2011/01/01 by Spencer R. Weart · 1 citation
Environmental Science · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics #Climate Change Communication and Perception #Climate Change and Geoengineering #Climate change #Denial #Environmental ethics #Epistemology #Global warming #Philosophy #Political science #Psychoanalysis #Psychology #Skepticism
paper · doi:10.1177/0096340210392966
openalex publication_date 2011/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/24
The conversation on global warming started in 1896, when a physical chemist estimated that the mean global temperature would rise several degrees if the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was doubled. The topic eventually became one of the most passionate in the history of science. The author points out that climate experts were initially strongly skeptical of the theory of global warming; it took a variety of evidence to gradually convince them that warming due to human emissions was likely. The public, however, was guided away from this conclusion by a professional public relations effort, motivated by industrial and ideological concerns. Deniers of the scientific consensus avoided normal scientific discourse and resorted to ad hominem attacks that cast doubt on the entire scientific community—while disrupting the lives of some researchers. The author points out that scientists have failed to mount a concerted public relations campaign to defend their position. When trust is lost, he asserts, a determined effort is needed to restore it.