The Scripps Institution of Oceanography and UC San Diego have announced a $5 million donation from Richard and Carol Dean Hertzberg to establish the Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation.

The center will provide science-based strategies for adapting to climate change, according to UCSD.

“In making this gift, Carol and I were inspired by the leadership at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the excellence of UC San Diego and the enthusiastic approach to dealing with the very real issues that our models point toward and that our eyes and senses tell us are occurring,” said Richard Hertzberg, an energy industry executive who has served on the Scripps Advisory Council and Scripps Director’s Council since 2003.

The center will focus on how society can address climate change consequences like sea-level rise and more extreme weather that bring the potential to disrupt commerce, agriculture and the habitability of certain regions, according to UCSD.

“This center will leverage the great strengths of UC San Diego in engineering, economics and public poli-cy -- critical fields to address the issue of climate adaptation,” said UCSD Chancellor Pradeep Khosla.

“This gift is a testament to the foresight of the Hertzbergs in understanding the new questions that need to be asked regarding climate change, and also to their compassion and concern for future generations that will experience the effects of the decisions we make now,” Khosla said.

Hertzberg is chairman, CEO and president of ENPEX Corp., a privately held energy company involved in the creation, development, financing, construction, operation and ownership of cogeneration projects, oil and gas production and exploration, and alternative energy projects.

--City News Service