Agenda

Speaker:
Dr. Michael Mann
Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science, Penn State
Director, Earth System Science Center

Welcome address
Michele Bugliesi Rector Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

Discussant
Carlo Barbante President Italian Society for Climate Sciences, CNR - IDPA Institute for the Dynamics of Environmental Processes, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Jaroslav Mysiak, Director of the Division “Risk Assessment and Adaptation Strategies”, Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change Foundation, CMCC@Ca’Foscari

In fall 2016, I co-authored the book "The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial is Threatening our Planet, Destroying our Politics, and Driving us Crazy" with Washington Post editorial cartoonist Tom Toles. At that time, many felt that climate change denial had been rendered irrelevant--that we were past it, and ready to tackle the problem head on.  With the election as President of Donald J. Trump— an individual who rejects the overwhelming consensus of the world’s scientists that climate change is real and human-caused — denialism however has now officially infected the very highest level of our government. The official policy of the U.S. government is distraction, denial and delay, and doubling down on our headlong exploitation of dirty fossil fuel energy. I update the story told by The Madhouse Effect using humor, satire and where appropriate, ridicule, built around Tom Toles’ famously insightful, edgy, and provocative climate-themed cartoons in the Washington Post. I will  review the scientific evidence of climate change, the reasons we should care, and the often absurd efforts by special interests and partisan political figures to confuse the public, attack the science and scientists, and deny that a problem even exists. Despite the monumental nature of the challenge we face, particularly in the era of Trump,  I will explain why I'm cautiously optimistic we will prevail in the greatest battle human civilization has ever faced—the battle to avert catastrophic and irreversible climate change impacts.

Abstract and biography enclosed

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