Since 2012, Donald Trump has continued to publish climate-sceptical statements on his X account. Record temperatures and heavy snow. WHERE HAS global warming gone? » Or again: “ Let’s focus on one airair pure and healthy, and let’s stop being distracted by this prankprank costly as global warming is! » The self-proclaimed “ecologist” posted several dozen of these messages on his social networkssocial networks.
Although not all Trump supporters are climate skeptics, his stance on climate change does not appear to have had much impact on the election results.
How have we come to minimize comments that go against established scientific facts, to the point that they become trivialized by a large portion of public opinion?
The election of Donald Trump: symbol of a climate skeptic turn…
As soon as he arrived at the White House, Donald Trump translated his words into significant political actions. Its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in 2017 was a major symbolic gesture. Since 2021, the United States has rejoined the Agreement, but the new president has promised to leave it again.
The return of Donald Trump will add 4 billion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere by 2030!
In the United States, a significant fraction of the population, like Donald Trump, doubts the reality of climate change. Several studies, including a survey by Yale University in 2023 and a study by the University of Michigan in 2024, roughly agree on a figure for the proportion of Americans who are climate skeptics. This figure rises to 15%, or around 49 million people.
As for the origin of this climate change, one in two Americans believes that human activity is not the main reason for the Earth’s warming, according to a study by PewResearchCenter of 2023.
…which is gaining ground around the world
And it’s not just an American phenomenon: the rise of climate skepticism has been observed in several other countries. Worldwide, according to an Ipsos survey, 34% of the world population in 2021 was climate skeptic. While this same survey established that 77% of the world’s inhabitants feel they are already seeing the effects of climate change in their region.
In France, figures from EDF’s ObsCOP 2022 showed that when 70% of respondents admitted in 2019 that “ there is human-caused climate change », they will only be 63% in 2022.
2024, the year when humanity crossed this red line that it had sworn to avoid!
Several actors behind these theories
Since the 1970s, several fossil fuel lobbies have fueled climate disinformation, seeking to sow doubt about scientific reports.
In 2019, a study carried out by the independent ThinkTank InfluenceMap had revealed that at “ In the three years following the Paris Accords, the five largest publicly traded oil and gas companies (ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, ChevronChevronBP and Total) have invested more than a billion euros in misleading information and lobbying campaigns on the climate. » Lobbying therefore played an essential role in the diffusiondiffusion of climate skepticism by flooding the media with their “counter-expertise”.
The trivialization of climate skeptic ideas facilitated by social media
But the trivialization of climate skepticism is not only the result of the ideology of certain leaders or the influence of powerful economic lobbies. It is also fueled by individuals on the media and social networks.
Climate skeptics are more widely reported in the media, according to a study
In the United States, news channels like Fox News have invited climate skeptics onto their sets, like Tom Harris, who said “ there is no climate crisis ».
The executive director of the International Climate Science Coalition, Tom Harris, explains on Fox News that he used to be a climate alarmist, but now considers it a scam. © Fox News
In France, CNews also regularly gives voice to those who doubt. “There has always been climate change. There were vines in England in the late Middle Ages »argued at the end of October 2024 the editorial director of the journal Capital social, Joseph Thouvenel, who regularly gives speeches aimed at discrediting the words of scientists. These interventions have the effect of accustoming the public to seeing global warming as a debate, rather than as a scientific reality. Social networks, with their capacity to rapidly multiply information, have played a role as an agent of propagation of climate-denialist ideas.
Scientists attacked on X: “it is important to stay because the problem of climate change will be solved with shared action”
The Climatoscopean observatory founded in 2015 to analyze the climate debate, observed during a study in 2023, strong interactions around climate skepticism on the social network Ils [les groupes climatosceptiques, NDLRNDLR] show overactivity compared to those who defend the climate consensus. They compensate for being a minority with a strong online presence », explained David Chavalarias, CNRS research director at the Center for Analysis and Social Mathematics and co-founder of the Climatoscope. « Another characteristic, these communities have a rate of inauthentic accounts ( robotsrobots or people paid to relay messages) almost three times higher than that of other communities ».
On platforms like FacebookFacebook et YouTubeYouTubevideos, articles and publications, often unverified, spread to a vitessevitesse dizzying, fueling confusion and disinformation.
The rise of disinformation
In the case of climate skepticism, disinformation is often constructed in a sophisticated manner and is based on “scientific” arguments that are misinterpreted or taken out of context, explains Olivier Godard, honorary research director at the CNRS, in an article published in The Conversation : « although they talk to us about science, climate skeptics have in common that they do not participate in scientific research concerning the climate: they have not published (or almost no) original or critical work in recognized scientific journals in this field; they do not participate in congresses and conferences which bring together specialists in the field. On the other hand, they write books for the general public, hold blogsblogs where they do feufeu of any wood without prior sorting ».
False, misleading claims, based on biased information, fortunately there are solutions to spot misinformation.
Why do these ideas persist at a time when scientists are raising alarm about the state of the climate?
Today, there are several degrees of climate skepticism and two main blocks emerge, reports a recent study by Let’s TalkClimate. “Among the former, doubt porteporte essentially on the share of responsibility of human activity in climate change. […] While among the latter, all aspects of the climate cause are kept at bay, with political, even conspiratorial, justifications. »
This study looked at the reasons why people are skeptical. Among them, they cite anti-ecological political ideology, distrust of elites, but also the defense of a way of life.
These figures which show that we are heading straight towards a climate catastrophe
This last avenue has been explored by other studies for decades. Fully recognizing the scale and causes of climate change would involve rethinking deeply ingrained habits and lifestyles, which can be seen as a threat to comfort, security, and even identity. “ These effects of global warming are frightening and one of the first reflexes when we are afraid, when we are frightened or worried, is to move towards rather conservative reflexes. » explained Albin Wagener, teacher-researcher in discourse analysis, at RFI microphone.
Today, faced with contrasting opinions, it is less a question of condemning ideas and comments than of trying to unite around a reality. As said Jean JouzelJean Jouzelpaleoclimatologist, CNRS gold medalist and vice-president of the IPCCIPCC : “we absolutely must act today, that was the message 15 years ago and it remains relevant today ».
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