Last week, Fox News (and The New York Post) ran a piece about "a TikToker… who claims to be an 'intersectional climate scientist'" and who made a video last year about climate, capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy. But Dr. Chandler Puritty isn't just "a TikToker," and she doesn't just claim to be a climate scientist, she definitely is one!
Dr. Puritty has a PHD in Biological Sciences from UC San Diego, she completed her bachelor’s degree at Howard University (one of the top universities in the country, with other distinguished alumni including Thurgood Marshall and Kamala Harris), and she is the first author of multiple articles in peer-reviewed journals. Not only that, but she also understands what many others apparently do not: Climate change is rooted in the intertwined and mutually-reinforcing evils of capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy.
All the way back in April 2022, Dr. Puritty posted an educational TikTok in which she made this complex topic more accessible. Referencing the popular book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, she likens capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy to the three heads of a monstrous dog guarding a trap door, behind which lies the mystical philosopher’s stone. In Dr. Puritty’s analogy, “the fart of this dog” symbolizes carbon dioxide, and the philosopher’s stone represents the solution to climate change.
Dr. Puritty states, “White scientists are telling us that the reason that every time we send someone in to get the Sorcerer’s Stone, the cure to climate change, from under the trap door, is to make the room smell less like farts, instead of to get rid of the dog entirely.” In other words, we should be focusing on the source of the issue, which is capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy, rather than making futile efforts to somehow eliminate climate change without addressing these oppressive systems that constitute the inequitable, fossil-fueled status quo.
Dr. Puritty’s TikTok is whimsical and fun to be sure, but she also concisely explains this difficult topic. “Capitalism cannot exist without the exploitation of land and labor. Colonialism created almost every single invasive species issue that we have now, not to mention the extreme destruction of peoples and land. There has never been a time where land was destroyed that people weren’t also harmed. White supremacy: The idea of most of our modern environmental efforts– all of those ideas were linked with white supremacy…”
You don’t have to take her word for it, though! There’s a large body of work analyzing the connections among climate change, capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy to back up what Dr. Puritty is saying.
Dr. Puritty’s TikTok went viral, collecting over 45 thousand likes. But why is Heritage Foundation alum and current Fox News reporter Josh Nelson making a story out of the clip now, in January 2023, almost a year after the TikTok was posted?
We don't have any inside access to Fox News's editorial process, but Nelson does give readers a hint about his motivations. "The video on Puritty's TikTok account has over 180,000 views," he reports, "which have also been shared on Libs of TikTok." We’ll have to take Nelson’s word for that, because we couldn’t find evidence of LibsofTikTok posting this particular video (though the account has posted other content from Dr. Puritty). However, it’s clear that the hateful Twitter account and Fox News share the same motive: To incite harassment.
LibsofTikTok regularly directs digital harassment and real-world violence at children's hospitals, the LGBTQ+ community, and basically anyone who would ever dare to say or do anything that would make the most uptight old lady in Victorian England say "well I never!" in mild disapproval.
Similarly, Fox News also provides a breeding ground for hateful comments. The article adds no context, no additional quotes from other sources, and no additional value, instead merely repeating what's in Dr. Puritty’s various TikToks (which the article doesn't link to) and letting Fox's racist, climate-denying audience fill in the blanks for why it should be outraged that a talented, Black female scientist dared to state some facts.
But we’re not here to tell you what to think! Take your pick of who you’d rather listen to: A PHD-holding scientist with robust scholarship to back her up or Fox News and a hateful social media troll who attended the Jan 6 insurrection.
