Senator Ed Markey visits Woodwell Climate Research Center

Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) visited Woodwell Climate Research Center’s Falmouth, MA campus on April 6, 2021. The visit came just days before the Senate is set to take up President Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal; low-carbon infrastructure and climate risk and resilience are expected to be key components of the debate around the plan.

This was Sen. Markey’s first visit to the Center, although he is a long-time friend and contributed a message of congratulations for the launch of the new name in August 2020. Deputy Director Dr. Max Holmes and David McGlinchey, Chief of External Affairs, led Sen. Markey on a tour of Woodwell’s environmentally-friendly campus.

“Sen. Markey has been a national leader on climate change for more than a decade, so it was a real honor to have him finally visit the Center,” McGlinchey said. “He understands the scope and scale of the challenge we are facing, he understands the urgency. We’re looking forward to continuing our work with him, and finally making substantive progress on climate change.”

Despite relatively low activity on campus due to COVID restrictions, Sen. Markey was able to speak with research assistant Charlotte Rivard about her work on soil carbon and with postdoctoral researcher Dr. Scott Zolkos about permafrost thaw.

“Learned a lot visiting @WoodwellClimate Research Center, which has produced some of the most important climate research in the last 30 years,” Sen. Markey said later on Twitter. “We must listen to the science and have it guide our climate policy.”

Sen. Markey has a long track record of championing climate legislation, from the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (widely known as the Waxman-Markey Bill) to the Green New Deal. He recently authored an environmental risk mapping bill with Representative Cori Bush (D-MO).