War on Science

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IPCC report reactions from Fox, Wash Times, Daily Caller: From lazy to lazy AND racist

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a major Synthesis Report this week, explaining as patently as possible, for one last time before it’s too late to take action, that we can’t build any more fossil fuel infrastructure if we want any hope of meeting the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to under 1.5° C. Initial reactions from […]

It’s not just reality that has a liberal bias – AI sees right through climate disinformation

Back on Valentine’s Day, we talked about the latest round of overly-credulous AI reporting, in the context of some ridiculous disinfo about EVs. We made it clear that we’re unimpressed by the very-much-artificial “intelligence” displayed by chatbots, but now it turns out that even these unthinking regurgitation machines are too clever for climate disinfo! By Climate […]

February 28th

What is “Climate Rationing”? Just the latest manufactured outrage of the right-wing noise machine

A paper published on February 19 by researchers at the University of Leeds is gaining the attention of conservative commentators and media outlets across the Anglosphere. The paper argues “that rationing could plausibly play an important role in an effective and fair means of reducing emissions and is therefore worthy of serious consideration,” despite the fact that […]

February 25th

Conservative media spreads disinfo about Ohio rail disaster in pathetic attempt to smear climate action

When an environmental disaster strikes, what do you do? Do you advocate for those affected and implement policy solutions to keep the problem from occurring again? Or do you exploit this one environmental disaster to make the argument that other environmental issues are now somehow invalid? Right-wing media chose the latter option in response to the train derailment and […]

February 17th

Congress has its own oil heat research group – which puts out fossil fuel disinformation about heat pumps

The National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA) getting caught lying in the Washington Post about heat pumps in Maine raises the question of whether this Congressionally-sanctioned body established to research and improve oil heat should still exist, given its track record of spending the public’s money on disinformation to lobby for public support for oil heat, instead. By Climate Denier […]

February 14th

How big oil backs astroturf groups filing lawsuits to block wind energy projects

Is there currently a “nasty fight between environmental groups” over right whales, as a recent Washington Times headline suggests? Or is there a nasty fight between environmental organizations and fossil fuel-backed NIMBY groups opposed to offshore wind? By Climate Denier Roundup The first would be a surprising story of conflict within a normally united advocacy space. […]

February 10th

GOP-led committee erases ‘environmental justice’ (but that won’t erase environmental racism)

Back in 1991, President George H.W. Bush’s chief of staff, John Sununu, told White House staffers not to discuss “climate change” or “global warming.” In 2012, the Republican administration of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett ordered the state’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to remove the term “climate change” from its website. In 2015, the North Carolina-controlled […]

February 9th

“Natural Gas” goes back to the Big Tobacco playbook to downplay the fact that their product kills

The recent fracas about gas stoves has clearly riled up the methane gas industry – rebranded as “natural gas” – and its conservative supporters are still determined to defend gas stoves. We showed that the methane gas industry has internally recognized the health risks of gas stoves since at least 1907. Now, in 2023, these harms are dominating news cycles […]

February 9th

Right-wing media tries the ‘Hysterical Woman’ slur to delegitimize Biden climate advisor Dr Kim Cobb

Last week, within three days of each other, right-wing media outlets ran three remarkably similar hit pieces attacking Dr. Kim Cobb, a climate scientist who was appointed to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. By Climate Denier Roundup In reality, no one is better suited than Dr. Cobb to advise President Biden on climate risks. She is an award-winning scientist, […]

February 8th

GOP: “No climate action unless China goes first!” Also GOP: “We’re mad at Kerry for making China act on climate!”

One of the growing themes we unfortunately expect to continue to grow this year is the classic “but what about China!” excuse, which contends that the US shouldn’t have to clean up its emissions if China isn’t cleaning up theirs. By Climate Denier Roundup While there are certainly legitimate criticisms to be made regarding the Chinese government’s human rights […]

February 7th

Breitbart continues the war on ESG (by trying to game Google’s search algorhythm)

Lately, we’ve noticed that bare-bones Breitbart, having lost a ton of its advertising revenue in recent years, has taken a real interest in the right-wing fight against Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards. While it would certainly make sense for the outlet to oppose ESG measures, given its billionaire-backing, its laundering of white supremacy, and its loyalty to Donald Trump, these […]

February 6th