A Revolution to Take Back What Was Never Theirs
By Alan Willey / Spring 2020
In this moment, Earth has grown warmer by 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees F) making our planet the hottest it has ever been in the entirety of human civilization. Global warming isn’t some distant problem to address preemptively; it’s happening now. Even if we met the objective of the Paris Agreement to hold the average temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius, scientists have projected that “regions that are today home to 1.5 billion would become, practically speaking, unlivable by 2070” (Wallace-Wells). Yet, it’s prevention and focus take a backseat in the United States. Approximately 40% of Americans reprehensibly deny or downplay its existence (Leiserowitz et al). I see this denial across various media; television personalities (with no scientific background) vehemently mock global warming and deny rising temperatures or any human contribution to it. I vividly recall watching a debate from a Bill Nye documentary where Nye actively sought to combat influential voices that deny global warming using scientific evidence. The denier, Marc Morano (influential proponent of denying global warming) used techniques we’ve seen before in cigarette companies during the time when scientific evidence of its negative health effects were mounting. First you sow doubt on scientific based analysis, then introduce a non-existent “debate” among scientists regarding the subject, implying a proportionate split of 50/50, when in reality it's closer to 97/3. Combined with Morano’s aggressive style of dominating the conversation, Bill Nye’s defense fades while anti global warming rhetoric takes center stage.
This frustrated me; the concentrated effort to spread misinformation leaves Americans confused, and promotes division. Oftentimes these personalities are heavily involved with influential think tanks that promote and distribute this line of thinking. Morano is a speaker at Heartland Institute, a climate change denial think tank whose funding comes directly from giant fossil fuel corporations including Exxon, and Koch industries. In fact, billionaire corporations of the fossil fuel industry discreetly use think tanks like Heartland to help manufacture and spread this doubt. These fossil fuel giants also wield power and influence in government. They use corporate lobbyists with unlimited resources to sway legislation, and influence elections in favor of politicians who do not support legislation or initiatives towards curtailing greenhouse emissions. Through these coordinated efforts, powerful oil corporations remain removed from any government regulation on greenhouse emissions, and continue to profit.
Fossil fuel conglomerates put profits first, a mentality that paved the way to elite oligarchal status, the same mentality that continuously secures their position in the upper 1% of wealth distribution. Therefore when Exxon’s very own scientists discovered the greenhouse effect produced by the emissions of CO2 in the early 1980’s, they made a conscientious decision to ignore it, citing that observable changes were decades away. “Exxon’s climate change studies, published from 1977 to 2014 were in line with scientific studies, but 80% of Exxon’s statements to the public expressed doubt about climate change” (Schwartz, NYT). Since the discovery Exxon has mobilized a campaign of doubt to undermine the science of global warming, with other fossil fuel industries such as Koch Industries following suit. “There was a concerted campaign funded by various fossil fuel interests that carried on the same tactics used by tobacco companies to avoid restrictions on tobacco” (Morton, The Economist). Charles Koch, chairman and CEO of Koch Industries (involved exclusively in oil refining with a revenue of $110 billion) gave an interview with Fortune in 2017 stating “The science isn’t settled yet, in fact, how could it with all these scientific models that disagree”. He finishes by saying that “science is never settled”, conflating the constant pursuit of scientific discovery with established theories and facts already resolved by science. Think tanks like the Heartland Institute serve as mouthpieces for this narrative, serving up inflammatory rhetoric about “continued debate” on climate change despite it’s now long resolved scientific data and analysis. These are the masters of doubt, and they sow uncertainty, confusion and discord among the masses, preventing any kind of unified front on combating climate change. This is part of their attack; to control the population with a massive campaign of misinformation akin to that of the tobacco industry to ultimately protect oil profits by inhibiting any action on climate change.
Running parallel to the efforts of manufactured doubt are the corporations’ influence in the appointment of politicians and lawmakers in government. In 2010, The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision ruled that corporations could spend freely on political campaigns. Now unshackled, Koch Industries and it’s lobby groups started “an all-fronts campaign with television advertising, social media and cross-country events aimed at electing lawmakers who would ensure that the fossil fuel industry would not have to worry about new pollution regulations” (Davenport, NYT). This has played into a growing polarization in politics. Republican leadership has been dominated by lawmakers who believe the government should regulate less and whose constituents were alarmed with any policy that would regulate, or tax the cost of burning fossil fuels, including coal. Republicans who actively supported climate change legislation or asserted the need to act on the global warming threat saw funding and resources dry up, and in some cases a primary challenger would arise. An example of this is Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican who at one point considered climate change a “serious problem” and actively participated in a bill to promote energy-efficient light bulbs. In 2010 he battled to be chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee against Joe Barton who had mocked human-caused climate change. Upton promptly removed all instances of climate change from his website and abruptly pivoted his stance stating he did not believe that climate change is man-made. Mr Upton, who has “garnered more than 2 million in campaign donations from oil and gas companies and electric utilities over the course of his career, won the chairmanship and has coasted comfortably to re-election since” (Davenport, NYT).
Scott Pruitt who has led the fight to dismantle E.P.A climate change regulations had this to say when asked if human activity had affected climate: “There’s tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so, no, I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.” Again the untruthful narrative of doubt rears its ugly head. Pruitt’s emails were released by the Oklahoma attorney general’s office showing that he had “acted in close concert with oil and gas companies to challenge environmental regulations, even putting his letterhead to complaints” (Milman). The emails also showed relationships with lobby groups sponsored by the Koch brothers. Serving as head of the EPA, his position, as well as his stance regarding climate change make him a powerful friend to fossil fuel interests.
Fossil fuel giants have coordinated a powerful campaign against action on global warming. At its center is a vehicle for manufacturing doubt and dividing people, rendering them incapable of mounting any meaningful force for change. Another weapon in their arsenal against climate change action is to influence legislation by “appointing Republican lawmakers that were moved along by a campaign carefully crafted by fossil fuel industry players, most notably Charles D. and David H. Koch, the Kansas-based billionaires”(Davenport, NYT). Fossil fuel conglomerates continue to maintain their fortress of profits protected by lawmakers, while the rabble argue amongst each other about the global warming “debate” which blinds us from seeing these billionaire corporations as the ones that need to be held accountable.
Looking into the past can often shed light on the present, and be used as a tool to understand deeply. It becomes apparent that the mechanisms of greed and profits of these elite fossil fuel corporations draw parallels to our past. “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes” (Mark Twain). Peering into the years between the Civil War and the 20th century an era known as the “The Gilded Age” brought massive and unprecedented growth in the American economy, particularly in industry and technology. Corruption, and exploitation of human labor were rampant however. “It was a period when greedy corrupt industrialists and politicians enjoyed extraordinary wealth and opulence at the expense of the working class” (History). These industrialists were known as “Robber Barons”, extremely wealthy entrepreneurs and tycoons who held power that even exceeded that of politicians in the federal government. Their massive wealth was generated on the backs of slaves, immigrants and lower class citizens for a pittance. Corrupt backroom deals with politicians drove profits through the roof, creating a vast chasm of income inequality. While the wealthy feast in opulent mansions, the working class lived in filthy tenement homes and struggled to feed their children, who often had to accompany their parents on 12 hour work days. This inequality bore labor unions and protests and “many of the Robber Barons feared an aggressive, all-out revolution against their way of life” (History). To protect their profits, they sought control of the giddy multitude: “Control in modern times requires more than force, more than law. It requires that a population dangerously concentrated in cities and factories, whose lives are filled with cause for rebellion, be taught that all is right as it is” (Zinn). This idea that “all is right as it is” was the centerpiece in the suppression of dissent. After the Civil War a famous minister and bestselling author named Russel Conwell toured the country reaching millions with his “Acres of Diamonds” speech: “Let us remember there is not a poor person in the United States who was not made poor by his own shortcomings.” Through control and tempering of the working class and below Robber Barons profits were free to grow exponentially while the working class suffered horrible working conditions, poverty and illness. Supreme Court Justice David J. Brewer in 1893 addressed the New York State Bar Association: “The wealth of a nation is in the hands of a few, while many subsist upon the proceeds of their daily toil.”
The control that Zinn spoke of during the Gilded Age is an acknowledgement that control by force or law is no longer realistic; instead, it has to be enforced through beliefs and attitudes (Chomsky). In the Gilded Age this control took the form of an ideology that one's position in the disposable working class was merely their own fault, that by lack of mettle or skill they were where they belong, and that was how it was intended to be. Today, this control takes the form manufactured doubt to undermine science, a red herring, designed to distract and prevent people from seeing the big picture, much like the exploited lower class citizens from the Gilded Age. Fossil fuel corporations remain unexposed and unchallenged because instead of focusing on a revolution to fight back against climate change, we argue unproductively amongst ourselves shifting our attention away from the root of the problem. Robber Barons in the Gilded Age had influence and power within the government, much like the fossil fuel industries have influence and power over elected officials and legislation today. Fossil fuel conglomerates want to maximize profits, and this cannot coexist with government regulation. However, the only way through the climate crisis is for the government to take an active role in the economy. The consolidation of carefully positioned key lawmakers preclude any threat to their continued plunder of the planet.
The duality of the oligarch class’s sustained exploitation of the disposable working class exists today. While fossil fuel giants rape and pillage the earth for wealth, minorities and lower working class people suffer the consequences. In the Gilded Age the poor and lower class suffered abhorrent living conditions, little pay, and no benefits. Today when super storms spawned by global warming lay waste to coastal cities, the poor and working class citizens in these neighborhoods will inevitably be left behind. Who will lift their broken and shattered homes into anew, where will they go? When sea levels rise and they’re forced from their homes, where will they go? If food and crop shortages strike from vastly rising temperatures, how will they afford sustenance? Global warming affects the entire human race, but it does so disproportionately. We see it in today’s pandemic. Rates of infection and mortality for minority groups are significantly higher than caucasians. These corporate giants place profits above the people, above the planet. Foreshadowed in the Gilded Age, the massive gap in wealth and consolidated power still exists today. Behind the scenes, they disrupt and abort action towards tackling humanity's greatest crisis, choosing to fill their pockets with riches from the planet while destroying lives, and stealing from generations of the future.
It’s easy to point fingers and disparage those that believe that global warming is false. I myself made this mistake, and in doing so, had unknowingly given the masters of doubt exactly what they wanted: thoughtless, incendiary reactions that go nowhere and perpetuate an unfocused attitude, blinding me and others from the true source of conflict. To break the pattern, we need to unveil our own complicity in the system (Twohig). Instead of blaming others, look to understand the ideologies that have shaped their views, and from there, help peel back these views and show how their ideologies have impacted their own lens. There needs to be a shift from looking across, to looking up, up at the corporations who have wrought the inequality and exploitation and perpetuated its existence. The beginnings of a revolution needs to happen, an organized and united front, one which demands that corporations cannot plunder the Earth without impunity. We need to hold them accountable. It isn’t enough to only protest and take to the streets. We are at the mercy of the system we live in, and that system is to democratically use our vote to help cast leaders that will take action against global warming into positions of power that can produce change. Active participation in organizations to raise funds for these kinds of individuals can help, as well membership in cap and trade or carbon tax lobbyist groups. Seek to educate, not to fight. If enough of us collectively come together, the greatest fears of the Robber Barons will have been realized: a revolution to take back what was never theirs in the first place.
Works Cited
Leiserowitz, Anthony, et al. “Climate Change in the American Mind”. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, 22 Jan 2019. Accessed 24 May 2020.
Chomsky, Noam. Requiem for the American Dream. Directed by Peter D. Hutchison, 2016.
Unknown. “Scientific Consensus: Earth’s Climate is Warming”. Global Climate Change. Accessed 24 May 2020.
Twohig, Niall. “Reclaiming the Commons”. WCWP 100 Lecture, UCSD.
O'Donnell, Edward T. “Are We Living in the Gilded Age 2.0?”. History Stories. Accessed 24 May 2020.
History.com editors. “Gilded Age”. History, 13 Feb 2018. Accessed 14 Jun 2020.
Zinn, Howard. “A People’s History of the United States”. Harper Collins, 2003.
Milman, Oliver and Rushe, Dominic. “New EPA head Scott Pruitt’s emails reveal close ties with fossil fuel interests”. The Guardian, 22 Feb 2017.
Wallace-Wells, David. “Welcome to the End of the ‘Human Climate Niche’”. New York Magazine, 19 May 2020.
Morton, Oliver. “Why politicians have failed to tackle climate change”. YouTube, uploaded by The Economist, 22 May 2020.
Schwartz, John. “Exxon Misled the Public on Climate Change, Study says”. The New York Times, 23 Aug 2017.