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A Texas A&M University agricultural economics professor was among a team of hundreds awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its work on an international committee studying global warming and its effects.
The International Panel on Climate Change, established in 1988 to evaluate the risk of climate change caused by humans, was awarded the prize for its most recent report on global warming. The group publishes an updated report every five years, and this year the report consisted of four books -- the science of climate change, effects of climate change, mitigation and a summary.
A&M Regents Professor Bruce McCarl served as the lead author for a chapter focusing on agriculture and mitigation. He worked with about a dozen fellow authors.
"I'm an economist. What we tried to do is take a look at how agriculture could do various things to remove greenhouse gases from the air and how much that would cost," McCarl said Friday, just hours after learning he was a co-winner.
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly on Friday to panel members and former U.S. vice president and environmentalist Al Gore.
McCarl is the second Nobel laureate currently in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Norman Borlaug, who is credited with saving the lives of more than 1 billion people worldwide, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for developing a high-yield wheat crop.
New members of the International Panel on Climate Change are appointed every five years. Each group is to objectively review scientific, technical and socio-economic information related to human-induced climate change, as well as potential effects and relief options, according to the committee's Web site.
McCarl said he focused on two main areas: biofuels and soil sequestration.
By changing how farmland is managed or expanding forests, carbon can be taken out of the air through photosynthesis, the professor said. As trees and plants grow, they absorb carbon. That carbon then travels into the soil through plant roots, he said, explaining that the carbon is held in the soil if the field isn't plowed.
Trees also can help to recycle carbon, McCarl said. Rather than mining for coal, a tree is burned for fuel, which releases carbon into the air. But when another tree is planted, it reabsorbs the carbon, he said.
McCarl said he has been studying climate change since arriving at Texas A&M in 1985 and he has been working on mitigation efforts since 1989.
"It was an interesting idea to start with," McCarl said, when asked why he chose his field of study. "Since then, shall we say, it's become a hot topic."
• Holly Huffman's e-mail address is holly.huffman@theeagle.com.
