I Watched The Climate Deniers' New Movie So You Don't Have To

A British filmmaker's latest attempt to convince us that climate change isn't happening is a feeble affair. But propaganda doesn't have to convince everyone to be effective.

This is Edition #3 of The Climate Laundry—now with audio! Please subscribe if you’d like to read more, and please consider becoming a paid subscriber if you’re able to support my work.

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Just how lucrative are fossil fuels? According to some estimates, the global oil and gas industry reaped profits of at least $4 trillion in 2023, with further analysis indicating that the sector has generated almost $3 billion a day, every day, for the last 50 years. We may never know how many trillions the industry holds in assets, infrastructure and legacy capital.

These are truly mind-boggling sums. Which only makes Climate: The Movie (The Cold Truth) all the more perplexing. Because, while it’s not surprising that the fossil fuel lobby is still making propaganda films, what is puzzling is how low-rent they are.

In his 120-minute screed, director Martin Durkin and friends set out to prove a) that there is no climate emergency and b) it is climate scientists who are corrupt, actually. “This is a story of the corruption of science,” Durkin mutters. “It’s a story about the bullying and intimidation of anyone who dares to challenge the climate alarm.” The thesis is a neat, if lazy, piece of reality-inversion; a feature-length manifestation of “every accusation is a confession”. Climate science is “a wonderful way to increase government power”, croaks William Happer, a retired physicist famous for agreeing to conceal the sources of his funding. The film goes on to roll out a veritable Who’s Who of lobbyists, cranks and conmen, almost all of whom have well-established ties to the fossil fuel industries.