About 40 people gathered in Smith Memorial Student Union on Wednesday, Feb. 9 to hear Dr. Riley E. Dunlap, regents professor of sociology at Oklahoma State University, give a talk on how climate change became controversial.
During his presentation, Dunlap stressed that corporations and conservative foundations have spent a great deal of money on think tanks such as The Heritage Foundation to push a conservative agenda. Dunlap said that this includes the attempt at discrediting the notion of climate change.
Watch the video report. Dylan Gansen/PSU Vanguard
The professor mentioned that think tanks will hire people who appear credible, such as those with a Ph.D., to publish books and give talks that denounce global warming.
“You want to change things? Register to vote,” Dunlap said in response to someone who asked what Americans can do to combat the Trump administration’s stance on climate change during the Q&A session. “You’re not gonna win those battles until you get control of Congress.”
It remains to be seen what the president and his nominee for the position of administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, will do regarding climate change.
