Abstract
The denial of climate change and its negative consequences for global environments is pervasive in certain corridors of corporate and political power. This agnosia by powerful elites is a substantial contributor to global environmental degradation and destruction. This chapter explores the power of ignorance and argues that political dismissiveness of climate change is a recipe to exploit the environment for political and profitable purposes. Moreover, it argues that ignorance, defined as ‘unjustifiable belief’, provides those in positions of power and entitlement to assert their own unquestioning expertise within an ideological bias that not only furthers their political and capital aspirations but endangers the planet.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alier, J. (2000). Retrospective Environmentalism and Environmental Justice Movements Today. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 11(4), 45–50.
Amos, J. (2017). Arctic Ice Crack Takes Major Turn. Science and Environment. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40113393
Baquet, D. (2017). President Trump’s War on Science. Editorial. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/09/opinion/sunday/trump-epa-pruitt-science.html
BBC. (2015, December 13). COP21: Paris Climate Deal: Best Chance to Save Planet. BBC News. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35086346
Bengtsson, H. (2016). Biggest US Coal Company Funded Dozens of Groups Questioning Climate Change. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/13/peabody-energy-coal-mining-climate-change-denial-funding
Bohr, J. (2016). The Climatism Cartel: Why Climate Deniers Oppose Market-Based Mitigation Policy. Environmental Politics, 25(5), 812–830.
Bostock, D. (1988). Plato’s Theaetetus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Braham, E. (2016). The Rise and Rise of Citizen Science. Positive News. https://www.positive.news/2016/science/24628/rise-rise-citizen-science/
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. (2018). Timeline: It Is Two Minutes to Midnight. https://thebulletin.org/timeline
Calestous, J. (2016). Innovations and Its Enemies – Why People Resist New Technologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Carrington, K., Hogg, R., & Sozzo, M. (2016). Southern Criminology. The British Journal of Criminology, 56, 1–20.
Chang, N. (2002). Silencing Political Dissent. New York: Seven Stories Press.
Clifford, M., & Edwards, T. (2012). Environmental Crime (2nd ed.). Burlington: Jones and Bartlett Learning.
Cloud, D. (2018 February 28). Trump Proposes Huge Increase in Military Spending. Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-trump-defense-20180212-story.html
Code, L. (2004). The Power of Ignorance. Philosophical Papers, 33(3), 291–308.
Cohn, M. (2017). Trump’s Climate Withdrawal Is an Impeachable Offense. Truthout. http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/40838-trump-s-climate-withdrawal-is-an-impeachable-offense
DiChristopher, T. (2017). Energy Secretary Rick Perry Says CO2 Is Not the Main Driver of Climate Change CNBC Energy. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/19/energy-sec-rick-perry-says-co2-is-not-the-main-driver-of-climate-change.html
Dunlap, R., & Jacques, P. (2013). Climate Change Denial Books and Conservative Think Tanks. The American Behavioral Scientist, 57(6), 699–733.
Eckhouse, B., Natter, E., & Martin, C. (2018). President Trump Slaps Tariffs on Solar Panels in Major Blow to Renewable Energy. Time. http://time.com/5113472/donald-trump-solar-panel-tariff/
Farrell, J. (2016). Corporate Funding and Ideological Polarization About Climate Change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, PNAS, 113(1), 92–97. http://www.pnas.org/content/113/1/92.
Fischer, D. (2013). “Dark Money” Funds Climate Change Denial Effort. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dark-money-funds-climate-change-denial-effort/
Foucault, M. (1981). The History of Sexuality (Vol. 1). Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Frickel, S. (2013). Knowledge Politics. Mobilizing Ideas. https://mobilizingideas.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/knowledge-politics/
Friedrich, T., Timmerman, A., Tigchelaar, M., Timm, O., & Ganapolski, A. (2016). Nonlinear Climate Sensitivity for Future Greenhouse Warming. Science Advances, 2(11). http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/11/e1501923.full.
Frumhoff, P., & Oreskes, O. (2015). Fossil Fuel Firms Are Still Bankrolling Climate Denial Lobby Groups. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/25/fossil-fuel-firms-are-still-bankrolling-climate-denial-lobby-groups
Geiling, N. (2018). Federal Court Denies Trump’s Last-Ditch Attempt to Derail the Youth Climate Lawsuit. Think Progress. https://thinkprogress.org/federal-court-denies-trump-writ-mandamus-climate-lawsuit-4c489af5dad2/
Global Witness. (2017). The Defenders. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2017/jul/13/the-defenders-tracker
Goyes, D., & South, N. (2017). Green Criminology Before “Green Criminology”: Amnesia and Absences. Critical Criminology, 25(2), 165–181.
Greshko, M., Parek, L., & Howard, B. (2018). A Running List of How Trump Is Changing the Environment. National Geographic. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/how-trump-is-changing-science-environment/
Griffin, A. (2017, January 25). Donald Trump Orders Environmental Protection Agency to Delete All Climate Change Information From Its Website. The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/donald-trump-environmental-protection-agency-website-climate-change-global-warming-a7544621.html
Grimm, N. (2017). UN Secretary-General Calls on the World to Remain United in the Face of Climate Change. ABC News. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-31/un-calls-on-world-to-remain-united-in-face-of-climate-change/8576642
Grundmann, R., & Stehr, N. (2003). Social Control and Knowledge in Democratic Societies. Science and Public Policy, 30(3), 183–188.
Hall, M. (2015). Exploring Green Crime. Introducing the Legal, Social and Criminological Contexts of Environmental Harm. London: Palgrave.
Hamman, E., Walters, R., & Maguire, R. (2015). Environmental Crime and Specialist Courts: The Case for a “One-Stop” (Judicial) Shop in Queensland. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 27(1), 55–79.
Harding, R. (1983). Nuclear Energy and the Destiny of Mankind – Some Criminological Perspectives. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 16(2), 81–92.
Harte, V. (2013). Plato’s Politics of Ignorance. In V. Harte & M. Lane (Eds.), Politeia in Greek and Roman Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Herbig, F., & Joubert, S. (2006). Criminological Semantics: Conservation Criminology – Vision or Vagary. Acta Criminologica, 19(3), 88–103.
Hertsgaard, M. (2017). Climate Denialism Is Literally Killing Us. The Nation. https://www.thenation.com/article/climate-denialism-is-literally-killing-us/
Higgins, P. (2010). Eradicating Ecocide: Laws and Governance to Prevent the Destruction of Our Planet. London: Shepheard-Walwyn.
Higgins, P. (2015). Eradicating Ecocide: Exposing Corporate and Political Practices Destroying the Planet (2nd ed.). London: Shepheard-Walwyn.
Higgins, P., South, N., & Short, D. (2012). Protecting the Planet after Rio – The Need for the Crime of Ecocide. Criminal Justice Matters, 90(1), 4–6.
Hoban, T., & Brooks, R. (1996). Green Justice – The Environment and the Courts (2nd ed.). Boulder: Westview Press.
Holden, E. (2018). Climate Change Skeptics Run the Trump Administration. Politco. https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/07/trump-climate-change-deniers-443533
Holland, T. (2016, June 1). Donald Trump Has “Fascinating Parallels” with Caligula, Historian Says. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jun/01/donald-trump-has-fascinating-parallels-with-caligula-says-historian
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2013a). IPCC Factsheet. What Is the IPCC? https://www.ipcc.ch/news_and_events/docs/factsheets/FS_what_ipcc.pdf
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2013b). Climate Change 2013. The Physical Science Basis. IPCC Assessment Report Number 5.
Jylha, K., Cantal, C., Akrami, N., & Milfont, T. (2016). Denial of Anthropogenic Climate Change: Social Dominance Orientation Helps Explain the Conservative Male Effect in Brazil and Sweden. Personality and Individual Differences, 98, 184–187.
Kibert, N. (2001). Green Justice: A Holistic Approach to Environmental Injustice. Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law, 17(1), 169–182.
Kluger, J. (2015). Senator Throws Snowball! Climate Change Disproven. Time. http://time.com/3725994/inhofe-snowball-climate/
Krugman, P. (2017a, June 5). Making Ignorance Great Again. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/05/opinion/trump-gop-paris-climate-accord.html?mcubz=0&_r=0
Krugman, P. (2017b, September 29). Trumps Deadly Narcissism. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/opinion/trumps-deadly-narcissism.html
Lambert, D., & Cooper, M. (2000). Issues in Supply Chain Management. Industrial Marketing Management, 29(1), 65–83.
Lauder, J. (2018). New York City Sues Fossil Fuel Giants Over Climate Change. ABC News. http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/nyc-climate-change-lawsuit/9321138
Leary, K. (2018). Activists Are Suing Governments Over the State of the Environment – And Winning. Futurism. https://futurism.com/environmental-activists-are-suing-governments-over-climate-change-and-winning/
Likosky, M. (Ed.). (2002). Transnational Legal Processes – Globalisation and Power Disparities. London: Butterworths.
Liven, A. (2018). The Only Force that Beat Climate Change Is the US Army. Foreign Policy. http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/01/09/the-only-force-that-can-beat-climate-change-is-the-u-s-army/
Lynch, M. (1990). The Greening of Criminology: A Perspective on the 1990s. The Critical Criminologist, 2(3), 1–12.
Lynch, M., & Stretesky, P. (2010). Global Warming, Global Crime: A Green Criminological Perspective. In R. White (Ed.), Global Environmental Harm – Criminological Perspectives (pp. 62–84). Devon: Willan.
Lynch, M., & Stretesky, P. (2014). Exploring Green Criminology: Toward a Green Criminological Approach. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
Lynch, M., Long, M., & Stretesky, P. (2015). Anthropogenic Development Drives Species to Be Endangered: Capitalism and the Decline of Species. In R. Sollund (Ed.), Green harms and Crimes – Critical Criminology in a Changing World (pp. 117–146).
Marlon, J., Howe, P., Mildenberger, M., & Leiserwitz, A. (2016). Yale Climate Opinion Maps – US 2016. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/ycom-us-2016/?est=happening&type=value&geo=county
Matthews, G. (2003). Socratic Ignorance. Philosophic Exchange, 33(1), 776–789.
Mazzoni, M. (2017). Top 10 Climate Deniers in Trump Administration. Eco Watch. https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-deniers-in-trump-administration-2518894384.html
McAdams, D. (2016). The Mind of Donald Trump. Narcissism, Disagreeableness, Grandiosity – A Psychologist Investigates How Trump’s Extraordinary Personality Might Shape His Possible Presidency. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/06/the-mind-of-donald-trump/480771/
McCright, A., & Dunlap, R. (2011). Cool Dudes: The Denial of Climate Change Among Conservative White Males in the United States. Global Environmental Change, 21, 1163–1172.
McKie, R. (2017). Republicans Accused of Obstructing Satellite Research on Climate Change. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/nov/05/donald-trump-accused-blocking-satellite-climate-change-research
Meinhausen, M. (2017). Australian-German Climate and Energy College. Greenhouse Gas Factsheet. http://climate-energy-college.org/ghg-factsheets
Mengel, M., Nauels, A., Rogeli, J., & Schleussner, C. F. (2018). Committed Sea-Level Rise Under the Paris Agreement and the Legacy of Delayed Mitigation Action. Nature Communications, 9(601). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-02985-8
Mervis, J. (2017). Research Is an Afterthought in First Trump Budget. Science. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/research-afterthought-first-trump-budget
Meyer, R. (2018). The Grim Conclusions of the Largest-Ever Study of Fake News – Falsehoods Almost Always Beat Out the Truth on Twitter, Penetrating Further, Faster, and Deeper into the Social Network than Accurate Information. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/largest-study-ever-fake-news-mit-twitter/555104/
Nye, J. (2004). Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. London: Hartlett.
Oreskes, N., & Conway, E. (2012). Merchants of Doubt. How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. London: Bloomsbury.
Pacifici, M., Visconti, P., Butchart, S., Watson, J., Cassola, F., & Rondinini, C. (2017). Species’ Traits Influenced Their Response to Recent Climate Change. Nature Climate Change, 7, 205–208.
Pigliucci, M. (2012). Answers for Aristotle. How Science and Philosophy Can Lead Us to a More Meaningful Life. New York: Basic Books.
Pooley, E. (2017). Donald Trump’s EPA Pick Imperils Science – and Earth. Time. http://time.com/4635162/scott-pruitt-science-denial/
Popovich, N., Schwartz, J., & Schlossberg, T. (2017). How Americans Thinks About Climate Change in Six Maps. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/21/climate/how-americans-think-about-climate-change-in-six-maps.html.
Poyla. (2017). Climate Criminal Trump Contributes 20% of World’s Annual Carbon Debt Increase. Climate Change. Worldhttp://www.countercurrents.org/2017/06/01/climate-criminal-trump-america-contributes-20-of-worlds-annual-carbon-debt-increase/
Ritchie, E., Davis, J., Martin, J., & Maclagen, S. (2016). National Science Week: The Rise of Citizen Science Is Great News for Our Native Wildlife. Science. http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2016-08-17/how-citizen-science-can-help-australias-native-wildlife/7753712
Rosten, E. (2018). Climate Scientists Exiled by Donald Trump to Reconvene at Columbia University and Continue Research. The Guardian. http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/donald-trump-climate-change-scientists-columbia-university-earth-institute-research-environment-a8143696.html
Savage, C. (2017, September 27). E.P.A. Threatens to Stop Funding Justice Dep. Environmental Work. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/27/us/politics/scott-pruitt-epa-justice-department-funding.html
Seis, M. (1993). Ecological Blunders in US Clean Air Legislation. Journal of Human Justice, 10(2), 22–42.
Slattery, C. (2017). Greenhouse Gases Higher than Any Time in 800, 000 Years “Show Definite Human Effect”’. ABC News. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-01/greenhouse-gases-database-shows-co2-ch4-n2o-rising-relentlessly/8578918
Smith, N. (2012). Plato on the Power of Ignorance. In R. Kamtekar (Ed.), Virtue and Happiness: Essays in Honour of Julia Annas. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
South, N. (2010). The Ecocidal Tendencies of Late Modernity: Transnational Crime, Social Exclusion, Victims and Rights. In R. White (Ed.), Global Environmental Harm. Criminological Perspectives (pp. 228–247). Devon: Willan.
Stehr, N. (2005). Knowledge Politics: Governing the Consequences of Science and Technology. Abingdon: Routledge.
The White House. (2017, June 1). Statement by President Trump on the Climate Paris Accord. The White House, Office of the Press Secretary. https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/06/01/statement-president-trump-paris-climate-accord
Tollefson, J. (2017). US Government Disbands Climate Science Advisory Committee. Nature. https://www.nature.com/news/us-government-disbands-climate-science-advisory-committee-1.22484
Union of Concerned Scientists. (2015). Documenting the Fossil Fuel Industry’s Climate Deception. https://www.ucsusa.org/publications/got-science/2015/got-science-july-2015#.Wqths2pubIU
Union of Concerned Scientists. (2018). Scientists Agree: Global Warming Is Happening and Humans are the Primary Cause. https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/science-and-impacts/science/scientists-agree-global-warming-happening-humans-primary-cause#.WpvR8WpubIU
United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change. (2017). The Paris Agreement. http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485.php
Uwiringiyimana, C. (2016). Nearly 200 Nations Agree Binding to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions Environment. Reuters Deal. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-climatechange-deal-idUSKBN12F02T
Vincent, M. (2015, November 25). Climate Change: Trump Says “It’s Called Weather”, Obama Says” It Will Define this Century”. ABC News. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-23/climate-change-clashes-in-us-politics/6961546
Wall, M. (2018). Trump’s 2019 NASA Budget Puts Moon Ahead of the Space Station. Space.Com. https://www.space.com/39671-trump-nasa-budget-2019-funds-moon-over-iss.html
Walters, R. (2011). Eco Crime and Genetically Modified Food. London: Routledge.
Walters, R., & Westerhuis, D. (2013). Green Crime and the Role of Environmental Courts. Crime, Law and Social Change, 59(3), 279–290.
Walters, R., Westerhuis, D., & Wyatt, T. (Eds.). (2013). Emerging Issues in Green Criminology – Exploring Power, Justice and Harm. London: Palgrave.
Watts, N., Amann, M., Ayeb-Karlsson, S., Belesova, K., Bouley, T., Boykoff, M., Byass, P., Cai, W., Campbell-Lendrum, D., Chambers, J., Cox, P., Daly, M., Dasandi, N., Davies, M., Depledge, M., Depoux, A., Dominguez-Sales, P., Drummond, P., Ekins, P., Flahault, A., Frumkin, H., Georgeson, L., Ghanei, M., Grace, D., Graham, H., Grojsman, R., Haines, A., Hamilton, A., Hamilton, I., Hartinger, S., Johnson, A., Kelman, I., Keisewetter, G., Kniveton, D., Liang, L., Lott, M., Lowe, R., Mace, G., Sewe, M., Maslin, M., Mikhaylov, S., Milner, J., Latifi, A.,Moradi-Lakeh, M., Morrissey, K., Murray, K., Neville, T., Oreszczyn, T., Owfi, F., Pencheon, D., Pye, S., Rabbaniha, D., Robinson, E., Rocklov, J., Schutte, S., Shumake-Guillemt, J., Steinbach, R., Tabatabei, M., Wheeler, N., Wilinson, P., Gong, P., Montgomery, H., & Costello, A. (2017, October 30). The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change: From 25 Years of Inaction to a Global Transformation of Public Health. The Lancet. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)32464-9/fulltext
We-Haas, M. (2017). How America Stacks Up When It Comes to Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The Smithsonian. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-America-stacks-up-greenhouse-gas-emissions-180963560/
Weiss, E. (2008). Climate Change, Intergenerational Equity, and International Law. Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, 9, 615–627. https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2637&context=facpub
White, R. (2011a). Transnational Environmental Crime: Toward an Eco-global Criminology. London: Routledge.
White, R. (2011b). Transnational Environmental Crime: Toward an Eco-global Criminology. London: Routledge.
White, R. (2013). Environmental Crime and Problem-Solving Courts. Crime, Law and Social Change, 59(3), 267–278.
White, R., & Heckenberg, D. (2014). Green Criminology. An Introduction to the Study of Environmental Harm. London: Routledge.
Wilts, A. (2018). Donald Trump’s Budget Proposal Cuts Social Welfare and Massively Increases Federal Deficit. The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-budget-plan-deficit-increase-cut-social-welfare-border-wall-infrastructure-a8207216.html
World Economic Forum. (2017a). Global Risks Report. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-23/climate-change-clashes-in-us-politics/6961546
World Economic Forum. (2017b). Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2017. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/report/top-10-emerging-technologies-of-20171/
World Meteorological Organization. (2017, October 30). Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Surge to New Record. https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/greenhouse-gas-concentrations-surge-new-record
Xifra, J. (2016). Climate Change Deniers and Advocacy – A Situational Theory of Publics Approach. American Behavioral Scientist, 60(3), 276–287.
Young, M. (2018). Pacific Island Nations Urge World Leaders to Act as Islands Expected to Sink. http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/pacific-island-nations-urge-world-leaders-to-act-as-islands-expected-to-sink/news-story/9416ac1726d1f8d02a1ae435924e364f
Zafiroski, M. (2007). The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Authoritarianism. Puritanism and Democracy and the Free Civil Society. New York: Springer.
Zatat, N. (2017). Paris Agreement: Donald Trump Will Be Joining Nicaragua and Syria as Non-Members of Climate Change Accords. Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/paris-agreement-donald-trump-nicaragua-syria-climate-change-accords-not-members-global-warming-a7768441.html
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Walters, R. (2018). Climate Change Denial: ‘Making Ignorance Great Again’. In: Barton, A., Davis, H. (eds) Ignorance, Power and Harm. Critical Criminological Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97343-2_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97343-2_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-97342-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-97343-2
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)