Hot Air: the danger of climate misinformation

The climate has shifted: 2024 was the hottest year in history, with record-breaking temperatures in the atmosphere and warmer oceans ushering in what scientists have described as a dangerous new era of wildfires and floods amplified by climate change.The political climate has shifted too. Even for politicians who accept the scientific consensus, the high short-term costs of tackling climate change pose a daunting challenge.Meanwhile climate-sceptic leaders are determined to block any shift in policy. The US president, Donald Trump, says there will be no new “windmills” under his administration – meaning wind turbines – and has persistently attacked wind energy, including repeatedly claiming that wind turbines kill whales.Scientists say there is no evidence for this claim, but it’s widespread online, cited as fact by everyone from Jordan Petersen, the popular Canadian psychologist, to Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary.The technological climate is changing too. Following Trump...