Climate Change Program Gets Mixed Review

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published September 13, 2007 at 9:04 AM PDT

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

A new report says the U.S. government is making progress in understanding climate change on a global scale. The review of the Climate Change Science Program was led by a Scripps Institution of Oceanog

A new report says the U.S. government is making progress in understanding climate change on a global scale. The review of the Climate Change Science Program was led by a Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher. But the report says some areas of the program are not making progress. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

The new report comes from a national committee chaired by Scripps Professor V. Ramanathan . He says the ability to predict future climate changes has improved. But Ramanathan says while scientific research has moved forward, there's a lack of progress in figuring out how climate change will affect us.

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Ramanathan: Taking the knowledge developed by these national scientists how effective have we been addressing how it's going to affect human well-being. As an example of this inadequate progress we point out no national assessment of impacts on agriculture, water and health. There's been some ad-hoc efforts but not nationwide.

He says more emphasis needs to be placed on understanding how people will be affected by climate change. The committee's report is the first review of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program since that program started in 2002.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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