#ClimateChangeIsReal is Unreal

The launch of Here Now’s #ClimateChangeIsReal campaign for Earth Day had us asking an important question in the Corelab studio: “Was the campaign infiltrated by a coal or oil company plant?” The hashtag and subsequent messaging play perfectly to the deniers strategy — pretend that fact is a theory worth debating. #RoundEarthIsReal!

It goes to show that big names like Leo and massive budgets can churn out ill-conceived and counterproductive campaigns. Words matter, as our friend and colleague Jeremy Porter points out, and the climate movement has an abysmal track record. The polluters’ strategy is to keep people lost in technical terms: “parts per million,” “carbon,” “emissions.” Why not simply “pollution”?

“Climate change is real” implies that it could also not be real. Republican presidential hopefuls from Rubio to Jeb step into this space to claim, “I’m not a scientist.” A poor argument for people who set policy based on science! Not being economists doesn’t stop them from promoting and implementing destructive economic policy, why should it be different with our planet?

Alex Frankel catalogued the devious brilliance of Tony Abbott branding Australia’s Clean Energy Act as the “carbon tax,” in a must-read piece in The Guardian. While Abbott may be faltering, never fear, the climate movement may be dirty energies’ best ally when it comes to messaging. Unreal.