Ex-Alaska governor promotes Climate Hustle film and calls for intervention to stop the ‘peer pressure’ as world leaders agree global warming is a serious threat

Of all the causes Sarah Palin has embraced in her varied career as hockey mom, Alaska governor, Republican vice-presidential nominee, Fox television commentator and Donald Trump supporter, none perhaps may be as bold or – as she still likes to say, “rogue” – as trying to take down a much-beloved children’s television personality: Bill Nye the Science Guy.



But that was where hardcore climate change denial landed Palin on Thursday: a wood-panelled committee room in Congress where she disputed the credentials of a hugely popular science educator who has designed devices for Nasa and been awarded several honorary degrees.



“Bill Nye is as much a scientist as I am,” Palin told the gathering. “He’s a kids’ show actor. He’s not a scientist.”



And that was not even the low point of the event.



The occasion was the premiere for the Climate Hustle, a film that dismisses global warming as an excuse for government takeover and makes the outrageously false claim that rising carbon emissions are beneficial.



But the real mission for Palin and the makers of the movie – in addition to airing various conspiracy theories – was to register the continued existence of a small but still powerful fringe, even as the rest of the world accelerates its efforts to fight climate change.



On a day when the World Bank president and ministers from Canada, France and Morocco urged governments to step up their commitments to fight climate change, there was a strong whiff of desperation to Palin’s efforts.



At the United Nations next week more than 130 leaders are expected to attend the formal signing of the Paris agreement, a symbolic show of support for cutting climate pollution.



The event in Congress was hosted by Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican who chairs the House committee on science, space and technology. He did not appear but his prepared remarks accused government scientific agencies of fiddling with climate data.

Outside Republicans in Congress and the Republican presidential race, the world is moving on. A record number of Americans see climate change as a serious threat.

Palin and other speakers made plain they felt increasingly isolated, complaining of “group think” and “peer pressure”, and warning of government takeovers, “energy police” confiscating microwaves and plasma TVs, and brainwashing school children.

The former vice-presidential nominee admitted she did not believe scientists about anything any more – and appealed to presidential contenders to intervene, somehow.



“The science is kind of getting thrown out of the window in discussions about changes in the weather,” Palin said. “It’s something that our candidates should be talking about and giving us their view on and hopefully acknowledging that it needs to become in the science community less political. Otherwise, it leads us to believe that so many things then coming from the scientists could be bogus. If this is bogus, what else are they trying to tell us and control us around?”



To Palin’s mind, efforts by government, business leaders, campaigners – and yes, scientists like Nye – to fight climate change were a mere smokescreen for a huge power grab. She did not say by whom.



Nye’s efforts to educate the public about climate change – and counter the disinformation campaigns funded by corporations and conservative groups – has become a target of Palin and others who claim “extreme doubt” about climate change.

Among the majority of Americans, however, Nye is respected for his efforts to promote scientific literacy, through his educational television series and a not-for-profit group that encourages critical investigation. He has also worked as a visiting professor at Cornell and an executive at the Planetary Society.

“There is a predetermined agenda definitely of those who I think are controlling the narrative right now on changes in the weather,” Palin said. “There is definitely a political agenda behind all of this and as you suggested people who are involved in this issue they are not stupid. They have studied this stuff. They have studied the data that they are erroneously delivering to the public to make us think that we can somehow change the weather and how they do that is to grow government and allow the government to have more control over us, our homes, our businesses, our families, our lives, and it’s quite unfortunate because these people must be purposely doing this, right? Because they are smart enough to know better.”



Parents should be vigilant against attempts at mind control, Palin said. “We need to keep in mind how important it is for parents to understand this issue and to understand the political agenda behind global warming. It is being used as a fundraiser, it is being used as a partisan issue unfortunately so that parents can be first and foremost in their child’s life and influence them to trust science and believe in science and not leave it to the teachers.”



With proper training – of the sort Palin said she received growing up at home with a schoolteacher for a father – children could then go on to take on figures such as Nye. Just like she did.

