Climate crisis or fake news? Expert explains

Social media reaction to a recent George Herald article about climate highlighted just how little most people understand about climate change.

- Jacqueline Herbst

In response to the article, "Greenhouse gas surge tied to deadly floods and fires", covering a sobering presentation by Future Climate IQ founder Peter du Toit, Facebook commentators labelled the data as "fake news", "fearmongering", "exaggerated" and "skewed to get CO2 taxes and smart cities approved".

One commentator compared it to the Gauls in Asterix's fear of the sky falling on their heads - a popular metaphor for an irrational or exaggerated fear of the unknown or the uncontrollable.

In response to the sceptics, Du Toit, who spoke at the Garden Route Environmental Forum (Gref) Indaba at the NMU George Campus on Friday 27 June, said: "The Facebook comments are a classic case of the 'vocal minority' skewing online debates."

Climate literacy gap

Du Toit noted the reaction reminded him of a 2023 Yale/Meta study on South Africa's climate opinions. Although the study found that 86% of us agree climate change is real, with only 3% denying its existence, a whopping 61% mistakenly blames nature, or a mix of human and natural causes.