Climate Denial on the Silver Screen
Climate Denial on the Silver Screen
My journey to a suburban movie theater in search of ‘the cold truth’ about climate change.
A professional delight of 2024 so far has been the opportunity to contribute to DeSmog, a news outlet founded nearly two decades ago “to clear the PR pollution that is clouding the science and solutions to climate change.”
Over the past few months, I’ve helped DeSmog cover the long-awaited trial of a defamation lawsuit brought by the climate scientist Michael E. Mann, one of the researchers behind the “hockey stick” graph of rising global temperatures.1
I’ve also covered a report from the Center for Climate Integrity that reveals how “the plastics industry has continued to increase plastic production, while carrying out a well-coordinated campaign to deceive consumers, policymakers, and regulators about plastic recycling.”2
I’ve written about how the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, an industry group for oil refiners and other fossil fuel interests, has promised to spend seven figures to stop the Biden administration’s new vehicle emissions standards by portraying them as a “car ban.”3 (AFPM’s call to action: “Keep the government’s hands off our cars!”)
And last week, in perhaps my most…interesting assignment for DeSmog, I ventured to a pleasant suburban cinema for the premiere of “Climate the Movie: The Cold Truth,” a film that promises to demonstrate, once and for all, that climate change is a hoax:
If the goal of “Climate the Movie” is to give viewers permission to deny that human activity is causing the planet’s climate to change, while still thinking of themselves as pro-science and pro-environment, it’s a savvy approach, and potentially an effective one. The scientists and experts who reject the “consensus” of climate change “are not flat earthers,” the narrator assures us, and it’s easy to see how some viewers might agree with him.
The second half of the film, however, is when…the snark and vitriol bubbling beneath the surface finally reach a boil. Here, “Climate the Movie” pivots from smoothly introducing doubt about climate science to bluntly concocting a grand, conspiratorial fallacy to explain why establishment elites have created this “climate scare.”
Since the science proves there’s no climate emergency (see the first half of the film), and everyone knows it, why, the film asks, does this climate crisis narrative persist?
You can read my full recap here: “A Green New Shine for a Tired Playbook.”
All of my work for DeSmog is linked here and in the footnotes below. Thanks to the fantastic team at DeSmog for commissioning, editing, and collaborating on all of these stories.
In other news: As readers may have noticed, I haven’t been able to devote much time to this newsletter recently, at least beyond sharing links and commentary about my freelance work.
I’m hoping to change that when I start rolling out a new interview series next month. If all goes as planned (disclaimer: it rarely does!), I’ll publish a new interview, in both written and audio formats, every couple weeks or so.
Stay tuned for that—and thanks for sticking with me.
https://www.desmog.com/2024/01/30/at-manns-defamation-trial-defendants-are-doubling-down-on-climate-denial; https://www.desmog.com/2024/02/07/michael-mann-climate-scientists-defamation-lawsuit-trial; https://www.desmog.com/2024/02/08/michael-mann-wins-defamation-trial-climate-deniers-rand-simberg-mark-steyn
https://www.desmog.com/2024/02/15/recycling-plastic-center-for-climate-integrity-report-fraud
https://www.desmog.com/2024/03/22/afpm-api-disinformation-epa-ev-car-emissions-rule