EXPERTS ADVISORY

ANN ARBOR—President Obama will unveil his national plan to combat climate change in a speech this afternoon. The University of Michigan has several experts who will be available immediately after the speech to comment on the president’s proposals.

Also, look for reaction from these experts during the speech on Twitter @UMNewsService.

Rosina Bierbaum of the School of Natural Resources and Environment and the School of Public Health is an expert on environmental policy, sustainable development and climate change adaptation. The former SNRE dean serves on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, a 21-member committee that advises President Obama. She is a lead convening author of the climate adaptation chapter in the recently released draft National Climate Assessment. Bierbaum co-directed the World Bank’s “World Development Report 2010,” which focused on strategies for sustainable development, as well as climate-change mitigation and adaptation. She can be reached at (734) 763-8675 or at rbierbau@umich.edu

Barry Rabe is a professor at the Ford School of Public Policy and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He was the first social scientist to receive a Climate Protection Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2006 and is a member of the National Research Council committee on Risk Assessment and Risk Governance for Shale Gas Development. Rabe is available for interviews on Obama administration climate initiatives and programs the EPA has launched in recent years. He can be reached at (734) 765-1677 or brabe@umich.edu.

Donald Scavia is director of the Graham Sustainability Institute and is a lead convening author of the Midwest chapter of the recently released draft National Climate Assessment. Scavia can discuss the anticipated impacts of human-caused climate change on the Midwest, which include more frequent and more intense heat waves, as well as an increased frequency of intense rainstorms and floods. Scavia can be reached at (734) 615-4860 or at scavia@umich.edu.

Andrew Hoffman, director of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise, can talk about climate change as a market shift and the strategies that companies use to adjust to a carbon-constrained world. He can also field questions about the social debate over climate change, why people reject the scientific consensus and how to communicate and frame the issue for public and political audiences. Hoffman is the Holcim Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, a position with joint appointments at the Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources and Environment. He can be reached at ajhoff@umich.edu.