Lexus: the Darker Side of Climate Denial

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Blogger A. Siegel has stumbled across a pretty embarrassing spectacle put on earlier this year by Lexus.

As part of the launch of their “Darker Side of Green” Campaign, Lexus held a debate, hosted by comedian Sarah Silverman about whether climate change is actually happening.

Pretty unbelievable that this would get through their vetting process, unless of course they thought it was edgy or shocking enough to sell more cars.

Either way the debate did nothing more than propagate the myth that climate change is somehow not happening or something we need to worry about.

I would expect this kind of thing from the likes of former tobacco company spindoctors like the Heartland Institute than I would a company trying to promote their hybrid car.

You would also think that a debate about a complicated scientific issue like climate change would involve actual scientists who do research in the field. Instead, Lexus chose to have a filmmaker, who’s last film was a propaganda piece paid for by a mining company and a journalist (who made the best of a silly situation).

And the filmmaker, Phelim McAleer, does a good job embarrassing himself but that is beside the point.

Whatever carbon emissions Lexus thinks it’s going to reduce with its new hybrid were probably equaled out by the hot air produced at this ridiculous debate over something the likes of NASA and the US Academy of Science say is a real problem and something that needs to be addressed.

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Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmogBlog.

He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning.

Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks.

Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder.

Prior to DeSmogBlog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health.

In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications.

Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.

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