America Misled

The report argues that the fossil fuel industry, specifically citing Exxon, knew about the warming effects of CO2 as early as the 1950s but spent millions on disinformation to obscure this reality. It asserts that the industry adopted the 'tobacco industry’s playbook' to attack scientific consensus, use fake experts, and promote logical fallacies to confuse the public. The document outlines the 'FLICC' framework (Fake experts, Logical fallacies, Impossible expectations, Cherry picking, and Conspiracy theories) to explain the techniques used in climate denial and proposes 'inoculation' as a method to neutralize these tactics by communicating facts, revealing sources, and explaining denialist techniques.

• Internal corporate records indicate the fossil fuel industry was aware of human-caused climate change for decades, yet responded by funding disinformation to protect business operations and stifle action.
• The fossil fuel industry's methods for challenging climate science—including the use of conspiracy theories, fake experts, and cherry picking—are modeled after the strategies used by the tobacco industry to delay tobacco control.
• Exxon's own scientists were aware of the dangers of human-caused climate change as early as the 1950s, but the company instead funded campaigns to hide the scientific reality.
• Climate denial is not based on scientific evidence but is driven by an aversion to proposed solutions and a desire to maintain business as usual.
• The report identifies five primary techniques of science denial, summarized by the acronym FLICC: fake experts, logical fallacies, impossible expectations, cherry picking, and conspiracy theories.
• Disinformation has negatively impacted the American public by reducing understanding of climate change, lowering support for action, polarizing the public, and pressuring scientists to underplay results.

APA

Cook, J., Supran, G., Lewandowsky, S., Oreskes, N., & Maibach, E. (2019). America Misled. Center for Climate Change Communication. https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/America_Misled.pdf

Chicago

Cook, John, Geoffrey Supran, Stephan Lewandowsky, Naomi Oreskes, and Ed Maibach. America Misled. Center for Climate Change Communication, 2019. https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/America_Misled.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Cook |first1=John |last2=Supran |first2=Geoffrey |last3=Lewandowsky |first3=Stephan |last4=Oreskes |first4=Naomi |last5=Maibach |first5=Ed |title=America Misled |publisher=Center for Climate Change Communication |date=October 2019 |url=https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/America_Misled.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{cook2019america, author = {Cook, John and Supran, Geoffrey and Lewandowsky, Stephan and Oreskes, Naomi and Maibach, Ed}, title = {{America Misled}}, institution = {Center for Climate Change Communication}, year = {2019}, month = oct, url = {https://climatecommunication.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/America_Misled.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }