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EPA Climate Change Lecture Series - An evening with Professor Michael Mann

Date released: November 12, 2021

15 November 2021: The EPA is delighted to welcome Professor Michael Mann, distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Pennsylvania State University, USA, to present the next EPA Climate Change Lecture which will take place virtually on Monday 15th November at 7pm. This lecture forms part of the National Dialogue on Climate Action.

In this public lecture, Professor Mann will discuss the outcomes of COP26 and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report (IPCC AR6), Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Professor Mann will also discuss the threat of human-caused climate change for civilisation, and the systemic challenges faced by the climate activist community including:

  • efforts to deflect attention from systemic change and regulatory policy solutions to personal behaviour;
  • doomist framing that disempowers us by exaggerating the threat in such a way as to make catastrophic changes now seem unavoidable; and
  • the promotion of false solutions that seek to enable the continued burning of fossil fuels that is at the very root of the problem.

He will discuss what we can do to fight back against the distraction and deflection of the problem, emphasizing the importance of both urgency and agency in efforts to save our planet.

Professor Mann commented;

“Human-caused climate change is arguably the greatest threat we face as a civilization. Efforts to attack and deny the scientific evidence have constituted a major impediment to action over the past two decades. There is still time to for us to avert the worst impacts of climate change if we act now and we act boldly.”

Laura Burke, EPA Director General said,

“We are delighted to welcome Professor Michael Mann, one of the world’s most influential scientists, a distinguished member of the academic community and long-time advocate and author on climate change, to deliver the EPA’s climate change lecture. His reflections on the roles and responsibilities of people, institutions and businesses in tackling systemic issues and developing solutions to solve the climate crisis are bound to be both engaging and insightful, particularly on the back of COP26 and the IPCC 6th Assessment Report”.

This free event requires registration through the following link EPA Climate Change Lecture 2021 (ti.to). The event will also be recorded and uploaded to the EPA YouTube channel.
All enquiries should be addressed to climatelecture@gowest.ie.
People can also follow the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #ClimateLecture2021.

Further information: Niamh Hatchell/ Emily Williamson, EPA Media Relations Office 053-9170770 (24 hours) or media@epa.ie

Editor’s Notes:

Dr. Mann is Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Pennsylvania State University, USA. His research involves the use of theoretical models and observational data to better understand the Earth's climate system. He has received a number of awards and accolades for his contributions to scientific climate research over the past 20 years and he is author of more than 200 peer-reviewed and edited publications, numerous op-eds and commentaries and five books.