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Climate One

Breaking Down Climate Misinformation with Amy Westervelt and John Cook

Climate One

Climate One

Social Sciences, News Commentary, Science, Earth Sciences, News

4.7585 Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2022

⏱️ 60 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Fossil fuel companies and others have spent decades casting doubt on climate science to allow them to continue to profit. As documented by climate communication expert John Cook and others, these strategies have taken many forms: deny, dismiss, delay, deflect; and they have evolved over time. They’ve also included a concerted effort to recast political speech, banned and regulated in some contexts, as protected free speech, giving corporations more leeway in broadcasting their messages.  In a special collaboration with Amy Westervelt of Drilled, we trace the origins of this free speech argument and break down the tactics used to spread misinformation.  Guests: Amy Westervelt, journalist, Founder and Executive Producer, Drilled, Critical Frequency Podcast Network John Cook, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:15.1

Hi, it's Greg Dalton.

0:16.8

I'd like to hear your comments on the show, topics we should cover, and guest suggestions.

0:21.3

You can reach me at Greg at climate one.org.

0:25.4

This is Climate One. I'm Greg Dalton.

0:28.3

Spreading climate misinformation is a favorite tool of fossil fuel companies looking to protect

0:33.4

their bottom line.

0:34.9

Whether they're arguing climate change isn't real, therefore we should

0:38.1

act. Or climate change isn't caused by humans, therefore we should act. Or solutions won't work.

0:44.2

Therefore we should make. Companies use advertising and mass media to spread these messages,

0:49.0

and in some cases want to defend their actions as protected free speech. This idea that, you know, if it's something that connects to policy I want to see,

1:00.6

then it doesn't have to play by the same rules.

1:04.6

But we can counter these false arguments through critical thinking and education.

1:09.2

If we want a public who are resilient against misinformation,

1:14.2

we need to build up their ability to spot these types of fallacies. Fossil Fuel corporations have

1:22.1

spent decades casting doubt in public about climate facts that their own scientists validated in company research.

1:29.4

These tactics have included a concerted effort to recast political speech, banned and regulated

1:35.2

in some contexts, as protected free speech, giving corporations more leeway in broadcasting their

1:41.7

messages. This week's episode is a special collaboration with Amy Westervelt, an award-winning journalist

1:48.0

and creator of the podcast Drilled.

...

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