Originally published in Carroll Capital, the print publication of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. .听
鈥淔or most people, the one scientist they鈥檒l interact with over the course of a week is a meteorologist,鈥� says Dave Epstein, LSEHD 鈥�94, MBA 鈥�00. It鈥檚 a responsibility that Epstein takes seriously: In a time when even the weather has been politicized, New Englanders have come to rely on the counsel of this meteorologist, horticulturalist, and Boston College alum.
For 33 years, whether on screen for WBZ or WCVB or, more recently, on air for WGBH, online for The Boston Globe, or in his gardening video blog posts at , Epstein has guided Bostonians through heat waves and snow storms and everything in between. People tune in to him not just for the day鈥檚 forecast but also for the wider scope of insight that has become Epstein鈥檚 signature.
As part of his multidisciplinary approach, Epstein relates weather to gardening, the climate, bird migration, and more as he strives to answer the broad range of questions his audience is likely to have in any given week. Will my kids鈥� soccer games be rained out? Is it too early to plant tomatoes? Too soon to take down my bird feeder? Can I finally put away the snow shovel?
鈥淲e all experience the weather, and we all experience it basically the same way,鈥� says Epstein. And if his readers and listeners come for the quotidian details, they might leave with a better understanding of the atmospheric phenomena that affect all our lives. 鈥淚鈥檓 giving the forecast, but hopefully there鈥檚 a nugget of educational information that you鈥檙e getting out of that鈥攕omething you didn鈥檛 know, or something that was clarified."听
An unavoidable topic in meteorology today is climate change, and Epstein will discuss it frankly when extreme weather arises. He even spoke out against recent mass layoffs of data-gathering personnel at the National Weather Service, which issues advisories including warnings of weather disasters attributed in part to climate change. Such public-safety听alerts are critical 鈥渋n a world where misinformation is flowing at lightning speed across the internet,鈥� .
Epstein鈥檚 comments on such topics tend to carry more weight because he is consistently careful not to sensationalize. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 hype things up. The media often exaggerates, or doesn鈥檛 explain well, certain situations, which creates uncertainty and anxiety. So I damn well better be careful when I鈥檓 saying, 鈥楬ey, this is a big deal.鈥�"
What his fellow Carroll School alumni might not realize is that Epstein has always been a bit of an entrepreneur, assembling multiple revenue streams as he鈥檚 worked at a variety of part-time but often high-profile gigs, from meteorologist, columnist, and television graphics specialist to high-end landscape designer and college instructor. 鈥淚鈥檝e thought of myself as a small, single-entity company, with a lot of irons in the fire,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 allowed me to live a life of vocational diversity."听
Epstein鈥攚ho earned his bachelor鈥檚 in biology from Colby College鈥攁lso worked full-time in quality assurance and product development in the software industry while attending Boston College part-time, first for a master鈥檚 in counseling psychology, and then for his MBA. 鈥淚 still call upon the lessons from 情色空间 in a reflective way,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 have to set aside my ego and think about other people鈥檚 hopes and fears.鈥�
He imagines what people want to know and why, whether they鈥檙e making travel plans or buying mulch. 鈥淚鈥檓 constantly trying to put myself in the shoes of the audience,鈥� he says. Those shoes are an easy fit in the case of gardeners: Epstein鈥檚 own garden is filled with a bit of 鈥渆verything,鈥� he says. 鈥淭rees, shrubs, native plants, vegetables, pollinators, flowers, a water feature. There鈥檚 a lot of color and texture."听
For Epstein, who has been fascinated by weather since he was a kid growing up in Maine, meteorology remains both a vocation and no small amount of fun. He says, 鈥淢ost people are curious about what they鈥檙e seeing out their window, and so that鈥檚 a cool place to be鈥攖o be the explainer that can help them understand the world they鈥檙e observing."听
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