🙊 Liar Liar, Fossil Fuels on Fire! 🙉
Sounds Like Impact: A newsletter for audio and action - Vol. 26
Welcome to Sounds Like Impact!
This week’s edition is about climate disinformation and misinformation. I also introduce you to Jamil Simon from Making Peace Visible podcast, who is one of our #SoundsLikeImpact community subscribers!
ICYMI: Last week Alexandra Cohl gave us a curation for World Homeless Day and I interviewed Alexandra Rivera from United Stateless podcast. Also, I mentioned upcoming curations that I’m accepting pitches for. Thanks to
for amplifying my request!🗳 Would you consider helping plan future curations by taking this quick poll below?
Reminder: To guest curate, be interviewed, advertise and more, click here.
🎧 #AudioForAction Theme of the Week
Countering Climate Denial & Delay
I want everyone to start this curation by watching (or listening) to Al Gore’s TED Talk - “What the Fossil Fuel Industry Doesn’t Want You To Know.” To sum it up though, the public was intentionally misled for decades about the damage that fossil fuels cause. We have corporate greed and enablers (PR companies, certain politicians, lobbyists) to thank for upholding the ruse that still haunts us today.
But instead of me talking about all of that, I encourage you to listen to this curation about the history of corporate climate denial and the ways folks are pushing back, through rigorous data collection and impactful climate communication.
P.S. I recommend adding this Civics 101 episode - Disinformation and Misinformation to your queue. It breaks down the difference, and though contextualized about elections (the 2022 one to be exact), it’s still very much relevant today and to our upcoming mid-terms.
The Journal., Inside Exxon’s Strategy to Downplay Climate Change
The exposé came out in September, so this is the latest update about Exxon’s tactics, the history of which was covered extensively by the Drilled podcast on their very first season.
Speaking of Drilled, I do want to highlight this particular series called ‘The Mad Men of Climate Denial’ (season 3). This episode looks at the history and impact of the PR giant Edelman. You can also read about last year’s congressional testimonies related to the PR industry’s involvement in climate denial.
The Climate Denier’s Playbook, You Owe Your Life to Oil and Gas
Okay, climate change is no laughing matter, but perhaps comedy is a way we can communicate about this important problem? I first came to know about The Climate Denier’s Playbook thanks to one of the episodes I worked on of Degrees, where we talked to Pooja Tilvawala a little bit about climate comedy. She brought up Climate Denier’s co-host Rollie Williams, who you might know from their climate comedy YouTube channel Climate Town.
Planet v. Profit, Climate Disinformation on Facebook
It’s no secret that social media can often be used as a channel for dis-informing the public, leading to rampant misinformation on platforms. This episode looks into what has happened on Facebook specifically.
The Broadside, A look inside America’s climate data bunker
While some try to suppress or cherry pick data related to man-made climate change, the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) works to analyze collected climate data and translate it into meaningful tools for the public!
Science with Sabine, Greenwashing: Spot and Avoid It
Practical tips so you aren’t fooled by companies engaging in this tactic. There are also resources in the CTAs below that can help you understand greenwashing and related strategies that can mislead us.
Bonus Episode (added 10/19)
Outside/In, Environmental disinformation is getting weirder
This episode dropped the day after this curation came out, but adds more information not covered in the other episodes. Among other things, it goes into examples of recent misinformation around the Hawaiian wildfires / hurricanes and disinformation campaigns in Wyoming.
🚨 Calls to Action
Campaign: Help hold your company accountable on its involvement with climate policy. ClimateVoice has an Employee Climate Action Guide to help you with your advocacy.
I found out about ClimateVoice though
, which interviewed Deboah McNamara, the co-Executive Director of the organization, about how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has obstructed climate policy. Read the interview for info on a campaign to stop them.
Read: Climate disinformation is showing up in our schools: “Videos denying climate science approved by Florida as state curriculum.” And
just so happened to do more investigative reporting about the organization behind these climate denial videos.Subscribe:
, the newsletter from Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org and Third Act. His latest piece mentions that Exxon just acquired one of the largest fracking operators IN THE WORLD, but he also talks about the right type energy we need. Hint - it comes from above.Communicate: The PR industry backing the fossil fuel industry may be powerful, but climate communicators can be just as and even more powerful. Check out this solutions-oriented white paper on climate communications. You can also review these talking points from Fossil Free Media.
Create: Are you more of a creative type? Consider getting involved with the Creatives for Climate community. They have compiled lots of resources, as has the Hollywood Climate Summit.
Visit: If you are in the New York City, check out the latest exhibit from The Climate Museum called “The End of Fossil Fuel.” It closes January 14, 2024.
👥 Community Corner
Jamil Simon is the creator of Making Peace Visible and one of our community creators, who is also paid subscriber.
Jamil is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, peace activist, and expert on promoting humanitarian reform in developing countries. For 25 years, in addition to his work as a filmmaker, Jamil worked as a consultant in communication strategy for multilateral organizations like USAID and the World Bank. He designed and implemented public awareness programs in developing countries to promote reform of all kinds, including sustainable agriculture in Malawi, conflict resolution skills in Jordan, democracy in Mali, and water conservation in Tunisia.
In 2019, Jamil was awarded the Luxembourg Peace Prize for War Stories Peace Stories: Peace Conflict and the Media, an international symposium that brought over 400 leading journalists and peacebuilders together. An unprecedented event, the symposium ignited a powerful cross-dialogue between journalists and peacebuilders on the invaluable role the media can play in promoting a deeper understanding of peace. An ongoing project, War Stories Peace Stories now includes a podcast, Making Peace Visible, a documentary series called Peace Docs, and a seasonal journal launching in 2023 called NUANCE.
You pass a stranger on the street and can only say one sentence to get them interested in your show. What do you say?
Peace is invisible and it shouldn’t be, we’re trying to change that by working with journalists.
Share a podcast episode that you still think about to this day. What was it that moved you?
That’s a tough question because there are a few. I love the podcast Us & Them hosted by Trey Kay. We interviewed him for Making Peace Visible because he is so adept at talking to people across divides, a skill America could use more of.
One particular episode he did was called “Gun Divide.” I was especially moved by one of the people he interviewed. Danielle Walker was the only Black Representative representative in the West Virginia House of Delegates. She explains that she carries a gun, even though she is against guns. Her reasoning is poignant and very sad.
If you could pass the mic to anyone about a social issue that you care about, who would it be?
I would pass the mic to Shamil Idriss. Shamil is the CEO of Search for Common Ground, the largest peacebuilding organization in the world. He speaks so eloquently about peacebuilding; he makes the concept tangible and clear. He also speaks clearly and persuasively about the dangers of our social media platforms and the embedded algorithms that promote anger and divisiveness, which was the topic of my interview with him earlier this year.
👋🏾 Thanks for joining our community, Jamil!
If you are interested in doing the same, please upgrade to paid! You can find out the benefits if you are a podcaster by clicking here, though if you are a social impact worker, please get in touch so we can chat about how I can support you too!
