I am sick and tired of people being fed misinformation, and half-truths about Climate Change.
Climate change is a reality – there are no two ways about it. Does it need immediate attention? Yes, it certainly does. But do we need to lose our wits over it? Hell, no.
Look at the way it is paraded around in the media. It’s like the heavens are going to freeze over tomorrow if don’t switch to clean fuels.
The ground reality is that getting rid of fossil fuels is going to be a long process. We have no immediate replacements for diesel, cement, fertilizers, and plastics – the four pillars of modern civilization, as underlined by Vaclav Smil, the leading authority on Energy and Environment.
The problem is that without having a hold of facts, people spout just about anything under the sun.
Look at the hullabaloo going on in online communities – LinkedIn leads the charge here. Look at newspapers – the paid articles and sponsored features are running riot. If there’s one news outlet not going bananas over this topic, I’m yet to find it.
The science is clear: climate change is happening, largely due to human actions. The Environmental Research Letters journal says over 97% of climate scientists are in agreement on this. And yet, the theatrics with which this topic is presented in mass media? You’d think the world was ending tomorrow.
It’s almost as if the media’s got a new toy in the form of ‘climate doomsday’.
The 2019 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)? Yes, it had critical points, emphasizing the need for immediate action; it also pointed out solutions at hand.
Guess which part most media outlets decided to loop over and over? Hint: It wasn’t the solutions part.
LinkedIn is another platform where both techno-optimists and doomsayers assemble and publish tons of content. Between these two warring factions, genuine information gets lost.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not diminishing the gravity of the issue, but we need to seek out reliable information sources.
Those news anchors with a flair for the dramatic, the influencers on LinkedIn without any real expertise, the politicians with vested interests, and the businesspeople with a new tech to sell, all need to be taken with a dose of skepticism.
To start off on the right foot, consult peer-reviewed studies, look for legitimate scientific journals and websites, and pay heed to actual climate scientists like Vaclav Smil and Drew Shindell.
Finally, climate change is no joke. It’s urgent, it’s vital, and we need to tackle it head-on. But let’s not get sucked into the sea of misinformation and half-truths out there.
A pinch of skepticism and a good dose of research will serve you better than any sensationalized headline.
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