Origins of Climate Denial: Exploiting Scientists' Kryptonite—Certainty

Drilled

Critical Frequency

True Crime, Earth Sciences, Social Sciences, Science

4.8 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2023

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A new peer-reviewed study in the journal Science shows that not only did Exxon scientists suspect climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels was a growing problem that would lead to crisis if nothing changed, but they were terrifyingly accurate in their modeling and predictions. Alongside this special re-broadcast of Season 1 of Drilled, all about the origins of climate denial and Exxon's role in it, we speak with the study's lead author Geoffrey Supran about its importance. In this episode, a look at how oil companies exploited various weaknesses in science, namely scientists' tendency toward not prioritizing or valuing good communication skills, and their absolute refusal to be certain about anything. Support us: https://www.drilledpodcast.com

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to Drilled, I'm Amy Westervalt.
0:14.4	This month we are re-releasing season 1 of Drilled about the origins of climate denial
0:19.0	because a new peer-reviewed study in the journal Science has just been published and it shows
0:24.0	conclusively how much ExxonMobil scientists knew about climate change as the company's
0:30.0	executives were claiming that climate science was uncertain.
0:33.9	I spoke with the lead author of that study, Jeffrey Supran, about how the study has put
0:38.3	to rest this notion of uncertainty in science, which is the focus of the episode you're
0:44.2	about to hear.
0:45.9	Science is always uncertain to a certain extent, but Exxon took a foundational aspect of
0:53.0	science, to always be questioning, always be looking for other potential answers, and
0:58.5	weaponized it against a public that had very little understanding of how science works
1:03.5	and how much uncertainty is baked into the process.
1:16.2	It's been really great to see the consistent increase in climate coverage over the last
1:21.7	few years.
1:22.7	On the other hand, there is a fire hose of information coming out every week, and it can
1:28.5	be hard to figure out what to focus on.
1:31.6	That's why we put out a weekly climate newsletter that gathers up not only the important media
1:36.5	stories you need to know about, but also the latest peer-reviewed studies in both the physical
1:41.0	and social sciences that we think folks ought to be paying attention to.
1:46.0	It shows up in your inbox every Friday, and it's never more than a 10-minute read.
1:50.5	If you want to make sure that you're staying on top of climate news, subscribe at drillpodcast.com.
1:56.7	And for folks that want to support our work, there's the option of upgrading to a paid
	...

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