Merchants of Doubt
b'Merchants of Doubt\\n\\n\\nErik Conway, Historian, California Institute of Technology \\n\\n\\nWhat 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. \\u201cDoubt is our product,\\u201d 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.\\n\\n\\nThis program was recorded in front of a live audience in San Francisco at The Commonwealth Club on June 11, 2010\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'