1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:03,080 Speaker 1: Previously on Drilled. 2 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:05,960 Speaker 2: I was on our radio show two hours. They called 3 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:08,479 Speaker 2: and said, can you come in and talk about climate change? Sure, 4 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:10,760 Speaker 2: and it was Katok Radio six thirty AM. And I 5 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 2: still remember this so well. And it was two hours 6 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 2: of live TV and they broke the call record and 7 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:20,120 Speaker 2: everybody that called in was antagonistic toward me, nasty. It 8 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 2: was all, let me talk to that tree hug and 9 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:23,840 Speaker 2: do gooder kind of guy. And that's how the whole 10 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:26,279 Speaker 2: interview went. And I got done. I was like, why 11 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 2: are they so angry? 12 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: We learned in the last two episodes about the ways 13 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:33,559 Speaker 1: in which oil companies influenced the media, But they were 14 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,959 Speaker 1: spending tens of millions of dollars a year with pr companies, 15 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,640 Speaker 1: and that money wasn't just being used on op ads 16 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:43,559 Speaker 1: and influencing editors, It was also fueling a broader social 17 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: influence campaign. For the media strategy to work, fossil fuel 18 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 1: companies also had to shift how people think. They did 19 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 1: that by seating an anti science attitude amongst conservatives, continually 20 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 1: pushing the idea that you can't have innovation or progress 21 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 1: without oil well, and also shifting how people thought about 22 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,040 Speaker 1: the connection between religion and the environment. 23 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:08,760 Speaker 3: That's not a scientific argument, that's almost that's a theological 24 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 3: argument or religious. I don't know what you do with that. 25 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,000 Speaker 4: Those who are the most to lose from climate legislation 26 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 4: sat up and said, it's war. We have to do 27 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:19,039 Speaker 4: everything we can to stop this thing. 28 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:24,080 Speaker 5: The idea is that fossil fuels become part and partial 29 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:30,559 Speaker 5: of progress, a good life, economic gain, and jobs. 30 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 1: Remember the IC campaigns we covered previously. That social influence 31 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 1: campaign began in the early nineteen nineties, and it aimed to, 32 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 1: as Kurt Davies put it, move people away from a 33 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:46,679 Speaker 1: sense of urgency around climate. One way to do that 34 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: was to discredit climate science. The most extreme promoters of 35 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: climate denial claim that climate science shouldn't even be called 36 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: a science. Here's Steve Molloy, a drafter of the Victory 37 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: Memo and founder of the website Juncts Science, saying exactly that. 38 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:06,560 Speaker 6: To me, climate size pretty quickly clinicized quotes or science 39 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:12,240 Speaker 6: pretty quickly re yield itself to be also not science. 40 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:17,919 Speaker 6: And you know, the agendas were clear from the beginning. 41 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: A great ally to oil companies and pushing this message 42 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: were the dozens of conservative talk shows that sprang up 43 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:30,800 Speaker 1: in the nineteen nineties, and that happened because conservatives and 44 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 1: industry trade groups pushed the FEC to get rid of 45 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:38,360 Speaker 1: the fairness doctrine. It was sort of the net neutrality 46 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:42,359 Speaker 1: debate of the eighties. In nineteen eighty five, pushed by 47 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 1: industry lobbyists and various conservative groups, the Federal Communications Commission 48 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:54,360 Speaker 1: revoked the fairness doctrine. It was a policy that had 49 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: been in place since the late nineteen forties. The Fairness 50 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: doctrine required broadcast license holders to both present controversial issues 51 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: of public importance and to do so in a manner 52 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: that was honest, equitable, and balanced. At least in the 53 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: FCC's view. It was the original fair and balanced news. 54 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,919 Speaker 1: It wasn't a perfect policy, of course, who was fairly 55 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:20,400 Speaker 1: arbitrary and almost impossible to enforce. Still, as soon as 56 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: it was revoked, we saw the rise of AM talk radio, 57 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:28,360 Speaker 1: dominated by far right conservatives like Russian Limbaugh. Rush's show 58 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 1: was a favorite outlet for social influence campaigns. In fact, 59 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 1: it's in the IC campaign plan to advertise. Regularly in 60 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 1: his show, Rush would rile people up about liberal hoaxers 61 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: trying to use this made up global warming stuff to 62 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 1: stop American business, and they need to get them to 63 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: sign up for an information packet to learn more, at 64 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: which point the various oil companies and coal companies funding 65 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 1: the IC or other types of campaigns would send out 66 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: essentially propaganda to these listeners. 67 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 7: Now this message from the EIB Department of Protection from Environmentalists. 68 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:03,080 Speaker 8: Enough of this bad press EIB is getting for what 69 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 8: misguided kami libs are calling our anti species position. Even 70 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 8: nowlies and gentlemen, are scientists are in the field studying 71 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,160 Speaker 8: the mating habits of a rare species because we care 72 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 8: about preservation. This rare species is the Arkansas broadbeam. 73 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 9: Sh listen, listen to their meeting calls. 74 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:23,240 Speaker 10: You can hear them. 75 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:33,720 Speaker 8: Now as you have plainly heard, ladies and gentlemen. Environmentalists 76 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:37,360 Speaker 8: of the Limbo Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies have unearthed 77 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:41,600 Speaker 8: this amazing discovery, the mating habit of the Arkansas broadbeam. 78 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 8: It happens every four years. It roughly corresponds to that 79 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:49,359 Speaker 8: period from the day after the Democratic Convention to the 80 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 8: evening before election day. 81 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:55,680 Speaker 3: As a public service from the EIB Department of Protection 82 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 3: from Environmentalists. 83 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:59,720 Speaker 8: By the way, the sound that we've used to identify 84 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 8: the art ark broadbeam gentlemen gears the laughter of Hillary Clinton. 85 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:10,479 Speaker 1: Hear that misguided commie libs bit at the beginning there 86 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:12,839 Speaker 1: if that sounds a lot like the part in the 87 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:16,520 Speaker 1: Victory memo where fossil fuel industry groups and oil companies 88 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 1: wrote that their goal was to make people who believe 89 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:22,240 Speaker 1: we need to act on climate change seem quote out 90 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:25,920 Speaker 1: of touch with reality. That's no coincidence. It was a 91 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:30,279 Speaker 1: key talking point for oil company funded campaigns. A key 92 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:34,240 Speaker 1: target of the IC campaigns played into this too. Their 93 00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:38,200 Speaker 1: strategy documents cite older, less educated men as a choice 94 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 1: demographic for anti climate science campaigns. That target turned out 95 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,480 Speaker 1: to be right on. This group ate up the messaging 96 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,160 Speaker 1: around climate denial and were easily mobilized by conspiracy theories. 97 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: To this day, the vast majority of climate deniers fit 98 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: this demographic. 99 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 4: There's a lot of research that has actually showed there 100 00:05:56,760 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 4: is a strong getor component to rejecting climate science, the 101 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 4: majority of men. 102 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: That's climate scientist Catherine Hayhoe again noting that the vast 103 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:09,280 Speaker 1: majority of climate deniers are men. That's not just from 104 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 1: the anecdotal evidence of who tends to harass her. It's 105 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: also backed by multiple studies. One from Michigan State University 106 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: sociologist Aaron mcwright and Oklahoma State University sociologist Riley Dunlap 107 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:25,240 Speaker 1: looked at public opinion polls from two thousand and one 108 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:28,839 Speaker 1: to twenty eleven and found that white conservative men in 109 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: particular are far more likely to be climate denialists than 110 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 1: any other type of American, and those who identify as 111 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 1: having a great understanding of climate science are even more likely. 112 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: There's that perfect mix of denialism with just enough actual 113 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,480 Speaker 1: science that the oil companies perfected in the nineteen nineties. 114 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:49,839 Speaker 1: These campaigns got people fired up and fed into a 115 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:53,400 Speaker 1: desire to avoid the complexities of dealing with climate change. 116 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 1: Cycle of outrage and the linking of conservative identity to 117 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,360 Speaker 1: it carried into the creation of Fox News in the 118 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:02,599 Speaker 1: mid nineteen nineties, which brought more of the same. It 119 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: seems normal to us now, but just listen to the 120 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 1: difference between this Walter Cronkite in the eighties. 121 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 11: There's another warning today about the greenhouse effect That build 122 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 11: up of carbon dioxide scientists fear could create a global 123 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 11: warm up. Energy department consultants say future cold use by 124 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 11: the United States, China, and the Soviet Union could create 125 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 11: an impact beyond human experience, creating average surface temperatures likely 126 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:29,200 Speaker 11: to be warmer than at any time during the last 127 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:33,240 Speaker 11: one hundred thousand years. Because some regions would benefit from 128 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:37,160 Speaker 11: the greenhouse effect, the report warns climate changes could pit 129 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 11: nation against nation and group against group. The report calls 130 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:43,760 Speaker 11: for continuing study of the greenhouse. 131 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: Effect, and this rush Limbaugh just a few years later. 132 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 12: This is not the first kind of the story we've had. 133 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,200 Speaker 12: We've had numerous stories in recent years. 134 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:56,640 Speaker 9: About expedition stan at Arctica to study climate change, in 135 00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 9: global warming, getting stuck in ice so thick that icebreakers 136 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 9: couldn't even reach them, and they were shocked, and they 137 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 9: were stunned. 138 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 12: They believe their own nonsense that the ice at the 139 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 12: North and South Pauls is melting when it's not, it's 140 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:12,240 Speaker 12: getting bigger. 141 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 1: By the early two thousands, not believing in climate change 142 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 1: was a key part of the conservative identity. After more 143 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:24,239 Speaker 1: than a decade of social influence campaigns, a large number 144 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:27,120 Speaker 1: of people had been convinced that climate science was really 145 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: just an ideology that you either believe in or not. 146 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 1: Never mind that the same people funding. Those campaigns had 147 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: acknowledged the scientific consensus on global warming several years earlier, 148 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:42,240 Speaker 1: but keeping people outraged about science is no easy feat, 149 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:47,560 Speaker 1: and so climate scientists and environmental groups became targets. Here's 150 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:49,839 Speaker 1: environmental sociologist Bob Bruligan. 151 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:55,079 Speaker 5: It's a matter of trying to what they called have interactions, 152 00:08:55,160 --> 00:09:01,079 Speaker 5: fruitful interactions and partnerships with environmental organizations, bringing the environmental 153 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:03,679 Speaker 5: groups inside of the tent, making them feel as if 154 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:07,640 Speaker 5: they have power, and in the process they become compromised 155 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 5: to lower their expectations of demands and become tamed. On 156 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:16,640 Speaker 5: the other hand, those organizations that can't be brought into 157 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 5: the tent and co opted are subjected to harassment campaigns, 158 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:26,079 Speaker 5: and that there are public relations companies that specialize in 159 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 5: going through the trash cans of environmental groups and engaging 160 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:33,920 Speaker 5: in harassing activities of environmental groups. 161 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:37,160 Speaker 1: The smear campaigns reached their peak around the Global Climate 162 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: Summit in Copenhagen in two thousand nine. Climate scientist Catherine 163 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:45,120 Speaker 1: Hahoe says efforts ramped up around Copenhagen. In fact, she 164 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:48,280 Speaker 1: cites it as an inflection point similar to James Hansen's 165 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 1: testimony in nineteen eighty eight and the pushback around Kyoto 166 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen nineties. 167 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:57,280 Speaker 4: Her starting in nineteen eighty eight, they had our mobilized 168 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:00,840 Speaker 4: if AFA field to see the coachbeathers of those tink 169 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:05,240 Speaker 4: tanks and for dark money funded organizations. They had already 170 00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:09,079 Speaker 4: mobilized the extent that when Kyoto came along, they knew 171 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:12,040 Speaker 4: what to do and it was dead in the water 172 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:15,319 Speaker 4: before it came home. But then with Copenhagen, they had 173 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:17,360 Speaker 4: Obama and so they're like, oh, oh, you know, this 174 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:19,920 Speaker 4: guy can actually make something happen. We don't have a 175 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 4: Republican president. So they had to really pull out the stops. 176 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:25,040 Speaker 4: And when I say they, it was not just the US, 177 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:27,920 Speaker 4: I mean the emails that were hacked from the scientists, 178 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:30,320 Speaker 4: you know, that home kind of climate gate thing, that 179 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaker 4: was directly in preparation for Copenhagen, and it likely came 180 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:39,320 Speaker 4: from the Russians. I mean, there's no defend an answer yet, 181 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:41,640 Speaker 4: but it's more than likely if you had to pick 182 00:10:41,679 --> 00:10:42,840 Speaker 4: a country or be the Russians. 183 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:47,560 Speaker 1: The climate gate scandal involved the hacking of several scientists emails, 184 00:10:47,679 --> 00:10:50,400 Speaker 1: pieces of which were then released and linked together to 185 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,640 Speaker 1: make normal back and forth between scientists sound like some 186 00:10:53,679 --> 00:10:57,000 Speaker 1: sort of nefarious plot to mislead the public. It kicked 187 00:10:57,040 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 1: off a wave of harassment, and scientists with no experience 188 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 1: with the limelight had their personal lives, mind exploited and upended, 189 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:09,800 Speaker 1: all in an effort to discredit their field. Like the 190 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:14,600 Speaker 1: industry backed media strategies, these cultural campaigns focused on influencing 191 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:19,000 Speaker 1: the influencers. In addition to pushing anti regulation or climate 192 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 1: denihilist rhetoric, these campaigns also relied heavily on pro oil propaganda. 193 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:25,760 Speaker 1: Here's Bob Brule on that. 194 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:31,600 Speaker 5: Literally. Since after World War Two, the fossil fuel companies 195 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:37,080 Speaker 5: have actively engaged in public relations campaigns to sell the 196 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 5: automobile and fossil fuels as the American way of life 197 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 5: and as the good life. And the idea is that 198 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:52,320 Speaker 5: fossil fuels become part and partial of progress, the good life, 199 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:58,120 Speaker 5: economic gain and jobs. And I have a published report 200 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:01,920 Speaker 5: for Mobile that talks about how they ceded the collective 201 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:05,520 Speaker 5: unconsciousness with these ideas. 202 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:08,600 Speaker 1: While the pro oil propaganda had been going on since 203 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:11,480 Speaker 1: Standard oil first worked on cleaning up its reputation in 204 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:14,560 Speaker 1: the early nineteen hundreds, the eighties and nineties brought with 205 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:18,680 Speaker 1: them a new context. Reagan was the conservative answer to 206 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:22,120 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties social justice movements, and the backlash he 207 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:25,960 Speaker 1: brought with him was no accident. Conservatives had begun mobilizing 208 00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:29,200 Speaker 1: on the war of ideas amid the nineteen sixties protests, 209 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:31,880 Speaker 1: so by the time Reagan was elected in nineteen eighty 210 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,440 Speaker 1: they were in prime position to capitalize on a republican government. 211 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,080 Speaker 1: New conservative think tanks, many of them funded by fossil 212 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:43,800 Speaker 1: fuel interests, including Exon Coke Industries and Peabody Coal, emerged 213 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:47,040 Speaker 1: in the early nineteen eighties, and they behaved very differently 214 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:49,640 Speaker 1: than the mainstream think tanks, most of which were started 215 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 1: by progressives in the early twentieth century. In the same 216 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:56,040 Speaker 1: way that the new conservative media was bloated and angry 217 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 1: where its predecessors had been straightforward and calm, this new 218 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,320 Speaker 1: breed of the think tank was aggressive and opinionated, where 219 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 1: the established think tanks had tended to be more scholarly 220 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:09,120 Speaker 1: and measured. I recently interviewed Ken Caldera, a long time 221 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:12,600 Speaker 1: software programmer turned atmospheric scientists and one of the first 222 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: guys to get into geoengineering a while back when it 223 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:17,760 Speaker 1: comes to science. He says he likes to be the 224 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,120 Speaker 1: first at the party and the first to leave. But 225 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 1: he's been thinking a lot about whether and how science 226 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 1: contributes to social change. 227 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:30,200 Speaker 13: You know, I don't understand how social change happens when 228 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:36,640 Speaker 13: it challenges the interests of a well entrenched and powerful minority. 229 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:39,840 Speaker 13: And I mean, it seems to me that that's the 230 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 13: central question of how that happens. And it's not climate sciences, 231 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:47,359 Speaker 13: its political strategy. 232 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:50,920 Speaker 1: If you want to understand how to drive rapid social change, 233 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,120 Speaker 1: looking at the conservative movement from the nineteen sixties to 234 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:56,959 Speaker 1: today is a great place to start, and a big 235 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 1: part of that movement has been to quash environmental initiation. 236 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 1: One of its biggest successes has been to stop any 237 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:08,480 Speaker 1: real action on climate change. In addition to the think 238 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: tanks and various messaging efforts, an increased push was made 239 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:15,320 Speaker 1: to tie conservative policies to religion during this timeframe too, 240 00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:18,520 Speaker 1: and climate change was a perfect issue for this strategy. 241 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:24,760 Speaker 1: While early conservative environmentalists had used religion and a biblical 242 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:27,480 Speaker 1: calling to be stewards of the planet as a reason 243 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:31,200 Speaker 1: to protect the environment, in the eighties and nineties, the 244 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:36,480 Speaker 1: religious argument changed in keeping with the whole manifest destiny idea. 245 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: That prevailing argument in conservative circles became that God had 246 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:42,000 Speaker 1: given us oil and coal and that we're meant to 247 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:45,000 Speaker 1: use it. Here's our document guy Kurt Davies on that. 248 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 3: The most outlandish quote on this is Fred Palmer, who 249 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 3: was at Peabody Coal eventually, but was part of the 250 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:55,240 Speaker 3: Ice campaign. He was one of the chair of the 251 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:59,480 Speaker 3: Ice campaign. He's recorded in the late nineties via television 252 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:03,520 Speaker 3: crew from me US Europe, and he says, when you 253 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:06,080 Speaker 3: step on the accelerator, you're doing the work of the Lord. 254 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:08,560 Speaker 3: This is God's plan to put the carbon dioxide in 255 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 3: the atmosphere. And basically that he says that today he's 256 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:14,560 Speaker 3: at Heartland Institute now and there are a number of 257 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:19,720 Speaker 3: them that believe full hearted. This is not deception. This 258 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:22,800 Speaker 3: is not like the paid tobacco sciences. They believe that 259 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 3: oil and coal were put here in the United States 260 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:30,120 Speaker 3: by God for us to use. And I don't know 261 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 3: how you that's not a scientific argument, that's almost that's 262 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,200 Speaker 3: a theological argument or you know, religious. I don't know 263 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:37,920 Speaker 3: what you do with that. 264 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 1: And here's that documentary he mentioned. 265 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:46,040 Speaker 10: You're doing God's work every time you turn your car 266 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:48,400 Speaker 10: on and you burn fossil fuels and you put CO 267 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:48,960 Speaker 10: two in the. 268 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:50,600 Speaker 3: Ear, you're doing the work of the Lord. 269 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:54,480 Speaker 10: Absolutely, that's the system, that's the ecological system we live in. 270 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:01,640 Speaker 1: Really solidifying this ideology in those minds would require not 271 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 1: just media and cultural influence, though Exxon, the American Petroleum Institute, 272 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 1: the Koch brothers and their ILK would also need to 273 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:13,600 Speaker 1: get at the research and regulatory institutions with power. The 274 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 1: links they've gone to are pretty shocking, and we've got 275 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:21,160 Speaker 1: some never before published information on how entrenched these companies are, 276 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:24,840 Speaker 1: from even county level politics on up to the nation's 277 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:30,640 Speaker 1: most prestigious universities. More on that in the next episode. 278 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:35,320 Speaker 7: Next time on Drilled, they find just the right person 279 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:40,000 Speaker 7: who goes to the Judges country Club, someone who knows 280 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 7: his brother, and they wait until the right period of 281 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:46,480 Speaker 7: time and then they make the approach. 282 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:54,600 Speaker 1: Drilled is produced and distributed by Critical Frequency. Reporting for 283 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:58,320 Speaker 1: this series was done by me Amy Westervelt. Our producer 284 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:03,280 Speaker 1: and composer is David Wan. Our executive producer is Richard Wiles. 285 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:07,680 Speaker 1: Our story and concept consultant was Raka Murphy. Our cover 286 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:11,479 Speaker 1: art was designed by Lucas Lisakowski. You can find Drilled 287 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:14,600 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to podcasts. Please remember to rate and 288 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 1: review the podcast. It helps us find new listeners. Thanks 289 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:19,240 Speaker 1: for listening, See you next time.