A New Study Connects Conservative Misinformation On Climate Change To California Textbook Inaccuracies

New research from Southern Methodist University (SMU) found that some children's textbooks that depict the reality of human-caused climate change with uncertainty are influenced by a climate science knowledge gap that finds its roots partly in conservative media misinformation.

In a language analysis of four major California science textbooks, the SMU researchers found that the books delivered a message “that climate change is possibly happening, that humans may or may not be causing it, and that we do not need to take immediate mitigating action.”

The study concluded that the four 6th grade textbooks -- including books from major national publishing companies McGraw-Hill Education and Pearson -- used language and writing techniques that “more closely match the public discourse of doubt about climate change rather than the scientific discourse” one might expect from academic texts. The books used language that misleadingly amplified uncertainty about the causes of climate change, undermined the expertise of climate scientists, and implied a false balance narrative around the realities of climate change within the scientific community.

For example, the authors found that only 21 percent of the instances discussing the cause-effect factors in climate change identified the effects of human activity, and that in the texts, “Scientists were often said to think or believe but rarely were scientists said to be inferring from evidence or data.”

The SMU study explained that conservative media falsehoods about climate change contribute to a shift in public discourse, which eventually influences textbook language by creating competing interests within the textbook market. Publishers' attempts to cater to the largest market -- which includes textbook buyers who ascribe to the “public discourse of doubt” around climate change -- ultimately result in misleading textbook language and factual inaccuracies. Although the study focused on California textbooks, such a large textbook market often “set[s] standards for the rest of the country” according to the study's authors -- an effect that may already be seen in Texas.

How does this “public discourse of doubt” on climate change first develop? The researchers at SMU cited Fox News' coverage of climate science as one factor in shaping misinformation, pointing to previous research that showed Fox has disproportionately interviewed climate science deniers and that its viewers are more likely to be climate science deniers themselves (emphasis added):

[I]n discussing the topic of climate change, some segments of the media use the journalistic norm of 'balance' -- giving equal weight to all positions about this phenomenon -- when building frames to present to the public (Boykoff 2007). When frame setting, segments of the media adhere to this norm to give equal time to a climate scientist and a climate denier when addressing climate change. For example, Fox News presents climate change as uncertain by interviewing a greater proportion of climate deniers (Feldman et al. 2012). As a result, at the individual-level effects of framing stage, the audience may come to understand human-caused climate change as controversial. And indeed, viewers of Fox News are more likely to be climate skeptics even when taking into account political affiliation (Feldman et al. 2012). The effects of framing go beyond individual positions about specific topics. Frames accumulate into larger discourses, which are 'a shared way of apprehending the world... enabling those who subscribe to it to interpret bits of information and put them together into coherent stories or accounts' (Dryzek 2013, 9). We see two discourses prevalent in climate change communication: a 'scientific discourse' and a 'public discourse.'

The researchers' implication of Fox News in the creation of a misinformed public discourse is well founded. Media figures at Fox have a long record of repeating scientific inaccuracies on air and allowing fringe figures to perpetuate widely debunked claims. The similarities between the doubtful language and inaccurate claims on Fox and in the textbook examples from the study are striking:

Textbook Frame: “Some Scientists” Think Global Warming Is Due In Part To “Natural Variations In Climate”

The SMU study found that the textbooks dedicated substantial portions of their passages on climate change to discussing natural causes rather than human causes, despite that “there is little doubt about the causes of current climate change” within the scientific community that human activities are the driving force behind the phenomenon:

All four textbooks dedicated a substantial portion of the chapters about climate change to describe the natural factors that could be causing this phenomenon. Although all four textbooks indicated that human beings could be having an impact on climate change, they framed this topic as an issue in which not all scientists are in agreement as can be seen in the following example:

• Not all scientists agree about the causes of global warming. Some scientists think that the 0.7 Celsius degree rise in global temperatures over the past 120 years may be due in part to natural variations in climate. (Prentice Hall 2008)

The study stated in a discussion of its findings: “The causes of climate change were shrouded in uncertainty in the texts we analyzed. Specifically, the human contribution to climate change was presented as a possibility rather than a certainty.”

Fox News Frame: “Nobody Knows” What's Causing Global Warming

Fox Host: Is Global Warming Man-Made? “Nobody Knows.” In a June 2014 edition of Fox News Radio's Kilmeade & Friends, Fox News' Steve Doocy asserted that “nobody knows” if the causes of global warming are natural or man-made:

STEVE DOOCY: Keep in mind: nobody is saying that the planet isn't getting warmer. Although, you know, we had a story a couple of days ago that the 1930s were much, much warmer than the decade we're in right now. And the globe has not warmed in 17 years. Here's the thing - nobody's saying the globe isn't warming. The question comes down to, if it is, what's making it warm up? Is it just a natural climactic [sic] cycle? Or is it something man-caused? Nobody knows.

Fox News Correspondent: “There Is Not Consensus” On Causes Of Climate Change. On the September 1 edition of Special Report with Bret Baier, Fox News correspondent Dan Springer rejected the scientific consensus on human-induced climate change, stating that “while the Obama administration blames man and the burning of fossil fuels, there is not consensus,” before cutting to an economist from the conservative Heritage Foundation to support his claim.

DAN SPRINGER: Scientists say the Arctic has warmed twice as fast as the rest of the nation. Sea ice is arriving later in the fall and melting sooner in the summer. This was one of the worst wildfire seasons on record in the Last Frontier State -- 5 million acres burned, about the size of Massachusetts. But while the Obama administration blames man and the burning of fossil fuels, there is not consensus.

Textbook Frame: Climate Has “Changed Throughout Earth's History”

The SMU study identified language in multiple textbooks that emphasized the historical context of climate change “to support the idea that climate had been changing well before humans were here and, therefore, is a naturally occurring phenomenon,” including the following examples:

However, climates have gradually changed throughout Earth's history. (Prentice Hall, 2008)

Scientists have found evidence of many major ice ages throughout Earth's geologic history. (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston Inc. 2007)

Fox News Frame: “Climate Changes. It Always Has And It Always Will”

Media figures often appear on Fox News to suggest that historical shifts in the global climate somehow disprove the notion that human-driven climate change is threatening our way of life. Media Matters compiled several, such as Competitive Enterprise Institute's Chris Horner, saying: “Climate changes. It always has, it always will.”

Textbook Frame: Global Warming “Could Have Some Positive Effects”

The SMU study noted that “all four textbooks mentioned the negative effects of climate change, but two of them also discussed the potential positive results of this phenomenon,” pointing out the following examples:

Global warming could have some positive effects. Farmers in some areas that are now cool could plant crops two times a year instead of one. Places that are too cold for farming today could become farmland. However, many effects of global warming are likely to be less positive. (Prentice Hall, 2008)

But farther north, such as in Canada, weather conditions for farming would improve. (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston Inc. 2007)

Fox News Frame: Global Warming Is “Good For Human Beings”

Fox's Gutfeld: “Even If There Is Global Warming ... It's Good For Human Beings.” On the April 11, 2012 edition of Fox News' The Five, co-host Greg Gutfeld asserted : “even if there is global warming ... it's good for human beings. If a polar bear dies, I don't feel bad. Honestly I don't. No, human beings. When temperature goes up, human beings live longer. When you have cold spells across countries, people die.”

Fox Turned To Mark Levin And A Coal Miner To Say “CO's What Make Plants Grow.” During an hour-long special on the “green agenda” in 2012, Fox News turned to right-wing radio host Mark Levin, who denied that carbon dioxide is a pollutant that should be regulated, saying: “Carbon dioxide is what we exhale. Carbon dioxide is necessary for plants.” Fox later aired video of coal miner Robert “Buz” Hilberry echoing this, saying: “I'm no scientist but CO's what make plants grow and what make you breathe, so they're trying to choke us all out by stopping the burning of coal.”

Fox Frequent Marc Morano: Record High Carbon Dioxide “Should Be Welcomed” Because “Plants Are Going To Be Happy.” Marc Morano, who was featured on Fox News to discuss climate change 11 times in 2014 alone, said to Bloomberg that Americans “should welcome” a record high in greenhouse gases because “This means that plants are going to be happy, and this means that global-warming fearmongers are going to be proven wrong.”