For starters, here are the top 3 performing posts across Facebook in the United States last week mentioning “climate change” or “global warming.” Two come from historian and Facebook micro-celebrity Heather Cox Richardson, and all three are about President Joe Biden’s recent diplomatic trip to Europe. (Her journal-like posts are pretty long for Facebook; you can click on the screenshots to read them in full.) Meanwhile, Extinction Rebellion continued to enjoy success on their G7-related demonstrations - you can check out their posts in the links below.
The most-engaged post from a conservative outlet about climate change last week came from Newsmax, which cited a recent Rasmussen Reports poll that challenged Biden’s recent warning that climate change poses the biggest threat to America.
Here are the top 10 posts from climate and polluter groups on Facebook last week and the # of interactions each post received:
Here are the top 10 posts from climate and polluter groups on Facebook last week and the # of interactions each post received:
With huge, intense heat waves coming across the country so early in the year - not to mention another historic drought in the west - a couple of climate groups used the hot weather as a hook for their successful posts last week. Climate Reality and 350.org in particular used record CO2 and temperature levels across the globe to remind followers about the crisis.
However, despite the intense heat, there are still climate denying groups that are undermining what we’re all observing with our own eyes and sweat glands. Among the most-engaged posts last week from groups that we’re tracking came from the CO2 Coalition, a climate denial nonprofit founded by a former Trump White House official. In a post last week, they tried to claim that accelerated ice loss in Antarctica is largely due to “naturally driven heat sources, not to alleged man-made warming.”
The other top Facebook post from polluters last week came from Minnesotans for Line 3, which celebrated a recent court ruling by the Minnesota Court of Appeals that validated the project’s permit, even though opponents of the pipeline are considering appealing the ruling.