Climate Trolls in Europe and US: from subculture to post-fact mainstream

Date & Time: February 14, 2017, 12 am

Location: Room 7.03, Department of Communication, Währinger Straße 29, 1090 Vienna

Our guest Gabriele Hadl is Associate Professor at Kwansei Gakuin University (KGU) in Japan and Secretary of the International Environmental Communication Association. She has researched alternative media, communication policy and media education. Her most recent publication is EcoMedia Literacy (in Japanese).

About the talk

"Fake news" , "alternate facts", and other elements of "post-fact" discourse have arrived at the center of US mainstream culture, and are making ever greater inroads in Europe. A sudden turn of events? Hardly. The rhetoric and media use of this discourse have been honed in the three decades-long campaign to discredit science and erode public discourse. Its aim has been to protect fossil fuel investment and hamper effective climate action. With climate chaos already destabilizing the Middle East and parts of Africa, the Northwest Passage open in summer, and new heat records almost every month, it is hard to underestimate its success. It is also time to openly challenge its methods.