Conservation Comment: 2016, year of misinformation

"Truthiness" extends to the environmental movement as well, and information about such things as photovoltaics says Nelson Lebo. PHOTO/FILE

I've been asked to reflect on the year that was in this column, and what a year it was!
When I named Donald Trump "Person of the Year" 12 months ago, it was clear that few in the media and on the left understood the power and meaning of his message.

The only thing worse than the American media's "analysis" of Trumpism was that of the New Zealand media.

That no Kiwi journalist understands the Trump phenomenon is forgivable.

That some pretend to is laughable. But, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter whether the media gets it right or not, because we've entered an era where personal opinions, weak arguments, disproven theories, made up facts, and fake news hold equal weight in the court of public opinion with robust, research-based, peer-reviewed analysis and recognised best practice.

That's the point! We've entered a post-truth era.

A year ago - when the left was laughing condescendingly at Trump and his supporters - I wrote for the Chronicle: "Trump's political success relies on the fact that many people only accept information that fits their existing world view. Facts don't matter. Research doesn't matter. Trained experts don't matter."

There are those calling 2016 the Year of the Underdog - Leicester City, Cleveland, Chicago, even Trump himself - but I say it was the year of misinformation. Hundreds of mis-statements by The Donald did nothing to weaken his support, and actually boosted his poll numbers among those who wanted to believe his truthiness, a term coined by comedian Stephen Colbert and defined by Wikipedia as "a quality characterising a 'truth' that a person making an argument or assertion claims to know intuitively 'from the gut' or because it 'feels right' without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts".

But truthiness doesn't work the same for conservatives and conservationists. When environmentalists engage in truthiness, it works against their ultimate goals.
I see it all the time and it confounds me. In our own community we've witnessed the spread of misinformation on composting, recycling, solar power, passive solar design, climate change and home performance. We've seen plagiarism without consequence.
One example is the promotion of so-called "biodegradable plastic", which is much worse for waste management systems than regular old #1 plastic (PET). Why would a group posing as the authority on waste management promote this dodgy product? Truthiness: it feels right.

Along the same lines, we've seen the promotion of solar electricity by similarly well meaning but poorly informed groups and individuals. The truth is that photovoltaics (PV) have a bigger carbon footprint than many forms of renewable energy and that most New Zealand households stand to lose thousands of dollars on their investment. An expert on the topic recently told me, "Anyone looking in to solar should avoid a company that doesn't first offer a comprehensive energy audit".

Sadly, we can't even trust all tradesmen, architects or engineers to provide accurate advice.

These professionals can pass on bad information too.

For example, I recently struck a case on Saint John's Hill where a homeowner was given the opposite-of-accurate advice on the installation of a heat transfer system. I'm pleased I was there to set her straight before she paid top dollar for bottom performance, but I know it's not an isolated incident.

But it was not all false promises and bad advice for 2016. It's been a particularly good year for some projects I started since moving to Whanganui, which have received both national and international attention: the CReW Curtain Bank; Whanganui Permaculture Weekend; Zero Waste Events; and, the Eco-Thrifty Renovation.

The latter of these has been recognised as a world-class eco-design project that embodies best practice permaculture design. It's the only New Zealand property included in permaculture co-founder David Holmgren's Retro-Suburbia Project, which includes a book series and website. There could be no greater recognition for our old villa in Castlecliff.

My advice for conservationists in 2017: Stick to the facts. It's more important to be right than to be righteous.