How YouTube's climate deniers turned into climate doomers
How YouTube's climate deniers turned into climate doomers
A new report documents a sharp rise in claims that clean energy won't work.
John Cook, a researcher at the Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change in Australia, has documented a similar rise in attacks on climate solutions by conservative think tanks and blogs. “It’s surprising to see misinformation on YouTube shifting so quickly,” Cook said in an email. “The future of climate misinformation will be focused on attacking climate solutions, and we need to better understand those arguments and how to counter them.”
This is good, but I find it odd that the article drives right past the question of why so many people are so determined to undermine an effective response to climate change both before and after they accept the problem as real.
It makes sense to me -- they view the entire issue as a challenge to capitalism, consumption, endless growth, and ruggeded individualism -- but I feel like this needs to be articulated. The question just looms unanswered in the article.
Also, a lot of YouTube personalities are paid to endorse particular points of view, and these aren't necessarily disclosed.
They're making money with their lies, that's it.