I just left this comment on Reddit this morning (under my username, Batchet. Also on Twitter with that name):
The climate denial machine is a propaganda machine that can be set to various modes. Exxon and Koch are not the only companies running one. Shell and other gas companies around the world put large amounts of money into convincing people climate change isn't real too. Does Rosneft or other monstrously large oil companies do the same?
Most likely. In fact, running an external climate denial propaganda campaign doesn't just sell more oil for a country like Russia, it makes our countries less educated. People believe scientists and science educators as "untrustworthy". Therefore, a disinformation campaign is not just an attempt to make more money, but an attack on a country's education and economy.
For a long time, the propaganda from both sides was about ideologies. When communism didn't work out, the Russians still pushed propaganda but for different purposes, election meddling and so on. I think both machines teamed up and started to sing the same "climate change denial" song.
I don't know how much climate denial money comes from what country, but I'm guessing since Russia's economy is so heavily invested in fossil fuels that it's likely that they make a fair contribution.
Another point to make is that both Rosneft and Exxon benefit from the ice caps opening up as they've put a lot of money into obtaining arctic oil. They literally teamed up to do this and it would seem to me that they both knew that climate change awareness could fuck up the whole thing.
Other countries may be guilty of these misinformation campaigns too. The more I learn about this stuff, the more complex I discover it is.
Simply put: When we can shut down these industries of lies, we'll be able to push forward much faster.
No comments:
Post a Comment