A questionable choice by one of the country’s most respected newspapers has created backlash over its role in spreading climate misinformation.

what’s going on

The New Republic asked why The New York Times invited Kevin Roberts to a one-day climate conference in September. Roberts is the head of the Heritage Foundation as well as the coordinator of Project 2025 and has argued that climate action and environmentalism are merely vehicles to influence corporations and their investment strategies in the name of diversity, equity and inclusion, plus environmental, social and governance issues. .

He also wrote a book about the need for a violent “second American revolution” for the political right to install its ideologies across the country. It was supposed to be released in September, but was pushed to November 12, presumably to avoid later connections Project 2025 to Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy so close to the election, as TNR speculated. Bill 2025 would reduce environmental regulations and eliminate or cripple climate agencies, among other government changes.

In the book, Roberts said that ESG is “actually a system of punishing the lawless and empowering the lawless. In fact, it is anarcho-tyranny for business.”

A Reddit thread which highlighted a Media matters The story of the Times’ choice to use Roberts drew abject consternation among commentators, many of whom wrote that the Times was abandoning its responsibility to make more money by catering to an audience interested in unlimited economic growth at the expense of the environment.

Why is this important?

Roberts spoke at Climate Forward in September and dismissed the proven science, in addition to concerns about how Project 2025 would install conservative loyalists in positions traditionally held by career scientists, as the Times reports. reported. With the platform, Roberts spread lies about the impact of the climate crisis, including that deaths from rising temperatures are falling when they are projected to rise to 14.5 million annually by 2050.

He said recent catastrophic natural disasters exacerbated by global warming were caused by “a hot year”.

“Events like these aren’t the only way news outlets have undermined their credibility on climate issues in recent years,” TNR said.

Another issue with Roberts’ speech at the event — billed by the Times as “bringing together newsmakers trying to influence climate policy and politics for a day of rigorous and provocative interviews” — is that Project 2025 calls for abandoning energy development clean in favor of doubling dirty energy. ExxonMobil was a major financier of the Heritage Foundation for many years.

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The United States and the world in general are already besieged by the consequences of global warming, which is driven by burning coal, gas and oil. Verdant technology such as solar power promises to reverse that warming and its associated effects, which include more frequent and severe extreme weatherwater and food insecurity and negative health outcomes.

What are people saying?

“No matter how rigorous the interview… I might being the key word — you’d provide the mic feels like a throwback to the days when cable news shows felt the need to ‘balance’ climate scientists with morons who denied the climate was changing,” TNR said. “… It was awful then, and it’s awful now.”

There is nothing wrong with opposing views, and discussing them in an open forum with respect needs to happen more often. This also requires transparency and a commitment to grounding opinions in facts. Sharing values ​​and moving to solutions are also essential for productivity, says climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe.

“This is a weird guest choice,” one Redditor he wrote about Roberts.

someone else joke: “The planet you live on doesn’t matter for nothing! My wallet needs more stuffing is what matters here!”

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