Message From the Editor

Those of you who watched the U.S. presidential debate this week saw that former President Donald Trump barely said two words about climate change while Kamala Harris shared mixed messages – although she did acknowledge it’s a major threat. As we near the end of the world’s hottest summer ever, the stakes couldn’t be higher for the nation that produces more carbon emissions than any other country except China.

But instead of dealing with the hard facts of climate change – like the truth that floods, heat waves, and other disasters are worsening with the rise in greenhouse gases – Trump and his allies on the religious right are offering only fake theories and outright lies about the impact of burning fossil fuels. In fact, one of his backers, well-known Canadian conservative influencer Jordan Peterson, wants you to see climate action as a “pseudo-religion” instead of a rational response to the climate threat, as Geoff Dembicki reports this week.

Peterson is pushing the worldview that he shares with his allies in the U.S. conservative movement – that environmental advocates pushing for action to avert climate catastrophe are followers of a religion that wants to impose “socialist control” over every aspect of modern society. The absurdity of this is obvious, yet Peterson drew large crowds of eager listeners during his recent lecture tour, as Dembicki points out. 

Variations of Peterson’s message can be heard from Texas fracking billionaire and pastor Farris Wilks; rightwing media outlets The Daily Wire and PragerU; anti-abortion groups such as Focus on the Family; and The Heritage Foundation, the Trump-aligned think tank that produced Project 2025.

I’m sure you didn’t believe Trump for a second when he said, “I have nothing to do with Project 2025,” at the debate. But you best believe that this blueprint for a radically conservative government, which includes severely weakening the Environmental Protection Agency, will be implemented if Trump wins the election. 

The fate of our climate is in jeopardy in part because of actors like Jordan Peterson and The Heritage Foundation and, yes, Donald Trump. Just this week, three congressional Democrats admonished fossil fuel executives to comply with a request for “information regarding quid pro quo solicitations” from Trump. Earlier this year the former president promised to gut climate regulations if the oil giants donated $1 billion to his Republican presidential campaign. Yes, Trump will sell out our climate to the highest bidder. Get the full story. 

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Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Readers like you power our journalism dedicated to climate accountability. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?

Image credit: Jordan Peterson / YouTube

Dems Say Big Oil Execs Failing to Come Clean on Trump’s $1 Billion Quid Pro Quo Offer

— By Brett Wilkins (2 min. read) —

A trio of senior congressional Democrats on Tuesday admonished fossil fuel executives to comply with a request for “information regarding quid pro quo solicitations” from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who earlier this year promised to gut climate regulations if they donated $1 billion to his Republican presidential campaign.

In May, Trump reportedly told Big Oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, that he would sign executive orders and take other action to boost the fossil fuel industry if they raised nine figures for his campaign. Executives from ExxonMobil, Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, and other corporations reportedly attended the dinner.

Inside the Anti-Climate Culture War Led by Jordan Peterson and Project 2025

— By Geoff Dembicki (11 min. read) —

Jordan Peterson delivered an urgent message for the rapt crowd on a warm spring evening at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, earlier this year. Thousands of people had bought tickets starting at $95 to hear the Canadian psychologist and star talent of conservative media outlet The Daily Wire promote his latest book, We Who Wrestle With God. 

“We’re in a culture war now,” Peterson explained in a tone both reedy and authoritative, sounding like a nasally smalltown preacher from the Alberta prairies, where he grew up. This war was started, he claimed, because the idea that we can lead moral lives and build a just society based solely on scientific facts “turned out to be wrong.” 

Violations Discovered at Nation’s First Carbon Capture and Storage Project

— By Sharon Kelly (5 min) —

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found multiple Safe Drinking Water Act violations at the nation’s first carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) storage project, PoliticoPro’s E&E News reported today.

The Decatur, IL, project, run by Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), violated rules meant to protect against leaks of captured carbon, the EPA wrote in a notice of violation issued on August 14th.

Toronto Politician Moves to Ban Misleading Fossil Fuel Ads on Transit

— By Geoff Dembicki (3 min. read) —

A Toronto city councillor today published a motion proposing to restrict false and misleading advertising from oil and gas lobby groups on public transit, DeSmog can report. 

The motion recommends that the Toronto Transit Commission, more commonly known as TTC, decline any new ads from the Pathways Alliance and Canada Action, two of Canada’s most prominent fossil fuel marketing organizations. 

Trudeau’s Trans Mountain Expansion Hasn’t Delivered Tidewater Benefits

— By Mitch Anderson (5 min. read) —

It has been four months since the $34 billion expansion of Trans Mountain pipeline finally became operational, realizing the longstanding dream of getting Alberta bitumen to tidewater. This much-hyped milestone was supposed to be a gamechanger for the Alberta patch, ending the reliance on U.S. buyers by accessing new Asian markets with allegedly higher prices. 

While it is still early days, the results so far have been a big fat bust. The price discount of Alberta’s Western Canada Select compared to West Texas Intermediate crude actually increased by $3.25 per barrel since TMX came online on May 1. 

From the Climate Disinformation Database: The Thirteen Foundation

The Thirteen Foundation The Thirteen Foundation is run by Farris Wilks and his wife JoAnn Wilks, and has acted as a major funder of the religious right as well as organizations affiliated with the Koch brothers. Dan and Farris Wilks are two of the largest funders of PragerU (AKA “Prager University”). PragerU’s “Environmental Science” course is dominated by climate change deniers such as Alex Epstein, Bjorn Lomborg, Patrick Moore, and Richard Lindzen. The Thirteen Foundation does not appear to have a stated stance on climate change, however, a number of groups that they fund have spent money denying the existence of man-made climate change. The State Policy Network supports the work of many of the most vocal think tanks that are promoting climate change skepticism including the Heartland Institute, Cato Institute, and Heritage Foundation.

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database, Ad & PR Database, and Koch Network Database.