Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Apr 1;68(4):281-287.
doi: 10.1093/biosci/bix133. Epub 2017 Nov 29.

Internet Blogs, Polar Bears, and Climate-Change Denial by Proxy

Jeffrey A Harvey  1 , Daphne van den Berg  2 , Jacintha Ellers  2 , Remko Kampen  3 , Thomas W Crowther  4 , Peter Roessingh  5 , Bart Verheggen  6 , Rascha J M Nuijten  7 , Eric Post  8 , Stephan Lewandowsky  9 , Ian Stirling  10 , Meena Balgopal  11 , Steven C Amstrup  12 , Michael E Mann  13
Affiliations

Internet Blogs, Polar Bears, and Climate-Change Denial by Proxy

Jeffrey A Harvey et al. Bioscience. .

Erratum in

  • Corrigendum: Internet Blogs, Polar Bears, and Climate-Change Denial by Proxy.
    Harvey JA, van den Berg D, Ellers J, Kampen R, Crowther TW, Roessingh P, Verheggen B, Nuijten RJM, Post E, Lewandowsky S, Stirling I, Balgopal M, Amstrup SC, Mann ME. Harvey JA, et al. Bioscience. 2018 Apr 1;68(4):237. doi: 10.1093/biosci/biy033. Epub 2018 Mar 28. Bioscience. 2018. PMID: 29664475 Free PMC article.

Abstract

Increasing surface temperatures, Arctic sea-ice loss, and other evidence of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) are acknowledged by every major scientific organization in the world. However, there is a wide gap between this broad scientific consensus and public opinion. Internet blogs have strongly contributed to this consensus gap by fomenting misunderstandings of AGW causes and consequences. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) have become a "poster species" for AGW, making them a target of those denying AGW evidence. Here, focusing on Arctic sea ice and polar bears, we show that blogs that deny or downplay AGW disregard the overwhelming scientific evidence of Arctic sea-ice loss and polar bear vulnerability. By denying the impacts of AGW on polar bears, bloggers aim to cast doubt on other established ecological consequences of AGW, aggravating the consensus gap. To counter misinformation and reduce this gap, scientists should directly engage the public in the media and blogosphere.

Keywords: advocacy; communication; contrarian; global warming; skeptic; social media.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Pie charts showing the percentage of 45 science-based and 45 denier blogs expressing opinions on the effects of AGW on Arctic ice extent and, in turn, on polar bears. “Statements” refers to the cumulative number of hits for each of the three statements about Arctic ice extent and polar-bear status for the blogs included in this study. The blogs were color-coded using a cluster analysis (Manhattan distances and Ward's clustering) that yielded two large clusters.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Principle component analysis of scores for six statements, three about Arctic ice and three about about polar bears, and citations of Susan Crockford. Scores were extracted from 90 blogs and 92 peer reviewed scientific papers. The blogs were color-coded according the their group in a cluster analysis using Manhattan distances and Ward's clustering. The papers were classified as controversial when they evoked critical comments and discussion in the peer-reviewed literature. The ellipses around the data points indicate 95% normal probability. The first PCA axis clearly shows the consensus gap, with fully separated positions for the scientific literature and blogs that deny problems with Arctic ice or polar bears. Science-based blogs, on the other hand, take positions that completely overlap with the peer-reviewed literature. Note that even the small number of more “controversial” scientific papers still exhibit less extreme positions on the first axis than those expressed in the majority of denial blogs. The second PCA axis represents a much smaller amount of variation that appears to represent the presumed adaptive potential of the bears.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Amstrup SC, DeWeaver ET, Douglas DC, Marcot BG, Durner GM, Bitz CM, Bailey DA. 2010. Greenhouse gas mitigation can reduce sea-ice loss and increase polar bear persistence. Nature 468: 955–958. - PubMed
    1. Anderegg WRL, Prall PW, Harold J, Schneider SH. 2010. Expert credibility in climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107: 12017–12109. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Anderson A. 2009. Media, politics and climate change: Towards a new research agenda. Sociology Compass 3: 166–182.
    1. Atwood TC, Marcot BG, Douglas DC, Amstrup SC, Rode KD, Durner GM, Bromaghin JF. 2016. Forecasting the relative influence of environmental and anthropogenic stressors on polar bears. Ecosphere 7 (art. e01370).
    1. Balgopal MM, Wallace AM, Dahlberg S. 2017. Writing from different cultural contexts: How college students frame an environmental SSI through written arguments. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 54: 195–218.