New UA / private partnership appraises climate and environmental risks ...( Colorado Rockies was focused on writin...)

Purcell offered to fly from Connecticut to Colorado so the two could talk face-to-face for one-half hour.

At the meeting, Purcell arrived carrying an apple pie from Silverman's Farm in Easton, Conn. -- a bakery Overpeck's family had frequented.

"I live in Easton, Connecticut, and Peck grew up on Easton Road in Westport," Purcell said. He guessed that Overpeck's family had bought pies at the well-known bakery.

The two met at the public library in Telluride, Colo. One-half hour stretched to three -- and CASL was born.

The two agreed that CASL's primary mission would be to advance the public's understanding of climate change and environmental science. Overpeck said, "When he first came to me, he was really pushing the idea that we could make a real difference by bringing our information to the home level."

That appealed to Overpeck, who was searching for new ways to inform the general public about the risks of climate-related environmental change and motivate people to take their own actions to mitigate it. He recruited Beck and Comrie. Beck specializes in seismology, tectonics and geological hazards, and Comrie specializes in air quality science, climatology and climate and health.

Overpeck said, "Now people can have much the same information the insurance companies have when they assess the risks of a property."