Naomi Oreskes: “Climate change denial: Where do we go from here?” | Spring 2016 Wall Exchange

Polls show that citizens around the globe overwhelmingly accept the scientific evidence that our climate is changing for reasons that are largely human-caused, but our political leadership lags behind. On the national level, neither the U.S. nor Canada has made substantial headway in controlling the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change, nor to accelerate the transition to non-carbon based sources of energy. Yet there is good news on the horizon: many provinces, states and cities are moving forward with carbon-reduction policies. Can action on this level make a difference? Do we have the technology we need to solve this problem? This lecture suggests that the answer to both these questions is yes. However, we have to accept that governance is necessary; we will not solve the energy-climate problem simply by trusting in the “magic of the marketplace” to get us there.

Dr. Oreskes visited Vancouver to deliver the spring 2016 Wall Exchange lecture, presented by the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies.