About John J's Work

John J. Berger, Ph.D., is an energy and environmental policy specialist and a senior research fellow at the Pacific Institute of Oakland, CA. He has been a university professor, and a consultant to businesses, utilities, foundations, government (including the U.S. Congress), and the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. His ten previous books include Climate Peril: The Intelligent Reader’s Guide to Understanding the Climate Crisis (2014), which won the 2015 International Book Award for Science; Climate Myths, The Campaign Against Climate Science (2013); and Charging Ahead: The Business of Renewable Energy and What It Means for America (University of California Press, 1997 both also received high critical acclaim. John also founded and directed Restoring the Earth, Inc., a national nonprofit organization that fostered the repair of ecological damage through research, consulting, public policy development, ecosystem restoration, and public education. The group demonstrated to industry that restoration is a sound business practice and inspired the public to initiate numerous environmental activities. The organization's work led to the NRC's national study on aquatic restoration and influenced the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to place greater emphasis on restoration and ecosystem management. John also co-founded other national nonprofit public interest organizations, such as the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Inc. of Washington, D.C. He holds a Ph.D. in Ecology from UC Davis, a Master’s in Energy and Resources from U.C. Berkeley, and a bachelor’s in political science from Stanford University. He has published over 100 articles on climate solutions and his journalistic work has appeared in Scientific American, Huffington Post, The Nation, The Progressive, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Detroit Free Press, The Seattle Times, USA Today Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle/ Examiner, TruthOut.org, Daily Kos, Counterpunch, Common Dreams, and many other publications.