Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Climate Change as an Element of Sustainability Communication

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Sustainability Communication

Abstract

Climate change communication is a new and fast-developing element of sustainability communication. It can be conceived of both as communication about and as communication of climate change, referring to an analytical and a normative dimension of the concept. In this contribution, climate change communication will be outlined and its role within the larger field of sustainability communication will be discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adger, W. N., Arnell, N. W., & Tompkins, E. L. (2005). Successful adaptation to climate change across scales. Global Environmental Change, 15, 77–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bostrom, A., Morgan, M. G., Fischhoff, B., & Read, D. (1994). What do people know about global climate change? 1. Mental models. Risk Analysis, 14(6), 959–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Compston, H. (2009). Networks, resources, political strategy and climate policy. Environmental Politics, 18(5), 727–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Downs, A. (1972). Up and down with ecology – The “issue-attention cycle”. The Public Interest, 28, 38–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Egner, H. (2007). Surprising coincidence or successful scientific communication: How did climate change enter into the current public debate? Gaia-Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 16(4), 250–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feindt, P. H., & Oels, A. (2005). Does discourse matter? Discourse analysis in environmental policy making. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 7(3), 161–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Few, R., Brown, K., & Tompkins, E. L. (2007). Public participation and climate change adaptation: Avoiding the illusion of inclusion. Climate Policy, 7(1), 46–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher, A. L. (2009). Clearing the air: The contribution of frame analysis to understanding climate policy in the United States. Environmental Politics, 18(5), 800–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Funtowicz, S. O., & Ravetz, J. R. (1993). Science for the post-normal age. Futures, 25(7), 739–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gavin, N. T. (2009). Addressing climate change: A media perspective. Environmental Politics, 18(5), 765–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (1981). The theory of communicative action: Reason and the rationalization of society (Vol. 1). Boston: Beacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC. (2001). Annex B: Glossary of terms. In J. J. McCarty, O. F. Canzianni, N. A. Leary, D. J. Dokken, & K. S. White (Eds.), Climate change 2001: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability – contribution of Working Group II to the third assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC. (2007). Climate change 2007. The physical science basis (Contribution of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leake, J. & Hastings, C. (2010). World misled over Himalayan glacier meltdown. The Times Online, 17 January 2010. Retrieved July 30, 2010, from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6991177.ece.

  • Lorenzoni, I., Nicholson-Cole, S., & Whitmarsh, L. (2007). Barriers perceived to engaging with climate change among the UK public and their policy implications. Global Environmental Change-Human and Policy Dimensions, 17(3–4), 445–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (1971). Öffentliche Meinung. In N. Luhmann (Ed.), Politische Planung (pp. 9–34). Opladen: Westdeutscher.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (1995) Social systems. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press (Original edition, Soziale Systeme. Grundriß einer allgemeinen Theorie, 1984).

    Google Scholar 

  • Manzo, K. (2010). Imaging vulnerability: The iconography of climate change. Area, 42(1), 96–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McComas, K., & Shanahan, J. (1999). Telling stories about global climate change: Measuring the impact of narratives in issue cycles. Communication Research, 26(1), 30–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McQuail, D. (1994). Mass communication theory: An introduction (Vol. 3). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michelsen, G. (2007). Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation: Verständnis – Entwicklung – Perspektiven. In G. Michelsen & J. Godemann (Eds.), Handbuch Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation: Grundlagen und Praxis (pp. 25–41). München: Ökom.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, M. G., Fischhoff, B., Bostrom, A., & Atman, C. J. (2002). Risk communication: A mental models approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moser, S. C. (2010). Communicating climate change: History, challenges, process and future directions. WIREs Climate Change, 1(1), 31–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nerlich, B., Koteyko, N., & Brown, B. (2010). Theory and language of climate change communication. WIREs Climate Change, 1(1), 97–110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newig, J. (2004). Public attention, political action: The example of environmental regulation. Rationality and Society, 16(2), 149–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newig, J., & Fritsch, O. (2009). Environmental governance: Participatory, multi-level – and effective? Environmental Policy and Governance, 19(3), 197–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newig, J., Günther, D. & Pahl-Wostl, C. (2010). Synapses in the network. Learning in governance networks in the context of environmental management. Ecology & Society, 15(4).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nisbet, M. C., & Myers, T. (2007). Twenty years of public opinion about global warming. Public Opinion Quarterly, 71(3), 444–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ockwell, D., Whitmarsh, L., & O’Neill, S. (2009). Reorienting climate change communication for effective mitigation forcing people to be green or fostering grass-roots engagement? Science Communication, 30(3), 305–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pralle, S. B. (2009). Agenda-setting and climate change. Environmental Politics, 18(5), 781–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Read, D., Bostrom, A., Morgan, M. G., Fischhoff, B., & Smuts, T. (1994). What do people know about global climate change? 2. Survey studies of educated laypeople. Risk Analysis, 14(6), 971–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sterman, J. D., & Sweeney, L. B. (2007). Understanding public complacency about climate change: Adults’ mental models of climate change violate conservation of matter. Climate Change, 80, 213–38.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stern, N. (2007). The economics of climate change: The Stern review. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • van den Hove, S. (2000). Participatory approaches to environmental policy-making: The European Commission Climate Policy Process as a case study. Ecological Economics, 33, 457–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Voß, J.-P., Newig, J., Kastens, B., Monstadt, J., & Nölting, B. (2007). Steering for sustainable development: A typology of problems and strategies with respect to ambivalence, uncertainty and distributed power. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 9(3–4), 193–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weingart, P., Engels, A., & Pansegrau, P. (2000). Risks of communication: Discourses on climate change in science, politics, and the mass media. Public Understanding of Science, 9(3), 261–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White House. (2001). President Bush discusses global climate change, 11 June [online]. Retrieved July 30, 2010, from http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/06/20010611-2.html.

  • Young, O. R., Berkhout, F., Gallopin, G. C., Janssen, M. A., Ostrom, E., & van der Leeuw, S. (2006). The globalization of socio-ecological systems: An agenda for scientific research. Global Environmental Change, 16, 304–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Group Governance, Participation and Sustainability, Institute for Environmental and Sustainability Communication, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany

    Jens Newig

Authors
  1. Jens Newig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jens Newig .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nottingham University Business School, International Centre for Corporate Socia, Wollaton Road, Nottingham, NG8 1BB, United Kingdom

    Jasmin Godemann

  2. Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Institute for Environmental and Sustaina, Scharnhorststraße 1, Lueneburg, 21335, Germany

    Gerd Michelsen

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Newig, J. (2011). Climate Change as an Element of Sustainability Communication. In: Godemann, J., Michelsen, G. (eds) Sustainability Communication. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1697-1_11

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation