Climate change is real and I'm tired of people pretending it's not

Yesterday, I met up with an old friend for lunch, and we got to talking about hobbies and somehow ended up on the subject of conspiracy theories. My friend, who I'll call Connor, said the wildfires in Alberta were an attempt by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to control Albertans. I laughed at that, thinking he was joking... but he was serious.

He seriously thought Justin Trudeau facilitated those deadly wildfires to control a part of the population.

He then went on to explain how all these natural disasters were "geo-engineered" and targeted at Republican regions (I have no idea why he's locked on to this concept seeing as we're in Canada #WeTheNorth 👊🇨🇦🔥) and meteorologists are in on this conspiracy and purposefully trying to fool us all. Connor may be the fool. Out of all the people reporting news to the world, why would the meteorologists start spewing lies about things pertaining to weather?

I'm here to share thoughts (supported by Sibo Chen and S. Harris Ali) on how harmful those ideas are and how they even get to that point.

1. People tend to support ideas that align with their own and disregard any contradicting information. Connor was already falling down this right-wing hole when we were in high school, which I had managed to forget about. I'm sure he has all kinds of ideas that are supported by like-minded individuals and social media platforms.This leads me to my next point.

2. Scientists and educators are getting booed off platforms. There are people out there trying to end this false information but people like Connor either think they know better or think they're in on the scheme. Again, why would someone go through years of schooling and then lie to your face about a deadly hurricane? Online harassment is making them step back from trying to have these conversations in such an important space.

   
   

As Carrie's friend Cory said, social media can be extremely dangerous and allow people to fall into harmful rhetoric. Nowadays, that’s definitely a problem. The way in which social media algorithms work leads people to exist in a vacuum. The information Connor takes in and then spits back out onto his X (Twitter.) page just gets pushed back at him. 

The misinformation extends off social media, and the distrust affects the relief and efforts made to save lives. In the case of Hurricane Helene, residents avoided help, and people drowned after remaining in their homes instead of evacuating. Even politicians like then-presidential nominee Donald Trump and Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene took part in spreading claims like, “Washington is withholding aid” and, “they control the weather.” Nobody in the world is controlling the weather.

People need to be encouraged to verify their information with credible sources, not heavily biased underground blogs, and improve their digital literacy. I’m linking an article which includes seven ways to avoid spreading shocking misinformation. Please. Don't end up like Connor.