Just4theplanet tips its hat to environmental hero Joseph J. Romm (born June 27, 1960). He is an American author, blogger, physicist and climate expert who concentrates on methods of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and global warming ( http://www.just4theplanet.com/research/climate-change/) and increasing energy security through energy efficiency green energy technologies and green transportation technologies.
In December 2008, Romm was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In March 2009, Rolling Stone magazine named Romm to its list of “100 People Who Are Changing America”. In September 2009, Time magazine named him one of its “Heroes of the Environment (2009) calling him “The Web’s most influential climate-change blogger”.
Romm is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress where he writes and maintains their climate blog, ClimateProgress.org. In 2008, Time magazine named Romm’s blog one of the “Top 15 Green Websites”, and in 2010, Time included Romm’s blog in a list of the 25 “Best Blogs of 201” Romm is also the executive director and founder of the non-profit Center for Energy and Climate Solutions, which helps businesses and U.S. States adopt high-leverage strategies for saving energy and cutting pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and is a principal of the Capital E Group, an energy technology consultant. Romm also writes regularly for several energy and news websites.
In the 1990s, Romm served as Acting Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy He has published several books on global warming and energy technology. Technology Review wrote that his December 2006 book, Hell and High Water “provides an accurate summary of what is known about global warming and climate change, a sensible agenda for technology and policy, and a primer on how political disinformation has undermined climate science.” Romm’s 2010 book, Straight Up released in April 2010, is “largely a selection of his best blog postings over the past few years related to climate change issues”.
Climate change is far more urgent than people understand, Romm says, and traditional media, scientists, and politicians are missing the story. His book Straight Up draws on Romm’s most important posts to explain the dangers of and solutions to climate change that you won’t find in newspapers, in journals, or on T.V. Compared to coverage of Jay-Z or the latest philandering politician, climate change makes up a pathetically small share of news reports. And when journalists do try to tackle this complex issue, they often lack the background to tell the full story.
Despite the dearth of reporting, polls show that two in five Americans think the press is actually exaggerating the threat of climate change. That gives Big Oil and others with a vested interest in the status quo, a huge opportunity to mislead the public. Romm cuts through the misinformation and presents the truth about humanity’s most dire threat. His analysis is based on sophisticated knowledge of renewable technologies, climate impacts, and government policy, written in a style everyone can understand. Romm shows how a 20 percent reduction in global emissions over the next quarter century could improve the economy; how we can replace most coal and with what technologies; why Sarah Palin wears a polar bear pin; and why controversial, emerging technologies like biochar have to be part of the solution.
The ultimate solution, Romm argues, is bigger than any individual technology: its citizen action. Without public pressure, Washington and industry don’t budge. With it, our grandkids might just have a habitable place to live.
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