Naomi Oreskes will lecture about the social responsibility involved in learning about climate change and the skewed political dialogue about the topic, according to an IU press release. Oreskes is a professor of the history of science and an affiliated professor of earth and planetary sciences at Harvard University.
Her lectures are part of the William T. Patten Foundation that provides funds to bring distinguished scholars or practitioners in the sciences, arts and humanities to the Bloomington campus. The foundation has brought over 150 scholars to Bloomington since 1937.
Both of this year’s lectures will take place from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the President’s Hall in Franklin Hall. Each lecture is free and open to the public.
The lecture on March 9 is titled “Crying Wolf v. Fiddling While Rome Burns,” and Oreskes will discuss the idea that scientists are often more afraid of raising concerns about climate than ?remaining silent.
Her lecture on March 11 is titled “Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Have Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change.” In this lecture, Oreskes will examine the political campaign that has made people question whether human activities have caused climate change.
In addition to the work above, she published a science fiction novel called “The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View from the Future” this year. It is set in the year 2393 and details the environmental problems due to the unwillingness of the current generation ?to change.
She is currently working on two other books titled “Science on a Mission: American Oceanography From the Cold War to Climate Change” and “Assessing Assessments: A Historical and Philosophical Study of Scientific Assessments for Environmental Policy in the Late 20th Century.”
Alison Graham
