Greenwashing hucksters and fraud climate change denial

Peter Dykstra: The Birth of Greenwashing

Five early efforts to make the ickiest environmental efforts look clean

When I was growing up, I had a fascination with phonies – that certain brand of phonies that make millions off a gullible public by offering a warped reality.

They ranged from the staged athletics of professional wrestling to the surreal promises of religious figures offering a combo: Eternal happiness and earthly wealth.

On Sunday nights, I’d tune in to Rev. Ike, a preacher who used hypnotic tones to offer unseen wealth to those who sent a fat check to his Ellwood City, Pa. address in exchange for a prayer cloth. Testimonies from nouveau-wealthy prayer cloth owners sealed the deal for new recruits.

Later, I was transfixed by faith healer Ernest Angley, who brought hither the maimed, and the halt, and the blind (Luke 14:21) and seemed to cure them by sucking the Demon straight out of their foreheads with the palm of his hand.

Politics and Pro Wrestling

Jesse Ventura

Minn. Gov. Jesse Ventura speaks at a Youth In Government 2000 Model Assembly.

Credit: moleofproduction/flickr

And the maudlin, bloody theatrics of TV wrestlers were just a variation on this. When wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura was elected Governor of Minnesota in 1999, it seemed to confirm that theatrics that played well in religion or athletics could play anywhere.

Climate denial and greenwashing

In the 1980’s and ‘90’s, the growing science around climate change and an abundance of other environmental issues created its own backlash. Those sowing doubt seemed to take their cues from the religious and athletic hucksters that fascinated me back in the day.

This week, I’ll pay some backhanded tribute to PR efforts behind what so many of us would consider to be environmentally odious work.

'Scientific' whaling exemption

Scientific whaling

Credit: Institute for Cetacean Research, via the International Whaling Commission

Even an issue as widely supported as ending commercial whaling drew an opponent. Tele-Press Associates was a Manhattan-based PR firm with, for the most part, a single client.

They were the Western voice of the Japan whaling Association. Tele-Press was mostly a one-man show, a native New Yorker named Alan MacNow. He founded the agency in 1959, according to Sourcewatch, a website that researches industry PR efforts. The primary clients of Tele-Press were the Japan Whaling Association and the Japan Fisheries Association.

MacNow accused conservation groups of distorting information on whaling and using the issue purely for fundraising purposes. He recruited two U.S. Congressmen, Mervyn Dymally (D-CA) and Charles Rangel (D-NY) to accuse the groups of anti-Japanese racism. When the International Whaling Commission voted to end commercial whaling in 1986, he helped promote an escape clause by which whaling for “scientific research” could continue. No evidence of how the research was ever used emerged – except to set the quota for the next year’s research.

MacNow died in 2010. Tele-Press has been inactive since. But the “research” exemption lives on.

American Council on Science and Health

Elizabeth Whelan (right) with Norman Borlaug and Christine Whelan

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

According to its own website, “The Council was founded in 1978 by a group of scientists with a singular focus: to publicly support and utilize evidence-based science and medicine and to educate the public by debunking junk science and exaggerated health scares.”

The American Council on Science and Health has said its funding base includes minimal support from affected corporations, but the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy found otherwise.

Six-figure gifts from the Koch-linked Donors Trust, from the conservative Lynne and Harry Bradley Foundation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, ExxonMobil and more helped power ACSH.

They were the go-to group of the 1990’s to criticize just about any study or regulatory move that called for restrictions on widely-used chemical or pesticide products. Founder Elizabeth Whelan, who called her opponents “toxic terrorists,” died in 2014, but ACSH is still active.

Kyoto Climate Accord

When the world came together in the mid-1990’s to build the Kyoto Climate Accord, the Global Climate Coalition brought industries together to oppose it.

According to the sleuths at DeSmog, oil giants like Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron; trade groups like the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; and Ford, Chrysler and General Motors came together to halt Kyoto and undercut the language of the UN’s early climate reports.

GCC reportedly spent $13 million on ads highlighting Kyoto’s weak spot: It required little of growing industrial giants like India and China, but much of the industrialized world. PR giants like Burson-Marsteller and E. Bruce Harrison added the cause. Harrison’s work dated back to 1962, when as a young PR exec at the Chemical Manufacturers Association, he led a personal attack campaign against Silent Spring author Rachel Carson.

The U.S. never joined Kyoto. Mission Accomplished, GCC disbanded in 2002.

Australia's Galileo Movement

Greenwash groups tend to be an American phenomenon, but there are exceptions. The Galileo Movement sprang fully formed in Australia in 2011, reportedly founded by two retirees who coordinated a national tour by the peerless peer Lord Monckton. Aussie coal baroness Gina Rinehart pitched in $500k for the tour.

After an initial flash in the pan, the Galileo Movement hasn’t moved much. Their last social media entries or page updates took place in 2018, but they should get some props for usurping the image of the much put-upon Galileo for their cause.

Touting CO2's benefits

Greening Earth Society was founded and funded by the Western Fuels Association, a trade group for Rocky Mountain coal mining firms. The Society issued a video that embraced debunked claims that the carbon dioxide we’re pumping into the atmosphere won’t be a problem. The Society is defunct, but “The Greening of Planet Earth” is still viewable on YouTube.

Next week, I’ll highlight five current greenwashers. Enjoy!!

Peter Dykstra is our weekend editor and columnist. His views do not necessarily represent those of Environmental Health News, The Daily Climate, or publisher Environmental Health Sciences.

Big Ben and Parliament building in the United Kingdom.

UK residents take government’s climate strategy to European human rights court

Two British men argue that the UK’s failure to protect them from climate-related harm violates their human rights and have escalated their case to Europe’s top human rights court.

Damien Gayle reports for The Guardian.

Keep reading...Show less
Ornate Parliament Hill building and clock tower in Canada's capital city.

Mark Carney’s rise places Trump between two quiet climate champions

Canada’s newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, both seasoned climate advocates, now flank President Trump, creating a North American dynamic where climate leadership persists even when it’s not a campaign focus.

Justin Worland reports for TIME.

Keep reading...Show less
Airplane landing on a landing strip with snowy mountains in the background.

Aviation insiders call for flight limits as climate concerns soar

A newly formed coalition of aviation professionals warns that the industry must urgently control flight growth and adopt deeper emissions cuts to avoid heavy external regulation and environmental harm.

Damian Carrington reports for The Guardian.

Keep reading...Show less
Pakistani man selling fruit on the street.

Most climate disaster deaths in Pakistan go uncounted as heat and floods strain health care

A new Amnesty International report reveals that the majority of climate-related deaths in Pakistan are not recorded, obscuring the full human toll as extreme weather events worsen and overwhelm the country's fragile health system.

Keerti Gopal reports for Inside Climate News.

Keep reading...Show less
A kitchen wall with cabinets and an oven
Credit: Ida/Pixabay

Energy Star program faces shutdown as EPA reorganizes under Trump administration

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate the Energy Star program and other climate initiatives as part of a major agency reorganization, according to internal documents and recordings.

Lisa Friedman and Rebecca F. Elliott report for The New York Times.

Keep reading...Show less
Two men holding rope and setting up a roof for solar panels.

Political shifts stall $8 billion in clean energy projects as U.S. renewables boom

The U.S. clean energy sector has grown dramatically, but policy uncertainty under President Trump has already led to the cancellation or downsizing of nearly $8 billion in renewable projects this year.

Ames Alexander reports for Floodlight.

Keep reading...Show less
Dome and columns of St. Peters Basilica in Italy.

Despite Pope Francis' call for divestment a decade ago, Catholic institutions have made uneven progress

Ten years after Pope Francis urged Catholic institutions to move away from fossil fuel investments, only a fraction have fully divested, with many still prioritizing profit or opting for shareholder engagement.

Liz Bulnes reports for Deutsche Welle.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.