Sidney Thurston has joined Dallas-based EarthX as vice president of global science and technology, the environmental nonprofit announced.

Thurston has decades of global experiences as a senior project manager for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and is a longtime contributor to the United Nations’ meteorological and oceanographic communities.

“As EarthX evolves and expands globally, Thurston in this new position will provide continuity to help raise the visibility of the global ocean-climate-weather S&T efforts, explore alternative energy, empower the planet with science-based climate adaptation, and tackle other urgent climate change issues,” EarthX CEO Nathan Loftice said in a statement.

Finding ways EarthX can ‘lead by example’

EarthX said that Thurston’s primary duties are delivering science and technology content and exhibitions for the EarthX global platform and identifying S&T projects in which EarthX can “lead by example”—including renewable energy, NextGen Information Technology, the Climate and Health Connection, enhancing climate resilience, Nuclear Rethink, and new eco-friendly building materials.

“I am so proud of the team we’ve been building since I joined EarthX,” Loftice said in a statement. “Over the last several months, we have recruited Ph.Ds, attorneys, scientists, engineers, educated international subject matter experts, and other professionals across many sectors to elevate EarthX as a global influencer advocating for the environmental sustainability that we are all striving for.”

Thurston will lead one of several conferences during the Congress of Conferences at EarthX Expo on April 19-23, and will serve as the chair of the new EarthX Science and Technology Advisory Group, the nonprofit said.

“I am enthusiastic and ready to lead in the creation of many global programs,” Thurston said in a statement. “When I began organizing capacity building workshops well over two decades ago, it was primarily directed to empower vulnerable populations across the Indo-Pacific Region.”

Ocean-climate veteran

Thurston retired from NOAA’s Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing Program as Program Manager for Ocean Observing Technology and Overseas Program Development in December. He managed several Global Met-Ocean Observing Networks, including the Global Drifter Program and Global Tropical Moored Buoy Array.

EarthX said that Thurston’s global responsibilities enabled him to pursue a passion for establishing Resource-Sharing Partnerships and building capacity, traveling 2.5 million air miles across the Indo-Pacific Region in 28 years.

During that time, Thurston organized more than 30 workshops by bringing ocean-climate experts to the regions to deliver training on the social-economic applications of Met-Ocean observations including in Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Mauritius, Kenya, China, Tanzania, and India.

Thurston will continue to serve the global community as vice chair of the World Meteorological Organization Standing Committee on Earth System Observing and Monitoring Networks and the WMO-Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Joint Collaborative Board.

“Today, with sea level rise and increasingly devastating impacts from droughts, floods, heat waves, tropical cyclones and other extreme events, I am coming to realize the entire planet is now vulnerable to the existential threat of climate change,” Thurston said. “That is what motivated me to join EarthX, to help deliver science-based adaptation solutions to everyone in need across the full social-economic spectrum. I look forward to helping EarthX and the organizations it supports to get the message out.”

Moving toward a more sustainable future

A subsidiary brand of Earth Day Texas Inc., EarthX was founded in 2011 to support Earth Day celebrations in Dallas.

Since then, EarthX has grown into an international nonprofit and global environmental organization dedicated to environmental awareness, education, and inspiring passion in people and organizations to take action toward a more sustainable future. EarthX said it envisions becoming the leading global connector and environmental forum, using its three assets of expo, film, and TV in moving forward.

The Expo is a major annual public event held around Earth Day in April that celebrates progress, hope, and innovation. It has become the world’s largest event of its kind, bringing together environmental organizations, businesses, academic institutions, government agencies, interactive programming and subject matter experts, music, art, and food.

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