Climate scientists use the social networking site to share research, as well as for activists to rally against politicians who fail to address pollution. Many people are leaving the platform due to a surge in climate misinformation and threats.
According to the Guardian, scientists and advocates have become unnerved by a recent resurgence of climate change denialist talking points and meme on social media, with the term #ClimateSCAM now regularly the first result that appears when someone searches for "climate" on the internet.
Donald Trump, a rightwing commentator and several other prominent users have been banned from the platform due to their statements about the climate crisis. Some climate experts don't like the changes.
Twila Moon, a scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, said she has reduced her use of social media since Musk took over.
She said that she was concerned that a rise in climate denialism could slow climate action in ways that are devastating to economies and communities.
Michael Mann, a prominent climate scientist at Penn State, said he has no immediate plans to leave social media, but he has noticed that climate misinformation has become a bit more on the nose.
Mann has created a profile on Mastodon, a new social media site, and has been joined by a group of other climate scientists dismayed by Musk. "I don't think I'm getting much value from being onTwitter now, there are more interesting conversations happening at Mastodon."
Musk, a self-proclaimed defender of free speech and previously praised by environmentalists due to his leadership of the electric car firm, has said that the social networking site can't become a free for all hellscape. He seems to be interested in creating a massive, worldwide cage fight. According to Ed Maibach, an expert in climate communications at George Mason University, many people in the climate community have discussed leaving the site.
More than half a million mentions of the terms "climate scam" and "climate is a scam" have been made in the three months prior to Musk's takeover of the site. It is not clear why this has happened, the coalition said.
There isn't any evidence that there is more posts with "climate scam" than "climate emergency" or that they are getting more engagement, so it's a bit puzzling why it's the top search term
Climate scientists say that this is not a good place to talk to each other. They have become lightening rods for hate speech and death threats, and we are seeing a real increase of threats against them.
King said there is a renewed energy going through the effort to spread baseless claims about the climate crisis on social media, particularly by high-profile accounts that fold the issue into other major conflicts.
The Canadian psychologist and media personality who was reinstated to the social networking site by Musk has become fixated on climate change and often fires off a dozen or more messages in a single day.
According to the rightwinger, excess carbon dioxide is beneficial to the world, that automotive freedom is under threat from efforts to reduce pollution from cars, and that climate campaigners want to wreak envy and havoc.
He said thatPeterson is a big one because his brand extends beyond the environment. Climate denial and delay accounts have spread misinformation on other topics, such as electoral fraud or reproductive rights.
What will happen to the social network for black people?
While false claims about the climate crisis have been deployed for decades by the fossil fuel industry and various conservative figures, there is some evidence that there has been a rise in polarization over climate on social media. A study by researchers in the UK and Italy found that there was a four-fold increase in rightwing climate conversations on social media during the UN Cop26 climate talks last year.
The increase in minority voices on climate, who make claims such as that people favoring climate action are hypocrites or that reducing emissions is pointless or expensive, is being fueled by well-known rightwing politicians in the US and Europe.
According to the study, there is diminished trust and no interaction between people who disagree about climate change. You aren't exposed to the views of the other camp if you're in one camp
Climate scientists fear that the internet will be taken over by conspiracy theorists and others without any knowledge of global heating. Kim is a climate scientist at Brown University and has moved to Mastodon.
She said that she noticed that the voices of women and scientists of color were missing.
I'm not seeing them being re-posted by mutuals because they've either left or fallen silent. When it comes to climate change, it's a shadow of its former self on the social networking site.
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