Truth

Overnight, Iran admitted that it was in fact responsible for the downing of the Ukrainian 737, although by mistake. In a post-truth world, this offered some basic reassurance that reality still somehow matters, that at one point, it becomes impossible to deny the facts. As I work with my new paper on climate didactics that I hope to present in Vaasa later this spring, I am again reminded of how far we are from a similar “reality check” when it comes to climate change as every online thread on Greta is still filled by people contesting the basic science. Yet, sadly, the other side of the ideological spectrum is just as much in denial, not only about how radical their suggested “behavioural changes” would actually have to be in order to be effective in a world of almost eight billion people, but also about the fact that nuclear energy, unlike wind and solar, does have a proven record of displacing fossil fuels and dramatically cutting emissions. There is something slightly tragicomical when you think about the fact that Sweden, being one of the few countries in the world that has successfully cleaned up its electricity grid, has an energy agency that, more or less by mandate, is prohibited from financing research into this history or its implications with regard to the climate crisis.