the climate commons brings benefit to some and ruin to others?"

"The ' lies above the , extending to about 48 or 1 , and is capped by the '. It is a vertically stable, stratified region—hence its name—in which increases with altitude. The ' ("middle sphere") stretches from the stratopause to about 80 km, with temperatures again decreasing with height. The region of transition to interplanetary space, about 80 km, is the '. ... The only region where the incoming is strongly absorbed is in the stratosphere, where absorbs wavelengths. The stratopause marks the level of maximum absorption of solar radiation by ozone, but it is not the location of the greatest ozone concentration. Ozone concentrations generally peak near about 25 km elevation, but much of the ultraviolet radiation has been removed from the incoming solar beam at that level by the ozone above."

"The West African monsoon season begins in late April or early May with the onset of spring rains along the n coast near 4°N. The precipitation maximum remains over the coast until late June or early July. At that time, the rainfall maximum shifts into the southern , near 12°N, often over the course of a few days. This shift in the latitude of the rainfall maximum is known as the West African monsoon jump."

"I believe we are at a key moment in the history of our species when we are grappling with the consequences of an unjust and inequitable development path that has left many vulnerable human and natural communities at risk."

"I am therefore extremely proud to be able to work with the other members of the board to ensure that the Climate Centre continues to drive its mission forward in an energized and sustained way."

"I accepted the nomination because I believe the seventh assessment cycle of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a critical one and that my more than 30 years of experience at the science-policy-practice interface put me in a good position to positively contribute to the leadership of the organisation, helping it to innovate and respond effectively to the challenges and opportunities of the cycle."

"We are already a third of the way through the United Nations’ ‘decade of action,’ focused on accelerating sustainable solutions to the world’s biggest challenges."

"Policymakers are having to make increasingly difficult decisions about the many challenges we face. So it is important that the IPCC Chair has the right experience for the key task we must confront in this decade. That task is implementation. This is why I am moving forward with my candidacy for Chair of the AR7 cycle:"

"I am a scientist with a strong academic profile, working at the science-policy-practice interface. With three decades of leading on-the-ground policy and practice, I bring a practical approach to the science: always asking what can be most useful to the decision makers who must make evidence-led judgments on which strategies to implement."

"I have extensive experience across diverse fields including biodiversity, climate change adaptation, climate change mitigation, sustainability and resilience, and can use those skills to help maintain the scientific caliber of the IPCC."

"I want to build on the progress we have already made by strengthening the foundations of the IPCC so we can continue to deliver in accordance with our growing scientific mandate."

"For many people in Africa who are over 40 years old, they really don’t need science to tell them that climate has changed...because they have seen it, they are living it, they deal with it, and they try the best they can to adapt."