Pennsylvania State University
Michael Mann is distinguished professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University and director of its Earth System Science Center. He is the author of The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines and the co-author of Dire Predictions: Understanding Climate Change and The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy.
Scientific uncertainty and the politics of climate change Last Friday, the New York Times introduced a new, conservative columnist: Bret Stephens, former editor at the Jerusalem Post and the Wall Street Journal. He's also a former climate-change denier, who now says he believes that human activity is responsible for global warming. But, in his first column he wrote that, "claiming total certainty about the science... creates openings for doubt [when] much that passes for accepted fact is really a matter of probabilities." The response has been deafening... from readers, including scientists, saying the paper's encouraging climate-change denial. The Times' Public Editor says readers need to hear different perspectives and it's time for "Busting up the paper's mostly liberal echo chamber." But scientists say climate change should be treated as an emergency that could be worse than predicted.
What happens if NASA stops climate science research? NASA spends almost as much on climate science research each year as it does on space exploration, but under a Trump presidency, that will likely change. According to senior campaign advisor Bob Walker, Trump wants the agency to focus on deep space rather than what Walker called the “politicized science” of climate research. What does it mean for the future of climate science?
Will the Latest Climate Talks Start Something New? The first Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. It was agreed that human interference was changing the climate and that something had to be done. Since then, conferences have been held all over the world--most notably in Kyoto in 1997 and Copenhagen in 2009 — without producing an enforceable strategy to cope with changes that are already under way or to prevent more change in the future. Now the leaders of nations covering 95% of the planet are convening in Paris to try again. Can even that limited goal survive differences between rich and developing nations and overcome domestic politics in the US and other countries?
When Progress on Climate Change Still Spells Disaster The scientific consensus is that global warming is already changing the world as we've come to know it. In preparation for November's climate change summit in Paris, the US, China and other major polluters are establishing goals for reductions in Greenhouse emissions. But authorities say such goals won't be enough to prevent the ravages of global warming.
When It Comes to Climate Change, Elections Matter Climate scientists say the danger is greater than ever, but Republicans call last week’s election a mandate to roll back EPA rules against greenhouse emissions. That’s the top priority of the incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. And the likely Environment Committee chair says climate change is a “hoax.” First up may be the Keystone XL pipeline, as the GOP pushes issues Democratic leaders never raised due to fears they might pass Congress. We hear what else is on the agenda and how Democrats and the President might respond.
The 'Clear and Present Danger' of Climate Change Almost 100% of climate scientists now say global warming is caused by human behavior and that action now is a moral imperative for future generations. But public perception is moving the other way, with fewer Americans worried, despite recent extreme weather conditions here and around the world. Meanwhile, new oil and gas discoveries, along with new technologies, have created the prospect of energy independence for the US, and the Obama Administration has adopted a policy called "all of the above," supporting fossil fuels as well as renewables. It's difficult to predict specifically what's next to come, but a draft report to the UN says government foot-dragging will lead to devastating surprises. We hear about new pressures on the Obama Administration and how politics are complicating the findings of science.
Study Finds Atlantic Hurricanes at a 1000-Year High There's a scientific consensus that the Earth's climate is warming, but many questions remain about what that could mean. For example, will there be more hurricanes? Two different methods of reconstructing the past now agree on one conclusion. A report published in the journal Nature says the North Atlantic Ocean has seen more hurricanes in the past decade than at any time in the past 1000 years. Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University, is the lead author.
Study Finds Atlantic Hurricanes at a 1000-Year High There's a scientific consensus that the Earth's climate is warming, but many questions remain about what that could mean. For example, will there be more hurricanes? Two different methods of reconstructing the past now agree on one conclusion. A report published in the journal Nature says the North Atlantic Ocean has seen more hurricanes in the past decade than at any time in the past 1000 years. Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University, is the lead author.
How was the trip? President Trump's travels got less fun as he went from the Middle East to Europe.
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
