Social Science Perspectives on Trust and Mistrust of Climate Science

Over the last three decades, the debate about climate change has involved challenges to the very evidence of change, disagreements about status of models and simulations as scientific evidence, calls for “sound science,” disputes about the contribution of anthropogenic causes, attempts to cast doubt on the integrity and plausibility of forecasts and assessments, and various forms of “solution aversion.”

What are the sources of skepticism about climate change and/or mistrust of climate science?

What processes, mechanisms and dynamics are implicated in provoking and prolonging the debate about climate change?

To what extent are these specific to the climate debate, and to what extent they are representative of a broader mistrust in experts?

What can be done to increase trust in climate science or consensus around appropriate measures or interventions?

This talk includes a panel of the following experts (extended bios here):

• Paul N. Edwards, Professor of Information and History at the University of Michigan
• Myanna Lahsen, Senior Associate Researcher in the Earth System Science Center of the Brazilian Institute for Space Research (INPE)
• Peter Weingart, Research Fellow at the Center for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology -CREST- at Stellenbosch University and Emeritus at the Department of Sociology, Bielefeld University
• Gil Eyal, Professor of Sociology at Columbia University (moderator)

To familiarize people with the core issues and ideas this event will be exploring, a primer featuring concise, accessible and compelling articles from mainstream media outlets is available here.