Merchants of Doubt Screening Available

If your faith community is interested in screening Merchants of Doubt, please contact Susan Soleil at susan@utahipl.org or Gray Griffin at outreach@utahipl.org

“Inspired by the acclaimed book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, Merchants of Doubt  takes audiences on a satirically comedic, yet illuminating ride into the heart of conjuring American spin. Filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the curtain on a secretive group of highly charismatic, silver- tongued pundits-for-hire who present themselves in the media as scientific authorities – yet have the contrary aim of spreading maximum confusion about well-studied public threats ranging from toxic chemicals to pharmaceuticals to climate change.”  —  Synopsis, Merchants of Doubt, http://sonyclassics.com/merchantsofdoubt/

This 90-minute documentary film exposes a concerted strategy to create doubt about the facts of climate change.  Industry representatives, global warming deniers, environmentalists, and climate scientists are interviewed to create a riveting behind-the-scenes look at how the fossil fuel industry has been so successful in blocking government action on climate.  In Merchants of Doubt, you will learn how the climate denial movement has borrowed from the playbook used by the tobacco industry for years, and how climate denial is a risky game of deception with high states – preying on peoples’ fears and creating societal division and climate inaction.  “Doubt is our product,” states a 1969 memo from the tobacco giant Brown and Williamson, “since it is the best means of competing with the “body of fact” that exists in the minds of the general public.”