America and Climate Change: Denial, Progress, and Political Divides — FULL DOCUMENTARY

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: For the first settlers who arrived in the 17th century, America was the promised land of the Old Testament, a place flowing with milk and honey. But this vast country, which they believed was a gift from God, was also the land of the Indians, who defended their territory, and the land of extreme weather phenomena unknown in Europe. Those lucky enough to survive the Atlantic crossing accepted the dangers of nature as so many trials by God. They perceived North America as a wilderness. Wilderness represented the opposite of civilization. It included fauna, flora, and the Indians of all the wild regions unsettled by the white man. Becoming American meant tackling the wilderness and learning to survive. This fascination for the wildlands of America was even an obsession with Thomas Jefferson, the father of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States. Jefferson was also a botanist, who exchanged passionate letters with his French counterparts. Your democracy has no future, said the French scholars, because your nature is degenerate. Proof of this is, your animals are smaller than in Europe. As for your Indians, they reproduce little and are hairless. Irked by this, President Jefferson sent two military men, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, across America as far as the Pacific coast to explore and chronicle the vast wilderness. In their journal, which would become a literary classic studied by generations of American schoolchildren, the two military men describe in minute detail their adventures fraught with danger. The vast expanses, their encounters with the unpredictable Indians, as well as with grizzly bears, which are twice as big and dangerous as their European cousins. Lewis and Clark returned certain that if the wilderness of the West was tamed, then America would become a remarkable country. The conquest of the West became the Americans' manifest destiny. Throughout the 19th century, they pushed back the wilderness and brought civilization thanks to two great technological achievements, the telegraph and the railroad. God had given this wealth to the Americans, and the conquest of the West went hand in hand with the Industrial Revolution and the advancement of American science. The prestigious East Coast universities, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Brown, aim to produce the world's best scientists. But in 1861, the Civil War temporarily interrupted the conquest of the West. Three years later, the Americans were appalled by the horrors of this fratricidal war. Many believed that only the vast wilderness of the West could reunify the war-torn nation. This is why in the anxious hours preceding the Battle of Gettysburg, the most decisive and bloodiest battle of the American Civil War, the Unionist president, Abraham Lincoln, decided to create America's first ever national park in Yosemite, California. With this act, Lincoln protected and preserved an area of this wilderness in which he saw the symbol of the perpetual union of the American states. The years following the Civil War saw the creation of many protected natural areas, such as Yellowstone Park, larger than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined, so that present and future generations of Americans could enjoy the wilderness. The Americans now saw in what they called the frontier, the boundary between civilization and the crucible of their democracy. Braving dangers and hardships, the settlers were forced to toughen up and became very pragmatic. They appreciated simplicity, directness, and were wary of rhetoric. They were truly individualistic and were not accountable to anyone. Certainly not to the remote power of Washington, suspected of wanting to restrict what they most valued, their liberty. This is when the first environmental paradox appeared. Logging played a major role in the rapid development of the United States. Forestry companies, which make millions, have already cut down over 90% of the country's virgin forests. If it destroys its wilderness in this way, America will lose its soul. At the start of the 20th century, America's first environmentalist, John Muir, declared war on destructive logging. To help raise awareness among his compatriots, he founded the first American environmental preservation organization, the Sierra Club. In 1906, John Muir took President Teddy Roosevelt to Yosemite, the national park created by Lincoln. Roosevelt frowned on greed and loved nature, Roosevelt frowned on greed and loved nature. Roosevelt frowned on greed and loved nature. Roosevelt frowned on greed and loved nature. But unlike John Muir, He saw a resource that God had given the Americans and believed exploitation and conservation were not incompatible. He created federal forests that had to be managed sustainably through replacement planting. Teddy Roosevelt solved the conservation-exploitation dilemma in a way which pleased the Americans. "Our exceptionalism," he said, "means we shall always be able to do both simultaneously." And the unbridled exploitation of America's natural resources continued. Wood, but also coal, oil, gas, and all the minerals industry needed. In the mid-1930s, to tie everything together, the colossal Mount Rushmore project took shape. And the likenesses of four presidents were carved into the rock face. From left to right, George Washington, the first president; Thomas Jefferson, the botanist; Teddy Roosevelt, the productivist; and Abraham Lincoln, the unionist. These pioneering figures of triumphant America are engraved for eternity in the wilderness. [00:09:01] Speaker 2: But along with our ability to get work done goes our capacity for play. The pursuit of happiness is a national heritage, and Americans everywhere exercise the right to choose the pleasures most agreeable to their tastes and best suited to their pocketbooks. [00:09:23] Speaker 1: In the post-war boom years, the United States alone accounted for more than 50% of global wealth. In the American dream, the sky was the limit. [00:09:39] Speaker 3: I want a Corvette. [00:09:43] Speaker 4: I thought you would. [00:09:47] Speaker 3: Ooh, I want a Pontiac, too. [00:09:50] Speaker 4: Okay, we'll have the usual two-car garage. How do you feel about the Spinals Mobile? [00:10:00] Speaker 3: It's easy to see myself taking the wheel. [00:10:04] Speaker 5: The products of oil or petroleum are necessary for us to live the way we do today. We need gasoline to run our automobiles and airplanes. Fuel oil to run our modern trains. Kerosene to heat our houses. And, of course, we need the oils that keep our powerful machines running. [00:10:24] Speaker 1: The American way of life required a huge amount of energy, far more than any other country in the world had ever consumed. But as the Americans could afford it, and it was in abundant supply, this wasn't seen as a problem. [00:10:43] Speaker 5: John Muir described the Sierra Nevada as the range of light. [00:10:48] Speaker 1: As well as being obsessed with material happiness, the Americans loved and took immense pride in their wilderness. Most families regularly took their children on invigorating trips into nature, and many joined the Sierra Club, the environmental preservation organization founded by environmentalist John Muir 50 years earlier. The nature in the national parks was as pristine as in the days of the pioneers. Hikers wandered the trails at their peril, and terrifying, occasionally fatal encounters with grizzly bears were part of the danger. The majority of Americans mass-produced and mass-consumed during the week and communed with nature on weekends. But for some American scientists, this quasi-mystical celebration of nature was based on a sham. In 1962, the biologist Rachel Carson published a bestseller, Silent Spring. In it, she condemned the massive use of chemicals in American farming. "There is nothing natural about the American way of life," she said. "Pesticides destroy ecosystems, and some, such as DDT, are carcinogenic." Rachel Carson's accusations made most Americans realize just how polluting their way of life was. [00:12:47] Speaker ?: "Hikers, the people of the United States and the American people of the United States and the United States and the United States and the United States." [00:12:55] Speaker 1: Industrial pollution was not new to them. But until then, the majority had seen it as an acceptable drawback. It was now considered shocking. And as American exceptionalism means exploitation and protection can go hand in hand, the Republicans and Democrats immediately agreed to restore the balance in favor of nature. This was America's first environmental law, and it passed unanimously. Again, with full bipartisan support, Congress passed the Wilderness Act, a landmark conservation bill. Henceforth, America's legendary wilderness was officially protected. 450,000 square kilometers of undeveloped territory, roughly the size of France, became public land and resource exploitation was prohibited. Years in advance of the rest of the Western world, the United States became pioneers in environmentalism. And all Americans rejoiced. Well, almost all. [00:14:21] Speaker 6: I've always stood for government that is limited and balanced and against ever-increasing concentrations of authority in Washington. [00:14:30] Speaker 1: The senator for Arizona, Barry Goldwater, condemned this confiscation of land by Washington, seeing it as a freedom-destroying move that would open the way to communism. Barry Goldwater defended the America that did not accept the federal government hindering its freedom to exploit the land God gave it. On the far right of the Republican Party, Goldwater represented neoconservatism, an ideology on the margins in 1960s America. The political consensus around environmental protection grew in the years that followed. The first Earth Day brought together 20 million Americans. Immediately afterwards, and with the Democrats' full support, the Republican President Nixon signed the Clean Water Act into law. [00:15:42] Speaker 7: In order to clean up the environment, it's going to take time, it's going to take money, it's going to take effort, and it's going to take some inconvenience on the part of the individual citizen. [00:15:55] Speaker 1: And the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, was founded, with 15,000 federal agents tasked with enforcing anti-pollution laws. A sign of the times, the genuineness of wild nature, at once beautiful and unrelenting, filled the TV and silver screens of America. And then, the American dream came to a grinding halt. With the 1973 oil crisis, Americans from coast to coast faced gas shortages. In the land of plenty, this was unprecedented. The United States plunged into a 10-year recession. And the protection of the environment was no longer a priority in the disoriented nation. The neoconservatives used this to gain ground thanks to their new leader, former Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan. He styled himself as an outsider, a lover of freedom and common sense, with the deep-rooted hatred of the federal government and the politicians who had pushed the country to the wall. He was elected and sworn in on January 20, 1981. [00:17:41] Speaker 8: The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months. But they will go away. In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem. [00:18:05] Speaker 1: Reagan loathed the environmentalists, whom he dubbed whiners, and did everything in his power to cripple the work of the Environmental Protection Agency. Reagan believed the state should not be involved in environmental protection. He had faith in the free market and the common sense of industry to prevent excessive pollution. [00:18:35] Speaker 9: This afternoon, 6,500 young men and women will be married. And with inflation at less than half of what it was just four years ago, they can look forward with confidence to the future. It's morning again in America. And under the leadership of President Reagan, our country is prouder and stronger and better. [00:19:00] Speaker 1: Why would we ever want that? By the end of Reagan's first term, the U.S. was once again a nation of unbridled consumers, convinced they lived in a promised land of unlimited resources. [00:19:13] Speaker 8: America has saddled up and we're riding into the future. [00:19:21] Speaker 3: There's no business like show business, like no business I know. [00:19:30] Speaker 1: And then, a new American scientific discovery. The risk of abrupt climate change upset the United States' newfound happiness. The theory that the planet could warm as a result of the use of fossil fuels was first advanced at the start of the 20th century by a chemist. The ever-increasing burning of coal, oil and gas since the beginning of the industrial age might, he argued, increase the amount of carbon dioxide, CO2, in the atmosphere. And this would enhance the greenhouse effect and cause the Earth's climate to warm. Being Swedish, this chemist saw this as a good thing. There was no concern over this issue until 1958, when California's Scripps Institution of Oceanography decided to send a young researcher to Hawaii. The 50th American state was chosen for its peaks, ideally situated in the middle of the Pacific, where the air is homogenous and less affected by human pollution. And the American chemist Charles Keeling set up his recording station, 4,000 meters above sea level, at the top of the Mauna Loa volcano. And 29-year-old Keeling began systematically measuring CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere above Hawaii. Twenty years later, Keeling went down in history as the scientist who sounded the alarm by proving that CO2 levels had risen sharply since 1958. Keeling's findings mobilized the scientific community, which demonstrated, thanks to the Antarctic ice sheet, that CO2 levels had risen steadily since the Industrial Revolution, and were higher than at any point in the past 800,000 years. By increasing the greenhouse effect, humans were warming the Earth at an unprecedented speed and scale. And yet, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases is the United States. Reducing the pollution of American industry is one thing. Admitting the potentially cataclysmic impact of the American way of life on the United States and the rest of the world is quite another. The young Democrat Senator Al Gore decided to tackle the issue. [00:22:26] Speaker 10: These impacts are not of a kind that we should simply sit back and wait for. The temptation is, when something is this big and this powerful, the temptation is to conclude, well, we just can't do anything about it anyway. It almost begins to climb into the category of "act of God." [00:22:52] Speaker 1: An act of God is a term used by American insurance companies to define natural disasters. Al Gore informed his fellow senators that global warming is of a whole different nature, and far more serious than the types of disasters the Americans are used to. [00:23:09] Speaker 10: It's something that is so overwhelming and unstoppable that we're tempted to just say, well, let's don't even fool with that. particularly when one of the suggested responses is a dramatic change in the pattern of fossil fuel consumption in the world. [00:23:31] Speaker 1: America's addiction to fossil fuels is huge. It is economic and cultural. For all Americans, an abundant supply of cheap energy is practically a constitutional right. And it is social, too. Fifteen or so states are dependent on the extraction of fossil fuels, which provide millions of families with a livelihood. Toronto's G7 summit, which brought together the world's seven major industrialized nations, put climate on the agenda much to the annoyance of Ronald Reagan, who saw it as another environmentalist whim. The G7 leaders decided to create an international scientific body to study the climate. This led to the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, in which American scientists would play a major role. To measure the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, scientists normally use the unit ppm, or parts per million, which identifies the number of CO2 molecules in every one million molecules of air. In the pre-industrial era, CO2 levels never exceeded 300 ppm. On this graph, the blue dot indicates the concentration of CO2 measured at the South Pole, and the red dot, the concentration measured in Hawaii. In January 1979, the concentration of CO2 in Hawaii was already a record-breaking 336 ppm. And 13 years later, in June 1992, the CO2 concentration had reached 360 ppm. [00:25:24] Speaker 9: They've set a strong signal to criminals by supporting the death penalty. [00:25:27] Speaker 1: Crushed by the neoconservative revolution, the Democrats were determined to reconquer the White House thanks to a new generation. [00:25:34] Speaker 9: They're a new generation of Democrats, Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Clinton-Gore, for people, for a change. [00:25:40] Speaker 1: President Bill Clinton decided to tackle the climate issue and CO2 emissions in the United States. At the instigation of Vice President Al Gore, the Democrats aimed to break through a taboo by finally taxing energy use to encourage the gas-guzzling Americans to break their habit. Bill Clinton unveiled his energy tax plan in February 1993. But this proposal enraged the Americans, including in the Democrat ranks. And President Clinton ended up abandoning this idea. But too late to avoid a memorable thrashing at the midterm elections. The Republican Party won the majority in the House of Representatives, which the Democrats had controlled for 42 years. Every single Democrat representative who had supported the energy tax plan lost their seat. As for the Republican Party, for the first time ever, it made no mention of the environment in its electoral program. The climate issue had destroyed the bipartisan consensus on nature conservation. Meanwhile, the Keeling curve continued its inexorable rise. This was the situation in June 1995 when the IPCC published its alarming report on climate change. [00:27:34] Speaker 11: In our opinion, Mr. Chairman, the IPCC has clearly demonstrated that action must be taken to address this challenge. This problem cannot be wished away. The science cannot be ignored and is increasingly compelling. [00:27:51] Speaker 1: This IPCC report was at the core of the International Kyoto Climate Change Conference. The European Union promised to reduce its CO2 emissions by 15% over 10 years. An unrealistic goal for the White House, which simply wanted to commit to not increasing them. However, after many bitter negotiations, Vice President Gore went to Japan and signed the Kyoto Protocol, Committing the United States to cut its emissions by 7%. But the Senate reacted by forbidding the ratification of a treaty that would harm the U.S. economy. And so, the Kyoto Protocol was never adopted by the United States. The following year, three American academics developed a revolutionary statistical method to reconstruct, for the first time, the Earth's surface temperature over the past 1,000 years. These scientists found that the unprecedented increase in temperature since the start of the 20th century was linked to the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere. The international climate science community was now unanimous. CO2 emissions were warming the planet. [00:29:23] Speaker 12: Now the Democratic presidential nominee, Al Gore wanted the United States to take the lead on the climate crisis. [00:29:41] Speaker 10: I will address the international challenge of global warming with new technologies that create more jobs and make our economy even stronger. [00:29:53] Speaker 1: The Republican nominee was a neoconservative, the Texan George W. Bush, a former oil industry executive. [00:30:05] Speaker 13: I'm running against a tough opponent, make no mistake about it. He's a good campaigner and he's got a lot of confidence. So much so that he thinks he invented the internet. [00:30:18] Speaker 1: As his vice presidential running mate, Bush picked another neoconservative. Dick Cheney, who also had close ties to the oil industry. The two men were aware that global warming was a concern for three out of four voters and knew they could be caught out by the scientific facts. So they decided to cast doubt on the facts themselves thanks to the controversial claims of a handful of climate denier scientists, including the high-profile Fred Singer. A respected physicist who developed the first American satellites, Fred Singer believed that anything that harmed free enterprise amounted to communism. He had defended the tobacco industry in the 1980s by denying the health risks of passive smoking. Now he made frequent television appearances on his crusade to deny global warming. [00:31:15] Speaker 14: There's no evidence that a carbon footprint, no matter how large, will have any appreciable effect on the climate. Nature, not human activity, rules the climate. And that seems to be worn out by all the data we can find. [00:31:32] Speaker 15: And they're based upon science, and they're reasonable, so long as people have input. What about global warming? I think it's an issue that we need to take very seriously. But I don't think we know the solution to global warming yet, and I don't think we've got all the facts before we make decisions. [00:31:46] Speaker 10: I disagree that we don't know the cause of global warming. I think that we do. It's pollution, carbon dioxide and other chemicals that are even more potent, but in smaller quantities, that cause it. [00:32:01] Speaker 15: I think there's been some of the scientists, I believe, Mr. Vice President, have they been changing their opinion a little bit on global warming? A profound scientist recently made a difference. [00:32:23] Speaker 1: The closest election in U.S. history was decided in the state of Florida after a controversial three-week recount. And the Bush-Cheney ticket won by a mere 537 votes. Once in power, the two men ignored the climate issue and all scientific expertise, including that of the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, which confirmed the findings of the IPCC. Bush and Cheney's priority was to safeguard America's oil supplies by taking control of Iraq's immense reserves. They also increased domestic production of fossil fuels to decrease America's dependence on energy imports. Encouraged by generous tax breaks, private companies rushed to extract shale gas through fracking, a new hazardous technique which is extremely harmful to the environment. It only takes a few days to deplete a well, which is then abandoned and the ground is fracked again a few meters away. The frenetic extraction of shale gas destroys whole communities. Just like that. Groundwater is contaminated with methane, and the water is undrinkable. To such an extent that the EPA has to repair the damage caused by the private companies by transporting drinking water in tankers over hundreds of kilometers. With the passage of Hurricane Katrina, when 2,000 people drowned in New Orleans, the climate crisis was suddenly back on the agenda in the United States. California and its 40 million residents face persistent droughts, which regularly lead to huge uncontrollable wildfires. And yet, nothing phases the conservative climate deniers, who are never short of arguments to contest the scientific facts. They always trust their gut instinct. So, if it snows in winter, then global warming does not exist. [00:35:13] Speaker 16: I asked the chair, "You know what this is? It's a snowball, and that's just from outside here. So it's very, very cold out, very unseasonal. So here, Mr. President, catch this." [00:35:27] Speaker 1: And for them, the idea that global warming could impose limitations on their way of life is quite simply unconstitutional. [00:35:37] Speaker 17: Let me tell you who we conservatives are. We love people. [00:35:46] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh, America's most listened-to radio host. [00:35:49] Speaker ?: Rush Limbaugh, America's most listened-to radio host. Rush Limbaugh, America's most listened-to radio host. [00:35:49] Speaker 17: Rush Limbaugh: We believe that the preamble of the Constitution contains an inarguable truth. [00:35:55] Speaker ?: Rush Limbaugh: We believe that the preamble of the Constitution contains an inarguable truth. Rush Limbaugh: We believe that the preamble of the Constitution contains an inarguable truth. Rush Limbaugh: We believe that the preamble of the Constitution contains an inarguable truth. [00:35:55] Speaker 17: Rush Limbaugh: That we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life. Rush Limbaugh: Yes. Rush Limbaugh: Liberty, freedom. Rush Limbaugh: And the pursuit of happiness. Rush Limbaugh: We conservatives think all three are under assault. [00:36:20] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: The first President Barack Obama was the first U.S. President to introduce a climate action plan and develop renewable energy. [00:36:41] Speaker ?: Rush Limbaugh: President Obama has- [00:36:41] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: Headed by Lisa Jackson, the EPA was tasked with implementing his ambitious clean power plan. To the EPA's 17,000 agents, Rush Limbaugh: President Barack Obama is nothing short of a superhero. [00:36:56] Speaker 18: Rush Limbaugh: Ladies and gentlemen, President Barack Obama. Rush Limbaugh: Hey, hey. Rush Limbaugh: Thank you. Rush Limbaugh: Thank you. Rush Limbaugh: Thank you, EPA. Rush Limbaugh: Thank you, everybody. Rush Limbaugh: Thank you so much. Rush Limbaugh: It is wonderful to see you. Rush Limbaugh: It is great to see you. Rush Limbaugh: Thank you. Rush Limbaugh: Thank you. Rush Limbaugh: Now, everybody can have a seat. Rush Limbaugh: I know Lisa's, you know, making you guys all stand up. Rush Limbaugh: You can all relax. [00:37:33] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: It escaped no one's notice that Obama is black. Rush Limbaugh: But more than the color of his skin, Rush Limbaugh: it was his personality that revolted the majority of American conservatives. Rush Limbaugh: Stirred by simplicity and directness, Rush Limbaugh: they just couldn't figure him out. Rush Limbaugh: Rush Limbaugh: He seemed too intelligent, too cool, elusive. Rush Limbaugh: In their eyes, Rush Limbaugh: he was the contemptuous embodiment of the Washington elite. Rush Limbaugh: A revolt of conservative America ensued, Rush Limbaugh: forcing the Republican Party to adopt an even more radical position on climate. [00:38:12] Speaker 12: Rush Limbaugh: 9/11 was our warning. Rush Limbaugh: Repent. Turn back to God. Rush Limbaugh: That's right. [00:38:17] Speaker 19: Rush Limbaugh: USA! USA! USA! [00:38:23] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: This revolt was sparked by Obamacare. Rush Limbaugh: This health care reform bill made health insurance mandatory for all Americans, Rush Limbaugh: with some eligible for federal subsidies. Rush Limbaugh: For the Conservatives, this was Communism. [00:38:37] Speaker 19: Rush Limbaugh: Regal! Rush Limbaugh: Regal! Rush Limbaugh: Regal! [00:38:41] Speaker 3: Rush Limbaugh: Regal! Rush Limbaugh: Regal! Rush Limbaugh: Regal! Rush Limbaugh: Boycott Hollywood and all of the commies! Rush Limbaugh: The McCarthy and John Wayne were right! Rush Limbaugh: Regal! Regal! Regal! Regal! Regal! [00:38:53] Speaker ?: Rush Limbaugh: Regal! Rush Limbaugh: Regal! [00:38:55] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: Regal! Rush Limbaugh: Regal! Rush Limbaugh: White middle-class Americans who lumped global warming and Obamacare together. [00:39:01] Speaker 16: Rush Limbaugh: Regal! Rush Limbaugh: Regal! Rush Limbaugh: Regal! [00:39:04] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: It was all leftist propaganda and lies, and they were sick of it. Rush Limbaugh: The movement was galvanized by a handful of star talk show hosts, such as the hugely popular Glenn Beck. [00:39:16] Speaker 20: Glenn Beck: You didn't give us our rights. Glenn Beck: Not a single time have we gotten a right from Congress or the President. We get them from God, and when he gives us those rights, he puts a warning bell inside of us. Rush Limbaugh: When somebody tries to take them, a warning bell goes off, and that's what America is feeling right now. [00:39:39] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: Meanwhile, the planet continued to warm inexorably. Rush Limbaugh: In April 2011, in a single day, 300 tornadoes, including four giant Category 5 tornadoes, hit 15 U.S. states at the same time. [00:40:02] Speaker 10: Rush Limbaugh: We need to go that way. Rush Limbaugh: No. Rush Limbaugh: Damn it, go back. Rush Limbaugh: We're fine. Rush Limbaugh: Go the back. Rush Limbaugh: I'm not kidding. [00:40:18] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: 350 dead. Rush Limbaugh: Billions of dollars of damage. Rush Limbaugh: This type of once-in-a-century cataclysmic event will become more common with climate change. [00:40:32] Speaker 2: Rush Limbaugh: For the highest quality, IPCC is rendering a unique... [00:40:37] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: Published in 2014, the IPCC's fifth report was a deafening wake-up call to the world. Rush Limbaugh: The only option now was to try to limit the impact of the ongoing disaster, Rush Limbaugh: which will cause the forced displacement of one billion people and mass extinction of flora and fauna. Rush Limbaugh: But the Republican Party, which was wooing its radicalized electorate, Rush Limbaugh: seemed to be living on a different planet. Rush Limbaugh: No. [00:41:06] Speaker 20: Rush Limbaugh: Is climate change a fact? Rush Limbaugh: Mr. Harris? Rush Limbaugh: No. Rush Limbaugh: Ms. Grant? [00:41:15] Speaker 10: Rush Limbaugh: No. [00:41:16] Speaker 20: Rush Limbaugh: Mr. Brandon? Rush Limbaugh: No, got the closer climate. Rush Limbaugh: Mr. Tillis? Rush Limbaugh: No. [00:41:20] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: It's the current GOP. Rush Limbaugh: In 2015, President Obama pursued his fight against climate change and committed the United States to reducing emissions at the Paris Climate Conference. [00:41:33] Speaker 18: President Obama: I've come here personally, as the leader of the world's largest economy and the second largest emitter, to say that the United States of America, not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it. [00:41:52] Speaker 1: The Paris Accord aims to keep the global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius. The following year, during his final State of the Union speech, Barack Obama addressed his compatriots, who continued to deny the evidence. [00:42:14] Speaker 18: Rush Limbaugh: Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it. Rush Limbaugh: You will be pretty lonely. [00:42:23] Speaker 21: Rush Limbaugh: President, great credit. [00:42:25] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: And in the election campaign for his successor, Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton rammed the message home at every opportunity. [00:42:33] Speaker 21: Rush Limbaugh: But you know what the Republicans say when they're asked about climate change. Rush Limbaugh: They say, well, I'm not a scientist. Rush Limbaugh: My response is go talk to one. Rush Limbaugh: There are lots of them around. Rush Limbaugh: We know some, don't we? Rush Limbaugh: We could introduce you. Rush Limbaugh: It's maddening. Rush Limbaugh: This denial of science. [00:42:55] Speaker 7: Rush Limbaugh: Hillary Clinton won't change Washington. Rush Limbaugh: She's been there 30 years. Rush Limbaugh: Donald Trump will turn Washington upside down day one. [00:43:04] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: The provocative and brutal billionaire Donald Trump Rush Limbaugh: Grasped all the rage of an America that felt lost and neglected. [00:43:12] Speaker 22: Rush Limbaugh: I'm Donald Trump and I approve this message. Rush Limbaugh: You know, Obama said the biggest problem we have is global warming. Rush Limbaugh: And by the way, it's supposed to be 70 degrees today. Rush Limbaugh: It's freezing here. Rush Limbaugh: Speaking of global warming, where is we need some global warming? Rush Limbaugh: It's freezing. Rush Limbaugh: Man. Rush Limbaugh: In fact, this is a record cold spell on the whole big section of the United States. Rush Limbaugh: It's not just Rochester. Rush Limbaugh: The whole big section. Rush Limbaugh: It's like record, record cold. Rush Limbaugh: And I keep hearing about global warming. Rush Limbaugh: Now they'll say, he doesn't understand. Rush Limbaugh: This is a worldwide problem. Rush Limbaugh: Oh, no, I don't understand. Rush Limbaugh: Let's do IQ tests. [00:43:54] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: Donald Trump electrified conservative America, Rush Limbaugh: who saw him as a messiah who promised a return to this. [00:44:05] Speaker 3: Rush Limbaugh: I want a Corvette. Rush Limbaugh: I thought you would. [00:44:11] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: The blessed age of unbridled and infinite growth. Rush Limbaugh: When workers were well paid. Rush Limbaugh: When pollution worried no one. Rush Limbaugh: When smoking did not cause cancer. Rush Limbaugh: When science was synonymous with progress, not anxiety. Rush Limbaugh: When things were simple and in their place. Rush Limbaugh: Once elected, Trump tore up Obama's climate policies Rush Limbaugh: And repealed the EPA's regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. [00:44:43] Speaker 22: Rush Limbaugh: Thank you very much. Rush Limbaugh: Thank you. Rush Limbaugh: In order to fulfill Rush Limbaugh: My solemn duty to protect America and its citizens. Rush Limbaugh: The United States will withdraw Rush Limbaugh: From the Paris Climate Accord. [00:45:22] Speaker 19: Rush Limbaugh: Thank you. [00:45:26] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: Paradoxically, no other country in the world Rush Limbaugh: Spends as much on climate research as the United States. Rush Limbaugh: At the end of 2018, a government agency representing all federal research, Rush Limbaugh: Including the EPA and NASA, submitted a report Rush Limbaugh: To President Trump on the huge economic costs Rush Limbaugh: The U.S. would have to bear because of global warming. Rush Limbaugh: The report cost two billion dollars. [00:46:01] Speaker 19: Rush Limbaugh: I've read some of it and it's fine. Rush Limbaugh: Did they say economic impact? Rush Limbaugh: Yeah, I don't believe it. Rush Limbaugh: No, no. Rush Limbaugh: I don't believe it. [00:46:19] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: Donald Trump opened federal land to the new El Dorado. Rush Limbaugh: Shale oil. Rush Limbaugh: Which, like shale gas, Rush Limbaugh: All right. Rush Limbaugh: Is extracted through fracking. Rush Limbaugh: In 2019, the United States became the largest global crude oil producer. Rush Limbaugh: Giant fires caused by the drought now ravage California every year. Rush Limbaugh: These wildfires make the air unbreathable in the cities on the west coast. Rush Limbaugh: And insurers now refuse to offer coverage in areas like California, where fire risk is rising because of climate change. Rush Limbaugh: It seems no argument can sway conservative voters. Rush Limbaugh: Climate denialism is dogmatic. Rush Limbaugh: For them, it represents the last line of defense Rush Limbaugh: Of their sacrosanct, everlasting, boundless American dream. [00:47:34] Speaker 20: Rush Limbaugh: One nation, under God, indivisible, Rush Limbaugh: U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A. [00:47:48] Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh: In November 2020, the Americans elected Democrat Joe Biden. [00:47:52] Speaker 23: Joe Biden: Americans have called upon us to marshal the forces of decency, the forces of fairness, to marshal the forces of science and the forces of hope in the great battles of our time, the battle to build prosperity, and the battle to save our planet by getting climate under control. [00:48:17] Speaker 1: Joe Biden has promised to re-enter the U.S. in the Paris Climate Agreement. Joe Biden: But he has also promised not to ban fossil fuel fracking. Joe Biden: He knows that America cannot do without it. Joe Biden: In fact, as well as being the world's largest oil producer, Joe Biden: the world's largest nuclear energy producer, Joe Biden: the United States is already the world's second largest producer of renewable energy after China. Joe Biden: And yet, it is barely enough to meet its massive needs. Joe Biden: After 250 years of history, Joe Biden: one may wonder what the first settlers would recognize of this wilderness Joe Biden: in which they saw the soul of America. Joe Biden: And 100 years after the nation's environmental awakening, Joe Biden: What would President Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir, Joe Biden: America's first environmentalist, say today? Joe Biden: The president would be forced to admit that the environmentalist was right. Joe Biden: The ambition to simultaneously exploit and conserve nature was a chimera. Joe Biden: In the United States, Joe Biden: the exploitation of nature has always had the final word, Joe Biden: whatever the consequences. Joe Biden: Meanwhile, the climate clock is ticking. Joe Biden: