Name:  Sandra Brown
Age: 60+
Home: Arlington, VA

We met Sandra while visiting our daughter in Arlington.

Work:  Director and Chief Scientist with Winrock International, a non-profit organization that works with people in the U.S. and around the world to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity, and sustain natural resources.

What makes her interesting?:  Taking a tour of Sandra’s home is like combing through a world atlas.  Memorabilia from the many countries she’s visited adorn the walls, shelves and furnishing in each room.  The range of geography is considerable.  Sandra has explored Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Indonesia, several African and European countries, Russia, Scandinavia, North America and most countries of South America.

Although these travels have certainly brought pleasure and enrichment to her life, their main purpose was professional.  For over 30 years she has researched climate change with a focus on the tropics which propelled her into leading-edge field work and studies of synthesis regarding the global carbon system.  Her emphasis has been tropical forests and how their deforestation contributes to greenhouse gases and global warming. 

In her current capacity as Chief Scientist with Winrock International, she specializes in assessing the monetary value of Carbon Dioxide contained in the rainforest and converting it to a commodity.  Since up to 20% of all greenhouse gases come from tropical deforestation, the challenge becomes finding ways to compensate the owners of property or a country for not cutting down the forest. 

As an example, if you take an acre of forest in the tropics, cut it down and produce soy beans, you have created a salable commodity but have also unleashed a lot of greenhouse gases.  This same acre of forest can easily contain 250 tons of CO2.  Each ton of CO2 has a value of up to $20 which would mean $5,000 for that one acre.  In many countries where tropical rainforests abound, this is an incredible amount of money even if it is a one-time fee. 

However, there are numerous obstacles in implementing the concept of a Carbon market.  Many times, it’s almost impossible to determine who actually owns the land.  It could be squatters or a government.  Conceptually and culturally, the notion of paying for not cultivating land is outlandish.  Much of the rainforest exists in developing countries where the need to survive almost always trumps the concern for the environment. 

Sandra is recognized worldwide for her expertise and is widely published in the field.  In 2007, as a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, she received a Nobel diploma for research on global warming.  The committee shared the Nobel Prize with former Vice President Al Gore.

Important event in her life:  Sandra didn’t set out to be a world renowned scientist.  In fact, all she really wanted was to get her permanent teaching certificate in the State of Florida.  Originally from London, she was educated in England with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.  She was teaching at an all boy school in London when she met and married a U.S. serviceman. 

They settled in St. Petersburg, Florida.  She decided to teach again and began the certification process.  Because all of her teaching experience was in England, the state found it difficult to assess her teaching credentials.  They advised her that the quickest way to get certified would be to complete a certain number of hours towards an advanced degree.  Sandra enrolled at the University of South Florida and began working on her master’s degree in Engineering Science.  She also began substitute teaching and within a year, received an offer to teach Physics.  The state gave her a temporary certificate. 

She completed her master’s degree from the College of Engineering at South Florida and thought that surely she could now gain her permanent certification.  Even so, the state balked, saying she needed additional classes in English and Social Sciences.  Out of frustration, she decided to teach only one more year.

During this time, she took a group of students to Gainesville for a field trip.  While there, she came across the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences.  Sandra applied and was accepted.  Her husband decided to go back to school as well.  They both received their doctoral degrees from the University of Florida.  She went from Chemistry to Ecology.  

After graduation, her husband secured a job at the University of Illinois.  It became a pivotal time in Sandra’s life.  Within two years, she was divorced and on her own.  Illinois wasn’t her favorite place, but it provided her with the best opportunities.  She began post-doctoral work and received two offers for faculty positions.  She took the one in the Forestry Department where, for the next 18 years, she rose through the ranks from assistant to associate to full professor.  She became an expert on tropical forests and climate change and from 1978-1996 administered grants from the U.S. Department of Energy to study tropical forests and the global carbon system. 

For the next four years, Sandra went on loan from the university to the EPA in Corvallis, OR, where she conducted research on the carbon cycle.  She actually was offered a high level position with the EPA, but before it could be finalized, President Clinton implemented a federal freeze on hiring.  She was prepared to return to the University of Illinois when Winrock International approached her about working with the organization.  Initially, she stayed in Oregon.  In 2001, she decided to move to the Washington, D.C., office in order to better be able to meet her demanding travel requirements.

What she taught us:  With current elevated awareness in such environmental issues as global warming and water distribution, Sandra’s perspectives are not only interesting, they are very timely.  She doesn’t deny that the U.S. has poured phenomenal amounts of money into research on climate change.  In fact, the classic database on greenhouse gases collected in Mona Loa and Alaska was solely funded by the U.S.  However, she echoes the sentiments of many scientists who have been frustrated to see the stonewalling of recent politics to the concept of global warming. This phenomenon has created a certain disconnect between research and resolution.

In her opinion, the attitude in the U.S. has always been to tackle problems.  But when it comes to climate change, the strategy drifts more toward mitigation.  She attributes this to a dislike for giving up the lifestyle.  We would rather plant more trees than stop using paper towels.  She is realistic in her expectations and suggests that there is no way society will move to a non-fossil fuel.  The alternative then is to improve the efficiency of fossil fuels.

Sandra senses that the most critical issue brought about by climate change is water.  It’s a two-pronged problem.  First, with the melting of the polar ice caps, the oceans are rising and islands are disappearing causing the displacement of thousands who become environmental refugees.  Second, sources for renewable fresh drinking water are virtually drying up all over the world.  Remedies are offered but some, like bringing up icebergs to get fresh water, are inadequate and others, like desalination, are very expensive.   The situation truly bares out the expression “water, water everywhere and nary a drop to drink.”

Although she doesn’t feel it will be the end of the planet, millions of people will suffer.  The developed countries will have the capacity and resources to adapt, but the poorer ones will not be able to do so. 

Philosophy of Life:  Enjoy your life.  It’s the only one you’ve got and it’s not a rehearsal!

Richard and Selma Scott

Liz Wayne

O'Donnell