Scientists worldwide are in large agreement that global warming is occurring – and that human activity is the cause. Seventy percent of Americans agree, according to a 2016 poll from Yale University. Over the past several decades, efforts at the federal, state, and local levels have been implemented to combat climate change and create an environment that is healthier for all who inhabit it.

Despite this, the federal government under President Donald J. Trump has adopted an “anti-science” stance on global warming and taken steps to reverse many of these efforts. The United States is the only country to reject the Paris Agreement on climate change, the administration has proposed to scrap the Clean Power Plan, and the EPA has eliminated the climate changesection of their website.

Dr. Michael E. Mann has long been involved in the research and communication around climate change. Prior to President Trump’s inauguration, he spoke against Trump’s belief that climate change is a “hoax” out of concern for the scientific community. Since then, Mann has continued sharing why people should care about climate change, using humor and science in his latest book, The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy, written with Washington Post editorial cartoonist Tom Toles.

Join us for a conversation with Michael E. Mann, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Penn State University and Director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center, on the realities of climate change.