Education and Climate Information
The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024
In the first `100 days of 2024 we will explore 100 climate solutions that may “empower you to evaluate, engage, and act” to address on-going climate change as an individual on your terms.
Misinformation. Disinformation. Inundation. We are awash in information with little time to stop and ponder its veracity. But according to the UN, rampant disinformation is delaying climate action. Especially from The Toxic Ten, fringe publishers that are fueling the majority of digital climate change denial. Breitbart. Media Research Center. The Daily Wire. The Washington Times. And many more sites amplify content from these climate change denialists with an agenda to deflect and deny.
Climate change disinformation appears in many forms, from denying the existence of climate change to promoting ‘solutions’ that in fact contribute to global warming. Undermining confidence in the scientific basis of climate change. Misrepresenting data. Cherry-Picking. Check out all the strategies at Skeptical Science.
And it is working. It is exhausting to contemplate fighting back let alone actually making headway against the information onslaught well-funded by fossil fuel companies and other interests. What can we do?
The Natural Resources Defense Council has a few suggestions. First recognize that we are not battling against one thing, but rather climate change misinformation is “shape-shifting” and has become much more subtle over time. Climate change denial has morphed into climate change solutions denial. Climate change disinformation is routinely cloaked as greenwashed promises. The methods are insidious and deliberately targeted by those with a lot of money to lose.
Learn to spot the tactics. Cranky Uncle is a great source for spotting bad arguments and offers the acronym FLICC – False expertise, Logical fallacies, Impossible expectations, Conspiracy theories, Cherry-picked data. Cranky Uncle is also an app that you can use to easily learn to spot the disinformation and practice your responses.
We should also practice safe consumption of media. Turn your skepticism dial up to 10. Vet the source. Assume bad intent. Hybridize your sources to get a broader perspective. And check the links before accepting the author’s interpretation. Goes for me too!
Take a minute to reflect before you hit the repost button. Only you can prevent misinformation, through the simple act of stopping the spread. You may decide to fight back and take on the trolls and denialists. If you do, serve up a truth sandwich. Always lead with the correct information. The acknowledge the disinformation and along with a fact-check. And then immediately, and with emphasis, layer on another statement of the correct information. And if see something, say something.
What to become an expert? Check out the Calling Bull: Data Reasoning in a Digital World Curriculum at the University of Washington, taught by Carl T. Bergstrom and Jevin West because to them “our world is saturated with bull”, and w all should “learn to detect and defuse it”
You can find the approach in their book Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World and through reading it, develop “a set of powerful tools to cut through the most intimidating data”. While not specifically focused on climate change disinformation, the advanced techniques will serve you as you do battle with the internet and all the trolls.
Gear up. It is going to be a long, exhausting battle that we will likely never win.
President Biden calls out climate change disinformation as bullshit.
Calling bull is a performative utterance, a speech act in which one publicly repudiates something objectionable. The scope of targets is broader than bull alone. You can call bull on bull, but you can also call bull on lies, treachery, trickery, or injustice.
CallingBull.org
Next Up: Climate Action Day 94: Track the State of the Science
Howard Creel
#rescuethatfrog
Email: rescuethatfrog@gmail.com
One response to “Climate Action 93 – Be a Savvy Consumer of Climate Information”
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This entry by Howard Creel is particularly excellent, and addresses much more than just our climate crisis. It’s a concise exposé of the central problem we face in our time; the battle for truth, fact, data-driven decision making and science-guided policy. Or for that matter, truth applied to any policy, any political candidate, or any narrative that drives public or private action. It is not a conspiratorial accusation, but verifiably factual assertion that there are malicious actors who control a vast and growing misinformation mediaverse. Their motives are varied, but their tactics are similar. The core of these tactics are not just science skepticism, but the wholesale dismissal of all science, all verifiable fact and curated data & analysis that is contratry to a favored narrative. This requires destroying the reputation of science and scientists as a whole. Discouraging, yes, but here are the tools we need to equip ourselves with for the next onslaught. Thanks, Howard; thanks Heidi.
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