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How I became the target of climate change deniers

Climate change scientist Michael Mann has been the target of climate deniers for almost a quarter of a century. He explains how the attacks began when he led a study that uncovered how global temperatures had increased since the Industrial Revolution, when carbon pollution associated with fossil fuel burning and other human activity began in earnest. The graphic that illustrated this research became known as the 'hockey stick' graph. The publicity around it made Michael Mann the focus of a dangerous attack by people who denied the existence of man-made climate change, when an envelope arrived containing a "white substance that was wafting into the air".

"I was not prepared for the crescendo of attacks that I was subject to - and it was intended to spur violence."
"A white substance was wafting into the air - I realised I'd been subject to a deadly substance. My room looked like a crime scene."

Photo: EPA

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2 minutes