The World, the Universe and Us CultureLab: Surviving the climate crisis – Michael Mann’s hopeful lessons from Earth’s deep history
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Oct 2, 2023 Michael Mann, University of Pennsylvania climate scientist and activist, discusses how past climate events can teach us about our future and emphasizes the urgency of taking action to prevent further climate damage. Topics include extreme weather events in 2023, embracing uncertainty when discussing climate change, the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), the impacts of climate change throughout Earth's history, and insights from the paleoclimate record.
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2023 Extremes Prove The Crisis Is Here
- The present extreme weather of 2023 shows the climate crisis is not decades away but already here.
- Michael Mann links recent heatwaves, low Antarctic sea ice and wildfires to leaving the stable climate envelope that enabled human infrastructure.
Treat Uncertainty As A Call To Act
- Embrace both urgency and agency when communicating about climate change.
- Mann warns uncertainty isn't a reason to delay action; it increases the risk and therefore the need for concerted rapid mitigation.
Resilience Can Flip To Fragility
- The climate system has resilience mechanisms but can flip to fragility if pushed too hard.
- Mann cites faster-than-expected ice-sheet loss, sea-level rise and jet-stream changes as signs we've stressed those stabilizing mechanisms.