How to Understand and Counter Misinformation about Climate Change

In John Cook’s article Understanding and countering misinformation about climate change, he outlines how the public has been polarized by misinformation about climate change. The author claims that they are few people who understand what climate change entails, how it manifests, its causes, effects, and ways of compacting the same. This fraction of persons exists despite the presence of overwhelming scientific agreement on this issue. Some of the misinformation about climate change includes human-caused global warming ( Cook, 2019) . Additionally, the author argues that what makes misinformation about climate change a concern is the fact that polarization is done through mainstream and social media. These communication channels always misled the public since individuals often share incorrect information without basis ( Cook, 2019) . After the author highlights the problem, he discusses countering mechanisms that are in place or ought to be in place to deal with misinformation about climate change. There are various things about the topic that interested me. First, the ability of the author to comprehensively cover the ever-controversial topic of climate change made me interested. He presents a new perspective on this topic and informs the audience what they might be missing about climate change. Secondly, I could be a victim of climate change misinformation, and the author, through the article, has outlined how it manifests, the channels used, and how best to counter the same, and I think it saves me from succumbing to climate change misinformation. Throughout the article, the author provided references and supporting facts about his argument and thoughts. He has referenced various sources and the thoughts of other authors in the same field. For instance, when Cook outlines how the American public is polarized on the issue of climate change, he references Lewandowsky and Leiserowitz. I think the inclusion of sources and references in a scientific article, like Cook’s, helps me accept the findings and arguments in a particular article. This acceptance is because referencing means that an argument or finding is in line with someone else’s and, therefore, makes it robust. 

References  

Cook, J. (2019). Understanding and countering misinformation about climate change. In  Handbook of Research on Deception, Fake News, and Misinformation Online  (pp. 281-306). IGI Global.