The Truth about Nature: Environmentalism in the Era of Post-truth Politics and Platform Capitalism
Description
How should we share the truth about the environmental crisis? At a moment when even the most basic facts about ecology and the climate face contestation and contempt, environmental advocates are at an impasse. Many have turned to social media and digital technologies to shift the tide. But what if their strategy is not only flawed, but dangerous?
The Truth about Nature follows environmental actors as they turn to the internet to save nature. It documents how conservation efforts are transformed through the political economy of platforms and the algorithmic feeds that have been instrumental to the rise of post-truth politics. Developing a novel account of post-truth as an expression of power under platform capitalism, Bram Büscher shows how environmental actors attempt to mediate between structural forms of platform power and the contingent histories and contexts of particular environmental issues. Bringing efforts at wildlife protection in Southern Africa into dialogue with a sweeping analysis of truth and power in the twenty-first century, Büscher makes the case for a new environmental politics that radically reignites the art of speaking truth to power.
Praise for The Truth about Nature: Environmentalism in the Era of Post-truth Politics and Platform Capitalism
"This is an important book for people wanting to understand the interactions between social media and other platforms, truth, and the environment. While the book does not offer easy answers, it will be useful to scholars and practitioners in multiple fields who are working on their diagnosis of the problem."
— Journal of Development Studies
"The significance of this book goes far beyond the environmental dimension, as the main argument and the detailed analysis to which it gives rise are of the utmost importance for understanding the social and political tensions that animate the world today."
— New Global Studies
"Truth is a prime example of topical, generative, cutting-edge contemporary political ecology. . . .Thanks to Büscher’s versatility and clear language, the book is commendable to students of political ecology, sociology, online cultures, social theory scholars, conservation practitioners, and other interested non-academics."
— Human Ecology
"Truth About Nature reads like a remedy thanks to its political-ecological outlook, with its feet on the empirical ground, its heart in the practical world, and its head in the conceptual sky; it stands contradictions and does what others only write about- dialectics."
— Springer Nature
