Do you wonder why the U.S. government is doing so little to combat the growing climate crisis?

Come to the Sandisfield Arts Center on Saturday, August 22, at 10 a.m. to hear Harvard professor Naomi Oreskes discuss “How Free-Market Thinking Has Blocked Climate Action—and Other Things We Need.”

Oreskes is a renowned science historian and author/co-author of nine books. Her book Merchants of Doubt examines how fossil-fuel interests adopted tactics pioneered by the tobacco industry to sow doubt about the harms of burning fossil fuels.

The Big Myth traces how American businesses spent decades promoting the belief that unregulated markets are inherently beneficial and government action inherently harmful. That powerful idea, Oreskes argues, has helped obstruct meaningful action on climate change and other urgent public problems.

She has accumulated many honors for her work including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication, the 2025 Volvo Environment Prize, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her TED talk, available on You Tube, “Naomi Oreskes: Why We Should Trust Scientists,” has been viewed almost 30,000 times. Merchants of Doubt is the basis for a documentary by the same name that is available for streaming on www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuPSNHje4yg.

Visit sandisfieldartscenter.org for tickets. $20, with limited $10 tickets for community