scholarly journals The European Media Portrayal of Climate Change: Implications for the Social Mobilization towards Climate Action

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 8300
Author(s):  
Alexandre O. Tavares ◽  
Neide P. Areia ◽  
Sinead Mellett ◽  
Julia James ◽  
Diego S. Intrigliolo ◽  
...  

Beyond other social actors, such as policymakers and scholars, common citizens are also expected to actively engage with climate change, by adopting sustainable actions and supporting environmental policies. However, and despite the actual growing of environment-related social movements, a kind of inertia still prevails in the social climate of our society. The media should play a key role in promoting, among common individuals, the adoption of new and more sustainable practices. However, it is argued that the media seems to be failing to effectively address the climate crisis. As such, this study aims to identify the main weaknesses of climate change media communication to further discuss possible opportunities of communication improvements. For that, 1609 news articles published between 2017 and 2018 in five European countries were analyzed in-depth, through quantitative content analysis. The news’ general characteristics, specifically reported themes, and the specificities of actors’ discourses were taken into account for the analysis. It was verified that the European media tends to report climate change by using distant (e.g., future-focused) and outcome (e.g., threatening messages) framings, based on non-resilient, scientific, and political narratives, whilst overlooking the role of civil society on adapting to climate change. These results demonstrate that instead of promoting society’s climate action, the media may be contributing to a widespread social apathy about the climate and the disengagement of individuals regarding environment-related matters. Evidence-based forms of improving the media’s communication on climate change will be further discussed.

Author(s):  
María Velasco González ◽  
Ernesto Carrillo Barroso

This article forms part of a classic social science debate on the role of the media in the construction of social and political narratives. The object of the paper is to study the rise and fall of the concept of tourismphobia in the Spanish media. The case is analyzed in the light of public policies studies, especially those analyzing agenda-setting, the social construction of the definition of public problems and the struggles of coalitions seeking to impose their public policy narratives in the policy-making process. With this purpose, a database was used that collected more than 11,000 news items over a substantial period of time. Its analysis reveals that media attention rises sharply after active protest actions against tourist saturation and that the term is mostly linked to specific territories and cities and to certain political figures. It also allows us to observe how some political responses to the problem appear more in the media, while others are minimized. The conclusions indicate that the “tourismphobia” neologism was capitalized on – which is often the case with terms that circulate in the public sphere – by various groups attempting to highlight some of its semantic dimensions over others. The study also reveals that the media assume an active position in the construction of discourses in relation to tourism also as a political and not just an economic issue. Furthermore, it shows that the use of the term has greatly declined, either because the problem has become dormant or because it has been reformulated into other terms that are more in line with dominant narratives.


Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 279
Author(s):  
Ruby Guyatt

What is the role of hope in the climate crisis? What type of hope does this crisis demand? How can we sustain hope, in order to resist falling into fatalistic despair or paralyzing fear, whilst always guarding against hope giving way to happy complacency? This essay considers these urgent questions through a novel encounter between the Christian philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard, and recent eco-critical and empirical research on the affectivity of climate change mobilization. I begin by outlining the scope and aims of this essay (1st section), before introducing some affective dimensions of the climate crisis (2nd section), particularly the place of hope. Next, I examine Kierkegaard’s account of hope, and explore the extent to which it corresponds to the type of hope needed in the climate crisis (3rd section). Here, I show that Kierkegaardian hope is a therapeutic practice which subverts the eco-anxiety and sense of helplessness that can otherwise prevent individuals from engaging in positive climate action. Finally, I compare Kierkegaard’s theologically grounded hope with the hope held by climate change activists without religious faith (4th section). Participating in collective climate action anchors the individual’s hopes in a larger, collective hope, which I suggest is sustainable in ways that are partially analogous to the therapeutic functions of Kierkegaard’s Christian hope.


Novos Olhares ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-129
Author(s):  
Niina Uusitalo

Climate change is often portrayed through stereotypical, extreme or controversial messages, with the role of human agency attached to consumption and demonstrations. Such depictions can be demotivating and cause issue fatigue. There is a need to broaden and elaborate our understanding of human connections to climate change. The aim of this paper is to identify a wide array of climate practices expressed by social media users. An empirical study of 42 Finnish ecological Instagram accounts was conducted. The textual and visual contents of climate-related posts were qualitatively analyzed to identify climate practices and the role visual images play in these representations. Six types of climate practices were identified in the data: detaching, reforming, transilluminating, persevering, caring and consolidating. The visualization of climate practices should be expanded in the media to broaden the understanding of potential human agency in the climate crisis.


2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 521
Author(s):  
Felipe Romero-Perdomo ◽  
Juan David Carvajalino-Umaña ◽  
Jaime Leonardo Moreno-Gallego ◽  
Natalia Ardila ◽  
Miguel Ángel González-Curbelo

The circular economy (CE) has been proposed as a potentially significant catalyst to enhance the current response to the global climate crisis. The objective of this study was to investigate the scientific literature of the research between climate change and CE adopting a knowledge mapping approach. Based on a total of 789 peer-reviewed publications extracted from Scopus, we found that research on climate change and CE is continually growing and interdisciplinary in nature. Europe notably leads scientific production. Keyword evolution shows that CE has been influenced by more lines of research than climate change. We also found that waste management is the CE approach most associated with climate change, mitigation is the climate action most impacted by CE, and food is the most reported greenhouse gas (GHG)-emitting material. However, there are knowledge gaps in the integration of the social dimension, the promotion of climate change adaptation, and the association of sustainable development goal (SDG) 13. Finally, we identified four potentially valuable directions for future studies: (i) CE practices, (ii) bioeconomy, (iii) climate and energy, and (iv) sustainability and natural resources, in which carbon recovery technologies, green materials, regional supply chains, circular agriculture models, and nature-based solutions are promising themes.


Author(s):  
Aleksandra Ilić

In this paper, the author discusses the social context of moral panic, ie the role of various social factors in the creation of moral panic. Starting from the known mechanisms of moral panic (traditional and newer), the author considers the roles of the subjects of informal and formal social control in this process. In that sense, it stands out the activity of various moral activists as representatives of the informal social structure who, by propagating the importance of moral protection, often participate in the process of creating of many moral panics. On the other hand, the activities of formal social control bodies are regulated by an appropriate legal frame-work whose task is to solve the problem of crime in society. This implies a professional attitude of the police, the prosecution and the courts in terms of combating crime. The author points out the problem of the participation of the representatives of these bodies in the creation and development of moral panic, considering it in the context of the culture of control, ie its elements, emphasizing especially the role of the police. The author connects all the mentioned segments of the social function of moral panic with the role of the media as an unavoidable factor in the process of moral panic. At the end of the paper, the author emphasizes the importance of the role of the media in raising awareness of the importance of individual actions of all social actors in order to avoid their participation in the creation of moral panic that unfavorable affects on solving the problem of crime.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward John Roy Clarke ◽  
Anna Klas ◽  
Joshua Stevenson ◽  
Emily Jane Kothe

Climate change is a politically-polarised issue, with conservatives less likely than liberals to perceive it as human-caused and consequential. Furthermore, they are less likely to support mitigation and adaptation policies needed to reduce its impacts. This study aimed to examine whether John Oliver’s “A Mathematically Representative Climate Change Debate” clip on his program Last Week Tonight polarised or depolarised a politically-diverse audience on climate policy support and behavioural intentions. One hundred and fifty-nine participants, recruited via Amazon MTurk (94 female, 64 male, one gender unspecified, Mage = 51.07, SDage = 16.35), were presented with either John Oliver’s climate change consensus clip, or a humorous video unrelated to climate change. Although the climate change consensus clip did not reduce polarisation (or increase it) relative to a control on mitigation policy support, it resulted in hyperpolarisation on support for adaptation policies and increased climate action intentions among liberals but not conservatives.


Author(s):  
James ROSE

ABSTRACT Within the context of the work and achievements of James Croll, this paper reviews the records of direct observations of glacial landforms and sediments made by Charles Lyell, Archibald and James Geikie and James Croll himself, in order to evaluate their contributions to the sciences of glacial geology and Quaternary environmental change. The paper outlines the social and physical environment of Croll's youth and contrasts this with the status and experiences of Lyell and the Geikies. It also outlines the character and role of the ‘Glasgow School’ of geologists, who stimulated Croll's interest into the causes of climate change and directed his focus to the glacial and ‘interglacial’ deposits of central Scotland. Contributions are outlined in chronological order, drawing attention to: (i) Lyell's high-quality observations and interpretations of glacial features in Glen Clova and Strathmore and his subsequent rejection of the glacial theory in favour of processes attributed to floating icebergs; (ii) the significant impact of Archibald Geikie's 1863 paper on the ‘glacial drift of Scotland’, which firmly established the land-ice theory; (iii) the fact that, despite James Croll's inherent dislike of geology and fieldwork, he provided high-quality descriptions and interpretations of the landforms and sediments of central Scotland in order to test his theory of climate change; and (iv) the great communication skills of James Geikie, enhanced by contacts and evidence from around the world. It is concluded that whilst direct observations of glacial landforms and sediments were critical to the long-term development of the study of glaciation, the acceptance of this theory was dependent also upon the skills, personality and status of the Geikies and Croll, who developed and promoted the concepts. Sadly, the subsequent rejection of the land-ice concept by Lyell resulted in the same factors challenging the acceptance of the glacial theory.


1974 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald L. Kanter

Dr. Kanter presents a summary of his research assessing the role of OTC advertising in Influencing drug usage. His work represents the only systematic study of the impact of commercial advertising on drug usage. He stresses that advertising in itself does not directly lead to drug misuse but should be considered as part of a host of factors in the social environment and in the media environment that have significant influence in determining people's behavior. He also urged that the existing pharmaceutical advertising codes, which are often violated, be reviewed and strengthened.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (53) ◽  
pp. 25-40
Author(s):  
Fabio Perocco

Abstract During the last two decades of rising anti-migrant racism in Europe, Islamophobia has proven to be the highest, most acute, and widely spread form of racism. The article shows how anti-migrant Islamophobia is a structural phenomenon in European societies and how its internal structure has specific social roots and mechanisms of functioning. Such an articulate and interdependent set of key themes, policies, practices, discourses, and social actors it is intended to inferiorise and marginalise Muslim immigrants while legitimising and reproducing social inequalities affecting the majority of them. The article examines the social origins of anti-migrant Islamophobia and the modes and mechanisms through which it naturalises inequalities; it focuses on the main social actors involved in its production, specifically on the role of some collective subjects as anti-Muslim organizations and movements, far-right parties, best-selling authors, and the mass-media.


MANUSYA ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-49
Author(s):  
Phennapha Klaisingto ◽  
Wirote Aroonmanakun

This study examines the linguistic structure used for uncovering gender ideologies through crime news headlines. It’s based on the idea that languages represent reality and different linguistic choices indicate different points of view of reality. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Fairclough 1990,VanDijk 1995, Simpson 1993) is used in this study. The main objectives of the study are 1) to study the differences of representation between male and female social actors (Van Leeuwan 2008) in crime news headlines and 2) to study power relations, gender identities and the reproduction of patriarchal society through crime news headlines. Samples of 1,815 crime news headlines are analyzed in this study. The result shows that Thai crime news constructs gender identities based on gender ideology. Thai crime news headlines convey a variety of linguistic meanings which allow for varying forms of representation of social actors, including exclusion and inclusion of social actors. The exclusion of male social actors in headlines may be ideologically motivated by obscuring the responsibility of male actors for negative actions, whereas the exclusion of female social actors does not have the same effect because their referents can be inferred from the headline context. In addition, the inclusion of social actors varies according to the social actor’s sex. Male actors are usually referred to using a functionalization form or an appraisement form, whereas female actors are usually referred to using an identification form. These representations reflect the role of masculinity and femininity among men and women in the society.


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