Select Page

Misinformation – Science and truth be damned

by | Jan 16, 2025 | Climate Change, CoVid, Featured, Trusting Science

Misinformation - Science and truth be damned

Misinformation – Science and truth be damned

THE REAL ENEMY – MISINFORMATION: SCIENCE AND TRUTH BE DAMNED.

The Covid crisis provided a clear but tragic example on the dangers of neglecting truthful information. Climate change will continue to prove this point on a much greater and even more tragic scale. We must know what science tells us and heed factual warnings.

Allan Maynard, MSc. – January 2025

“Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.”

― Timothy Snyder (Author and Historian) – “On Freedom”; “On Tyranny”

“If the Leader says of such and such an event, ‘It never happened’—well, it never happened. If he says that ‘two and two are five’—well, two and two are five. This prospect frightens me much more than bombs …” George Orwell – the essay “Looking Back on the Spanish War” (1943)

Post truth – defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief” – entered into the Oxford English Dictionary in 2016 after the election of Donald Trump.

It is hard to not be completely discouraged. I have followed and embraced the need for science-based decision making, for over 50 years. I could never have imagined the storm of misinformation and outright lies, that we are witnessing today. Even concepts of truth have been hammered to death. The city of Los Angeles (LA) is facing an unpreceded crisis of a nature that was predicted decades ago. While some media outlets are communicating the truth that climate change is the predominant factor in such such disasters, the president elect, and the extreme right-wing media are using this devastation to finger point and foster misinformation while falsely denying the role of climate change. It clearly shows the way political polarization, misinformation and propaganda can increase the confusion that engulfs natural disasters at a time when reliable information is crucial. It is appalling.

Do facts even matter anymore? How can the hard truths of reality be communicated in a post truth world with such dogmatic and poisonous rhetoric enhanced by snippets of code designed to promote imagined threats and fears of ‘others’.  Miscommunication is designed to elevate emotion over logic to distract from the hard realities of the many highly complex issues the world is currently facing.  This continually places humanity in grave danger.

Misinformation - Science and truth be damned

Misinformation – Science and truth be damned

TRUTH DECAY 

The term “truth decay” has joined the post-truth lexicon that includes such now familiar phrases as “fake news” and “alternative facts”. And it’s not just fake news either: it’s also fake science (manufactured by climate change deniers and anti-vaxxers), fake history (promoted by Holocaust revisionists and white supremacists), fake citizens on Facebook and X (created by Russian trolls), and fake followers and “likes” on social media (generated by bots).

It becomes easy for political leaders to lie their way into office. The success of the Trump campaign was based on the ability to peddle a web of lies from a bully pulpit. This chronically untruthful man is the master of distraction. If he can, without evidence, convince millions of voters that he won the 2020 election and that the rioters that stormed the US Capitol were “peaceful patriots”, despite what millions witnessed from TV coverage with senators and representatives running for their lives, it then becomes easy to state that climate change science is a hoax. It becomes easy to deny his bungling of the Covid pandemic.

Politicians around the world have co-opted inconvenient knowledge and evidence-based realities into silly culture wars and attacks on personal freedoms. Experts become “global elites” or “socialist wackos”.  Knowledge that is inconvenient becomes “woke” and often mocked.

TURNING AWAY FROM EXPERTISE: LEARNING FROM COVID

I know – The Covid pandemic is now ‘old news’ but it provides a very stark lesson. Two very dark and challenging 2 years followed the discovery of Covid 19 in late 2019, with more than 14 million deaths worldwide. But it could have been worse. In an unprecedented time, several safe and effective vaccines were developed. The vaccines prevented an additional 20 million deaths according to a recent international review – https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19-vaccines-saved-estimated-20-million-lives-1-year By 2022 most countries resumed their lives without the fears of the past 2 years.

There was a very bad side to this story that was very hard to watch. Misinformation and disinformation spread faster than the virus itself. Even more egregious and dangerous was the embrace of some components of such anti-science claims by many political leaders. Donald Trump was one of the most vocal of all world leaders in this anti-science rhetoric.

We can now refer to mountains of evidence that clearly prove that jurisdictions (countries, individual states, cities, counties, etc.) that did NOT properly heed the advice from infections disease specialists recorded excessive mortality rates – for reference see data at the end of this article – numbers don’t lie). It was especially egregious in the USA, resulting in the country having the highest mortality rate among peer western democracies.  Between 118,000 and 248,000 more Americans would have survived the pandemic if all states had followed proper restrictions and vaccination rates, according to findings recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). That is 40 to 83 times higher than the death toll from 911. A quote from the New England Medical Journal – “This crisis has produced a test of leadership. Here in the United States, our leaders have failed that test. They have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy. The report also stated that “the magnitude of U.S. leaders’ coronavirus failure is astonishing”

This tragic outcome should have been a central message over the past 4 years. Trump was in charge, and he failed very badly. Many believe this should have been an impeachable offense. But how can this failure be properly communicated in a post truth era when our information universe has become so fractured with lies outcompeting truth and thereby obfuscating realities?

Misinformation - Science and truth be damned

Misinformation – Science and truth be damned

SOCIAL MEDIA – IS NOT JOURNALISM

Social media is the head of the snake in the spread of false information. Technology doesn’t just spread lies but profits greatly from them. Multiple studies have clearly shown that social media platforms were greatly complicit in the politicization of the pandemic especially by increasing vaccine hesitancy around the world and fostering anger at precautions such as masking – one of many such studies – https://www.jmir.org/2022/2/e35552/

It was not just social media. There are now several studies showing the harmful coverage of Fox News which is the most watched cable news outlet in the USA.  Fox repeatedly minimized the threat with anti-science rhetoric: link-  one of many such studies – this from Cambridge University – https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/political-analysis/article/effect-of-fox-news-on-health-behavior-during-covid19/426C07EADC0D1E49D4AD26233C4CB9B8

DANGEROUS TIMES AHEAD IF EXPERTISE IS DISMISSED

Humanity is facing many highly complex issues: the climate crisis, human migration, food security, inequality, extremism, lack of housing, living costs, addiction, mental illness, artificial intelligence, cyber security, antibiotic resistance, and the threat of another pandemic which is a question of when not if. There is a dire need for reliable information.

On the plus side, there is a wealth of knowledge in how to approach these issues. There are millions of good people devoted to their fields of expertise. However, there are dangerous times ahead when proposed solutions to these complex issues, become negatively politicized or even worse dismissed, as was the case for Covid, and continues to be the case for climate change. As stated by Carol Off in her new book “At a Loss for Words”, – ‘Rarely has there been a more dire need now for concerted global effort and cooperation’.

It is understandable that election outcomes become primarily based on short termism and personal ‘kitchen table’ needs within that short term. It is unfortunately a day-to-day concern for billions around the world. As such, in the 2024 elections, concerns about putting food on the table today, took precedent over ensuring the world can produce enough food a few decades from now. This was the curse of the incumbents in most of the 2024 elections.  But does the turning towards the more extreme right of politics offer solutions? I would say a simple NO! Was it properly understood that food prices were greatly affected by supply chain issues following the global pandemic? Is it generally understood that fires, floods, heat waves, and droughts, all greatly enhanced by climate change, will continue to put pressure on the costs of the global food supply?

It is now clear that climate change was the big loser over the 2024 slate of elections. I certainly wish I could feel more optimistic, but I am not confident in many of the choices made from the 2024 elections with billionaires (having clear conflicts of interest), anti-vaxxers and climate change deniers gaining positions of power.  Moreover, the information ecosystem is expected to be further tested as social media platforms like Facebook roll back much needed fact-checking programs. Tech oligarchs now own much of the information universe and can control what is seen and what is not seen. They are now the DEEP STATE.

I wish I could end on a positive note – but – we are clearly heading in the wrong direction. There will no doubt be a rise in resistance to wrong-headed retrogressive policies, as well as exposure from the media when rash promises will not be kept or dangers from bad policy become evident.  Will this be enough? Time will tell.

COVID Mortality Rates – a few examples – data are in mortalities per million of population – source Our World in Data – https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Canada – 1538; USA – 3642; Germany – 2182; BC – 969; Wa (Washington State – 2277;  Denmark – 1511; Sweden – 2682 – note Sweden initially attempted keeping open in the initial phases of the pandemic – a herd immunity approach); California 2842 – with LA initially hit hard); Florida – 4433

More references

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/02/01/science/covid-deaths-united-states.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52588682

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4794767-covid-19-restrictions-savings/

Book by Carol Off – https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/729716/at-a-loss-for-words-by-carol-off/9781039008434

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0275074020941683

Climate Change Close To Home On Election Day

by | Oct 30, 2024 | Climate Change, Featured

IN BRITISH COLUMBIA – CLIMATE CHANGE CLOSE TO HOME ON ELECTION DAY.

On election day in the province of British Columbia, a major rainstorm lashed the south coast sending rainfall records tumbling. The disconnect in politics was also demonstrated that day when almost 1 million residents voted for a party that denies the reality of climate change.

Allan Maynard, MSc. – November 1st, 2024

The atmospheric river weather system that lashed British Columbia’s coast on the day of the provincial election (October 19, 2024) sent daily rainfall records tumbling in North Vancouver, Victoria, Squamish, Vancouver, West Vancouver, White Rock, Langley, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Hope, Nakusp and the Agassiz and Pitt Meadows areas. For example, West Vancouver saw 134.6 millimetres of rain, smashing the record of 34.8 millimetres set in 1970. In North Vancouver – where I live the storm dumped an astounding 344 mm of rain – more than double than from the November 2021 storm that washed out the 3 major access highways to Metro Vancouver.

It is worthwhile to watch to this video clip. This is climate change right at our doors — in this case on Panorama Drive in Deep Cove where many friends live.

YES – WE HAVE ALWAYS HAD MAJOR CLIMATE EVENTS – BUT THIS IS DIFFERENT.

It is well understood that individual climate events (wildfires, floods, droughts, windstorms) cannot be specifically labelled “caused by climate change”. This reality (i.e. – “we have always had storms”) is a well-used push back from those denying the destructiveness of climate change. While it is a fact that regions of the world have always experienced extreme events, it is different now. The events are made worse by climate change.

  • Hurricanes over increasingly warmer oceans, are becoming more intense, causing greater rainfall and have a greater coastal flood risk due to higher storm surge caused by rising seas.
  • Forest fires are increasing in intensity, frequency, and size. Moreover, the fires are occurring at higher altitudes and in more northerly regions – even Siberia – thus threatening carbon rich tundra.
  • Heat domes are more frequent, lasting longer and causing more fatalities.
  • Rain events – such as we just experienced in North Vancouver are much more extreme and often hitting land that has been dried out from droughts and thus unable to absorb the extra water.

Yes – there have been major events, but we have never seen entire towns and communities such as Jasper, Fort McMurry, Lytton, Yellowknife, Lahaina, etc., burning to the ground and/or requiring complete evacuation. In 2023 – in Canada – 250,000 people were on the move due to fires. In 2022, one-third of Pakistan, a breadbasket nation, was flooded. Hurricane Helene laid waste to 6 states in southeastern United States. Its sheer wind force and deadly floods left behind a path of destruction stretching over 500 miles from Florida to the Southern Appalachians, super-charged by ocean water that was much warmer than normal.

So – to repeat, the world has always experienced major events, but climate change is making them much more devastating. The science is clear on this.

 

AND YET – THE DISCONNECT IN POLITICS (BC AND ALBERTA EXAMPLES).

BC – The disconnect in politics was best summed up by the BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau after the BC election. “It’s a strange time in politics when during an atmospheric river, people come out and vote for a party that’s denying the reality of climate change.”

In this short sentence that says so much, she is talking about the BC Conservative Party who collected almost 1 million votes in a surprise outcome. This is a party that campaigned on backtracking on almost all aspects of environmental policy even, strangely enough, going as far as a plan to reverse the ban on single use plastics. Their claim that environmental policy is a burden to the BC economy flies in the face of facts. Environmental policy is not a moral judgment that ignores economic imperatives. Indeed, BC is the only province in Canada other than Ontario, with a triple-A credit rating from Moody’s. The province is the third least indebted and holds some of the highest average wages in the country. Why then – the need to backtrack?

Alberta — In August 2023, the governing United Conservative Party, instituted a 7-month moratorium on the approval of renewable energy projects, leaving a legacy of dozens of cancelled projects, legal uncertainty and a flight of strategic capital. The capacity of the cancelled projects adds up to more than 8,600 megawatts of generation — more than enough to power every home in Alberta according to a report by the Pembina Institute.

Elections matter – that is clear. It is well understood that each party running in our recent election and in other elections around the world have policy objectives to address many serious issues such as health care, cost of living, housing, drug addiction, homelessness, overall security, crime rates, education and more.

We clearly must have rationale dialogue with a variety of viewpoints, in tackling these highly complex, nuanced issues. But why the disconnect in addressing needed action on climate change and ecological destruction? Why do conservative parties around the world, continue to hide behind the defense of ignorance on this crucial threat?  This is what we voters need to be asking.  I outlined this in more detail in my October article “Vote With Knowledge – There is no Planet B” – link below – that also has references used for this article.

Vote With Knowledge – There Is No Planet B

NOTE – for those not in BC – the final outcome (pending 2 recounts) – The New Democratic Party (NDP) have a majority (47 seats), The Conservatives are the official opposition (with 44 seats) and the Green Party has 2 seats – coming very close to holding the balance of power. The Green Party is more likely to vote in favour of NDP policy as opposed to Conservative policy.  As another aside – the voter turnout was 57 %. That to me is shockingly low.