Unpacking the Politics of Carbon
By Ananya Peddibhotla
In a survey conducted by SAP and Qualtrics on “How much do you trust what scientists say about the environment?” Indians were ranked as ‘the most trusting’ of climate science (WEF, 2020). Interestingly, in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was criticized as being a climate sceptic due to his remark- “Climate has not changed, we have changed and our habits have changed” (Guardian, 2014). When it comes to American sceptics, many like President Donald Trump have argued that more carbon is good for plants and is not a cause of concern since plants will take the carbon dioxide present, contrary to scientists who warn us that too much carbon causes global warming. The dilemma here is of ‘scientific facts’ being used for advocating what is convenient to be perceived as ‘truth’. Since India is ranked high in the survey, it would be interesting to look at how a carbon good for plants discourse which is popular in American politics play out among the Indian youth who are said to be the most trusting of climate science.
So I circulated a form to 20 people in their 20s and posed two simple questions in front of them; ‘Is carbon bad for the earth because it contributes to global warming?’ and ‘Is carbon good for plants because it is plant food?’. These are two ‘facts’ and there are possibly only four types of answers- Yes, Yes; Yes, No; No, Yes and No response.
The data from the responses represent the following-
Did you expect this? If you notice the data, 85% agreed that carbon is plant food, there is, of course, no denying this. On the other hand, 50% agreed that carbon is bad since it leads to global warming and the rest 50% either did not agree or had no response. There are varied questions that one can pose while looking at this data; is the ‘carbon good for plant’ fact popular? Is the ‘carbon bad for earth’ fact not popular enough? Does the way in which scientific facts are stated influence people’s perception of climate change?
So if like in the case of American politics, Donald Trump says that carbon is good for the plants, and is dismissive of carbon emission harming the earth, this thought gets engrained in people’s minds. This subtle dismissiveness of carbon emissions not harming the earth because it is good for trees is what becomes problematic. If the solution to our carbon crisis was accepting that there is no crisis because carbon is good for plants, then why is the problem increasing? Do we need to do something more like reducing carbon emissions?
Coming to the problem with ‘carbon is plant food hence good’ fact which many climate change sceptics use is dismissive of the current reality we are faced with which is human carbon emissions furthering climate change at a faster rate. At a time when the climate change crisis is becoming impactful faster, depending on trees to mitigate this challenge is a naïve approach. As stated by activists, ‘It takes years for trees to mature into the kind of ecological support system that promotes carbon sequestration at peak capacity.’(Wire, 2019) Therefore, this discourse adopted by many sceptics is a deviation from the context of the fact.
I was curious to see what our middle school science classes taught us about carbon. I conducted a similar question based but a telephonic interview with three eleven-year-olds. This interview was conducted in the presence of the child’s parent and I aimed to understand what they had learnt in school concerning the two questions. Following is an expert of one of my conversations-
Me- Hello, I have a doubt from science, will you please clarify my doubt?
Her- Yes! I will teach you, ask me anything!!
Me- Thank you, please tell me, is carbon dioxide food for plants?
Her- Yes it is! Plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen which is good for us!
Me- Oh that’s great, and do you think carbon dioxide causes global warming?
Her- Yes it does because carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and it traps the heat. This is bad for our earth because it increases the temperature and changes our climate.
Me- That’s a great answer, did you learn this in science class?
Her- Yes! We learnt the good and bad of carbon dioxide and also of other greenhouse gases. Our carbon emissions are bad for our earth because they are more than what is needed and too much of carbon heats our earth.
Me- Okay, thank you for sharing your knowledge with me, my doubts are cleared now!
Her- *giggles*
Interestingly, this is the type of answer I received from all the three children I spoke to! The important attribution here would be the manner in which ‘scientific facts’ can be used to influence people. Hence, even though Indians are the most trusting of climate science according to the survey (WEF, 2020), there is scope of politicization of such facts for ‘electoral gains’ in the coming future. Therefore, the onus of responsibility lies on us to differentiate between facts and twisted facts and prevent the politicization of climate in present and future times.
