True Climate Solutions

Background

About the Panelists:

Dr. Robert D. Bullard is a distinguished professor of urban planning and environmental policy and founding director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University. He is often called “the father of environmental justice.” He is also co-founder of the HBCU Climate Change Consortium. The author of 18 books, his latest is The Wrong Complexion for Protection: How the Government Response to Disaster Endangers African American Communities (2023). 

Dr. Daniel Cohan is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University. His research and teaching focus on air pollution, climate change, and energy. He is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications and the book Confronting Climate Gridlock: How Diplomacy, Technology and Policy can Unlock a Clean Energy Future (2022). 

Dr. Charles Harvey is a professor of environmental engineering at MIT. In leading field international projects as a hydrologist and biochemist, he has extensive experience with natural carbon sinks as well as carbon capture technologies. He has shared his assessments with appearances in places like PBS’s Frontline and the BBC. He is the author of The New York Times op-ed entitled “Every Dollar Spent on this Climate Technology is a Waste.” (August 2022).

Dr. Robert Howarth is a professor at Cornell of ecology and environmental biology, as well as an earth systems scientist and ecosystem biologist. He is one of the most cited environmental scientists in the world, his peer-reviewed papers have been cited more than 90,000 times. Howarth’s research is wide ranging and includes lifecycle assessments for hydrogen and liquified natural gas, as well as sources of methane from natural gas operations and agriculture.  

Chris Tomlinson is a columnist for the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News, focusing on money, politics, and life in Texas. In his 30 years of journalism, he has reported from more than 30 countries including Kenya, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The Texas Managing Editors named him opinion writer of the year in 2021. He served seven years in the U.S. Army before becoming a journalist. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth. 

Generously sponsored and funded by the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University, the Rice University School of Humanities, and the Rice University Center for Environmental Studies. Principal funding is also provided by the Rockefeller Family Fund and the Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation.