Denial of scientific evidence and rejection of scientific methods is increasingly pervasive - in a new paper, written with Simon Attwood, @JosBarlow & @benphalan and available here: nature.com/articles/s4155…, we describe the creeping rise of #ExtinctionDenial
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Thread 1/8 👇
The @IPBES #GlobalAssessment Report published last year was met with considerable pushback and denial from media and political voices nature.com/articles/s4155… for whom #TransformativeChange & policy options to restore & protect #Biodiversity are anathema 2/8
Subsequently, articles challenging the scientific consensus that threats to biodiversity viewed at a global level (rather than cherry-picked local level) require urgent attention have become increasingly common e.g. recently humanprogress.org/article.php?p=… and perc.org/2020/07/06/aga… 3/8
We provide a rebuttal for some common denialist falsehoods peddled by libertarian journalists like Matt Ridley, Toby Young and James Delingpole in the paper’s supporting online material 4/8
We show that attempts to downplay the biodiversity crisis follow the ‘Scientific Certainty Argumentation Methods’ playbook e.g. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11… 5/8
As an example, deniers claim vertebrate extinction is a historical phenomenon associated with islands – when in fact, the crisis of species loss in continental systems in the tropics is now well underway as habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation reach critical thresholds 6/8
We advocate for scientists to communicate biodiversity loss to the public in the context of Fischhoff’s ‘Stages of Risk Communication’ model, although we reserve the right to thoroughly debunk denial literature perpetuated by repeat offenders 7/8
Finally, we highlight the importance of sharing good news stories - hope need not be lost, e.g. via conservationoptimism.com but without sugar-coating the broader truth of the biodiversity crisis and the challenges we face in identifying and implementing scalable solutions 8/8
In case it's of interest as a hook for future stories @dpcarrington @chelseaeharvey @patrick_barkham @MarkCocker2 @HShukman @atalandi @julianagragnani @paula_read @HarryCockburn @AdamHartScience @olliemilman @shanti_das @lingenhoehl @ashnagesh @Hilarx @RA_Becks @henrymance
