WEBVTT

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- Big oil wants you to believe
that because climate change

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was mentioned in children's cartoons

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and a Batman movie in the nineties,

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companies like Chevron
hold no responsibility

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for the current climate crisis.

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Oil giant Chevron has filed
a huge new legal brief

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arguing just that.

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The brief was first reported
last week by E&E News

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and as part of a larger lawsuit
involving Chevron in Hawaii.

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The city and county of
Honolulu is suing Chevron

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and a handful of other big oil companies

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for their role in
contributing to sea level rise

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by spreading climate denial

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and misinformation about their product.

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In the brief, Chevron asks
the court to dismiss the suit

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claiming that oil and gas companies

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didn't withhold knowledge
about climate change

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from the public and that
climate change has long been

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a common topic of public discourse.

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In order to support this claim,

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the brief touches on a
pretty wide assortment

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of cultural commentary.

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There's a cultural
reference here for everyone.

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Did you like reading Calvin and Hobbs?

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There was a 1987 strip
about climate change.

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So it's not Chevron's fault

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that the world kept using oil after that.

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Were you a nineties kid

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who watched The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,

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Beverly Hills 90210, Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles,

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Captain Planet or Power Rangers?

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All those shows had a
mention of global warming.

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So you really should have known better.

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- [Narrator] The sunlight that
would normally bounce back

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into space as heat,

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will be trapped by the
increased carbon dioxide.

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- Did you go see the Prince
of Tides, Batman Returns,

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or The American President
when they were in theaters

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in the nineties?

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Those movies contained
at least one reference

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to climate change.

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- Stop global warming.
Start global cooling.

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- Clearly the world was paying attention

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to scientists warnings.

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The brief also provides an
extensive and chronological list

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of news articles from the New
York Times, Time Magazine,

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The Atlantic and other major
news outlets, including media

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in Hawaii on coverage of
climate science and reports

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on links between fossil
fuel use and climate change.

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Chevron's argument here is
that because pop culture

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and major media discussed climate change,

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there's no way to claim

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that major oil companies
successfully misled the public

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about the impact of their product.

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But just because scientific information

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infiltrated popular media and culture

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that has nothing to do with
the behind the scenes campaign

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oil companies and their
allies were running

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to discount that science.

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Just because a disinformation
campaign didn't prevent

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mentions of climate change in culture

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that doesn't mean that said
disinformation campaign

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didn't exist and wasn't
incredibly successful.

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To read more about this story

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Check out gizmodo.com.