About the speaker: Holly olivarez

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Environmental Studies Program and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado Boulder. 

My research: The global carbon cycle can be thought of as three reservoirs of carbon: atmosphere, land and ocean. The ocean is the largest reservoir and takes up 60 times more carbon than land. Scientists measure and model how much carbon the ocean has taken up in the past, but how much carbon will the ocean take up in the future? Using large ensemble simulations of global Earth processes from multiple Earth system models and statistical methods, I separate external forcings, such as volcanic eruptions and the burning of fossil fuels, from internal processes. I quantify the origin of variations of carbon taken up by or coming out of the ocean for better short-term predictions and long-term projections of the future climate system. 

I am a first generation, underrepresented National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in the Environmental Studies Program and the Institute for Alpine and Arctic Research at the University of Colorado Boulder. I am passionate about inspiring people to talk about climate change in their daily lives. The Yale Program for Climate Change Communication recently reported that only one in five U.S. Americans understand how strong the level of consensus among scientists is! Conveying the urgency and seriousness of the climate crisis, combined with conveying rational hope of the power of creative human smarts and collective action, lies on each of us. No matter what our climate system knowledge is or where we are geographically, climate change is impacting our lives and we can find a way to talk about it.