It's as if it's unsure whether to stay focused on the topic of misdirection or dive directly into the immediate and pressing issue of climate change. Facebook, Follow us on Oreskes and Conway also devote an insightful section to the mass medias mostly unwitting complicity in this scandal. Merchants of Doubt tells the story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientific advisers, with deep connections in politics and industry, ran effective campaigns to mislead. Merchants of Doubt is a 2014 American documentary film directed by Robert Kenner and inspired by the 2010 book of the same name by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Astrophysicist Robert Jastrow moved from NASA into a leading position supporting Ronald Reagans Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, aka, Star Wars) to counter Soviet hegemony, which he called the greatest peril in U.S. history. For this, the film makes a decent case. They've walked back in the front door green. This is the missing piece of the puzzle in Merchants of Doubt. While Seitz was well-paid for his work, ideology may have been the more important factor. MARC MORANO: You go up against a scientist, most of them are going to be in their own little sort of policy-wonk world or area of expertise, very arcane, very hard to understand, hard to explain and very boring. Oreskes and Conway do a great public service. [1][2][3][4] The film traces the use of public relations tactics that were originally developed by the tobacco industry to protect their business from research indicating health risks from smoking. From the end of World War II until his death in 2008, Seitz devoted himself to protecting laissez-faire capitalism from communism. In a sense, this is an industrial history and it should be no more shocking to see the same names continually popping up than it is to see Lee Iacoccas in a history of the auto industry. A Climate of Doubt, which is a PBS Frontline documentary, chronicles a decisive moment in American history when the politicalization of climate change came to a head. Science recognizes the inevitability of uncertainty. The premise of these interludes is that there is an analogy between the techniques of professional magicians and the tactics of public relation organizations. Review of the must read book Merchants of Doubt. Their adversaries saw these as scientific issues, not clashes of ideology, which gave GMI an advantage. Right-wing ministers are potent merchants of certainty. Merchants of Doubt shows that some of the very same individuals were part of the plans to frame the climate change debate as unproven, using the same tried and true tactics of misrepresentation of facts, non-representative scientists, and industry-friendly legislators. When the Soviet Union broke a moratorium on atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, Seitz immediately urged President John Kennedy to respond in kind, despite evidence that radioactive fallout contaminated swaths of land for more than a thousand miles. Your support keeps our unbiased, nonprofit news free. By extension, the audience is supposed to determine that climate change is exactly what they are told it is. The documentary Merchants of Doubt portrays climate skeptics using the same deceptive techniques - and even the same cast of spin doctors. Facebook, Follow us on Let's take a listen to what he said. BLOCK: There's a moment in the film where you interview climate scientist James Hansen, who's been one of the strongest voices sounding the alarm about the risks of climate change, the real dangers, and he admits to you that scientists make lousy communicators. An article published in the December 2004 issue of Science examined more than 900 climate change papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals between 1993 and 2003 and determined that . Merchants of doubt intentionally create controversy about anthropogenic climate change using fake experts and logical fallacies, cherry-picking evidence, setting impossible expectations of. The assurance they are marketing is this: no matter what the scientists discover, God will keep his flock from harm. And he was really clear with you about his tactics. 96 minutes. UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: There is no need for us to rush to this kind of judgment. When it is on topic, it's quite educational, illustrating just how people are . You know, they're not static entities. He's a climate change skeptic. PG-13 93 Mins Documentary 2015. The informative "Merchants of Doubt" plays like a sequel to "An Inconvenient. It's called. But, write Oreskes and Conway, an appendix was added suggesting that we really didnt know enough to move forward with emissions controls. The confusion bred by the report cast just enough doubt on what was actually known about acid rain to allow the Reagan administration to do exactly what it had wanted to do all along: nothing. They found it in Seitz, who was not merely a scientist, but the former president of the Academy of Sciences. Fred SeitzThe central characters in Merchants of Doubt include Fred Seitz, S. Fred Singer, William Nierenberg, and Robert Jastrow. James Hansen had very little interest in going on camera with me 'cause he'd much rather be doing his science. KENNER: It's many of the same people, and it's almost identical playbook. MORANO: Bottom line, new study in the journal Nature, peer-reviewed - no change in U.S. drought in the last 60 years. All donations matched for a limited time. KENNER: Yeah, I think I was clear in representing myself. Most scientists regarded SDI as technologically impossible and almost certainly destabilizing. And they worry that environmental regulation will be a slippery slope to socialism. To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. So at some point, environmentalists became the new enemy. From: Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway . The informative Merchants of Doubt plays like a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth, a landmark film that raised awareness of global warming. In a 2007 article, Newsweek called the George C. Marshall Institute a central cog in the denial machine. GMI has received millions of dollars from conservative foundations and corporations. April 14, 2014 A new report details the impact of climate. Merchants of Doubt Quotes Showing 1-30 of 137 "While the idea of equal time for opposing opinions makes sense in a two-party political system, it does not work for science, because science is not about opinion. An unsigned review in The Boston Globe explains, "To make his point clear, Kenner follows up Swisss magic act and fancy patter with a snappy montage of various experts over the years denying that cigarettes cause cancer, or extolling the virtues of pesticide, or proclaiming that asbestos is designed to last a lifetime a trouble free lifetime. And then the inevitable parade of climate change deniers bloviating in Congress or on cable news, all backed by Sinatra singing 'That Old Black Magic. Seitz and his associates used doubt as a weapon against science. A documentary that looks at pundits-for-hire who present themselves as scientific authorities as they speak about topics like toxic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and climate change. View SC 130 04 Climate Science Merchants of Doubt Questions.docx from SC 130 at Monmouth University. He also became convinced that environmentalists were dupes of communist propaganda, if not outright traitors. The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. The title, Merchants of Doubt, frames the authors argument, echoing an internal memo from the Brown & Williamson tobacco company that declared: Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the body of fact that exists in the mind of the general public. Big tobacco helped finance the industry of doubt in its modern form, run by the scientists whose schemes this book details. The amount of money available was staggering. BLOCK: Is it the same cast of characters though who were lobbying or supporting the tobacco industry and are also denying climate change? He moved quickly from scientific research to administrative work, serving as president of the National Academy of Sciences from 1962 to 1969. And he went on to make it where we had to have laws to put these chemicals in couches and KENNER: flame retardants. Go after the messenger. JOHN HOCKENBERRY: [ voice-over] Diminish the credibility of the scientific consensus, and action on climate change grinds to a halt. In 1987, for example, Singer, then working at the Department of Transportation, wrote an article published in The Wall Street Journal that was rife with inaccuracies and distortions minimizing the importance of the discovery of a hole in the ozone layer, a portion of the lower stratosphere that blocks most harmful ultraviolet rays from reaching the surface of the earth. They're just not good at selling the science of what they're trying to explain. The denial machine contains a huge number of cogs, and it would take an encyclopedia to list them all. BLOCK: And, Robert, you are drawing a direct link in your movie between deniers of climate change and people who, in years past, also denied the harm of tobacco. That same counternarrative of denial continues today, stronger and more strident than ever, and now focused on creating doubt about all aspects of climate change. What you're seeing here is BLOCK: That's from a new documentary film that looks into the world of climate change deniers, their campaign to sway public opinion and the business interests behind them. You see what's happened with the gay marriage situation. Kenner doesn't waste time proving, in this terse, brilliantly argued movie, that climate change is happening or that our dependence on fossil fuels has a causal relationship to it. The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. Obscured. Instagram, Follow us on Think tanks like the George C. Marshall Institute were financed specifically to publish and disseminate their papers junk science that couldnt survive the rigors of peer-reviewed journals. All rights reserved. Using a professional magician, the film explores the analogy between these tactics and the methods used by magicians to distract their audiences from observing how illusions are performed. David Lewis is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Theyre way behind schedule. Accuracy and availability may vary. In reaction, the three hawks formed the George C. Marshall Institute, a conservative think tank dedicated to selling Star Wars to policy makers and the public. Directed by Robert Kenner (the Oscar-nominated 2008 documentary, "Food, Inc."),"Merchants of Doubt" is inspired by the 2010 book of the same name by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, which . Donate today tohelp keep Grists site and newsletters free. Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming By Erik M. Conway, Naomi Oreskes Bloomsbury 368 pp., $27 KENNER: Well, I think, you know, first of all, I think tribes move. Magicians learn how to distract their audiences from noticing the deceptions that underlie their tricks and illusions. "Merchants of Doubt "should finally put to rest the question of whether the science of climate change is settled. It's inspired by the book of the same name by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway. 4. And if you have time to read two, reread Merchants of Doubt." - Grist "Brilliantly reported and written with brutal clarity . Grist Brilliantly reported and written with brutal clarity . The subject of Robert Kenner's documentary Merchants of Doubt is the catastrophe of global climate change, which is engulfing us even faster than predicted. The core argument of the new documentary "Merchants of Doubt" is simple: the movement to debunk climate change is corporate-funded and lacks credibility. . Grasping that bizarre and paranoid notion is central to understanding their motivations and methods. Is it all a mirage? They show clearly how it is possible that we're in such an ill-equipped position, facing a rapidly and dangerously changing world. Copyright 2015 NPR. In their sweeping and comprehensive new book Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, historians Naomi Oreskes and Erick M. Conway document how a handful of right-wing ideologues all scientists have (mis)shaped U.S. policy for decades, delaying government action on life-and-death issues from cigarettes and second-hand smoke, to acid rain, and now, finally, to climate change. Climate Change Report In the push to curb global climate change, 2015 could be a make or break year. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. These may not exactly be household names, but its probably not much of a stretch to call them the founding fathers of industrial-strength doubt. Merchants of Doubt How a Handful of Scientists Obscured. From tobacco to climate change, 'merchants of doubt' undermined the science "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world." Margaret Mead Because Americans are. Merchants of Doubt ("Mercaderes de la duda", en ingls) es un libro escrito en 2010 por los historiadores cientficos norteamericanos Naomi Oreskes y Erik M. Conway.El libro identifica similitudes entre el debate sobre el cambio climtico y las ms recientes controversias sobre el consumo de tabaco, la lluvia cida y el agujero de ozono.Oreskes y Conway escriben que en cada caso "se . Adaptation, loss and damage, and African oil: Whats at stake at COP27? The point isnt to go for perfection but to continually refine models of how complex phenomena work. Along the way, Singer took up the cudgel defending free enterprise by opposing environmental regulations. Director Robert Kenner (Food, Inc.) takes us back to the days when the tobacco industry invented the playbook for obfuscation, stalling smoking regulations for 50 years despite indisputable research linking cigarettes to cancer. Grist is powered by WordPress VIP. Merchants of Doubt How a Handful of Scientists Obscured. Our in-depth approach to solutions-based journalism takes time and proactive planning, which is why Grist depends on reader support. ROBERT KENNER: Thanks, Melissa, great to be here. And when I said that we're doing more than just a film about tobacco and flame retardants, it's also about climate, he said to me, you know, you could take James Hansen, the world's leading climate scientist, and I could take a garbage man, and I could get America to believe that garbage man knows more about science. They are the. In it, she outlined the similarities between the political fight around climate change and the earlier debates about . Spin doctors spread misinformation and confusion among American citizens to delay progress on such important issues as global climate change. For the tobacco industry, the tactics successfully delayed government regulation until long after the establishment of scientific consensus about the health risks from smoking. Whats more, the National Academy of Sciences had released a report in 1981 with similar conclusions, but going even further. An infamous 1969 memo from. KENNER: Well, Marc - his theory is that you go after the scientist and you attack them personally. We ignore this message at our peril."Elizabeth Kolbert Merchants of Doubt has been praisedand attackedaround the world, for reasons easy to understand. All donations matched for a limited time. What do the deniers of climate change and apologists for big tobacco have in common? Spoiler alert. The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. How common is that message? She's a Harvard professor of the history of science, and she frames this as a much broader battle. UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Climate is changing naturally. Innocent people would die, but some collateral damage is inevitable when fighting a war, even a cold one. They are shown above. E-mail: davidlewis@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @davidlewisSF, Documentary. Robert Kenner, the documentarian who made "Food, Inc.," is back with "Merchants of Doubt," which approaches the climate change controversy, already well covered in film, from a somewhat . All donations matched for a limited time. . The counterarguments against climate change aren't necessarily arguing for the sake of the economy, but against new energy systems in which . Again, tried and true public re-framing of reality worked. And I think it's not the job of the scientists to represent themselves on television 'cause they're busy doing the work. In the months before the debut of the new documentary film "Merchants of Doubt," long-time climate denialist Fred Singer . In his new documentary Merchants of Doubt, director Robert Kenner ( Food, Inc. ) shines a light on the very people that are hired to sway public perception of major issues (like climate change . Beyond making a buck, many of these glorified lobbyists also see climate change as a leftist conspiracy to impose socialism on their idyllic way of life. Merchants of Doubt rolls back the rug on this dark corner of American science. When science historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway published their 2010 book "Merchants of Doubt," they exposed how a small network of hired pundits and scientists delayed legislative action. Regardless of ones personal beliefs, its tough to respect a movie that ultimately invites viewers to question every case of propaganda except its own. Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming is a 2010 non-fiction book by American historians of science Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. The principle cause is the release of sulfur and nitrogen by the burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity. YouTube. The Nierenberg Panel produced a report at war with itself, marked by a key internal contradiction. BLOCK: And you have a number of clips that illustrate that of people saying, at the end of the Cold War, we threw these people out the window red. Merchants of Doubt raises the question of what we're to do to counter such contrarians. Republicans and Democrats were opposed to it in '08, and all of a sudden it becomes acceptable very quickly. That lawsuit ended when Lancaster withdrew his statements as "unwarranted", although Lancaster later expressed regret over the settlement. Global warming is by far the most significant political problem that the merchants of doubt have fought to undermine. But you contrast that with a man named Marc Morano. . The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. Oreskes and Conway do a . This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Erik Conway talked about the book he wrote with Naomi Orestes, [Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming] (Bloomsbury Press . Director Robert Kenner ("Food, Inc.") and his cowriter Kim Roberts lay it all out for us in "Merchants of Doubt," a compendium of public deceptions based on the same-titled book by science historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway. And as they say, they don't have to win, they just have to create doubt and delay. For Seitz and his colleagues, GMI represented a decisive step away from the scientific community and from science itself. And I think that's what we try to lay out is how you can just see this pattern used over and over and over again. So all of a sudden, our scientists become the targets, and I think that's very unfortunate. Rather, they say, climate concerns are a. For this, the film makes a decent case. And if you have time to read two, reread Merchants of Doubt. There's concern, not just about a few bad apples, but about entire subfields. document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world. Margaret Mead. Anything you learned from the climate change deniers that gave you pause, made you think, well, you know, some in the environmental movement have gone too far in trying to make their case? And they can't compete with the Marc Moranos of the world, who are quite charming, quite funny, quite fast and have studied PR techniques in a way that the scientists have not. That study concluded that there was clear evidence of serious hazard to human health and the biosphere from acid rain, requiring immediate action. Physicist William Nierenbergs work on the Manhattan Project led him in the early 1960s to become NATOs chief scientist working on developing weapons to use against the Soviets. Merchants exposes the climate change experts who enrich themselves by fooling the American public with bogus claims that cast doubt on scientific research and thus protect corporate profits. BLOCK: How easy or how difficult was it to get folks on the denier's side of climate change to talk to you for this film? It is, and we ignore this message at our peril."--Elizabeth Kolbert, author of "Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change" "There can be no science without doubt: brute dogma leaves no room for inquiry. "Merchants" exposes the climate change "experts" who enrich themselves by fooling the American public with bogus claims that cast doubt on scientific research and thus protect corporate. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 84% based on 89 reviews, with an average rating of 6.95/10. William NierenbergWhile Seitz was busy doling out research funds for R. J. Reynolds, his colleague, William Nierenberg, was leading the fight in a different arena: to prevent the federal government from taking action on acid rain. Kenner, best known for his film adaptation of " Food, Inc. ," is out with a new documentary, " Merchants of Doubt ," in which he introduces us to a "professional class of deceivers": P.R.. Only this time around, the enemies of awareness have struck back, and it aint pretty. Praise For Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change

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