Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming

Many Americans believe that global warming is a recent scientific discovery, when in actuality scientific research on the effects of carbon dioxide on climate have been ongoing for 150 years. Similarly, “as early as 1995, the leading international organization on climate, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), had concluded that human activities were affecting global climate” (169). In the 2000s, despite climate scientists agreeing that average global temperatures had risen, only 56 percent of Americans believed this theory, and 64 percent believed that there was much disagreement amongst scientists. Among the many reasons the United States has failed to act upon global warming is the confusion raised by Bill Nierenberg, Fred Seitz, and Fred Singer.

“1979: A Seminal Year for Climate”

In 1965 Roger Revelle was commissioned to write a summary of the potential impacts of carbon-dioxide-induced warming. He focused on the most certain effect, sea level rise, forecasting a 25 percent increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide within the next 35 years, potentially leading to marked changes in climate. Neither Nixon nor Johnson paid attention to the report, as it was overshadowed by other global and national crises. However, throughout the 1970s, the world (especially the continents of Africa and Asia) experienced myriad droughts, crop failures, and famines.