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Max Boykoff and Shawn Olson referenced in Guardian article
Climate contrarians are more celebrity than scientist
A new study identifies climate contrarians as a keystone species in the denial ecosystem
by John Abraham
By now, we must all be aware that it no longer takes hard work and talent to become a celebrity. The media (and public) are drawn to loud and flamboyant caricatures, not careful and studious characters. To most this means not much more than the annoyance of hearing about the latest celebrity “scandal.” But for all of us here on planet Earth, it has very real consequences.
New research clarifies exactly what those consequences are: Celebrities in scientists’ lab coats have played a role in the public discourse on climate change that far outweighs their scientific credibility.
In the journal Celebrity Studies, Dr. Maxwell Boykoff and Shawn Olson trace the history of climate contrarians back to the 1980s and discuss their potential motivations and strategies. The study identifies these contrarians as a “keystone species;” climate contrarians are more influential than their scant numbers and limited expertise would suggest, and exert an outsized media impact. According to the authors, it’s these keystone species that hold the ecosystem of climate denial together. Since, as we all know, 97% of climate scientists affirm the reality of human-caused climate change, what is it that motivates this handful of contrarians who make no small effort to attract so much more than 3% of the media’s attention? Read more …
