This chapter reflects on the historical context and progression of climate science, highlighting influential figures and their contributions from the 1800s to the present. It addresses public perceptions shaped by media portrayals and the lasting impacts of misinformation, emphasizing the need for compelling narratives to combat these challenges. Additionally, it discusses key scientific milestones, including the significance of the Keeling curve and early awareness of climate issues dating back to the mid-20th century.
Shermer and Lipsky discuss: the scientists who first sounded the alarm about climate change • science consensus that global warming is real and human caused • the politicization of climate change • George H.W. Bush and Obama • a collective action problem • climate skeptics • Climategate • strategies of global warming skeptics • connection between cigarette smoking/tobacco industry and climate change • what is to be done now.
David Lipsky is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Best American Short Stories, and many others. His new book is The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial.