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A Discussion Guide by Interfaith Power & Light

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A Discussion Guide by Interfaith Power & Light A discussion guide by Interfaith Power & Light A religious response to global warming Merchants of Doubt has been selected by Interfaith Power & Light as our top choice for summer movie viewing for people of faith who are concerned about the climate crisis. The 90-minute documentary exposes a concerted strategy to create doubt about the facts of climate change through the use of pundits-for-hire who present themselves as scientific authorities. Based on the book by Naomi Oreskes, the film interviews industry reps, global warming deniers, environmentalists, and climate scientists to create a riveting behind-the-scenes look at how the fossil fuel industry has been so successful in blocking government action on climate. In Merchants of Doubt, we learn how the climate denial movement has borrowed from the playbook used by the tobacco industry for year, and how climate denial is a risky game of deception with high stakes – preying on people’s fears and creating societal division and inaction on climate. “Doubt is our product,” states a 1969 memo from the tobacco giant Brown and Williamson, “since it is the best means of competing with the ‘body of fact’ that exists in the mind of the general public.” As people of faith, we have a special responsibility to speak the truth, especially when manufactured confusion about climate change is endangering the very people we are most called to serve: the vulnerable and the voiceless, and the whole of Creation. Throughout the history of social change there have been brave people of faith standing up to powerful forces to tell the truth, point out moral wrongs, and create a better society. This film will raise your awareness about the climate denial machinery – how to recognize it, the tactics used, and the players – so you can more effectively counter its influence in your own community and climate work. Merchants of Doubt is widely available via Netflix (DVD rental), Amazon Instant online video, and on DVD / Blue Ray. If you are interested in holding a large group screening for your congregation, contact CVLI.com to obtain a screening license. Before watching the film Ask viewers to make a note on a piece of paper rating their confidence level, on a scale of 1-10, that global warming is real and caused by human activity. Post viewing discussion ideas Check to see if there are any people in the room who have changed the rating of their confidence in the reality of human caused global warming. Did the film change their opinion and why? Use all or some of the following questions to help facilitate a lively discussion. If you like, pass this sheet around and let members of the group take turns asking questions. 1. Where should one’s loyalty to paid interests end and respect for the truth begin? 2. What did you think of the way climate deniers talked about their work? Do you think they believe what they are saying? 3. Should there be consequences for companies that knowingly spread misinformation and intentionally support climate science deniers who spread disinformation and undermine efforts to address climate change? What should those consequences be? 4. What about the paid denial scientists that appear on TV -- should TV news programs screen “experts” more carefully? Do you believe some journalists believe the denial, or do they simply want to create controversy to drive up ratings? 5. In Merchants of Doubt, Bob Inglis (former Republican congressman from South Carolina) visited a conservative radio talk show. When Inglis opened an honest discussion on climate change with the talk show host, the host promptly ended the program and had Inglis leave. When people who are in denial of climate change refuse honest conversation, what are some ways to cope with that? 6. Merchants of Doubt theorizes that the American public’s denial of climate change could partially be caused by fear of how life might change if we ended our dependence on fossil fuels. Do you think that our response to climate change means less prosperity and abundance or more? What role will our support of clean energy play? 7. Do people in the group feel more equipped now to recognize and call out climate change deniers in the community? What talking points can you develop so you’re prepared? 8. What action might we take as individuals or together when we spot climate denial? Recommended Reading The Climate Deception Dossiers – A report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, July 2015 A new report by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) exposes internal fossil fuel industry memos that reveal decades of disinformation—a deliberate campaign to deceive the public that continues today. Link to UCS report: http://bit.ly/1KjBqR2 Institutionalizing delay: foundation funding and the creation of U.S. climate change counter-movement organizations -- Drexel University report, January 2013 This report identified 140 foundations that funneled $558 million to almost 100 climate denial organizations from 2003 to 2010. It found that the amount of money flowing through third-party, pass-through foundations like DonorsTrust, whose funding cannot be traced, has risen dramatically over the past five years. The author of the study, environmental sociologist Robert Brulle, says, "The climate change countermovement has had a real political and ecological impact on the failure of the world to act on global warming. Like a play on Broadway, the countermovement has stars in the spotlight – often prominent contrarian scientists or conservative politicians – but behind the stars is an organizational structure of directors, script writers and producers." Link to report: http://bit.ly/1VvmaqI FEMA to States: No Climate Planning, No Money – Inside Climate News, March 2015 The Federal Emergency Management Agency has set new guidelines effective in March of 2016, making it clear to states that if they have no climate change mitigation strategies, they will get no federal disaster funding from FEMA. This is not sitting well with climate-denying governors including Governors Rick Scott of Florida, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Chris Christie of New Jersey, Greg Abbott of Texas and Pat McCrory of North Carolina—all of whom have denied human-caused climate change or refused to take action. Yet the states they lead face immediate threats from global warming, from rising sea levels to increasingly intense hurricanes. Link to article: http://bit.ly/1BQBvrw Big Oil Gave $250K To Senators Who Voted Yes on Keystone – Int’l Business Times, February 2015 According to MapLight, a nonpartisan research organization that tracks the influence of money in politics, the oil and gas industry gave nearly $250,000 to each of the 62 senators who voted in favor of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project late last month. Click for more: http://bit.ly/1zOFq8z Top Climate Denying Scientist Got Funding from Fossil Fuel Interests – New York Times, February 2015 For years, politicians seeking to block legislation on climate change have bolstered their arguments by pointing to the work of Wei-Hock Soon, known as Willie, a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who claims that variations in the sun’s energy can largely explain recent global warming. Documents obtained by the Climate Investigations Center show Soon received more than $1.2 million from fossil fuel corporations and conservative groups over the last decade for creating scientific papers. Dr. Soon “described many of his scientific papers as ‘deliverables’ that he completed in exchange for their money,” according to the article. His funders included ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute, coal utility Southern Company and the Charles G. Koch Foundation. Read story: http://nyti.ms/1EDdJzC Exxon’s Uncovered Climate EMail Worsens Liability Picture – Climate Investigations Center, July 2015 The former Department of Justice lawyer who led the watershed lawsuit against tobacco companies, says that the revelation that oil giant ExxonMobil knew as early as 1981 about the threat posed by global warming, but continued to pour millions into climate denial campaigns for 27 years, could worsen the fossil fuel industry's liability picture. Click for more: http://bit.ly/1SCqsYR .
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