Plus, EU Plans to Weaken Pesticide Rules ‘Unlawful,’ Experts Say...
From the Editor's Desk
This week French prosecutors raided Elon Musk’s X offices in Paris, gathering evidence on cyber crimes involving the platform’s AI chatbot Grok, which allegedly was used to create sexually complicit deepfakes and spew antisemitic content.
The raid shows just how far afield AI and Big Tech can go if left unchecked, something we’re also seeing in the climate realm.
Tech companies, which until recently were seen as corporate climate leaders, are now embracing oil, gas and even coal as power sources for their energy-hungry AI data centers.
This is yet more evidence of a new, “insidious form of climate denial,” according to astrophysicist and science journalist Adam Becker.
DeSmog’s Rei Takver spoke with Becker about his new book, More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires and Silicon Valley’s Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity. In it, Becker explains how tech executives are chasing sci-fi-inspired fantasies about ever-more technology making our lives endlessly better, ultimately minimizing climate change as a problem.
It leads those executives to conclude that, “Oh, this is something that we can solve later, once we’ve built an [AI] god, or gone to space,” Becker tells DeSmog.
Read Rei’s full interview here for more on this new form of denial.
Tech bros aren’t the only ones involved in a full climate retreat. Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney also once warned the world about climate risk. But now, according to former insiders, he’s pushing increased oil production.
DeSmog’s Mary Stuart reveals that Carney’s former chief of staff said at a recent conference in Toronto that the goal of Carney’s government is to “increase our oil production … as complicated as that may be when it comes to our relationship with the climate and First Nations groups.”
When asked by the moderator to outline what success looks like for Canada as it navigates a tumultuous relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, the ex-staffer said Carney is also prioritizing how to “get LNG to Asia.” Read Mary’s full story here.
Looks like Carney and Big Tech are following the same script: First promise climate leadership, then expand extraction or fossil fuel growth to make more money or gather more power.
Either way, it’s all of us who will ultimately pay the price.
What else do you want to know about these topics? Let us know what questions you’d still like answered: Email us at [email protected].
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Thanks as always,
Geoff Dembicki
Global Managing Editor
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Image: Photo of author Adam Becker and the cover of his new book, More Everything Forever. Credit: Hachette Book Group/DeSmog
Mark Carney’s Goal Is to ‘Increase Our Oil Production,’ Says Former Chief of Staff
— By Mary Stuart (3 min. read) —
It’s an energy agenda seemingly at odds with the prime minister’s previous stated commitments to addressing climate change.
Q&A: Tech Billionaires’ AI Space Empire Fantasies Are ‘An Insidious Form
of Climate Denial’
— By Rei Takver (8 min. read) —
Science journalist Adam Becker speaks with DeSmog about how Silicon Valley tech billionaires have invented new forms of greenwashing and climate denial in their quest for ever-more fantastic technology.
The Political Roots of Nigel Farage and Reform UK Stretch Back To Alberta
— By Mitch Anderson (5 min. read) —
It turns out oil and gas aren’t Alberta’s only hazardous exports.
EU Plans to Weaken Pesticide
Rules ‘Unlawful,’ Experts Say
— Clare Carlile (3 min. read) —
The European Parliament has “a legal and moral obligation to reject these dangerous proposals”, according to Dutch Left MEP Anja Hazekamp.
Claire Coutinho Touts Anti-Net Zero Reports by Oil-Linked Authors
—By Adam Barnett (4 min. read) —
Tory energy chief endorses debunked studies written by fossil fuel industry interests.
From the Climate Disinformation Database: Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel is the billionaire president of the hedge fund Clarium Capital Management. He co-founded PayPal in 1998 and helped make it public in 2002. He used earnings made in the PayPal sale to make a series of investments, including launching the software company Palantir Technologies. In 2022, The New York Times described Thiel, who was known in 2016 as one of the largest donors to Donald Trump‘s presidential campaign, as “the Right’s Would-Be Kingmaker” and again a key backer of the Make American Great Again (MAGA) movement. On Joe Rogan’s podcast, Thiel described climate change as “science in quotes.” He added, “I think the fact that it’s called climate science tells you that it’s more dogmatic than anything that’s truly science should be.” He also said, “it’s possible climate change is happening. It’s possible we don’t have great accounts of why that’s going on. So I’m not questioning any of those things. But, but how scientific it is? ... I think the fact that it’s called climate science tells you that it’s more dogmatic than anything that’s truly science should be. Dogma doesn’t mean that it’s wrong, but…”
Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database, Ad & PR Database, and Koch Network Database.
