Amy Westervelt on the Real Organic Podcast: Think Tanks, Greenwashing + The War on Reality
Summary
This episode features climate journalist Amy Westervelt discussing her investigation into how corporate PR and think tanks have shaped public discourse on climate and agriculture. Westervelt explains the history of greenwashing, tracing tactics from Edward Bernays to E. Bruce Harrison’s strategy of using voluntary corporate actions to avoid regulation. She details how the fossil fuel industry used these methods to delay climate action and how similar "pre-lobbying" tactics are now being applied to industrial agriculture and carbon capture initiatives.
Topics discussed
Sponsors: Navy Federal and Optum
Introduction to the Real Organic Podcast
Guest Introduction: Amy and Greenwashing
Sponsors: Navy Federal, Optum, and OnDec
Amy's Background and New Book
The Role of Think Tanks in Policy
Strategies of Think Tanks and Lobbying
Corporate Influence on American Society
The Birth of Corporate PR and Edward Bernays
Bernays' Tactics: Women Smoking and Wristwatches
Ivy Lee, Standard Oil, and Advice to Hitler
WWI Propaganda and E. Bruce Harrison
Silent Spring and the Rise of Environmental Law
The Invention of Greenwashing
Oil Companies and Climate Change Knowledge
Repeating Strategies: Plastic and Emissions
Why Oil Companies Abandoned Renewables
Critique of Lab-Grown Meat and Carbon Capture
Corn Ethanol, Carbon Capture, and Enhanced Oil Recovery
The Captured Information Ecosystem
How Corporations Capture Information and Media
The Overlap Between Big Oil and Big Ag
Debate on Land Sparing and Re-wilding
The Psychology of Climate Solutions
Silver Linings and Hope for the Future
Outro and Sponsors: Real Organic and Nissan
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