The framing of climate change by Greenpeace Australia Pacific

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26881/bp.2024.3.01

Keywords:

climate change discourse, frame, framing, Greenpeace, Greenpeace Australia Pacific

Abstract

In the Anglophone discursive space, there is a variety of actors, such as the public at large, media, politicians, and independent environmental organizations (e.g. Greenpeace) that are engaged in climate change communication. In particular, Greenpeace and its national branches, for example Greenpeace Australia Pacific (further – GAP), seem to utilize social networking sites (SNSs), for instance Facebook, in communicating their opinions, calls for action, and news on the issue of climate change. Currently, however, little is known about how GAP frames its climate change communication on Facebook, which is considered one of the leading SNSs worldwide. To fill the existing research gap, the article describes and discusses a qualitative study that aims at learning about how GAP’s climate change communication is framed on Facebook. This is done by means of applying a qualitative framing methodology developed by Entman (1993, 2007, 2010) to the corpus of GAP’s status updates on Facebook. The results of the qualitative framing analysis have revealed that GAP utilizes the following frames in its climate change communication on Facebook: Climate Justice, Climate Strike, Deep-Sea Mining, Extreme Weather Events, Fossil Fuel, Fossil Fuel Corporations, Green Technology, Rising Sea Levels, and Urgency. These findings are further discussed and illustrated in the article.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Primary source

https://www.facebook.com/greenpeaceaustraliapacific.

References

Altman, Jon (2018). “Raphael Lemkin in remote Australia: The logic of cultural genocide and homelands”. Oceania 88/3: 336–359. https://doi.org/10.1002/ocea.5204.

Arts, Bas (2004). “The global‐local nexus: NGOs and the articulation of scale”. Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie 95/5: 498–510.

Austin, Emma K., Jane L. Rich, Anthony S. Kiem, Tonelle Handley, David Perkins, Brian J. Kelly (2020). “Concerns about climate change among rural residents in Australia”. Journal of Rural Studies 75: 98–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.01.010.

Boulton, Elizabeth G. (2022). “PLAN E: A grand strategy for the twentyfirst century era of entangled security and hyperthreats”. Journal of Advanced Military Studies 13/1: 92–128. https://doi.org/ 10.21140/mcuj.20221301005.

Coombs, Timothy W. (2014). “Nestlé and Greenpeace: The battle in social media for ethical palm oil sourcing”. In: Marcia DiStaso, Denise Bortree (eds.). Ethical Practice of Social Media in Public Relations. New York: Routledge, 126–137.

Crowley, Kate (2021). “Fighting the future: The politics of climate policy failure in Australia (2015–2020)”. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 12/5: e725. https://doi.org/10.1002/ wcc.725.

Daume, Stefan, Victor Galaz, Petter Bjersér (2023). “Automated framing of climate change? The role of social bots in the twitter climate change discourse during the 2019/2020 Australia Bushfires”. Social Media + Society 9/2: 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231168370.

Dunwoody, Sharon (2015). “Environmental scientists and public communication”. In: Anders Hansen, Robert Cox (eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Environment and Communication. London: Routledge, 83–163.

Entman, Robert M. (1991). “Framing US coverage of international news: Contrasts in narratives of the KAL and Iran air incidents”. Journal of Communication 41/4: 6–27.

Entman, Robert M. (1993). “Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm”. Journal of Communication 43/4: 51–58.

Entman, Robert M. (2007). “Framing bias: Media in the distribution of power”. Journal of Communication 57/19: 163–173. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00336.x.

Entman, Robert M. (2010). “Framing media power”. In: Paul D’Angelo, Jim A. Kuypers (eds.). Doing News Framing Analysis. New York: Routledge, 347–371.

Flanagan, Tom (2019). First Nations? Second Thoughts. Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press.

Fløttum, Kjersti (2016). “Linguistic analysis in climate change communication”. In: Matthew. C. Nisbet, Mike S. Schäfer, Ezra Markowitz, Jagadish Thaker, Shirley Ho, Saffron O’Neill (eds.). Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.488.

Fløttum, Kjersti, Trine Dahl (2012). “Different contexts, different “stories”? A linguistic comparison of two development reports on climate change”. Language & Communication 32/1: 14–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2011.11.002.

Fløttum, Kjersti, Øyvind Gjerstad (2017). “Narratives in climate change discourse”. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 8/1: 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.429.

Fløttum, Kjersti, Anje M. Gjesdal, Øyvind Gjerstad, Nelya Koteyko, Andrew Salway (2014). “Representations of the future in English language blogs on climate change”. Global Environmental Change 29: 213–222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.10.005.

Guenther, Lars, Susan Jörges, Daniela Mahl, Michael Brüggemann (2024). “Framing as a bridging concept for climate change communication: A systematic review based on 25 years of literature”. Communication Research 51/4: 367–391. https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502221137165.

Hamilton, Clive (2001). Running from the Storm: The Development of Climate Change Policy in Australia. Sydney: UNSW Press.

Hendriks, Carolyn M., Sonya Duus, Selen A. Ercan (2016). “Performing politics on social media: The dramaturgy of an environmental controversy on Facebook”. Environmental Politics 25/6: 1102–1125. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2016.1196967.

Howey, Kirsty, Tomothy Neale (2023). “Divisible governance: Making gas-fired futures during climate collapse in northern Australia”. Science, Technology, & Human Values 48/5: 1080–1109. https://doi.org/10.1177/01622439211072573.

Huan, Changpeng (2023). “Politicized or popularized? News values and news voices in China’s and Australia’s media discourse of climat change”. Critical Discourse Studies 1: 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2023.2200194.

Hunter, Lowell, Michelle Lobo (2024). “Climate change and oceanic responsibilities: Listening and dancing with Saltwater Country, Australia”. In: Michele Lobo, Eve Mayes, Laura Bedford (eds.). Planetary Justice. Stories and Studies of Action, Resistance and Solidarity. Bristol: Bristol University Press, 71–86. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529235319.ch005.

IBM (2011). IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0. New York: IBM.

Kapranov, Oleksandr (2015a). “Do international corporations speak in one voice on the issue of global climate change: The case of British Petroleum and The Royal Dutch Shell Group”. In: Cem Can, Abdurrahman Kilimci, Katarzyna Papaja (eds.). Social Sciences and Humanities: A Global Perspective. Ankara: Detay Yayıncılık, 306–322.

Kapranov, Oleksandr (2015b). “Conceptual metaphors in Ukrainian prime ministers’ discourse involving renewables”. Topics in Linguistics 16: 4-16. https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2015-0007.

Kapranov, Oleksandr (2016). “The framing of Serbia’s EU accession by the British Foreign Office on Twitter”. Tekst i Dyskurs — Text und Diskurs 9/9: 67–80.

Kapranov, Oleksandr (2017a). “British Petroleum’s corporate discourse involving climate change before and after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: A cognitive linguistic account”. Selected Papers on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics 22: 211–223.

Kapranov, Oleksandr (2017b). “The framing of climate-change discourse by Shell and the framing of Shell’s climate change-related activities by the Economist and the Financial Times”. Bergen Language and Linguistics Studies 7: 55-–69. https://doi.org/10.15845/bells.v7i0.1088.

Kapranov, Oleksandr (2018a). “Shell’s image of climate change and its representations in the British financial press”. In: Giuliana Elena Garzone, Walter Giordano (eds.). Discourse, Communication and the Enterprise: Where Business Meets Language. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 392–409.

Kapranov, Oleksandr (2018b). “Conceptual metaphors associated with climate change in the UK political discourse”. In: Rafał Augustyn, Agnieszka Mierzwińska-Hajnos (eds.). New Insights into the Language and Cognition Interface. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 51–66.

Kapranov, Oleksandr (2018c). “The framing of an EFL primary school teacher’s identity by Norwegian pre-service primary school teachers”. Konińskie Studia Językowe 6/3: 329–351.

Kapranov, Oleksandr (2020). “Framing the identity of an ideal primary school teacher of English”. English Studies at NBU 6/1: 95–110. https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.20.1.4.

Kapranov, Oleksandr (2023). “Throwing soup at Van Gogh: The framing of art in climate change activism by British mass media”. Discourses on Culture 19/1: 175–200. https://doi.org/10.2478/doc2023-0008.

Kapranov, Oleksandr (2024). “The framing of climate change discourse on Facebook by Greenpeace Aotearoa”. Language: Codification, Competence, Communication 1/10: 31–47. https://doi.org/10.2478/lccc-2024-0003.

Kuper, Adam (2003). “The return of the native”. Current Anthropology 44/3: 389–402. https://doi.org/10.1086/368120.

Malakar, Yuwan, Andrea Walton, Luk J. M. Peeters, David M. Douglas, Dan O’Sullivan, D. (2024). “Just trade-offs in a net-zero transition and social impact assessment”. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 106: 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2024.107506.

McDonald, Matt (2021). “After the fires? Climate change and security in Australia”. Australian Journal of Political Science 56/1: 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2020.1776680.

McHugh, Lucy H., Maria C. Lemos, Tiffany H. Morrison (2021). “Risk? Crisis? Emergency? Implications of the new climate emergency framing for governance and policy”. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 12/6: 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.736.

Nerlich, Brigitte, Rusi Jaspal (2024). “Mud, metaphors and politics: Meaning-making during the 2021 German floods”. Environmental Values 33/3: 329–349. https://doi.org/10.1177/09632719231177511.

Niininen, Outi, Stefan Baumeister (2022). “Fridays for Future wants to save the world — but what do people think about the movement?”. In: Outi Niininen (ed.). Social Media for Progressive Public Relations. London: Routledge, 176–189.

Prosser, Annayah, Lorraine Whitmarsh (2022). Net Zero: A Review of Public Attitudes and Behaviours. Bath: The University of Bath. Available at https://our2050.world/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Net-Zero-Literature-Review.pdf. Accessed 11.11.2024.

Ritter, David, Benedetta Brevini (2017). “An interview with David Ritter: Mobilising on climate change – the experience of Greenpeace”. In: Benedetta Brevini, Graham Murdock (eds.). Carbon Capitalism and Communication: Confronting Climate Crisis. Cham: Springer, 193–199.

Robinson, Sharon A., David J. Erickson III (2015). “Not just about sunburn–the ozone hole's profound effect on climate has significant implications for Southern Hemisphere ecosystems”. Global Change Biology 21/2: 515–527. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12739.

Sabherwal, Anandita, Matthew T. Ballew, Sander van Der Linden, Abel Gustafson, Matthew H. Goldberg, Edward W. Maibach, John E. Kotcher, Janet K. Swim, Seth A. Rosenthal, Anthony Leiserowitz (2021). “The Greta Thunberg effect: Familiarity with Greta Thunberg predicts intentions to engage in climate activism in the United States”. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 51/4: 321–333. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12737.

Shah, Zakir, Lu Wei, Usman Ghani (2021). “The use of social networking sites and pro-environmental behaviors: A mediation and moderation model”. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18/4: 1805. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041805.

Sharp, Darren, Rob Raven, Megan Farrelly (2024). “Pluralising place frames in urban transition management: Net-zero transitions at precinct scale”. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 50: 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2023.100803.

Tvinnereim, Endre, Kjersti Fløttum (2015). “Explaining topic prevalence in answers to open-ended survey questions about climate change”. Nature Climate Change 5/8: 744–747. https://doi.org/ 10.1038/nclimate2663.

Warry, Wayne (2008). Ending Denial: Understanding Aboriginal Issues. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Wright, Christopher, Daniel Nyberg, Vanessa Bowden (2021). “Beyond the discourse of denial: The reproduction of fossil fuel hegemony in Australia”. Energy Research & Social Science 77: 102094. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102094

Downloads

Published

2024-11-07

How to Cite

Kapranov, O. (2024). The framing of climate change by Greenpeace Australia Pacific. Beyond Philology An International Journal of Linguistics, Literary Studies and English Language Teaching, (21/3), 9–31. https://doi.org/10.26881/bp.2024.3.01

Issue

Section

Linguistics