Merchants of Doubt

Climate One

News Commentary, Social Sciences, Earth Sciences, News, Science

4.7 • 583 Ratings

🗓️ 14 June 2010

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Merchants of Doubt Erik Conway, Historian, California Institute of Technology What do tobacco and fossil fuels have in common? A handful of scientists were able to obscure the truth about both threats to public well-being, according to author Conway. “Doubt is our product,” one tobacco executive reportedly said. Oil and coal companies borrowed a page from that playbook and have used it effectively to cast a cloud over climate science. The result? Opinion polls show that a falling percentage of Americans think climate change is urgent and, as the economy faltered, it has plunged as a national priority. Conway, an expert on the history of carbon dioxide measurement and climate science, offers a peek into the campaign against the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the global scientific consensus that human activity is adversely impacting the Earth. This program was recorded in front of a live audience in San Francisco at The Commonwealth Club on June 11, 2010 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is your latest project.
0:03.2	It's heavy with information, data and exactly 36 pages of waffle.
0:09.4	But with Acrobat Studio, you can create a PDF space, an AI-powered workspace that turns documents into summaries and insights,
0:17.1	and even generates reports or presentations out of it.
0:22.5	So you can cut through the waffle,
0:29.7	work smarter and save time. Do that with Acrobat. Learn more and try it out on Adobe.com.
0:36.0	How will we power our future? Can we create a healthy and clean economy? Climate One at the Commonwealth Club is at the forefront of the global debate
0:38.6	about energy, economy, and the environment. Bringing together the brightest and most provocative
0:43.7	leaders of our time, Climate One is the place where big ideas get heard. With thoughtful and
0:49.0	insightful discussions on policy, business, science, and culture, Climate One founder Greg Dalton gets to the heart of the matter.
0:56.3	It's our future. It's time to come together.
0:59.4	Welcome to Climate One at the Commonwealth Club. I'm Greg Dalton.
1:02.2	What does tobacco have in common with fossil fuels?
1:05.5	Author and Caltech historian Eric Conway says energy companies have borrowed a page from the tobacco companies and created
1:12.1	doubt about scientific evidence that burning fossil fuels is heating the Earth's atmosphere.
1:17.9	What's his evidence?
1:19.3	And how is this affecting the politics of trying to pass a national energy and climate bill?
1:23.7	We'll discuss that and much more with our live audience here in San Francisco.
1:27.8	Now, please welcome Eric Conway to Climate One.
1:33.5	Thank you.
1:36.9	Eric, welcome to Climate One.
1:38.4	Thank you.
	...

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