On Sunday's What's Eating America?, hosted by celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern, the second episode of the new food-focused MSNBC series engaged in scaremongering with predictions about the food industry being hurt by climate change, and indicted "deniers" for not believing climate change is caused by human activity.
The show used several sources who are liberal activists critical of conservatives who are skeptical of climate alarmist views, with one even calling it "criminal" for skeptics to dispute the claims of alarmists.
The new MSNBC host teased the show holding a plate of food he had prepared containing Alaskan salmon, summer sweet corn, and green beans, before warning: "They're all threatened by climate change."
Zimmern focused the first segment of the show on highlighting the hundred-year tradition in Milwaukee of holding fish fries with local fish, noting that Perch now has to be imported because there is less of it locally than in the past.
About halfway through the show, he repeated the debunked claims that 97 percent of climate scientists believe climate change is caused by human activity as he was seen speaking with former EPA official Mike Kops. The word "criminal" came up as the two went back and forth:
ZIMMERN: The federal government isn't even willing to admit that there's a problem. It makes no sense to me.
KOPS: It makes no sense, and what bothers me about it is that there are a lot of valid scientific questions that we need to put research in and work on climate, no doubt. But when we can't even get past that initial stage, I would call it criminal.
A bit later, Zimmern was seen fretting over the conservative media encouraging Americans to be skeptical of climate alarmism as he spoke with David Armiak of the Center for Media and Democracy:
ZIMMERN: Meet David Armiak -- a research director with the Center for Media and Democracy. He's reported on the influence that conservative organizations have on America.
DAVID ARMIAK, CENTER FOR MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY: There's a lot of money that's going from, say, the Koch donor network, the Bradley Foundation, and to think tanks. And they provide the sort of, like, academic legitimacy for the climate denialism, right?
The pejorative "deniers" was repeatedly used to refer to conservative skeptics of climate alarmism.
A bit later, clips of Zimmern were shown in which he spoke with random people in Milwaukee in which they had a negative reaction to him informing him that the Bradley Foundation, centered in their town, spends money encouraging climate skepticism which, in his view, was against the economic interests of the city.
Toward the end of the one-hour show, the MSNBC host summed up by parroting the current claims of there being a "climate crisis" facing the world:
ZIMMERN: I firmly believe we're in a climate crisis, and the first victim is not the apple crop or sweet corn or the beef burgers we love -- it's our local farmers, the people who feed us and help keep food available.
ANDREW BARSNESS, MINNESOTA FARMER: The data is clear, and the consensus of the scientific community is clear that it's not a natural cycle.
(…)
ZIMMERN: Everywhere you turn, the world is enduring a climate crisis that is changing the nature of our food supply and changing the lives of the people who feed us.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Sunday, February 23, What's Eating America? on MSNBC:
What's Eating America
2/23/2020
ANDREW ZIMMERN, MSNBC HOST, IN INTRODUCTION: This plate of food is a delicious meal, made from some of my favorite ingredients -- wild Alaskan salmon, summer sweet corn, green beans. What do they all have in common? Well, they're all being threatened by climate change.
I've spent the last 15 years traveling the world. I've eaten the most amazing things and gotten to know the people who provide them. They all tell the same story -- from fields to fisheries, our climate is in crisis.
(…)
ZIMMERN: Meet David Armiak -- a research director with the Center for Media and Democracy. He's reported on the influence that conservative organizations have on America.
DAVID ARMIAK, CENTER FOR MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY: There's a lot of money that's going from, say, the Koch donor network, the Bradley Foundation, and to think tanks. And they provide the sort of, like, academic legitimacy for the climate denialism, right?
(…)
ARMIAK: They also donate to other organizations, some of which are climate deniers -- most prominently, William Happer and his group, the CO2 Coalition.
ZIMMERN: Remember William Happer? He was the Trump administration's chief climate denier.
(…)
ZIMMERN: The millions of dollars being pumped into climate change denial seem to be working. Back in Apalachicola, Florida, citizens and state officials alike have been extremely skeptical.
DR. ROBERT LIVINGSTON, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR EMERITUS: The Republican party in Florida which governs Florida decided there is no such thing as climate change.
ZIMMERN: Florida officials were reportedly instructed to stop using the term "climate change" in official communications during the administration of Governor Rick Scott from 2011 to 2019. Scott, who is now a United States Senator, has said he is not convinced climate change is caused by human activity.
(…)
ZIMMERN: I firmly believe we're in a climate crisis, and the first victim is not the apple crop or sweet corn or the beef burgers we love -- it's our local farmers, the people who feed us and help keep food available.
ANDREW BARSNESS, MINNESOTA FARMER: The data is clear, and the consensus of the scientific community is clear that it's not a natural cycle.
(…)
ZIMMERN: Everywhere you turn, the world is enduring a climate crisis that is changing the nature of our food supply and changing the lives of the people who feed us.
