Fair question. Here are all the greenhouse gases with historical concentrations and projected out until 2500. https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/13/3571/2020/
Blocked on Twitter by Michael Mann
I was beyond surprised when Michael Mann blocked me on Twitter yesterday. Mann is the ubiquitous voice of climate change in the media, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University and pusher of the “hockey stick” analogy for the industrial-age rise of anthropogenic CO2.
I have been fascinated by weather my whole life. As a child I used to spend hours listening to weather reports on the radio (KNX-1070) and charting the numbers. The first course I took in college (between graduating high school and my Freshman year) was “Introduction to Meteorology.” As a professor of mathematics at Ohio University, I was undergraduate advisor to the pre-meteorology program. I have taught many advanced math courses that are technical subject matter used in modeling the climate, including partial differential equations, fourier analysis, probability and statistics and others. As a former professor of computer science (at UC Santa Barbara), I understand the theory and coding behind climate computer models. As a consultant to the casino industry, I was creating risk models for unlikely events. I have been a lifelong student of weather, climate and meteorology and keep up on the latest research. When I post a “fact,” it is always supported by peer reviewed journal articles.
So, why did Mann block me? Apparently it’s because I am a “doomer.” Doomers are those who clearly see where the planet is heading as a result of the massive and unyielding release of greenhouse gasses. Doomers believe that human civilization will not survive climate change. And doomers believe this breakdown will happen in the near-term. Per Mann’s blocking me, apparently I was insolent enough to express my doomer philosophy in a reply to one of his tweets.
Here are the details. Mann made a Twitter post disparaging doomers, which unfortunately, because he blocked me, I can no longer access. I was one of the first to reply to his post. Because it was Twitter, my argument was condensed to just a few fairly obvious points. I Tweeted that:
- Many doomers are kind and generous individuals.
- Many doomers do what they can to be of service to others.
- Seeing where we are headed doesn’t preclude doomers from taking action to support or encourage climate change activism.
That was it — those were the points I made. And when I refreshed my screen to look at my post, this is what I got:
Shocked, I posted about being blocked in my Twitter feed and was amazed at how many responded that they too had been blocked by Mann. Apparently, Mann views doomerism as worse than denialism. He apparently views expressing the truth of where ecosystems and human life are heading on planet Earth as a form of subversion to his vision of climate activism.
Here are some of the Twitter replies I received:
He uses the term doomists as a deliberate disparagement, as though we don’t have a legitimate point of view.
I was blocked too, for questioning his stance on doomers. I genuinely expected to learn something or be ignored, not be blocked! I am in good company though it seems which makes me feel slightly better about it.
We have been banned by Michael Mann as well despite decades of campaigning on climate change with credible science and advocacy. He and handful of others seem to think they own the climate movement and will harbor no dissent.
Join the club. He blocked me long ago for suggesting that repairing ecosystems is just as important as reducing emissions.
Who knows Mann’s actual reasoning for blocking people who are interested in the science of climate change, who read and follow the latest research, who pay attention to the IPCC and who discuss the future of the planet in gut wrenching and sad detail. I hope it is not because doomers threaten the profitability of his books and media life — that would be the cynical perspective.
I am not innocent of using Twitter’s block feature. I routinely block climate deniers and those who are arrogant assholes in their responses to my Tweets. Life is too short and times are too tragic to deal with that crap. But there is no “Church of Mann” where his gospel is the final word. There is no climate-change dogma that only he owns. By blocking curious, intelligent and fearful voices, Mann is isolating himself to a world of sycophants and yes-men, creating a cult of personality in which he is the charismatic leader.
The world is coming to an end. Climate change is rapidly making this planet uninhabitable for humans. Today, as a category 4 hurricane with 150+ mph winds slams into the gulf coast, laying waste to New Orleans, it feels far too late in the game for this kind of bullshit to be taking place. Then again, it is this type of bullshit (and other carbon rich goo) that got us here in the first place.
Bien d’accord avec vous.
Mann est un négateur de la catastrophe à venir bientôt.
[Mann is a denier of the coming catastrophe]
Merci à vous.
Lionel from France
[…] for daring to say that many doomers are kind and generous individuals (as I documented in this post), I have seen his type of behavior repeated by several other so-called apocaloptimists. In this […]
[…] me personally, early on I experienced the tyranny of Michael Mann blocking me on Twitter (see this post). More recently, this tweet by Peter Kalmus gave me pause. There are seemingly endless supplies […]
I blocked Mr. Mann for hoodwinking the world, for abusing his stature and falsely claiming everything will be alright, as long as we make a few changes. He’s giving people false hope and contributes to people making the wrong life choices, causing more suffering in the end.
I do not disagree with your choice.
For me, I think knowing what top scientists say is very important. Mann doesn’t incorrectly state the climate science that I know of. There are climate scientists who bend the truth, but Mann’s hopium is just a matter of saying that the error bar still contains futures where collapse and extinction do not occurr — and I agree with that. I would read his Tweets if I could.
I find I agree with most of what you’ve said in this post. I don’t have science quals of any description, but a PhD in the Humanities certainly taught me to read and research. It’s a pity to learn M Mann is so black & white in his views.
I’m not a scientist and I’m not an academic but I applied myself to the task of studying open source Climate reports and was devastated by what I learned. The head of UCLA environmental dept agreed to meet and answer my long list of questions. After pointed questioning he admitted he was in full agreement to my conclusion: collapse is inevitable and near term. He told me he couldn’t talk on that level with colleagues, just 1 PhD student. He was a heartbroken old man, about to retire. I recall him saying “we scientists have left humanity down”. I tried to give words of comfort but his heart was heavy. Unfortunately I hadn’t read overshoot yet. I do believe Mann et al are incapable of admitting it’s over. It would end their careers, their self worth. In Mann case he’d be toppled from his pedestal. He is blocking his ears when he blocks you but late at night when no one is watching I’d bet your bottom dollar he tunes into to you and other courageous souls who’ve decided to accept the reality of Earths predicament and I’m almost certain he sheds a tear or two in the sadness of it all 🌍