Dr. Chameides is dean of Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

He has been appointed the vice chair of America’s Climate Choices, a new, multidisciplinary study by the National Academies designed to help policy makers figure out solutions. The study was launched November 2008 at the request of Congress to provide policy-relevant advice, based on scientific evidence, to guide the nation’s response to climate change. (Read more about America's Climate Choices.)

Chameides combines more than 30 years in academia as a professor, researcher, teacher, and mentor with a three-year stint as chief scientist at Environmental Defense.

In addition to belonging to the NAS, he is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and a recipient of the AGU's MacElwane Award. He has served on numerous national and international committees and task forces and, in recognition of his “extraordinary service,” was named a National Associate of the National Academies. He has been the dean of the Nicholas School since 2007.

He blogs regularly on environmental science at thegreengrok.com. Follow his environmental updates on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/theGreenGrok

Blog Entries by Bill Chameides

Global Warming Debate Gets Strange

Posted November 5, 2009 | 02:06 PM (EST)


Originally posted at www.thegreengrok.com.

Someone tell me ... which is the real news and which is fake?

Walkout at the OK Chamber

Senate Republicans on the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee boycotted markup of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power (CEJAPA) climate bill sponsored by Senators...

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Can We Put a Brake on Homely Emissions?

Posted November 4, 2009 | 04:02 PM (EST)


Originally published at thegreengrok.com

Looking for the key to getting a jump on cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions? It may be in our homes.

As efforts drag on to get national and international carbon policies in place, researchers and policy makers have turned their attention to less ambitious measures.

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Cows Let Go a Sigh of Relief

6 Comments | Posted October 29, 2009 | 04:41 PM (EST)


Originally posted at www.thegreengrok.com.

Congress acted on climate this week. And it's certainly a move to chew over.

Climate change is a contentious issue here in the U.S.A. But the topics of debate are not just about whether there is a scientific consensus or whether a cap and trade is...

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Trash Is a Terrible Thing to Waste

2 Comments | Posted October 21, 2009 | 04:02 PM (EST)


Originally published at www.thegreengrok.com.

Looking to lower your impact on the planet? Look no further than your trash bin.

We Americans produce a lot of trash (aka garbage, waste) — by some estimates about 250 million tons of the stuff per year. That's enough waste to fill about 1,000...

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1950s vs. 2000s: The Drive to Supersize

6 Comments | Posted October 15, 2009 | 01:07 PM (EST)


Originally posted at www.thegreengrok.com. This post has been updated.

A lot has changed in the past 50 years, much for the better. Energy efficiency measures, for example, have meant less pollution and savings in electricity costs. But there is a but....

Thanks to advanced engineering and government-backed programs such as

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Did the Kyoto Protocol Miss the Target?

Posted October 12, 2009 | 05:10 PM (EST)


Originally published at TheGreenGrok.com.

Everyone knows that Kyoto was a failure. Right? "Scientists Say Kyoto Protocol Is 'Outdated Failure,'" "Lessons of Kyoto," "Commission Does Little About Climate Change."

When the ink dried on the climate treaty negotiated in Kyoto, Japan, on...

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Don't Hummer Me In

15 Comments | Posted September 30, 2009 | 12:25 PM (EST)


Some think what's good for General Motors' Hummer is good for the U.S.A. Do you?

Consumerism and buying preferences are a complex mix of rational and less-than-rational decision-making. Concepts of self-identity certainly play an important role. How else can you explain the ubiquity of tee shirts pronouncing a company or...

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GDP: Not All It's Cracked Up to Be?

3 Comments | Posted September 23, 2009 | 01:45 PM (EST)


The headline reads "U.S. Climate Bill Could Cut GDP 3.5 Percent by 2050." Should we care?

The gross domestic product or GDP is the sum total of all the goods and services sold (i.e., produced) in an economy over a 12-month period. (A nice exposition of the genesis...

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George Will Take Note: 1910 ≠ 2050

7 Comments | Posted September 18, 2009 | 01:36 PM (EST)


Originally published at www.TheGreenGrok.com.

You can always count on George Will's take on climate to be entertaining.

Is the conservative columnist erudite? Absolutely. Buttoned-up and bow-tied? Always. On message? Without a doubt. On the right side of history? Well, definitely on the right, but as for the history part? Not...

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On the Climate Bill Fence: Senator Dick Lugar

2 Comments | Posted September 10, 2009 | 01:15 PM (EST)


The ninth in a series on what senators on the fence are thinking.

Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) drives a Prius, sequesters carbon on his tree farm, and voted for previous climate bills. Why is he now on the fence?

"Can environmental good and good economics go hand-in-hand?" That...

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Global Warming Trash Talk or Cherry-Pickin' Time

33 Comments | Posted July 28, 2009 | 04:41 PM (EST)


Apparently the National Review, none too pleased about climate legislation rattling around Congress, has joined the "global cooling brigade."

Search "global cooling" in Google News, and you get some 164 hits. At the time I'm writing this, returned headlines claim, "Record Lows, Global Cooling Across US," "

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On the Climate Bill Fence: What Sen. McCain Is Thinking

5 Comments | Posted July 23, 2009 | 05:13 PM (EST)


The third in a series on what senators on the fence are thinking.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) had been like the Lone Ranger in the Senate working with his Tonto, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), to push for climate legislation. Suddenly, post the 2008 presidential race, he is on the fence.

...
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Is NASA Spacing Out?

5 Comments | Posted July 20, 2009 | 03:47 PM (EST)


Today is the 40th anniversary of the first lunar walk, and, not counting the late Michael Jackson, it's been almost that long since the last moonwalk. Is it time to do it again?

For those of us who were around during the momentous moonwalk on July 20, 1969,...

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On the Climate Bill Fence: What Sen. Alexander Is Thinking

1 Comments | Posted July 16, 2009 | 04:28 PM (EST)


For the second installment of our series on what senators on the fence are thinking about cap and trade, we turn to the senior senator from Tennessee: Lamar Alexander (R).

A Look at Alexander's Career

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The Nation's Energy Expert Speaks Out on Climate...Not

13 Comments | Posted July 15, 2009 | 04:51 PM (EST)


Quiz: What soon-to-be-ex-governor of a very northern state could write an op-ed about climate legislation without once mentioning the word "climate"?

That's right; Sarah Palin is against the "president's cap-and-trade energy plan, ... an enormous threat to our economy. It would undermine our recovery over the short term...

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Climate Legislation: Countdown to the House Showdown

3 Comments | Posted June 26, 2009 | 12:14 PM (EST)


Update, 6/30/2009: At 7:16 p.m. on June 26, 2009 the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, 219-212. The ball now moves to the Senate's side of the net.


Two recent polls (Washington Post-ABC News and Mellman Group/Public Opinion...

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Cap and Trade Part 5: What's With the Add-Ons?

1 Comments | Posted June 24, 2009 | 01:10 PM (EST)


If Waxman-Markey has a cap and trade, why does it need all the other stuff like fuel-economy standards for cars, renewable electricity standards, and building codes?

The Waxman-Markey climate bill is attracting a lot of criticism, from both sides of the aisle. One criticism is not even aimed...

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Cap and Trade Part 4: Forests, Farms, and Offsets

8 Comments | Posted June 17, 2009 | 04:28 PM (EST)


The fourth post in a series on cap and trade.

What do you do if something emits greenhouse gases but is not under the cap? Use offsets.

Ideally, a cap and trade (or a carbon tax) would be applied economy-wide so that everything that emits greenhouse...

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U.S. Climate Bill Part of Solution but Not the Whole Solution

4 Comments | Posted June 15, 2009 | 03:05 PM (EST)


Co-written by Bill Chameides and Prasad Kasibhatla

The climate deniers have a new argument: don't pass climate legislation because it doesn't cut emissions enough.

That's right. It's not that the globe is not warming, or that the warming is not caused by human activities, or even that passing climate legislation would...

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Cap and Trade Part 2: Walking the International Tightrope

13 Comments | Posted June 10, 2009 | 05:38 PM (EST)


This is the second post in a series on cap and trade.

Suppose the United States adopts a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and China does not? What then?

The international thing: it's a bear. Addressing global warming requires an international effort. Especially critical is the participation of the United States...

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