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Tech climate scientist on Time's 100 influential people list

Katharine Hayhoe 'honored to be included' in list

BLAKE URSCH
Hayhoe

Beyonce may be on the cover, but Katharine Hayhoe is not to be denied.

The climate scientist from Texas Tech has been named to the TIME 100, Time Magazine's list of influential people for 2014. The issue hits newsstands on Friday, and the full list is available online at time.com/time100.

"I am honored to be included in the TIME 100 list," Hayhoe said in a news release. "Even more so, I am encouraged to see climate change emerging as an urgent concern. With 97 percent of climate scientists agreeing that climate change is happening due to the choices people make every day, I am a spokesperson with one principal goal - to bring public awareness to the simple truth that the scientific debate is over, and now it's time for all of us to take action."

Hayhoe said she feels she was chosen to represent a group that some may find paradoxical: Christian climate scientists.

In the past, Time has described its rankings as a list of "people who are using their ideas, their visions, their actions to transform the world and have an effect on a multitude of people." The current list includes figures such as Edward Snowden, Miley Cyrus, Matthew McConaughey and Hillary Clinton.

As an atmospheric scientist, Hayhoe focuses on assessing the impacts of climate change and translating the raw science into input for policy-makers. Her outreach efforts are specifically highlighting the effects of climate change on the poor and vulnerable.

At Tech, Hayhoe serves as director of the Climate Science Center. The center, along with others under the banner of the U.S. Department of Interior's South-Central Climate Science Center, provides natural resource managers with tools to address the impacts of climate change.

"This is a tremendous honor and recognition for Dr. Hayhoe and her diligence in researching this important issue," said Tech President Duane Nellis in a news release. "Her passion and caliber of work provides a snapshot of the high quality of faculty we have at Texas Tech University."

Hayhoe is the lead author for the Third National Climate Assessment, due to be released on May 6, which is regarded as the most comprehensive peer-reviewed analysis of climate change's impact on the United States, according to the release,

In 2009, Hayhoe co-authored "A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions," with her husband, Andrew Farley. The book presents the topic of climate change for an often-skeptical Christian audience.

Hayhoe was recently featured on the first episode of the Showtime documentary series "Years of Living Dangerously." In the episode, Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle travels around the Southwest observing the effects of severe drought.

Cheadle authored Hayhoe's blurb on the Time 100 list.

"There's something fascinating about a smart person who defies stereotype," he writes. "I got to know Katharine as we worked on Showtime's climate documentary 'Years of Living Dangerously.' But we are all getting to know and benefit from her work."

In previous A-J Media coverage, Hayhoe has spoken about the lack of debate in the scientific community over whether or not humans are the primary cause of climate change. Citing several academic studies, Hayhoe said 97 percent of climate scientists agree humans are causing global warming.

Some in the South Plains, she said, are often reluctant to accept that reality.

"I think many are opposed to climate change not because they have a problem with the science. They're opposed to the solutions - taxation, government control, regulation," she said.

To skeptics, Hayhoe will present the evidence she and her colleagues have assembled. Sometimes she changes their minds, sometimes she doesn't, she said in February.

"I think the bottom line is, we don't have to agree on the solutions, but we can agree that we all want a better future for ourselves and our kids, and there's a lot of things we can do at home that have immediate benefits."

blake.ursch@lubbockonline.com

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