A nonprofit media company is setting the record straight on efforts to incorrectly deny that severe weather events have grown more destructive in recent years.
Crooked Ideas (@crooked.ideas) posted a video calling out Chris Wright, the current U.S. energy secretary and a former CEO of a fracking company. The video addressed Wright's false claims about the changing climate.
@crooked.ideas Trump's energy secretary published an error-filled review of climate science that is making people laugh. #climate ♬ original sound - Crooked Ideas
As average global temperatures have continued to rise, extreme weather events such as heat waves and hurricanes have grown more severe. The result has been increased devastation, leading to more deaths, destroyed homes, and higher insurance premiums.
Scientists such as those working for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have repeatedly shown that rising temperatures have mostly been the result of heat-trapping pollution released by human activities, specifically the burning of dirtier, nonrenewable fuels derived from oil, coal, and natural gas.
However, that has not stopped those with ties to the extracted-fuels industry from spreading false information.
The video first shows a clip of Wright incorrectly describing the findings of a key report from the IPCC. He falsely claimed that the IPCC hasn't said that weather is getting more extreme. Wright also stated that he believed the IPCC hadn't said in the report that the world is facing a climate emergency.
"Like none of that is true, and none of that is claimed in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report," Wright said in the clip, as Kim Strassel, an opinion columnist for the Wall Street Journal, laughed in apparent agreement.
"Haha, yes, lady from the Wall Street Journal, I'm laughing, too," responded Jon Millstein, senior editor for Crooked Ideas, after the clip played. "Laughing at an effort by Trump's Department of Energy to rewrite climate science and then use their 'findings' to undo regulations that are unfavorable to large fossil fuel companies."
As Millstein spoke, his background displayed news headlines from sources like the New York Times, NPR, and the BBC. The sources have all been documenting the current administration's efforts to dismantle existing environmental regulations. Millstein even showed a quote from the most recent IPCC report that directly contradicted Wright's false claims.
"It is an established fact that human-induced greenhouse gas emissions have led to an increased frequency and/or intensity of some weather and climate extremes since pre-industrial times, in particular temperature extremes," read the direct quote from the IPCC report.
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Definitely 💯 In his apparently outdated LinkedIn profile, Wright still identified himself as founder, CEO, and chairman of Liberty Energy. It doesn't mention his role as U.S. Energy Secretary.
"Liberty Energy Inc. provides hydraulic fracturing services and related technologies to onshore oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in North America," according to Yahoo! Finance.
"It's scary to see how hard Trump's team is working to convince his followers that science isn't real, climate change is good, and gasoline is God," Millstein said in the TikTok video.
"Keep sharing reliable information, so they have to work even harder," he urged viewers.
In the comments, users shared their thoughts on Crooked Ideas' message.
"I'm sure the, uh, former fracking CEO has an unbiased view on greenhouse gases and climate change," said one commenter sarcastically.
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