Introduction

This week, Michael has invited his good friend Baroness Bryony Worthington to guest-host Cleaning Up! Bryony was the lead author of the UK’s ground-breaking 2008 Climate Change Act, and is now on sabbatical from her role in the House of Lords, where she has been scrutinising legislation. She’s now over in California. See the shownotes below for a link to her appearance on Cleaning Up (episode 25!) 

Bryony is interviewing Naomi Oreskes, Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. A world-renowned earth scientist, historian and public speaker, she is the author of the best-selling book, Merchants of Doubt (2010) and a leading voice on the role of science in society, the reality of anthropogenic climate change, and the role of disinformation in blocking climate action. Her new book, with Erik Conway, is The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market, published by Bloomsbury Press.

Links: 

Read Naomi and Erik’s 2010 book Merchants of Doubt How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Merchants-Doubt-Handful-Scientists-Obscured/dp/1408824833

Read Naomi’s 2013 book Plate Tectonics: An Insider's History Of The Modern Theory Of The Earth here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Plate-Tectonics-Insiders-History-Frontiers/dp/0813341329

Read Naomi and Erik’s 2014 book The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View From the Future here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Collapse-Western-Civilization-View-Future/dp/023116954X 

Read Naomi’s 2019 book Why Trust Science? here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trust-Science-University-Center-Values/dp/069117900X 

Read Naomi and Erik’s brand new book The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/big-myth-9781635573572/ 

Read Naomi’s 2004 paper The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change here: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1103618 

Read the DeSmog article on heat pump disinformation here: https://www.desmog.com/2023/07/20/revealed-media-blitz-against-heat-pumps-funded-by-gas-lobby-group/ 

Related Episodes:

Check out Bryony’s appearance on Cleaning Up here: https://www.cleaningup.live/episode-25-bryony-worthington/ 

Guest Bio 

Naomi Oreskes is Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. A world-renowned earth scientist, historian and public speaker, she is the author of the best-selling book, Merchants of Doubt (2010) and a leading voice on the role of science in society, the reality of anthropogenic climate change, and the role of disinformation in blocking climate action. Oreskes is author or co-author of 9 books, and over 150 articles, essays and opinion pieces, including Merchants of Doubt (Bloomsbury, 2010), The Collapse of Western Civilization (Columbia University Press, 2014), Discerning Experts (University Chicago Press, 2019), Why Trust Science? (Princeton University Press, 2019), and Science on a Mission: American Oceanography from the Cold War to Climate Change, (University of Chicago Press, 2021). Merchants of Doubt, co-authored with Erik Conway, was the subject of a documentary film of the same name produced by participant Media and distributed by SONY Pictures Classics, and has been translated into nine languages. A new edition of Merchants of Doubt, with an introduction by Al Gore, was published in 2020. Her new book, with Erik Conway, is The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market, published by Bloomsbury Press