Creating Public Doubt about Scientific Facts

Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations
November 18, 2014, Belmont Media Center, Belmont MA

Naomi Oreskes, PhD, Professor of the History of Science, and affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University. Dr. Oreskes' website
Co-author (with Erik M. Conway) of Merchants of Doubt and The Collapse of Western Civilization

Over decades, a few well-known scientists have represented various corporate interests in campaigns to mislead the public about threats to health and environment. Dr. Oreskes discusses the disinformation campaigns about tobacco and cancer, CFCs and the ozone hole, coal and acid rain, and now climate change. She describes the structure of those disinformation efforts and how the public can combat the "manufacture of doubt," which is the subject of her best-selling book (with Erik Conway).

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NYT 10/27/14 Naomi Oreskes Imagines the Future History of Climate Change
Dr. Oreskes' TED Talk Why We Should Believe In Science
Dr. Oreskes in Huffington Post Wishful Thinking about Natural Gas
Dr. Oreskes on NPR's On Point
Harvard Magazine article about Naomi Oreskes

Merchants of Doubt documentary released March, 2015.