For John Harte, the lines between scientist and teacher are blurred. A professor in the Energy and Resources Group and the College of Natural Resources, he has been researching the interactions between climate change and mountain ecosystems for decades. While the outlook is grim, Harte is eager to educate everyone he encounters.
In one pioneering experiment, Harte has been shining infrared lamps onto a Colorado Rockies meadow since 1990 — day and night, year round — to observe the real-time, real-world effects of heat. The most obvious outcome is that sagebrush, a coarse, woody bush, is wiping out the wildflowers.
“If we do nothing to stop global warming,” says Harte, “mountain meadows everywhere will turn into deserts.”
To further dispel misinformation about our troubled planet, Harte has voluntarily led several natural history trips and taught special classes outside of his typical lineup. Last summer he brought a group to the Russian Arctic that included veteran journalist Forrest Sawyer.
“When we lesser souls felt depressed about the magnitude and intractability of our problems,” says Sawyer, “we needed only to gather around John like a hearth. He inevitably found a way to warm us again.” Kate Cheney Davidson M.J. ’07, who took an investigative reporting course on the human impacts of global warming, says Harte helped her understand extremely complex issues.
“His thoughtful advice on how scientists work and think made our reporting experiences that much richer,” she says.
While Harte’s body of research is remarkable, his ability to chip away at the biases of anyone — student, tourist, or reporter — is essential to his commitment to our planet.
