Passionate, thoughtful, patient and always willing to help. That’s how Drew Shindell’s students describe the Distinguished Professor of Earth Science at the Nicholas School of the Environment.
A scholar of air quality, policy and climate change, Shindell is passionate about getting the word out that methane gas is accelerating climate change and that cow burps are a big part of the problem.
“We’re getting better and better information about methane emissions,” Shinell told WCNC last year. “And we’re realizing that in many cases, we’ve underestimated how much is coming out.”
While everyone has focused on the dangers of carbon monoxide, Shindell has been sounding the alarm on methane. He and other scientists conclude that rapidly cutting methane emissions can significantly slow global warming. Even more than cutting carbon monoxide, since methane traps significantly more heat than CO2.
Shindell, who earned his bachelor’s degree at UC Berkeley and Ph.D. at Stony Brook University, chairs the Scientific Advisory Panel to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition of nations and organizations. From 1995 to 2014 he was a scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City. He also taught atmospheric chemistry at Columbia University for more than a decade before coming to Duke.
Shindell has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed climate studies. He was lead author of a study that appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which concludes curbing climate change yields immediate benefits in the form of cleaner air resulting in healthier and longer lives.
“Decarbonization is crucial to meeting our long-term climate goals, but it’s not enough,” said Shindell. “To slow warming in the near-term and reduce suffering from the ever-increasing heatwaves, droughts, superstorms and fires, we need to also reduce short-lived climate pollutants this decade.”
