Aug 1, 2021 Hot Take

The World Is On Fire. There's No Right Way to Feel About It.

The World Is On Fire. There’s No Right Way to Feel About It.

By Mary Annaïse Heglar

Earlier this week, I had a call with a reporter about the seeming rise in climate nihilism. You know, that thing where people survey the severity of the climate crisis and decide it’s too much, it’s too late, let’s give up. In my time as a climate-conscious person, I’ve noticed that this feeling of nihilism in the public climate discourse tends to come and go, and it seems to be almost always when there’s a new batch of unprecedented disasters all at once, which means that a new batch of people are confronting just how much trouble we’re in.

That often looks like a lot of people giving up. But if you look closer, I think, it looks more like a lot of people just getting started.

I know if I’m being honest about my early days waking up to the climate crisis, I had a hardcore nihilism spiral. Once I realized that there was no “stopping” global warming, I felt like all was lost and there was no point. I think it’s actually a pretty rational and relatable reaction.

The difference now is that there’s a lot more people going through that process in public–and a lot more people actually listening. When I went through my process, I was not yet a public person. I didn’t even have Twitter yet. But even when I tried to talk about it offline, people shut their ears. So, in that way, I actually think what we’re seeing in terms of “nihilism” is progress. And we should let people grieve without chiding their emotions, and welcome them into the fold once they’re ready to get to work.

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Leave Hawai’i Alone

By Amy Westervelt

Maui County, Hawaii, where residents are being asked to ration water while tourists do whatever the fuck they want, is being so overburdened by visitors that its mayor is pleading with the airlines to reduce the number of flights or passengers. His island’s infrastructure, shaken by a global pandemic and the climate crisis, can’t handle the onslaught right now. Hawaiians are literally begging people not to go there. To let them get on top of spiking Covid-19 cases without having to worry if they have enough water.

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Greentrolling in the Washington Post

By Mary Annaïse Heglar

Oh, heeey! Today, the front page of The Washington Post’s business section is set to feature the social media trend greentrolling, which is near and dear to our hearts here at Hot Take. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s basically just cyber bullying the literal shit out of fossil fuel companies and their lobbying groups on any social media platforms. It can be calling them out on greenwashing or pandering to people of color and women or just calling them out for being a bitch. Really depends on your mood.

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We Need to Talk about Press Freedom in America

By Amy Westervelt

A couple weeks ago, UnEarthed, a journalism project funded by Greenpeace, published an undercover investigation they’d been working on for years. In a video and accompanying article, journalist Lawrence Carter explained how he and his colleagues had set up the operation: they posed as high-level recruiters, who reached out to two men who had recently been senior level lobbyists for ExxonMobil. They claimed to be recruiting for a company in a similar industry and were thus very eager to understand exactly how Keith McCoy and Dan Easley—the lobbyists in question—had pulled off so many big wins for Exxon. They were happy to oblige. If you haven’t seen the resulting story, you can watch the incredible video here and read up on it here. I’m gonna focus on how they got it, and why we don’t see more of this kind of thing in the U.S.

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