Common Misconceptions About Climate Change

It’s not a surprise to say that the media has, at times, overly exaggerated climate change and its effects to the general public. The idea of the ‘point of no return’ has been so overused that the phrase does not have value to a day to day person. In fact, the use of over exaggeration of climate change has caused the exact opposite effect of its intended purpose, making people skeptical about the subject matter, and allowing for misinformation about climate change to spread quicker.

Misinformation in relation to climate science can be attributed to the way the the media portray climate change, and the interpretations that people have on the topic.

The scientific community has come to an almost unanimous decision on climate change that, for one reason or another, has become increasingly a polarized topic between different people. The polarization of a scientific consensus has led to mass misinformation being spread in the public, only increasing the polarization of climate change.

Sander van der Linden, a social psychology professor at the University of Cambridge, along with his colleagues published a paper titled Inoculating the Public against Misinformation about Climate Change in which he explores public attitude to climate change in relation to misinformation.

In his paper, Liden notes how scientific evidence and expert opinions can be easily undermined by simple observations and the idea of a ‘false media bias’. Polarization of climate change has resulted in an environment that creates more polarization when scientific evidence is brought in. However, research has also shown that scientific evidence can shift public opinion and influence personal beliefs. Liden’s paper concludes that the presence of misinformation severely undermines a scientific consensus and renders an expert opinion to weigh close to nothing in the eyes of some people.

Misinformation being spread around about climate change in addition to media over exaggeration has caused public opinion to be divided and uncooperative. Whenever there is new evidence about climate change, a new policy to help decrease admissions, or even just the notion that climate change is real, it is met with groundless opposition with little to no scientific or empirical evidence. Misinformation on climate change is passed around by bad actors that benefit from it, and believed by those who refuse to acknowledge scientific evidence solely because it does not align with their beliefs.

This problem with misinformation on climate change actually causes significant harm in passing climate policies, raising funds to help stop climate change, and allocating money to help those who are already affected by it.

Climate change has already affected the world that we live in, ranging from irrational weather patterns, such as Texas’ snow in and California’s longer fire seasons, to increasing sea level and the destruction of the ozone layer. If we can’t be united on the topic of climate change, our lives may really be in danger.