Vale Will Steffen 1947-2023
Climate scientist, climber and climbing historian
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Will Steffen (Photo courtesy Climate Council) |
I didn't ever meet Will Steffen but I was aware of his extraordinary work in climate science and his perhaps lesser-known contributions to Australian climbing history.
He became a resident of Canberra in 1977 when he moved from the US to take up a postdoctoral research position with the Australian National University (ANU). He spent 35 years exploring mountain regions of the world, rockclimbing and mountaineering on every continent except Antarctica. He was a member of the 1988 Australian Baruntse (7129 metres) Expedition, forced to retreat 100 vertical metres below the summit by dangerous snow conditions on a knife-edge ridge. An account of the expedition is available in The Himalayan Journal.
Will had an abiding interest in Australian mountaineering, penning two surveys of Australian Himalayan climbing, along with profiles of prominent local mountaineers. His 2017 book, Himalayan Dreaming, is the most complete and best-researched document of Australian mountaineering, particularly on the heights in Asia. The book is available as a free download from ANU Press. Highly recommended!
Will Steffen was also an outstanding and outspoken climate scientist whose influence spread globally. Formerly Executive Director of the Climate Change Institute at the ANU, in more recent years he served as a Climate Commissioner on the not-for-profit Climate Council - an organisation started in 2013 when the conservative federal government under Prime Minister Tony Abbott disbanded the Climate Commission within days of being elected to power. He also worked with numerous international climate research bodies.
Will was a passionate advocate for recognition of the level of human intervention driving climate change globally. Described by his many supportive colleagues as a leading thinker, optimistic and kind, he once wrote in response to student demonstrations against the lack of action against climate change:
The students are right. Their future is now being threatened by the greed of the wealthy fossil fuel elite, the lies of the Murdoch press, and the weakness of our political leaders. These people have no right to destroy my daughter's future and that of her generation.
(cited in The Guardian)
Following a battle with pancreatic cancer, Will Steffen died peacefully in Canberra with his wife of 51 years, Carrie, and his daughter, Sonja, by his side. He was 75.
Other tributes and background
