Gerald Haug

Gerald Haug studied Geology at the University of Karlsruhe before moving to the University of Kiel in 1995. After completing his doctorate, he spent the following four years in Kiel, Vancouver, Woods Hole and Los Angeles, before taking a position at the ETH (Technical School) in Zürich. From 2003 to 2007 he was head of the "Climate Dynamics and Sediment" section at the Geo-Research Centre in Potsdam (GFZ) and taught at the University of Potsdam. In 2007 he accepted an offer from the ETH to become Professor of Climate Geology in Zürich, which allowed him more time to conduct research. His work in the area of climate dynamics in the last great warm- and ice-ages was highly praised and widely quoted by his peers. Based on sediment from lakes and seas, and using highly innovative methods, he was able to reconstruct climatic changes during the earth's early history. The development of the great ice-age in the northern hemisphere, about 2.7 million years ago is one of the oldest puzzles in Paleo-climate research. Gerald Haug was able to develop a plausible explanation and show that the north Pacific was the crucial source of moisture for the American ice sheet and the entire northern hemisphere. He was able to prove that the changes in the polar and sub-polar oceans were linked to the exchange of CO2 between the ocean and the atmosphere. He is also interested in the impact of climate change on the fate of past civilizations and the complexities of societal evolution in a changing environment. Gerald Haug is also an active environmentalist. Persuaded about the velocity of global warming by his own research, he jumped into the debate, signing a protest document against experts downplaying the risks of climate change. A versatile speaker, Gerald Haug presents both in English and in German.

What he presents:

Climate Change
The Environment
Climate and Societies
Climate Change and Energy