Info pollution hurts climate fight

The devastation caused by the 2024 flash floods in Valencia, Spain, was so surreal that some images sparked a global debate over their authenticity.

- LILI FUHR STEPHANIE HANKEY

In an era when AI technology can produce hyper-realistic fakes, photos showing cars piled haphazardly atop one another in narrow, mud-filled streets seemed almost too shocking to be true. Tragically, these images were all too real.

For years, climate activists believed that once the direct impact of climate change became undeniable, popular pressure for political and corporate action would surge. And indeed, polls show overwhelming public support for bold climate measures. But now that this long-anticipated moment has arrived, an equally urgent challenge has emerged: the information ecosystem we rely on to understand the world has become dangerously polluted.

The pollution metaphor is apt because it captures the chaotic and toxic nature of today's information landscape, which is controlled by a handful of powerful companies that commodify attention and inundate our feeds with “AI slop” — low-quality, machine-generated content designed to mislead, distract, and distort.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the climate change debate. While climate misinformation has long been a concern, often mutating into full-blown conspiracy theories, the situation has deteriorated to such an extent that the term “misinformation” no longer reflects the scale, complexity, or urgency of the threat, much less points to potential solutions.