Page 28 - Carbon Capitalism and Communication Confronting Climate Crisis

10 G. MURDOCK AND B. BREVINI

plants, billions of tons of carbon dioxide will be emitted, and as the forests
will have been eliminated, these billions of tons of carbon could well
trouble a little the world’s harmony” (quoted in Fessoz 2007: 335–336).
Despite his amateur status, Huzar was widely read (Fessoz 2007). But at
the time there was no firm scientific backing for his speculations. By the
end of the century there was, with Svante Arrhenius and Thomas
Chamberlin publishing papers within a year of each other, in 1896 and
1897, offering detailed explorations of the relationship between accumu-
lations of CO 2 in the atmosphere and global warming (Zalasiewicz et al.
2011: 833). The captains of capitalism were well aware of this but chose to
carry on regardless, denying the evidence, exploiting disagreements within
the scientific community, and transferring the social and environmental
costs of climate change from their balance sheets to the public purse. As a
number of the contributions to this volume demonstrate in detail, these
strategies are still very much in play. Even when fossil fuel companies have
acknowledged that global warming is accelerating they have chosen to
pursue business as usual. In 1991, the major oil corporation, Shell, released
Climate of Concern, a short film designed to be shown in schools and
universities, as part of the company’s continuing effort to massage their
public image and establish their green credentials. The film warned that
although “global warming is not yet certain, many think that to wait for
final proof would be irresponsible” and went on to argue that “action now
is seen as the only safe insurance” against increased incidents of extreme
weather, floods, famines and climate refugees (quoted in Carrington and
Mommers 2017: 3). Despite this declared position, and its own research
showing that exploiting new reserves of oil and gas comprehensively
undermined the goal of controlling global warming, the company con-
tinued investing in tar sands, advocating fracking and pressing for per-
mission to drill in the Arctic.

COMMUNICATION
Shell’s release of Climate of Concern as part of a wider public relations
strategy points to the importance of the media system as the key arena in
which competing narratives and arguments struggle for visibility and
legitimacy. The chapters included in this collection offer a range of case
studies detailing the strategies and tactics employed on both sides of this
battle, from the corporate advocacy backing the continued expansion of
coal mining in Australia to the mobilisation of celebrity support and