Educator and Researcher Available for Interviews
03/10/2021
Contacts for media: Christine Gillette, 978-758-4664 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu and Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu
Juliette Rooney-Varga, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized expert on climate change. Through her research, advocacy and educational efforts, she is teaching – at the state, national and international levels – what it takes to understand and develop good policy around mitigating climate change.
Rooney-Varga uses unique, interactive methods in her work as an educator at UMass Lowell, where she is a professor of environmental science, as well as directing the Climate Change Initiative, through which she leads simulation exercises that allow students, policymakers and the public to learn about energy choices and the impacts of global warming. Former Secretary of State John Kerry, President Joe Biden’s special presidential envoy for climate, has called the Climate Action Simulation and accompanying En-ROADS computer exercise that Rooney-Varga helped develop “a climate crisis game-changer.”
Rooney-Varga is also taking on misconceptions about what constitutes clean energy that threaten to hold back climate policy, including at the state level. At the top of that list are claims that wood bioenergy is climate neutral, when the reality is that its climate impact is often worse than coal’s. Burning wood will increase carbon emissions, while cutting trees also reduces forests’ ability to remove carbon from the atmosphere, warming our climate. In addition, the practice puts people in danger of lung damage and other cardiovascular issues – at an especially bad time because of COVID-19. Even worse for ratepayers, wood bioenergy is more expensive than wind or solar energy.
Even in states as progressive as Massachusetts, bioenergy is part of the climate plan. Rooney-Varga is hopeful that recognizing the risks will put the state – and ultimately the U.S. – in a position to lead in climate science.
Seeing the big picture and explaining it in terms everyone will understand is one of Rooney-Varga’s strengths, which she employs to build understanding of interactions between humans and systems, all to motivate science-based climate action that can be translated into actionable information for use by the public and policymakers.
To arrange an interview with Rooney-Varga via phone, email, Zoom or another platform, contact Christine Gillette at Christine_Gillette@uml.edu, 978-758-4664 or Nancy Cicco at Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu, 978-934-4944.