George Woodwell, leader in climate studies, dies at 95
photo by Daniel Webb
George Woodwell, leader in climate studies, dies at 95
In discussing his 2016 book, “A World to Live In,” George M. Woodwell saw possibility in the often bleak world of climate science.
“The only course at the moment is to make the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, a perfectly attractive and possible and financially attractive, lucrative transition,” he explained to Steve Curwood of the “Living on Earth” radio show. “It’s not a dream, but it is a dream world. It’s a world that everyone would like to live in, and it’s a clean world in which human rights are protected, the common property resources of air, water, and land are cherished and defended, and industries have a purpose, a primary purpose, which is the quality of the public realm.”
Known as an optimist and a visionary leader in the environmental sciences—one whose work not only advanced his own research in ecology and climate, but also launched an entirely new field of scientific discovery, George Masters Woodwell died at his home in Woods Hole on June 18. He was 95.
