Why your favourite wellness influencer might be pivoting to climate denialism

As the United Nations’ 28th Climate Conference (COP28) fills our newsfeeds, you might see an uptick in influencers talking about the climate crisis. The question won’t so much be about whether influencers will be talking about it or not, but rather how, and how accurately.A British think tank has looked into how popular wellness influencers on Instagram — some of whom already have a history spreading health misinformation — may be just as capable of pushing climate misinformation, too.The Institute of Strategic Dialogue, which dedicates itself to counter-extremism research, has conducted an analysis of 154 lifestyle and wellness influencers on Instagram who endorsed a theme they have called “conspirituality”. This is a concept that has existed for over a decade; in 2011, academics Charlotte War and David Voas defined it as the synthesis of the male-dominated realm of conspiracy theory meeting the female-dominated New Age movement. 12 years ago they called it a “rapidly growing web movement” in which followers not only believed that a secret group is covertly controlling political and social order, but that humanity is undergoing a ‘paradigm shift’ in consciousness.Want more science and tech news delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for Mashable’s Light Speed newsletter today.Beginning with 30 ‘seed’ accounts they located using this kind of academic research, the ISD used data analytics tools to find the accounts that had been most frequently mentioned by the ‘seeders’ in the last year, adding those who met their definition of wellness and New Age influencers promoting…Why your favourite wellness influencer might be pivoting to climate denialism