Naomi Oreskes Quotes

• Many people have the impression that there is significant scientific disagreement about global climate change. It's time to lay that misapprehension to rest. There is a scientific consensus on the fact that Earth's climate is heating up and human activities are part of the reason. We need to stop repeating nonsense about the uncertainty of global warming and start talking seriously about the right approach to address it.

  Naomi Oreskes

  Talking, People, Environmental

  "Undeniable Global Warming". www.washingtonpost.com. December 26, 2004.

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• It really is a very radical call ... to reject materialism as our central value and to think about the sanctity of life and what that really means if we take it seriously.

  Naomi Oreskes

  Mean, Thinking, Materialism

  Source: to.pbs.org

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• Most people have thought of ... climate change as a problem about the environment that is separate and distinct from problems of human wellbeing.

  Naomi Oreskes

  People, Climate, Problem

  Source: to.pbs.org

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• When we damage the environment, we damage everything we depend on.

  Naomi Oreskes

  Damage, Environment, Depends

  Source: to.pbs.org

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• Scientists should continue doing what they've always done, which is to understand the Earth as well as they can.

  Naomi Oreskes

  Done, Earth, Scientist

  Source: to.pbs.org

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• When God made the planet, he made the plants, he made the animals, he made the Sun and the Moon, and he made us, and we're all interconnected, and when we disregard, disrespect, or damage any part of it, we do violence against creation.

  Naomi Oreskes

  Animal, Moon, Disrespect

  Source: to.pbs.org

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• Yet again, unscientific claims were being circulated broadly, but the scientists' refutation of them was published where only fellow scientists would see it.

  Naomi Oreskes

  Scientist, Climate Change, Claims

  Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway (2010). “Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming”, p.195, Bloomsbury Publishing USA

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• What to do about climate change is political, it's social, and it's moral, which is one of the reasons the scientific community reached out to the Pope, to ask for his involvement in this issue.

  Naomi Oreskes

  Issues, Community, Political

  Source: to.pbs.org

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• Scientists have been saying, for an awfully long time, that we're all interconnected. Scientists would use the word 'ecosystem' to express that idea. Obviously, people can't survive without air and water, and we rely on plants and animals for food, and plants and animals rely on us to preserve their habitats.

  Naomi Oreskes

  Animal, Air, Ecosystems

  Source: to.pbs.org

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• There's real economic costs to climate change - So, Superstorm Sandy led to billions of dollars in damages. The fires out in the west, 70 million dollars a day are being spent in fighting fires that have clearly been exacerbated by drought and climate change. So, people have pointed out the true dollars and cents cost of inaction on climate change.

  Naomi Oreskes

  Real, Fighting, Fire

  Source: to.pbs.org

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• It's extremely hard to know what the economic consequences of any decision will be. And I'm not a, a, a financial analyst, so I, I generally don't try to make some kind of prediction about that.

  Naomi Oreskes

  Decision, Trying, Financial

  Source: to.pbs.org

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• The same mentality that leads to environmental despoliation, environmental destruction, also leads to damage to people.

  Naomi Oreskes

  People, Environmental, Damage

  Source: to.pbs.org

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• Scientists are scientists. They're not really in a position to speak clearly on the moral dimensions, and they're not really comfortable doing that.

  Naomi Oreskes

  Dimensions, Moral, Speak

  Source: to.pbs.org

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• Scientific monitoring is going to be terrifically important, because whatever steps we take ... we will have to monitor those steps in order to know if they're actually working.

  Naomi Oreskes

  Order, Important, Steps

  Source: to.pbs.org

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• I think it is important for people to understand that there are real serious economic costs and real serious economic damages associated with inaction on climate change.

  Naomi Oreskes

  Real, Thinking, People

  Source: to.pbs.org

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• I think Pope Francis is our Pope Francis. I mean, the point of him is that he's a global leader, and he's trying, I think he's embracing that role.

  Naomi Oreskes

  Mean, Thinking, Leader

  Source: to.pbs.org

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• We don't survive without plants and animals because we rely on them, we rely on plants to put oxygen into the atmosphere, we rely on ... fish and crops and cows to eat.

  Naomi Oreskes

  Animal, Oxygen, Atmosphere

  Source: to.pbs.org

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• At a recent conference, a colleague told one of us that in IPCC discussions, some scientists have been reluctant to make strong claims about the scientific evidence, lest contrarians "attack us". Another said that she'd rather err on the side of conservatism in her estimates, because then she feels more "secure."

  Naomi Oreskes

  Strong, Sides, Scientist

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• Why would scientists dedicated to uncovering the truth about the natural world deliberately misrepresent the work of their own colleagues? Why would they spread accusations with no basis? Why would they refuse to correct their arguments once they had been shown to be incorrect? And why did the press continue to quote them, year after year, even as their claims were shown, one after another, to be false?

  Naomi Oreskes

  Years, World, Argument

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