A popular Fox News host installed solar panels on the roof of his home after giving airtime to skeptics of clean energy and the existence of our planet's overheating.
The Washington Post reported on Oct. 25 that Bret Baier, whose "Special Report with Bret Baier" program has millions of viewers, added 86 solar panels to his $31.9 million mansion.
"A Fox News guy has solar panels? What does [Fox founder Rupert] Murdoch think?!" one person wrote in a forum for D.C. parents, per the Post.
According to data from EnergySage, as reported by the Post, installing solar panels is a significant investment. Still, the amount of money consumers save on electric bills means that, in D.C., the cost can be offset in as little as five years.
"Solar panels are a good investment in much of the U.S., regardless of politics," Jenny Chase, the lead solar analyst at the energy research firm BloombergNEF, told the Post.
In August 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, a bill aimed at saving Americans money and protecting the environment by incentivizing clean energy and products that reduce pollution, like solar panels or electric vehicles.
The Post also noted that Baier, despite hosting a positive discussion about solar power in 2019, has given a platform to writer Marc Morano at least 10 times, even though Morano is known for repeatedly engaging in climate denial and rejecting widely accepted facts.
According to the Guardian, a 2018 Facebook video by Morano — that garnered more than five million views — opened by denying that human activities have caused our planet's temperatures to warm, despite the fact that over 99.9% of peer-reviewed scientific studies conclude that Earth's overheating is primarily due to human activities.
Why should you care about climate denial?
While it's true that human activities have negatively affected our planet, it's not too late to create a better future, including by utilizing clean energies such as solar and wind.
As reported by the Post, left-leaning media watchdog group Media Matters discovered that almost 88% of climate segments on Baier's show from 2009 to 2021 "either spread misinformation or perpetuated false or misleading narratives" about the warming temperatures of our planet.
Unfortunately, a report by Logically and APCO Worldwide found that climate misinformation and conspiracy theories can significantly set back meaningful efforts to save our planet, with "skepticism about the necessity" of action, "doomerism about what can be done," and the "cost of political action" being key roadblocks.
"The climate denial of the opinion hosts is more overt because it's coming straight from their mouths. But I think what Bret Baier is doing is more insidious because he's inviting other people on [his show] to either deny or downplay climate change or challenge the efficacy of solutions," Allison Fisher, Media Matters' director of the climate and energy program, told the Post.
The Logically/APCO report noted the importance of creating "trust in institutions" and "promoting initiatives only out of genuine commitment to change."
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