Flat Earthism and the idea that human activity is not responsible for climate change are two of the most prevalent conspiracy theories today. Both have been increasing in popularity since the late 20th century.
Flat Earthism and the idea that human activity is not responsible for climate change are two of the most prevalent conspiracy theories today. Both have been increasing in popularity since the late 20th century.
Currently, 16 percent of the US population say they doubt the scientifically established shape of the Earth, while 40 percent think that human-induced climate change is a hoax.
But proponents of one of these theories are not necessarily proponents of the other, even though both are often motivated by a common mistrust of authority. In fact, they regularly contradict one another.
Flat Earthers, for example, tend to disbelieve organisations such as NASA on the shape of Antarctica – or indeed, that there is a southern hemisphere at all.
Yet the president of the Flat Earth Society, Daniel Shenton, is quite convinced – presumably at least in part thanks to information from NASA – that climate change is happening and espouses a fairly conventional view on the subject.
Former White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci (dismissed by president Trump after ten days in office), meanwhile, believes that the Earth is in fact round, but does not believe in anthropogenic climate change, as he made clear in an interview with CNN.
Such selective reasoning is common among conspiracy theorists who often lack consistency with one other.
Despite this, the media, celebrities and even politicians regularly make broad comparisons between climate change skepticism, Flat Earthism and other conspiracy theories.
Fabricated data?
In the field of global climate change, scientific bodies often are accused, even by those in power, of fabricating data. But such criticism is often deeply flawed.
Take those skeptics, for example, who believe that climate change is occurring, but because of natural – rather than man-made – causes.
If one argues that data has been fabricated to show warming where there is none, one cannot then also imply that warming is occurring after all, but naturally.
Either there is warming or there is not. Similarly, Flat Earthers who state that images showing Earth's curvature are due to the shape of a camera lens, themselves believe in a disc which by definition has a curved edge.
Indeed, one of the few commonalities which exist between all major conspiracy theories is that somehow scientists and governments are involved in a grand conspiracy for reasons unknown.
A major part of the scientific anthropogenic climate change argument is that there is an increase in temperature extremes in both summer and winter.
Evidently, a Flat Earth model cannot support this; in fact, the most accepted Flat Earth model, which maintains that the sun rotates in a non-variable circular orbit over the flat disk, implies that there should be no seasons at all, let alone multi-decadal seasonal extremes due to climate change.
Nevertheless, to quote Shenton:
In this instance, the president of the Flat Earth Society is correct. Anthropogenic climate change skeptics, on the other hand, are often willing to accept the science behind the Earth's natural cycles, which they blame – instead of human activity – for the world's weather woes.
Clearly, we again find an implicit difference of opinion between a Flat Earth model, and a non-anthropogenic climate change one.
It is also clear that many climate change skeptics believe in the (approximately) spherical Earth, even if only subconsciously, by their use of scientifically accepted global maps when discussing data – not to mention when calling it "global" warming.