Pub Date : 2023-03-30DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2023.2195589
Miriam Matejová
ABSTRACT This article presents a content analysis of news coverage of three environmental disasters: the 2014 Mount Polley mine leak, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. The aim is to better understand how political actors talk about industrial environmental disasters in their aftermath. Since most people understand dramatic events through news media, an examination of post-disaster media framing may begin to shed light on the variation of public response after disasters. Specifically, the findings challenge some prevailing assumptions about nonviolent protest mobilization and prompt a further investigation of the role of uncertainty in political participation.
{"title":"Framing Environmental Disasters for Nonviolent Protest: A Content Analysis","authors":"Miriam Matejová","doi":"10.1080/17524032.2023.2195589","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2023.2195589","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article presents a content analysis of news coverage of three environmental disasters: the 2014 Mount Polley mine leak, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. The aim is to better understand how political actors talk about industrial environmental disasters in their aftermath. Since most people understand dramatic events through news media, an examination of post-disaster media framing may begin to shed light on the variation of public response after disasters. Specifically, the findings challenge some prevailing assumptions about nonviolent protest mobilization and prompt a further investigation of the role of uncertainty in political participation.","PeriodicalId":54205,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Communication-A Journal of Nature and Culture","volume":"32 1","pages":"407 - 420"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74289338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-22DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2023.2190495
Amanda L. Molder, Mikhaila N. Calice
ABSTRACT The increasing intensity of wildfires and hurricanes signal the reality of climate change, drawing media coverage that could capture the attention of policymakers. In a computational content analysis of 8906 news articles from four national newspapers, we compare coverage of wildfires and hurricanes in the U.S. from 2016 to 2021 examining volume and references to climate change, policy, and politicization. Our findings show patterns that provide new insight into how media may impact policymaking addressing climate change challenges. We find greater mentions of climate change in wildfire news coverage, suggesting that journalists more often associate wildfires with climate change than hurricanes. Volumetric data suggest a potential normalization effect implying decreased media attention of these events could reduce support for subsequent policy action. Overall, however, we do not see evidence that wildfires and hurricanes are focusing events for climate policy. We further discuss the implications of our findings, raising several questions and suggestions for future research. KEY POLICY HIGHLIGHTS Climate change is more often mentioned in mainstream national U.S. news media connected to wildfires, while economic factors are more associated with hurricanes. Related policy may be more accepted when framed accordingly. Because less media attention may be paid to hurricanes and wildfires over time, as the novelty and dramatization factors diminish, the likelihood of their presence on policy agendas may be reduced. Recurring extreme wildfires and hurricanes may become expected by the public, policymakers, and news media. Normalization would mean extreme hurricanes and wildfires won’t fit the definition of focusing events, suggesting that these events would not affect the policy agenda.
{"title":"What Do Extreme Weather Events Say About Climate Change? Comparing Politicization and Climate Policy in U.S. Wildfire and Hurricane News Coverage","authors":"Amanda L. Molder, Mikhaila N. Calice","doi":"10.1080/17524032.2023.2190495","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2023.2190495","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The increasing intensity of wildfires and hurricanes signal the reality of climate change, drawing media coverage that could capture the attention of policymakers. In a computational content analysis of 8906 news articles from four national newspapers, we compare coverage of wildfires and hurricanes in the U.S. from 2016 to 2021 examining volume and references to climate change, policy, and politicization. Our findings show patterns that provide new insight into how media may impact policymaking addressing climate change challenges. We find greater mentions of climate change in wildfire news coverage, suggesting that journalists more often associate wildfires with climate change than hurricanes. Volumetric data suggest a potential normalization effect implying decreased media attention of these events could reduce support for subsequent policy action. Overall, however, we do not see evidence that wildfires and hurricanes are focusing events for climate policy. We further discuss the implications of our findings, raising several questions and suggestions for future research. KEY POLICY HIGHLIGHTS Climate change is more often mentioned in mainstream national U.S. news media connected to wildfires, while economic factors are more associated with hurricanes. Related policy may be more accepted when framed accordingly. Because less media attention may be paid to hurricanes and wildfires over time, as the novelty and dramatization factors diminish, the likelihood of their presence on policy agendas may be reduced. Recurring extreme wildfires and hurricanes may become expected by the public, policymakers, and news media. Normalization would mean extreme hurricanes and wildfires won’t fit the definition of focusing events, suggesting that these events would not affect the policy agenda.","PeriodicalId":54205,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Communication-A Journal of Nature and Culture","volume":"116 1","pages":"370 - 385"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73407905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-16DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2023.2189081
E. Hawley, G. Mocatta, T. Milstein
ABSTRACT In this advanced review, we reflect on our own teaching and synthesise recent scholarship on higher education practices in order to examine the place of the teacher in environmental communication pedagogy. Most prior studies of environmental communication pedagogy have addressed on-campus or in-the-field teaching, with little attention paid to the challenges and opportunities of online or blended learning. We argue that environmental communication pedagogy must be reassessed in the context of the shift toward online instruction that the COVID-19 pandemic prompted, and we undertake this reassessment with a particular emphasis on the teacher’s “place.” Through a review of three different modalities of teaching, we propose a transportive lens for understanding the place of the teacher in environmental communication pedagogy, which takes into account the teacher’s place within the learning environment and acknowledges their role in guiding the movement of learners through pedagogic environmental communication places and praxis.
{"title":"The Place of the Teacher: Environmental Communication and Transportive Pedagogy","authors":"E. Hawley, G. Mocatta, T. Milstein","doi":"10.1080/17524032.2023.2189081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2023.2189081","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this advanced review, we reflect on our own teaching and synthesise recent scholarship on higher education practices in order to examine the place of the teacher in environmental communication pedagogy. Most prior studies of environmental communication pedagogy have addressed on-campus or in-the-field teaching, with little attention paid to the challenges and opportunities of online or blended learning. We argue that environmental communication pedagogy must be reassessed in the context of the shift toward online instruction that the COVID-19 pandemic prompted, and we undertake this reassessment with a particular emphasis on the teacher’s “place.” Through a review of three different modalities of teaching, we propose a transportive lens for understanding the place of the teacher in environmental communication pedagogy, which takes into account the teacher’s place within the learning environment and acknowledges their role in guiding the movement of learners through pedagogic environmental communication places and praxis.","PeriodicalId":54205,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Communication-A Journal of Nature and Culture","volume":"30 1","pages":"339 - 352"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80556826","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2023.2181134
Xin Ma, Yin Yang, Liang Chen
ABSTRACT This study explored strategies to help mitigate the effects of climate change among members of the Chinese public by broadening the extended parallel process model (EPPM) to the personal and collective levels. A 2 × 2 × 2 factorial experiment was designed to examine the effects of threat (personal vs. societal), efficacy (personal vs. collective), and climate change beliefs (high vs. low) on participants’ personal intention to help mitigate the effects of climate change. A total of 421 Chinese citizens participated in this experimental study. The results reveal significant main effects of threat, efficacy, and climate change beliefs on personal mitigation intentions. Moreover, individuals who perceived high personal threat and high collective efficacy toward climate change reported the highest intention to take personal actions to mitigate the effects of climate change, regardless of the participants’ levels of climate change beliefs.
{"title":"Promoting Behaviors to Mitigate the Effects of Climate Change: Using the Extended Parallel Process Model at the Personal and Collective Level in China","authors":"Xin Ma, Yin Yang, Liang Chen","doi":"10.1080/17524032.2023.2181134","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2023.2181134","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study explored strategies to help mitigate the effects of climate change among members of the Chinese public by broadening the extended parallel process model (EPPM) to the personal and collective levels. A 2 × 2 × 2 factorial experiment was designed to examine the effects of threat (personal vs. societal), efficacy (personal vs. collective), and climate change beliefs (high vs. low) on participants’ personal intention to help mitigate the effects of climate change. A total of 421 Chinese citizens participated in this experimental study. The results reveal significant main effects of threat, efficacy, and climate change beliefs on personal mitigation intentions. Moreover, individuals who perceived high personal threat and high collective efficacy toward climate change reported the highest intention to take personal actions to mitigate the effects of climate change, regardless of the participants’ levels of climate change beliefs.","PeriodicalId":54205,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Communication-A Journal of Nature and Culture","volume":"33 1","pages":"353 - 369"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87428043","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-17DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2023.2167848
U. Hahn, F. Vermeylen
ABSTRACT A growing momentum of artists and cultural institutions addressing climate change in their works and exhibitions can be observed in recent years. It is important to understand how such art is covered in quality newspapers because they can give meaning and importance to climate change, and cultural journalists act as mediators between cultural producers and consumers. This research asks: How is exhibited, visual climate-related art presented and evaluated in US and European quality newspapers between 2015 and 2021? Through qualitative content analysis of approximately 125 newspaper articles, this study reveals that climate-related art has been given a platform in quality newspapers, although more in some than others. It is frequently reported as reflecting on society – often the problems, and less the solutions – and shaping society. Climate-related art is evaluated based on its subversive power, topicality, environmental sustainability, and artistic qualities.
{"title":"Mirror or Hammer? News Media Coverage of Climate-Related Art","authors":"U. Hahn, F. Vermeylen","doi":"10.1080/17524032.2023.2167848","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2023.2167848","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT A growing momentum of artists and cultural institutions addressing climate change in their works and exhibitions can be observed in recent years. It is important to understand how such art is covered in quality newspapers because they can give meaning and importance to climate change, and cultural journalists act as mediators between cultural producers and consumers. This research asks: How is exhibited, visual climate-related art presented and evaluated in US and European quality newspapers between 2015 and 2021? Through qualitative content analysis of approximately 125 newspaper articles, this study reveals that climate-related art has been given a platform in quality newspapers, although more in some than others. It is frequently reported as reflecting on society – often the problems, and less the solutions – and shaping society. Climate-related art is evaluated based on its subversive power, topicality, environmental sustainability, and artistic qualities.","PeriodicalId":54205,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Communication-A Journal of Nature and Culture","volume":"84 1","pages":"172 - 186"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73287790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-17DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2023.2179649
Ronald E. Rice, Lindsay B. Miller
ABSTRACT This study develops a model of direct association of exposure to environmental media content, and indirect association through environmental attitude and environmental efficacy, with pro-environmental behaviors. It also considers secondary media roles of exposure to general news media and involvement in mediated civic activism. The model and hypotheses are tested through Hayes Process mediation models, using secondary, cross-sectional survey data from 11,000 respondents across 11 countries. The model is well-supported overall and within countries, and the secondary media variables have generally consistent effects within countries. Socio-demographic covariates have varying relationships with environmental attitude, environmental efficacy, and pro-environmental behaviors, overall, and within countries. In line with social cognitive theory, these results suggest that media use related to environmental issues does not have to raise individuals’ pro-environmental attitude or efficacy (though it does) to increase engagement in pro-environmental behavior.
{"title":"Media Use, Environmental Mediators, and Pro-environmental Behaviors across and within Countries","authors":"Ronald E. Rice, Lindsay B. Miller","doi":"10.1080/17524032.2023.2179649","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2023.2179649","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study develops a model of direct association of exposure to environmental media content, and indirect association through environmental attitude and environmental efficacy, with pro-environmental behaviors. It also considers secondary media roles of exposure to general news media and involvement in mediated civic activism. The model and hypotheses are tested through Hayes Process mediation models, using secondary, cross-sectional survey data from 11,000 respondents across 11 countries. The model is well-supported overall and within countries, and the secondary media variables have generally consistent effects within countries. Socio-demographic covariates have varying relationships with environmental attitude, environmental efficacy, and pro-environmental behaviors, overall, and within countries. In line with social cognitive theory, these results suggest that media use related to environmental issues does not have to raise individuals’ pro-environmental attitude or efficacy (though it does) to increase engagement in pro-environmental behavior.","PeriodicalId":54205,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Communication-A Journal of Nature and Culture","volume":"20 1","pages":"187 - 208"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84643089","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-07DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2023.2175005
I. Udoh, Barbara E. Willard
ABSTRACT This article argues that a community-based social marketing (CBSM) framework can support an environmental health communication and advocacy campaign in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. First, the personal and group environmental attitudes and behavior in the region are identified. Next, a summary is provided of the underlying sources, types, and magnitude of the region’s environmental challenges from oil production agriculture, and illegal logging. Using grounded theory, a CBSM strategy is proposed for enhancing environmental attitudes and behavior for promoting environmental health in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. The analysis identified specific behavior change necessary to improve environmental conditions, themes and resources, including groups and institutions that could be considered as assets, as well as potential barriers to implementing CBSM in the Niger Delta. It also identified the need to combine the CBSM with the social ecological model to make it effective for framing appropriately targeted pro-environmental communication addressing complex socio-political problems.
{"title":"Community-Based Social Marketing: A Supplemental Approach to Improve Environmental Attitudes and Environmental Health in Nigeria","authors":"I. Udoh, Barbara E. Willard","doi":"10.1080/17524032.2023.2175005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2023.2175005","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article argues that a community-based social marketing (CBSM) framework can support an environmental health communication and advocacy campaign in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. First, the personal and group environmental attitudes and behavior in the region are identified. Next, a summary is provided of the underlying sources, types, and magnitude of the region’s environmental challenges from oil production agriculture, and illegal logging. Using grounded theory, a CBSM strategy is proposed for enhancing environmental attitudes and behavior for promoting environmental health in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. The analysis identified specific behavior change necessary to improve environmental conditions, themes and resources, including groups and institutions that could be considered as assets, as well as potential barriers to implementing CBSM in the Niger Delta. It also identified the need to combine the CBSM with the social ecological model to make it effective for framing appropriately targeted pro-environmental communication addressing complex socio-political problems.","PeriodicalId":54205,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Communication-A Journal of Nature and Culture","volume":"418 1","pages":"119 - 134"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84339247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-12DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2023.2165524
Shupei Yuan, Hang Lu
ABSTRACT It is common to see videos that discuss climate change issues online, sometimes with aggressive tones. Comments under the videos also supply information for other audiences. When the comment agrees or disagrees with the style of the message, it is unclear how audiences perceive and respond to the message. An online experiment (N = 763) was conducted in which participants were randomly assigned to one of six conditions (an aggressive or non-aggressive video with a supporting comment, an opposing comment, or no comment). Results revealed that an opposing comment significantly enhanced how much participants found the aggressive video to have violated their expectations, which further reduced their willingness to perform pro-environmental behaviors. Overall, these findings suggest that message styles and their associated comments could jointly guide how the public reacts to information about climate change.
{"title":"Don’t Talk Climate Like This: Exploring the Moderating Effects of Comment Stance on Aggressive Climate Change Videos","authors":"Shupei Yuan, Hang Lu","doi":"10.1080/17524032.2023.2165524","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2023.2165524","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT It is common to see videos that discuss climate change issues online, sometimes with aggressive tones. Comments under the videos also supply information for other audiences. When the comment agrees or disagrees with the style of the message, it is unclear how audiences perceive and respond to the message. An online experiment (N = 763) was conducted in which participants were randomly assigned to one of six conditions (an aggressive or non-aggressive video with a supporting comment, an opposing comment, or no comment). Results revealed that an opposing comment significantly enhanced how much participants found the aggressive video to have violated their expectations, which further reduced their willingness to perform pro-environmental behaviors. Overall, these findings suggest that message styles and their associated comments could jointly guide how the public reacts to information about climate change.","PeriodicalId":54205,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Communication-A Journal of Nature and Culture","volume":"18 1","pages":"146 - 156"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73260557","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2022.2156907
Francis A. Commerçon, Matthew H. Goldberg, Karine Lacroix, Jennifer P. Carman, S. Rosenthal, A. Leiserowitz
ABSTRACT The effectiveness of climate change communication depends in part on how people perceive common terms used to describe key climate concepts. In a mixed methods study (N = 2859), we examined affect, top-of-mind associations, beliefs, policy support, and behavioral intentions elicited by terms communicators colloquially use to refer to the gases responsible for climate change: greenhouse gas emissions, carbon emissions, and carbon pollution. Open-ended responses revealed that, of the three terms, carbon pollution evoked more negative images of harm; carbon emissions evoked more negative images of pollution; and greenhouse gas emissions evoked more images of climate change. Respondents had generally stronger negative affect toward carbon emissions and carbon pollution than greenhouse gas emissions. Although Americans had similar beliefs about carbon emissions and carbon pollution, they linked both terms more strongly than greenhouse gas emissions to harms to human health and the environment and to poor air quality.
{"title":"Evaluating the Terms Americans Use to Refer to “Carbon Emissions”","authors":"Francis A. Commerçon, Matthew H. Goldberg, Karine Lacroix, Jennifer P. Carman, S. Rosenthal, A. Leiserowitz","doi":"10.1080/17524032.2022.2156907","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2022.2156907","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 The effectiveness of climate change communication depends in part on how people perceive common terms used to describe key climate concepts. In a mixed methods study (N = 2859), we examined affect, top-of-mind associations, beliefs, policy support, and behavioral intentions elicited by terms communicators colloquially use to refer to the gases responsible for climate change: greenhouse gas emissions, carbon emissions, and carbon pollution. Open-ended responses revealed that, of the three terms, carbon pollution evoked more negative images of harm; carbon emissions evoked more negative images of pollution; and greenhouse gas emissions evoked more images of climate change. Respondents had generally stronger negative affect toward carbon emissions and carbon pollution than greenhouse gas emissions. Although Americans had similar beliefs about carbon emissions and carbon pollution, they linked both terms more strongly than greenhouse gas emissions to harms to human health and the environment and to poor air quality.","PeriodicalId":54205,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Communication-A Journal of Nature and Culture","volume":"1 1","pages":"87 - 100"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90153746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2023.2165523
B. Suldovsky, Heather Akin
ABSTRACT Genetically engineered (GE) crops are likely to be one solution when it comes to balancing the needs of a growing human population and changing climate. Recent data suggest that many U.S. adults believe that GE foods are risky for human health and the environment, despite scientific consensus that they are no more harmful to human health or the environment than conventionally bred crops. While some evidence suggests that consensus messaging could be a significant factor in publics’ perceptions about technologies like GE, the effect of communicating scientific consensus and under different conditions remains unclear. We test message effectiveness in terms of individuals’ consensus perceptions and beliefs about the environmental risks and benefits of GE technology. We find that consensus messaging reduces perceived environmental risks of GE crops, and that supplementing a consensus message with benefits information reduces perceived environmental risks and increases anticipated benefits. We find an interaction effect for trust in scientists, such that those who have lower trust in industry scientists exhibit a backfire effect when exposed to consensus information.
{"title":"The Role of Trust in Communicating Scientific Consensus and the Environmental Benefits of Genetically Engineered Crops: Experimental Evidence of a Backfire Effect","authors":"B. Suldovsky, Heather Akin","doi":"10.1080/17524032.2023.2165523","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2023.2165523","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Genetically engineered (GE) crops are likely to be one solution when it comes to balancing the needs of a growing human population and changing climate. Recent data suggest that many U.S. adults believe that GE foods are risky for human health and the environment, despite scientific consensus that they are no more harmful to human health or the environment than conventionally bred crops. While some evidence suggests that consensus messaging could be a significant factor in publics’ perceptions about technologies like GE, the effect of communicating scientific consensus and under different conditions remains unclear. We test message effectiveness in terms of individuals’ consensus perceptions and beliefs about the environmental risks and benefits of GE technology. We find that consensus messaging reduces perceived environmental risks of GE crops, and that supplementing a consensus message with benefits information reduces perceived environmental risks and increases anticipated benefits. We find an interaction effect for trust in scientists, such that those who have lower trust in industry scientists exhibit a backfire effect when exposed to consensus information.","PeriodicalId":54205,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Communication-A Journal of Nature and Culture","volume":"40 1","pages":"101 - 118"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84523676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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