The Language & Techniques Of Fossil Fuel Propaganda w/ Ben Franta
You've Been Warmed
English - January 27, 2020 14:27 - 1 hour - 28.1 MB - ★★★★★ - 2 ratingsEarth Sciences Science Technology clean energy carbon nuclear carbon offsets carbon removal green energy climate change greenhouse gases co2 emissions renewables Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Benjamin Franta is a PhD student of History & Law at Stanford University and one of my absolute favourite people to follow on Twitter.
Ben writes amazing threads covering the history of propaganda that the fossil fuel industry has created when it comes to climate change. He analyses their PR tactics, they language they use or what wording they create to deflect the attention from their products and place the responsibility on the consumers.
We discussed what internal documents revealed about when the fossil fuel companies knew about climate change (starting in 1959) and how that evolved over time; Ben went in depth on the tactics they deploy including "product defense" and the "complexity rhetoric". We also drew parallels between the fossil fuel industry and the tobacco industry - how the latter deployed similar tactics and was eventually defeated through numerous lawsuits. Finally, we also discussed the media and what role it sometimes plays in slowing down action.
RELEVANT LINKS
Benjamin Franta’s Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/BenFranta
TIMECODES
02:26: Benjamin Franta’s Background. Why Study the History of Fossil Fuel Propaganda?
07:06 What Fossil Fuel Companies Knew 40-50 Years Ago
08:22 The Research Conducted by Companies 50 Years Ago & The Lawsuits Emerging Now
14:28 A Parallel Between What Fossil Fuel Companies Are Doing Now and What Tobacco Companies Did Before
19:07 Who’s Responsible for This: The Individuals vs Businesses & Governments
21:36 The Complexity Rhetoric that the PR People From the Fossil Fuel Industry Use
29:27 The Lawsuits. Who Can Be Held Accountable?
34:45 The Tobacco Industry Lawsuits
41:13 How Did the Fossil Fuel Companies Infiltrate the Media?
51:51 The Shift in Positioning - From Saying that Climate Change Wasn’t Real to Wanting to Help Solve the Problem
54:56 Science vs Politics vs Businesses vs Society
RESOURCES MENTIONED
The 1959 American Petroleum Institute Report - Edward Teller - http://www.thegreenmarketoracle.com/2019/02/the-fossil-fuel-industry-has-known-they.html
The Master Settlement Agreement - https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/topics/commercial-tobacco-control/commercial-tobacco-control-litigation/master-settlement-agreement
The Regulation Games - book - https://www.amazon.com/Regulation-Games-Strategic-Administrative-Process/dp/0884100669
The Kyoto Protocol - https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-kyoto-protocol/what-is-the-kyoto-protocol/kyoto-protocol-targets-for-the-first-commitment-period