John J. Berger (born May 8, 1945 in New York City)[1] is an environmental science and policy specialist, prize-winning American author, journalist, and environmental consultant. He has worked for the National Research Council[2] of the National Academy of Sciences, Fortune 500 corporations such as Chevron, nonprofit groups, such as Friends of the Earth, and governmental organizations, including the Office of Technology Assessment of the United States Congress.[2] He co-founded and directed the Nuclear Information and Resource Service as well as founding and directing the Restoring the Earth organization.[1] Berger has authored and edited eleven books on energy and environmental issues, including Solving the Climate Crisis: Frontline Reports from the Race to Save the Earth, Climate Peril: The Intelligent Reader's Guide to Understanding the Climate Crisis, Climate Myths: The Campaign Against Climate Science, Restoring the Earth: How Americans Are Working to Renew Our Damaged Environment, and Charging Ahead: The Business of Renewable Energy and What It Means for America.

John J Berger, PhD
Dr. John J Berger
Dr. John J Berger
Born(1945-05-08)May 8, 1945
New York City, United States
OccupationAuthor, editor and consultant
NationalityAmerican
Period1976–present
GenreEnvironmental restoration, ecology, climate change, natural resources, renewable energy, energy efficiency, conservation
Website
www.johnjberger.com

Biography

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Berger is a long-time supporter of alternative energy solutions to global environmental problems. He has repeatedly called attention to the nation's excessive dependence on fossil fuels and the huge economic and environmental costs, and risks. He has outlined strategies for a clean, renewable energy economy in his books and articles which have appeared in publications such as Huffington Post, Scientific American, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, and Renewable Energy World.[3] Berger's writing on energy and natural resource issues has helped to launch the environmental restoration movement, beginning with his book Restoring the Earth in 1985[4] and later by convening the Restoring the Earth Conference, January 13-1, 1988 at the University of California, Berkleley (see below).

Education and Work

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In 1966, John J. Berger earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Stanford University.[1] Prior to his work on energy and the environment, Berger was an innovator in journalism. In 1970, he co-founded Alternative Features Service, Inc. to support the development of alternative and college newspapers and radio stations in the U.S. with syndicated press materials that highlighted the creation of alternative institutions, such as free clinics, people's banks, free universities, and alternative housing.[citation needed]

In 1976, after publishing his first book, Nuclear Power: The Unviable Option, with an introduction by Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling and a foreword by Senator Mike Gravel, he was invited by David Brower to become Friends of the Earth's Energy Projects Director in San Francisco.[1] In 1977, as a consultant to Stanley A. Weiss, co-founder of American Minerals, Berger and Judith Johnsrud conducted field research for what was to become the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, which Berger designed and directed in Washington, D.C. from 1978 to 1979. In 1979, he became a technical editor at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California[1] and enrolled in the Energy and Resources Program at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was awarded a master's degree.[1] In 1980 and 1981, Berger taught courses in energy technology and policy at Vista College and the University of San Francisco. In 1984, Berger began two years of postgraduate research on land-use policy in Sacramento at the University of California, Davis.[1] In 1985, he published Restoring the Earth: How Americans Are Working to Restore Our Damaged Environment and became the executive director of Restoring the Earth, an environmental organization based in Berkeley, California.[1]

The group convened the 1988 Restoring the Earth Conference, which at the time was the most comprehensive meeting ever held on the repair of environmental damage and the re-creation of disrupted ecosystems. The meeting brought together environmental leaders, restoration practitioners, corporate executives, scientists, government officials, labor, media, grassroots activists and concerned citizens from throughout the U.S. to discuss and plan the restoration of all types of damaged natural resources and the planning of sustainable uban area. The conference drew national attention to examples of successful ecological restoration and to the potential of restoration technology to heal prior environmental damage. More than 150 scientific papers and popular talks were presented on topics ranging from the restoration of forests, rivers, lakes, streams, wetlands, estuaries, prairies, and mined lands to wildlife and its habitats; as well as prevention, management and containment of toxic wastes.[citation needed]

Berger later went on to receive a PhD in Ecology from the University of California, Davis in 1990[1] and served as visiting Associate Professor of Environmental Policy at the Graduate School of Public Affairs of the University of Maryland[5] and Professor of Environmental Science at the University of San Francisco.[2] In addition to his teaching and leadership of environmental organizations, Berger has been a journalist specializing in energy, environment, climate, and natural resources, and he is currently (2023) the U.S. Correspondent for Sustain Europe.[citation needed]

His awards include the 2015 International Book Award for Science; a Switzer Foundation Environmental Fellowship for graduate study: a year-long fellowship for study at the University of Tunis in Tunisia: a summer writing fellowship at the Blue Mountain Center in the Adirondacks; and selection to participate in a summer-study program at the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory for Genetic Research. Berger is also an independent energy and environmental consultant. He was an Affiliated Research Fellow at UC Berkeley's Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory.[citation needed]

He is currently[when?] a Senior Fellow of the Pacific Institute of Oakland, California. [citation needed]

Bibliography

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Books

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 #  Title Publication Date
1 Nuclear Power: The Unviable Option: A Critical Look at Our Energy Alternatives 1976
2 Restoring the Earth: How Americans Are Working to Renew Our Damaged Environment   1985
3 Ecological Restoration in the San Francisco Bay: A Descriptive Directory and Sourcebook 1990
4 Environmental Restoration: Science and Strategies for Restoring the Earth 1990
5 Charging Ahead: The Business of Renewable Energy and What it Means for America 1998
6 Understanding Forests 1998
7 Beating the Heat: Why and How We Must Combat Global Warming 2000
8 Forests Forever: Their Ecology, Restoration and Protection 2008
9 Climate Myths: The Campaign Against Climate Science 2013
10 Climate Peril: The Intelligent Reader's Guide to Understanding the Climate Crisis 2014
11 Solving the Climate Crisis: Frontline Reports from the Race to Save the Earth 2023

Published Print Articles (Non-Digital)

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 #  Publication Title Publication Date
Scientific American Crisis in the Cryosphere, Part 1 April 14, 2016
USA Today Magazine Is the Arctic Carbon Bomb About to Go Off? July 2015
USA Today Magazine Time to Hit the Panic Button January 2015
Huffington Post US-China Bilateral Climate Agreement–Troubling Aspects January 13, 2015
Huffington Post Naomi Klein, Climate and Capitalism (Pt. 1) January 12, 2015
Huffington Post Why Voluntary Pledges Won’t Save the Climate January 12, 2015
Huffington Post California Energy Strategists Push for 100% Clean Energy, Without Fossil Fuels or Nuclear Power October 27, 2014
Huffington Post Rocket’s Red Glare, Bombs Bursting in Air Steal Global Climate Protests’ Thunder (Pt. 2) September 30, 2014
Huffington Post Rocket’s Red Glare Distract Nation From UN Climate Summit and Import of Global Climate Protests September 25, 2014
USA Today Hot Under the Collar Over Global Warming July 2013
1 Environment News Service Opinion: Bush Energy Policy – Fuels Rush In June 2001
2 Positive Alternatives Cover Story: Prospects for Solar and Wind Power Winter 1998
3 Earth Island Journal A Future Without Fossil Fuel Winter 1997
4 Sierra Magazine Natural Resources: Dirty Politics, Clean Power November/December 1997
5 San Francisco Chronicle SUNDAY INTERVIEW – John J. Berger / Getting Resourceful About Energy October 1997
6 Sierra Magazine Nine Ways to Save our National Forests[permanent dead link] July/August 1997
7 National Research Council Aquatic Ecosystems on the Critical List 1993
8 San Francisco Examiner Polluting the Earth in the USSR July 18, 1989
9 Animal Kingdom A Big Hand for a Little Owl[permanent dead link] March/April 1988
10 OMNI Tree Shakers November 1986
11 Sierra Magazine The Audacious Vision of Marion Stoddart March/April 1986
12 Sierra Magazine The Prairie Makers[permanent dead link] November/December 1985
13 San Francisco Chronicle Magazine Return of the Falcon[permanent dead link] October 20, 1985
14 The Boston Globe Optimal Suburbia September 22, 1985
15 National Audubon Society Montague and the Temple of Doom[permanent dead link] September 1985
16 Los Angeles Times Magazine Future Cities November 17, 1985
17 OMNI Myths of Scarcity[permanent dead link] February 1982
18 The Progressive Desert Fallout: One Man's Death[permanent dead link] August 1981

Notes/Further reading

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Petit, Charles (October 26, 1997). "Chronicle Science Writer". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c "Author Bio". University of Chicago.
  3. ^ "The Challenge to Restore Nature". How on Earth. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  4. ^ RESTORING THE EARTH: How Americans Are Working to Renew Our Damaged Environment by John J. Berger | Kirkus Reviews.
  5. ^ Armin Rosencranz; John Niles (2002). Stephen Schneider (ed.). Climate Change Policy: A Survey. Island Press. ISBN 1559638818.
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