In a Tyee interview with Harvard climate professor Naomi Oreskes earlier this month, she told us bluntly what she thought of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's belief that fossil fuel can fund clean energy: "It's an equation that doesn't add up."

Oreskes is a globally influential thinker who pioneered the stat that 98 per cent of climate scientists believe humans are causing global warming. She also co-authored Merchants of Doubt, a book that exposed how a group of scientists with ties to industry attempted to discredit the scientific evidence for issues such as climate change and acid rain.

Oreskes is no stranger to confusion and faith when it comes to science. In this 2014 TED Talk, she shares why we should trust scientists first and foremost. Oreskes brings in key figures from the history of science (another area of her expertise) and deconstructs the scientific method.

"Our trust in science, like science itself, should be based on evidence, and that means that scientists have to become better communicators," she said. "They have to explain to us not just what they know, but how they know it, and it means that we have to become better listeners."