2008 Woodie Awards
Preaching to the climate choir
Famed Climatologist captivates College lecture-goers
Julia McKinnon
Issue date: 3/16/06 Section: Features
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When climatologist Michael Mann appeared at Middlebury to give this year's Margolin Environmental Affairs lecture, Benjamin F. Wissler Professor of Physics Richard Wolfson mysteriously presented him with a Middlebury College hockey stick.
Why? Because Mann is nationally renowned for his work in calculating the globe's change in atmospheric temperature over time. And the graph he has come up with to measure global temperature takes the alarming shape of a hockey stick turned on its side.
In his work, Mann strives to use statistical methodology to show that global temperatures are rising at an unnatural rate. His "hockey stick" graph shows global temperatures over the last millennium, relying on indicators like the width of tree rings and health of coral reefs to show temperatures in the years before thermometers existed.
His graph illustrates gradual but steady global cooling over the thousand-year period until the 20th century, at which point temperatures began to increase. The end of the graph shows a dramatic upward thrust - the "hockey stick blade" - indicating that the last two decades have consistently seen record-high temperatures. Mann believes this increase to be caused by human activity.
Mann came to Middlebury as this year's Scott Margolin Environmental Affairs lecturer. He works at Penn State University in the Departments of Meteorology and Geosciences, as well as in the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. His famous graph was accepted for publication in 1999 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
As this year's Margolin lecturer, Mann joined the good company of many other famous individuals in the environmental world. In previous years, the Margolin Environmental Affairs lecture has brought to campus environmental historian William Cronon, climatologist Steven Schneider, Paul Ehrlich, author of the "Time Bomb," and Eileen Clausen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
According to Wolfson, Mann was an interesting Margolin lecturer because, unlike many of the speakers from past years, "he's not at the end of his career." Instead, "Mann is up and coming," said Wolfson.
Why? Because Mann is nationally renowned for his work in calculating the globe's change in atmospheric temperature over time. And the graph he has come up with to measure global temperature takes the alarming shape of a hockey stick turned on its side.
In his work, Mann strives to use statistical methodology to show that global temperatures are rising at an unnatural rate. His "hockey stick" graph shows global temperatures over the last millennium, relying on indicators like the width of tree rings and health of coral reefs to show temperatures in the years before thermometers existed.
His graph illustrates gradual but steady global cooling over the thousand-year period until the 20th century, at which point temperatures began to increase. The end of the graph shows a dramatic upward thrust - the "hockey stick blade" - indicating that the last two decades have consistently seen record-high temperatures. Mann believes this increase to be caused by human activity.
Mann came to Middlebury as this year's Scott Margolin Environmental Affairs lecturer. He works at Penn State University in the Departments of Meteorology and Geosciences, as well as in the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. His famous graph was accepted for publication in 1999 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
As this year's Margolin lecturer, Mann joined the good company of many other famous individuals in the environmental world. In previous years, the Margolin Environmental Affairs lecture has brought to campus environmental historian William Cronon, climatologist Steven Schneider, Paul Ehrlich, author of the "Time Bomb," and Eileen Clausen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
According to Wolfson, Mann was an interesting Margolin lecturer because, unlike many of the speakers from past years, "he's not at the end of his career." Instead, "Mann is up and coming," said Wolfson.