Podcast appearances and mentions of tom toles

Michael speaks with Dr. Michael Mann, co-author (with Tom Toles) of "The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy." Original air date 26 October 2016. The book was published on 27 September 2016.

Communicating the science of climate change, with its overwhelming expert consensus, seems like it should be easy. However, a science-averse media and strong fossil fuel lobby make it exceedingly difficult. Climatologist Michael Mann and cartoonist Tom Toles have teamed up to put climate change in context in their new book, The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy. I talked to both of them at this year’s Annapolis Book Festival.

The serious side of Dr. Michael E. Mann approaches his battle with the climate change deniers in the Trump Administration with scholarly excellence. But, the author side of Dr. Mann approaches the same topic with science, satire and cartoons. Dr. Mann is one of the world’s foremost authorities on climate change and its impacts. He is an award-winning scholar. He is a Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Penn State University, with joint appointments in the Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute (EESI). He also is the director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center (ESSC.) He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles in his field and is known as one of the top scholars on this topic. He discusses with the Spectrum podcast the serious side of climate change and the dangers we face with climate change deniers both in the Trump Administration as well as in Congress. He also, however, discusses his most recent book and how he takes a different approach to effectuate change. As an author, he makes the climate change issues accessible to the general public through the use of satire and cartoons in “The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy,” published by the Columbia University Press. In this book he teamed up with Pulitzer-prize winning political cartoonist Tom Toles of the Washington Post to approach the topic with a combination of hard science, satire and humor. According to a book summary presented by Amazon: “The Madhouse Effect portrays the intellectual pretzels into which denialists must twist logic to explain away the clear evidence that human activity has changed Earth's climate. Toles's cartoons collapse counter-scientific strategies into their biased components, helping readers see how to best strike at these fallacies. Mann's expert skills at science communication aim to restore sanity to a debate that continues to rage against widely acknowledged scientific consensus. The synergy of these two climate science crusaders enlivens the gloom and doom of so many climate-themed books―and may even convert die-hard doubters to the side of sound science.” The book makes the complicated issues surrounding climate change accessible to both believers and deniers. Dr. Mann is lecturing about his book at the Templeton-Blackburn Memorial Auditorium on the Ohio University campus on March 28, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.

With the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States, it now seems climate change denial has reached into the most powerful political office in the world. In this special Sydney Ideas public lecture, world-renowned climate scientist Professor Michael Mann provides a somewhat light-hearted take on a very serious issue - the threat of human-caused climate change and what to do about it. Based on his recent collaboration with Washington Post editorial cartoonist Tom Toles, Professor Mann reviews 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 and attack the science. Despite the monumental nature of the challenge this poses to human civilization, and the seeming inability of political leadership to respond to the climate crisis, Professor Mann highlights ways forward in mitigating future harm and reasons for cautious optimism. SPEAKER: Professor Michael E Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Pennsylvania State University Presented by Sydney Ideas and the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney on 8 February 2017 http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/michael_mann.shtml

Donate to America Adapts (We are now a tax deductible charitable organization!) Subscribe to America Adapts on Itunes In this week’s episode of America Adapts, host Doug Parsons gets a visit from legendary climate change scientist/activist, Dr. Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Pennsylvania State University. Doug and Mike talk about a wide range of issues: from the publication of his new book, The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy; the Presidential Election; the history of climate denialism; to science communication in general.  We discuss Randy Olson’s influence, the scientist turned filmmaker, who connected Doug and Mike, which led to a discussion on effective science communication and the use of storytelling in science.  Regarding Mike’s new book, The Madhouse Effect, in an innovative twist, Mike collaborated with Tom Toles, long time cartoonist with the Washington Post. The book focuses on climate change and the long running battles climate scientists have had with the denier movement. Tole uses his cartoons to encapsulate each chapter with a relevant and biting cartoon.  The book deftly uses humor to reach a different audience with hopes of educating them about climate science.  The conversation then pivots to some climate science history, where Mike vividly describes what the political and scientific world was like when he first released his now iconic ‘hockey stick’ research paper.  Mike explains some of the key moments of constructing that paper and that “uh oh” moment when they realized humans were behind the recent warming around the globe. Mike then walks us through his many battles with the denier movement, from the time he was sued at the University of Virginia, through the infamous Climategate “scandal.”  Doug and Mike discuss the difficulties of communicating with the public when scientists are held (and hold themselves to) a much higher standard of information sharing, whereas the Koch Brothers' funded opposition has no such standard.  We discuss the ‘fake news’ issue and how that has been present in the climate change world for years. Finally, we talk about what will happen during a Trump administration.  An overall theme of our Trump discussions is the wildcard nature of his policies. President-Elect Trump even recently met with Al Gore to discuss climate change.  Doug and Mike anticipate bad things in addressing climate change, but also recognize that President Trump might surprise his detractors.  Mann acknowledges his book is much more relevant with the election of Donald Trump since the book deals so much with climate denial. Doug asks Mike, hypothetically, what if President Trump asked Mike to come to the Oval Office to brief him on climate change: what would he say to President Trump?  Without giving too much away, it involved invoking Lincoln, recruiting Bill Nye the Science Guy, and playing to Trump’s very large ego.  Some key quotes from the podcast interview: “Climategate was a rear guard, battle of the bulge, full frontal assault on the science of climate change.’ “If trump does move forward with the agenda he’s threatened to pursue...then it could be game over for stabilizing temperatures at 2 degrees..” “The forces of anti-science are very mobilized, and trained to be very great communicators and in many cases...they are cleaning our clocks…”  “If we are to actually make America great again, then we’re going to have to be part of the clean energy revolution.” “We now have for the first time in history, a president who denies that climate change even exists.” “It’s in the realm of possibility that Trump could flip on the issue of climate change if there was a concerted, good faith outreach effort, to him,  by the scientific community.” “Donald trump doesn’t get to decide if the world moves ahead on climate change, the world is moving ahead.” We discuss the upcoming 20 year anniversary of the hockey stick and opportunities to acknowledge that anniversary as way to highlight the issue of climate change in a potentially future hostile political environment.  The conversation with Mike was fascinating, informative and downright inspiring. So have a listen, there’s much much more that’s said! Finally, yes, most of your favorite podcasts are supported by listeners just like you! Please consider supporting this podcast by donating through America Adapt's fiscal sponsor, the Social Good Fund. All donations are now tax deductible! For more information on this podcast, visit the website at http://www.americaadapts.org and don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on Itunes.   America Adapts on Facebook!   Join the America Adapts Facebook Community Group. Check us out, we’re also on YouTube! On Twitter: @usaadapts Email:  americaadapts@gmail.com Subscribe to America Adapts on Itunes Additional Resources for Dr. Michael Mann http://www.michaelmann.net/news http://www.meteo.psu.edu/holocene/public_html/Mann/news/interviews.php

On this episode of Working, David Plotz talks with Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles about the importance of finding humor in the news and why he draws 24 cartoons each week. To learn more about this series, click here. Visit the Working archive page for more episodes, or subscribe in iTunes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices