Climate Science Deniers Use Coronavirus to Downplay Environmental Threats

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Commentators known to spread disinformation on climate change are using the COVID-19 pandemic to downplay the threat of environmental crises and undermine action, DeSmog analysis hasย found.

The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared that theย COVID-19 outbreak was a pandemic on 11 March 2020. The virus hasย affectedย hundreds of countries and territories worldwide, and has so far led to tens of thousands ofย deaths.

Its arrival in the UK spawned thousands of words of commentary, with many writers who have previously used their platforms to undermine mainstream climate science or attack climate action turning their attention to the pandemic. Their attacks normally take one of threeย forms.


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โ€œThe Dystopia Greens Want Us to Liveย Inโ€ฆโ€

Environmentalists have been quick to point out that the drop in carbon emissions and air pollution due to the COVID-19 outbreak isย unlikely to have a long-term impact, and that policies they have long promoted do not require any great loss of liberty or need toย sacrifice quality of life. But libertarian voices and free-market advocates nonetheless claim the government-implemented lockdown measuresย represent an outcome that environmental activists have been fighting for allย along.ย 

Brendan Oโ€™Neill, editor of Koch-funded websiteย Spiked, argued that โ€œthis pandemic has shown us what life would be like if environmentalists got their wayโ€. In aย columnย titled โ€œCOVID-19: a glimpse of the dystopia greens want us to live in,โ€ Oโ€™Neill claimed government responses to the virus represent a โ€œwarped dystopiaโ€ that environmentalists likeย George Monbiot have been calling for.

Oโ€™Neill regularly speaks out against what he describes as โ€œclimate change alarmismโ€ and is highly critical of Extinction Rebellion, Greta Thunberg and other environmental activists, who he says are the โ€œenemies of libertyโ€. Political blog Guido Fawkes also used the crisis to regularly attackย Extinction Rebellion,ย claimingย that the group had โ€œhijackedโ€ COVID-19 for its ownย ends.

Previously, Oโ€™Neill referred to the COVID-19 outbreak as a โ€œfashionable apocalypseโ€ similar to those supposedly constructed by environmentalists and those wanting the UK to stay in the EU.ย 

Motor showย hostย Jeremy Clarksonย made a similar argument inย The Times, describing the COVID-19 pandemic as a scenario โ€œour eco friends have been dreaming about.โ€ For โ€œhardcore environmentalistsโ€, he argued, the coronavirus lockdown is โ€œtheir idea of a wet dream. Fewer people, no travel, no pollution and, as a smear of icing on the cake, noย commerce.โ€

Clarkson has questioned the validity of anthropogenic climate change for years, though he recentlyย appeared to soften his stance.ย 

Former UKIP and Brexit Party leaderย Nigel Farageย meanwhileย accused environmentalistsย of failing to stand up to repressive regimes in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, claiming โ€œthe Green lobby is happy to inflict chaos on our society any time it choosesโ€. Specifically, he said environmentalists were not doing enough to challenge China, which he blames for the global pandemic. Farage has previously said he โ€œhasn’t got a clueโ€ whether carbon dioxide drives climateย change.

โ€˜Compared to COVID-19, Climate Change is aย Non-Problemโ€ฆโ€™

Other commentators have used the COVID-19 pandemic to downplay the threat of climateย change.

Theย Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), the UKโ€™s most prominent climate science denial group, has regularly shared material promoting this argument over the past twoย weeks.

The group recentlyย repostedย an article written byย Jeff Jacobyย that said theย โ€œhorrors of pandemics have been documented and depicted often. Yet while climate activists have been forecasting world-ending doomsday scenarios since the 1960s, the apocalypse never seems to materialize.โ€ Jacoby, who has previouslyย claimedย global warming โ€œbrings positivesโ€, was at pains to point out that, in contrast to climate change, โ€œplagues areย realโ€.

The GWPF alsoย shared an articleย by Lorrie Goldstein, originally published in the Toronto Sun, who argued that the world had โ€œgambled on the wrong threat โ€“ climate change.โ€ Goldstein argued that COVID-19 โ€œshows us what the world will be like if we abandon fossil fuels prematurely,โ€ claiming that without high-carbon fuels, โ€œhospitals could not maintain sterileย conditionsโ€.

Dutch climate science denial groupย CLINTELย echoed the sentiment that climate change was not a real threat in anย open letterย titled โ€œfight virus notย carbonโ€.

The group demanded that the EUโ€™s Green New Deal be abandoned because โ€œcompared to COVID-19 climate change is a non-problem.โ€ The letter was signed by high-profile climate science deniers includingย Viv Forbes,ย Fritz Vahrenholt, andย Richard Lindzen.

Likewise,ย Rupert Darwall, a policy consultant and GWPF report writer, contrasted the threat of climate change and COVID-19ย in an article for The Hillย saying the pandemic โ€œshows what a genuine crisis looksย likeโ€.


Read about US COVID-19 misinformation โ€”ย Meet the Climate Science Deniers Who Downplayed COVID-19ย Risks


Sherelle Jacobs, writing in the Telegraph, for which Darwall has also regularly written,ย arguedย that โ€œwe needย to redirect university financing away from climate change predictive modelling, into the scientifically uncontested problem of pandemics.โ€ Jacobs has regularly used her platform toย cast doubtย on the veracity of mainstream climateย science.ย 

Tom Welsh, the Telegraphโ€™s comment editor, alsoย claimedย that coronavirus has made environmental projects look โ€œextraordinarily decadentโ€. In the same vein, controversial media personalityย Katie Hopkinsย expressedย her delight that in the face of the pandemic, โ€œclimate weirdos have shutย upโ€.

โ€œThis Coronavirus Pandemic Could Be a Bigย Hoaxโ€ฆโ€

There are some climate science deniers that consider COVID-19 to be a conspiracy or that disregard it as a threat; though these areย fewer in the UK than the US.

Piers Corbyn, a self-styled โ€˜weathermanโ€™ whose workย Boris Johnson has previously promoted, recently claimedย the pandemic is a โ€œworld population cullโ€ created by โ€œmega-rich control freaksโ€ Bill Gates and George Soros to deal with carbon dioxideย emissions.

Corbyn, who has previouslyย saidย that โ€œglobalist elitesโ€ are using climate science as a cover to deindustrialise the West, alsoย falsely claimedย that Soros owns a company in Wuhan, andย urgedย his Twitter followers to โ€œrefuse theย vaccineโ€.

Godfrey Bloom, former UKIP MEP, echoed these sentiments when heย tweetedย about โ€œthe coronavirus hoaxโ€, linking to anย articleย that questioned whether the pandemic could be a โ€œbig hoaxโ€ by those โ€œwho seek to profit โ€“ financially or politically โ€“ from the ensuing panic.โ€ Former UKIP researcherย Ben Pileย also took to Twitter to suggest people were โ€œbeing playedโ€ by the media coverage of both the risks of COVID-19 and climateย change.

Some climate science deniers have even claimed they have found a cure for COVID-19. Breitbart columnistย James Delingpoleย has shared his interest in hearing from funders after claiming he fought through a COVID-19 infection with โ€œa high powered zinc formulaโ€ ; a theory a University of Reading professor in cellular microbiologyย has called โ€œabsolute garbage.โ€ Alt-right talk show radio hostย Alex Jonesย alsoย allegedly marketed ineffective treatmentsย and cures for COVID-19 on his show โ€“ a charge heย denies.

Main image: Center for Disease Control and Prevention / Publicย Domain

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