Science for a Green New Deal with Eric Davidson

Eric Davidson is an ecologist, soil scientist, and biogeochemist whose research career has focused on how human changes to the land affect carbon and nitrogen in the soil, water, and air. He is working as a science advisor to the Bureau of Environmental Quality at the U.S. Department of State, where he is helping scope out the USG position on a new international agreement on plastic waste.

In his new book, Science for a Green New Deal, Davidson explains for a broad audience how to employ exciting technologies, from carbon sequestration to renewable energy, and how scientists, farmers, CEOs, renewable energy advocates, teachers, and investors must work in tandem to tackle humanity’s greatest challenge.

Each chapter ends with science-backed recommendations to meet the stated goals of the Green New Deal. Davidson’s integrated approach to climate solutions explains:

• why neither environmental quality, economic prosperity, nor social justice can be dealt with independently
• how the cost of deep decarbonization of the energy sector is more affordable than you think
• how regenerative agriculture can help us meet the challenges of feeding 10-12 billion people later this century, while minimizing environmental impact
• how the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change share many features, including their global scope, disproportionately high impacts on the poor and people of color, and a proliferation of misinformation that has led to denial by many despite strong scientific evidence

Davidson covers all of this with clarity that makes his book readily approachable to the non-scientist. He weaves in engaging stories, often using his own life experience—from his childhood in Montana, to his days as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, to conducting research on deforestation in Brazil, to undergoing open-heart surgery.