Over 48 million Americans deny that climate change is real
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2024
A pioneering study led by the University of Michigan (U-M), utilizing advanced artificial intelligence and social media analytics, has found that approximately 15% of Americans are skeptical about the reality of climate change.
This revelation comes at a time when scientific consensus has repeatedly warned of the increasing risks posed by a warming climate, including heightened occurrences of flooding, wildfires, and sea-level rise, among other disasters.
Focus of the study
Drawing on Twitter data spanning from 2017 to 2019, the researchers employed AI techniques to gauge public sentiment on climate change, mapping out both belief and denial across the United States.
The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports on February 14, delves into the role social media plays in propagating climate change denialism, pinpointing influential figures, such as former President Donald Trump, who have significantly contributed to spreading misinformation.
Social media data
“Prior to the advancement of AI and social media data, this work relied on expensive and time-consuming surveys,” explained Joshua Newell, the study’s senior author and a professor at U-M’s School for Environment and Sustainability.
By analyzing over 7.4 million geocoded tweets with ChatGPT’s Large Language Model, the team distinguished tweets as either supporting or opposing climate change, subsequently mapping these attitudes at both state and county levels. This analysis not only confirmed the 14.8% national denial rate, aligning with prior studies, but also highlighted demographic and geographic patterns in climate change skepticism.
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https://www.earth.com/news/more-than-48-million-americans-deny-that-climate-change-is-real
