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Shindell's mission to promote an integrated approach to climate change and air quality had reached critical mass. But he's not slowing down anytime soon. Since joining the Nicholas School faculty last summer, he's presented a policy talk about the benefits of SLCP reductions to delegates at COP15 in Lima, Peru, at the invitation of the U.S. State Department. He's testified before Congress to support passage of the Super Pollutants Act of 2014, which would provide financing to help underwrite costs associated with emissions reductions. And he's written another major research study. The newest study, published in Climatic Change in February, calculated the true costs of our energy choices once the full environmental and health damages associated with their emissions are figured in. Among other eye- opening findings, the study showed that a gallon of gasoline should cost around $3.80 more a gallon than we currently pay, the cost of heating our homes with natural gas should more than double; and the cost of our monthly bills for coal -fired electricity should more than quadruple. Solar and wind power, by contrast, are cheap. "This builds on everything I've ever worked on: climate change and air quality, agriculture and human health, SLCPs and carbon dioxide. And it brings it down to a ground -floor policy - relevant level," he says. When he's not working, Shindell, 48, likes to unwind by playing strategy games with his wife Miriam, a psychologist, and their three children: Cary, 15; Oliver, 12; and Leah, 6. He also enjoys a good run. "Preferably something from a 5K up to maybe a halfmarathon," he says. "At those distances, it's not all about speed or endurance. It's a balancing act. You have to pace yourself and know when to kick it in." Tim Lucas is senior writer for Dukenvironment magazine and is the Nicholas School's director of marketing communications.