Climate change in the entertainment society

2011/07/01 Picó, Maria Josep - Universitat de València-ko Divulgació de la Ciència UCC+i katedrako zientzia-kazetaria Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingurumena

Global warming has become an undisputed media star. From the middle of the first decade of this century, the effects of climate, forecasts, research and summits and related policies have dominated all media over the rest of environmental issues. On climate change, 2007 was key as the fourth report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Group on Climate Change was published. And two other variables, entertainment and economics. On the one hand, the dissemination of the documentary “An Uncomfortable Truth” by Al Gore, thanks to the well-known protagonist and the advertising machinist of the film industry, and, on the other, at the end of 2006, the publication of the Stern Report of the British government on climate change as a global economic problem.

However, the transmission of messages on the effects of global warming has not eliminated the dangers that environmental journalism has accompanied in the Spanish state since its founding in the 1970s. Moreover, despite increasing ecological awareness, this specialization of journalism is a small David before the consumer society, Goliath, and one of the pillars of consumer society is mass spectacle.

Barriers to environmental messages

Environmental communication continues to present economic, cultural and social barriers. Continued growth, globalization and delocalization, as well as infrastructure construction, are above any other reasoning that refers to sustainability or biodiversity. Likewise, developed countries have based the conquest of well-being on a consumption model that increases to infinity in crescendo and a growing energy dependence. At the sociological level, individuality, collective passivity and competitiveness prevail in all areas. Technological optimism also means that citizens have little involvement in public protection processes, such as the environment or the atmosphere.

In this context, the process of communicating climate change is conditioned by different factors. First, there are characteristics of the phenomenon: it is distant, unknown and has long-term implications. In addition, as a complex reality, it affects several sectors worldwide, especially the economic. Finally, it is easy to manipulate through political discourses and in journalism some specialization is required not to address the issue from the skin, sensationalism or catastrophism.

Media business toll

As we have deepened in the idiosyncrasy of climate change, we will know above the mass media. Communication companies are entities that seek audiences, advertising and sponsorships in order to obtain benefits. Therefore, environmental education is not among its functions. Keep in mind that good news is not new and that to get the public the headlines have to be attractive or not. At the same time, we must not forget that, thanks to new information and communication technologies, we have very powerful images of the uncontrollable nature. It is a catastrophic vision of disasters caused by natural phenomena and photographs of the most surprising atmospheric phenomena. Climate change must compete with this media context. Therefore, it is not surprising that the messages and images that the public receives about it are repetitive topics.

The social demand for environmental issues is also fundamental. The media are not the only ones that generate public opinion. Lately, and due to the features of web 2.0, messages are conditioned by audience preferences. Climate change mitigation work continues to be perceived as a personal sacrifice that involves a radical change in the value scale of consumer-based welfare society and does not take into account environmental impacts.

Is the environment interesting for society? The Center for Sociological Research (CIS) -- Opinions and Attitudes nº 67, 2010-- has shown that among the main problems of Spaniards does not appear the environment, which appears at the bottom of the list. On the contrary, the issues of unemployment, economy, political class and political parties occupy the top positions on the list. Environmental values have increased, but these values are not reflected in people's activity and lifestyle, but remain stable. On the other hand, surveys such as the Social Perception of Science (FECYT, 2010) show that the environment and ecology are the third area of interest of Spaniards, behind medicine and health and food and consumption. As for Europe, the 2008 Eurobarometer already showed that climate change is the most important environmental problem for people.

Finally, let's look at the environment in the media. Considering that television is the main source of public opinion -- although this trend is changing with the increasing use of the Internet, it is observed that environmental information has been 3.43% of the 32,582 news broadcast over a year (2007-2008) on TVE, Cuatro, Antena 3 and Telecinco channels, according to a study conducted by Rey Juan Carlos University.

Consumer societies in developed economies have opted for attractive messages --basic journalistic norm - to the detriment of the quality of environmental messages. The new possibilities of communication through the Network and the advance of multidirectional communication have created the possibility of moving the balance to the other side, and once again the results will depend on the involvement of citizens.