A Cultural Narrative Approach to Climate Change
Earth Day 2023 finds many of America’s top environmental and energy reporters gathering in Boise, Idaho for the annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ). This yearly event brings together journalists from across the climate landscape to discuss the challenges of serving as the proverbial canary in the coal mine about our changing climate. One topic of growing interest is covering climate issues through a cultural lens, whether through music, television or art – all this as our ever-changing environment and emerging technologies generate new interest in this important topic.
Over the past decade, the media’s coverage of climate change has transformed from a minor news beat to consistent feature of top-tier news stories, encompassing both weather trends, natural disasters, policymaking, conservation, energy sources, health impacts, and beyond.
Rise in Climate Coverage
According to a 2021 report from Media and Climate Change Observatory (MeCCO), based at the University of Colorado at Boulder, climate change coverage reached an all-time high in October and November of 2021, coinciding with the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference and more than doubling the number of news stories from the previous year. More significantly, climate stories have expanded beyond science to encompass politics, economics and even pop culture.
The SEJ conference examines the impact of everything from rapper bad Bunny’s music video for “El Apagon” to the 2019 movie “Don’t Look Up.” Another ideal example of this, albeit with a title that’s a bit on the nose, is Canary Media’s Climate Meets Culture by Mike Munsell. There’s no better example than the February edition, which featured Tetris creator Henk Rogers, who also is a successful energy storage entrepreneur. What could make climate more of a cultural touchstone than linking it an eternally popular video game? Each month Mike Munsell mines for an interesting cultural nugget to bring environmental issues to a broader audience, even as most Canary Media articles take a technically deeper dive into cleantech and energy policy geared to those working in the climate space.
Communicating through Culture
Google also has stepped into the climate and culture realm, dedicating a Culture Meets Climate page to artists immersing themselves in the expression of their climate concerns. Along with chronicling evidence of climate change and positive actions to lessen its impact, the Google site features climate art, including meditation to the Carl Linnaeus flower clocks, Ghanian artist Louise Fenny, and the art of edible plastics. These culture approaches to explaining climate change highlight the magnitude of the problem in a visually appealing way with a heavy focus on solutions.
Beyond the visual approach, podcasts also have entered the space to provide an avenue for audiophiles. Take Climate Curious, which raises environmental issues by posing interesting questions and then finding a fun and engaging way to answer them, including the episodes “Which Fashion Brands Have a Fossil Fuel Problem?” and “How Video Games Inspire Climate Action.” Another popular podcast, Stories for Earth, features authors who address the subject of climate change in both fiction and nonfiction.
No matter what the format – website, column or podcast – climate news is reaching a new audience through a cultural perspective. Coupled with a consistent drumbeat of broad coverage by mainstream publications and in-depth, science-driven pieces in the environmental and energy trades, information about climate change is reaching a wider, more receptive public. What the climate canaries have learned over time is that the medium is less important than getting the facts to filter through to a global audience.
