Peter Sinclair, whose “Climate Denial Crock of the Week” YouTube series calls out and confronts those who reject climate change, presents the talk “Communicating Climate Science in the Disinformation Era” from 5-7 p.m. Sept. 11 in Room R2230, Stephen M. Ross School of Business.
Climate scientists say an obstacle they face in educating the public and decision makers on the realities of global warming is the coordinated effort of climate denialists on the Internet. Sinclair’s series has been called one of the most effective social media initiatives to push back against climate denialism. Sinclair also is producing a companion series, “This is Not Cool,” through The Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media.
In July 2013 he traveled with a scientific team to the Greenland ice sheet as part of the “Dark Snow Project,” documented in Rolling Stone magazine. Sinclair’s videos have been identified as being among the clearest, most passionate, effective and funny counterattacks on the anti-science movement.
This month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is scheduled to release its Fifth Assessment Report on global warming science. Sinclair says a broad-based, citizen-science defense of truth and fact is needed to keep climate deniers from fogging issues. The public is invited to see what’s working in climate communication, and join the effort to push back against disinformation.
The program is sponsored by the Erb Institute, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, Michigan Environmental Council, and Ecology Center.
