Dr. Veerabhadran "Ram" Ramanathan, a world renowned climate scientist based at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, is being honored with the prestigious 2021 Blue Planet Prize.
The international environmental award, sponsored by Japan’s Asahi Glass Foundation, is given to those whose whose accomplishments have contributed to the improvement of the global environment.
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Ramanathan, the second Scripps scientist to receive the Blue Planet Prize, was instrumental in the discovery that climate warming was not caused simply by carbon dioxide, but also by shorter-lived "super pollutants," such as chlorofluorocarbons and soot.
Ramanathan talked with KPBS Midday Edition about his work, concern that there is much still to do to combat climate change and avert more catastrophic warming, and hope that the rich nations of the world will continue to step up.
