Climate Misinformation Projects Aims to Help Residents Speak Up for Climate Action

Most people are concerned about climate change and want to see something done about it, but you feel like they are alone.

If you are one of those people, and if you are willing to do your part, you may also think that federal, provincial, and municipal governments and corporations need to do their fair share—but you may also be confused about which actions would be most effective and should be prioritized.  

It may help you to know that you are not alone.  

Misinformation and disinformation are impacting climate action

According to researchers at Re.Climate (reclimate.ca), a climate communications hub based at Carleton University, 91 public opinion polls on climate change show that although many Canadians see climate change as “a serious threat that requires concerted effort,” they do not seem convinced that burning fossil fuels is the main driver of climate breakdown.  

Part of the confusion about how to best deal with climate change arises from misleading information or even outright lies circulating in the public discourse. Misinformation is defined as inaccurate or false information that is spread without the intent to harm. People who share this content believe it to be true even when it is not verifiable by credible sources. 

Disinformation, on the other hand, is information that is shared with the deliberate intent to mislead or misinform; this includes a type of disinformation known as ‘greenwashing,’ when a company claims that its product is environmentally or climate ‘friendly’, even though that claim cannot be substantiated or is only partially true.

Examples of greenwashing can be seen in various ads on City of Ottawa infrastructure. According to a story in the National Observer, Ad Standards—the industry organization tasked with ensuring that Canadian advertisements are “truthful, fair and accurate”—ruled in January that ads by Canada Action “distorted” statements made by scientists and created the “misleading impression” that liquid natural gas (LNG) is good for the climate. 

The Climate Misinformation Project

In 2023, organizers with Community Associations For Environmental Sustainability (CAFES) noticed that misinformation was a becoming a regular feature at a Community Resiliency Dialogues and at municipal council and committee meetings. Members of the public who were opposed to renewable energy projects were dominating the meetings and creating the impression that most Ottawa residents were reluctant to support timely and assertive climate action by city council.  

CAFES responded by creating the Climate Misinformation Project, for which members began researching anti-climate action tropes that kept reappearing and countered them with brief responses that referenced reliable scientific research, government reports, and policy documents. These backgrounders have been compiled and posted on the CAFES Ottawa website  under the tab “Projects”: Addressing Climate Misinformation (cafesottawa.ca/addressing-climate-misinformation). 

At present, sixteen backgrounders are up on the site in categories covering climate science, renewable energy and batteries, transportation, and urban planning, with more topics to come as the work progresses. 

Sarah MacHardy, team lead for the project, emphasized how important reliable, credible information is for dealing with the climate crisis.

“Conflicting information causes doubt, uncertainty, and delay”, she said.

The Climate Misinformation Project team hopes that residents of Ottawa will use the documents posted on the site to inform themselves on topics of interest to them and use that information to both talk about climate change and climate action with their family members, friends, co-workers, and city councilors, and to dismantle misinformation or disinformation when they encounter it. 

Act locally

Delay is certainly an issue with Ottawa’s Climate Change Master Plan (CCMP) that was approved in January 2020.

The first of the plan’s targets are due for evaluation next year. In 2023’s progress report on the CCMP, however, only two of the eight priorities were on track, and so far this year we have not yet had a progress report even though an audit of the plan was completed in early June. The audit lists seven recommendations that aim to increase the accountability and clarity of the plan, as well as establish stable funding for the plan’s initiatives. 

Among the most negative impacts on efforts to reduce our collective greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was a ‘pause’ that City Council implemented on siting renewable energy projects in July 2023. This decision has effectively banned any renewable energy or energy storage projects within Ottawa’s boundaries. Yet, robust climate action at the municipal level is critical for successfully lowering GHGs and thereby reducing the likelihood of costly—and even deadly—extreme weather events made more likely by climate change. According to the Canadian Federation of Municipalities, cities have influence over about half of Canada’s GHG emissions. 

MacHardy emphasized how important it is that city councillors feel supported in implementing the city’s climate plan. They work hard and they are under a lot of pressure, she said. If they do not hear from people who support climate initiatives, it’s easy to imagine that no one cares.

The Climate Misinformation Project wants to provide support to people who do care. At a webinar on June 12^th to introduce the public to the resources available from the Climate Misinformation Project, people worked in small groups to establish their personal plan of action to speak up for climate. The Project team hopes that people will feel empowered to make a presentation (also known as a ‘delegation’) at council committee meetings. The maximum amount of time to speak on a subject is five minutes, but you can speak for less. 

If you are interested in making a delegation before a Council Committee, you can contact the Climate Misinformation Project for support. Email them at [email protected] 

Cecile Wilson is a volunteer writer/researcher with the Climate Misinformation Project. She has lived in Ottawa for 33 years and is interested in climate, discourse, and social justice.