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. Cover......Page 1 The Truth about Nature......Page 2 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Dedication......Page 6 Contents......Page 8 Preface and Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction: The Truth about Nature?......Page 16 PART ONE. (META)THEORETICAL BEARINGS......Page 26 1. Truth Tensions......Page 28 PART TWO. THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF PLATFORMS, POST-TRUTH, AND POWER......Page 48 2. Sharing Truths and Natures......Page 50 3. Between Platforms, Post-truth, and Power......Page 72 PART THREE. ENVIRONMENTALISM 2.0......Page 94 4. Conservation 2.0: The Politics of Cocreation......Page 96 5. Elephant 2.0: The Politics of Platforms......Page 120 6. Kruger 2.0: The Politics of Distinction......Page 138 7. Rhino 2.0: The Politics of Hysteria......Page 161 Conclusion: Speaking Truth to Power......Page 182 Notes......Page 198 Bibliography......Page 230 Index......Page 246