Gloucester resident Doug Dwoyer has spent his retirement years on an in-depth study of climate change and its potential impacts, especially on the Middle Peninsula.

With Earth Day on Friday, he encourages residents to be mindful of climate change, a topic he said has taken a back burner in the minds of many Americans since the decline of the economy began in 2008.

As Dwoyer regularly speaks to various organizations about climate change, he makes one thing clear: rising sea level is the biggest threat this area will face. “There’s no question about that,” he said.

Dwoyer’s background is in aerospace engineering; he received his doctorate in that field from Virginia Tech before working for three decades at NASA Langley. During his last 10 years at NASA, he was a manager responsible for the organization’s climate science program, one of the largest in the world.

In that role, Dwoyer worked hand in hand with the program’s scientists, many of whom sha...