Prof. Jacques’ Climate Change Publication Earns 12K+ Views

Rechnitz Family/Urban Coast Institute Endowed Chair in Marine and Environmental Law and Policy Peter Jacques, Ph.D., published "Foundations of Climate Change Denial: Anti-environmentalism and Anti-science" with co-author Riley Dunlap (Oklahoma State University) in the general science journal, PLOS ONE (2025). Since publishing last November, the article has been viewed over 12,000 times, with about half of those views downloading the full paper.

The article analyzes books published across three decades that reject the basics of climate science. Using a novel coding technique for book-length texts, Jacques and Dunlap find that the root of climate denial is a fear of losing privilege in a political and economic system based on cheap fossil fuels expressed through anti-environmental and anti-science claims. The authors assert that climate denial includes labeling environmentalism as anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-Christian (or itself is a cultish religion); anti-science claims included accusations of corruption and conspiracy, and utilized deception meant to weaken Western progress.

PLOS ONE is an inclusive journal community working together to advance science for the benefit of society, now and in the future. Founded with the aim of accelerating the pace of scientific advancement and demonstrating its value, the organization believes all rigorous science deserves to be published and should be discoverable, widely disseminated and freely accessible to all.

The full study is available for download.