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Sixth College Provost Invited to State Capitol
to Spread Knowledge on Climate Change

Christine Clark | Feb. 7, 2011

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Naomi Oreskes, a UC San Diego science historian, and author of the critically acclaimed “Merchants of Doubt,” brought her knowledge of climate science to the state capitol last month. Oreskes, who also is provost of Sixth College, was a special guest on the state senate floor Jan. 27. She also took part in a UCSD Near You event in Sacramento organized by the UC San Diego Alumni Association.

“Similar to many scientists, I didn’t set out to enter the political arena when I started studying climate research,” Oreskes said.  “But I saw the major social, environmental and economic impacts, so that’s why I got involved.”

At the capitol, Oreskes was applauded by Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) for her breakthrough research in environmental sciences and studies on consensus and dissent in science.

Kehoe also organized a meeting with Oreskes and key legislators interested in climate change. Oreskes has shown through her research that there is a scientific consensus that human activities are affecting the Earth’s climate — a perception challenged by some policymakers and scientists.

“I think it’s essential to let policymakers know how, as researchers, faculty and academia can help,” Oreskes said. “In this economic climate, it’s also important to let the public know about the work the University of California does and the services we offer the state.”

The meeting between Kehoe and Oreskes was organized by the UC San Diego Office of Public Affairs as part of their ongoing advocacy and education efforts to bring UC San Diego faculty together with the policymakers.

“It was a pleasure to have Naomi Oreskes at our state’s capitol,” Kehoe said.  “She is clearly a very dynamic author and speaker who can address many aspects of public research and public policy that are often controversial, even when they have a scientific factual basis.”

In her latest book, “Merchants of Doubt,” co-authored by Erik Conway, Oreskes takes a sobering look at the ongoing debate and how facts from scientific research on climate change have been clouded by a handful of scientists to advance a political and economic agenda. The book has earned positive reviews from USA Today, the Christian Science Monitor and Science magazine. Oreskes promoted the book during a six-city tour in Australia. She said she believes scientists should take their work out to the public to present their research in a context that everyone can understand.

Chris Reefe,’00, Sacramento alumni chapter president, said it was an honor to feature Oreskes as a guest speaker as part of the UCSD Near You event. “The debate over climate change is ongoing,” Reefe said. “This topic is a great interest to a lot of people and our alumni here, many of whom work in state government and politics.”

The event gave Reefe and other alumni the opportunity to meet Oreskes in person and ask questions on the interface between science and politics. Oreskes said she enjoyed speaking to a room full of UC San Diego alumni. “There is so much UC San Diego in this talk; the university is so ingrained in the history of global warming research.”

Oreskes highlighted how David Keeling’s first measurements of C02 emissions in the Earth’s atmosphere was originally considered one of the most boring forms of research, but came to be the most significant geophysical measurement of the 20th century.

Oreskes’ presentation explained how the scientists who lead the campaign against climate change research can be traced to three physicists who founded the politically conservative think tank, the Marshal Institute.

“William Nierenberg, Frederick Seitz and Robert Jastrow were leaders behind  Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, or “Star Wars”) who found a new enemy after the end of the cold war: environmental extremism,” Oreskes said. “Their motivation was not financial, but it was a fundamentalist ideology that environmentalism and its link to government regulation could lead to a socialist state.”

Following the presentation, alumna Jennifer Rayman, ’04, had her copy of “Merchants of Doubt” signed by Oreskes. “I saw the invite to this event and I had to come,” Rayman said. “The subject matter is so fascinating — everybody should be interested in the debate behind global climate change because it’s an issue that will impact our world for generations to come.”

Oreskes’ many accomplishments include a citing of her 2004 essay “The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change,” by Al Gore in “An Inconvenient Truth,” a piece that lead to op-ed articles in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle, and to Congressional testimony in the U.S Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

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