Peter Ward: Climate Scientist Meets Direct Action Activists
Channel: Ed Mays
Date: 2017-09-27

Paleontologist, Professor Peter Ward meets the Valve Turners for a deep conversation on how scientists and activists can communicate the existential necessity of climate action in both word and deed.

Professor Ward has long communicated how Earth's five major mass extinctions offer a frightening window into the future we ourselves might catalyze. His standing within the scientific community comes from his skill in finding and interpreting what the fossils say about the horror of each environmental cataclysm. His gifts and energy for outreach — for communicating to the public the stark relevance of the science — is top tier.

As valve turner Leonard Higgins has said from the get-go, "If we want people to understand that this is an emergency, then we have to act like it is an emergency." By turning the emergency shut-down valve of the tar sands pipeline transiting Montana, Leonard powerfully communicated by deed.

Peter Ward was featured in the PBS Evolution series (2001) and has appeared on NOVA Science NOW. He was also one of the scientists on Animal Planet's Animal Armageddon (2009). According to Ward's 2007 book, Under a Green Sky: Global Warming, the Mass Extinctions of the Past, and What They Can Tell Us About Our Future, all but one of the major mass extinction events in history have been brought on by climate change.

Valve Turners in attendance were Emily Johnston, Leonard Higgins, and Annette Klapstein.  Valve Turners Michael Foster and Ken Ward participated via Zoom Web Conference.

Recorded 9/16/17
Thanks to Nicky Bradford

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