Short version: study finds that vested interests have set out to confuse the public on climate change for their own commercial purposes.
Similar findings to those described in the book, “Merchants of Doubt”,1 but worth noting a sociologist coming to the same conclusion as a science historian.
http://phys.org/news/2015-11-sociologist-corporate-disinformation-root-climate.html
__________
1 Wikepedia: “Merchants of Doubt”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchants_of_Doubt
/ Justin Farrell sociologist School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Yale University conducted study polarity opinions Americans global warming climate change greenhouse effect gas CO2 carbon dioxide global environment change very strongly correlated correlation tied corporate disinformation campaigns paper published Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study publicly available few key players muddle debate minds voters science community Americans refusal to believe planet heating up man-made greenhouse gas emissions information Americans 20 years data identify 164 organizations actors oil companies something to lose alternatives oil use petroleum computational data methods extract information dataset two major findings organizations corporate funding messages meant intended polarize publicly funded corporate funding influenced content polarizing efforts led digression actual science messages meant to polarize generically amplify contrarian views causes readers question scientific evidence contrarian efforts some actors seeking mislead public caused confusion who listen believe research highlights needed information dissemination publicly funded sources counter backed corporations Koch brothers new study reveals funders climate change denial effort Justin Farrell corporate funding ideological polarization climate change Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences large-scale computational data methods research demonstrates polarization efforts influenced patterned network political financial actors /
