‘Nature is healing’: Environmental infodemic and the pitfall of dualism

Abstract

As the pandemic of COVID-19 shut down the world and people were ordered to stay home and social distance from each other, the world turned to social media to share all sorts of information about the pandemic and related topics, giving rise to infodemic or ‘an over-abundance of information – some accurate and some not – that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it’ (WHO 2020: 2). Besides the overwhelming amount of information about the virus and its treatment, COVID-19 infodemic includes a copious volume of information about the environment. Many of the stories that spread on social media reported improvements to the environment, and this was attributed to human absence. This article will reflect on these stories and their implications from an ecological perspective with several questions in mind: how is the environment constructed in social media in relation to the pandemic, and what are their implications?; what may be overlooked in the infodemic on the environment, and why does that matter? My reflection addresses and problematizes the prevalence of dualism in the ways the environment is constructed in the widespread environmental stories in the context of the pandemic.

Paradoxes of Digital Disengagement: In Search of the Opt-Out Button

“…But pandemic green imaginaries did not stop there. In the midst of a general rise of fake news and disinformation related to the pandemic -what was described by many as the 'Covid-19 infodemic' (World Health Organization 2020) -one could also see the rise of an 'environmental infodemic' (Kinefuchi 2020). This included news and social media stories of 'healing nature' , which presented a mixture of true and false information about the reduction of air and water pollution and improved conditions for wildlife -a particularly viral example was a hoax regarding sightings of swans and dolphins in Venice's canals.…”

“…This included news and social media stories of 'healing nature' , which presented a mixture of true and false information about the reduction of air and water pollution and improved conditions for wildlife -a particularly viral example was a hoax regarding sightings of swans and dolphins in Venice's canals. As Kinefuchi (2020) aptly argued, such stories and their socio-political impact were deeply problematic, firstly because such stories promote the idea that 'nature' can heal fast (undermining the vast extent and scope of the current environmental crisis). Secondly, the environmental infodemic on social media juxtaposed nature with people, where humans need to disappear in order for nature to 'heal ' .…”

The discrepancy evaluation model in the implementation of online learning (on the basis of parents’ perceptions)

“…Fatigue, boredom, and anxiety are common in children because the need to socialise and interact physically with their friends at school is not channeled. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed social stratification, which impacts changing patterns of social interaction, even being quite vulnerable for some communities [41]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the pattern of social interaction changed from physical to virtual [42].…”

Jeunes, Communication & Climat. Diversité des enjeux climatiques auprès des 15-24 ans en Belgique

“…(Francou Damesin, 2022) Une forme de communication ciblée par segment pourrait en outre limiter des problèmes liés à l'infodémie (Nielsen et al, 2020). Le concept d'infodémie se réfère à une surabondance informationnelle -parfois vraies, parfois fausses -qui rend finalement complexe l'accès à l'information (de qualité) sur un sujet (Kinefuchi, 2020). Ce concept a été popularisé durant la crise du Covid 19 et s'est réellement développé lorsque l'OMS l'a utilisé pour caractériser la situation informationnelle autour de l'épidémie : « En plus d'un volume d'information élevé, un nombre important des informations diffusées sont instables, fragiles, voire au coeur de controverses encore vives quant à leur validité scientifique.…”