The University and the Public Good: What Should We Be Doing on Climate Change?

Forum Summary

Naomi Oreskes is Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. She came to Harvard after spending 15 years as Professor of History and Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego, and Adjunct Professor of Geosciences at the univeristy's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In her research. Oreskes focuses on the earth and environmental sciences, with a particular interest in understanding scientific consensus and dissent. For the past decade, she has been interested primarily in the problem of anthropogenic climate change. This focus can be most clearly seen in her most recent book Merchants of Doubt (2010), co-authored by Erik Conway. Addressing climate change and other examples, this book has focused the attention of the public and the scientific community on the potential for small groups of scientists to drive uncertainty in public perception despite the existence of scientific consensus.