Abstract
The aim of this paper is to extend current research on climate change communication by zoning in on communication about societal responses to climate change or Low Carbon Transition (LCT). Specifically, it contributes to thinking about communication strategies to foster public discussion about reducing carbon emissions. To do so, the research examines how news media represent LCT and thus act as resources for public talk about tackling climate change. This paper argues news media representations of LCT offer essential insights about the range of processes for LCT that are being made publically available and are therefore highly significant in terms of building carbon literacy and broadening public talk about carbon reduction activity. In particular, it highlights why communications strategies for building climate ‘smart’ publics in response to COP21 must consider the implications of how news media normalise LCT as a social issue. Drawing on an Irish case study, this research presents a novel method for analysing press representations of LCT and shows that press treatment constrains carbon literacy by deploying a limited range of topics. The paper concludes by offering insights for communication strategies aimed at building carbon literacy: it highlights that fostering public discussion about LCT can broaden public engagement with climate change.
Keywords
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
For example, Turner (2013) claims ‘it is the ability to understand the carbon implications at every scale in the landscape of our lives and lifestyles’ thus involving energy consumption; transport; homes and offices.
- 2.
This list contains the most commonly used words in online discussion about carbon management.
References
Anderson A (2009) Media, politics and climate change: towards a new research agenda. Sociol Compass 3(2):166–182
Blue G (2015) Framing climate change for public deliberation: what role for interpretive social sciences and humanities? J Environ Policy Plann 18(1):67–84
Braun V, Clarke V (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qual Res Psychol 3(2):77–101
Bulkeley BH, Broto VC, Hodson M, Marvin S (2011) Cities and the low carbon transition. Eur Financ Rev, (Aug–Sept), 24–27
Carvalho A, Burgess J (2005) Cultural circuits of climate change in U.K. broadsheet newspapers, 1985–2003. Risk Anal Official Publ Soc Risk Anal, 25(6):1457–1469
Cherry C, Hopfe C, MacGillivray B, Pidgeon N (2013) Media discourses of low carbon housing: the marginalisation of social and behavioural dimensions within the British broadsheet press. Public Understanding Sci 24(3):302–310
Corbett J, Durfee J (2004) Testing public (un)certainty of science: media representation of global warming. Sci Commun 26(2):129–151
Corner A, Markowitz E, Pidgeon N (2014) Public engagement with climate change: the role of human values. Wiley Interdisc Rev Clim Change 5(3):411–422
Entman RM (1993) Framing—toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. J Commun 43(4):51–58
Etzioni A (2006) Are public intellectuals an endangered species? In: Etzioni A, Bowditch A (eds) Public intellectuals: an endangered species? Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Geels FW, Kemp R (2007) Dynamics in socio-technical systems: typology of change processes and contrasting case studies. Technol Soc 29(4):441–455
Hibberd M, Nguyen A (2013) Introduction. Int J Media Cult Polit 9(1):3–5
Hope M (2014) The pitfalls of analysing media coverage of climate change, in three graphs - carbon brief [online]. Carbon brief. Available from: https://www.carbonbrief.org/the-pitfalls-of-analysing-media-coverage-of-climate-change-in-three-graphs. Accessed 3 Aug 2016
Hoppner C, Whitmarsh L (2010) Public Engagement in climate action: policy and public expectations. In: Whitmarsh L, O’Neill S, Lorenzoni I (eds) Engaging the public with climate change: behaviour change and communication. Earthscan, London, pp 47–65
Horsbøl A (2013) Energy transition in and by the local media. Nordicom Rev 34(2):19–34
Hulme M (2013) Exploring climate change through science and in society. Routledege, Oxon
Hulme M (2015) No living with climate change, with or without the Paris agreement [online]. Professor Mike Hulme’s Site. Available from: http://www.mikehulme.org/2015/12/living-with-climate-change-with-or-without-the-paris-agreement/. Accessed 14 Dec 2015
Koteyko N, Thelwall M, Nerlich B (2010) From carbon markets to carbon morality: creative compounds as framing devices in online discourses on climate change mitigation. Sci Commun 32(1):25–54
Maeseele P (2010) Science journalism and social debate on modernization risks. J Sci Commun 9(4):5–10
Maeseele P (2015) Beyond the post-political zeitgeist. In: Hansen A, Cox R (eds) The Routledge handbook of environment and communication. Routledge, Oxon, pp 389–401
McNally B (2015) Media and carbon literacy: shaping opportunities for cognitive engagement with low carbon transition in Irish media, 2000–2013. Razon y Palabra, September (91), unpaginated
Miller CA, Iles A, Jones CF (2013) The social dimensions of energy transitions. Sci Cult 22(2):135–148
Mullally G (2017) Fear and loading in the anthropocene: narratives of apocalypse and salvation in the Irish media. In: Byrne E, Mullally G, Sage C (eds) Transdisciplinary perspectives on transitions to sustainability. Routledge, Oxon, pp 83–105
Nelkin D (1995) Selling science: how the press covers science and technology. W.H. Freeman, New York
Nerlich B (2012) ‘Low carbon’ metals, markets and metaphors: the creation of economic expectations about climate change mitigation. Clim Change 110(1–2):31–51
Nisbet M (2013) Forward. Exploring climate change through science and in society. Routledege, Oxon
O’Brien K, Selboe E (2015) The adaptive challenge of climate change. Cambridge University Press, New York, London
O’Neill SJ (2013) Image matters: climate change imagery in US, UK and Australian newspapers. Geoforum 49:10–19
Roberts D, Upham T, McLachlan P, Mander C, Gough S, Boucher C, Ghanem P (2013) Low carbon energy controversies. Routledge, Oxon
Rowson J, Corner A (2015) The seven dimensions of climate change: introducing a new way to think, talk and act. RSA/COIN, London
Sharp A, Wheeler M (2013) Reducing householders’ grocery carbon emissions: carbon literacy and carbon label preferences. Australas Mark J (AMJ) 21(4):240–249
Turner A (2013) The case for carbon literacy [online]. Carbon visuals blog. Available from: http://www.carbonvisuals.com/blog/the-case-for-carbon-literacy. Accessed 5 Aug 2015
Urry J (2011) Climate change and society. Polity Press, Cambridge; Malden, MA
Uusi-Rauva C, Tienari J (2010) On the relative nature of adequate measures: media representations of the EU energy and climate package. Glob Environ Change 20(3):492–501
Whitmarsh L, Seyfang G, O’Neill S (2011) Public engagement with carbon and climate change: To what extent is the public ‘carbon capable’? Glob Environ Change 21(1):56–65
Whitmarsh L, O’Neill S, Lorenzoni I (2013) Public engagement with climate change: what do we know and where do we go from here? Int J Media Cult Polit 9(1):7–25
Acknowledgement
This research was supported by a Conference Travel Scheme award from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science, Dublin City University.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
McNally, B. (2018). Building Carbon Literacy: How the Irish Press Normalise Public Discussion About Climate Mitigation Actions. In: Leal Filho, W., Manolas, E., Azul, A., Azeiteiro, U., McGhie, H. (eds) Handbook of Climate Change Communication: Vol. 3. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70479-1_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70479-1_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-70478-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-70479-1
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)