Climate Disinformation a la Spiritual-Ecological Author Charles Eisenstein

and the “More Beautiful World” Pipeline of Young Men to MAGA

Illustration by Joy Schendledecker

 Note: This is One Part of a two-part series on Charles Eisenstein and his recent, public equivocations around RFK Junior, Trump and MAGA. Part Two, a much deeper dive is here.

Who would have thought that the author Charles Eisenstein–in some worlds, a leading authority on ecology, climate and how to approach the climate crisis–would now be settling somewhere in the land between outright climate denialism, complete with fossil fuel industry backing–and a kind of “soft pedaling” of the climate crisis?

Eisenstein’s alignment with the “anti-vaxx”-to-Alt-Right pipeline crowd started during Covid lockdowns (like so many others) and then advanced to his employment with the RFK, Jr. campaign, which itself has now aligned with and endorsed Donald Trump and MAGA.

Let’s remember that MAGA is a Christo-fascist movement, which has moved so far Right, its more “religious” members are calling Kamala Harris a tool of Satan and JD Vance is showing up to speak at their conferences.

Whether or not it is clearly known to him, Eisenstein—who is famous for his eco-spiritual book: The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible—has come to the very threshold, not just of outright climate denialism, but of neoliberal-free-market-capitalism-on-steroids with no (read: zero, zilch) compunctions about ecology, a rapidly heating climate and the frightening, deadly cascade of disasters that have become daily life on Earth.

Welcome to the GOP.

Eisenstein’s book, Climate: A New Story, critiqued the climate movement’s focus on climate science, carbon measurement, projections and models and asserted that a more holistic view of nature, Gaia or Mother Earth would be more appealing to the heart and soul of the masses. I read this book and liked much of it, but wondered why we couldn’t do both.

I didn’t see why we would need to reject the hard work of good and often underpaid biologists and scientists around the world. Also, not tracking what is actually happening on our planet with viable metrics, and reporting this out, seemed a certain death wish.

Indeed, most environmentalists and climate activists I know hold the now massive canon of climate science compiled over many decades (with new science emerging daily) and their own personal reverence for nature with equal care. Who knows how climate scientists walk and sit in and contemplate Nature? I am sure, like most of us do: with great reverence, love and wonder.

But at least it seemed that Eisenstein loved the Earth, and so we trusted where he was coming from–and to some extent, where he was going.

Fans of that book might be taken aback to know that Eisenstein’s philosophy is now being rolled out on the Tucker Carlson show by RFK, Jr., within a media ecosystem that historically and still denies any climate crisis or human-caused global heating at all.

According to author and journalist Geoff Dembicki, who has been tracking Right-wing disinformation on climate, Far Right “influencers” like Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro and others, are often funded or launched—as they were at the Daily Wire—by fossil fuel industry billionaires. Russia, a Petro-State, is also behind Far Right disinformation media sites, troll farms, and thousands of Twitter and other social media accounts, all of which have expanded since Elon Musk took over the platform and made Twitter a free-for-all of racism, misogyny, propaganda and chaos creation.

But Dembicki says standard GOP and Far Right Christian efforts to deny and confuse the climate crisis are beginning to fail–as it becomes harder to ignore the fires and floods and rising waters predicted by scientists decades ago.

 A new trend is emerging to prevent serious attention to the problem. Yes, climate change is real; global heating is real, but really not so bad. And those who say it is are sad, terrible people who live in despair and constant gloom.

Young men are a primary target of Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, Russell Brand and many other “influencers,” who offer a vision for disgruntled or scared males that denies the gravity of the climate crisis (as they also deny equality for women and many other humans.)

Canadian, ex-psychologist and global podcaster Jordan Peterson–who lost his license to practice psychology due to hurtful and dangerous remarks about whole groups of humans–and his new “Peterson Academy” (no degrees granted) are set up now to indoctrinate these young men further.

Dembicki, in his interview with Rose Aguilar (“Your Call” Radio), summarized his research on why: young men are impressionable, lost and seek meaning in their lives. These Right-wing media personalities are organizing to capture their attention and distract it from real solutions.

Dembicki exhorted Democrats, progressives, activists and good people everywhere to create a sense of belonging, meaning and purpose for boys and young men.

It behooves us all now to “ … create a sense of belonging, meaning and purpose for boys and young men.”

Indeed, a tall order in a world facing climate collapse, but certainly one we could take on. Giving boys and men, and all young people, a place in a “Climate Corps” (like Biden’s and–ahem–as I proposed during my run for office locally) would be deeply meaningful, connecting and rewarding. Working with indigenous groups to restore rivers, wetlands, forests, for example … there would be such healing and learning in that.

There’s a content creator on TikTok named “Tony” who I often wonder about, and who worries me. He is (or has been) a “both-sideser” like Eisenstein, but seems now to be leaning heavily to one side. One of his recent complaints was about Left/liberal creators he follows who say they will not have children due to the troubles on this planet. Tony, who has young children, has a hard time with that.

He wants people to buck up and be cheerful and know we can get through this somehow. He wants this so much that it seems about to tip him over into climate denialism and MAGA altogether.

But anyone living in actual reality–who has studied the science–would be considering the cascading and accelerating effects of global heating on all of our lives and our future lives (not to mention the already devastated lives of people living on low-lying islands, or who have already suffered or perished through fires and floods or drought). And they would naturally consider how all of this might affect any children they might have. The current disaster in North Carolina and Florida is case in point.

I went into regret about having children when I first learned the climate science–ironically from a colleague of Eisenstein’s, Jem Bendell (the man who introduced me to Eisenstein, actually) who argued in his now viral paper, “Positive Deep Adaptation,” that the climate science seemed to indicate that we were past the point of no return.

And what could we do? Perhaps, love one another. Prepare ourselves and our societies, try to adapt. I have since accepted my having children, and, of course, I love them and am very, very glad they are alive. But this took time. It took emotional processing and allowing emotions: sadness, anger, fear, despair. All of it.

That too was Bendell’s response–a man–but why are men like “Tony” getting so angry?

Maybe this has to do with a man’s “protective” nature or conditioning. I know many men turn to anger as a first response when they feel impotent, because they are afraid of and have learned to deflect feelings like sadness, grief or despair. The impulse to protect comes from love. If we can go straight to love (rather than fear of impotence), we go to place of real creativity.

I believe it is this impulse from the “traditional” male psyche that is creating the pattern of denialism we see now from the global network of Far Right celebrities, influencers, and podcast hosts who direct their messages to disgruntled young men.

And now Eisenstein has entered this media echo-chamber through RFK, Jr.—who channeled Eisenstein on the Tucker Carlson show, distracting us from counting carbon or passing meaningful legislation that would necessarily require measurements and metrics–and directing us toward contemplating the “wonder” of the Amazon rainforest instead.

RFK, Jr. went so far as to call such measuring and calculating a tool of “Satan.”

What RFK, Jr. did not mention on Tucker’s show was that the Amazon Rainforest was and still is actually on fire–and an area of the forest the size of the state of both Germany and France has now burned. He did not mention that the Amazon could fail us and begin to expel carbon dioxide–something only reading the science can tell us.

Perhaps, in this new, “more-beautiful-world-Make-America-Great-Again” culture of the GOP, we are to only think of an idealized, “sacred” and pristine version of a rainforest in our minds, and according to “new wave” climate denialists, ignore the actual reality of the real and vulnerable Amazon rainforest and other, Central American rainforests and the very real struggles of the indigenous people fighting life-and-death battles against multinational corporations and ranchers to save them.

Welcome to the new, Eisenstein-improved MAGA. Where nature is both sacred and totally expendable. Where the idea of a thing is preferred to its reality. Where nothing makes sense, but we pretend that it does, and in that pretending, we find a moment, if brief and not terribly deep, of peace.

 Note: This is One Part of a two-part series on Charles Eisenstein and his recent, public equivocations around RFK Junior, Trump and MAGA. A much deeper dive is here.

---

Resources:

“Conspirituality” podcast on this topic.

DeSmog online climate news (Dembicki is a contributor)

Amy Westervelt’s Drilled podcast series

Amy Westervelt’s Interview on the Moment of Truth podcast

On fossil fuel monies in US politics