10.15.2008 - Dozens of East Bay climate-change researchers to gather at I-House

BERKELEY — On the wall of Professor Kirk Smith’s office in the School of Public Health hangs an embossed certificate honoring his contributions to the United Nations’ Nobel Peace Prize-winning climate-change organization.

Because of his groundbreaking work on the deleterious health effects of air pollution caused by indoor cooking and heating fuels around the world, Smith was invited to be part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s painstaking assessment process, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.

Next week, Smith will lead three of his fellow East Bay prizewinners in a discussion of the value of the IPCC, not just in reaching scientific conclusions about the dangers of climate change but as a model for the process of bringing worldwide expertise and consensus to bear on urgent global issues.

The occasion will be a celebratory dinner and ceremony being held by the United Nations Association of the East Bay on Friday, Oct. 24, at International House.

Honored at the dinner will be the 45 or so East Bay scientists and academics — from UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley (LBNL) and Lawrence Livermore (LLNL) national laboratories — who contributed to the IPCC’s massive, ongoing reports on climate change. The evening also marks the 63rd anniversary of the founding of the United Nations in 1945.