How Free-Market Fundamentalism Fuels Population Denialism & Undermines Democracy
We are joined by Naomi Oreskes, Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University, and a world-renowned earth scientist, historian and public speaker. Using her latest book that she co-authored with Erik M. Conway, The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loath Government and Love the Free Market as the basis of our conversation, she explains how free-market fundamentalism has had a long history of undermining democracy and exploiting marginalized communities to benefit a small minority of elites. We also discuss the role that libertarian, techno-fundamentalist, and Catholic anti-choice think tanks such as the Cato Institute, Foundation for Economic Education, the Breakthrough Institute, and Population Research Institute have played in fueling anti-Science propaganda on overpopulation denialism, and why these forces must be vehemently opposed for a more just and sustainable planet.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Book: The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market
Book: Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don’t Know about the Ocean
Book: Why Trust Science?
Book: Discerning Experts: The Practices of Scientific Assessment for Environmental Policy
Book: The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View from the Future
Book: Encyclical on Climate Change and Inequality: On Care for Our Common Home
Article: Scientific American: Eight Billion People in the World Is a Crisis, Not an Achievement
Article: The world’s population is 8 billion and rising. That’s probably a good thing.
Article: Population Denialism is Reminiscent of Climate Denialism
Report: UN Population Fund: 8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities
Article: Population Growth is Not Good for People or the Planet
Author: Kevin Bales
Think Tanks Spreading Population Denial Propaganda