Prelims

Half Title Page

Climate Change, Media & Culture

Title Page

Climate Change, Media & Culture: Critical Issues in Global Environmental Communication

Edited by

JULIET PINTO

ROBERT E. GUTSCHE JR

PAOLA PRADO

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2019

Copyright © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited

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No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters’ suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78769-968-7 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-78769-967-0 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-78769-969-4 (Epub)

Dedication

Moses Shumow cared deeply about making a difference with his research and teaching, and his sudden loss is devastating for all who knew him as a colleague, professor and friend. We would like to dedicate this work to the Shumow family.

Contents

List of Tables and Figures

About the Authors

Stephanie Belland is an Undergraduate Student in the Honors Psychology program at MacEwan University, Canada, with a minor in Sociology. Her honors thesis investigates the psychological ramifications of animal rescue work.

Shelley Boulianne, earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2007. She is an Associate Professor at MacEwan University, Canada. She conducts research on public opinion, media use, as well as civic and political engagement, using meta-analysis techniques, experiments, and surveys.

Floribert Patrick C. Endong, Ph.D., is a Research Consultant in the Humanities and Social Sciences. He is author of more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on humanities-related issues. He recently edited Exploring the Role of Social Media in Transnational Advocacy (2018) and Popular Representations of America in Non-American Media (2019), published by IGI Global.

Modestus Fosu, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in Language and Communication at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), Accra. His teaching and research interests include media and communication, language of the media, media and political participation, journalism and media education, and general language use and communication. He is currently the Acting Deputy Rector at GIJ.

Susan Jacobson, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism + Media at Florida International University in Miami. Her research interests cover the expressive qualities of digital multimedia and public communication in health and science. Her research has appeared in New Media & Society, Information, Communication & Society, and Health Communication.

Paulina Kuranchie is a Lecturer and Graduate Programmes Co-ordinator at the Ghana Institute of Journalism in Accra, Ghana. She holds an M.Phil. degree in Communications and Media Studies from the University of Education, Winneba. Her research interests are in corporate social responsibility, sustainability and the green economy, political public relations, and corporate communications.

Jessica G. Myrick, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at the Pennsylvania State University, USA. Her research examines the interplay of affect and cognition in shaping audience responses to messages about the environment, health, science, or risk.

Timothy Quashigah is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Journalism, Ghana Institute of Journalism in Accra, Ghana. Tim holds an M.Phil. degree in Global Leadership, Ghana, and an MA (Journalism) degree, UK. He is an advanced PhD candidate at the University of Ghana.

Stacy Rebich-Hespanha, Ph.D., is Founder of Flourish Strategy and Analytics, a research and strategy consulting firm in Santa Barbara, California, USA. She also teaches Environmental Data Visualization at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB’s) Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management.

Ronald E. Rice, Ph.D., is the Arthur N. Rupe Chair in the Social Effects of Mass Communication in the Department of Communication at University of California Santa Barbara, USA. His research interests include environmental communication, public communication campaigns, organizational theory, social uses and effects of new media and information systems, and social networks.

Moses Shumow, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Emerson College, USA. His work examines the intersections between media, geography, and race, focusing on inequality and development in marginalized space. Dr Shumow’s work has been published in Journalism, Journalism Studies, Media, Culture, & Society and Journal of Urban Affairs, among others.

Hollie Smith, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Oregon, USA, and conducts research at the Media Center for Science and Technology. Her collaborative research focuses on intersections of communication, science, and decision-making, as they relate to society’s most pressing scientific and environmental problems.

Allan Wilson is an Adjunct Lecturer at Florida International University. He teaches a wide variety of courses in the fields of media, journalism, and communication.

Huiru (Jennifer) Zhu received her B.A. in Communication from University of California Santa Barbara, USA. She is an avid reader.

About the Editors

Juliet Pinto, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor with the Pennsylvania State University’s College of Communications. Her research interests include news production of environmental issues. She is an award-winning documentary producer, and her research has appeared in Science Communication, Communication Law and Policy, Journalism, Media History, and Communication, Culture & Critique.

Robert E. Gutsche, Jr, Ph.D., is Senior Lecturer in Critical Digital Media Practice at Lancaster University, UK. The author and editor of several books, his research focuses on issues of journalism, power, geography, and storytelling. He is interested in how journalists characterize climate change from a position of critical scholarship.

Paola Prado, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Journalism and Digital Media at Roger Williams University. Her research on environmental risk news reporting and information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development and social change in Latin America appeared in various journals and in Environmental News in South America: Conflict, Crisis and Contestation.

Foreword

As researcher of science and environmental communication, I often think about the current state of our climate crisis, how we got here, and where we go from here. We are at a moment of global crisis like never before, and the failure of political and government response at places across the globe is alarming. As international leaders ignore the evidence of climate change, or even worse, deny its existence entirely, we no longer have the privilege to disengage or wait it out. As we peer into our uncertain collective future, we need to pay special attention to the mechanisms and social institutions that led us here in the first place. The time is now to push for responsibility and immediate large-scale action commensurate with the risks we face.

What I have learned in my work on climate change is that it is impossible to uncouple humans from our environmental crises. All environmental issues are inherently social and political. At the very core, we’re dealing with political and economic systems, designed by and for the advancement of the human race, where certain groups reap the systemic rewards of being in positions of power. As complex as our natural world is, our social nature is even more so. When we think we understand how to create social change, persuasion, or collective action, something happens and our understanding shifts. As I progressed throughout my doctoral training in the United States, my adviser would tell me, “You can never step in the same river twice,” meaning no two situations are ever the same; History and forward motion are always in play, and so I have found it to be true. How do we move forward to collectively address the state we are in when the context is never quite the same? How do you find effectiveness for change when the risk, political actors, and social history are always unique? The chapters in this book address some of the key issues – ones of context, place, and power – that so critically influence the decisions we can and do make in our communities. The time is now to elevate our perspective to one of global awareness; if we seek to truly make an impact with our scholarship or practice, that is the only way we can move forward to work more effectively across our differences to find solutions.

There is deep value in taking a critical approach to this work. The impacts of global temperature rise are already visible: Increased spread of infectious disease because of drier winters and warmer summer temperatures, an increase in the frequency and severity of natural disasters, massive threats of species extinction, and increased damage to food crops leading to food insecurity, to name just a few. What is often invisible, however, are the political, economic, and social structures that have systemically constrained some groups’ ability to prepare and respond. Critical theory becomes helpful in exposing and upending those structures.

At the heart of the issues discussed in this book is social and political inequality. The effects of climate change are not equally dispersed across the global community. Citizens of developing countries or economically disadvantaged communities are disproportionately affected for a number of reasons. First and foremost is a lack of resources available to prepare and adequately respond to environmental crises when they happen. This is something we have seen in cases over and over again – Hurricanes in the United States; major flooding in Bangladesh; severe droughts in Afghanistan – and it often results in the even further destabilization of an already vulnerable population. At the scale that we are seeing these impacts, there needs to be both individual and political intervention.

As community members and individuals, we can take action. The first step is becoming the stewards of our own knowledge, seeking out credible and scientific information and using it to inform our own decisions. The next step is to start conversations within our own communities; to not shy away from engagement and the role of a player in these issues. Bring the issues into your home, church, work, and community discussion. The more we feel comfortable discussing the risks associated with these environmental crises, the more we can build capacity to respond. The last, and most critical, stage for action is holding our political leaders accountable. Policy change is possible and necessary, but it won’t be an easy transition to cultivate. For policymakers to take the urgent action that is necessary, they need to hear from overwhelming numbers of citizens who will not stop making the case that political intervention on climate change is both a social and ethical duty.

It is my hope that the chapters in this book offer ideas and research that empower you to think about what stories we’re telling in climate change communication, and more importantly, what stories we’re not telling. As members of society where we all share the Earth’s finite resources, we have a responsibility to one another to take a global perspective and a collaborative approach. This book is an important step in that direction and it’s up to us to move the conversations started here into action.

Hollie Smith, Ph.D.

University of Oregon

Acknowledgments

No book could be completed without the immense support of those around us, the contributors, their support systems, and the influence of our students. While we each have our individuals to thank, collectively we would like to thank our colleagues at Pennsylvania State University’s Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, Lancaster University’s Department of Sociology, and Roger Williams University. We also would like to recognize our families, friends, and all who care about climate change and communication. Special thanks, also, to our reviewers and staff at Emerald Publishing for approaching us for this volume and for seeing it through.