Dr. Shindell is Nicholas Professor of Earth Sciences at Duke University, where he teaches in the Nicholas School of the Environment. His research is concerned with global climate change, climate variability, air quality, and the interactions of these with human society. He uses mathematical models of the atmosphere and oceans which run on supercomputers to investigate chemical changes such as air pollution from human activities, climate changes such as global warming, and the connections between these. Publications on these topics can be found here.
He emphasizes studies exploring how society can most effectively and efficiently reduce environmental damages. These pages describe some of the most policy-relevant of those studies, as well as broader efforts to engage with society by providing information to facilitate optimizing decision-making regarding climate and air quality policies.
Photo: Vice-Minister of Environment Marcelo Mena (Chile), Governor Jerry Brown (CA) and Dr. Shindell during discussions within the Dec 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21): credit Stephane Lemouton
Op-Eds and Comments
- Comment on Carbon Dioxide’s Atmospheric Residence time and Gore’s 2023 TED talk, July 2023
- Wildfire smoke and dirty air are both climate issues: Solutions for a World on Fire, The Conversation, June 2023
- Methane leaks are as big as the Nord Stream explosion every day, The Hill, Oct 2022 (with Martina Otto and Gabrielle Dreyfus)
- Op-ed proposing Climate-related Disasters be Named for Polluters, Scientific American, Aug 2021
- Slow Climate Change by Cutting Methane Now, The Hill, Apr 2021 (with Inger Andersen)
- Op-ed about Cooperating on Climate as we did for the Covid-19 Pandemic, News and Observer, Oct 2020 (subscription required; with Jim Warren)
- Clean Energy Could Save Hundreds of Billions Health Costs Every Year, The Conversation, Feb 2016