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For the scientists who study global warming, now is the winter of their despair.

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In the news, it has been climate scandal after alleged climate scandal.\xa0 First came \u201cClimateGate,\u201d then \u201cGlacierGate,\u201d \u201cAmazon Gate,\u201d and so on.\xa0 In public opinion polls, meanwhile, Americans\u2019 acceptance of the science of global warming appears to be declining.\xa0 Even a freak snowstorm now seems to sow added doubt about this rigorous body of research.

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In response to growing public skepticism\u2014and a wave of dramatic attacks on individual researchers\u2014the scientific community is now bucking up to more strongly defend its knowledge.\xa0 Leading the charge is one of the most frequently attacked researchers of them all\u2014Pennsylvania State University climatologist Michael Mann.

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In this interview with host Chris Mooney, Mann pulls no punches.\xa0 He defends the fundamental scientific consensus on climate change, and explains why those who attack it consistently miss the target.\xa0 He also answers critics of his \u201chockey stick\u201d study, and explains why the charges that have arisen in \u201cClimateGate\u201d seem much more smoke than fire.

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Dr. Michael E. Mann is a member of the Pennsylvania State University faculty, and director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center.\xa0 His research focuses on the application of statistical techniques to understanding climate variability and change, and he was a Lead Author on the \u201cObserved Climate Variability and Change\u201d chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Scientific Assessment Report.\xa0 Among many other distinguished scientific activities, editorships, and awards, Mann is author of more than 120 peer-reviewed and edited publications.\xa0 That includes, most famously, the 1998 study that introduced the so called \u201chockey stick,\u201d a graph showing that modern temperatures appear to be much higher than anything seen in at least the last thousand years.\xa0 With his colleague Lee Kump, Mann also recently authored the book Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming.\xa0 Finally, he is one of the founders and contributors to the prominent global warming blog, RealClimate.org.

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