What is the role of US forests in meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement?
Danna Smith
Executive Director, Dogwood Alliance
Danna is the founder of Dogwood Alliance. For 20 years, she has been at the forefront of forest protection in the US, leading hard-hitting campaigns and negotiating ground-breaking forest protection commitments from some of the largest companies in the world. She is a leading voice connecting the dots between climate change, forest destruction and social justice and pushing for forest protection in the US at a scale necessary to meet the sustainability challenges of the 21st Century. She holds a law degree from Emory University.
Dr. Bill Moomaw
Professor Emeritus of International Environmental Policy, Tufts University
Bill Moomaw is Emeritus Professor of International Environmental Policy and Founding Director of the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at The Fletcher School, Tufts University. He is also Co-Director of the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts. He received his BA degree in chemistry from Williams College and PhD in physical chemistry from MIT. Following a 26-year career in chemistry and environmental studies at Williams College, where he directed the Center for Environmental Studies, he began working on science diplomacy and climate change. His research and teaching address climate change and low-carbon renewable energy and related global issues including water, forests, agriculture, nitrogen pollution and oceans. His current research examines the full range of fossil fuel consequences, the role of Restorative Development in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by forests, wetlands, grasslands and agricultural soils, and correctly accounting for emissions from bioenergy.
He served as staff member of the US Senate where he worked on legislation that successfully addressed ozone depletion by eliminating CFCs in spray cans, responded to the 1973 energy crisis, and developed management legislation for U.S. National Forests. He was a co-author of the Massachusetts state report on Visioning Forest Futures in 2010 and on climate change adaptation in 2011. He was a lead author of five Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Reports. The IPCC shared the Nobel Peace Prize for its climate work in 2007.
In 2014, he received a Bicentennial Medal from Williams College for his application of science to global environmental issues. In 2016, the William R. Moomaw Professorship in International Environment and Resource Policy was created at the Fletcher School, Tufts University.
He serves on the boards of The Nature Conservancy of Massachusetts, the Consensus Building Institute, Earthwatch Institute, and on the National Advisory Board of the Union of Concerned Scientists. He chairs the boards of The Climate Group North America and Woods Hole Research Center.
He enjoys nature photography, hiking, cycling and jointly developing research projects with his students. He and his wife, Margot, completed a zero net energy home in Williamstown, MA in 2007 that produces sufficient solar electricity to meet all of its heating, lighting and appliance requirements while exporting surplus power to the grid.