Abstract

Climate change denial can be defined as the stance grounded on discourses that question the scientific evidence about climate change existence and its anthropogenic causes. This view also denies the need of rethinking the capitalistic economic production model, and, therefore, the global challenge and the moral responsibility linked to it. Previous research has shown that climate change denial, at least in the US, is promoted by economic interests and values aimed at perpetuating privileges and power through interest groups. More recently, the concept of ideological denial has been suggested (THINKClima, 2018) to point out at the refusal to rethink the anthropocentric ideas and beliefs underlying the causes and proposed solutions to mitigate global warming, as reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Amongst these causes, human diet, in general and animal protein-food, in particular, have been identified by abundant reports as a main contributor of global greenhouse emissions even before the FAO published its well-known report The Livestock Long Shadow (Steinfeld et al, 2006). This paper presents a research linked to the ideological denial of environmental NGOs regarding the impact of animal agriculture on global warming. Because green NGOs have traditionally been blind to the suffering of farmed animals, the assumption was that, due to this habitual speciesist approach, green NGOs may have been neglecting to disseminate not only animal’s suffering but also the information related to the environmental impact of their exploitation. To this end, the paper will present the results of a frame analysis regarding the issue of the animal-based diet on the four main green NGOS in Spain according to visibility, prestige and importance in relation to their activity and membership. These are: Greenpeace, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Friends of the Earth and Ecologistas en Acción. Up to 1,209 documents have been examined to identify whether the texts explicitly or implicitly support or reject the consumption of food of animal origin over a period of years from 2003 to 2018, as applicable to each NGO. In the event of any degree of ideological denial regarding food of animal origin being confirmed, the research will show how anthropocentric speciesism is related to climate change inaction in the case of green NGOs. References: Steinfeld, H., Gerber, P., Wassenaar, T., Castel, V., Rosales, M., & de Haan C. (2006). Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options, Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e.pdf THINKClima (2018). Key concepts. Climate change, denialism and advocacy communication. Discourse and strategies of think tanks in Europe. Retrieved from https://www.upf.edu/web/thinkclima/ideological-denial