The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front LinesThe ongoing assault on climate science in the United States has never been more aggressive, more blatant, or more widely publicized than in the case of the Hockey Stick graph—a clear and compelling visual presentation of scientific data, put together by Michael E. Mann and his colleagues, demonstrating that global temperatures have risen in conjunction with the increase in industrialization and the use of fossil fuels. Here was an easy-to-understand graph that, in a glance, posed a threat to major corporate energy interests and those who do their political bidding. The stakes were simply too high to ignore the Hockey Stick—and so began a relentless attack on a body of science and on the investigators whose work formed its scientific basis. The Hockey Stick achieved prominence in a 2001 UN report on climate change and quickly became a central icon in the “climate wars.” The real issue has never been the graph’s data but rather its implied threat to those who oppose governmental regulation and other restraints to protect the environment and planet. Mann, lead author of the original paper in which the Hockey Stick first appeared, shares the story of the science and politics behind this controversy. He reveals key figures in the oil and energy industries and the media front groups who do their bidding in sometimes slick, sometimes bare-knuckled ways. Mann concludes with the real story of the 2009 “Climategate” scandal, in which climate scientists’ emails were hacked. This is essential reading for all who care about our planet’s health and our own well-being. |
Contents
1 Born in a War | 1 |
2 Climate Science Comes of Age | 11 |
3 Signals in the Noise | 26 |
4 The Making of the Hockey Stick | 38 |
5 The Origins of Denial | 59 |
6 A Candle in the Dark | 78 |
7 In the Line of Fire | 98 |
8 Hockey Stick Goes to Washington | 108 |
13 The Battle of the Bulge | 192 |
The Real Story | 207 |
15 Fighting Back | 233 |
Epilogue | 249 |
Postscript | 259 |
Glossary | 275 |
Notes | 281 |
| 401 | |
Other editions - View all
The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines Michael E. Mann Limited preview - 2012 |
The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines Michael E. Mann Limited preview - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
Ammann analysis Assessment atmosphere attacks Barton blog Briffa campaign carbon Center century chapter claim climate change deniers climate models climate research climate science climate scientists climategate coauthors colleagues Committee contrarian cooling critical Cuccinelli dataset decades denial denialist e-mails Earth’s editor emissions environmental evidence example ExxonMobil findings fossil fuel Fred Singer funding Gavin Schmidt global temperature global warming greenhouse gas Heartland Institute hockey stick human human-caused climate change impacts industry Inhofe Institute IPCC Jones Journal Koch Koch Industries Little Ice Age long-term M. E. Mann McIntyre and McKitrick medieval warm period Michael Mann National Academy Nature Niño Northern Hemisphere oscillations paleoclimate panel paper pattern peer review Penn Post proxy data proxy records published RealClimate recent warming regions Republican Santer scientific Senate skepticism statistical Stephen McIntyre surface temperature temperature reconstructions tion tree ring tree ring data trends University variation warmth Wegman