In a world where one can find information about anything in an instant, how difficult does it become to separate the truth from lies? Fear mongering and exaggeration can be useful tactics to push different agendas. This is especially harmful when it comes to policymaking and social change. The denial of facts due to mistrust of scientific research prevents policy from being made to to protect the environment.
With the rise of the internet, and almost everyone in the developed world having access to the internet in the palm of their hands, false information can be easily misunderstood as facts. The mistrust of all information can also be hindering, as distrust builds between readers and writers. The truth can be minimized as falsified, and the falsified information can be maximized as truth. With the rise of “Fake News”, its difficult to discern what is fact over fiction. Looking deeper into articles is time consuming and can be confusing to the common reader. The older generation are more likely to believe what they read online, and also more likely to believe climate change is a hoax.
The government exists to serve the people, [declaration of independence quote], and this belief still holds true. Many lobbyists for oil and gas companies have strong connection to Congress and those who make policy. It becomes a difficult stand-off to serve constituents, who are not as vocal, as well as corporations that rejuvenate the economy. Capitalism aims to create as much profit as possible for as long as possible, and this is often at the expense of the environment. Without caps on carbon emissions, or use of environmentally safe fertilizers, companies will do whatever is the cheapest, and not necessarily what is the best for the future of the planet. The balance of climate protection and corporation protection lies in Congress.
Climate change is occurring all over the world, yet many people choose to ignore findings due to beliefs that these findings are exaggerated or hyperbolized to push for different agendas that they do not want to be pushed. This is an issue, as the planet is a place where everyone lives, not just Democrats or just Republicans. There have been many findings of human interference causing disruption in the natural world. The use of excess nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers from the agricultural industry run off into local waterways, creating an excess of algae growth, too much to be equalized by the organisms that consume it. This algae excess creates “dead zones”, where no life can be supported due to lack of light and excess carbon dioxide in the water. The
Denying a fact does not make it less true. It makes persuading the deniers that something needs to be done even more difficult. If one does not believe a problem exists, why would one make an effort to solve those problems? The rise of falsified opinions disguised as real newsworthy facts has hindered the ability for policy to be made, and in turn, hindering any change to protect the environment to be made. It is ridiculous to ignore the scientific findings, as science is not meant to be political, and simply make observations and report those observations.