Ep 93: Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University

In today’s episode, we cover:

• Her journey from Geologist to Historian of Science
• The genesis of her climate change awakening
• What led to her seminal book on climate change, “Merchants of Doubt”
• How the science showing fossil fuels impact on climate change go way backHer work inspiring the movie, "An Inconvenient Truth"
• The foundational work of Prof. Ben Santer, proving climate change
• How the fossil fuel industry led a disinformation campaign, intent on discrediting climate scientists
• Her views on how the fossil fuel industry is not a reliable partner in combatting climate change in this day
• Why science should be trusted by the public
• The significance of consensus in science
• Remaining topics of climate change debate within the scientific community
• How public policy changes is not in the domain of science
• How the challenges with climate change are not within the science or technology but within policy and politics
• Why nuclear is not a viable solution to climate change

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

• “Merchants of Doubt”: https://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/
• “Why Trust Science”: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691179001/why-trust-science
• Roger Revelle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Revelle
• Charles David Keeling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_David_Keeling
• Prof. Ben Santer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_D._Santer
• James Hansen's 1988 Congressional Testimony on Climate Change: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hansen#US_Senate_committee_testimony

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant