Chris Packham humiliates Kuenssberg’s climate-denying guest

  • Post last modified:April 21, 2024
  • Reading time:16 mins read


It’s the year 2024, and at this point the evidence for the human-driven climate crisis could not be clearer. Forgetting the evidence, even non-scientific types can see something is going on, as the world is experiencing increasingly extreme weather events, including wildfires, floods, and record-breaking temperatures. Right now, for instance, ocean temperatures have hit a peak which is making life within them intolerable:

Despite all this, the BBC is still inviting climate deniers onto its platform.

This time, thankfully, they did at least counterbalance the rich dope they had on with someone who could convey the scientific consensus on Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg:

wHeRe’S tHe EvIdEnCe!? Well, Chris Packham had it.

In a roundtable discussion on Kuenssberg, Chris Packham asked:

What about the ordinary people of Dubai last week?

If you didn’t know, Dubai – a place famous for its dryness – has been experiencing extreme flooding:

Packham continued:

What about the ordinary people of the Global South, that has just experienced the hottest year ever, where their crops have failed?

There’s plenty of data on this too:

Packham then noted:

There have been extensive wildfires.

And once again:

At this point, Luke Johnson – the angry, gesticulating numbskull sat across from him – interrupted to bellow:

WHERE’S THE EVIDENCE THAT ANY OF THAT IS CONNECTED TO CARBON EMISSIONS?

Chris Packham responded:

Well it doesn’t come from Toby Young’s ‘Daily Septic’ which is basically put together by a bunch of professionals with close affiliations to the fossil fuel industry, it comes from… something called ‘science’.

For those unfamiliar with Toby Young, he’s a guy who’s made a career out of being wrong about everything, and he writes a blog called the Daily Sceptic. Individual instances of Young being wrong are too many to mention, but the funniest is when he thought he’d disproved the concept of ‘friendship’ because no one turned up to his stag-do:

Back to the topic at hand, and yes the answer is ‘science’ – something we have an unfathomable amount of at this point.

Given the scientific consensus, it’s unclear why the BBC keeps inviting doubters on to argue the point. Should we debate whether the Earth orbits the sun, or whether the planet is flat?

No, of course we shouldn’t.

And let’s not forget, the factuality of a human-driven climate crisis isn’t just backed up by the science; it’s also overwhelmingly acknowledged by the public.

So why is this niche opinion given airtime by the national broadcaster?

And who the fuck is Luke Johnson?

Climate denialism is popular among the ultra-wealthy. Why? Because implementing measures to prevent total climate breakdown would lead to them earning fractionally less than they’re predicting to earn in future. That doesn’t mean they’d earn less, notably, as the status quo is they earn more and more each year; it just means their yearly gains would be marginally less gainly:

Knowing that, would you believe Mr Johnson is yet another rich guy who’s failed his way upwards?

The Guardian reported in 2019:

Luke Johnson, the business guru whose reputation crumbled after the implosion of Patisserie Valerie, the cafe chain he chaired, has broken his long silence over an incident he said had left feeling him physically ill…

Despite Johnson’s desperate attempts to rescue Patisserie Valerie, including lending it £10m of his own money, it went bust in January after the discovery of a widespread accounting fraud that masked a £94m black hole in its accounts.

Johnson’s management of the chain worked out incredibly poorly for the company’s employees:

The collapse of Patisserie Valerie, which employed 3,000 people after a breakneck expansion masterminded by Johnson, is one of the biggest stock market upsets of recent years. The company was valued at £450m before it flagged up the potential fraud, and the administration wiped out shareholders, including Johnson, who owned a 37% stake.

No to worry, though, as Retail Gazette reported in 2022 that Johnson was expected to benefit from a multi-million pound Patisserie Valerie settlement (with the fraud blamed on other directors).

Who could have predicted that the climate denier has a history of being duped by other rich guys?

The British Bullshit Corporation

Many questioned Johnson’s inclusion on the panel:

 

If Johnson was a poor person, the BBC would ignore his ramblings. Because he’s rich, we have to pretend he has the intellectual heft to act as an authority on any given subject.

Other people pointed out some underlying issues with climate denialism:

Some pointed out that the science isn’t just clear now; it’s been clear for half a century:

Fair play to Johnson, he did at least have the decency to pipe down a bit when he realised he had zero argument beyond whining ‘wHeRe’S tHe EvIdEnCe!?’

National fraudcasting on Kuenssberg. Thank god for Chris Packham.

The BBC is an absolute toilet of a broadcaster, and Laura Kuenssberg is the misused and unwashed toilet brush besides it. You really shouldn’t expect any better at this point. Arguably, they’re only going to get worse.

Although their climate-denying guest got shown up, allowing him on at all still gives the impression that these goons have something to say. Luke Johnson may think he can contribute to the debate, but unlike with climate change, the evidence simply isn’t there.

Featured image via BBC





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