Fighting Back on Climate: Don’t Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight

Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cultr/3265160711/">cultr.sun</a> (<a href="http://www.creativecommons.org">Creative Commons</a>).

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.


As my colleagues Kevin Drum and Kate Sheppard have noted, a group of 700 climate scientists plans to start pushing back harder and more publicly against climate change skeptics. Kevin offers a few words of warning:

I hope these guys are well trained. They need to know the science cold, they need to be aware of the standard denialist talking points, they need to stick to the facts religiously, and they need to have good media training. They won’t be going up against amateurs and the rules of the game won’t be set by the Marquess of Queensberry.

Unfortunately, I doubt any of the preparations that Kevin suggests will actually be made. People who don’t have backgrounds in politics regularly underestimate how difficult it actually is. Climate skepticism is serious business, and it’s well-funded by some of the richest and most powerful corporations and individuals in the world. There’s real money at stake here, and the skeptics are not going to mess around or play nice. In fact, they’re probably thanking their lucky stars that this is happening, because there’s a very real chance that this will backfire on climate scientists. It will be easy for skeptics to simply point to the climate scientists’ “coming out” as proof of the conspiracy that they’ve long alleged. And there’s a good chance that some climate scientist will make a rookie mistake. You can bet that at least one of them will say something silly at a conference or on cable television that will be taken out of context, replayed on YouTube, and and which will continue to fuel the fires of denialism for the next decade and a half.

I understand why the scientists are doing this. What they were doing before (trying to focus on the science, and having faith the truth would out) wasn’t working, and they see a moral imperative to warn the world of impending disaster. It may be too little, too late.

UPDATE: Now Kate reports that the original Los Angeles Times story that launched all this was wrong: the group of 700 climate climate scientists planning to push back isn’t actually planning to push back. She also explains why that’s troubling.

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate