{"id":14116,"date":"2024-02-20T17:01:06","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T06:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/?p=14116"},"modified":"2024-02-20T17:01:06","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T06:01:06","slug":"how-to-inoculate-against-climate-misinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/20\/how-to-inoculate-against-climate-misinformation\/","title":{"rendered":"How to inoculate against climate misinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, the world experienced the hottest day\u00a0ever recorded<\/a>, as we endured the first year where temperatures were 1.5\u00b0C warmer than the pre-industrial era. The link between extreme events and climate change is\u00a0clearer than ever<\/a>. But that doesn\u2019t mean climate misinformation has stopped. Far from it.<\/p>\n

Misleading or incorrect information on climate still spreads like wildfire, even during the angry northern summer of 2023. Politicians falsely claimed the heatwaves were ‘normal’<\/a>\u00a0for summer. Conspiracy theorists claimed the devastating fires in Hawaii were ignited by\u00a0government lasers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

People producing misinformation have shifted tactics, too, often moving from the old denial (claiming climate change isn\u2019t happening) to the\u00a0new denial<\/a>\u00a0(questioning climate solutions). Spreading doubt and scepticism has hamstrung our response to the enormous threat of climate change. And with sophisticated generative AI making it easy to generate plausible lies, it could become an\u00a0even bigger issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The problem is: debunking misinformation is often not sufficient<\/a>, and you run the risk of giving false information credibility<\/a>\u00a0when you have to debunk it. Indeed, a catchy lie can often stay in people\u2019s heads while sober facts are forgotten.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a new option: the\u00a0prebunking method<\/a>. Rather than waiting for misinformation to spread, you lay out clear, accurate information in advance \u2013\u00a0along with describing common manipulation techniques. Prebunking often has a better chance of success, according to\u00a0recent research<\/a>\u00a0from co-author Sander van der Linden.<\/p>\n

Misinformation spreads<\/a> much like a virus. The way to protect ourselves and everyone else is similar: through vaccination. Psychological inoculation via prebunking acts like a vaccine and reduces the probability of infection. (We focus on misinformation here which is shared accidentally, not\u00a0disinformation<\/a>, which is where people deliberately spread information they know to be false).<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re forewarned about dodgy claims and questionable techniques, you\u2019re more likely to be sceptical when you come across a YouTube video claiming electric cars are dirtier than those with internal combustion engines, or a Facebook page suggesting offshore wind turbines will kill whales.<\/p>\n

Inoculation is not just a metaphor. By exposing us to a weakened form of the types of misinformation we might see in the future and giving us ways to identify it, we reduce the chance false information takes root in our psyches.<\/p>\n

Scientists have tested these methods with some success. In\u00a0one study<\/a>\u00a0exploring ways of countering anti-vaccination misinformation, researchers created simple videos to warn people manipulators might try to influence their thinking about vaccination with anecdotes or scary images rather than evidence.<\/p>\n

They also gave people relevant facts about how low the actual injury rate from vaccines is (around two injuries per million). The result: compared to a control group, people with the psychological inoculation were more likely to recognise misleading rhetoric, less likely to share this type of content with others, and more likely to want to get vaccinated.<\/p>\n

Similar studies have\u00a0been conducted<\/a>\u00a0on climate misinformation. Here, one group was forewarned that politically motivated actors will try to make it seem as if there was a lot of disagreement on the causes of climate change by appealing to fake experts and bogus petitions, while in fact\u00a097 per cent or more<\/a>\u00a0of climate scientists have concluded humans are causing climate change. This inoculation proved effective.<\/p>\n

The success of these early studies has spurred social media companies\u00a0such as Meta<\/a>\u00a0to adopt the technique. You can now find prebunking efforts on Meta sites such as Facebook and Instagram intended to protect people against common misinformation techniques, such as cherry-picking isolated data.<\/p>\n

A hotter world will experience increasing climate extremes and\u00a0more fire<\/a>. Even though many of the fires we have seen in recent years in Australia, Hawaii, Canada and\u00a0now Chile<\/a>\u00a0are the worst on record, climate misinformation actors routinely try to minimise their severity.<\/p>\n

As an example, let\u2019s prebunk claims likely to circulate after the next big fire.<\/p>\n

1. The claim: \u201cClimate change is a hoax \u2013 wildfires have always been a part of nature\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

How to prebunk it: ahead of fire seasons, scientists can demonstrate claims like this rely on the ‘false equivalence’<\/a>\u00a0logical fallacy. Misinformation falsely equates the recent rise in extreme weather events with natural events of the past. A devastating fire 100 years ago does not disprove\u00a0the trend<\/a>\u00a0towards more fires and larger fires.<\/p>\n

2. Claim: \u201cBushfires are caused by arsonists\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

How to prebunk it: media professionals have an important responsibility here in fact-checking information before publishing or broadcasting. Media can give information on the most common causes of bushfires, from lightning (about 50 per cent) to accidental fires to arson. Media claims<\/a>\u00a0arsonists were the main cause of the unprecedented 2019-2020 Black Summer fires in Australia were used by climate deniers worldwide, even though arson was\u00a0far from the main cause<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3. Claim: \u201cThe government is using bushfires as an excuse to bring in climate regulations\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

How to prebunk it: explain this recycled conspiracy theory is likely to circulate. Point out how it was used to claim COVID-19 lockdowns were a government ploy to soften people up for\u00a0climate lockdowns<\/a>\u00a0(which never happened). Show how government agencies can and do communicate openly about why climate regulations\u00a0are necessary<\/a>\u00a0and how they are intended to stave off the worst damage.<\/p>\n

Social media and the open internet have made it possible to broadcast information to millions of people, regardless of whether it\u2019s true. It\u2019s no wonder it\u2019s a golden age for misinformation. Misinformation actors have found effective ways to cast scepticism on established science and then sell a false alternative.<\/p>\n

We have to respond. Doing nothing means the lies win. And getting on the front foot with prebunking is one of the best tools we have.<\/p>\n

As the world gets hotter, prebunking offers a way to anticipate new variants of lies and misinformation and counter them \u2013\u00a0before they take root.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on <\/strong><\/em>The Conversation<\/strong><\/a>. It was co-authored by Sander van der Linden, Professor of Social Psychology in Society, University of Cambridge.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Photo by Mika Baumeister<\/a> on Unsplash.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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