Challenging Climate Change

Abstract

An organized campaign to deny the reality and significance of climate change has worked to undermine the claims of the scientific community and block efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This chapter outlines the historical and cultural conditions that have provided fertile soil for climate change denial’s emergence (most notably, the rise of neoliberalism as hegemonic ideology). It explains the denial countermovement’s strategies of manufacturing uncertainty and controversy, which substitute ideology for science and put our societal resilience at stake. The chapter describes the key components of the U.S. countermovement: the fossil fuels industry and corporate America; conservative think tanks and foundations; contrarian scientists; front groups and “Astroturf” campaigns; conservative politicians; and conservative media and the denial blogosphere. The chapter also documents the international diffusion of climate change denial, indicating that the countermovement is evolving into a global force designed to combat the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and international climate advocacy network.