Two terrible things have happened: the world has entered the ‘global boiling’ phase of climate emergency; and climate skepticism has increased in the past four years, worldwide. Australia is the sixth most skeptical country in the world (following Saudi Arabia, Norway, Russia, USA and the United Arab Emirates). When I tell you I was shocked to read those stats… in the passionate, optimistic bubble that is the Zee Feed audience, it can feel easy to ignore the climate deniers, delay-ers or skeptics as a vocal minority. Trouble is, that cohort of voices, the way they are supported by media and the mechanics of social algorithms are big reasons why policy progress is so. damn. slow.
The survey reveals a huge 42% of Australians are climate skeptics – so chances are you know someone who thinks this way. We can’t let this group get any bigger… which is why Zee Feed and the Australian Youth Climate Coalition is asking you to help us cheekily and sneakily change their minds with NewsJacker.
Why did you say… sneaky?
Even though you probably know a skeptic, having a direct conversation with them is not that simple. Only 31% of young Australians (10-24) feel their parents are consistently listening to their concerns on the topic.
Whether it’s family, friends, people at work or in your community, the personal relationship can sometimes make the discussion less productive. Grace Vegesana, Climate & Racial Justice Director of the AYCC, says: “I find the people who are hardest to convince are the people closest to you, for a range of reasons. You tend to get a little bit more defensive, or you worry about the perception and the ongoing relationship and how that might be impacted by having such fundamentally different views of the world and what the future might look like.”
And when they’re not hearing you, the skeptics in your life are consistently hearing misinformation and being targeted by coordinated disinformation campaigns.
Engagement-based algorithms dictate almost the information we receive online… and they spread misinformation six times faster than factual content. If a person show even a little interest in that highly engaging misinformation – like watching a 90 second video to the end – they’ll continue to be shown more of the same, reinforcing the ideas over and over again.
Now, thanks to all the data that’s been collected about what they like to watch, read and listen to, ‘The Internet’ has a solid profile of their interests. It ‘knows’ they are a climate skeptic. That profile is then used to target you with paid ads amplifying deliberate disinformation campaigns. Even though science-based, high quality information is out there, when your climate confused boss Googles ‘is climate change a hoax’ paid results from Ben Shapiro will come up first (despite the tech giant promising to prioritise content from sources like the U.N.)
Climate skeptics are victims of a misinformation echo chamber. NewsJacker is an attempt to hack them out of it, without them even noticing!
How does NewsJacker work?
NewsJacker is a cheeky website which covertly increases your climate skeptic’s exposure to more factually accurate news. On the surface, it will look like you’re simply sharing an online recipe for easy homemade cookies. But when they visit the link, specially designed technology built into the site updates their online cookies… now telling The Internet that they are seriously pro-climate action. Because of this, as they browse they will see more search results for accurate climate change stories and be targeted by more pro-climate ads and content.
Is it a little bit sneaky? Definitely – but sometimes you gotta come out swinging. Besides, the user will still have to grant the site’s cookie permissions (do you ever read those?) and the changes are not permanent. The goal is to break them out of the climate misinformation echo-chamber just enough so they might be more open to really hearing your concerns.
Get all the information and access to the cookie recipe site on NewsJacker.org
Then what?
Eventually, your loved ones cookie settings will inevitably go back to whatever is ‘normal’ for them. But our hope is that they might see something that will open them up to having a more productive conversation. When that time comes, AYCC members have solid advice on how to navigate these conversations:
Usha Makkena, medical student and AYCC volunteer says focusing on sharing information through personal experience has been successful for her. “I worked as a first responder during the 2020 bushfires, as well as in the 2022 floods. And I took part in treating many of the physical and emotional injuries as a result of these climate disasters. That was a very eye-opening experience as to how the world would look if we did not take climate change seriously… So I try to spread some of the information through that I’ve learned through what I’ve witnessed firsthand, and I do see change in people, like they’re more interested and curious.”
“Just having these discussions can have a lot of impact. Even if they don’t immediately do anything with it, maybe they have that information in the back of their head and one day might pass it on to someone else.”
Logan Costa, an AYCC volunteer based on the Sunshine Coast, recommends honing in on local impacts that the person can see directly. “The science is already out there, it’s all been settled. It’s more about bringing that to the personal level and really trying to connect with people where they’re at.” That also opens the conversation up to the many interconnected ways the climate crisis is already impacting their lives. “Obviously one of the biggest issues facing everyone at the moment is housing. Climate change increase is only gonna put more stress on housing, it’s only gonna put more stress on the economy. We can talk about those sort of things.”
And Grace Vegesana suggests looking for the values-based common ground that connects you. “You can find like shared values and build off that value-based relationship. For example, my parents are quite religious and so we’ll talk about being called to care about creation, and how that’s part of what [AYCC] does and what I really care about doing. It’s helped bring them along, as opposed to being quite defensive or shut down. Finding the common ground that we all stand on that makes us care about the world around us.”
Smart people read more:
Show this to anyone who says renewables are unreliable – HEATED
AEMO slams Murdoch media campaign that claims renewables are not low cost – Renew Economy
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