The Truth about Nature: Environmentalism in the Era of Post-truth Politics and Platform Capitalism

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.