Running head ENVIRONMENT COMMUNICATION TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE .docx

Running head: ENVIRONMENT COMMUNICATION TO
ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE 1
ENVIRONMENT COMMUNICATION TO ADDRESS
CLIMATE CHANGE 6
Environment Communication to Address Climate Change
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation
My Energy use for the entire day
When I wake up in the morning, the following are ways through
which I use energy until such a time when I retire to bed:
· Lighting the room that consumes about 8% of the energy.
· Cooking using an electric oven that consumes 14% of the
energy and other time use gas cookers.
· The refrigerator that remains on throughout consumes about
18% of the energy.
· Cooling and heating of the water using dispensers and also
microwave that consumes about 10% of the energy.
· Dishwashing that uses about 6% of the energy.

· Washing and drying of the clothes that uses 18% of energy.
· Fueling of the car using petrol to go out for the shopping and
other activities of interest to me that uses 20% of energy.
· Use of the laptop to do research and other assignments that
uses 2% of energy.
· TV and DVDs use 4% of the energy.
Considering different ways that I do use energy, some of them
pose a potential adverse effect on the climate change such as
carbon emission from petrol fuels. Additionally, sources of the
energy that is used are not renewable and considering some of
the machines that I use such as washers and dryers, refrigerators
and electric cookers, it means that I am one of the people that
contribute climate change and therefore, there is need to
innovatively consider strategies that I need to in place to reduce
energy consumption which would go along way in minimizing
negative that I cause to the environment. To deeply address
concerns of the climate change in the wider context, I will
thoroughly reflect on the week 2, 3, 6, 9, 10 and 11 which
address various issues that relate to environmental
communication.
Reflection on Energy on use and its integration to climate
change and also environmental communication.
In the earlier section, I have identified various through which is
use energy when I wake up unto when I retire to sleep. It is
equivocal that some of the ways through which I used energy
have been introduced after the industrial revolution and even
more machines are being introduced which uses fossils fuels
which are continually causing climate changes. For example,
washing machines and dry cleaners and vehicles are some of the
machines which contribute emit carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases that have an adverse effect on the
environment. From my personal experiences and upon
reflection of the material that I have covered for the past weeks,
there are 8 core concepts and ideas that require attention in the
resolve to address climate change and revamp environmental
communication. These ideas and concepts are as discussed

below:
a) Risk factors of climate change
It is important to become aware of the risk factors of climate
change. I cannot wait to be a victim of the flooding, earthquakes
and wildfires to advocate for preservation and conservation of
the environment. It was during last year when I witnessed a
bush fire that consumed million of the hectares killing billion of
the animals and claiming lives of more than 30 people. I may
not take action and assume that I will not be affected but I am
concerned because it cannot wait and see. This is because I
might find myself consumed and affected when disaster.
Precipitation has increased, global warming has been on the
rise, surface temperature and also environment is becoming
hostile to an extent that 2.5 billion of the pola bear have been
reported to have been starving because of the climate change.
Therefore, I find it important to be aware of the risk factor of
the climate change because it creates synergy and motivation to
stand up and communicate with a strong defense of the need for
taking environmental protection seriously.
b) Voices that address climate change.
It indisputable that climate change negatively affects the
healthy environment but it is growing concern that very few
people are willing to stand up including myself and create
awareness among the public. Pezzullo and Cox have brought to
attention six types of the people that are monumental in
environmental communication. These include journalists,
political class, scientist, NGOs, businesses and citizens.
(Pezzullo and Cox, PP. 22-26). These are people that should
stand up and brace themselves to address issues that are a threat
to the environment. In particular, they should forget their own
issues and address matters and issues that pertain to the
common good. It is until that topic and agenda of the public
deliberation are centered on the common good such protection if
space and atmosphere that influences to align themselves on the
subject matter of the discussion which finally inform them
developing the collective goal that is focused on the

preservation of the environment.
Personally, I have a fridge, vehicle, dryers and other machines
that use energy and contribute pollution of the environment. In
order to align and buy to the vision of the common good, use of
public transport could help to lower carbon emissions where one
public vehicle can carry 30 people instead of having 30 private
vehicles on the road.
However, out of the six voices, two voices that can significantly
influence environmental communication are a journalist and
political class but they are doing very little in an effort of
minimizing climate change. By exclusively focusing on the
journalism, a study that was carried in 2009 as shown in the
slide 43 of the week 2, 20% of the media focused on the
economy while least percentage that is 1% focused on global
warming. I am extremely worried why would media basically
neglect global warming and climate change in their coverage yet
economy can significantly be depressed by climate change. In
my view, the journalist should scale up their coverage in the
climate change and explore all issues that are likely to impact
the environment and create necessary links on how climate
change can affect social, economic and political dimension.
The political class is another important voice that should rise to
the occasion in the protection and conservation of the
environment. This can take the form of the legislation,
allocation of adequate resources to enhance conservation of the
environment and also conducting civic education. However, it is
disappointing that politician such as Justin Trudeau instead of
developing strategies that promote conservation of the
environment use private jet in the campaign.
c) Forces of capitalism
Majority of the countries have pursued capitalism economy.
Personally, I am a victim of the capitalist where I struggle to
create wealth. In the capitalist, methods that pursued to become
rich does not matter and most of them lead to destruction and
pollution of the environment. In other words, destruction and
creation take place simultaneously in capitalism. Evolution of

capitalism can be traced from the onset introduction of the
industrial revolution. Steam engines, industries, urbanization
and development of the transport networks. Trees were cleared
to create room for setting up the industries, factories and
industries released and continue to release air pollution and also
discharge effluents into water bodies that affect both human
beings that depend on such water sources consumption and also
affects aquatic life.
I have noted that capitalism is one of the forces that contribute
to the emission of greenhouse gases. Personally, I worked in
one of the factories for textile production. The company failed
to take required regulatory measures to reduce the emission of
the greenhouses because it considered such initiatives would
result in a reduction of profit generated hence affecting wealth
creation. I have a feeling that majority of the people are not
aware of the effect of the capitalism economy. Little people are
aware that in pursuit of the creation of wealth, it is paramount
to take necessary measures and ensure that environmental
protection and conservation is given paramount advantage.
In the quest of the creation of the wealth in the capitalism
structure, it is important to recognize that capacity of the
survival is determined by the limits of nature. It does not make
sense to use machines that lead to emission of the greenhouses
gases which eventually leads to global warming. Global
warming will eventually lead to flooding, hurricane and drought
which would cause the business to close when incurs losses that
it cannot recover when stricken by the disasters. Therefore, it is
important to invest in sustainable technology and also
renewable sources of energy and in general, embrace green
capitalism.
d) Companies and employees fight the impact of climate change
In the individual capacity, it is necessary to take personal
initiatives in the fight of the impact of climate change. One of
the initiatives that I took in the last years was to mobilize my
friends and participating in the tree planting exercise. In
Canada, forest cover has declined due to an increase in the

population as well as an increase in the logging activities.
Bezos created Bezos Earth Fund aimed to fight climate change.
Bezos acknowledges that climate change is one of the greatest
threat to the planet. Commitment by the Bezos came a time that
the employees had planned work out and mounted pressure
citing that the company failed to take adequate measures in the
corporate responsibility address climate crisis. I t is within this
framework that Bezos committed $10 billion to the Earth Fund
that Bezos stated would be used to address climate changes.
Further, Bezos reiterated his commitment to promoting
activities geared to conserve environment where it announced
by 2030, it would be 100% in using renewable sources of the
energy and also it would have reached carbon neutrality by 2040
(Cohen, 2020).
Former UN chief of the climate calls for civil disobedience to
compel institutions to respond to climate change. According to
writers of the Book Out tomorrow which former UN chief of the
climate is one of them, they argue that climate change should be
number one priority for those seeking higher offices where they
should provide guidelines on how they would solve prevailing
climate problems (McMahon, 2020). Addressing climate change
should no longer be an option but should be a top priority and
people should not fear when practicing in civil disobedience
because this is one of the ways of the compelling the leaders to
take proactive actions to address climate change.
I find it very interesting if all companies can develop strategies,
establish the department and allocate resources which would be
used in addressing climate change. The success of the business
are impacted greatly by climate change. For example, climate
change affects the access of the raw materials, affects
employees because of some of the contract diseases which
ultimately results to lower productivity. In order to be in a
better position, companies should strategize on how to fight the
impact of climate change for the businesses to remain afloat in
the long-run.

e) Reduction of the greenhouses gases and change of the social
media approach
It is necessary for environmental communication to be
mainstreamed and aligned to enhance the reduction of climate
change. I am extremely disappointed by the manner in which
media houses and marketing activities are carried out
underestimating the seriousness of climate change. Climate
change should be given the seriousness it deserves by the media
houses but when I review week 6 lecture, it is noted that fossil
fuels adverts are made 5 times more than climate reporting.
Social marketing sites should give much attention to the climate
reporting to help inform and create awareness among the public
on how their activities are exposing them to serious threats such
as changes in the weather patterns and even risk factors such as
flooding, bush fires and drought & famine.
Currently, it is the record that among the G20 countries, Canada
leads in the emission of the greenhouse gases (Rabson, 2018).
Further, statistics 45% of the emissions come from burning of
the fuel and 28% in transportation. This shows the use of coal
and fossil fuels are very high in Canada and there is a great
need to review energy consumption to reduce greenhouse
emissions. In the slide 25 of the week 6, it clear that natural
gas, crude oil and coal are the main sources of the energy in the
United States and energy consumption, production and exports
were highest in 2018 (Sanchez, 2019). It is also interesting to
note that the IMF has identified that subsidies fir the fossils
fuels are very large in the global space. This means that
countries around the world are advocating for the use of fossil
fuels which is the direct increase of greenhouse gas emissions.
Reflecting on these reports, I feel that it is necessary for
countries to look for alternative sources of the energy such
renewable sources which are cleaners and have little impact on
the climate change.
f) Addressing hypocrisy in climate change
Hypocrisy in climate change is a serious problem that requires

urgent attention. Personally, I have been the victim of hypocrisy
in the climate change because sometimes I decide to shift public
transport instead of using private means after 3 to 4 days, I find
myself back to my car. There notable people in week 6 such
Prince Harry and Justin Trudeau who are using the private jets.
However, they present themselves as individuals that are caring
for the environment by encouraging people to make it a priority
to protect the environment but their actions speak otherwise.
However, I feel there are 3 three mechanisms to address
hypocrisy in climate change. First, it is good to behave and act
as expected which is regarded as an expression of the narrative
of the fidelity. (Marshall, PP. 106). Second, I should stand up to
confront my hypocrisy (Foer, 2019: PP: 65-66). Therefore,
when I notice I am a hypocrite and I do not act as per my
statements, I should make a decision and confront myself in
readiness to compel myself to change. Third, should apply
social altruistic which would require me to have concern for
others and also other living things (Marshall: 222). This creates
a deeper sense of the responsibility where my action should not
cause harm to the environment because I care for the wellbeing
of other people.
Conclusion
Climate change is a serious threat to earth planet and concerted
effort from employees, managers of companies, politicians,
media, citizens and the scholars need to jointly address this
phenomenon. I cannot sit down and wait until when I am hit by
the risk of climate change but I would stand to be a voice of the
climate change, climate hypocrisy in climate change, pursue
green capitalism and advocate for a clean and renewable source
of energy to address the problem of greenhouse gas emissions in
efforts to further environmental communication for change.

References
Cohen, A. (2020). Jeff Bezos Commits $10 Billion To New
Bezos Earth Fund. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2020/02/24/jeff-bezos-
commits-10-billion-to-new-bezos-earth-fund/#5aeb1ec546f9
Foer, J. S. (2019). We are the Weather: Saving the Planet
Begins at Breakfast. Penguin UK.
Marshall, G. (2015). Don't even think about it: Why our brains
are wired to ignore climate change. Bloomsbury Publishing
USA.
McMahon, J. (2020). Former UN Climate Chief Calls for Civil
Disobedience. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2020/02/24/former-
un-climate-chief-calls-for-civil-disobedience/#6c65e9cf3214
Pezzullo & Cox, “Introduction”, “1. Studying/Practicing
Environmental Communication”, “2. Contested Meanings of
Environment” and “3. Social-Symbolic Constructions of
Environment” in Environmental Communication and the Public
Sphere, pp. 1-66. [on reserve at library].
Rabson, M. (2018). Canada produces more greenhouse gas
emissions than any other G20 country, new report says.
Retrieved from
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/11/14/canada-
produces-most-greenhouse-gas-emissions-than-any-other-g20-
country-new-report-says.html

Sanchez, B. (2019). U.S. energy consumption, production, and
exports reach record highs in 2018. Retrieved from
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=39392
Space VR
1
“What a contradiction? That our planet protects us from the
harshness of space but we don’t protect it from the harshness of
us? That while everyone knows we live on Earth, you can
believe it only by leaving?” (Foer, 2019: 115)
The human energy company
4

Teen Vogue
Kids these days.
8
“Are those protestors paid to be there?” – Darren’s mother
9
11

13
14
Findings
1) Failed to cover news about the climate crisis.
2) Failed to localize international news about the climate crisis,
reporting on what those stories mean for Canadians, as well as
holding governments and corporations to account for them.
3) Failed to routinely contextualize news about the climate
crisis. (7.7% of news stories about BC wildfires made a
demonstrable connection to climate change).
The Response
“CBC’s director of journalistic standards Paul Hambleton said
the national public broadcaster wouldn’t be instituting a similar
change, explaining that “the ‘climate crisis’ and ‘climate
emergency’ are words that have a whiff of advocacy to them.
They sort of imply, you know, something more serious, where
climate change and global warming are more neutral terms.”

A quick and non-exhaustive Tyee search revealed that CBC
appears to have no problem referring to “Hamilton’s identity
crisis,” the Granville Island “parking crisis,” the “Rohingya
refugee crisis,” and Canada’s “overdose crisis.”
17
So, welcome to the risk society
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Daisy

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Meth Gators
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Marty Bot
“Everyone is always saying these days that it’s easier to
imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.
Everyone is always saying it, in my view, because it’s
obviously true. The perception, paranoid or otherwise, that
billionaires are preparing for a coming civilisational collapse
seems a literal manifestation of this axiom. Those who are
saved, in the end, will be those who can afford the premium of
salvation. And New Zealand, the furthest place from anywhere,
is in this narrative a kind of new Ararat: a place of shelter from
the coming flood.”
24

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Technocracy – rule by experts and the logic of efficiency
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“Eclipse of the public” – John Dewey
A world in which the average citizen will no longer be able to
comprehend the world around them, and will lack the necessary
expertise to make decisions.”
This will lead to a “technocracy.”
28

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Risk Society
After WW II, consciousness of the structural/systemic risks of
technology and industrial development occupy a bigger space in
the public sphere. Ulrich Beck describes such risks as
generating a risk society.
Anthony Giddens: “… a society increasingly preoccupied with
the future (and also with safety), which generates the notion of
risk.”
Ulrich Beck: “… a systemic way of dealing with hazards and
insecurities induced and introduced by modernisation itself.”
KPMG

33
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqeC8_Yh-Ss
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Reflexive Modernization
Reflexive modernization involves modernity thinking
(reflecting) upon itself.
Concern about the risks of capitalist development have existed
since the industrial revolution. But for much of the 19th and
20th centuries, such sentiments were marginalized, drowned out
by utopian visions of modernity, scientific progress and
technological advancement as unequivocal signs of human
progress.

Two key forces generate/intensify this reflexivity:
1. impact science (e.g. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, 1962)
2. social movements (e.g. environmentalism).
Reflexive modernization stimulates government intervention in
the interests of environmental protection. By the 1970s, this
perspective had become broadly hegemonic.
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Corporate response
Corporate leaders were concerned about the impact of
expanding regulations up their profit margins and their
economic ‘freedom’.
Corporations, wealthy elites and conservative foundations

launched a ‘war of ideas’ to shift the ideological landscape to
the right, and undermine the hegemony of ‘reflexive’
modernization. The centrepiece was a network of think-tanks
that produced research, analysis and opinion that could be used
to lobby politicians and governments, influence media and
shape public opinion. The goal was to promote the virtues of
capitalism and free markets, and attack government regulation
as an assault upon freedom and democracy.
A primary target was the environmental movement, described by
the Heritage Foundation as “the greatest single threat to the
American economy” (Cited in Speth, The Bridge at the Edge of
the World, p. 82).
A key tactic was to attack the credibility of the impact science
upon which the environmental movement was based, including
the representation of such science as a fundamental threat to
people’s core values and beliefs (e.g. personal freedom).
40
Merchants of Doubt
Not a battle over science, but a battle over regulation (aka
ideology).
ExxonMobil and the Climate-Change Counter Movement
Precautionary Principle
Shift the burden of proof from those impacted to the powerful.
Prove it is save rather than the impacted having to prove it is
dangerous.

Laws about safety look different when the people impacted get
to decide what an acceptable amount of risk is.
43
Article Activity
“The Unihabitable Earth”
“Okay Doomer”
“When Science Says That Political Revolution is our Only
Hope”
“Raising My Child in a Doomed World”
“Why Hope is Dangerous When it Comes to Climate Change”
“Glimpses of Ourselves”
Article activity
What is this story about?
How does it make you feel?
How do you think it will make others feel?
One question to ask the class.
Faith and Climate Change

“…religions have found ways to build strong belief in some
extremely uncertain and under substantiated claims through the
power of social proof and communicator trust.” (Marshall,
2014: 216).
“… It [climate change’ requires people to accept that some
thing is true solely because of the authority of the
communicator, it manifests itself in events that are distant in
time and place, and it challenges our normal experience and our
assumptions about the world. Above all, climate change requires
people to endure certain short-term loses in order to avoid
uncertain long-term costs. Religion faces every one of these
obstacles, but to an even greater degree.” (Marshall, 2014: 215).
“I used to think that top global environmental problems were
biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, and climate change. I
thought that with 30 years of good science we could address
these problems, but I was wrong. The top environmental
problems are selfishness, greed, and apathy, and to deal with
these we need a spiritual and cultural transformation. And we
scientists don’t know how to do that.” – James Gustave Speth
5
Climate change as an ‘ontological’ crisis

6
Sacred and Limits
“Finally, it is impossible to see any way out of this crisis
without an acceptance of limits and limitations, and this in turn,
is, I think, intimately related to the idea of the sacred, however
one may wish to conceive of it.” (Ghosh, 2017: 160-161)
“… religious worldviews are not subject to the limitations that
have made climate change such a challenge for our existing
institutions of governance: they transcend nation-states, and
they acknowledge intergenerational, long-term
responsibilities…” (Ghosh, 2017: 161)
Climate change is a “cultural event”
“Insofar as climate change is entangled with humans, from
causes to consequences and from meanings to meliorations, it is
also entangled with all the ways in which religion shapes,
haunts, interprets, inspires, or otherwise attends human ways of
being. Fully understanding climate change therefore requires
understanding its religious aspects, especially the way religion
is involved in human experiences of and human responses to
climate change.” (Jenkins et al, 2018: 86).
Faith statistics in Canada

2011 Census – 76% of Canadians identify as having a religion.
10
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The Comforting Whirlwind: God and the Environmental Crisis –
Bill McKibben
“…the message that comes through that television all the time
every day and it comes through most of the other instruments of
our consumer society is simple. It's that "you're the most
important thing on earth. You're the absolute center of the
universe, you're the heaviest object and everything is going to
orbit around you." If you had to pick one message that was most
effective for building a huge, strong economy that would
probably be it…. But if you wanted to create a message that was
profoundly troubling from a spiritual point of view and one that
made progress on issues of great importance, especially issues
of the environment, particularly difficult ones, you couldn't pick
a better one than "You're the most important thing on earth.
You're the center of the planet." This is an old question, where
we stand in relation to everything else.” (Mckibben, 2001: 2).

17
The Lynn White Jr. thesis in the 80’s…“asserted a negative
correlation between “Judeo-Christian” religiosity and pro-
environmental beliefs and behaviors.” (Jenkins et al, 2018: 87)
“At the heart of debates about religion and climate change is a
question about whether religious commitments are the key
drivers of worldly action, or whether beliefs are themselves
embedded in broader systems of identity that conjoin secular
and religious modalities.” (Jenkins et al, 2018: 87)
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Religion = problem summary
A) Religion is a sort of delusion and therefore not the answer.
Climate Change requires sober assessment of evidence and
faith cannot provide this.
B) Religion, and in particular Christianity, is not helpful
because it provides a moral and philosophical cover for human
domination of the world.

Religion = answer summary
A) Faith offers a set of confessional and constructive beliefs
that give insight into how to think about climate change through
otherwise unconsidered environmental, ethical, and mystical
frames.
B) Faith is a sociological tool, an example of the sorts of ways
that we can build communities of care outside of the dominant
narratives of capitalism and industrialization.
22
Who said it?
“Since the market tends to promote extreme consumerism in an
effort to sell its products, people can easily get caught up in a
whirlwind of needless buying and spending. Compulsive
consumerism is one example of how the techno-economic
paradigm affects individuals [149]. This paradigm leads people
to believe that they are free as long as they have the supposed
freedom to consume. But those really free are the minority who
wield economic and financial power. Amid this confusion,
postmodern humanity has not yet achieved a new self-awareness
capable of offering guidance and direction, and this lack of
identity is a source of anxiety. We have too many means and
only a few insubstantial ends.” (150)
“We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that
we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and
that being good and decent are worth it.” (166)

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“Religion is, in reality, living. Our religion is not what we
profess, or what we say, or what we proclaim; our religions is
what we do, what we desire, what we seek, what we dream
about, what we fantasize, what we think – all of these things –
twetny-four hours a day. One’s religion, then, is ones life, not
merely the ideal life but the life as it is actually lived.” Religion
is not prayer, it is not a church, it is not theistic, it is not
atheistic, is has little to do with what white people call
‘religion.’ It is our every act. If we tromp on a bug, that is our
religion; if we experiment on living animals, that is our
religion; if we dream of being famous, that is our religion; if we
gossip maliciously, that is our religion; if we are rude and
aggressive, that is our religion. All that we do, is our religion.”
(15).
Topic of my own research… inspired by two things: A contrast
really… between this…

26
https://protecttheinlet.ca/faith-leaders-arrested-at-kinder-
morgan-gates/
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11% of stories.
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The Black Snake
The Black Snake(s)
Big in DAPL
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Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston

Well first. A bit of fascination. As climate thinker George
Marshall likes to point out, there’s as many people in this
church
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"Every week Lakewood Church achieves a level of mass
mobilization that climate change activists can only dream.
Consider it this way: In February 2013, sixty environmental
organizations pulled out all the stops to mobilize forty-five
thousand people for the largest-ever climate change rally in
Washington, D.C. That week, just as many people came to this
one church. Moreover, just as many came the next. Six times
more people will watch this service on television and the
Internet than watched An Inconvenient Truth in U.S. cinemas”
(Marshall, 2014: 218).
“If Christianity were promoted like climate change, it would
amount to no more than reading a Gideon's Bible in a motel
chalet and trying to be nice to people" (Marshall, 2014: 223).
Sacred Values
In summary
Those who believe that religion is part of the climate change

problem, (or at least particular expressions of religion).
a) religion is irrational and therefore not a legitimate form
of knowledge.
b) religion enables anti-ecological and human centered
modes of thought that support human superiority and
domination.
Those who believe that religion can be, and is, part of the
climate change solution.
a) religion is a non-linear, relational, way of knowing that
decentres human exceptionalism, challenges power and
presents a more holistic relations to the natural world.
b) religious communities are examples of how to
communicate with, and care for, one another.
One more thing…
“Just because climate change is irreducibly cultural does not, of
course, mean that religious responses to it are intrinsically
helpful.” (Jenkins et al, 2018: 86).
Katharine Hayhoe
38
What is a value?

“A value is typically defined as a ‘guiding principle in the life
of a person’” (Schwartz, 1992). (Corner, et. al., 2011: 1008)
1
Shalom Schwartz’s – “Theory of Basic Human Values”
Values have six principal features:
Values are inextricably linked with emotion and affect.
Values motivate action.
Values provide criteria for judgment.
Values transcend specific actions and situations.
Values constitute an ordered system of priorities.
Our actions are determined by the relative importance of
multiple values.
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Climate Reality Project
3
Common Cause Handbook

4
The further that a value is from another the less likely it is that
they are to be paired.
5
Values affect our attitudes to a wide range of things.
“Support for national and international climate policies was
strongly associated with pro-egalitarian values, while
opposition was associated with anti-egalitarian, pro
individualist and pro-hierarchicist values.” (Leiserowitz,
‘Climate change risk perception and policy preferences’,
Climatic Change 77 (2006): 63)
The Common Cause Handbook: A Guide to Values and Frames,
p. 9
Values affect a wide range of behaviours as well.
“[T]he more strongly individuals subscribe to values beyond
their own immediate interests, that is, self-transcendent, pro-
social, altruistic, or biospheric values, the more likely they are

to engage in pro-environmental behaviour.” (Steg et al.,
‘Encouraging pro- environmental behaviour: An integrative
review and research agenda’, Journal of Environmental
Psychology 29.3 (Sept 2009): 311)
The Common Cause Handbook: A Guide to Values and Frames,
p. 9
9
E = Best Dad Ever
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Everything is Awesome

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(Common Cause for Nature, 34-35)
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Corner et al.
“Social marketing is the systematic application of marketing
concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioural goals
relevant to the social good (Lazer and Kelley, 1973). The term
emerged in the early 1970s (inspired by Wiebe’s suggestion that
social goods like brotherhood might be ‘sold’ like commercial
goods – Wiebe, 1952), and it has since been used to describe a
wide range of programs and projects aimed at pro-social
behaviour change – especially in the health domain (Hastings,
2007).” (Corner, et al, 2011:1006).
It approaches action on climate change as an advertising
problem.
“Based on extensive empirical research in over 60 nations
(Schwartz and Bilsky, 1987; Schwartz et al., 2001), it is now

widely accepted that certain values tend to be opposed to each
other. In particular, individuals who identify strongly with
‘self-enhancing’ values (e.g. materialism, personal ambition)
tend not to identify strongly with ‘self-transcending’ values
(e.g. benevolence, respect for the environment).” (Corner, et al,
2011:1008).
Act now on CO2 campaign
15
Spillover effect and social marketing limits
“This idea – that small behavioural changes will lead to more
far-reaching and environmentally significant changes – is
known as the spillover effect (Thøgersen and Crompton, 2009).
However, evidence for the existence of behavioural spillover is
very limited.” (Corner, et al, 2011: 1009).
Green Hornet on Biofuel
18

Pezzullo and Cox
Egoistic: concerns focusing on the self (health, quality of life,
prosperity, convenience).
Social-altruistic: concerns focusing on other people (children,
family, community, humanity).
Social-altruistic concerns focusing on the well-being of living
things (plants, animals).
(Pezzullo and Cox, 2018: 222).
19
20
Values
Lorenzoni et al.
“This emphasis on voluntary measures reflects the general
reluctance by governments to regulate individual and industry
behaviour in relation to environmental issues, and the work
towards ‘removing red tape’ (The Cabinet Office, 2006;
Hinchliffe, 1996). This reticence stems from fear of electoral

protest,1 close relationship with industry (e.g. Gow, 2006), a
focus on economic growth, and the short-term priorities of
government which are linked to its limited period in office.”
(446)
“A state of engagement is understood here as concurrently
comprising cognitive, affective and behavioural aspects. In
other words, it is not enough for people to know about climate
change in order to be engaged; they also need to care about it,
be motivated and able to take action.” (446).
“Our observations indicated that different barriers often overlap
or work in conjunction to exacerbate the constraints to
engagement. For instance, the perceived unavailability of
efficient and accessible public transport, in addition to the
convenience and habitual use of a car, are cited by people as
reasons for continuing to use this form of transport.” (449).
“Participants, even when willing to take action, often
maintained that their behaviour was constrained by the lack of
enabling infrastructures and mechanisms. For instance, they
pointed to a lack of affordable and reliable public transport in
their locality, higher prices of environmentally-friendly goods,
design of the built environment encouraging car use, lack of
disincentives to pollute (e.g., higher car tax for bigger cars),
and so on. Another form of constraint explicitly identified by
many participants was social norms and expectations requiring
carbon-dependent lifestyles.” (453)
Perceived Barriers – Lorenzoni et al.

Perceived Barriers – Lorenzoni et al.
26
Framing cont’d
Robert Entman: “To frame is to select some aspects of a
perceived reality and make them more salient in a
communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular
problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation
and/or treatment recommendation for the item described.”
(‘Framing: Toward a Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm,
Journal of Communication 43.4 (1993): 52)
Frames – Saffron O’Neill
Saffron O’Neill (2015). “Dominant frames in legacy and social
media coverage of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report.” Nature
and Climate Change.

29
Lost versus gain
“The negative feelings associated with losing something (e.g.
losing $100) generally outweigh the positive feelings associated
with gaining that same thing (e.g. winning $100) (p. 37,
Common Cause)
30
Present versus future
“People tend to perceive immediate threats as more relevant and
of greater urgency than future problems ... [therefore]
communicators should generally try to highlight the impacts of
climate change that are already being experienced in the present
or are likely to occur in the very near future.” (p. 38, Common
Cause)
Local versus Global
“Communicators should frame climate change as a local issue,
both in terms of consequences and possible solutions ....
Because local impacts and solutions are more vivid and thus
easier to think about for most people.” (p. 40, Common Cause)

38
Polling
Polling can produce ‘objective’ knowledge about public
opinion. Polling also produces representations of the public
which have strategic value in a communications campaign.
What does the public think? What do citizens believe (a
majority of)‘the public’ thinks?
What the public thinks is actively contested given its role in
defining the public interest (and who ‘represents’ that interest).
Constructing particular images of the public is an effective
strategy to position oneself as representative/reflective of the
public.
Polls can be a persuasive and effective strategy in constructing
public(s) that fit a particular political position.
Polling on LNG.
- BC public evenly split on LNG development.
- But only 23% support fracking while over 60% are opposed.
How polls are designed – representative samples and well-
defined questions.
Selection bias: who do you talk to
Response bias: where you are forced to chose an answer (ex. A

or B).
Cognitive bias: dealing with a human being
Wording bias: Quebec referendum, Brexit, tankers versus
pipelines.
Coverage bias: online poll versus phone poll
Order bias: which question comes first
Margin of error
42
Things that are not polls
Call-in radio shows
Social media polls
Insta-polls at the end of news articles
Street interviews
Push polling (click yes or no)
44
45

46
47
Effect of representations of public on public opinion – Wood
and Vedlitz
A study about the impact of social norms and behaviour.
“Now suppose I told you that the percentage of Americans
viewing global warming as a serious problem is now around
[40%/60%/80%]. Using a scale from 0 to 10 ... how concerned
would you be about global warming?”
The use of a higher percentage generated significantly higher
concern, whereas the use of a lower percentage generated lower
concern.
The Wood and Vedlitz research “shows unequivocally that
individuals can be strongly affected in their issue assessments
by information showing they are out of sync with the prevailing
social interpretation.” (563)
- Wood and Vedlitz, “Issue Definition, Information Processing
and the Politics of Global Warming, American Journal of
Political Science 51.3 (July 2007).

Perceptions Matter
Surveyed the UK public about:
Their own values.
2. Their perception of other people’s values.
3. Their perception of the values of dominant social
institutions.
74 % of people identify as having compassionate values
What about the values of ‘others’?
52
Why is this important?
“... the more strongly a person perceives a typical fellow citizen
to hold compassionate values to be important, the more positive
that person’s attitude towards various forms of civic
engagement, and the more likely that person is to vote.”
(Perceptions, p. 22)

53
54
Six America’s
Alarmed 31%: “are fully convinced of the reality and
seriousness of climate change and are already taking individual,
consumer, and political action to address it.”
Concerned 26%: ”are also convinced that global warming is
happening and a serious problem, but have not yet engaged the
issue personally.”
Cautious 16%: …
Disengaged 7%: …
Doubtful 10%: …
Dismissive 10%: “… are very sure it is not happening and are
actively involved as opponents of a national effort to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.”
“The Cautious, the Disengaged, and the Doubtful – represent
different stages of understanding and acceptance of the
problem, and none are actively involved.”
55

58
What info these groups need based on their beliefs?
Alarmed: Actions
Concerned: Actions
Cautious: Evidence, Causes, Actions
Disengaged: Evidence, Consequences
Doubtful: Causes, Evidence
Dismissive: Evidence, Causes
Today, 57% of the United States fits into those first two
categories. That is a majority of people in the United Sates.
59
How does social change happen?
Public sphere view: convince the dismissive. (i.e. may the best
idea win).
Democratic majority view: convince the cautious (already here).
Mobilize/civil rights view: focus on the alarmed and concerned
and mobilize them.

61
A recent and dramatic increase in the alarmed from 2013 to
2018, and a significant decrease in the dismissive and the
doubtful.
63
American newspaper coverage
64
Canadian newspaper coverage

1
2
Pezzullo and Cox – three types of PR
Product advertising
Image enhancement
Damage control
Fossil fuel ads versus climate change stories – 5:1 ratio

7
Production advertising – Patagonia
Image enhancement – Walmart
9
New Coal
10
A Different Oilsands
11
Power Past Impossible
12

Image repair– Enbridge
13
The real Douglas Channel (right)
14
Enbridge: Life Takes Energy campaign
15
https://huddle.today/new-enbridge-nb-ad-gets-right-feels/
16
Petroculture and Energy Life Worlds cont’d

18
20
Class average 3.16
I can change: Garbage and waste. Less flying. Food. Transit.
Lights.
I can’t change: Housing. Driving. Food.
Why?: Lack of time. Lack of resources. Job Requirements.
No one mentioned politics
23

29
31
Teck Frontier Mine
Need a better Regulatory system
32
BREAK
Hypocrisy
Two political genres of hypocrisy:
A) “Individual lifestyle outrage” and “institutional cynicism.”
Conservative.
B) “Institutional call-to-action” and “reflexive.” Progressive.
Majority of invocations of hypocrisy were to support action on
climate change.
Form A found most often in columns.
Form B found most often in News.

34
Zoe Williams – The Guardian
“The best way to never be a hypocrite, and to always stay
consistent, is to deny climate change, and have no agenda on
anything beyond self-interest … Indeed, the more ardently you
pursue your own interests, the more persuasively you live your
own values. If, on the other hand, you have ambitions for large-
scale change and believe things could be significantly better for
vast numbers of people, you will always fail to fully embody

your own hopes” (Williams, 2014).
“Dear journalists who have called us hypocrites, you’re right.
We live high carbon lives and the industries that we are part of
have huge carbon footprints. Like you – and everyone else – we
are stuck in this fossil fuel economy and without systemic
change, our lifestyles will keep on causing climate and
ecological harm” (Extinction Rebellion, 2019).
Foer
“…. It would be far easier for me not to mention that in difficult
periods over the past couple of years – while going through
some painful personal passages, while travelling the country to
promote a novel when I was least suited for self-promotion – I
ate meat a number of times. Usually burgers. Often at airports.
Which is to say, meat from precisely the kinds of farms I argued
most strongly against.… While I was promoting Eating
Animals, people frequently asked me why I wasn’t vegan. The
animal welfare and environmental arguments against dairy and
eggs are the same as those against meat, and often stronger.
Sometimes I would hide behind the challenges of cooking for
two finicky children. Sometimes I would bend the truth and
describe myself as ‘effectively vegan.’ In fact, I had no answer,
other than the one that felt too shameful too voice: my desire to
eat cheese and eggs was stronger than my commitment to
preventing cruelty to animals and the destruction of the
environment. I found some relief from that tension by telling
other people to do what I couldn’t do myself. Confronting my
own hypocrisy has reminded me how difficult it is to live –
even try to live – with open eyes. Knowing that it will be tough
helps make efforts possible, Efforts, not effort” (Foer, 2019: 65-

66).
Leonardo DiCaprio
George Marshall
Confirmation Bias: we’re more likely to accept information that
conforms to our existing beliefs.
Availability bias: we’re more likely to accept information from
people that we trust, or from direct experiences, as opposed to
that from outsiders or non-direct experiences.
44
George Marshall and Communicator Trust
“…the reason that people do not accept climate change is
nothing to do with information – it is the cultural coding that it
contains.” (Marshall, 2014: 23)
“… science as become polluted with social meaning.”
(Marshall, 2014: 27)
“… our own actions will always be monitored as a measure of
our trustworthiness.” (Marshall, 2014: 202)
45

Leonardo DiCaprio
Roland Barthes – Mythologies
47
Meet Daniel Bryan WWE Superstar
48
PETA
49
The World of WWE
50

The anti-consumerist climate change-believing vegetarian
activist heal
52
53
In-Class assignment
Is Daniel Bryan a net negative sign for climate change, or a net
positive sign?
Why?
55
BREAK
Nature and the news

58
59
Newsworthy
News coverage is “event focussed and event driven.”
Newsworthiness is defined by:
prominence
timeliness
proximity
impact
magnitude
conflict
oddity
emotional impact
60

Journalism in Crisis
61
Canada’s Media Ecology
62
National Post – Post Media
Global and Mail

Toronto Star
Vice
National Observer and Tyee
Macleans
CBC
The Georgia Straight
Postmedia and fossil fuel corporations

73
74
Postmedia papers
Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Sun
Toronto Sun
Vancouver Sun
The Province
Calgary Herald
Edmonton Journal
Calgary Sun
Edmonton Sun
National Post
Montreal Gazette
Windsor Star
The London Free Press
Winnipeg Sun
Regina Leader-Post
75
Gatekeeping
Defining what is legitimate.

Overton Window
77
Objectivity and False Balancing
79
Agenda setting
Media doesn’t tell you what to think, but what to think about.
81
Media Frame

82
Cultivation Analysis/theory
“…. Cultivation is not a claim about immediate or specific
effects on an audience; instead, it is a process of gradual
influence or cumulative effect.” (107)
“Mean World Syndrome.” (George Marshall)
.
83
Media Effects
84
85
Columbia Journalism Review

87
BREAK
Five stages of climate coverage
89
Stage 1 – Discovery/Awareness
- Mid-1980s to 1992. 1988 marks entry of climate change into
media sphere.
- First major US congressional hearings in 1988, testimony by
James Hansen.
- Canada hosts first major international scientific conference on
climate change in 1988. Concluding conference statement:
“humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally
pervasive experiment, whose ultimate consequences are second
only to global nuclear war” (Cited in ‘History of Climate
Change Negotiations’, David Suzuki Foundation).
- Formation of Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change

(IPCC).
- Concludes with 1992 Rio Summit.
Stage 2 – Uncertainty/Conflict
mid-1990s to 2005
In late 1980s, news media accurately portrayed scientific
consensus on anthropogenic global warming.
By early 1990s, campaign to raise doubt successfully exploited
journalistic commitment to achieve objectivity through
‘balancing’ competing sources. Ensured that small group of
climate skeptics received extensive coverage.
Helped transform climate change from a scientific into a
cultural/ideological issue.
Sustained in conservative media and opinion columnists.
- John Cook, ‘Why we need to talk about the scientific
consensus on climate change,’ The Guardian, November 20,
2014.
91

Stage 3: Awareness, concern, hope
An Inconvenient Truth released in 2006. Hurricane Katrina
framed as a vivid, concrete, experiential example of global
warming.
IPCC 4th Assessment Report in 2007.
‘False’ balancing sharply reduced, climate deniers largely
confined to opinion pages and conservative media.
Election of Obama in 2008 mainstreams hope and ‘green
economy’ narrative.
Shift from climate science to climate politics.
Enormous expectations leading up to Copenhagen in December
2009.
94

Stage 4: 2010-2015
‘Hopenhagen and the “failure” of climate politics.
Media coverage of the Copenhagen summit prioritized climate
politics (rather than science or lifestyle change).
How was climate politics framed? As a complete failure.
- Existing institutions unwilling/unable to make progress.
- Criticism of federal government most consistent theme. -
Little attention to policy solutions/alternatives as practiced by
other governments around the world.
Key message? Cultivation of cynicism about (climate) politics.
Governments are unwilling and unable to address climate
change and (therefore) climate politics is a hopeless exercise.
Production of cynicism and a turning away from a problem that
appears irresolvable.
95
Stage 5: Optimism/Pessimism 2015-now

96
Five stages
97
“Most people are eagerly groping for some medium, some way
in which they can bridge the gap between their morals and their
practices.” –Saul Alinksy, Rules for Radicals
1
2

3
6
Dominant Discourses
Stories about the world and how it works.
George Marshall: cause, effect, perpetrator, motive.
Economic growth/capitalism
It positions economic growth as the principal goal of society
(and economic self-interest as the core goal of individuals,
governments and corporations).
Economic growth is equated with human progress, prosperity
and well-being.
Metrics such as GDP, stock market indices and consumer
confidence are positioned as signs of social well-being.
Criticism of economic growth is unthinkable/nonsensical within
this discourse.

Limits to growth
Nature is a finite system that has limits: limited natural
resources to exploit, and eco-systems have a finite tolerance for
absorbing waste and pollution.
Our capacity to survive depends on living within limits imposed
by nature.
Limits to Growth was originally published in 1972. It was
exceptionally successful, and remains one of the best- selling
environmental titles ever published. However it had limited
impact on government policy.
10
Ecological Modernization
A comprehensive transformation of dominant economic and
political institutions is required, but it can be achieved within
existing structures of capitalist political economy and liberal
democracy.
Sustainability depends upon choosing appropriate technologies

and models of economic growth.
A ‘green’ economy will replace old (fossil-fuel based) ‘brown’
capitalism with new (renewable energy-based) ‘green’
capitalism.
Green radicalism
Green radicalism advances a variety of critical perspectives
asserting that a radical transformation in contemporary society
is required to achieve genuine sustainability. They assert a
fundamental incompatibility between capitalism (consumerism,
economic growth, socio-economic inequality), technological
rationality, patriarchy, institutionalized racism, colonialism on
the one hand, and ecological (and social) well-being on the
other hand.
Green consciousness: an anthropomorphic conception of humans
as separate from and superior to nature, capable of controlling it
to serve our needs, must be replaced by an ecocentric/biospheric
conception of human beings and nature as deeply interconnected
and interdependent.
Green politics/economics: dominant institutions and structures
of power must be transformed. In particular, the principal driver
of ecological crisis is a capitalist system that relentlessly
subordinates all human activity and natural eco-systems to the
maximization of profit.

15
Who/what should ‘solve’ the problem
All discourses offer up a set of actors to address crisis.
17
19
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/wet-suwet-en-coastal-
gaslink-pipeline-1.5448363
20

21
https://nowtoronto.com/news/trans-canada-pipeline-first-
nations-bc/
22
CBC disables comments on indigenous stories

26
It’s about land
27
Oka
.
28
Gustafsen Lake…
29
30
Elsipogtog

31
Elsipogtog
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/4w7ymm/did-the-rcmp-just-
ambush-a-peaceful-native-anti-fracking-protest
32
Wet’suwet’en Territory
33
Burnaby Mountain
Grand Chief Stewart Philip
34
Autumn Peltier at the UN

36
Delgamuukw v. British Columbia (1997)
Established Duty to Consult as a principle in all Crown land
uses.
37
2014 – Tsilhqot’in Decision – BC Supreme Court recognizes
traditional territory
38
Taiaiake Alfred
“Decolonization, to make the point again, is a process of
discovering the truth in a world created out of lies.” (Wasase)
Leanne Simpson
“A resurgence of Indigenous political cultures, governances and
nation-building requires generations of Indigenous peoples to
grow up intimately and strongly connected to our homelands,
immersed in our languages and spiritualities, and embodying
our traditions of agency, leadership, decision-making and
diplomacy. This requires a radical break from state education

systems – systems that are primarily designed to produce
communities of individuals willing to uphold settler
colonialism.” (Land as Pedagogy).
Glen Coulthard
“For Indigenous nations to live, capitalism must die. And for
capitalism to die, we must actively participate in the
construction of Indigenous alternatives to it.” (For Our Nations
to Live Capitalism Must Die)
Jack Forbes
“Wetiko is a Cree term (windego in Ojibway, wintiko in
Powhatan) which refers to a cannibal or, more specifically, to
an evil person or spirit who terrorizes other creatures by means
of terrible evil acts, including cannibalism. Wetikowatisewin,
an abstract noun, refers to ‘diabolical wickedness or
cannibalism.’” I have come to the conclusion that imperialism
and exploitation are forms of cannibalism and, in fact, are
precisely those forms of cannibalism which are most diabolical
or evil.” (Columbus and Other Cannibals).
42
Water Protectors

Crisis Discipline
Do you believe human beings will address/solve climate
change?
Yes – 0%
No – 53%
Maybe – 47%
8
Post politics
Politics as the problem, not the solution.
TINA – There is no alternative
All we have now is bureaucratic and technical problems
9
“What they should have sent was poets because I don’t think we
captured in its entirety the grandeur of what we had seen.”
– Frank Borman, Apollo astronaut

Our Planet – Netflix
13
Postmodernity and the image
Postmodernity and the “image”
15
16
First photograph – 1826

17
Stuart Ewen – All Consuming Images
Oliver Wendell Holmes: “We have got the fruit of creation now,
and need not trouble ourselves with the core. Every conceivable
object of Nature and Art will soon scale off its surface for us.
Men will hunt all curious, beautiful, grand objects, as they hunt
cattle in South America, for their skins and leave the carcasses
as of little worth.” (p.25).
“Democratic choice, like grocery shopping, has become a
question of which product is most attractively packaged, which
product is most imaginatively merchandised.” (Ewen, 22).
Susan Sontag – On Photography
“The production of images also furnishes a ruling ideology.
Social change is replaced by a change in images.” Sontag, 1977:
178).
“The freedom to consume a plurality of images and goods is
equated with freedom itself. The narrowing of free political
choice to free economic consumption requires the unlimited
production and consumption of images.” (Sontag, 1977: 179).

Coca Cola Cares
23
Encoding/Decoding – Stuart Hall
Dominant reading
Oppositional reading
Negotiated reading
“This is what climate change looks like”
26

28
Coke bear. Greenpeace bear.
29
“The earth as it really is” –Jim Lovell.
32
Lunar Orbiter 1 - 1966
BREAK

In-class assignment
Describe the most powerful image that you have ever seen and
why it moved you.
Did it change your life in any way? How?
36
37
Public Sphere
Public spheres are “the forums and interactions in which
different individuals engage each other about subjects of shared
concern or that affect a wider community from neighborhoods
to international relations.” (P&C, 20)
Based upon the premise of equality, autonomy, and reason.
Who are the voices?
Pezzullo and Cox describe ‘six voices’: citizens & civil society,
nongovernmental organizations, politicians & public officials,
businesses, scientists & scholars, journalists (P&C, pp. 22-26).

40
Common Good
From Bocking, Nature’s Experts: The most important aspect of
public deliberation “is its capacity to encourage people to
consider not just their own interests, but those of others, and so
develop and pursue a vision of the common good .... Since
environmental issues relate so often to this common good,
including the protection of common spaces – the atmosphere,
the oceans, public land – that makes deliberation especially
relevant, because [it] tends to encourage people to think in
terms of the collective good ... to formulate a common interest
in the environment that can transcend individual interests.” (p.
224)
Image Events – Kevin DeLuca
A staged or intentional activist or political action with the
intention of creating or inviting an image that can then be
shared through electronic media.

44
“That was the moment that launched the modern environmental
movement.”
45
Public Opinion vs Public Sphere
Habermas defines ‘public opinion’ as very different from how
we use the term today. It was much more than simply the
aggregation of private opinion(s), and required public listening
and public reasoning.
46
Jason Kenney
47
Deep Story and contested ideas of “Fairness”
48

54
55
A new Canadian energy narrative
56
Critical questions for all public spheres.
1. Who participates (and who is excluded) ...
2. Under what conditions ...
3. To what effect …
How these questions are answered/resolved shapes what the
public interest is on any given environmental issue.
57
BREAK

The environmental conflict “has become discursive. It no
longer focuses on the question of whether there is an
environmental crisis, it is essentially about its interpretation.”
(Hajer, 1995: 13-14)
60
61
62
Largest oil spill in human history – 3 million barrels

64
The movie
BP and Oilsands
67
Ideology versus Discourse
Noun versus verb
False consciousness versus power
Epistemology versus practical politics
Wrong ideas versus bad ideas
68
Discourse
Pezzullo and Cox: Discourse is “a pattern of knowledge and

power communicated through linguistic and non-linguistic
human expression: as a result, it functions to ‘circulate a
coherent set of meanings about an important topic’ (Fiske,
1987, p. 14). Such meanings often influence our understanding
of how the world works or should work.” (p. 60).
John Dryzek: Discourse is “a shared way of apprehending the
world. Embedded in language, it enables those who subscribe to
it to interpret bits of information and put them together into
coherent stories or accounts. Discourses construct meanings and
relationships, helping to define common sense and legitimate
knowledge.” (The Politics of the Earth, 9)
70
Discourse as ideas and practices– Martin Hajer
“Discourse is then seen as internally related to the social
practices in which it is produced.”
“One may also point to the content of what is said. A discourse
is then seen as an ensemble of ideas, concepts, and
categorizations.” (Hajer, 1995: 44)
2) “Discourse here is here defined as a specific ensemble of
ideas, concepts, and categorizations that are produced,
reproduced, and transformed in a particular set of practices and
through which meaning is given to physical and social realities.
As such, physics is an example of a discourse, but the radical
environmentalists have their own discourse too. The former is
produced, reproduced, and transformed through practices like
academic teaching, laboratory experiments, and peer-reviewed

journalist. The latter is produced through the actual practicing
of an alternative lifestyle, independent protest meetings (instead
of lobbying), reference to Walden or the noble savage, a
specific myth about the nature of nature, and the negation of a
culture of commercialism and consumption.” (Hajer, 1995: 44)
73
Ducks on a pond
74
Discourse as Story
Walter Fisher (communications theorist): When encountering
new information, we assess it on the basis of narrative fidelity,
rather than the quality of the information. “Does it hang
together? Does it contain a linear sequence of events from past
to future? Do the characters behave as we would expect them to
behave, with clear and understandable goals and motives? Does
it match our own beliefs and values?” (Cited in Marshall, Don’t
Even Think About It, p. 106).
Compelling narratives have “cause, effect, perpetrator and
motive”. Right-wing story: “Governments (perpetrators) justify
carbon taxes (effect) in order to extend their control over our
lives (motive).” Left-wing story: “Right-wing oil billionaires

(perpetrators) fund climate change denial (effect) to increase
their wealth (motive).” (Marshall, p. 106)
75
Narrative Fidelity
“Do the characters behave as we would expect them to behave,
with clear and understandable goals and motives?” (Cited in
Marshall, Don’t Even Think About It, p. 106).
77
Greta memes
78
Discourse according to George Marshall
Cause
Effect
Perpetrator
Motive

79
80
Cause, effect, perpetrator, motive
Frank Luntz, adviser to US Republicans: “a compelling story,
even if factually inaccurate, can be more emotionally
compelling than a dry recitation of the truth.” (Cited in
Marshall, p. 107).
Discourses are not only textual. They are always bound up with
economic, political, social and cultural structures, as well as the
practices of everyday life.
Critical analysis requires understanding how specific discourses
articulate with existing institutions. Does it reinforce or
challenge existing structures of power?

How discourses intersect with institutions will determine the
resources that are allocated to developing, disseminating and
promoting them.
Jan 15: Conceptual perspectives and the image
• Stuart Ewen: (1999). All consuming images: The politics of
style in contemporary culture.
Basic Books, pp. 24-40.
• Susan Sontag (1977). “The Image World”. In On Photography.
New York: Farrar Straus and
Giroux, pp. 153-180.
• George Marshall, Don’t Even Think About It. pp. 105-120.
• Recommended: Pezzullo et al, “Introduction”, “1.
Studying/Practicing Environmental
Communication”, “2. Contested Meanings of Environment” and
“3. Social-Symbolic
Constructions of Environment” in Environmental
Communication and the Public Sphere, pp.
1-66. [on reserve at library].
Jan 22: Consumerism and corporate public relations
• Michael Maniates, “Individualization: Plant a Tree, Buy a

Bike, Save the World?” in Global
Environmental Politics 1.3 (2001): 31-52.
• McCurdy, P. (2018). From the Natural to the Manmade
Environment: The Shifting Advertising
Practices of Canada's Oil Sands Industry. Canadian Journal of
Communication, 43(1),
33-52.
• In class viewing: Years and Years. “It’s our fault”. Episode 6,
season 1.
• Recommended: Naomi Klein: “Stop trying to save the world
all by yourself” in On Fire. pp.
129-136.
Jan 29: Independent field trip day. No lecture
• Jonathan Safran Foer, We are the Weather. pp. 1-71.
• Kate Aaronoff, “Things are Bleak! Jonathan Safran Foer’s
quest for climate salvation”, The
Nation (Oct 29, 2019).
https://www.thenation.com/article/jonathan-safran-foer-we-are-
the-
weather-climate-review/ (Links to an external site.)
•
Feb 5: Indigenous perspectives independent field research

presentations
• Glen Coulthard (2013). “For our nations to live, capitalism
must die.” Nations Rising.
Available online.
• Alfred, T. (2005). "First Words" in Wasase: Indigenous
pathways of action and freedom. U of
T. P. 19-39. On Canvas.
• Guest Speaker: Wendy Walker on #idlenomore, extraction and
indigenous sovereignty.
• Klein, Naomi. (2013). “Dancing the World into Being: A
Conversation with Idle No More’s
Leanne Simpson.” Yes Magazine. Available online.
• Recommended: “Leanne Simpson, (2014). “Land as pedagogy:
Nishnaabeg intelligence and
rebellious transformation.” Decolonization: Indigeneity,
Education & Society, 3(3). p. 1-25.
On Canvas.
Feb 12: Canadian energy and communicating energy lifeworlds
• Sara O’Shaughnessy and Goze Dogu, (2016). “The Gendered
and Racialized Subject’s of
Alberta’s Oil” in First World Petro-Politics: The Political
Ecology and Governance of Alberta.
University of Toronto Press, Canada. 263-296. Available online

through SFU library.
• Barney, D. (2017). “Who we are and what we do: Canada as a
pipeline
nation.” Petrocultures: Oil, politics, culture, 78-119. Available
online through SFU library and
on Canvas.
• Alberta Narratives Project.
https://albertanarrativesproject.ca/ (Links to an external site.)
[Skim]. Available Online.
• Recommended: Cariou, W. 2017. “Aborignal” in Szeman, I et.,
al. (Eds.). (2017). Fueling
Culture: 101 Words for Energy and Environment. Oxford
University Press.
• Recommended: Dorow, Sara. 2015. “Gendering Energy
Extraction in Fort McMurray” in
Alberta Oil and the Decline of Democracy in Canada, edited by
Meenal Shrivastava and
Lorna Stefanick, 295-311. Available online through SFU
library.
the-weather-climate-review/

https://albertanarrativesproject.ca/
Feb 26: Nature in the news and environmental journalism
• Gunster et al., (2018). “Why don’t you act like you believe
it?: competing visions of climate
hypocrisy.” Frontiers in Communication. Online.
• In class viewing: Merchants of Doubt
• Recommended: George Marshall, Don’t Even Think About It.
pp.1-25, pp. 46-55, and pp.
198-204.
March 4: Communicating science, risk and sustainable
behaviour change.
• P. Sol Hart and Lauren Feldman, “Threat without efficacy?
Climate change on U.S. network
news,” Science Communication 36.3 (2014): 325-351.
• George Marshall, Don’t Even Think About It. pp. 26-32, pp
121-126, and pp. 138-154 .
• David Wallace-Wells. “The Uninhabitable Earth.” New York
Magazine. Online.

• Roy Scranton. “Raising my child in a Doomed World.” New
York Times. Online
• Tommy Lynch. “Why Hope is Dangerous when it comes to
Climate Change.” Slate. Online.
• Recommended: Janette Webb, “Climate change and society:
The chimera of behaviour
change technologies,” Sociology 46.1 (2012): 109-25.
• Recommened: Naomi Klein, “When science says that political
revolution is our only hope”,
On Fire, pp. 110-118.
• Group A commentary 3 due.
March 11: Environmental advocacy: Principles for effective
communication – values and frames.
• EcoAmerica and Centre for Research on Environmental
Decisions, Connecting on Climate:
A Guide to Effective Climate Change Communication (2014),
pp. 6-76. [Skim]. Online.
• Adam Corner et al, “Selling climate change? The limitations
of social marketing as a
strategy for climate change public engagement,” Global
Environmental Change 21 (2011),
pp. 1005-1014.

• Recommended: Pezzullo and Cox “Advocacy Campaigns and
Message Construction” pp.
203-228. On reserve at Belzberg library.
March 18: Researching, representing and shaping environmental
public opinion
• Connie Roser-Renouf et al, “Engaging diverse audiences with
climate change” in The
Routledge Handbook of Environment and Communication, Eds.
Anders Hansen and Robert
Cox (Routledge, 2015), pp. 368-386.
• In-class viewing: The Good Place. Season 3 episode 10.
• Recommended: Irene Lorenzoni et al, “Barriers perceived to
engaging with climate change
among the UK public and their policy implications,” Global
Environmental Change 3-4 (Aug/
Oct 2007): 445-459.
March 25: Religion and Climate Change.

• Jenkins, W., Berry, E., & Kreider, L. B. (2018). Religion and
climate change. Annual Review of
Environment and Resources, 43, 85-108.
• Francis, P. (2015). Laudato si: On care for our common home.
Our Sunday Visitor. [Skim].
Online.
• In class viewing: Katherine Hayoe, “The most important thing
you can do about climate
change is talk about it.” https://www.ted.com/talks/
katharine_hayhoe_the_most_important_thing_you_can_do_to_fi
ght_climate_change_talk_ab
out_it?language=en (Links to an external site.)
• Recommended: Naomi Klein, “A Radical Vatican?” On Fire,
pp, 137-148.
https://www.ted.com/talks/katharine_hayhoe_the_most_importa
nt_thing_you_can_do_to_fight_climate_change_talk_about_it?l
anguage=en
anguage=en
anguage=en

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