Why people deny climate change – Politics

If you feel caught doing something uncomfortable – just deny it. This tried-and-tested technique from childhood sometimes shines through into adult life for a surprisingly long time. For example on the subject of climate change. Why would you argue against the facts that the earth is not heating up? Sooner or later it will be very uncomfortable for everyone, including the deniers.

The news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) now asked experts about the main reasons why they think people deny climate change. “Fossil fuel companies have long funded climate misinformation propagated by conservative think tanks,” said Brown University sociologist Robert Brulle. Capitalism and climate protection don’t get along very well, of course.

But there are also individuals “who are benefiting from the online outrage economy and taking advantage of the current social media business model, which allows them to monetize climate denial and climate disinformation,” explained Jennie King of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue in London. Anyone who can establish himself as a contrarian intellectual expert quickly gains importance in social media because their algorithm always flushes the controversy to the top. No matter how weak it may be in content.

Such as ex-US President Donald Trump’s repeatedly tweeted claim that snowfall is proof against global warming. At least in the US, “People who vote conservative are more likely to be climate deniers,” said John Cook, a researcher at Monash University in Melbourne and founder of climate-education site Skeptical Science.

Stephan Lewandowsky, psychology professor at the University of Bristol, assumes that there is also a fear of giving up. “People who support unregulated free markets cannot accept science,” because the political consequences of scientific knowledge could be consistent climate protection. Which, of course, goes against those whose privileges are based on burning fossil fuels.

In addition, people believe what they want to believe and look for evidence to support their view. And “it’s not uncommon for people to fall into denial out of fear. The pandemic is another prime example,” said Lewandowsky. As is vanity. “I can think of isolated cases of academics who had extremely mediocre careers at best, and then climate change came along and they said, ‘Oh, that’s a scam’ and claimed they had some expertise. They were inundated with media inquiries . These people want attention.”

The AFP survey, in turn, spread particularly in the world region of Southeast Asia, which is already directly affected by climate change. the star in Malaysia she recorded, as did them Straits Times from Singapore and the Jakarta Post in Indonesia. Except in France, it has so far attracted little attention in Europe. I wonder why?

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