135-565: The Breakthrough Institute is an environmental research center located in Berkeley, California . Founded in 2007 by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus , The institute is aligned with ecomodernist philosophy . The Institute advocates for an embrace of modernization and technological development (including nuclear power and carbon capture) in order to address environmental challenges. Proposing urbanization, agricultural intensification, nuclear power, aquaculture, and desalination as processes with
270-557: A moratorium " on "community organizing." Such technology-based "approaches like those of Nordhaus and Shellenberger miss entirely" the "structural environmental injustice" that natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina make visible. Joseph Romm , a former US Department of Energy official now with the Center for American Progress , argued that "Pollution limits are far, far more important than R&D for what really matters -- reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and driving clean technologies into
405-499: A price on carbon or incentives for renewable energy - that would have a meaningful impact." He notes that the BTI "remains curiously preoccupied with opposing advocates for meaningful climate action and is coincidentally linked to natural gas interests" and criticises the BTI for advocating "continued exploitation of fossil fuels." Mann also questions that the BTI on the one hand seems to be "very pessimistic" about renewable energy, while on
540-583: A principal component analysis step to summarise these proxy networks, but from 2001 Mann stopped using this method and introduced a multivariate Climate Field Reconstruction (CFR) technique using a regularized expectation–maximization (RegEM) method which did not require this PCA step. In May 2002 Mann and Scott Rutherford published a paper on testing methods of climate reconstruction which discussed this technique. By adding artificial noise to actual temperature records or to model simulations they produced synthetic datasets which they called "pseudo proxies". When
675-627: A Professor of Dendrochronology at the University of Arizona , with the aim of developing and applying an improved statistical approach to climate proxy reconstructions. He taught a course in Data Analysis and Climate Change in 1997 and became a research assistant professor the following year. The first truly quantitative reconstruction of Northern Hemisphere temperatures had been published in 1993 by Bradley and Phil Jones , but it and subsequent reconstructions compiled averages for decades, covering
810-607: A change." The science journal Nature editorialized the manifesto. The Manifesto was met with critiques similar to Gelobter's evaluation of "Death" and Sze and Ziser's analysis of Break Through . Environmental historian Jeremy Caradonna and environmental economist Richard B. Norgaard led a group of environmental scholars in a critique, arguing that Ecomodernism as presented in the Manifesto "violates everything we know about ecosystems, energy, population, and natural resources," and "Far from being an ecological statement of principles,
945-448: A crucial role in the survival and power of different civilizations. As more communities recognized the importance of the natural world to their long-term success, an interest in studying the environment came into existence. In 1735, the concept of binomial nomenclature is introduced by Carolus Linnaeus as a way to classify all living organisms, influenced by earlier works of Aristotle . His text, Systema Naturae , represents one of
1080-441: A defendant. On March 21, 2019, Ball applied to the court to dismiss the action for delay; this request was granted at a hearing on August 22, 2019, and court costs were awarded to Ball. The actual defamation claims were not judged, but instead, the case was dismissed due to delay, for which Mann and his legal team were held responsible. As attacks on the work and reputation of climatologists continued, Mann discussed with colleagues
1215-511: A few weeks, Mann responded that to his surprise, "There is a certain amount of skill. We can actually say something, although there are large uncertainties." Mann carried out a series of statistical sensitivity tests on 24 long term datasets, in which he statistically " censored " each proxy in turn to see the effect its removal had on the result. He found that a dataset which would otherwise have been reliable diverged from 1800 until around 1900, suggesting that it had been affected for that time by
1350-526: A hemispherical climate reconstruction covering the past 600 years. In 1999 the same team used these techniques to produce a reconstruction over the past 1,000 years (MBH99), which was dubbed the " hockey stick graph " because of its shape. He was one of eight lead authors of the "Observed Climate Variability and Change" chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Scientific Assessment Report published in 2001. A graph based on
1485-609: A household term after two striking disasters: Ohio's Cuyahoga River caught fire due to the amount of pollution in its waters and a Santa Barbara oil spill endangered thousands of marine animals, both receiving prolific media coverage. Consequently, the United States passed an abundance of legislation, including the Clean Water Act and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement . The following year, in 1970,
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#17328587082191620-514: A message that falsely attacking climate scientists is not protected speech ". Mann's dissertation was awarded the Phillip M. Orville Prize in 1997 as an "outstanding dissertation in the earth sciences" at Yale University. His co-authorship of a scientific paper published by Nature won him an award from the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in 2002, and another co-authored paper published in
1755-521: A new focus on technological innovation to create a new, stronger U.S. economy. The Wall Street Journal wrote that, "If heeded, Nordhaus and Shellenberger's call for an optimistic outlook—embracing economic dynamism and creative potential—will surely do more for the environment than any U.N. report or Nobel Prize." NPR 's science correspondent Richard Harris listed Break Through on his "recommended reading list" for climate change. However, Julie Sze and Michael Ziser argued that Break Through continued
1890-818: A number of honors and awards including selection by Scientific American as one of the fifty leading visionaries in science and technology in 2002. In 2012 he was inducted as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and was awarded the Hans Oeschger Medal of the European Geosciences Union . In 2013, he was elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and awarded the status of distinguished professor in Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. In 2017, he
2025-513: A politics of shared hope rather than relying on a politics of fear.", adding that the paper "is more convincing in its case for a change in rhetoric." In 2007, Nordhaus and Shellenberger published their book Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility . The book argues for a "post-environmental" politics that abandons the environmentalist focus on nature protection for
2160-486: A potential to reduce human demands on the environment, allowing more room for non-human species. Since its inception, environmental scientists and academics have criticized Breakthrough's environmental positions. Popular press reception of Breakthrough's environmental ideas and policy has been mixed. The Breakthrough institute is registered as 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and is supported by various public institutions and individuals. Breakthrough's executive director
2295-467: A research team under Didier de Fontaine which was using similar Monte Carlo methodology to investigate the superconducting properties of yttrium barium copper oxide , modelling transitions between ordered and disordered phases. He graduated with honors in 1989 with an A.B. in applied mathematics and physics. Mann then attended Yale University , intending to obtain a PhD in physics, and received both an MS and an MPhil in physics in 1991. His interest
2430-434: A substantive, active field of scientific investigation in the 1960s and 1970s driven by (a) the need for a multi-disciplinary approach to analyze complex environmental problems, (b) the arrival of substantive environmental laws requiring specific environmental protocols of investigation and (c) the growing public awareness of a need for action in addressing environmental problems. Events that spurred this development included
2565-538: A think tank which lacks intellectual rigour, promoting contrarianist reasoning and cherry picking evidence. The institute has also been criticized for promoting industrial agriculture and processed foodstuffs while also accepting donations from the Nathan Cummings Foundation , whose board members have financial ties to processed food companies that rely heavily on industrial agriculture. After an IRS complaint about potential improper use of 501(c)(3) status,
2700-474: A threat to the smooth operation of a highly capitalized, global-scale Environmentalism." Further, Environmental and Art Historian TJ Demos has argued that Breakthrough's ideas present "nothing more than a bad utopian fantasy" that function to support the oil and gas industry and work as "an apology for nuclear energy." Journalist Paul D. Thacker alleged that the Breakthrough Institute is an example of
2835-401: Is Ted Nordhaus . Others associated with Breakthrough include former National Review executive editor Reihan Salam , journalist Gwyneth Cravens , political scientist Roger A. Pielke Jr. , sociologist Steve Fuller , and environmentalist Stewart Brand . Nordhaus and Shellenberger have written on the subjects ranging from positive treatment of nuclear energy and shale gas to critiques of
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#17328587082192970-453: Is being impacted by one or more stressors might include several related environmental science fields. In an estuarine setting where a proposed industrial development could impact certain species by water and air pollution , biologists would describe the flora and fauna, chemists would analyze the transport of water pollutants to the marsh, physicists would calculate air pollution emissions and geologists would assist in understanding
3105-488: Is marked by significant research, literature, and international cooperation in the field. In the early 20th century, criticism from dissenters downplayed the effects of global warming . At this time, few researchers were studying the dangers of fossil fuels . After a 1.3 degrees Celsius temperature anomaly was found in the Atlantic Ocean in the 1940s, however, scientists renewed their studies of gaseous heat trapping from
3240-412: Is substantial overlap between ecology and environmental science with the disciplines of fisheries, forestry, and wildlife. Historical concern for environmental issues is well documented in archives around the world. Ancient civilizations were mainly concerned with what is now known as environmental science insofar as it related to agriculture and natural resources. Scholars believe that early interest in
3375-644: The American Physical Society (APS). On June 19, 2017, Climate One at the Commonwealth Club of California said that he would be honored with the 7th annual Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Science Communication. He received the James H. Shea Award from the National Association of Geoscience Teachers for his "exceptional contribution in writing or editing Earth science materials for
3510-527: The CRU email controversy . Mann promptly sued for defamation against Ball, the Frontier Centre and its interviewer. In June 2019, the Frontier Centre apologized for publishing, on its website and in letters, "untrue and disparaging accusations which impugned the character of Dr. Mann". It said that Mann had "graciously accepted our apology and retraction". This did not settle Mann's claims against Ball, who remained
3645-536: The Manifesto merely rehashes the naïve belief that technology will save us and that human ingenuity can never fail." Further, "The Manifesto suffers from factual errors and misleading statements." T.J. Demos agreed with Caradonna, and wrote in 2017 that "What is additionally striking about the Ecomodernist document, beyond its factual weaknesses and ecological falsehoods, is that there is no mention of social justice or democratic politics," and "no acknowledgement of
3780-629: The National Center for Atmospheric Research 's Geophysical Statistics Project aimed at encouraging active collaboration between statisticians, climatologists and atmospheric scientists. Leading statisticians participated, including Grace Wahba and Arthur P. Dempster . While still finishing his PhD research, Mann met UMass climate science professor Raymond S. Bradley and began research in collaboration with him and Park. Their research used paleoclimate proxy data from Bradley's previous work and methods Mann had developed with Park, to find oscillations in
3915-720: The National Center for Science Education announced that its first annual Friend of the Planet award had been presented to Mann and Richard Alley . In the same year, Mann was named as a Highly Cited Researcher by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). In 2015 he was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science , and in 2016 he was elected Vice Chair of the Topical Group on Physics of Climate (GPC) at
4050-594: The San Francisco International Airport , Development of the Houston , Metro Transportation system , Expansion of the metropolitan Boston MBTA transit system , and Construction of Interstate 66 through Arlington, Virginia . In England and Wales the Environment Agency (EA), formed in 1996, is a public body for protecting and improving the environment and enforces the regulations listed on
4185-475: The University of Massachusetts . He is of Jewish ancestry. At school he was interested in math, science, and computing. In August 1984 he went to the University of California, Berkeley , to major in physics with a second major in applied math. His second-year research in the theoretical behaviour of liquid crystals used the Monte Carlo method applying randomness in computer simulations. Late in 1987, he joined
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4320-445: The divestment from fossil fuel use . Geographic information systems (GIS) are used to observe sources of air or water pollution through satellites and digital imagery analysis. This technology allows for advanced farming techniques like precision agriculture as well as monitoring water usage in order to set market prices. In the field of water quality, developed strains of natural and manmade bacteria contribute to bioremediation ,
4455-502: The effects of global warming and climate change influence and affect the natural systems and processes of earth. Environmental issues almost always include an interaction of physical, chemical, and biological processes. Environmental scientists bring a systems approach to the analysis of environmental problems. Key elements of an effective environmental scientist include the ability to relate space, and time relationships as well as quantitative analysis. Environmental science came alive as
4590-410: The electromagnetic spectrum . Lastly, thermal imaging technology is used in wildlife management to catch and discourage poachers and other illegal wildlife traffickers from killing endangered animals, proving useful for conservation efforts. Artificial intelligence has also been used to predict the movement of animal populations and protect the habitats of wildlife. Atmospheric sciences focus on
4725-399: The planetary boundaries hypothesis . The Breakthrough Institute has argued that climate policy should be focused on higher levels of public funding on technology innovation to "make clean energy cheap", and has been critical of climate policies such as cap and trade and carbon pricing . Breakthrough Institute maintains programs in energy, conservation, and food. Their website states that
4860-582: The " Year Without a Summer " in Eurasia and much of North America had been offset by warmer than usual temperatures in Labrador and the Middle East. It was also an advance on earlier reconstructions in that it went back further, showed individual years, and showed uncertainty with error bars . "Global-scale temperature patterns and climate forcing over the past six centuries" (MBH98) was published on April 23, 1998, in
4995-473: The 1970s and the 1980s was characterized by major disasters and social movements. In 1978, hundreds of people were relocated from Love Canal , New York after carcinogenic pollutants were found to be buried underground near residential areas. The next year, in 1979, the nuclear power plant on Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania suffered a meltdown and raised concerns about the dangers of radioactive waste and
5130-484: The 21st century in response, criticizing "Death" for demanding increased technological innovation rather than addressing the systemic concerns of people of color. Writing in The New York Times , Matthew Yglesias said in 2008 that "Nordhaus and Shellenberger persuasively argue, environmentalists must stop congratulating themselves for their own willingness to confront inconvenient truths and must focus on building
5265-653: The Breakthrough Institute and its philosophy. He argues that ecomodernism is best understood as a social democratic response to environmental challenges, and that the Breakthrough Institute's argument for state investment in development and deployment of zero carbon technologies aligns with the IPCC’s position that new technologies are crucial to avoiding dangerous climate change. Scholars such as Professor of American and Environmental Studies Julie Sze and environmental humanist Michael Ziser criticize Breakthrough's philosophy as one that believes "community-based environmental justice poses
5400-544: The CO 2 " fertilisation effect ". Using this dataset corrected in comparisons with other tree series, their reconstruction passed the validation tests for the extended period, but they were cautious about the increased uncertainties involved. The Mann, Bradley and Hughes reconstruction covering 1,000 years (MBH99) was published by Geophysical Research Letters in March 1999 with the cautious title Northern Hemisphere temperatures during
5535-640: The Department of Earth and Environmental Science with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania . Before the publication of MBH98, Mann had been nominated to be an author on the IPCC Third Assessment Report . Late in 1998 he heard that he had been selected as a lead author for the "observations" chapter of the Working Group I report. He
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5670-463: The Earth was partially due to what are now known as greenhouse gases (GHG). The greenhouse effect was introduced, although climate science was not yet recognized as an important topic in environmental science due to minimal industrialization and lower rates of greenhouse gas emissions at the time. In the 1900s, the discipline of environmental science as it is known today began to take shape. The century
5805-492: The Earth's atmosphere, with an emphasis upon its interrelation to other systems. Atmospheric sciences can include studies of meteorology , greenhouse gas phenomena, atmospheric dispersion modeling of airborne contaminants, sound propagation phenomena related to noise pollution , and even light pollution . Taking the example of the global warming phenomena, physicists create computer models of atmospheric circulation and infrared radiation transmission, chemists examine
5940-550: The Greek island of Crete declined due to deforestation and the resulting environmental degradation of natural resources. Pliny the Elder somewhat addressed the environmental concerns of ancient civilizations in the text Naturalis Historia , written between 77 and 79 ACE, which provided an overview of many related subsets of the discipline. Although warfare and disease were of primary concern in ancient society, environmental issues played
6075-693: The Inspector General (OIG) of the National Science Foundation also carried out a detailed investigation, which it closed on August 15, 2011. It agreed with the conclusions of the university inquiries, and exonerated Mann of charges of scientific misconduct. Based on the CRU email leak, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli initiated a Civil Investigative Demand against the University of Virginia to obtain documentation relating to Mann's work at
6210-518: The Institute no longer lists the Nathan Cummings Foundation as a donor. However, as Thacker has noted, the institute's funding remains largely opaque. Climate scientist Michael E. Mann also questions the motives of the Breakthrough Institute. According to Mann, the self-declared mission of the BTI is to look for a breakthrough to solve the climate problem. However Mann states that basically the BTI "appears to be opposed to anything - be it
6345-579: The MBH99 paper was highlighted in several parts of the report and was given wide publicity. The IPCC acknowledged that his work, along with that of the many other lead authors and review editors, contributed to the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize , which was won jointly by the IPCC and Al Gore . Mann was organizing committee chair for the National Academy of Sciences Frontiers of Science in 2003 and has received
6480-537: The Media at the University of Pennsylvania . Mann has contributed to the scientific understanding of historic climate change based on the temperature record of the past thousand years . He has pioneered techniques to find patterns in past climate change and to isolate climate signals from noisy data . As lead author of a paper produced in 1998 with co-authors Raymond S. Bradley and Malcolm K. Hughes , Mann used advanced statistical techniques to find regional variations in
6615-646: The Ohio Coal Association: the EPA found their claims were not supported by the evidence. At the request of Senator Jim Inhofe , who has called the science of man-made climate change a hoax, the Inspector General of the United States Department of Commerce investigated the emails in relation to NOAA , and concluded that there was no evidence of inappropriate manipulation of data. The Office of
6750-590: The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), hitherto regarded as internal oscillations of the climate system, are due to climatic noise and anthropogenic sulfate aerosols. Figures based on the northern hemisphere mean temperatures graph from MBH99 were prominently featured in the IPCC Third Assessment Report of 2001, and became the focus of controversy when some individuals and groups disputed
6885-562: The Republican candidate. On the campaign trail, Mann promoted the role of scientific research and technology in job creation and highlighted the costs of the Cuccinelli's Civil Investigative Demand case, and the threat it had presented to the scientific community. In 2011, the Frontier Centre for Public Policy think tank interviewed Tim Ball and published his allegations about Mann and
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#17328587082197020-583: The World (2018), The New Climate War (2021), and Our Fragile Moment (2023). In 2012, the European Geosciences Union described his publication record as "outstanding for a scientist of his relatively young age". Mann is a co-founder and contributor to the climatology blog RealClimate . Mann was born in 1965, and brought up in Amherst, Massachusetts , where his father was a professor of mathematics at
7155-460: The aims of environmental justice while actively trading on suspect political tropes," such as blaming China and other Nations as large-scale polluters so that the United States may begin and continue Nationalistic technology-based research-and-development environmentalism, while continuing to emit more greenhouse gases than most other nations. In turn, Shellenberger and Nordhaus seek to move away from proven Environmental Justice tactics, "calling for
7290-555: The authority to make these demands. The decision, seen as supporting academic freedom, was welcomed by the Union of Concerned Scientists . In October 2010, Mann wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post in which he described several past, present and projected attacks on climate science and scientists by politicians, drawing a link between them and "the pseudo-science that questioned the link between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer, and
7425-662: The broad consensus shown in the original hockey stick graph, with variations in how flat the pre-20th century "shaft" appears. In November 2009, hackers obtained a large number of emails exchanged among researchers at the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia and with other scientists, including Mann. The release of their correspondence on the Internet sparked the Climatic Research Unit email controversy , commonly known as "Climategate", in which extracts from emails were publicized to raise accusations against
7560-478: The case of a leaking solvent tank which has entered the habitat soil of an endangered species of amphibian. As a method to resolve or understand the extent of soil contamination and subsurface transport of solvent, a computer model would be implemented. Chemists would then characterize the molecular bonding of the solvent to the specific soil type, and biologists would study the impacts upon soil arthropods , plants, and ultimately pond-dwelling organisms that are
7695-557: The changes in light transmission in the receiving waters. Biologists would analyze subsequent impacts to aquatic flora and fauna from increases in water turbidity. In the United States the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 set forth requirements for analysis of federal government actions (such as highway construction projects and land management decisions) in terms of specific environmental criteria. Numerous state laws have echoed these mandates, applying
7830-485: The claim that they had merely been using exaggerated language which was acceptable against a public figure. In July 2013, the judge ruled against this motion, and when the defendants took this to appeal a new judge also denied their motion to dismiss, in January 2014. National Review changed its lawyers, and Steyn decided to represent himself in court. Journalist Seth Shulman, at the Union of Concerned Scientists , welcomed
7965-486: The comments at issue were constitutionally protected under the First Amendment as opinion. Steyn chose to be represented by attorney Daniel J. Kornstein. On December 22, 2016, the D.C. appeals court ruled that Mann's case against Simberg and Steyn could go ahead. A "reasonable jury" could find against the defendants, and though the context should be considered, "if the statements assert or imply false facts that defame
8100-525: The communities and local government site. (formerly the office of the deputy prime minister). The agency was set up under the Environment Act 1995 as an independent body and works closely with UK Government to enforce the regulations. Michael E. Mann Michael Evan Mann (born 1965) is an American climatologist and geophysicist . He is the director of the Center for Science, Sustainability &
8235-771: The data and methodology of this reconstruction. The 2006 North Report published by the United States National Academy of Sciences endorsed the MBH studies with a few reservations. The principal component analysis methodology had a small tendency to bias results so was not recommended, but it had little influence on the final reconstructions, and other methods produced similar results. Mann has said his findings have been "independently verified by independent teams using alternative methods and alternative data sources." More than two dozen reconstructions , using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records, support
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#17328587082198370-417: The department of meteorology (with joint appointments in department of geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute) at Pennsylvania State University , where he was also appointed the director of its Earth System Science Center. He was promoted to full professor in 2009 and to "Distinguished Professor of Meteorology" in 2013. In fall 2022 Mann was appointed presidential distinguished professor in
8505-652: The discovery process would be used to reveal and publish Mann's emails. Mann's lawyer filed the defamation lawsuit with the DC Superior Court in October 2012. Defendants were the National Review, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Mark Steyn and Rand Simberg. Before the case could go to discovery, CEI and National Review filed a court motion to dismiss it under anti-SLAPP legislation, with
8640-471: The earliest culminations of knowledge on the subject, providing a means to identify different species based partially on how they interact with their environment. In the 1820s, scientists were studying the properties of gases, particularly those in the Earth's atmosphere and their interactions with heat from the Sun. Later that century, studies suggested that the Earth had experienced an Ice Age and that warming of
8775-412: The earth sciences in the following year. He was granted his PhD in geology and geophysics in 1998. From 1996 to 1998, after defending his PhD thesis at Yale, Mann carried out paleoclimatology research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst funded by a United States Department of Energy postdoctoral fellowship. He collaborated with Raymond S. Bradley and Bradley's colleague Malcolm K. Hughes ,
8910-537: The effects of which are still felt today. In a groundbreaking discovery in 1985, a British team of researchers studying Antarctica found evidence of a hole in the ozone layer , inspiring global agreements banning the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were previously used in nearly all aerosols and refrigerants. Notably, in 1986, the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine released radioactive waste to
9045-632: The emails and his research, which reported in February and July 2010. They cleared Mann of misconduct, stating there was no substance to the allegations, but criticized him for sharing unpublished manuscripts with third parties. The EPA gave detailed consideration to petitions with allegations against Mann from lobbyists including the Southeastern Legal Foundation , Peabody Energy , the Competitive Enterprise Institute , and
9180-537: The energy research is “focused on making clean energy cheap through technology innovation to deal with both global warming and energy poverty .” The conservation work “seeks to offer pragmatic new frameworks and tools for navigating" the challenges of the Anthropocene , offering up nuclear energy, synthetic fertilizers , and genetically modified foods as solutions. Jonathan Symons, Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University, Australia, has written an extensive survey of
9315-567: The environment began around 6000 BCE when ancient civilizations in Israel and Jordan collapsed due to deforestation . As a result, in 2700 BCE the first legislation limiting deforestation was established in Mesopotamia . Two hundred years later, in 2500 BCE, a community residing in the Indus River Valley observed the nearby river system in order to improve sanitation. This involved manipulating
9450-410: The environment. Environmental engineering focuses on design and technology for improving environmental quality in every aspect. Environmental scientists seek to understand the earth's physical, chemical, biological, and geological processes, and to use that knowledge to understand how issues such as alternative energy systems, pollution control and mitigation, natural resource management , and
9585-484: The estimates, these are nonetheless startling revelations." When Mann gave a talk about the study to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory , climatologist Jerry D. Mahlman nicknamed the graph the "hockey stick". In 1999, Mann secured a position as a tenure-track assistant professor in the department of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia . He left Virginia in 2005 to become an associate professor in
9720-478: The fact that big technologies like nuclear reinforce centralized power, the military-industrial complex, and the inequalities of corporate globalization." In 2011, Breakthrough published the first issue of the Breakthrough Journal , which aims to "modernize political thought for the 21st century". The New Republic called Breakthrough Journal "among the most complete efforts to provide a fresh answer to"
9855-402: The false claims questioning the science of acid rain and the hole in the ozone layer." Saying they were "not good-faith questioning of scientific research [but] anti-science", he called for all his fellow scientists to stand against the attacks. Mann was a supporter of Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe 's successful 2013 campaign for governor of Virginia ; in that election, Cuccinelli was
9990-474: The field. Research in engines, fuel efficiency , and decreasing emissions from vehicles since the times of the Industrial Revolution has reduced the amount of carbon and other pollutants into the atmosphere. Furthermore, investment in researching and developing clean energy (i.e. wind, solar, hydroelectric, and geothermal power) has significantly increased in recent years, indicating the beginnings of
10125-700: The first ever Earth Day was celebrated worldwide and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was formed, legitimizing the study of environmental science in government policy. In the next two years, the United Nations created the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Stockholm, Sweden to address global environmental degradation . Much of the interest in environmental science throughout
10260-523: The flow of water to account for public health. In the Western Hemisphere, numerous ancient Central American city-states collapsed around 1500 BCE due to soil erosion from intensive agriculture. Those remaining from these civilizations took greater attention to the impact of farming practices on the sustainability of the land and its stable food production. Furthermore, in 1450 BCE the Minoan civilization on
10395-506: The food of the endangered amphibian. Geosciences include environmental geology , environmental soil science , volcanic phenomena and evolution of the Earth's crust. In some classification systems this can also include hydrology , including oceanography . As an example study, of soils erosion , calculations would be made of surface runoff by soil scientists. Fluvial geomorphologists would assist in examining sediment transport in overland flow. Physicists would contribute by assessing
10530-495: The goal of “sustainable development” and replacing it with a strategy to shrink humanity's footprint by using natural resources more intensively through technological innovation. The authors argue that economic development is necessary to preserve the environment. According to The New Yorker , "most of the criticism of [the Manifesto ] was more about tone than content. The manifesto's basic arguments, after all, are hardly radical. To wit: technology, thoughtfully applied, can reduce
10665-491: The greenhouse effect (although only carbon dioxide and water vapor were known to be greenhouse gases then). Nuclear development following the Second World War allowed environmental scientists to intensively study the effects of carbon and make advancements in the field. Further knowledge from archaeological evidence brought to light the changes in climate over time, particularly ice core sampling . Environmental science
10800-502: The individual, they do not find shelter under the First Amendment simply because they are embedded in a larger policy debate". A counterclaim Steyn filed through his attorneys on March 17, 2014, was dismissed with prejudice by the D.C. court on August 29, 2019, leaving Steyn to pay litigation costs. The defendants filed for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court in the hope it would hear their appeal. In November 2019, it denied
10935-523: The instrumental temperature record, the longest being about 60 to 80 years. The paper Mann and Park published in December 1994 came to conclusions similar to those from a study developed in parallel using different methodology and published in January of that year, which found what was later called the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation . In 1994, Mann participated as a graduate student in the inaugural workshop of
11070-525: The inventory of atmospheric chemicals and their reactions, biologists analyze the plant and animal contributions to carbon dioxide fluxes, and specialists such as meteorologists and oceanographers add additional breadth in understanding the atmospheric dynamics . As defined by the Ecological Society of America, "Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment; it seeks to understand
11205-399: The journal Nature . In it, "Spatially resolved global reconstructions of annual surface temperature patterns" were related to "changes in greenhouse-gas concentrations, solar irradiance , and volcanic aerosols" leading to the conclusion that "each of these factors has contributed to the climate variability of the past 400 years, with greenhouse gases emerging as the dominant forcing during
11340-521: The judge's statement that accusations of fraud "go to the heart of scientific integrity. They can be proven true or false. If false, they are defamatory. If made with actual malice, they are actionable." The defendants again appealed the decision. In August 2014, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press with 26 other organizations filed an amicus brief in the D.C. appeals court , arguing that
11475-436: The last two millennia and for pioneering techniques to synthesize patterns and northern hemispheric time series of past climate using proxy data reconstructions." Following election by the American Meteorological Society he became a new Fellow of the society in 2013. In January 2013 he was designated with the status of distinguished professor in Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. In September 2013, Mann
11610-453: The late 1980s, the Exxon Valdez company was fined for spilling large quantities of crude oil off the coast of Alaska and the resulting cleanup, involving the work of environmental scientists. After hundreds of oil wells were burned in combat in 1991, warfare between Iraq and Kuwait polluted the surrounding atmosphere just below the air quality threshold environmental scientist s believed
11745-587: The longer proxy records. "Global Interdecadal and Century-Scale Climate Oscillations During the Past Five Centuries" was published by Nature in November 1995. Another study by Mann and Park raised a minor technical issue with a climate model about human influence on climate change: this was published in 1996. In the context of the controversy over the IPCC Second Assessment Report the paper
11880-664: The marketplace." Environmental journalist David Roberts, writing in Grist , stated that while the BTI and its founders garner much attention, their policy is lacking, and ultimately they "receive a degree of press coverage that wildly exceeds their intellectual contributions." Reviewers for the San Francisco Chronicle , the American Prospect , and the Harvard Law Review argued that a critical reevaluation of green politics
12015-459: The marsh soils and bay muds. Environmental chemistry is the study of chemical alterations in the environment. Principal areas of study include soil contamination and water pollution. The topics of analysis include chemical degradation in the environment, multi-phase transport of chemicals (for example, evaporation of a solvent containing lake to yield solvent as an air pollutant), and chemical effects upon biota . As an example study, consider
12150-590: The methodology and validity of these findings. A paper published in April 2014 by Mann and co-authors set out a new method of defining the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) in place of a problematic method based on detrending the climate signal. They found that in recent decades the AMO had been in a cooling phase, rather than a warming phase as researchers had thought. This cooling had contributed towards
12285-418: The more numerous tree data, Mann, Bradley and Hughes used the statistical procedure of principal component analysis to represent these larger datasets in terms of a small number of representative series and compare them to the sparser proxy records. The same procedure was also used to represent key information in the instrumental temperature record for comparison with the proxy series, enabling validation of
12420-532: The most expansive international efforts to limit the effects of global warming to date. Most environmental disasters in this time period involve crude oil pollution or the effects of rising temperatures. In 2010, BP was responsible for the largest American oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, known as the Deepwater Horizon spill , which killed a number of the company's workers and released large amounts of crude oil into
12555-475: The need for a strong response when they were slandered or libeled. In July 2012, Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) blogger Rand Simberg accused Mann of "deception" and "engaging in data manipulation" and alleged that the Penn State investigation that had cleared Mann was a "cover-up and whitewash" comparable to the recent Jerry Sandusky sex scandal , "except that instead of molesting children, he has molested and tortured data". The CEI blog editor then removed
12690-404: The other hand "they are extreme techno-optimists" regarding geoengineering . In 2004, Breakthrough founders Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger coauthored the essay, “Death of Environmentalism: Global Warming Politics in a Post-Environmental World.” The paper argued that environmentalism is incapable of dealing with climate change and should "die" so that a new politics can be born. The paper
12825-403: The past millennium: inferences, uncertainties, and limitations . Mann said that "As you go back farther in time, the data becomes sketchier. One can't quite pin things down as well, but, our results do reveal that significant changes have occurred, and temperatures in the latter 20th century have been exceptionally warm compared to the preceding 900 years. Though substantial uncertainties exist in
12960-546: The petition without comment. In a dissenting opinion, justice Samuel Alito had favored hearing the case on the basis that, even though the defendants might yet prevail in the case, or the outcome itself come before the Court for review, the expense of litigating the case this far might itself deter speakers . On March 19, 2021, the DC Superior Court ruled that "Steyn’s actual malice cannot be imputed" to National Review , when
13095-459: The point of extinction. Additionally, remote sensing allows for the detection of features of the environment without physical intervention. The resulting digital imagery is used to create increasingly accurate models of environmental processes, climate change , and much more. Advancements to remote sensing technology are particularly useful in locating the nonpoint sources of pollution and analyzing ecosystem health through image analysis across
13230-482: The poles, with little warming in the tropics. Mann then joined the Yale Department of Geology and Geophysics, obtaining an MPhil in geology and geophysics in 1993. His research focused on natural variability and climate oscillations . He worked with the seismologist Jeffrey Park, and their joint research adapted a statistical method developed for identifying seismological oscillations to find various periodicities in
13365-491: The post was not reviewed by them before publication and was posted by someone who was not their employee. It therefore granted National Review summary judgment dismissing Mann's case against the publishers. The lawsuit against writers Mark Steyn and Rand Simberg, filed in 2012, went to trial on January 18, 2024. On February 8, 2024 Michael Mann was awarded punitive damages of $ 1000 against Simberg and $ 1 million against Steyn. Mann commented "I hope this verdict sends
13500-541: The preparation of IPCC reports", with a personalized certificate "for contributing to the award of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 to the IPCC", celebrating the joint award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to the IPCC and to Al Gore . In 2012, he was elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and awarded the Hans Oeschger Medal of the European Geosciences Union for "his significant contributions to understanding decadal-centennial scale climate change over
13635-488: The principles to local-scale actions. The upshot has been an explosion of documentation and study of environmental consequences before the fact of development actions. One can examine the specifics of environmental science by reading examples of Environmental Impact Statements prepared under NEPA such as: Wastewater treatment expansion options discharging into the San Diego/ Tijuana Estuary , Expansion of
13770-505: The process of collectivizing knowledge from researchers around the world to create increased opportunity for scientific progress. With crowdsourcing , data is released to the public for personal analyses which can later be shared as new information is found. Another technological development, blockchain technology, monitors and regulates global fisheries. By tracking the path of fish through global markets, environmental scientists can observe whether certain species are being overharvested to
13905-703: The public, leading to international studies on the ramifications of environmental disasters. Over the next couple of years, the Brundtland Commission (previously known as the World Commission on Environment and Development) published a report titled Our Common Future and the Montreal Protocol formed the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as international communication focused on finding solutions for climate change and degradation. In
14040-546: The publication of Rachel Carson 's landmark environmental book Silent Spring along with major environmental issues becoming very public, such as the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill , and the Cuyahoga River of Cleveland, Ohio, "catching fire" (also in 1969), and helped increase the visibility of environmental issues and create this new field of study. In common usage, "environmental science" and "ecology" are often used interchangeably, but technically, ecology refers only to
14175-601: The question of how to modernize liberal thought, and the National Review called it "the most promising effort at self-criticism by our liberal cousins in a long time". Environmental research Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physics , biology , meteorology , mathematics and geography (including ecology , chemistry , plant science , zoology , mineralogy , oceanography , limnology , soil science , geology and physical geography , and atmospheric science ) to
14310-413: The recent Global warming hiatus in surface temperatures, and would change to enhanced surface warming in the next phase of the oscillation. In 2018, Mann explained that the west Antarctic ice sheet may lose twice as much ice by the end of the century as previously thought, which also doubles the projected rise in sea level from three feet to more than six feet. In 2020, Mann raised the hypothesis that
14445-488: The reconstruction procedure was used with these pseudoproxies, the result was then compared with the original record or simulation to see how closely it had been reconstructed. In August 2003 Mann with Phil Jones published reconstructions using various high-resolution proxies including tree rings, ice cores and sediments. This study indicated that that Northern Hemisphere late 20th century warmth had no precedent for roughly 2,000 years, dwarfing Medieval warmth, but proxy data
14580-404: The reconstruction. They chose the period 1902–1980 for calibration, leaving the previous 50 years of instrumental data for validation. This showed that the statistical reconstructions were only skillful (statistically meaningful) back to 1400. Their study highlighted interesting findings, such as confirming anecdotal evidence that there had been a strong El Niño in 1791, and finding that in 1816
14715-516: The safety of nuclear energy. In response to landfills and toxic waste often disposed of near their homes, the official Environmental Justice Movement was started by a Black community in North Carolina in 1982. Two years later, the toxic methyl isocyanate gas was released to the public from a power plant disaster in Bhopal , India, harming hundreds of thousands of people living near the disaster site,
14850-987: The same year won the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 's outstanding scientific publication award. In 2002 he was named by Scientific American as one of fifty "leading visionaries in science and technology”. The Association of American Geographers awarded him the John Russell Mather Paper of the Year award in 2005 for a co-authored paper published in the Journal of Climate . The American Geophysical Union awarded him its Editors' Citation for Excellence in Refereeing in 2006 to recognize his contributions in reviewing manuscripts for its Geophysical Research Letters journal. The IPCC presented Mann, along with all other "scientists that had contributed substantially to
14985-539: The scientists. A series of investigations cleared the scientists of wrongdoing. Detailed analysis by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that the critics made unsupported accusations of falsification and manipulation or destruction of data and were commonly mistaken about the scientific issues. Mann was specifically cleared by several inquiries. Pennsylvania State University (PSU) commissioned two reviews related to
15120-423: The sentence as "inappropriate", but a National Review blog post by Mark Steyn cited it and alleged that Mann's hockey stick graph was "fraudulent". Mann asked CEI and National Review to remove the allegations and apologize, or he would take action. The CEI published further insults, and National Review editor Rich Lowry responded in an article headed "Get Lost" with a declaration that, should Mann sue,
15255-417: The study of organisms and their interactions with each other as well as how they interrelate with environment. Ecology could be considered a subset of environmental science, which also could involve purely chemical or public health issues (for example) ecologists would be unlikely to study. In practice, there are considerable similarities between the work of ecologists and other environmental scientists. There
15390-502: The study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems. Environmental science emerged from the fields of natural history and medicine during the Enlightenment . Today it provides an integrated, quantitative, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of environmental systems . Environmental studies incorporates more of the social sciences for understanding human relationships, perceptions and policies towards
15525-457: The suffering, human and otherwise, caused by climate change; ideology, stubbornly upheld, can accomplish the opposite." At The New York Times , Eduardo Porter wrote approvingly of ecomodernism's alternative approach to sustainable development. In an article titled "Manifesto Calls for an End to 'People Are Bad' Environmentalism", Slate 's Eric Holthaus wrote "It's inclusive, it's exciting, and it gives environmentalists something to fight for for
15660-427: The treatment of wastewaters for future use. This method is more eco-friendly and cheaper than manual cleanup or treatment of wastewaters. Most notably, the expansion of computer technology has allowed for large data collection, advanced analysis, historical archives, public awareness of environmental issues, and international scientific communication. The ability to crowdsource on the Internet, for example, represents
15795-502: The trend Gelobter pointed out related the authors' commitment to technological innovation and economic growth instead of focusing on systemic inequalities that create environmental injustices. Specifically Sze and Ziser argue that Nordhaus and Shellenberger's "evident relish in their notoriety as the 'sexy' cosmopolitan 'bad boys' of environmentalism (their own words) introduces some doubt about their sincerity and reliability." The authors asserted that Shellenberger's work fails "to incorporate
15930-516: The twentieth century. Northern Hemisphere mean annual temperatures for three of the past eight years are warmer than any other year since (at least) AD 1400. The last point received most media attention. Mann was surprised by the extent of coverage which may have been due to the chance release of the paper on Earth Day in an unusually warm year. In a CNN interview, John Roberts repeatedly asked him if it proved that humans were responsible for global warming, to which he would go no further than that it
16065-543: The university. The demand sparked widespread academic condemnation as a "blatantly political" attempt to intimidate and silence Mann, and was denied in August 2010 by a judge for failure to state sufficient cause. Cuccinelli tried to re-open his case by issuing a revised subpoena, and appealed the case to the Virginia Supreme Court. The case was defended by the university, and the court ruled that Cuccinelli did not have
16200-463: The vital connections between plants and animals and the world around them." Ecologists might investigate the relationship between a population of organisms and some physical characteristic of their environment, such as concentration of a chemical; or they might investigate the interaction between two populations of different organisms through some symbiotic or competitive relationship. For example, an interdisciplinary analysis of an ecological system which
16335-427: The water. Furthermore, throughout this century, much of the world has been ravaged by widespread wildfires and water scarcity , prompting regulations on the sustainable use of natural resources as determined by environmental scientists. The 21st century is marked by significant technological advancements. New technology in environmental science has transformed how researchers gather information about various topics in
16470-474: The whole hemisphere. Mann wanted temperatures of individual years showing differences between regions, to find spatial patterns showing natural oscillations and the effect of events such as volcanic eruptions. Sophisticated statistical methods had already been applied to dendroclimatology , but to get wider geographical coverage these tree ring records had to be related to sparser proxies such as ice cores, corals and lake sediments. To avoid giving too much weight to
16605-636: The world. Later, in 2008, the United Kingdom became the first country to pass legislation (the Climate Change Act ) that aims to reduce carbon dioxide output to a specified threshold. In 2016 the Kyoto Protocol became the Paris Agreement , which sets concrete goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and restricts Earth's rise in temperature to a 2 degrees Celsius maximum. The agreement is one of
16740-490: Was "highly suggestive" of that inference. In May 1998, Jones , Briffa and colleagues published a reconstruction going back a thousand years, but not specifically estimating uncertainties. As Bradley recalls, Mann's initial reaction to the paper was "Look at this. This is rubbish. You can't do this. There isn't enough information. There's too much uncertainty." Bradley suggested using the MBH98 methodology to go further back. Within
16875-586: Was brought to the forefront of society in 1962 when Rachel Carson published an influential piece of environmental literature, Silent Spring . Carson's writing led the American public to pursue environmental safeguards, such as bans on harmful chemicals like the insecticide DDT . Another important work, The Tragedy of the Commons , was published by Garrett Hardin in 1968 in response to accelerating natural degradation. In 1969, environmental science once again became
17010-727: Was criticized by members of the mainstream environmental movement. Former Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope called the essay "unclear, unfair and divisive." He said it contained multiple factual errors and misinterpretations. However, former Sierra Club President Adam Werbach praised the authors' arguments. Former Greenpeace Executive Director John Passacantando said in 2005, referring to both Shellenberger and his coauthor Ted Nordhaus, "These guys laid out some fascinating data, but they put it in this over-the-top language and did it in this in-your-face way." Michel Gelobter and other environmental experts and academics wrote The Soul of Environmentalism: Rediscovering transformational politics in
17145-593: Was elected a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry . Mann is author of more than 200 peer-reviewed and edited publications. He has also published six books: Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming (2008), The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars (2012), together with co-author Tom Toles , The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy (2016) with Megan Herbert, The Tantrum That Saved
17280-466: Was in theoretical condensed matter physics but he found himself being pushed towards detailed semiconductor work. He looked at course options with a wider topic area and was enthused by PhD adviser Barry Saltzman about climate modelling and research. To try this out he spent the summer of 1991 assisting a postdoctoral researcher in simulating the period of peak Cretaceous warmth when carbon dioxide levels were high, but fossils indicated most warming at
17415-582: Was life-threatening. Many niche disciplines of environmental science have emerged over the years, although climatology is one of the most known topics. Since the 2000s, environmental scientists have focused on modeling the effects of climate change and encouraging global cooperation to minimize potential damages. In 2002, the Society for the Environment as well as the Institute of Air Quality Management were founded to share knowledge and develop solutions around
17550-570: Was named by Bloomberg Markets in its third annual list of the "50 Most Influential" people, included in a group of "thinkers" with reference to his work with other scientists on the hockey stick graph, his responses on the RealClimate blog "to climate change deniers ", and his book publications. Later that month, he received the National Wildlife Federation 's National Conservation Achievement Award for Science. On April 28, 2014,
17685-400: Was praised by those opposed to action on climate change, and the conservative organization Accuracy in Media claimed that it had not been publicized due to media bias . Mann defended his PhD thesis on A study of ocean-atmosphere interaction and low-frequency variability of the climate system in the spring of 1996, and was awarded the Phillip M. Orville Prize for outstanding dissertation in
17820-662: Was still too sparse to evaluate the Southern Hemisphere. More recently, Mann's areas of research have included hurricanes and climate change, and climate modelling. His work using comparisons with the results of climate models indicated that cooling from large volcanoes was not fully shown by tree ring reconstructions, and suggested that in extreme cases cooling caused by eruptions could result in trees showing no growth, and hence no tree ring for that year. The result would be that tree ring reconstructions could understate climate variability, and there has been scientific debate about
17955-597: Was the lead author with Bradley and Hughes on a study of long term variability in the El Niño southern oscillations and related teleconnections , published in 2000. His areas of research have included climate signal detection, attribution of climate change and coupled ocean-atmosphere modeling , developing and assessing methods of statistical and time series analysis and comparing the results of modelling against data. The original MBH98 and MBH99 papers avoided undue representation of large numbers of tree ring proxies by using
18090-535: Was to work with the numerous contributing authors in preparing an assessment of the state of knowledge of the paleoclimate record, starting by soliciting input from the leading experts in that field. Mann was one of eight lead authors of the "Observed Climate Variability and Change" chapter of the report, working under the two co-ordinating lead authors for the chapter. The report was published in 2001. Mann continued his interest in improving methodology to find patterns in high-resolution paleoclimate reconstructions: he
18225-616: Was unwarranted because global warming had become a high-profile issue and the Democratic Congress was preparing to act. In April 2015, "An Ecomodernist Manifesto" was issued by John Asafu-Adjaye, Linus Blomqvist, Stewart Brand , Barry Brook . Ruth DeFries , Erle Ellis , Christopher Foreman, David Keith , Martin Lewis, Mark Lynas , Ted Nordhaus , Roger A. Pielke, Jr. , Rachel Pritzker, Joyashree Roy, Mark Sagoff, Michael Shellenberger , Robert Stone , and Peter Teague. It proposed dropping
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