Climate-denying rumor propagation in a coupled socio-climate model: Impact on average global temperature.
Individual attitudes vastly affect the transformations we are experiencing and are vital in mitigating or intensifying climate change. A socio-climate model by coupling a model of rumor dynamics in heterogeneous networks to a simple Earth System model is developed, in order to analyze how rumors abo...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0317338 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832540234420584448 |
|---|---|
| author | Athira Satheesh Kumar Chris T Bauch Madhur Anand |
| author_facet | Athira Satheesh Kumar Chris T Bauch Madhur Anand |
| author_sort | Athira Satheesh Kumar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Individual attitudes vastly affect the transformations we are experiencing and are vital in mitigating or intensifying climate change. A socio-climate model by coupling a model of rumor dynamics in heterogeneous networks to a simple Earth System model is developed, in order to analyze how rumors about climate change impact individuals' opinions when they may choose to either believe or reject the rumors they come across over time. Our model assumes that when individuals experience an increase in the global temperature, they tend to not believe the rumors they come across. The rumor rejectors limit their CO2 emissions to reduce global temperature. Our numerical analysis indicates that, over time, the temperature anomaly becomes less affected by the variations in rumor propagation parameters, and having larger groups (having more members) is more efficient in reducing temperature (by efficiently propagating rumors) than having numerous small groups. It is observed that decreasing the number of individual connections does not reduce the size of the rejector population when there are large numbers of messages sent through groups. Mitigation strategies considered by the rejectors are highly influential. The absence of mitigative behavior in rejectors can cause an increase in the global average temperature by 0.5°C. Our model indicates that rumor propagation in groups has the upper hand in controlling temperature change, compared to individual climate-denying propagation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-256e710176a741f09ddcb74884042a63 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-256e710176a741f09ddcb74884042a632025-02-05T05:31:20ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01201e031733810.1371/journal.pone.0317338Climate-denying rumor propagation in a coupled socio-climate model: Impact on average global temperature.Athira Satheesh KumarChris T BauchMadhur AnandIndividual attitudes vastly affect the transformations we are experiencing and are vital in mitigating or intensifying climate change. A socio-climate model by coupling a model of rumor dynamics in heterogeneous networks to a simple Earth System model is developed, in order to analyze how rumors about climate change impact individuals' opinions when they may choose to either believe or reject the rumors they come across over time. Our model assumes that when individuals experience an increase in the global temperature, they tend to not believe the rumors they come across. The rumor rejectors limit their CO2 emissions to reduce global temperature. Our numerical analysis indicates that, over time, the temperature anomaly becomes less affected by the variations in rumor propagation parameters, and having larger groups (having more members) is more efficient in reducing temperature (by efficiently propagating rumors) than having numerous small groups. It is observed that decreasing the number of individual connections does not reduce the size of the rejector population when there are large numbers of messages sent through groups. Mitigation strategies considered by the rejectors are highly influential. The absence of mitigative behavior in rejectors can cause an increase in the global average temperature by 0.5°C. Our model indicates that rumor propagation in groups has the upper hand in controlling temperature change, compared to individual climate-denying propagation.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0317338 |
| spellingShingle | Athira Satheesh Kumar Chris T Bauch Madhur Anand Climate-denying rumor propagation in a coupled socio-climate model: Impact on average global temperature. PLoS ONE |
| title | Climate-denying rumor propagation in a coupled socio-climate model: Impact on average global temperature. |
| title_full | Climate-denying rumor propagation in a coupled socio-climate model: Impact on average global temperature. |
| title_fullStr | Climate-denying rumor propagation in a coupled socio-climate model: Impact on average global temperature. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate-denying rumor propagation in a coupled socio-climate model: Impact on average global temperature. |
| title_short | Climate-denying rumor propagation in a coupled socio-climate model: Impact on average global temperature. |
| title_sort | climate denying rumor propagation in a coupled socio climate model impact on average global temperature |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0317338 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT athirasatheeshkumar climatedenyingrumorpropagationinacoupledsocioclimatemodelimpactonaverageglobaltemperature AT christbauch climatedenyingrumorpropagationinacoupledsocioclimatemodelimpactonaverageglobaltemperature AT madhuranand climatedenyingrumorpropagationinacoupledsocioclimatemodelimpactonaverageglobaltemperature |