I first became aware of Dr. Michael Mann’s work on climate change when reading about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Assessment Report on Climate Change. Mann was a climate scientist and professor at U.Va. from 1999 to 2005, he then left to go to Penn State.
His analysis of climate change was so powerful that the conservative right felt compelled to attempt to discredit him. This conservative attack found form in then-Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s 2011 attempt to subpoena records from U.Va. related to Mann’s research projects while he was at the University. This prompted me and others in the General Assembly to introduce legislation in 2011 to stop the AG’s witch hunt. The legislation ultimately failed, but Mann and the University won in the courts.
Mann’s courageous fight to address climate change remains as powerful today as it was a decade ago. I know that Dr. Mann has always appreciated the efforts of Virginians who fought for him, and fought for the principles of scientific inquiry and academic freedom. Science and academic freedom are critical, not only for addressing problems of climate change, but for solving many of the globe’s most serious challenges. I am honored to have Dr. Mann’s endorsement:
I am pleased to endorse the re-election of David Toscano, the House Democratic Leader in the Virginia General Assembly. David was on the front lines of the fight to defend climate science and academic freedom when Republican Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, tried to “investigate” my work as a UVA Environmental Sciences Assistant Professor.
I have followed David’s career as a champion of policies to address climate change, and I know he will continue to fight to address what is the critical problem of our generation. I hope all persons interested in protecting the environment will support David Toscano on June 13.
—Dr. Michael E. Mann
About Dr. Michael E. Mann
Dr. Michael E. Mann is Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Pennsylvania State University, and director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center. In 2014, he was named Highly Cited Researcher by the Institute for Scientific Information and received the Friend of the Planet Award from the National Center for Science Education. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Mann is author of more than 200 peer-reviewed and edited publications, and has published three books. Dr. Mann was a Lead Author on the Observed Climate Variability and Change chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Scientific Assessment Report in 2001.
