Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog
On Friday afternoon, MSNBC host Katy Tur was again putting on display her environmental liberalism and adherence to global warming alarmism as she spoke with liberal environmental activist Amy Westervelt, who hosts a podcast that rails against the fossil fuel industry.
A bit later, as she handed off hosting duties to her colleague, Ali Velshi, she went into a rant about the issue, confessing that she regularly listens to Westervelt's left-wing podcast, titled Drilled, and argued that it "will make your blood boil along with the boiling temperatures we're experiencing."
At 2:54 p.m. Eastern, Tur recalled that liberal actress Jane Fonda has been spending time away from her California home to participate in environmental protests in D.C., and then argued that California is suffering from climate changes caused by human activity:
KATY TUR: Now, California is itself in trouble. New data shows California is warming faster than anyone else in the continental United States. And because of that, they are feeling the dramatic effects of climate change right now. Droughts, fires, floods and mud slides that will force a fundamental social reckoning.
After introducing her guest, Tur praised her podcast and then complained that her fellow liberals in California are not doing enough to stop climate change:
TUR: I highly recommend your podcast. It is a really good explainer about how we got here and who is ultimately responsible for the climate change effects we are feeling right now. There was an article today in the Washington Post that talked about what's happening in Santa Barbara, California, … And it talks about how this is a place that's feeling right now the effects from the erosion of the hillside, mudslides, fires, floods. It is also an extraordinarily liberal, progressive, and it's a place that's not -- not doing enough or much about trying to address climate change. Explain.
The MSNBC host soon spoke of California's recent problems with natural disasters as if such occurrences had never happened before, as Tur followed up:
TUR: So where does that leave California? Because it's a state that -- they compare it to Florida, Florida with the rising sea levels. You can leave the coasts and go to the interior. California, with the winds and the fires, you can't escape it. It's blanketing the entire -- the entire state was almost on fire. I'm exaggerating, but much of the state was on fire just a month ago.
At about 3:00 p.m., the MSNBC host wrapped up the interview, and, as she welcomed Velshi, Tur went into a rant about the fossil fuel industry:
TUR: She's got a podcast, Ali, called Drilled, and I've been listening to it, and it'll make your blood boil along with the boiling temperatures we're experience. … it is a really good explainer for how we got here, and she goes back to the 70s and talks about how ExxonMobil was at the forefront or Exxon was at the forefront of climate science. … They were able to predict what releasing carbon in the atmosphere was going to do, and then when they realized that it was going to -- some people in the company realized that it was going to affect their bottom line, they hired different scientists to doubt the scientists that said that there was going to be global warming.
She then complained about the existence of those who dispute the global warming alarmism pushed by liberals:
TUR: And they hired big PR firms, and they started aggressively lobbying not only the government but us, the American people, to try to convince us that scientists found was not true. And scientists were not actually scientists. And so this massive effort, we were all on the same page for a long time, and then suddenly we weren't. Nobody argued as scientists a few decades ago, and now, suddenly, it's almost like it's a question up for debate whether climate change exists.
After Velshi, finally able to get a word in, likened the fossil fuel industry to the tobacco industry, Tur exclaimed: "It is infuriating!"
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Friday, December 6, MSNBC Live with Katy Tur, which then becomes the beginning of MSNBC Live with Ali velshi:
KATY TUR: Now, California is itself in trouble. New data shows California is warming faster than anyone else in the continental United States. And because of that, they are feeling the dramatic effects of climate change right now. Droughts, fires, floods and mud slides that will force a fundamental social reckoning. Joining me now, Amy Westervelt, a climate journalist and host of the Drilled podcast.
Amy, it is really great to have you. I highly recommend your podcast. It is a really good explainer about how we got here and who is ultimately responsible for the climate change effects we are feeling right now. There was an article today in the Washington Post that talked about what's happening in Santa Barbara, California, … And it talks about how this is a place that's feeling right now the effects from the erosion of the hillside, mudslides, fires, floods. It is also an extraordinarily liberal, progressive, and it's a place that's not -- not doing enough or much about trying to address climate change. Explain.
(AMY WESTERVELT, CLIMATE JOURNALIST)
TUR: So where does that leave California? Because it's a state that -- they compare it to Florida, Florida with the rising sea levels. You can leave the coasts and go to the interior. California, with the winds and the fires, you can't escape it. It's blanketing the entire -- the entire state was almost on fire. I'm exaggerating, but much of the state was on fire just a month ago.
(…)
TUR: She's got a podcast, Ali, called Drilled, and I've been listening to it, and it'll make your blood boil along with the boiling temperatures we're experience. But she -- and we talked about this, but it is a really good explainer for how we got here, and she goes back to the 70s and talks about how ExxonMobil was at the forefront or Exxon was at the forefront of climate science. They were at the forefront. … And they were able to predict warming. They were able to predict what releasing carbon in the atmosphere was going to do, and then when they realized that it was going to -- some people in the company realized that it was going to affect their bottom line, they hired different scientists to doubt the scientists that said that there was going to be global warming.
Basically predicted where we are today. And they hired big PR firms, and they started aggressively lobbying not only the government but us, the American people, to try to convince us that scientists found was not true. And scientists were not actually scientists. And so this massive effort, we were all on the same page for a long time, and then suddenly we weren't. Nobody argued as scientists a few decades ago, and now, suddenly, it's almost like it's a question up for debate whether climate change exists.
ALI VELSHI: There were two things that happened. There was the oil industry, and there was the tobacco industry, and they're both doing the same thing. They both had information about what was really the case. And they both spent a great deal of money convincing us otherwise, but Drilled is important.
TUR: It is infuriating!
VELSHI: It reminds people that, for all the good things that people want to do about climate and say they want to do, this is about fossil fuel. Everybody who wants to give up meat -- and you should, beef is really bad for the climate -- it is not nearly as bad for the climate. … If you do not deal with fossil fuels, you're stuck.