Creating Public Doubt about Scientific Facts

Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations
Tuesday, November 18 at 6:30 PM
Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington St, Belmont MA.

Naomi Oreskes, PhD, Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University
Dr. Oreskes' websites | Author of Merchants of Doubt (with Erik M. Conway) and The Collapse of Western Civilization (w/Erik M. Conway). 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).