This article is part four of a nine-part series that focuses on climate change. More specifically, this series will go in-depth on the human disconnect of accepting the reality of climate change, the role of the media, the power of student voices in environmental movements, climate science, sustainability and the pressure for the University of Denver to divest from fossil fuels. 

Is the earth flat? Is the moon a hologram? Was the moon landing fake? Are vaccines hurting us? Is global warming a hoax? These are all questions that conspiracy theorists and anti-science individuals may be asking. Albert Einstein’s quote “question everything” has gone too far, especially now that it is impacting human health. 

We know all too well the anti-vaccination movement. This movement began in the 1790s with the development of the first vaccine for smallpox. Smallpox was a serious and infectious disease where people would have a fever and a full-body rash. People were wary of receiving this vaccine because they believed it to be anti-God. Anti-vax individuals may be opting out of the vaccine for religious reasons, or they believe it will be ineffective or cause severe effects. Sadly, this movement is going strong in regards to the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Another anti-science movement, holds a little too strong, which is the group of climate deniers. The most notable character of this movement is Donald Trump, saying global warming is a hoax and invented by China. This spread of misinformation, especially coming from a political figure, is extremely confusing and misleading for the public. This rhetoric has created a group of individuals who deny climate change, even when there has been an increasing amount of evidence done by climate scientists that debunk this noise.

How are people ignoring the increase in temperatures in the pacific northwest, the devastating wildfires taking over the west coast, the hurricanes that are reaching categories three and four and the people dying from poor air quality? I wish I knew.

Many may think, how are people even trying to compete against a large number of reputable sources? Whether it is to stray from the status quo, not wanting to face reality or joining an anti-science campaign because your friends are doing it– we will never know.

There is an organization based in Texas, called Truth in Textbooks, that reviews social studies and science textbooks and takes out what they believe is misleading information. The chairman, Roy White, stated in an interview with CBS that they took out content on climate change because it was leading students to believe that fossil fuels are causing our environmental crisis. 

The burning of fossil fuels is the largest source of global emissions, which traps heat into the Earth’s atmosphere and can contribute to respiratory illnesses from air pollution and smog. It can also create extreme weather patterns and disrupt the food supply chain by increasing farmlands soil toxicity and infertility. 

Now, why do people deny science? Increasingly, there has been greater access to misinformation due to the increase in the popularity of social media. These platforms allow anyone and everyone to discuss science, which has its pros and cons. As soon as individuals begin interacting with anti-science movements, this becomes their worldview. This is creating unreasonable doubt on established and well-researched science. 

This is where talking or teaching about “both sides” is a problem, especially when it comes to science. There are not two scientific sides to climate change, or if the earth is round or if the COVID-19 vaccine is effective in combating the spread of the Coronavirus. 

YouTube is the catalyst for conspiracy theorists like Shane Dawson, who has a series on conspiracy theories, and Mark Sargent, the leader of the flat earth society. The issue of misinformation has gotten so severe, that media platforms like YouTube and Facebook have to put a warning on videos that are false. 

Why are people not listening?

Climate change is escalating every day. This issue is not going away, and our world may start to look like we are on the set of “Don’t Look Up,” a Netflix movie where two astronomers raise awareness of a comet that will destroy the planet. The film focused on how misinformation on the comet was spreading fast, but people did not want to accept the reality of the outcome. If people do not “look up” and start believing in climate science, then climate change will only exacerbate.