Delta Murphy Lecture: “How Free Market Thinking Has Blocked Climate Action”
About this Event
Join us for an empowering environmental conversation with the co-author of Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes!
For decades, Americans have been told that markets work best when government stays out of the way. But where did that idea come from—and how has it shaped our response to climate change? Join acclaimed historian Naomi Oreskes as she reveals how powerful interests helped make free-market thinking central to American life, how it can stand in the way of meaningful climate action, and what history can teach us about moving forward.
Agenda
11:30AM: Doors Open & Light Lunch Provided
12:00PM: Lecture Starts
1:00PM: Q&A
1:30PM: Event Ends
About the Speaker
Naomi Oreskes is the Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. She is an internationally renowned earth scientist, historian, and author of both scholarly and popular books and articles on the history of earth and environmental science, including most recently, Why Trust Science? (2019) and Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don’t Know about the Ocean (2021), which was awarded the Patrick Suppes Prize in the History of Science by the American Philosophical Society. Her opinion pieces have been published in leading media outlets around the globe, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Times (London), and the Frankfurter Allgemeine. In 2015, she wrote the Introduction to the Melville House edition of the Papal Encyclical on Climate Change and Inequality, Laudato Si.
Professor Oreskes is a leading voice on the reality on anthropogenic climate change and the history of efforts to undermine climate action. Her 2004 essay “The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change” (Science 306: 1686) has been widely cited, including in the Royal Society’s publication, “A Guide to Facts and Fictions about Climate Change," and in the Academy-award winning film, An Inconvenient Truth. Her 2010 book with Erik M. Conway, Merchants of Doubt, has been translated into nine languages, sold over 100,000 copies, and made into a documentary film. She is an elected fellow of the Geological Society of America, the American Geophysical Union, the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. In 2018, she became a Guggenheim Fellow, and in 2019 was awarded the British Academy Medal for “her commitment to documenting the role of corporations in distorting scientific findings for political ends.” In 2024, she was awarded the Nonino Foundation “Maestro del Nostro Tempo” award, and in 2025, the Volvo Environment Prize for her contributions in “shaping our understanding of how scientific knowledge is collectively constructed and addressing the challenges of misinformation in public discourse.” Her latest book, with Erik Conway, is The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loath Government and Love the Free Market, which has been translated to French and Italian.
Delta Murphy Lecture
Named in memory of the sustainable planning advocate, longtime Wrigley Institute board member, and former mayor of Whittier, CA, the Delta Murphy Lecture highlights socially connected topics such as interactions between humans and the natural world, science communication, and environmental leadership.
Agenda
🕑: 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Doors open + light lunch provided
🕑: 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Lecture
🕑: 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM
Q&A with Naomi Oreskes
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00
