Dr. Andrea Dutton: A climate scientist who’s message has become more important than her science.

Introduction:

Though many climate scientists are fighting to save the planet, Andrea Dutton an expert on climate change and an associate professor at the University of Florida considers herself a CSI detective of planet Earth (CNN 2018). She is a geological, crime scene investigator trying to figure out and understand what has happened in the past, to better understand what could happen in the future, regarding sea-level rising and what that means for coastal cities. Although, Dr. Andrea Dutton is a climate scientist her work focuses on saving human lives and limiting human suffering as sea levels continue to rise. She believes, as humans, we must make the right choices for our environment. Climate change is not only about saving the turtles, polar bears and other animals endangered by the effects of climate change; it is about how we can instinctively protect the human race while adapting to the environmental changes with a sustainable approach. The issue of climate change does not lie with finding ways to save the planet. Earth has been around for 4.5 billion years and has survived major changes. The important question that guides her life as a mother, sister, daughter, and scientist is; how will we survive rising sea levels and increasing temperatures for generations to come?

Andrea Dutton’s life before success:

Before becoming a world-renowned climate scientist and geologist, Andrea Dutton was born in Fairfax, Virginia and moved to Atlanta, Georgia where she lived for about six years of her life. Andrea’s family later resided in Westport, Connecticut, which she described the move as a “culture shock” from Atlanta (Forecastpod 2017). As a young girl, Andrea would spend hours after church looking for rocks in the gravel with the prettiest colors (C. Brodkin, personal communication, November 15, 2018) without realizing her love and passion for rocks at the time. Andrea was influenced, in some ways, by her parents who were interested in math, science, and computers. Her mother and father alike were both math majors. Her mother decided to pursue her career in teaching, while her father worked for IBM where he was a business manager.

After graduating from Staples High School in Westport Connecticut in 1991, she attended Amherst College in Massachusetts from 1991 to 1995. Andrea planned to study pre-med, but because Amherst was a liberal arts college it did not have a pre-med program. Instead, she studied music since she has always loved music as a high school student and as a young girl. As a result, she decided to major in music and continued to take the courses that were necessary to take the MCAT. Being a music major taught Andrea how to critically think, and write, which carried over into so many more things in her life and her future career. Her plan to become a doctor quickly changed when she needed to take linear algebra. The course made her realize that she did not need that class and had no interest in the subject after getting what seemed like an easy equation wrong. On the last day of drop-add, Andrea decided to sign up for Geology 101 after her friend told her to do so. She described the experience as, running from linear algebra, straight into the arms of geology (Forecastpod, 2017) where she became enthralled with the subject, continuing to take as many geology courses as she could during her time as an undergrad student. Although she did not major in geology, she understood that she had a passion for it and followed her drive to do it for a living. Andrea also spent her time in college participating in sports teams. Dutton graduated from Amherst College in 1995 with a Bachelors of the Arts degree in music with a focus in history and theory.

Following her graduation from Amherst College, and her new-found passion for geology, Dutton decided that she did not want to become a doctor. Her plans to attend medical school were diverted to become a science teacher. Andrea began teaching at Saint Ann’s School in 1995; a private school in Brooklyn Heights in New York City. She described it as one of the hardest jobs she has ever had (Forecastpod, 2017). Her difficulties as a teacher arose from the diversity of learning levels that she had to teach throughout the day. She taught 3rd, 6th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade. It was unimaginably tough at times for her to switch from simple 3rd-grade science and then teach older students, who were enrolled in subjects like AP Chemistry. As a result of that experience, Dutton was able to develop confidence in the realm of public speaking through these experiences of flipping the switch from a variety of teaching levels.

Continuing her passion for geology, Andrea attended the University of Michigan for both her M.S. in 2000, as well as her Ph.D. in Geological Sciences in 2003. As a Ph.D. student, her focus was on paleoclimates, where she focused on the ancient climates between the Cretaceous to the Eocene periods on the Antarctic peninsula. The following year, she moved to Australia as a Postdoctoral and Research Fellow at The Australian National University, Canberra, where she was a part of the Research School of Earth Sciences. The first two years at ANU she focused on the method development of two machines. It was a tough time for her because as a postdoctoral student she was not publishing any work. The experience itself, she believed was an invaluable experience, even though it meant that she has not publications those two years (Forecastpod 2017). Following her method development job at ANU, she began to work closely with her advisor, Kurt Lambeck, who studied many other factors, besides corals to understand past warming periods and the future of sea-level rise.

Andrea’s time in Australia was not only about science, but she also became a mother to two children in 2007 and in 2010. The maternity leave in Australia is much better than the policies we have in place in the United States. She was able to take five-months off with full pay. With the generous maternity leave, Andrea took advantage of her time off from her research to spend time with her kids, as they are only young once. Although the time off and lack of publications may have affected her career, she admits that “if you’re not there you’ll miss it,” and gladly took the full five months off for each of her children (Forecastpod, 2017).

In 2011 after leaving Australia, Andrea became an assistant professor at the University of Florida’s Geological Sciences department. Concurrently being a professor, Andrea is continuing to conduct research in her field as a carbonate geochemist and a sedimentologist. Her research question and focus stems from her interest in paleoclimate and paleoceanography. Specifically, focusing on sea level reconstruction over glacial-interglacial timescales with an emphasis on establishing the behavior of sea level and ice sheets during the interglacial periods dating back to 125,000 years ago by looking at corals to incorporate a more holistic approach that can better inform us about future sea-level rise (Dutton, A. The Conversation). Sea-level rise is not a thing of the future, it is already happening. Andrea’s research is currently showing the prediction of a 3.2-foot rise in sea level by the year 2100 (Scheweers, J. 2015).

Her findings as a Scientist:

Dr. Dutton’s work and training have allowed her to further her research by using corals to reconstruct what happened in the past when sea levels did rise during the last interglacial and warming periods. She was trained to be a carbonate sedimentologist, which has varied in archaeological practices to her work, as a geochemist. In her work, she takes on a holistic approach when studying corals. It is not a simple task to study corals; some species of corals can live at multiple depths in the water column; this can affect the amount of sunlight received, the impact of waves and tidal ranges. The target corals in her research are those that live in shallow water. Her holistic approach includes studying corals: age, elevation and the surrounding reef as well as, algae growth on corals, sedimentary evidence (if the reef was previously drowned or exposed), and multiple other indicators that can provide more information. Another challenge resulting in studying the corals is its location. For example, in the Atlantic, the species of corals that are found near the Caribbean are called, Elkhorn that occur in Pleistocene Reefs; which do not have much diversity. In comparison, the corals that are found in the Indo-Pacific are easier to collect more information about the surrounding area of the corals. Each new field site that Dr. Dutton arrives with her research students, a snorkel trip takes place to be able to best understand the modern reef to make sense of what is there. In some cases, a detailed survey is conducted to back up past literations.

Her research begins by looking at the past to understand the future. Her research along with other researchers has, “estimated that sea levels eventually rose some 6 meters — equivalent to nearly 20 feet — higher than they are right now,” during some of the warmest interglacials over the past 3 million years within 3 different warming periods (Mooney, C. 2015). The first past period (analogue) is the “Mid-Pliocene warm period” that occurred between ice ages with multiple warm periods. The average temperatures during this period 2 to 3 Celsius warmer than they were previous to the industrial revolution. The sea-levels were 6 meters (20 feet) higher than they are currently. “Marine Isotope Stage 11” occurred 424,000–395,000 years ago and is the second warming period. Sea levels during this time were between 6 and 13 meters greater than today, and the temperature was higher than pre-industrial level between 1 and 2 degrees Celsius. While “Marine Isotope Stage 5e” is closely similar with the temperature’s we are reaching today of 1 degree Celsius warmer than pre-industrial era. Sea levels at this time were higher than today reaching 6 to 9 meters. which is the most present period around 129,00–116,000 years ago (Mooney, C. 2015). Each warm period was selected and researched based off of temperatures that were preserved in corals and sediments. Her research found that the warming temperatures and rising sea level that caused the Marine Isotope Stage 5e to increase were not caused by carbon dioxide, but instead by an orbital cycle. Dutton, believes that global warming may not yet cause a 6-meter rise, but we’re getting close (Mooney, C. 2015). There is a lot of unknown and uncertainty, as Dr. Dutton and other researchers study the reconstruction of corals, in which the uncertainties are becoming more transparent.

Her findings, in short, along with the general conversation on climate change that is at the front of the political talk are temperatures are continuing to increase. Currently, the global mean temperature that has resulted from global emissions is higher than the pre-industrial levels by 4 degrees Celsius (Dpt. Geo Sciences UF). Dr. Dutton does not think that the limitation agreed upon by global leaders to try and limit temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius is not enough. Her answer stems from 30 years of research, knowing that even limiting global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius will still put Miami and all of South Florida under water. The unknown certainty continues to be the time at which the detrimental effects of sea-level rise will occur. With recent storms have already affected city infrastructure and wildlife areas, such as the Everglades National Park, are facing devastating losses.

Traveling has become a crucial part of Andrea’s research as she continues her work as a detective. Her hunt for ancient fossilized coral reefs has taken her all over the world to places like the Seychelles, Bahamas, Italy, Jamaica, Australia, Mexico and the United States. Her expertise in the field has landed her in these regions that provide evidence to how high sea-levels were when the ice sheets melted in past warming periods.

Seychelles:

Her decision to pick an island far away from the Antarctic was not to enjoy the sandy beaches, but instead the region that the island is found matches what the global mean sea level is. Meaning, locally the levels of the sea are different from what the rest of the rest of the world was experiencing from the actions of the ice sheets. Seychelles is a small island located in the Indian Ocean, that retains an ancient coral reef. The fossil reefs that surround the island has led Andrea to discover the sea-level 125,000 years ago. The “rapid retreat of an unstable part of the Antarctic ice sheet was a major contributor to that sea-level rise,” in Seychelles, which increased sea-levels at a height of 20 to 30 feet (UF News 2015) from possible collapsed Antarctic ice sheets during that time. The temperatures that were present during the 20 to 30-foot rise in Seychelles is very similar to what they are today, which can likely lead to similar trends not far in the future. Andrea has concluded from this research that, “we could be poised for another partial collapse of the Antarctic ice sheet,” (UF News 2015).

Mexico:

In 2015 Andrea took her research to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, where an amusement park was carved out of the rocks and exposed remains of 100,000-year-old coral reefs. This place left Andrea stunned, she described it as, “the most amazing exposure to a reef of that period that I have ever seen, or ever will,” (Sciencemag 2015). The presence of jaguar pen’s fossil reefs here provided Andrea the insight into 125,000 years ago when the decline of ice sheets began in Greenland and Antarctica.

At each site of research Dr. Dutton and her team collects samples of ice cores, sediments, fossil corals and examines the Earth’s geological record that they can survey to find how the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica will respond to the current warming temperature that we are experiencing from past warming period; this can unfold the projected rise of the future (From Music Major To Rock Star).

As a Florida resident, Andrea is very concerned with how future sea-level rise will affect the state; when the highest place in Florida is 350 feet above sea level (Ostroff, C. 2015). Senator Bill Nelson met with Andrea in 2015, to discuss his concerns about Florida and 75% of its population living along the coastline (Ostroff, C. 2015). Currently, Miami is feeling effects of rising sea-levels where streets are flooded from high tides on sunny days called “sunny-day flooding.” It is not just the East Coast of Florida that will be affected, it’s the entire state that would feel the effect of sea-level rise, said Dutton (Ostroff, C. 2015). The Florida Keys became another location for Andrea to further her research, especially since the keys grew during the period of higher sea levels and have now turned into fossilized coral reefs.

In Addition to her work on sea level rise, she is currently working on a project looking at the tide gauge where there was an issue with sea level rise in coastal resources. This was a collaboration with other faculty members of the University of Florida. These collaboration’s for Andrea are important when asked if she rather work alone or with others during an interview in November 2018, she said “science is very much a collaborative exercise anyway, I have — made an effort to talk to other people who have spent a lot of time communicating on this issue, to learn from them, and to ask their advice and find out what works best for them, or say ‘hey what did you do in this situation, I’m not sure how to deal with this?’” which allows room for people with other expertise to add additional though to a project or idea (C. Brodkin, personal communication, November 15, 2018). Her collaborative findings found that increased levels of hot spots are able to migrate, up and down the east coast of the U.S. caused by the El Nino effects, which has sped up the acceleration of sea-level rise. This was an unprecedented finding where humans were not the cause, but the difficulty finding statistical patterns throughout history has been caused by tide gauge logs only dating back 100 years (Forecastpod 2017).

Andrea is a part of many editorial boards, steering committees, and steering groups as a world-renowned climate scientist. Additionally, she is a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Oceans & Cryosphere in Changing Climate (SROCC) and part of the Geological Society of America and the Florida Climate Institute. Andrea is not only committed to her work as a scientist; she is devoted to scientific outreach. She publicly engages and communicates on the issue of her research through a variety of platforms that allow her to reach a greater audience.

Now, communication has become more important than science:

Dutton’s scientific research is influencing city planning, population shifts and farming methods of the future. It is certain that sea levels are going to continue to rise and reshape coastlines which makes communicating to the public that much more significant. Dutton’s approach to communicating the urgent issue of rising sea levels is making her a leader in society. She may not think of herself as an environmental leader in some ways, but she is leading society in the direction of pursuing a sustainable future for the human race that can withstand the environmental changes for future generations to come. Her outreach emphasizes that it is not too late to pursue changes for cities near the coast. The longer we wait for the higher chance of economic damage. Her passion through her communication and outreach has been her guiding force throughout her work.

Research shows that sea-level is currently happening and is projected to continue throughout the future, way past our lifetime, our children’s lifetime and so on. Dr. Andrea Dutton is currently and consistently communicating how people can coexist within this changing environment. To Andrea the most important message to any of her audiences is that the problem is solvable, “we know that we’re responsible. So, we also know that we’re the ones who can fix it. Even though it is a big problem — that doesn’t mean that we can’t do anything about it. And some people feel like we have a lack of leadership at the federal level right now that also means that we can do nothing about it. Which is not true. There is a lot happening at state and local levels,” (C. Brodkin, personal communication, November 15, 2018). Her communication provides insight on what we can do to put human beings out of risk when the sea levels rise to the point where the coastlines are uninhabitable, and our aquifers will have been encroached in salt. Dutton approaches her audience’s referencing, “Global Warming’s Six Americas” meaning; there are six unique audiences within the American public that each respond to the issue in their own distinct way (Climate Change Communication 2016). Dr. Dutton’s confidence to be able to apply these practices when communicating about climate change is possible through her teaching experiences. According to Mike from forecastpod, “many scientists go into thinking that the audience is just like them — that they are talking to people who know the material as well as they do, who have already seen their graphs ten times,” (Forecastpod 2017). In opposition, Dr. Dutton’s ability to apply her humanistic characteristics to her communication, allows her to connect to a wider audience. She admits, she does not want to believe what is happening is real, because she will have to buy into, the scary parts of the reality as well (CNN 2018). She is a mother who is worried about her children’s future, even though she love’s the work that she does as she explained in a Rolling Stone’s article, “I am not doing this because I love science. I’m doing this because I care about the future and the kind of world we’re leaving to our kids,” (Rolling Stones 2017).

In recent news, the National Climate Assessment says Florida is battered by climate change and it will get much worse, according to 88.5 WMNF who recently interviewed Dutton. Her message as current as of November 28, 2018, is trying to get policies enacted on the basis to take control of climate change so that the economic costs won’t be as intense and the dangerous effects from increased sea levels can be put off. “The economic losses from climate change could be hundreds of billion dollars annually in some sectors. So costs are huge. And the big message here is that the cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of action,” (Kinane, Seán 2018). Her message is reiterating that climate change is not only affecting animals and wildlife but the health and wealth of Americans. Americans are already paying for climate change because it’s making storms more damaging, it’s making heat waves more deadly, wildfires more common. The area burned during the wildfires had increased due to climate change. It can make allergies worse and some diseases … And future climate change will expect to further disrupt many of these systems as well,” (Kinane, Seán 2018). Global warming is something that is going to continue to happen and Andrea is going to keep communicating on the issue.

Collaboration is important to communicate messages of science to the public in which Andrea continues to do to further her message about climate change. A recent collaborative effort was with an organization called, Climate Nexus. They wanted her to write an op-ed when the National Climate Assessment Report was published to bring the message to light. With Andrea’s busy schedule she would never have thought of organizing and going forth with something like this. The man who contacted her helped her with contacting editors, which helped her be able to focus on her writing. While compromise may not be necessary, the collaborative efforts between scientist and the public, allow the message to be received on the other end of the writing.

Communicating to the public on climate change does not come easy for a female scientist. Dr. Dutton and other female scientists such as, Kim Cobb and Katharine Hayhoe, who have all experienced harassment from strangers through hate mail, social media, and even phone calls. A report conducted by the National Academics of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine noted that “58% of female academic faculty and staff experienced sexual harassment, making academia second only to the military (with 69%) in rates of workplace harassment,” (Waldman, S.; Heikkinen, N. 2018). These types of researchers are constantly at risk, publicly speaking about their scientific research and findings.

In the communication front, Andrea looks up to Michael Mann, who is the top leading climate scientist today and Katharine Hayhoe, an evangelical Christian and climate explainer. Michael Mann is a scientist who also does a lot of outreach that has helped better explain his messages with the help of collaborations. Andrea explained she looks up to Katharine Hayhoe because of the way she speaks to Christian based communities on the topic of how taking care of the environment is also a Christian value. Andrea said, “the way she approaches it and talks to people — I really admire the way she does that — right, and so I definitely look up to her a lot, in terms of, how to approach people who might initially be completely on the other side of the fence, but being able to see through that and connect with them and talk to them in any way — is a real value,” (C. Brodkin, personal communication, November 15 2018).

Being a communicator has had its ups and downs throughout Andrea’s career. Andrea believes that her biggest disaster was when she gave a TEDx talk at the University of Florida. The TEDxUF is a student-run program where from the start did not enjoy the setup of the presentation. Mid-presentation her slides that were meant to be matched up to her memorized ten-minute talk stopped working. She was unable to see her slides and couldn’t get them to where they were supposed to be. The screen turned black and none of her slides were up and it through her entire talk off. She was pretty disappointed in the way the entire thing played out. On the flip side, her incredible research and ever-evolving partnerships and collaborations have landed her in articles written in the New York Times, Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Wall Street Journal and many more. Rolling Stones named her one 25 people shaping the future in tech, science, medicine, activism and more and recognized her for her forensic studies of global warming. Andreas quote, “It’s as if the country was being attacked along every border, simultaneously. It’s a slow, gradual attack, but it threatens the safety and security of the United States,” was named “Quotation of the Day” on the front page of The New York Times.

Andrea’s hopes in the future after she retires as a scientist is for her scientific outreach message about self-preservation and saving the human race, spreads to people in a domino effect. Not to just understand the message and carry it forward, but to be curious about this complex and beautiful world we live in. She would love for people to not just live in the world but be more observant about the changes that are happening which will help each individual become better critical thinkers when they are presented with what is in front of them. “It is not about — you know awards, or publications. All those things are nice, but it is kind of just icing on the cake — it’s really the number of people that you — kind of — reach with that message, which is the most important thing, “(C. Brodkin, personal communication, November 15, 2018).

Conclusion:

A natural born detective with an innate passion for geology, has inevitably resonated with the public, through her optimism as a leader and as a climate scientist, in the communication front. Andrea Dutton is a leading climate scientist who is hopeful for the plans of the future. Her unique take on incorporating corals to study sea level reconstruction over glacial-interglacial timescales with an emphasis on establishing the behavior of sea level and ice sheets during the interglacial periods dating back to 125,000 years ago. Additionally, her scientific research is meant to save the human race, not the planet because the planet will be here without a question, she continues to ask the question of, “will we still be here?” She relies heavily on communicating her science to the public to instill what is currently happening with sea-levels and how they are going to continue to affect us in the future. Being a mother lights a fire in her quest to find the problems and solutions that can be implemented before it is too late.

Sources:

“Andrea Dutton.” The Conversation, The Conversation, 16 Aug. 2017, theconversation.com/profiles/andrea-dutton-401176.

Brodkin, Ciera. “Andrea Dutton Environmental Leader.” 15 Nov. 2018.

Cornwall, Warren. “Ghosts of Oceans Past.” Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 13 Nov. 2015, science.sciencemag.org/content/350/6262/752.

“From Music Major to Rock Star.” University of Florida Advancement, www.uff.ufl.edu/your-impact/andrea-dutton-looking-back-look-forward/.

Google Drive, Google, CNN drive.google.com/file/d/106Bu1glUyOIOVZa3Xd4FejlzGxI_c0FN/view.

Goodell, Jeff, et al. “25 People Shaping the Future.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018, www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-lists/25-people-shaping-the-future-in-tech-science-medicine-activism-and-more-116138/andrea-dutton-the-forensics-of-global-warming-118614/.

GrahamCenter. “Sea Level Rise.” Shorthand, social.shorthand.com/GrahamCenter/jyZfvrtAkP/sea-level-rise.

Kinane, Seán. “National Climate Assessment Says Florida Is Battered by Climate Change and It Will Get Much Worse.” WMNF, 28 Nov. 2018, www.wmnf.org/national-climate-assessment-florida-climate-change-will-get-worse/.

“Is Miami Destined to Become a Modern Day Atlantis?” Department, geology.ufl.edu/news/2015/miami-atlantis/

Mike. “Reconstructing Past Sea Level with Andrea Dutton.” Forecast: a Podcast about Climate Science and Climate Scientists, 13 Dec. 2017, forecastpod.org/index.php/2017/12/13/reconstructing-past-sea-level-andrea-dutton/.

Mooney, Chris. “Why the Earth’s Past Has Scientists so Worried about Sea Level Rise.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 9 July 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/07/09/why-the-earths-past-has-scientists-so-worried-about-sea-level-rise/?utm_term=.70d0167e5fc1.

Ostroff, Caitlin. “Florida Senator Comes to UF, Discusses Rising Sea Levels.” The Independent Florida Alligator, 1 Sept. 2015, www.alligator.org/news/campus/florida-senator-comes-to-uf-discusses-rising-sea-levels/article_17af69d0-5063-11e5-8a2e-6fb58bb053f2.html.

“Sea Level Media Briefing: Panelist Biographies.” SciLine, www.sciline.org/sea-level-rise-media-briefing-panelist-biographies/.

“Sea Level Rise Is Speeding up, Scientists Confirm.” ThinkProgress, ThinkProgress, thinkprogress.org/sea-level-rise-is-speeding-up-eb3e2e325551/.

Talks, TEDx. YouTube, YouTube, 13 June 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfpMO4WLDLE.

University of Florida. “On a Tropical Island, Fossils Reveal the Past — and Possible Future — of Polar Ice.” News, University of Florida, news.ufl.edu/archive/2015/01/on-a-tropical-island-fossils-reveal-the-past — and-possible-future — of-polar-ice.html.

Waldman, Scott, et al. “HARASSMENT: ‘Ugly Fake Scientist.’ Women Say Sexist Attacks on the Rise.” POLITICS: How Do You Shift Republicans on Climate? Be Nice — Wednesday, September 6, 2017, www.eenews.net/stories/1060094801.