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Tom Yulsman
I enthusiastically endorse consideration of Tom Yulsman, Co-Director of the Center for Environmental Journalism, University of Colorado School of Journalism & Mass Communication, as 2010 Climate Change Communicator of the Year. At the University of Colorado's Environmental Studies Program, where he oversees the graduate certificate in environment, policy, and society, Mr. Yulsman teaches programs dealing with science technology and policy research, science writing, principles of journalism, and creative thinking in environmental studies. He is the author of the Institute of Physics' 2003 book "Origins: The Quest for Our Cosmic Roots." A Co-Investigator of the National Science Foundation-funded "Carbon, Climate and Society Initiative" at the University, Mr. Yulsman has been a science journalist since 1980. It is actually in this particular respect that I believe his work is most worthy of recognition as the Center for Climate Change Communication's 2010 Climate Change Communicator of the Year. Mr. Yulsman, a long-time respected member of the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ), has published major journalistic articles in publications ranging from The New York Times and The Washington Post to Discover, Audubon, Earth, and Astronomy. While his science journalism has addressed issues ranging from health and medicine to environment and cosmology, he has focused in recent years in particular on earth and environmental sciences and most particularly on climate change. Through his published articles and through his personal blog (http://www.cejournal.net/), his work on climate change is considered a "must read" by numerous science writers and journalists covering complex climate science and policy issues. Especially worthy of recognition is Mr. Yulsman's most recent accomplishment. In late November 2009, Mr. Yulsman completed editorial work on a new Poynter Institute/News University online "Covering Climate Change" tutorial (http://www.newsu.org/courses/course_detail.aspx?id=internews_climateChange09). This highly authoritative and interactive teaching module is certain to become an essential resource in teaching today's and tomorrow's upcoming science journalists, the essential background they must understand in order to report responsibly on this dynamic issue. Mr. Yulsman's work in his "full-time day job" with the University of Colorado on its own represents a major contribution to the filed of science-based climate change communication and understanding. But beyond that, his "moon-lighting" private-time contributions on resources such as his blog, his freelance writing, his informal science education activities, and his new "Covering Climate Change" tutorial make his contributions and impact extraordinary. He would be an outstanding selection as the George Mason University\Center for Climate Change Communication 2010 award recipient.
Bud Ward |
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We conduct public engagement and behavior change research to improve climate change communication and social marketing programs. |