interview

Bern Johnson, head of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide, answers questions

What work do you do? I’m executive director of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide. What does your organization do? ELAW helps grassroots lawyers around the world protect human rights and the environment. We’re working with partners in 70 countries and helping them challenge environmental abuses, enforce environmental laws, give communities a voice about the environment, […]

Orrin H. Pilkey, shoreline expert, answers questions

Orrin Pilkey. What work do you do? I am a retired professor in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke and am still actively engaged in research and writing. The North Carolina Coastal Federation is the only environmental organization I belong to because I want to make sure my views bear the stamp of […]

Alisa Gravitz, director of Co-op America, answers questions

Alisa Gravitz. What work do you do? I have the great pleasure of serving as Co-op America’s executive director. What does your organization do? Co-op America uses the power of the marketplace to solve social and environmental problems. Our name itself stands for the idea of people in their economic roles (as consumers, workers, investors, […]

Huston Eubank, director of the World Green Building Council, answers questions

Huston Eubank. What work do you do? I’m executive director of the World Green Building Council. What does your organization do? The World Green Building Council is a union of green building councils from around the world who are working to encourage development of green-building rating systems and accelerate the transformation of the global property […]

A Q&A

The best guide I know to the climatological consensus is soft-spoken Kelly Redmond, who helps lead the influential and wide-ranging Western Regional Climate Center. The WRCC has done a great deal of work for the US Global Change Research Program on climate change issues, such as investigating the possibility that global warming could seriously degrade the Sierra snow pack on which much of California depends for water.

But don't let all that brainpower discourage you! Although a scientist, Redmond mostly speaks in commonsense English, has a bit of the poet in him, and has long worked to help ordinary folks (and reporters) understand climate issues.

For a story on fire in Southern California, I emailed some questions to Redmond. His answers were so helpful and illuminating, I expanded the interview to a wider discussion of how climate in the Western U.S. is changing.

David Benton, head of the Marine Conservation Alliance, answers questions

David Benton. With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I’m executive director of the Marine Conservation Alliance, based in Juneau, Alaska. What does your organization do? MCA is a nonprofit organization established by the Alaska seafood industry that promotes sustainable fishing. America has an increasing appetite for healthy seafood, but we must be sure that […]

Gregg Small, director of the Washington Toxics Coalition, answers questions

Gregg Small. What’s your job title? Executive director of the Washington Toxics Coalition. What does your organization do? WTC works to protect human health and the environment from the impacts of toxic pollution. What are you working on at the moment? Photo: iStockphoto A top priority right now is our Pollution in People Project. For […]

Jason Wentworth, eco-friendly laundromat owner, answers questions

Jason Wentworth. What work do you do? I am the owner, along with my wife Sandrine, of the Washboard Eco Laundry in Portland, Maine. How does it relate to the environment? We have attempted to create a new model for the coin-laundry industry by designing our business around the goal of minimizing the environmental impact […]

Brian F. Keane, renewable-energy marketer, answers questions

Brian Keane. What’s your job title? I’m president of SmartPower. What does your organization do? SmartPower is a national nonprofit marketing campaign that promotes the use of clean, renewable energy as a safe, readily available alternative to coal, oil, and other limited sources of power. In short, we’re the “Got Milk” people for wind, solar, […]