MSU professor shares expertise in climate change study

An MSU professor will help “give science advice to the nation” in regard to future environmental policy.

Thomas Dietz, the director of the MSU Environmental Science & Policy Program, was selected to participate in the America’s Climate Choices study, sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences, or NAS. The data gleaned from the two-year study will help advise the U.S. Congress on its environmental policies.

Researchers will split the eight-part study between two groups. A main committee will study four topics, while specialized panels will each study one of the four other topics, said Ian Kraucunas, a senior program officer within NAS.

The individual panels will each focus on one of the following: how to limit the amount of climate change in the future, the adaptations that will have to be made to live with climate change, how to further understand climate change and its impact on people and ecology, and how to inform decisions and tactics in regards to climate change.

Dietz, chosen from about 1,200 nominations, will serve on the main committee, the Committee on America’s Climate Choices. He also will serve as vice chairman of one of the four subcommittees, Advancing the Science of Climate Change.

Dietz said a contributing factor to his appointment is MSU’s reputation as an innovator. He said MSU collects data from computer models to make predictions about climate change and its impact on Michigan. The university also plays a role in work done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“What’s really unique at MSU is we bring in people who study how decisions are made,” Dietz said. “We always work with stakeholders.”

Jeff Andresen, an associate professor in the Department of Geography and one of Dietz’s colleagues, said the appointment reflects years of hard work.

“There aren’t that many of these appointments, period,” Andresen said. “It’s an honor for anyone at MSU to be selected for something like this.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provided almost $6 million for the study, Kraucunas said.

“Congress and the government has no influence (on the study),” Dietz said. “The studies are very carefully peer reviewed. Congress doesn’t get to take a look at the study in advance.”

The study will use data from existing scientific literature, Dietz said.

The NAS also doesn’t recommend specific policies, but gives advice relevant to the policy in question.

“We try not to make value judgments,” Dietz said. “Sometimes that means saying that a particular policy is a good or bad idea because the science says that it will or won’t work.”