Turning up the volume

A message from President & CEO Dr. Max Holmes

George Woodwell was never shy about speaking his mind.

I can’t help but smile as I write that sentence. If you knew George, I suspect you are smiling too, recognizing that it is a significant understatement.

George founded this organization to do cutting-edge science, and then to apply that knowledge to influence policy and decisionmaking. In other words, to make a difference. He understood instinctively that a finding locked away in a journal, accessible only to specialists, was a finding that wouldn’t change the world—at least not quickly enough. Science had to travel. It had to reach the people making decisions, shaping policy, and holding the purse strings of both governments and philanthropies. It had to matter beyond the confines of the ivory tower.

George’s original vision continues to guide us today.

But vision requires execution. And execution, in our moment, requires something George could not have fully anticipated when he founded Woodwell more than forty years ago: the ability to compete for attention in an era of relentless noise. Science has never been more urgent. There are more ways than ever to communicate, yet the challenge of being heard has never been greater. These realities have led us to make two investments I am excited to share with you.

First, I am thrilled to announce that Dave Nagel has joined Woodwell as our new Vice President of Marketing and Communications. Dave has spent most of his career in the private sector, and now brings the skills he developed there to Woodwell. His charge is ambitious: to significantly expand the reach of our work, connecting our science to policymakers, business leaders, engaged citizens, and philanthropists.

That last category matters enormously, now more than ever. Woodwell’s ability to do the work George envisioned—rigorous, independent, urgent—depends increasingly on philanthropic support as government support dwindles. We are sustained by people who believe, as George did, that science in service of the planet is worth fighting for. Growing that community has never been more important—it is essential to allow us to boldly follow the path George charted more than four decades ago. Dave’s leadership will be central to that effort, and I could not be more pleased to have him on board.

Second, I want to introduce you to a project that is bursting with potential: Woodwell’s first podcast, Not a Climate Scientist. Hosted by Dr. Heather Goldstone, the show engages everyday people whose lives and livelihoods are being impacted by climate change in surprising ways. Not climate scientists, but people like firefighters and therapists and ranchers—people who are confronting climate change not because they choose to but because they have to. In the process, they demonstrate that sometimes the most important ways to become involved are simply to do more of what you do best. You can find Not A Climate Scientist on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, iHeart and Amazon Music. So please give it a listen, and share it with your networks.

Taken together, Dave’s arrival and Heather’s podcast represent something I think George would recognize immediately: a refusal to be satisfied with good work that goes unheard. He didn’t found this place to whisper. He built it to be heard.

The science we produce has never been more consequential. The news coming out of DC has never been more threatening for science or for climate action, and the window for action has never been narrower. And so, with a nod to the man who never had any trouble making himself heard, we are turning up the volume.

I think he’d approve.

Onward,