Atmospheric Oracle

Climate influencer David Reidmiller is here to rescue Earth’s bubble.

As the inaugural Climate Center Director at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI), Dr. Dave Reidmiller, 41, helps people, communities, and businesses understand and anticipate how climate change affects them. An atmospheric chemist by training, his dissertation research at the University of Washington involved taking precise measurements of pollutants from the summit of Mt. Bachelor, a 9000-foot ski mountain just outside Bend, Oregon, to study how pollution from Asia affects air quality in the western U. S.

“While the work was exciting,” Reidmiller says, “the societal implications drew me to the realm of science policy” and a position in the U. S. Senate working with Mark Udall (D-Colorado) on energy issues. “This was the time of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. There was no lack of pressing policy issues demanding technical understanding. But it was also just after the landmark Waxman-Markey climate legislation failed in Congress.”

After working on domestic energy and climate issues 2010-2011, Reidmiller joined the State Department to focus on the international climate landscape. “I spent the next five years ascending to the position of Chief Climate Scientist. In that capacity, I led U. S. engagement in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and served as the lead science and technology negotiator for the U. S. to the Paris Agreement of 2015.”

In September 2016, Reidmiller was recruited into the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to lead a team of more than 300 volunteer experts from across the country in producing the Fourth National Climate Assessment

BY DIANE HUDSON

This was the time of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.”

(NCA), a 1500-page, thirty-chapter report on how climate change is affecting the lives of everyday Americans and what we can do about it: nca2018.globalchange.gov.

“In the wake of the 2016 election, there was a sea change in terms of how climate change was viewed within the White House. Still, because the NCA is mandated by law, the work persisted and culminated in the Black Friday release of a report that upheld the highest standards of scientific integrity, having navigated the clearance process of an Administration that at times took an overtly hostile approach to climate science. That multi-year process deepened my experience working with folks who hold different perspectives and values to identify compromise and forge consensus—something that started during my tenure working with a ‘purple state’ Senator and continued through my years working on environmental matters in a variety of U.N. forums.”

How did all of these roads lead to Maine?

“It was in that capacity of the NCA that I met Andy Pershing and Kathy Mills, two scientists here at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. I had half-jokingly said to them back in 2018 that if anything ever opens up at GMRI, they better let

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me know, because my partner and I have been wanting to move to Maine for years. Two years later, an email lands in my inbox from Andy alerting me to the fact that GMRI is launching a new Climate Center and that I should consider applying to be its founding Director.”

So in August 2020, Reidmiller and his fiancé, Katie, left D.C. and settled into their new home in South Portland to begin the journey of addressing climate change in this region as it relates to the marine environment. He did not, however, disengage from the national science-policy scene, serving in the OSTP again for the BidenHarris Presidential Transition from November 2020 through January 2021. “It was a wild ride, conducting that during the pandemic in a virtual environment and having an outgoing administration that did not accept the election results.”

When the Biden-Harris team asked him to stay on, “That was a difficult position to turn down,” but he is thrilled to be in Maine. “We have really strong leaders in politics and industry, and enough momentum behind us now to capitalize on the opportunities that will manifest themselves. We have the State Climate Action Plan with an exceedingly ambitious agenda. The nature of the problem demands that everyone get involved. What is our state motto? Dirigo, to lead. We are taking the lead.

“The Gulf of Maine is the canary in the coal mine. When you see the ocean warming very rapidly here, we are seeing ecosystem changes occurring. What we learn here in Maine, we can bring to the world stage.”

When asked what are the chances that global governments will be able to avert the worst-case scenario, Reidmiller says, “I think you have to be optimistic. We have the science, we have the solutions, and we have the technical ability to avert it. But now we have to educate our youth about the fact that the issue is not going away. And we have to harness the political will.”

As for what we as individuals can do? “The easiest thing to do is to vote. The other thing is to talk about it to your neighbors, at the store, everywhere. Getting the idea of climate change mainstreamed into our everyday life is what’s going to effect change.” n