The University of New Hampshire is already well known for its winning hockey team, but now the university is garnering worldwide acclaim for Professor Berrien Moore III's participation on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Moore, the director of UNH's Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, was a member of a panel of scientists recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Al Gore for their work regarding the growing issue of global climate change.
The IPCC has been working on a massive project over the last 20 years assessing the issue of climate change and ways fight it. It has been broken into four parts released about five or six years apart. The panel addresses issues such as the melting ice in the Arctic Ocean, rising carbon dioxide levels, and numerous other contributors to global warming.
Moore convened and led the writing of the final chapter of the third assessment.
While considering everything that his colleagues had to say about climate change, it was Moore's responsibility to take that research and translate it into a plan for what the scientists and people around the world should try to do in the next five or six years.
"It essentially assessed the assessment," Moore explained. "I was very pleased for the scientific community. They made a great commitment to this huge problem."
The recipients were also significant because the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to an individual and a committee, something very rare in the prize's history. It was truly a two-fold effort; Al Gore raised the political issue while the IPCC did the scientific assessment to back it up.
"I was delighted when I learned that the IPCC shared this year's Nobel Prize for Peace, and not at all surprised to learn that Berrien Moore was a key member of the IPCC team," said university President, Mark Huddleston. "Berrien is clearly one of UNH's most accomplished scientists. His recognition by the Nobel committee brings honor to the entire University of New Hampshire."
Moore originally joined the University of New Hampshire community as a mathematician.
"Between the years of 1976 and 1977, two important things happened in my life," Moore said. "My daughter was born, and I decided to turn down a Fulbright Scholarship in mathematics to go to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI)."
It was there that Moore first became interested and educated on the issue of climate change.
"I went there and spent a year almost becoming a freshman again," Moore said. "They had a library that was like L.L. Bean, it was open 365 days out of the year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For a long time I just lived in there."
It was the influential Swedish professor, Bert Bolin, who came to speak on the growing levels of carbon dioxide that truly sparked Moore's interest.
"One of the challenges of it is that it's such a big problem, and to many people that's just not motivating," said George Hurtt, associate professor of natural resources and research partner of Moore's. "This is a global problem, therefore it is hard for any one person to affect it."
However, according to Moore, that doesn't mean that we all shouldn't try.
"The reality of this problem is that it is very worrisome," Moore said. "Everyone, college students and everyone else, need to grow up. We cannot make this someone else's problem."
While the science regarding climate change has been progressing for decades, it has only really been within the last few years that people have started to take notice of climate change.
"There has been a big public perception breakthrough," said Hurtt. "Which is why Al Gore and the IPCC deserve so much credit."
UNH is gaining national recognition for its part in addressing this issue. Everything is becoming synergized and even dorms are participating in energy reducing challenges.
"Our university is becoming a model for the way the world should respond to climate change," said Hurtt. "Having a leader of Moore's caliber here is a key factor in making all of that possible."
While it may seem hard to imagine, there is a positive side to this growing issue.
"This problem is created by humans, that's the encouraging part," Hurtt said. "With enough motivation, humans can solve it."
Moore agrees, again stressing the importance of getting involved.
"Just because we stick our head in the sand, does not stop the reality of the situation," Moore said.
Moore sees his role as an educator to be three-fold. He finds it imperative to have courses that respond to the major challenges facing or society because education is the foundation. Moore focuses the majority of his time researching, trying to understand the growing carbon dioxide problem.
"Berrien is an inspiration for all of us, students, faculty, staff, alumni and the broader community," President Huddleston said. "He is one of the most tireless advocates and effective spokespersons for science in America."
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