Our beloved geographer colleague and friend Robert Kates passed away 21 April 2018 at the age of 89. Jesse met Bob in 1978 during preparations for the first UN World Climate Conference and they work closely together on studies of the impacts of climate variability and change for the next 20 years. Together they conceived and led the climate project of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) during the early 1980s, much of which was reported in RW Kates, JH Ausubel, M Berberian (eds), Climate Impact Assessment, SCOPE 27, Chichester: Wiley, 625pp., 1985. Bob also contributed an excellent chapter to Daedalus 125(3), 1996, The Liberation of the Environment, “Population, Technology, and the Human Environment: A Thread through Time,” pp. 43-72, edited by Jesse.
Environment reporter Andy Revkin offers sound and sensitive thoughts and links to some of Bob’s late work.
We look forward to a seminar sure to be organized to celebrate his wonderful work and humanity.