Message From the Editor

This week, we’re discussing The Big Myth. 

No, I’m not talking about the obvious myth that climate change is a Chinese hoax, which a certain former U.S. President and recently convicted felon has wrongly spread in the past. Nor am I talking about the myth that burning fossil fuels to scrub carbon from the atmosphere, in order to pull more fossil fuels from the ground – that is, most carbon capture projects – is somehow a climate solution (one that Exxon privately saw a “limited” role for).

The Big Myth here is “the magic of the marketplace,” according to science historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, the duo who brought us Merchants of Doubt. It’s this quasi-religious, fundamentalist belief that only an unfettered free market can address society’s needs, and the government should just get out of the way. They explore this idea in their new book The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market.

What does this have to do with disinformation and the fight for a safe climate? Everything.

Because this fundamentalist logic breaks down when fossil fuel companies have the unfettered “freedom” to sell products that harm people and the planet. “But rather than rethink their arguments, market fundamentalists protect their worldview by denying that climate change is real or asserting that somehow ‘The Market’ will fix it, despite all evidence to the contrary,” Oreskes and Conway write.

And as Oreskes discusses in a Q&A about the book on DeSmog this week, The Big Myth has worsened not only the climate crisis but also inequality by concentrating wealth into the hands of a few. And one of the gravest injustices is that the worst effects of climate change tend to hit the poorest and least responsible for it in the first place.

While that may feel overwhelming, Oreskes, ever the historian, points to another dark period in time when ordinary people overcame powerful entrenched interests to reshape the world for the better. The linchpin? Sugar. Read the full Q&A for more.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [email protected]. Want to know what our UK team is up to? Sign up for our UK newsletter. 

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Readers like you power our journalism dedicated to climate accountability. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?

Image credit: World Economic Forum/Flicker (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Ads Claiming LNG Exports Reduce Emissions Are Misleading, Says Regulator

— By Taylor Noakes (7 min. read) —

Canada’s advertising regulator has determined that ads claiming liquified natural gas (LNG) will lower emissions are inaccurate, misleading, and distort scientific data. 

The Ad Standards ruling was shared anonymously with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), which described the pro-LNG ads as “greenwashing.”

Q&A: ‘The Climate Crisis Is Directly Related to Inequality’

— By Diane Bernard (7 min) —

In an interview with Rachel Donald of the podcast Planet: Critical, science historian Naomi Oreskes spoke about her new book, The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market, cowritten with Erik M. Conway. She explored why our climate is in crisis, detailing how institutions, lobbyists, and corporations continue to undermine democracy; and why a renewable world threatens the powers that be. Ultimately, Oreskes points out that the climate crisis is not a scientific problem, but a political, economic, and social issue.

Oreskes is a professor at Harvard University who co-authored the bestselling book Merchants of Doubt, and has written nearly 200 scholarly papers and popular articles. Her opinion pieces have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Times of London, and many others. 

Meat and Dairy Industry ‘Weakening’ Climate Policy in the EU: Report

— By Michaela Herrman (3 min. read) —

Intense lobbying from the meat and dairy industry since 2020 has helped weaken and stall crucial climate policies in the European Union, according to a new report from InfluenceMap.

For the past three years, agricultural industry associations such as farmers’ union COPA-COGECA, European Livestock Voice, and the European Livestock and Meat Trades Union (UECBV) have spearheaded the pushback against six key EU climate policies, alongside meat and dairy companies such as Cargill, Arla, and Vion.

Climate Campaigners Must Understand the Implications of June’s Critical European Parliamentary Elections

— By Hugh Wheelan (4 min. read) —

Climate campaigners should be thinking about the likely headlines coming out of the important European Parliament elections taking place from June 6-9.

The Parliament passes EU legislation alongside the Council of Ministers (representing EU Member State governments) following formulation by the European Commission in the EU’s tripartite rule-making system.

Revealed: Far-Right Links of Polish Farmer Hunger Strikers

— By Marta Kasztelan, Clare Carlile and Phoebe Cooke (6 min. read) —

An obscure far-right linked farmers group has risen to prominence in Poland after it was championed by populist politicians ahead of the EU elections, DeSmog can reveal.

Orka, a new farmers’ movement that materialised earlier this month, entered Warsaw’s parliament building on May 9 to protest against EU climate plans and Ukrainian food imports.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Foundation for Economic Education

Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) is a non-profit free market organization based in Irvington, New York, and Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by Leonard E. Read, FEE describes itself as “one of the oldest free-market organizations in the United States,” and was one of the first think tanks designed specifically to promote, research and promulgate free market and libertarian ideas. In 2012, FEE’s publication The Freeman published, “Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) implies we should do very little to prevent climate change. Instead, we should create wealth. Expanding the productive capacity of the economy will compensate future generations better than reductions in GHG will. A richer world in 2100, after all, will be able to afford to do things like relocating people affected by rising sea levels and constructing new port facilities and seawalls.”

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database, Ad & PR Database, and Koch Network Database.