The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches From The Front Lines

A central figure in the controversy over human-caused climate change has been "The Hockey Stick," a simple, easy-to-understand graph my colleagues and I constructed to depict changes in Earth's temperature back to 1000 AD. The graph was featured in the high-profile "Summary for Policy Makers" of the 2001 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and it quickly became an icon in the debate over human-caused ("anthropogenic") climate change. I will tell the story behind the Hockey Stick, using it as a vehicle for exploring broader issues regarding the role of skepticism in science, the uneasy relationship between science and politics, and the dangers that arise when special economic interests and those who do their bidding attempt to skew the discourse over policy-relevant areas of science. In short, I attempt to use the Hockey Stick to cut through the fog of disinformation that has been generated by the campaign to deny the reality of climate change. It is my intent, in so doing, to reveal the very real threat to our future that lies behind it.





About Speaker Dr. Michael E. Mann

Dr. Michael E. Mann is the Distinguished Professor of Meteorology at Penn State University, with joint appointments in the Department of Geosciences and the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute (EESI). He also directs the Penn State Earth System Science Center (ESSC). He received his undergraduate degrees in Physics and Applied Math from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.S. degree in Physics from Yale University, and a Ph.D. in Geology & Geophysics from Yale University.

Dr. Mann's research involves the use of theoretical models and observational data to better understand Earth's climate system. He has authored more than 160 peer-reviewed publications and is a presence on social media and the internet, including co-founding the award winning website RealClimate.org. He has also published two books: Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming and The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines.

Dr. Mann is an expert on climate science, climate change, and the politics surrounding it. He was a Lead Author on the IPCC Third Scientric Assessment Report and along with other IPCC authors contributed to the reports of the IPCC, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. He made Bloomberg News' list of fifty most influential people in 2013.