{"id":197992,"date":"2025-12-22T11:57:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T11:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/197992\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T11:57:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T11:57:20","slug":"if-it-isnt-discussed-by-conservative-groups-does-climate-change-still-exist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/197992\/","title":{"rendered":"If It Isn’t Discussed By Conservative Groups, Does “Climate Change” Still Exist?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription<\/a> or on Stripe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A December Fox News story featured a coalition of conservative groups who were boasting about ten regulatory and fiscal \u201cwins\u201d under the Trump administration. The energy industry players insist they have \u201crestored America\u2019s path toward true energy dominance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Project 2025 states<\/a> unequivocally that \u201cthe aid industry claims that climate change causes poverty, which is false.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew Follett critiques the environmental movement<\/a> in the National Review, saying it struggles \u201cwith introspection and course-correction, scapegoating political opposition for its failures. But given how poll after poll shows world public opinion cooling on global warming, the movement should consider that its policies, not its paltry opposition, might be the root of its problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alina Voss of ConservAmerica undermines<\/a> clean energy in an editorial. \u201cUsing the same environmental arguments long employed by the left to block energy projects is a strategy that will backfire,\u201d she insists, which won\u2019t bode well \u201cfor crucial permitting reform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dozens of tech, energy, and food companies are revising previous goals to reduce Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions<\/a>. Meta, for example, has ended a US fact-checking program that routinely challenged messengers who disputed climate science.<\/p>\n

Energy companies are rethinking their low carbon energy investment plans. Big Oil companies are delighted with the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cdrill, baby, drill<\/a>\u201d approach and are increasing fossil fuel production \u2014 which everyone knows is the leading cause of climate change.<\/p>\n

Did members of conservative groups watch footage of the Washington state flooding this past weekend, in which warmer temperatures reached higher elevations and forced snow melt? Rain-on-snow events are becoming more common in a warming world.<\/p>\n

Conservative Groups Continue to Deny Awareness of Climate Threats<\/p>\n

Studies and surveys in the US and around the world demonstrate that a majority of adults believe that climate change is a serious threat. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the consummate authority on climate science studies, has concluded that virtually all warming since the dawn of the industrial era can be attributed to human carbon emissions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought that good ideas would get people to act,\u201d J. Timmons Roberts, a researcher at Brown University and executive director of its Climate Social Science Network, mused, as reported by the New York Times. \u201cIn fact, there\u2019s been a quite systematic campaign<\/a> that\u2019s been sophisticated and extremely well funded,\u201d which has succeeded at undermining climate action globally.<\/p>\n

Climate disinformation and propaganda is so profound that the COP30 conference posted the topic on its agenda to give it the attention it deserved.<\/p>\n

Researchers have determined that climate misinformation is on the rise, fueled (pun intended) by a strong social and legacy media pattern of mis- and disinformation. Conservative groups are making wads of cash by promoting a fossil fuel agenda, and their viewers \u2014 who may not have exposure to other perspectives on the danger of the climate crisis \u2014\u00a0 believe climate denial statements as fact.<\/p>\n

And that makes sense, in a way. Climate entrepreneurs<\/a> are making careers by dismantling climate messaging, even against the backdrop of nearly unanimous scientific evidence. These social media icons assume a decidedly masculine, authoritarian, and matter-of-fact approach to rejecting global warming. Opponents are rendered as weak, emotional, and womanly. The latter group is radical and irrational<\/a>, according to the depictions.<\/p>\n

A decade after the Paris Climate Agreement, climate denial seems as pervasive as ever. In fact, the use of fossil fuels is growing, both as an industry and in popularity. Ever since the 1960s, Big Oil has known it is responsible for an increasingly hotter planet. It has played the Blame Game quite well, shifting the responsibility to consumers, who are admonished to make choices that positively affect the environment. Gas and oil producers were only fulfilling the demand for abundant and reliable energy, right?<\/p>\n

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy within Trump\u2019s Department of Energy has a whole slew of words<\/a> that are no longer allowed to be uttered during his reign. They include \u201cclimate change,\u201d \u201cgreen,\u201d \u201cdecarbonization,\u201d\u201cenergy transition,\u201d \u201c\u2018clean\u2019 or \u2018dirty\u2019 energy,\u201d \u201cemissions,\u201d\u201csustainability\/ sustainable,\u201d \u201ccarbon\/CO2 \u2018footprint\u2019\u201d and \u201ctax breaks\/tax credits\/subsidies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporting Big Oil today, though, flies<\/a> in the face of all scientific evidence about global warming. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) believes that seeming broad acceptance of Paris Agreement goals hid fierce opposition to ending fossil fuels. \u201cAt one level, we\u2019ve been losing the climate disinformation war all along,\u201d Whitehouse suggested. \u201cWe are where we are because we were completely ineffectual in fending off a decades-long disinformation bombardment.\u201d<\/p>\n

But if you want to find out information about climate change, don\u2019t go to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website, as the federal government has removed most of its web pages related to climate change. Topics like climate adaptation and resilience, climate impacts, and the government\u2019s role in addressing climate change have vanished. When asked why references the connection between human activity and climate change were removed from some of its web pages, here was the answer from a rep from the US Environmental Protection Agency: the EPA \u201cno longer takes marching orders from the climate cult.\u201d Lee Zeldin, the EPAgency administrator, has labeled climate change a \u201creligion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nobel Prize committee differed in 2022, awarding the accomplishments of scientists who are considered the founders of climate modelling. Climate change is physics, in other words, not a belief system.<\/p>\n

Rachel Cleetus, senior policy director for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told New York Times, \u201cDeleting and distorting this scientific information only serves to give a free pass to fossil fuel polluters who are raking in profits even as communities reel from extreme heatwaves, record-breaking floods, intensified storms, and catastrophic wildfires.\u201d<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts about Conservative Groups and Climate Information<\/p>\n

It is essential for the US and the world to transition to clean energy to ensure energy security, safeguard communities, and protect our planet\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

Careful climate conversations<\/a> must continue if we are to empower others to stand up and protect the environment. Intentional language choices can make such breakthroughs possible. Social movements can be pivotal<\/a> to respond to the climate crisis by challenging former taken-for-granted democratic practices and the policies of corporate capitalism to which democracy has become beholden. But it takes a lot more than merely asking for advocates to take initiative. Collective action needs a groundswell of momentum to build social relations. Resources need to be devoted, and services need to be created to empower the democratic spread of climate power and influence.<\/p>\n

A gestalt of voices can must make a difference at the polls.<\/p>\n

As CleanTechnica writer, Steve Hanley exclaimed<\/a> recently, \u201cFrom the top of the ticket races for governor in several states and mayor of New York City to down-ticket races like the ones for the Georgia Public Service Commission, voters turned out in large numbers to tell the MAGAlomaniacs, \u2018You\u2019re Fired!’\u201d<\/p>\n

References<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate change is physics.\u201d Communications earth & environment. January 2022.
\n\u201cCommentary: Don\u2019t undercut the case for energy abundance.\u201d Alina Voss. C3 Magazine. December 9. 2025.
\n\u201cGreen energy\u2019s problems go beyond messaging.\u201d Andrew Follett. National Review. December 5, 2025.
\n\u201cMandate for leadership: The Conservative promise. Project 2025.\u201d The Heritage Foundation. 2023.
\n\u201cMany fighting climate change worry they are losing the information war.\u201d Lisa Friedman and Steven Lee Myers. New York Times. December 1, 2025.
\n\u201cTrump admin\u2019s energy agenda hailed for crucial \u2018wins\u2019 as green activists lash out.\u201d Alec Schemmel. Fox News. December 3, 2025
\n\u201cTrump administration intensifies suppression of climate information.\u201d Edgi Comms. Environmental Data and Government Initiative. October 14, 2025.<\/p>\n

Sign up for CleanTechnica’s Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott’s in-depth analyses and high level summaries<\/a>, sign up for our daily newsletter<\/a>, and follow us on Google News<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n


\n
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sign up for our daily newsletter for 15 new cleantech stories a day<\/a>. Or sign up for our weekly one on top stories of the week<\/a> if daily is too frequent.<\/p>\n

CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

CleanTechnica’s Comment Policy<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. A December Fox News story featured a coalition…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[112173,242,85,112174,112175,46,44185,141],"class_list":["post-197992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-climate-misinformation","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-intergovernmental-panel-on-climate-change-ipcc","tag-ipcc","tag-israel","tag-republicans","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}