Sarasota man aims to make environmental science understandable

Bunting’s Climate Adaptation and Mitigations Center is the culmination of a life’s work.

It’s not a typical kindergartener who has his life’s work figured out decades in advance. But when a big storm struck with tropical wind and rain near his New England home in 1954, Bob Bunting was already on his way toward a career in meteorology and climate studies.

One stepping-stool-aided peek outside at a time.

Following his work as a forecaster and researcher at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a nonprofit consortium of Earth-studying colleges and universities, Bunting founded in 2019 the Sarasota-based Climate Adaptation and Mitigations Center.

Concerning itself with such issues as sea-level rise, red tide and human health along with the study of hurricanes, Bunting’s seven staffers operate with a goal of “bridging the gap between what science actually knows, and what people think it knows,’’ he said.

Born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, it didn’t take long for Bunting to come face to face with what many Floridians fear on an annual basis. 1954’s Hurricane Carol raked the east coast from North Carolina to Connecticut, damaging thousands of homes and bringing high winds and seas to Bunting’s neighborhood.