NO-ONE can be in any doubt as to the devastation already happening as a result of humanity’s action. The question we should then be asking ourselves is why aren’t we doing more about the climate crisis?

The IPIE, based in Switzerland, spend their days going through papers and reports, news articles and commentaries. In their recent report, they looked at hundreds of articles and found that the global response to the climate crisis is being obstructed and delayed by the deliberate spread of misleading and false information both about what is happening and what viable solutions there are.

It won’t surprise you to hear such information can be traced back to fossil fuel companies and right-wing political parties (often financially supported by such companies) along with their allied and sponsored think-tanks, PR agencies and news agencies. Denial has become less the way of attack in favour of what is called “strategic disruption” involving misrepresenting data or fact so as to cast doubt, thus delaying climate action.

Take, for example, the Trump administration’s “Critical review of impacts of greenhouse gas emissions on the US climate”. It has not been compiled by scientists or experts and an analysis by Carbon Brief, using dozens of contributions from leading climate scientists, finds this report contains more than 100 false or misleading statements. This includes inaccurate claims around carbon, sea level rise, ocean acidification, extreme weather and temperature trends. The aim of spreading this disinformation is to try to justify the rescinding of a 16-year-old ruling in the US that greenhouse emissions pose a threat to human health and welfare.

To further bolster their view, the administration is going to shut down two satellites which give scientists details on carbon dioxide and plant growth. One presumes they believe that if one doesn’t know about it, it isn’t happening!