In the never-ending quest for climate change analogies that might strike a chord with a disinterested public, smoking and slavery have been repeatedly invoked in recent years. I don't buy the slavery/fossil fuels parallel. I find the comparison with smoking equally problematic, but I also get the argument. In 2010, Andrew Hoffman published a relevant study that got a lot of media play. In his coverage of it, Douglas Fischer at the Daily Climate wrote:
Hoffman's analysis, published in the journal
, compares current cultural norms on climate science to historical societal views on smoking and slavery. "At core, this is a cultural question," Hoffman said via Skype from Oxford University, where he is on sabbatical. The change in attitudes about smoking in the 20th century is similar. "The issue was not just whether cigarettes cause cancer. It was whether people believed it. The second process is wholly ...
