User:Cwilliamhu/Climate obstruction

Climate obstruction concerns the deliberate or undeliberate propagation of discourses, narratives that drive against scientific claims about climate change that seek to protect the interests of the fossil fuel industry. Many actors are involved in the "climate denial machine" such as the fossil fuel industry; conservative think tanks, scientists, and media ; politicians and their governments. Their achievements are backed by conservative & far right parties, and are frequently used in their campaigns.

Origins
The construction of frames about climate change emerged in the 1970s as a response to growing scientific knowledge about Anthropogenic Climate Change, and increasing intergovernmental panels and summits that set goals from the economy and restrictions to the extraction of fossil fuels.

The fossil fuel industry had shaped the 20th century by providing a reliable energy, and gained not only geopolitical power, but also managed to root socio-cultural values amongst consumers. The ownership of a car was linked to freedom, and even to a human right.

Climate Change was found to be the cause of Anthropogenic activities in the beginning of the 20th century by Guy Stewart Callender.

Later, the creation of the IPCC, that demanded assessment reports of each nation state on their steps to reduce global emissions, the state of technological and socio-economic knowledge about climate change. These reports of risks on climate change created a proactive science of risks "which questioned the net benefits of the industry and demanded regulation". The publication of the Keeling curve as well as the report Limit to Growth published by the Club of Rome were turning points, as they set limits to growth to protect natural resources.

To the growing threat of environmentalism, the industry led a series of campaigns to distract the attention of the public. The goal was to frame the extraction of fossil fuels as necessary to society, while undermining the negative impact on the environment. With time their strategies of climate delay and denial conformed into a systematic reply to scientific reports on the negative effects of fossil fuel on the environment.

Forms
Strategies to deny climate change, the need for climate policies and their delay gather under the three main forms of climate obstruction:

Primary Obstruction, which is an open denial of climate change through different methods, called strategies of Climate Denial. The strategies involve a systematic delegitimization of scientists who claim that anthropogenic climate change is real and science in general. Political strategies of framing are implemented through the industry, PR campaigns and strategic communication to openly discredit scientific findings about Climate Change. The attention is diverted to a neoliberal focus on the market and on the supply of energy. Denial Techniques include Fake experts, Logical Fallacies, Impossible expectations, Cherry picking and Conspiracy Theories.

Secondary Obstruction, which concern the strategies of Climate Delay. While acknowledging Climate Change, actors of climate delay shift responsibility from the industry to consumers benefiting from it. The climate, just like the market will regulate itself; therefore, there is little or no need for climate policies. Actors concern all levels, from individuals to the industry, going past political and scientific actors.

The last form is a more subtle one, as it concerns the psychological dimension of the reception of strategies of climate delay and denial. Tertiary Obstruction relies on how successful denial and delay campaigns and their narratives are, how one accepts or rejects them. The process of cognitive dissonance is where one chooses the easiest solution between two options, and that it resolves this cognitive dissonance.

Strategies and Campaigns
As mentioned in the introduction, climate obstruction is widely used in political campaigns of conservative and far right parties.

In the German Case, environmental policy is the third major theme that brings them popularity, after the euro and migration. Indeed, the AfD adopts unscientific beliefs, such as the denial of the Anthropocene.

In a campaign to protect the automotive industry and diesel, the AfD seeked to "Save Diesel".