James Lawrence Powell graduated from Berea College with a degree in geology. He earned a PhD in geochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has several honorary degrees, including Doctor of Science degrees from Berea College and from Oberlin College. He taught geology at Oberlin College for over twenty years and served as Acting President of Oberlin, President of Franklin and Marshall College, President of Reed College, President of the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, and President and Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. President Reagan and later, President George H. W. Bush, appointed him to the National Science Board, where he served for twelve years. Asteroid 1987 SH7 is named for him. In 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI).
Fans of climate apocalypse fiction will be chilled by this convincing work. -- Publishers Weekly Remarkable....probably the most important literary work on climate change. -- The Herald Glasgow As the devastating impacts of climate change now become ever-more apparent, historian and expert storyteller James Powell delivers a vision of the planetary nightmare we face if we fail to act now on the defining challenge of our time, the challenge to avert catastrophic climate change. Read this book and be inspired to make a difference. --Michael E. Mann, Distinguished Professor, Penn State University and co-author of The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy These postcards from the future--dozens of them, as told to a historian in 2084 by scientists, a doctor, a priest, an ambassador, several politicians, a general, the last person ever born on Tuvalu, and others--demanded my full attention. They reminded me that every day counts. We have much to accomplish. --Edward Maibach, George Mason University Center for Climate Communication This is a sobering and scary (and fascinating) book--a look at where we're going if we don't quickly get our act together. And it's replete with clues about how we could indeed make the changes that would make this fiction, not prophecy. --Bill McKibben, New York Times bestselling author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? If the existential threat of climate chnage keeps you up at night, James Lawrence Powell's The 2084 Report will make you want to do everything in your power to elect leaders who will combat global warming and save our planet. -- Marie Claire [A] riveting oral history... Simultaneously fascinating and frightening, The 2084 Report will inspire you to start conversations and take action. -- Tor.com