Thursday, February 17th @ noon

Most journalists have long echoed what we thought was the scientific consensus: Even if greenhouse gas emissions stop, global temperatures will keep rising for 30 to 40 more years, mainly because of carbon dioxide’s long lifetime in the atmosphere. But in fact the latest science doesn’t say that. The lag time for temperature rise would actually be as little as 3 to 5 years, as was noted in the latest IPCC report last August and explained in Scientific American last October. This research carries paradigm-shifting implications for how societies respond to the climate emergency — and how our audiences think and feel about the story.

With the next IPCC report scheduled for release later this month, this Covering Climate Now and Scientific American co-sponsored press briefing (for journalists only) will get you up to speed on this and other key aspects of the latest science. Join us for one hour of discussion with a Q&A on Thursday, February 17th at 12pm Eastern Time. Journalists will be able to ask their questions verbally to the panel.

PANELISTS

• Dr. Michael E. Mann is the professor of Atmospheric Science at Penn State, with joint appointments in the Department of Geosciences and the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. He is also director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center. Mann has authored several books, his most recent work being “The New Climate War.”
• Saleemul Huq is the director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Dhaka and a professor at the Independent University Bangladesh. He helped train diplomats from the global South who inserted the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal in the Paris Agreement.

Mark Hertsgaard, CCNow’s executive director and environment correspondent at The Nation, and Scientific American’s editor in chief, Laura Helmuth, will serve as co-moderators.

RSVP HERE.