C&EN talks with Rob Jackson, climate scientist and author

Climate change is scary. But Stanford University climate scientist Rob Jackson says this should motivate us to take action. In his new book, Into the Clear Blue Sky , Jackson takes readers on a world tour of climate solutions. Jackson introduces scientists and entrepreneurs who are developing green steel, plant-based meat, and carbon sequestration technologies, and local activists who are restoring wetlands and advocating for climate justice. Jackson has a front-row seat to the world’s still-rising greenhouse gas emissions. He’s chair of the Global Carbon Project , a group of hundreds of volunteer scientists who calculate and publish what he calls a “pulse-of-the-planet estimate” of emissions. The atmosphere is in need of repair. But Jackson is particularly optimistic about the potential for restoring atmospheric methane to preindustrial levels—something he says we can accomplish in our lifetimes if we start cutting emissions now. Katherine Bourzac talked with Jackson about his book,