Climate Activists Harass and Demonize with Climate Criminals Label

 

     I get it. It’s easy to think of ridiculously wealthy executives with a sense of cynicism. But to label businesspeople, financers, lobbyists, and conservative idealogues in the fossil fuel industry as climate criminals is in bad taste. Carbon emissions are often regulated but they are not a crime.

     While I think it is just fine and good to point out biases of key figures in debates about energy and the environment, to brand them as criminals and to accuse them of climate disinformation goes too far. It may be true that some of these people have views about the climate issue that are biased and unsupported by science but that is not the same as putting out disinformation. In most cases, they just believe more in biased science rather than mainstream science.

     In this case, the demonizers are an online site: climatecriminals.org. The effort is called the Climate Accountability Project. The so-called criminals are accused of bankrolling climate disinformation. The people they want to hold accountable are those who “deliberately fund climate science denial, lobby against clean energy alternatives, disseminate misinformation, and downplay climate risk.”

“We aim to make the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure socially and politically unacceptable and to ensure that those responsible for that expansion are made to feel increasingly isolated and publicly known for their climate crimes.”

     As is perhaps par for the course, the founders of the project, Sociology professor Daniel Faber and economic and environmental justice advocate Chuck Collins, are quasi-socialists, anti-capitalists who are into things like divestment from fossil fuels, hardcore environmental justice, and economic equality. I can share the third interest somewhat as I think the super-wealthy have too much money and perhaps more importantly, too much influence. However, just because they are rich, it doesn’t mean that makes them criminals. Faber writes:

“This campaign illustrates how certain individuals take advantage of environmental injustice and brings to life the ugly underbelly of capitalism for the benefit of the public. America's top corporate polluters who are profiled in the campaign influence important climate policies to stall action and are responsible for worsening our climate crisis. They are architects and facilitators of profit over ecological and social welfare and must be held to account.”

     It is a campaign of demonization, plain and simple. The use of criminal terms like “offenders” and referring to their actions as abominable reinforce the demonization. Basically, the same groups that arose to counter the growing and well-financed climate change activism movement are the focus of their ire.

     I would want to ask them who made them the climate police? They are social scientists, so-called soft scientists rather than hard scientists. While they may be in the minority, many climate scientists do not condone climate activism. Some prominent ones do but others are more reserved about that and prefer to just work with the data and do science.

     The project claims to have identified 137 organizations that are promoting climate disinformation, “challenging the science, sowing doubt, and blocking alternatives.” To that, I would say that are there in some cases to provide a counterweight to the extremely biased climate activism movement that is well organized, well-funded, and determined to destroy the fossil fuel industry that is basically powering the world in a way that is reliable and affordable. There is currently no viable alternative to these “criminal” corporations, and we need them. Is it a crime to call out the rampant green energy hype? Green energy needs to be evaluated in terms of its economics and its reliability. High costs will disproportionately affect lower-income people. Lower reliability will do the same. Protecting those people by providing them with cheap and reliable energy is not a crime but a service. I for one am very grateful for access to relatively cheap fuel and electricity.

     Essentially, the ongoing climate war of information is mostly a conflict between the extremist sides of climate activists and climate skeptics. Those of us not on the extremes should just avoid the war if possible or call out bias and misleading actions as they occur, preferably without demonizing. What I am saying is that demonization is a tactic of extremists. According to Wikipedia:

“In colloquial usage, the term demonization is used metaphorically to refer to propaganda or moral panic directed against any individual or group, for the purpose of defamation, character assassination and/or dehumanization.”

     In another sense, demonization takes a civil argument into uncivil territory. I am a fan of civil discourse and of collaboration between parties that differ in view which also means tolerating diverse views.

 

 

 

References:

 

Report names donors bankrolling climate change disinformation. Eric Galatas. Public News Service. September 30, 2024. Report names donors bankrolling climate change disinformation / Public News Service

Meet the 2024 Climate Criminals. ClimateCriminals.org. 2024 CLIMATE CRIMINALS — Climate Criminals

New report reveals over 130 organizations funded to spread lies to the public: 'We should know who'. Alyssa Ochs. The Cool Down. October 29, 2024. New report reveals over 130 organizations funded to spread lies to the public: 'We should know who'

Demonization. Wikipedia. Demonization - Wikipedia