Resolving the Do/Do Not Debate: Communication Perspective to Enhance Sustainable Lifestyles

Clear and memorable environmental messaging has been scarce. Recycling contamination is an urgent environmental concern because the public is confused about which items can and cannot be recycled. Environmental campaigns utilizing message framing, a method used to emphasize either the benefits of performing or loss of avoiding an action, may help combat this problem. We conducted an online study (n = 1199) and randomly assigned participants to view positively or negatively framed (do vs. do not) messages. Results revealed that participants who viewed negative messages with do not descriptors increased recycling intention, mediated by increased recycling contamination knowledge and recycling efficacy (95% CI: 0.03, 0.08). The findings suggest that recycling instructions may be more effective when messages are framed negatively using inhibitive descriptors. Results of this study can inform development of environmental campaigns to improve sustainable lifestyles.

What determines the success and failure of environmental crowdfunding?

Online crowdfunding can help address the perennial financial shortfalls in environmental conservation and management. Although many online crowdfunding campaigns fail to collect any funds due to not achieving their targets, little is known about what drives success. To address this knowledge gap, we applied a mixed-methods approach to data from 473 successful and failed campaigns hosted on the online crowdfunding platform Readyfor. We found that fundraising performance varied by topic, with campaigns on pet animal management outperforming those focussed on landscape management and sustainable use. We also found that marketing strategies associated with online findability and increased reach through social networks, increased fundraising success. However, the existence of other environmental campaigns running simultaneously, reduced the chance of success, which implies that the selecting popular topics does not always increase the likelihood of success due to increased competition. Wider applications of marketing could enhance the ability of environmental crowdfunding campaigns to raise funds.

Symbolizing Destruction

Emotions can play an important role in the perception of grievances, yet we know little about how environmentalists strategically utilize emotions to bolster activism and garner support. Drawing on social movement and environmental sociological research, we analyze how moral shocks can be used to mobilize activists against environmentally destructive activities. We study the case of Libkovice, Czech Republic, where environmentalists battled against the coal industry to save a city from being razed to access coal reserves. The data come from in-depth interviews, organizational and documentary video, and archival documents. Findings indicate that environmentalists drew upon symbols of destruction, such as threats to the local church, to fuel anger and mobilize the campaign. Results show how symbolic environmental campaigns can serve as beacons for future protest.

Environmental Campaigns in Traditional and Social Media

This chapter describes how the environment is a significant part of today's world. The media has the responsibility of educating the audience about the prevailing environmental issues such as pollution, global warming, and climate change as they threaten humankind and sustainable development. Environmental campaigns play a major role in creating awareness about environmental issues and its adverse effects on people. This chapter examines the content of environmental campaigns in traditional and social media and its impact on the environmental awareness of different cross-cultural sections of people using a survey. The chapter is designed based on the theory of planned behaviour according to which human action is guided by a number of factors. The findings revealed that the campaigns had many positive benefits and a number of factors were influencing the promotion of environmental awareness. The study tested a few factors based on communication theories and discussions were drawn.

An analysis of multimodal resources in environmental protection posters

Exposure of environmental issues is essential to prevent mass environmental destructions; therefore, campaigns (posters) should be able to activate the viewers’ contemplation on such issues. The emergence of multimodal texts provides a vast opportunity for semioticians to do their analyses in a more creative manner in current communication processes. Accordingly, this study focuses on the interactive meanings of semiotic resources in posters on environmental campaigns using a multimodal perspective. It examines the contribution of visual and textual resources to raise people’s awareness on the significance of preserving the environment for future generations. This study drew upon analytical tools from SFL, social semiotics, and reading images (Bezemer & Kress, 2008; Kress, 2011; Kress & Van Leeuwen 1996; Martinec & Salway, 2005). This form of contemplation can be considered to be a part of an essential educational process to build a good character. This study shows that the sample posters are significant to represent and transfer environmental messages through these multimodal resources.

Impact of Social Media on Environmental Awareness

Social media has become a part and parcel of present day lifestyle. With the advancement in industrialization, science, technology, and globalization various environmental issues are taking place locally and globally. This social media can be utilized as a tool to promote awareness regarding various current environmental issues in a much faster way and to a large mass within a very short span of time. The importance of environmental education in determining the value of social media can be done through interaction between environmental educators and students or common people. People are using social media nowadays to support environmental campaigns and to connect people locally and globally on minor to major environmental issues. It also provides ordinary people with the ability to track the quality of the air, water, climate around them, and then share this data with others. The present chapter will focus some of the advantages of social media over creating environmental awareness and developing connectivity among the people with some examples and case studies.

Studying Corporate Social Responsibility Activities in the Agri-Food Sector

Despite the increasing interest in the adoption of corporate social responsibility by businesses in a variety of industries, hardly any attention has been paid to the agri-food sector and especially, to the Greek food sector. The agri-food sector has a strong impact on the economy, the environment and the society of each nation. In this light, the purpose of this article is to investigate the largest ninety-eight Greek food companies in dairy, meat, snack, flour & milling and fishing industries about their corporate social responsibility campaigns. A survey has been conducted based on the content analysis of the companies' website. The analysis' results show that companies in the Greek agri-food sector have started to pay attention in CSR strategies with the most portion of their CSR income to environmental campaigns even though the unfolding Greek financial crisis.