Episode #1500
Barbara Freese
Books mentioned
The Monster
Mentioned by Barbara Freese · at 00:54:39 · ▶︎ Watch this moment on YouTube (approximate)
Amazon (opens in a new tab; affiliate link) Source: Transcript (podscripts.co)
Merchants of Doubt
Mentioned by Joe Rogan (host) · at 01:48:36 · ▶︎ Watch this moment on YouTube (approximate)
Amazon (opens in a new tab; affiliate link) Source: Transcript (podscripts.co)
Frankenstein
Mentioned by Barbara Freese · at 01:42:27 · ▶︎ Watch this moment on YouTube (approximate)
Amazon (opens in a new tab; affiliate link) Source: Transcript (podscripts.co)
Timestamps are segment start times from the podscripts.co transcript of the audio release (includes ad reads), so they may differ from the video by a few minutes.
Barbara Freese, an author, environmental attorney, and former Minnesota assistant attorney general, discusses how industries use denial, deception, and social influence to obscure harm. Drawing on climate change, tobacco, slavery, radium, leaded gasoline, CFCs, and fossil fuels, she explores corporate influence over science and politics, along with polarization, social media manipulation, regulation, and collective action.
What they talked about
- Climate change denial by the coal industry
- Parallels between tobacco and climate denial tactics
- Historical denial in the slave trade
- Corporate rationalization and diffusion of responsibility
- Radium industry and worker exploitation
- Financial crisis and denial of risk
- Ozone layer success story vs. climate inaction
- Social media manipulation and lack of regulation
Data last updated · Report a mistake · How it works: mentions are pulled from public transcripts and episode descriptions, partly with AI-assisted extraction, so details and timestamps can be off.