Andronova,N., Schlesinger,M.E., Dessai,S., Hulme,M. and Li,B. (2007) The concept of climate sensitivity: history and development pp.5-17 in, Human-induced climate change: an inter-disciplinary assessment (eds.) Schlesinger,M.E., Khesgi,H., Smith,J., Chesnaye,F., Reily,J.M., Wilson,T. and Kolstad,C., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 451pp.

Hulme,M. (2007) Newspaper scare headlines can be counter-productive Nature, 445 (22 Feb), p.818

Dessai,S. and Hulme,M. (2007) Assessing the robustness of adaptation decisions to climate change uncertainties: a case-study on water resources management in the East of England Global Environmental Change, 17(1), 59-72.

Dessai,S., O’Brien,K. and Hulme,M. (2007) On uncertainty and climate change Global Environmental Change, 17(1), 1-3.

Dessai,S., O’Brien,K. and Hulme,M. (eds.) (2007) Uncertainty in climate change adaptation in mitigation Global Environmental Change (Special Issue), Volume 17(1)

Module Synopsis

Climate change - the anthropogenic shaping of the global climate system, or ‘global warming’ - has become a defining phenomenon of the new century. It is one of the most salient public issues in UK society and, increasingly, worldwide. Assessing and managing the risks posed by climate change, now and in the future, is a major driver of national policy and international diplomacy, is an issue of lively public debate, and provides a backdrop against which new social movements, business strategies and public policies are emerging.

By way of framing the problem, this module provides a brief introduction to the science behind climate change (drawing upon module M535), especially focusing on certainties, uncertainties and identifiable risks. The major part of the course then examines in greater depth the impacts climate change is having on society - both direct and indirect, both now and potentially in the future. These impacts - physical effects, social responses and policy debates - will be examined from a number of different perspectives:

1. what is climate?
2. climate change and future scenarios
3. public perceptions of climate risks
4. the ethics and economics of climate change
5. climate change and development goals
6. climate and society: how adaptation works
7. energy and society: moves towards decarbonisation
8. structuring public policy around climate change

I am currently writing a book for Cambridge University Press titled ‘Why We Disagree About Climate Change’ to be published winter 2008/09.

Why we disagree about climate change

Climate change is not ‘a problem’ waiting for ‘a solution’. It is an environmental, cultural and political phenomenon which is re-shaping the way we think about ourselves, about our societies and about humanity’s place on Earth. This book provides a personal, yet scholarly, account of the emergence of this phenomenon and the globally diverse ways in which it is being understood. This novel account uses the different standpoints of science, economics, faith, psychology, communication, sociology, politics and development to help explain why we disagree about climate change. A creative view of climate change is to see it as an opportunity to speak across these divides, using it as a lens through which we can design collectively our sustainability on a small planet. This book draws upon the author’s twenty-five years of professional work as an international climate change scientist and public commentator, and offers an insider’s view about climate change from the core of environmental and social science and reflecting associated science-policy debates. By placing climate change in its historical, political and cultural context, the paradigm shift implied in the book is that climate change, far from being simply an ‘issue’ or a ‘threat’, can act as catalyst to revise our perception of our place in the world. ‘Why we disagree about climate change’ will lift discussion of climate change out of the narrow bounds of science and policy discourse. It will help people recognise climate change as a defining idea within the broader sweep of intellectual history and human development.

Published Books 

Hulme,M. (2008)  Imagined Memories and the Seductive Quest for a Family History  Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd., Guildford, 276pp. (published February 2008) (available from www.amazon.co.uk priced £8.99)

Hulme,M., Jenkins,G.J., et al. (2002) Climate change scenarios for the UK: the UKCIP02 scientific report Tyndall Centre, Norwich, 120pp.

Hulme,M. and Jenkins,G.J. (1998) Climate change scenarios for the UK Climatic Research Unit, Norwich, 80pp.

Hulme,M. and Barrow,E.M. (eds.) (1997) Climates of the British Isles: present, past and future Routledge, London, 454pp.

My book “Imagined Memories and the Seductive Quest for a Family History” was published by Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd. in February 2008.  It is available on-line at www.amazon.co.uk at £8.99 or else from the author at mikehulme@btinternet.com.

Synopsis

‘From accidental beginnings, Mike Hulme’s interest in genealogy grew first into a hobby and then into a catalyst for re-inventing himself as he passed through the dangerous years of mid-life. The pursuit of his family origins engaged his intellect, imagination and emotions in new ways and altered the way he saw himself, others and his country’s history. Imagined Memories is a memoir of this encounter with the past, an account of his discovery of the ways open to all of us for connecting with what has been. It will appeal to all those who have some first-hand experience of doing family history and to those who can’t understand why anyone would want to spend thousands of hours finding out about dead people.’

Most recent publications

Hulme,M. and Dessai,S. (under review) Predicting, deciding, learning: can one evaluate the ’success’ of national climate scenarios? Environmental Research Letters

Hulme,M., Dessai,S., Lorenzoni,I. and Nelson,D. (under review) Unstable climates: exploring the statistical and social constructions of climate Geoforum

Hulme,M. (under review) Mediating the messages about climate change: reporting the IPCC Fourth Assessment in the UK print media (submitted version) Science Communication

Hulme,M. (2008) The conquering of climate: discourses of fear and their dissolution (submitted version) Geographical Journal 174(1), 5-16 [doi:10.1111/j.1475-4959.2008.00266.x]

Lorenzoni,I. and Hulme,M. (in press) Believing is seeing: lay-people’s views of future socio-economic and climate change in England and in Italy (accepted version) Public Understanding of Science

Hulme,M. (2008) Geographical work at the boundaries of climate change (submitted version) Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 33(1), 5-11 [doi: 10.1111/j.1475-5661.2007.00289.x]

Hulme,M. and Dessai,S. (2008) Negotiating future climates for public policy: a critical assessment of the development of climate scenarios for the UK Environmental Science and Policy 11, 54-70 [doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2007.09.003]

Hulme,M. (2007) Understanding climate change: the power and the limit of science (viewpoint article) Weather 62(9), 243-244

Andronova,N., Schlesinger,M.E., Dessai,S., Hulme,M. and Li,B. (2007) The concept of climate sensitivity: history and development pp.5-17 in, Human-induced climate change: an inter-disciplinary assessment (eds.) Schlesinger,M.E., Khesgi,H., Smith,J., Chesnaye,F., Reily,J.M., Wilson,T. and Kolstad,C., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 451pp.

Archived publications by year

Most cited publications; H-Index = 29 (as of April 2008; derived from Scopus).

(576) New,M., Hulme,M. and Jones,P.D. (2000) Representing twentieth century space-time climate variability. Part 2: development of 1901-96 monthly grids of terrestrial surface cliamte J.Climate, 13, 2217-2238

(493) New,M., Hulme,M. and Jones,P.D. (1999) Representing twentieth century space-time climate variability. Part 1: development of a 1961-90 mean monthly terrestrial climatatology J.Climate, 12, 829-856

(164) New,M., Lister,D., Hulme,M. and Makin,I. (2002) A high-resolution data set of surface climate over global land areas Climate Research 21, 1-25

(131) Hulme,M. (1992) A 1951-80 global land precipitation climatology for the evaluation of General Circulation Models Climate Dynamics, 7, 57-72

(111) Osborn,T.J., Hulme,M., Jones,P.D. and Basnett,T.A. (2000) Observed trends in the daily intensity of UK precipitation Int. J. Climatol. 29, 347-364

(111) Hulme,M. (1992) Rainfall changes in Africa: 1931-60 to 1961-90 Int. J. Climatol., 12, 685-699

(106) Hulme,M. Osborn,T.J. and Johns,T.C. (1998) Precipitation sensitivity to global warming: comparison of observations with the HadCM2 simulations Geophys. Res. Letts. 25, 3379-3382

(101) Hulme,M., Doherty,R.M., Ngara,T., New,M. and Lister,D. (2001) African climate change: 1900-2100 Climate Research 17, 145-168

I am also interested to receive approaches from students who would like to study for a PhD in the areas of climate change adaptation, representations of climate in the media, and the philosophy of climate. The School of Environmental Sciences publishes details about PhD studentships.

I am currently supervising two PhD students:

• Saffron O’Neill (registered 2004) An iconic approach to representing dangerous climate change
• Neil Jennings (registered 2004) How and why did the possibility of the collapse of the thermohaline circulation emerge as a risk issue in the UK?

I have supervised a further nine PhD students, all of whom have successfully completed their doctorates:

• Vincent Okwany (1991) Climate and vegetation relationships in southwestern Kenya and the potential impacts of a warmer world

• Declan Conway (1993) Climate change and the hydrology of the Nile Basin

• Martin Airey (1996) On the evaluation of precipitation in global climate models

• Elaine Barrow (1999) On the evaluation and construction of climate change scenarios for use in crop-climate models

• Nick Brooks (1999) Dust-climate interactions in the Sahel-Sahara zone of northern Africa, with particular reference to late twentieth century Sahelian drought

• Louise Bohn (2001) (joint supervision) The application and value of climate information in Swaziland

• Tim Mitchell (2001) An investigation of the pattern-scaling technique for describing future climates

• Irene Lorenzoni (2003) (joint supervision) Present choices, future climates: a cross-cultural study of perceptions in Italy and the UK

• Suraje Dessai (2005) Robust adaptation decisions amid climate change uncertainties

Other climate datasets produced by the Climatic Research Unit can be found here, including the Hulme global gridded monthly precipitation dataset for land areas for the period 1900-1998.

For country-by-country historical and future climate data produced by Tim Mitchell and the Tyndall Centre, try here.

Current Research Contracts

ADAM: adaptation and mitigation strategies in support of European climate policy, 2006-2009 (EU DG-Research, €11,950,000)

Framing energy futures and risk: exploring public understandings, 2007-2010 (with Irene Lorenzoni and Jacquie Burgess) (Leverhulme Energy, £216,000)

Simplicity, complexity and modelling, 2006-2008 (with Suraje Dessai) (EPSRC, £18,000)

Recently Completed Contracts and Grants

Tyndall Centre Phase 1 (plus extension), 2000-2006 (NERC, EPSRC, ESRC, £10,897,000).  You can read here an independent assessment by PA Consulting Group of the economic impact of the Tyndall Centre, commissioned by Research Councils UK, October 2007.

Towards a research agenda for climate stabilisation, 2004-2005 (Defra, £68,000)

Adaptation and vulnerability in Europe, 2004-2006 (European Environment Agency, €160,000)

Tyndall Centre Business Liaison function, 2000-2005 (DTI, £358,000)

UKCIP02 climate change scenarios, 2000-2002 (Defra, £160,000)

Climate Observations and Model Evaluation, 1999-2001 (UK DETR: £195,338): evaluating climate model performance, especially with regard to the Hadley Centre

ECLAT-2 Concerted Action, 1998-2001 (EU DGXII: €248,900): towards the improvement of climate change scenario development and application

ACACIA Concerted Action, 1998-2000 (EU DGXII: expenses only): assessing the potential effects of climate change in Europe

Climate Change Scenarios for Wales, 1999-2000 (National Assembly of Wales): contribution to a ‘Scoping Study of Climate Change Impacts in Wales’

Climate Change in the UK, 1999-2000 (UK Department of Health): contribution to a DoH report ‘Climate Change and Health in the UK’

Regional weather scenarios for Scotland, 2000 (Scottish Executive: £17,076): analysis of Regional Climate Model experiment for Scotland

Database of global climate change impacts, 2000 (UK DETR: £19,283): joint project with W.S.Atkins and Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

Country Climate Change Scenarios, 1999 (WWF: $142,000): national scenario leaflets for 15 countries

UKCIP98 Climate Change Scenarios, 1998 (UK DETR: £17,500): the national climate change scenarios for the UK Climate Impacts Programme

CLIVARA, 1995-1998 (EU DGXII: £55,000): climate change, climate variability and agriculture in Europe

Climate Change and Southern Africa, 1994-1996 (WWF International: £86,500): an exploration of some potential impacts and implications

Overheated, underpowered  Book review of ‘The Hot Topic: how to tackle global warming and still keep the lights on’ by Gabrielle Walker and David King, The Independent,  18 January 2008,  Review Supplement, p.25 

Is climate change really a security threat?  Read this viewpoint article Climate security: the new determinism, on the OpenDemocracy web site (21 December 2007).

I acted as a discussant for Professor William Cronon’s lecture Saving Nature in Time: why environmentalism needs history as much as science at Harvard University on Thursday 29 November 2007.

Book review of ‘A moral climate: the ethics of global warming’ by Michael Northcott, in Third Way, December 2007, p.27.

I presented this seminar, ‘Three meanings of climate change: lamenting Eden, presaging Apoclaypse, constructing Babel‘ at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion at the University of Cambridge on Tuesday 30 October, 2007. You can listen here.

I participated in a debate The science and politics of climate change at the Institute of Ideas’ 2007 Battle of Ideas on Sunday 28 October in London. You can watch here.

Why did Al Gore win the Nobel Peace Prize? Read this viewpoint article Climate change: issue or magnifier? on the OpenDemocracy website (19 October 2007).

The value of barefoot life Book review of ‘The Earth only endures: on reconnecting with nature and our place in it’ by Jules Pretty, The Times Higher Educational Supplement 22 June 2007, p.22

Setting goals for global climate governance: an inter-disciplinary perspective Keynote talk presented at the IHDP/HDGEC Conference “Earth System Governance: theories, methods, tools” at IVM, Amsterdam, 24 May 2007

Understanding climate change: the power and the limit of science - viewpoint article published in the magazine Weather 62(9), 243-244.

The appliance of science: a commentary in The Guardian on Singer and Avery’s book ‘Unstoppable warming’ (14 Mar 2007). Re-interpreted by Melanie Phillips in the Daily Mail.

The limits of the Stern Review for climate change policy-making An editorial in the Bulletin of the British Ecological Society 38(1), pp.20-21 (March 2007).

“Newspaper scare headlines can be counter-productive” - a letter to Nature (22 Feb 2007)

“A non-skeptical heresy: taking the science out of climate change” - a speech delivered to the Cambridge Research on Arts Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) debate on climate change (15 Feb 2007)

No fig leaf for Eden’s destroyers Book review of ‘The end of the wild’ by Stephen M Meyer, Times Higher Educational Supplement 22 Feb 2007, p.22

Mike Hulme on John Constable’s cloud study in the Tate Modern Newsletter (Dec 2006)

Chaotic world of climate truth - a feature article for BBC news on-line about the use of language in talking about climate change (Nov 2006)

We need a change of climate to survive Commentary in the Times Higher Educational Supplement, 6 January 2006, p.14

A full list of all publications by Mike Hulme can be downloaded here hulme-publications.pdf

Journals

I am Editor-in-Chief of the new Wiley-Blackwell Interdisciplinary Review (WIREs) Climate Change, to launch early 2010. 

I co-edit with Neil Adger and Kate Brown the journal Global Environmental Change and I am on the editorial board of the journal Climate Policy.  I have previously served as an editor for the journals Int. J. Climatology, Climate Research and Progress in Physical Geography.

Advisory Committees and Roles

I sit on the Advisory Board’s of the UK Energy Research Centre and the UK Climate Impacts Programme and am a member of the Steering Group for NERC’s RAPID research programme.  I am also a senior advisor to the British Council and am a member of the Steering Group for the European Climate Platform, a collaboration between Clipore, a Swedish-based programme to enhance research-policy interactions, and the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels.

I provided scientific input into the Conservative Party’s 2006 Quality of Life policy review.  I was on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research between 2002 and 2007 and was a Convening Lead Author for the scenarios chapter for the IPCC Third Assessment Report and Manager of the IPCC Data Distribution Centre between 1997 and 2002. 

I am a signatory to the Oxford Declaration ‘Science and faith unite on biodiversity’ under the auspicies of the James Martin Institute, issued 7 December 2007. 

Personal Influences

I have been a member of the Labour Party since 1990.

I am an evangelical Christian and member of the Church of England, and my theology is not dissimilar to that espoused by Fulcrum, a movement seeking to act as a point of balance within the Anglican Church.

I am currently studying for a postgraduate Diploma in History at the University of East Anglia.

I am a member of the Society of Authors and of the Liverpool and SW Lancashire Family History Society.

I have been married since 1987 and have a 1992-born daughter.