Climate Change Misinformation and Integrity in Environmental Communication

While our beliefs about crucial political issues such as climate change are shaped by a variety of psychological and socioeconomic influences, this essay argues that one source of those beliefs comes from the responsibility that climate scientists have, as domain experts on the science and policy of climate change, to protect the public from misinformation. There are many forms of fake news not all of which are intentionally conceived to deceive. Climate change is poised to devastate communities regardless of their perspective on who is responsible for the problem, or whether they believe it even exists in the first place. For protections against climate change falsehoods to be effective they must not only be endorsed by the political advocacy community which promotes ecological justice and sustainability in business and commerce. They must also be endorsed by the experts who have the insight to predict anthropological futures based on historical fact and present environmental conditions. Because climate change has become a political problem – a political question – environmental communication must rise to the challenge that a divided society presents; and environmental leaders need to confront that danger that comes from complacency towards and denial of the precipice we stand upon.

Recommended citation: Rice, James. (2024). "The Social Justification of Climate Change Beliefs and Environmental Commuinication." Cambridge Disinformation Summit Conference Paper.