โClean coal.โ โEthical oil.โ How could fossil fuels that produce pollution which sickens, kills, and hospitalizes tens of thousands of Americans each year end up sounding so โฆย desirable?
Jim Hoggan, founder of DeSmog, watched these industry-fundedย campaigns โ and an increasingly toxic public discourse around climate change โ unfold in the U.S. and Canada and wondered the sameย thing.ย
As Hoggan told an audience of earth and climate scientists at the American Geophysical Union conference today, โThese campaigns are not so much about persuasion as they are about polarization, about dividingย us.โ
When he first founded DeSmog in 2005, Hoggan thought that the reason people denied the legitimacy of climate science was because they just didnโt have enough information or didnโt have the rightย information.
But the more he examined this issue, he realized it wasnโt about misinformation. It was primarily about disinformation.
Hoggan has described this process he underwent while writing his book, Iโm Right and Youโre an Idiot:
โI wanted to find out how misinformation campaigns work, how we came to a time when facts donโt matter and how we can start having real public conversations again. So I began to explore how these tendencies arise, what spurs us to become close-minded, aggressively vitriolic and most importantly, what we can do about it. I also began to analyze how we can become highly effective communicators, deflect over-the-top advocacy and make our arguments more convincingย โฆ
Iโm Right and Youโre an Idiot explains why facts alone donโt lead people to the right decisions; how language is manipulated; how peopleโs voices are โstolenโ or silenced and what that means for democracy. It explains why modern messaging fails, why we are susceptible to misinformation and how trust networks areย destroyed.โ
He realized that the strategy of those putting out anti-science propaganda is to pollute the public discourse. They accomplish this by arguing that there are no clear facts and noย objectivity.ย
Instead, they argue that โeveryone is just trying to manipulate you for their ownย interests.โ
If you thought climate scientists were trying to manipulate you, why would you listen to their alarming reports about melting sea ice and acidifying oceans? Why would you vote for elected officials who prioritize taking actions to address climateย change?
As Hoggan pointed out, the organizations denying the science of climate change โ like the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Heartland Institute โ donโt have to completely convince the public that climate change isnโt real in order to kill political will on theย issue.
They just have to sow the seeds of doubt about climate science, which President-elect Donald Trump has echoed in his false statements that โnobody really knowsโ if climate change isย happening.
Unfortunately, climate science deniers have been fairly successful in introducing that doubt and slowing down progress on addressing the causes and impacts of climateย change.
These kinds of divisive tactics move Americans into so-called โtribesโ with others like themselves โ Republicans, Democrats, urban, rural, people of color,ย whites.ย
Hoggan described how our brains have evolved to form these teams of โusโ versus โthemโ and how that informs the decisions we make about something like the degree to which humans are causing climate change, an issue that is more politically polarized than ever.
Divided as we are, what kind of hope is there that facts and unity, rather than disinformation and division, willย prevail?
As social scientists have shown, facts donโt change minds. That means people on every part of the political spectrum need to instead focus on attempting to sincerely listen and understand eachย other.
โThis is about rebuilding trust and learning to talk about these problems in a way that really matters to people,โ saidย Hoggan.ย
In the course of researching his book, Hoggan interviewed Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, who left him with a message that reverberates with empathy, a sentiment not often found in the antagonistic public discourse ofย today.ย
โSpeak the truth, but not to punish,โ saidย Hanh.ย
In other words, once people stop vilifying the โother side,โ they leave themselves open to realize that โthe other sideโ is composed of real people who have actual concerns and even sharedย values.
That is the point, a place of mutual respect and trust, where we can return to real conversations about real issues that affect us all. Like climate change.ย
Main image credit: James Hoggan speaks at AGU, byย DeSmog
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