The Science Behind the Nobel Peace Prize

While Al Gore put a public face on climate change, four UC Berkeley researchers were among the experts backing up the science through the United Nations’ panel that earned the Nobel Peace Prize Friday.

Professor of atmospheric science Inez Fung, professor of earth and planetary science William Collins, energy and society professor Dan Kammen and adjunct professor of geography Norman Miller all lent their expertise to the reports of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The Nobel Committee awarded former vice president Al Gore the prize with the panel for “efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.”

Among his efforts to publicize the issue, Gore is best known for his 2006 film “The Inconvenient Truth,” which brought the issue of climate change to center stage.

“This is why the Nobel Prize I hope highlights the issue and urgency,” said Fung, who is investigating the effect of climate change on the water cycle. “This is important for the future of the planet.”

Though scientists have been predicting the effects of climate change since the 1980s, the warming has now actually occurred, Fung said.

“The naysayers, contrarians, are now sort of on the far fringe and less and less credible than ever before,” said Miller, who is currently researching regional climate and extreme weather, in an e-mail.

The UN panel, founded in 1988, does not conduct its own research but rather facilitates review and collaboration between scientists, basing its reports on peer-reviewed scientific literature.

In Feb. 2007, the panel released the latest of its four climate change assessments after collaborating with more than 3,500 scientists worldwide. The report analyzed the science, impacts and mitigation of climate change, reinforcing findings that warming results from human activity.

“Scientists, policymakers and community activists all use the reports to develop plans on how best to adapt to and mitigate global warming,” said Collins, who studies the interaction of heat and the atmosphere, ocean, land and ice, in an e-mail.

Many said the award was a call to action for governments and businesses to stop warming of the planet.

“It’s sending a strong signal that the Nobel Committee is trying to send to the current and next U.S. presidents,” said Kammen, who is researching alternative energy uses.

Scientists hope to use the prize to inspire more research and spur greater action on the issue, Collins said.

“(Al Gore) is a more effective communicator than I could ever be,” Fung said. “All of us have a role to play. I prefer to be the nerd, I prefer to hang out with the computer and do calculations.”

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