Kelly Wanser
Kelly Wanser
Executive Director, SilverLining
Kelly Wanser is a nonprofit leader and strategist working at the intersection of atmospheric science, risk management and governance. Her work focuses on improving humanity’s ability to understand, monitor and responsibly manage changes in the atmosphere, including emerging questions around climate intervention, aerosols and Earth system stewardship.
Speaking Topics
Governing Planetary-Scale Technologies: How societies can responsibly evaluate technologies capable of affecting Earth systems.
The Future of Atmospheric Observation: Why monitoring and attribution are becoming critical global infrastructure.
Managing Climate Risk Under Uncertainty: What policymakers can learn from uncertainty, resilience and risk management.
Aerosols, Aviation and Atmospheric Change: How human activity is already influencing the atmosphere and what we still don’t know.
Selected Talks and Interviews
80,000 Hours Podcast: “Kelly Wanser on whether to deliberately intervene in the climate”
On the 80,000 Hours Podcast, Kelly Wanser discussed how humanity is already influencing the atmosphere at planetary scale, the emerging science of atmospheric interventions such as marine cloud brightening, and the governance challenges posed by technologies capable of affecting Earth systems. The conversation explored risk management under uncertainty, the importance of atmospheric observation and attribution, and how societies can responsibly evaluate potential responses to global environmental change.
TedX: “Emergency medicine for our Earth system”
Some industrial emissions also produce particles that reflect sunshine back into space, putting a check on Earth system warming that we're only starting to understand. Earth system security expert Kelly Wanser asks: Can we engineer ways to harness this effect and further reduce warming? Watch the Ted talk to learn more about the promises and risks of "cloud brightening" and how it could help restore our Earth system to health.
Climate on the Edge: “Solar Radiation Management to Buy Time”
In this conversation, Kelly Wanser discussed the emerging science and governance of atmospheric intervention, including how humanity is already influencing the atmosphere at planetary scale and why some researchers believe additional climate risk-management approaches deserve careful study. The discussion explored atmospheric observation, uncertainty, international governance and the challenges of responsibly researching technologies intended to reduce global climate risk.
In The Media
Op-Ed: “The atmosphere is becoming a battleground. America must lead on safety.”
ADD (Stardust Op-Ed article?)
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Biography
Kelly Wanser is the Executive Director of SilverLining, a nonprofit advancing atmospheric science, climate risk research and observational infrastructure. Her work spans climate intervention research, atmospheric governance and emerging climate technologies, including contributions to US legislation, reports for organizations including the IPCC, NOAA and the Atlantic Council, and advisory work with the U.S. Department of State and Defense Science Board. She has also advised organizations including Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Ocean Conservancy and the National Academy of Sciences.
Contact
For speaking engagements, podcasts and media inquiries, please contact:
Jake Bill: jbill@silverlining.ngo