The Climate Change Misinformation Machine

This week, journalist and activist Naomi Klein joins Dave and Josh as a special guest to look under the hood of several PragerU “educational” videos that offer a conservative spin on the topics of climate science and green technologies.

Klein, who has authored several influential books (including This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate), points out how the fossil fuel-funded groups behind videos like these have shifted tactics in the years since COVID, moving from a strategy of “hard denialism” to one that centers on the rhetoric of “personal freedoms.”

Here are the PragerU videos discussed with Naomi Klein this week:

• Climate Change: What Do Scientists Say? (2016)
• What's the Deal with the Green New Deal? (2019)

Dave and Josh also have a lengthy discussion about the recent Vanity Fair exposé detailing the culture of fear that surrounded the actors and TV writers on the landmark mystery series Lost. The article sheds light on many of the same toxic Hollywood workplace issues being raised in the current Writers Guild of America strike. (Here's TV writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach’s follow-up statement responding to the article.)

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A transcript of this episode is available here.