Summary of #39 - Russell Cook: On climate change, “the mainstream media has not done its job”

00:00:00 - 00:50:00

Russell Cook, an ordinary citizen with no climate science or formal science expertise, criticizes the mainstream media's failure to report all sides of the global warming issue. Cook suggests that citizens have a right to question authority and emphasizes the importance of asking questions to gain a better understanding of the issue. He questions the absence of skeptical climate scientists on news channels and discusses staging on controversial political issues. Furthermore, Cook debunks accusations that skeptic climate scientists are paid industry money to lie about climate change. Finally, he challenges claims made by climate change activists and encourages people to ask questions and press the issue to gain a deeper understanding of the problem.

• 00:00:00 In this section, Russell Cook explains that he is an ordinary private citizen who has no climate science or formal science expertise but has questions regarding the global warming issue. He criticizes the mainstream media for not telling the public half the story by failing to report on all aspects of the issue and not answering due diligence questions from ordinary citizens. Despite his reluctance to participate in the interview, Cook emphasizes the importance of ordinary citizens participating in the global warming issue by asking questions and questioning authority as it is their right to do so. Cook recalls his childhood experience of asking why Greenland was called Greenland even though it was covered with ice and snow, demonstrating the importance of asking questions to gain a better understanding of issues.
• 00:05:00 In this section, Russell Cook discusses mainstream media's failure to question climate change science and the lack of skeptic climate scientists on news channels. He also brings up the 1988 proclamations on global warming by Al Gore, Tim worth, and NASA's climate scientist James Hansen, and the absence of any mention of global cooling, which should have been questioned by the media. Cook points out that Greenland was once green and warmer in the medieval warm period, and that his Viking ancestors farmed there.
• 00:10:00 In this section, Russell Cook discusses how discussions of global cooling and the fear of ice sheets covering middle schools shaped his memory of the sudden shift to global warming in 1988. He questions how climate refugees from sea-level rise can exist when the rate of sea-level rise is hardly measurable. Cook also talks about the alleged stagecraft at a 1988 hearing where Tim Worth left the windows open, causing the air conditioner to work extra hard to cool the room, in order to make James Hansen sweat and how this raises questions about whether Worth was telling the truth then or now.
• 00:15:00 In this section, Russell Cook discusses the need for staging when it comes to controversial political issues. He asks why, if the evidence is so compelling for global warming, was there a need to stage the congressional hearing in the middle of the summer, allegedly on the hottest day. He draws parallels to alleged hate crimes against people of color and suggests that if racism was so rampant, there would be no need for staged hate crimes like the Jesse Smollet case. Cook also questions why there are not any skeptic climate scientists on the PBS NewsHour and refers to his own website, where he tracks the bias of the show. He mentions receiving a canned answer from the mayor of Seattle in response to his question about the problems with global cooling and the medieval warm period.
• 00:20:00 In this section, Russell Cook discusses how he became interested in climate change skepticism and began writing articles on the topic. He explains that he first became aware of the issue in 2008 when someone on an outdoor forum mentioned global warming, and he responded with a flippant comment. However, when the same person later wrote about the results of global warming and referenced Pulitzer prize-winning reporter Ross Gelbspan, Cook's curiosity was piqued and he began to research the issue further. He later wrote articles for American Thinker and contacted the governor to express his concerns about the Western climate initiative cap and trade plan. Cook also discusses the repeated talking point that skeptical climate scientists should not be given equal media treatment, likening them to Holocaust deniers or tobacco smokers.
• 00:25:00 In this section, Russell Cook discusses his research on the leaked industry memos that supposedly proved that skeptic climate scientists were paid industry money to lie. Cook found that the phrase "reposition global warming as Theory rather than fact" was a direct comparison to the tobacco industry's "doubt is our product" memo. He found the original source of the 1991 article where the phrase came from, as well as connections to Greenpeace and the merger of Ozone Action into Greenpeace USA. Cook notes that the mainstream media has not done its job in properly investigating the context behind these leaked industry memos.
• 00:30:00 In this section, the speaker discusses his research process involved in uncovering buried documents from Greenpeace, and how he ultimately confirmed the authenticity of the memos which suggested collusion between skeptic climate scientists and fossil fuel industry executives to engage in disinformation campaigns. The speaker also explains that these memos were in fact written by the Edison Electric Institute and were rejected by the Western Fuels Association, despite them being falsely attributed to the organization.
• 00:35:00 In this section, Cook debunks the accusation that skeptic scientists received money from the fossil fuel industry to lie about climate change. He mentions the widely spread "reposition global warming as Theory rather than fact" memo set, which is supposedly the smoking gun evidence of disinformation campaigns by the fossil fuel industry. Cook argues that the memo set was never implemented and none of the skepticism scientist recipients saw it. He also points out that attributing the memo set to the Western Fuels Association is a false and libelous claim. Cook concludes that accusations of skeptic scientists being paid industry money to lie are not true at a deeper level, even though it might appear so superficially.
• 00:40:00 In this section, Russell Cook discusses how he researched the claim that Dr. Fred Singer was paid $10,000 by the oil industry to spread climate change lies. Cook found that there was a kernel of truth to the claim as Singer was given a grant by Exxon that year, but he did not change his position on climate change as a result. Cook argues that accusations of corruption and politicization in the climate change debate are larger than the science itself and that politicians like Bill Clinton could have done more to address these issues.
• 00:45:00 In this section, Russell Cook discusses his views on the mainstream media's coverage of climate change and how they have failed to investigate accusations that skeptics are paid industry money to lie. Cook believes that citizens may have to take on the job of investigating themselves since the media has not told the full side of the science. He also believes that the media's suppression of news items and their labeling of climate skeptics as "deniers" is a threat to freedom and democracy. Additionally, Cook talks about his experiences as a climate skeptic and how the term "denier" originated. Lastly, Cook shares his observations about climate situations and how hurricanes are not increasing in intensity.
• 00:50:00 In this section, Russell Cook argues against the claims of climate change and highlights flaws in some of the arguments used to support the issue. He dismisses claims that the temperature has increased over time and argues that there are historical records that report similar weather events that were as extreme or even more. Cook also questions the claim that the increase in temperature is due to human activity and cites the urban heat island effect as a more plausible factor for the change. Additionally, he challenges the credibility of some climate change activists like Naomi Rasquez and Ross Geldspan, suggesting that they only gained publicity due to following a narrative. Cook encourages people to ask questions and press the issue, hoping that the more questions that arise, the more likely the issue falls apart.