Denied: The rise and fall of climate contrarianism

by Richard Black

Climate change won’t be that serious…’ – ‘the lights will go out if we use renewable energy…’ – ‘climate science is bent…’. For a decade, contrarians controlled large swathes of the UK’s political and media discourse on energy and climate change. But their time is coming to an end. As the record for the warmest year gets broken time after time, the cost of clean energy tumbles and public support for tackling climate change stays high, the lights are indeed going out for Britain’s contrarian elite, in both politics and the media. In Denied, the first book to take a serious look at the history of the UK’s climate contrarians, former BBC science and environment correspondent Richard Black outlines how they and their canonical arguments came to such prominence – and how they lost. "This work is of first-rate importance because it exposes the climate change denial industry in all its moral horror. It should be read attentively – in particular, by climate denying politicians on the political right who have done so much damage." Peter Oborne, Political Columnist, Daily Mail "Richard Black brilliantly articulates what a spectacular waste of ink and intellectual energy the UK climate contrarian movement has been. This is the story of how some of the most well-connected, articulate, and arrogant men in Britain lost their long, pointless and ultimately dangerous battle with the evidence of man-made climate change. Beautifully told and thoroughly researched by Richard Black, an experienced journalist, and therefore a natural sceptic, who can spot BS when he sees it." Tom Clarke, Science Editor, ITV News "As one of thousands of British scientists working with the reality of climate change day by day, it’s been extraordinary and rather dispiriting to see the power and influence that a tiny number of elite contrarians has wielded in the media for so long – sowing misinformation, undermining what is beyond reasonable doubt, distorting public opinion, appealing to unreason and displaying irrational optimism. However; as Richard Black relates in this compelling account, when prejudice comes face-to-face with overwhelming evidence, there can be only one winner. Thankfully so, because the threat posed by climate change and the challenge of responding to it are far too great to allow serious, evidence-based discourse to be derailed by polemic." Dr Emily Shuckburgh, Head of Data Science and Deputy Head of Polar Oceans, British Antarctic Survey "This meticulously-researched demolition of the claims made by climate change contrarians should be the final nail in the coffin of their ill-founded arguments. Richard Black, one of the few people who both understands the detail of climate science and can write about it with crystal clarity, has written a brilliant analysis of how and why too much of the media fell for the contrarians’ claims and how, at last, the sheer strength of the evidence is consigning them to irrelevance." Robin Lustig, journalist, former presenter of The World Tonight, BBC Radio Four "With Trump in the White House, Bolsonaro in stewardship of the Amazon, and fossil fuel and car giants being seven out of the 10 wealthiest corporations, the people who stand in the way of solving the Earth’s climate crisis are in control of large parts of the globe. This isn’t just a battle of ideas. But ideas have been critical in shaping humanity’s response to climate change. Richard Black brilliantly exposes how the media has adopted tropes and framing conjured by climate deniers, contrarians and defeatists and used them to shape reporting.

343 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 16, 2018

Reviews

[Jamie Bowen · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a role that covers the environment I’ve always been keen on challenging my own thinking, so bought two books from climate deniers and two from the positive side of the argument. This is an excellent book that debunks some of the stuff that’s come out over the years and shows how the media has played its part in creating ambiguity and muddle thinking.

[Mark Kinver · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you care about how the issue of climate change has been covered in the public sphere, and the legacy of the polemics, then you must read this book.

[David W. W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The rise and fall of climate contrarianism" - how climate contrarians in the UK evolved over 10-15 years from providing some useful sceptical analysis to increasingly shooting themselves in the foot as their predictions were falsified. A very useful book by former BBC Environment Correspondent Richard Black. It was published in 2018 but is still very relevant.

The book makes a lot of good points about potential failure modes in press coverage of contentious issues. There's lots of resonance for how the press in the UK failed in its coverage of other political topics (e.g. bre*it).

Other strong features of the book include careful, thoroughly referenced rebuttals to the talking points of the climate contrarians. I do wonder, though, whether the author is overly optimistic that the contrarian tide has turned. To me, the contrarians still seem very determined.