Dr. F. Stuart Chapin III, known to his friends as “Terry,” is Professor Emeritus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. His research addresses the effects of changes in climate and wildfire on Alaskan ecology and Alaskan indigenous communities. He explores ways that communities and agencies can increase sustainability of ecosystems and human communities over the long term despite rapid climatic and social changes. In this way, society can proactively shape changes toward a more sustainable future. He pursues this internationally through the Resilience Alliance, nationally through the Ecological Society of America, and in Alaska through partnerships with rural indigenous communities.
He has written leading textbooks in ecosystem stewardship, ecosystem ecology, and plant physiological ecology. Based on his stewardship work, for which he was awarded the 2019 Volvo Environment Prize, he wrote “Grassroots Stewardship: Sustainability Within Our Reach” to explore stewardship with a general audience. This book presents a positive and pragmatic strategy by which individual citizens can shape a more sustainable future for nature and society.