MEDIA ADVISORY

ANN ARBOR—Federal climate researchers announced Tuesday that 2012 was the warmest year on record in the contiguous United States. The average annual U.S. temperature last year was 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit, a full degree warmer than the old record set in 1998, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The University of Michigan has several experts who can discuss the significance and implications of this record. They are:

Ben van der Pluijm, the Bruce R. Clark Collegiate Professor of Geology in the Department Earth and Environmental Sciences and director of the U-M Global Change Program. He can discuss the near-term societal impacts—related to weather, water, food and energy, for example—of climate change. He can be reached at (734) 763-0373, (734) 663-9134 or vdpluijm@umich.edu. More about van der Pluijm: http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/Ben.

Andrew Hoffman, director, Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise. Hoffman can field questions about the social debate over climate change and why some people reject the scientific consensus. Hoffman is the Holcim Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, a position with joint appointments at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the School of Natural Resources and Environment. He can be reached at (734) 763-9455, (617) 285-0920 (cell phone) or ajhoff@umich.edu. More about Hoffman: http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/ajhoff.

Richard Rood, professor of atmospheric, oceanic and space sciences. He can discuss the intersections of weather and climate, and climate and society. One of his current projects involves studying trends in extreme heat events. Rood is a blogger at Weather Underground and teaches a class on climate change problem solving. He can be reached at (301) 526-8572 (cell phone) or rbrood@umich.edu. More about Rood: http://aoss.engin.umich.edu/people/rbrood.

Henry Pollack, professor emeritus of earth and environmental sciences, can discuss how 2012 fits the pattern of the last 20 years, in which most years have been among the hottest on record. Pollack was one of the U-M scientists who contributed to the climate reports issued by the United Nations-sponsored panel that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore. He is also a scientific adviser to Gore’s Climate Reality Project. Pollack can be reached at (734) 474-3823 (cell phone) or hpollack@umich.edu. More about Pollack: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/earth/people/ci.pollackhenry_ci.detail

U-M Sustainability fosters a more sustainable world through collaborations across campus and beyond aimed at educating students, generating new knowledge, and minimizing our environmental footprint. Learn more at sustainability.umich.edu.