John Harte

John Harte (born July 8, 1939) is an American ecologist and Professor of the Graduate School in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California at Berkeley. His work includes investigation into a maximum entropy theory of ecology and long-term experiments on the effects of climate change on alpine ecology.

Academic career Harte received his B.A. from Harvard University in 1961 and his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Wisconsin in 1965. He was an Assistant Professor of Physics at Yale University from 1968 to 1973. He used his analytic abilities in 1971 to assess the impact of a proposed jetport on the Florida Everglades, the findings of which were instrumental in the rejection of the proposal. Impressed by the impact science could have on policy and conservation, he transitioned into the study of theoretical ecology, and joined the UC Berkeley faculty as an ecologist in the Energy and Resources Group in 1973. The project has involved many scientists, and continued for nearly 30 years, making it the longest-running global warming field experiment ever undertaken. The project used a linear array of 10 experimental plots that alternated between unheated (control) and heated plots, where the soil and vegetation of the latter were continually heated by an average of 2 degrees Celsius, the temperature change predicted at that time for global warming. and in Mother Jones Magazine.

Harte found that spring snowmelt occurred 2–3 weeks earlier in the heated plots. Heated subalpine meadow plots were greatly impacted and started transforming from non-woody flowering plants (forbs) towards more arid sagebrush habitat.

By 2015, published research showed that unheated meadow plots were showing the same effects as heated plots but more slowly—that is, unheated plots were tracking the actual effects of climate change in real time. These results affirmed the realism of the experimental manipulation (ie, heating plots).

Harte has spoken out on the policy implications of his global warming research to the public on numerous occasions, notably in a filmed 2022 presentation to the Central Colorado Humanists. With his wife, Mary Ellen (Mel) Harte, he co-authored the first free online book on climate change and policy in 2009, Cool the Earth, Save the Economy: Solving the Climate Crisis Is EASY.

Harte has also published (e.g., ) on the problem of, and needed solutions to, the unsustainable global growth of human populations.

Honors and awards

He was selected in July 1990 to be one of the first recipients of the Pew Scholar Prize in Conservation and the Environment.

He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1993 and the Leo Szilard prize from the American Physical Society in 2001.

Further honors include the Phi Beta Kappa Lectureship, the University of Colorado Distinguished Lectureship, the UC Berkeley Graduate Mentorship Award, a Miller Professorship, and a George Polk Award in investigative journalism. California Academy of Sciences; American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2014; Ecological Society of America in 2019 "for foundational leadership on early work on climate change and education of the ecological crisis to come, for pioneering work on feedbacks and synergies among global change drivers, and for development of the maximum entropy theory of ecology."

Selected publications Harte, J. and M. E. Harte. 2008. Cool the Earth, Save the Economy: Solving Global Warming is EASY, an online book available for free download. Harte, J. and R. Socolow. 1971. Patient Earth. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York. Harte, John. 1988. Consider a Spherical Cow: A Course in Environmental Problem Solving. University Science Books, Sausalito, California. Harte, John. 2011. Maximum Entropy and Ecology: A Theory of Abundance, Distribution, and Energetics. Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution. Harte, John. 1996. The Green Fuse: An Ecological Odyssey. University of California Press. Harte, John. 1991. Toxics A to Z: A Guide to Everyday Pollution Hazards. University of California Press. D. Jensen, M. Torn, and J. Harte. 1993. In Our Own Hands: A Strategy for Conserving Biodiversity in California. University of California. Press. Harte, John. 2001. Consider a Cylindrical Cow: More Adventures in Environmental Problem Solving. University Science Books. ISBN 978-1891389177