“Dynamics of Disbelief: Science, Society and Social Welfare” with Naomi Oreskes
October 24, 2015
Saturday, October 24, 2015 at 8 PM
NOTE: This lecture will take place at Clarke Middle School at 17 Stedman Road in Lexington. GPS may not take you to the right location. Instead, follow GPS to Brookside Avenue in Lexington (not to 17 Stedman Road). Proceed to the end of Brookside, turn right, and you will be at the school.
The New York Times describes Harvard Professor Oreskes as “one of the biggest names in climate science —a defender who counters what she sees as ideologically-motivated attacks on the field.” In the early 1960s, scientists began alerting American politicians and then the public to the climate change they had long observed. Even President Nixon’s advisors, in the late 1960s, didn’t doubt the truth of climate change; they only hesitated about what to do, if anything. Paradoxically, as forecast became fact, disbelief set in. This talk examines the history and dynamics of climate science disbelief, and its implications for society.
Oreskes’s research highlighted the disconnect between the state of scientific debate and the way it was being presented in the mass media and perceived by the American people. Teaming up with Erik Conway, her further research soon suggested that the reason we are all confused is that people have been trying to confuse us. The resulting book is Merchants of Doubt.
We also invite you to see a related film cosponsored by LexGWAC and the Cary Lecture Series:
October 17, 2015 • 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Movie: Merchants of Doubt
Clarke Middle School, 17 Stedman Road, Lexington, MA
This dynamic, informative film is based on the book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway. It makes a compelling case that some corporations have systematically used propaganda to create doubt on a number of issues, including climate change, despite scientific consensus, and helps educate us on how this propaganda sows seeds of doubt that affect policy and behavior. Plus: meet the stars of the inspiring short film “Save Tomorrow” about three 9-year-old girls working to save our future.
Biography
Naomi Oreskes is one of the world’s leading historians of science. Professor of History and Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego, and Adjunct Professor of Geosciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, her research focuses on consensus and dissent in science. She has won numerous prizes for her work, and has lectured widely in diverse venues ranging from the Madison, Wisconsin, Civics Club to the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. Her 2004 essay “The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change,” cited by Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth, led to Op-Ed pieces in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle, and to Congressional testimony in the U.S Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Oreskes’s research highlighted the disconnect between the state of scientific debate and the way it was being presented in the mass media and perceived by the American people. Teaming up with Erik Conway, her further research soon suggested that the reason we are all confused is that people have been trying to confuse us. The resulting book is Merchants of Doubt.
Related Links
“The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change” Essay
Exxon’s Climate Concealment by Naomi Oreskes (October 9, 2015)
We also invite you to see a related film cosponsored by LexGWAC and the Cary Lecture Series:
October 17, 2015 • 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Movie: Merchants of Doubt
Clarke Middle School, 17 Stedman Road, Lexington, MA
This dynamic, informative film is based on the book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway. It makes a compelling case that some corporations have systematically used propaganda to create doubt on a number of issues, including climate change, despite scientific consensus, and helps educate us on how this propaganda sows seeds of doubt that affect policy and behavior. Plus: Screening & meet the stars of the inspiring short film “Save Tomorrow” about three 9-year-old girls working to save our future.
