4 April 2024

15:25 – 16:10

Amphi 1

Florent Michelot

Florent Michelot is a professor at the Université de Moncton, Shippagan campus (New Brunswick). A specialist in post-secondary education, he focuses on the development of critical and digital skills for the 21st century. His interests extend to distance learning, digital education and the challenges posed by the irruption of certain technologies into our daily lives. Florent Michelot is also involved in environmental and climate education, emphasizing the importance of these issues in the contemporary context. In particular, he leads the “Numérique, climat et information” (Digital, climate and information) project, which examines the role of climate misinformation in digital social media.

Is the energy of misinformation holding back the climate transition?

In the face of the climate emergency, misinformation about climate change has spread like wildfire, fuelling doubt and confusion. This talk will question the forces driving this misinformation and its impact on our future. We’ll explore how digital social media have amplified misinformation to foster distrust and confuse well-established scientific facts about climate. We’ll discover how certain rhetorical strategies are mobilized to influence public opinion and hinder climate action.
In particular, we’ll look at the subject of energy: how does the manipulation of information serve the interests of the fossil fuel industry, and how does it delay the shift towards sustainable energy sources? What are the consequences of this misinformation for the energy and ecological transition? It’s not just a question of science, it’s a question of society. It’s about understanding how climate misinformation helps shape our world, influences policies and undermines efforts to combat climate change.