Nest fence (C) TA

How individuals are trying to play down man-made global warming

– and why some people believe them, e.g. the Springer press, whose publishing house to a significant extent Fossil investors belong, as well as AFD, so-called “lateral thinkers”. “It has always been hot in summer”, “It’s a good thing!”, “Yes, the weather is”, “Fear and panic mongering”, “If you believe it, you will be blessed”, “The belief in man-made climate change as a substitute for religion?

In Germany, the CDU and FDP parties are conducting a textbook delaying discourse: they have no proposals. It’s really not about political ideologies, it’s about defending fossil business models.

Displacement leads to aggression against, for example, meteorologists on TV who receive hate messages. You only believe what you want to believe. Researchers talk about dissonant information being devalued and consonant information being valorized. The fact that humanity is in the process of destroying the foundations of human life with its way of life generates unpleasant emotions: Feelings of guilt, fears, sadness about the squandered future, the inevitable suffering and death. Cognitive dissonance, that is. In this case, pseudo-information that suggests that everything is not so bad may have an exculpatory effect.

Cognitive scientists have developed a toolkit called PLURV to help identify disinformation and propaganda related to the climate crisis: Pseudo experts, logic errors, unfulfillableexpectations, cherry-picking, conspiracy mythsare detection features.

Program

11.10. – 22.11.2024, Tue. and Fri. 17-20 h

Vernissage Fri. 11.10., 7 p.m.

Artists talk

Lecture

Closing Fri. Nov. 22, 7 p.m.

https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/wie-einzelne-versuchen-die-klimakrise-kleinzureden-und-wieso-manche-ihnen-glauben-a-35759cf5-6a49-44ed-9f66-2e59fecdf753