292
C. Ledderucci
Moreover, decision-makers’ actions are influenced and embedded in socio-cultural
and political values, as well as scientific contexts in which ‘facts’ are created (Lahsen
2010).
At this point, it is important to mention the role of mass media in the creation
of climate change as one of the most discussed realities in the twenty-first century.
The scientific issue of global warming was popularized by mass media during the
mid-1980s, strengthening the idea that climate change is an undeniable scientific
truth. Over the last decades, media coverage has shaped the public perception on the
theme of climate change by utilizing what Boykoff and Boykoff (2007) identified as
first-order journalistic norms exploiting personalization, dramatization and novelty.
This has been possible because of an accurate choice of news coverage influencing
an interplay between scientists, policy actors and the public. More recently, mass
media played a key role in suggesting the controversy over climate change and its
reality, promoting popular debate regarding the issue (Swain 2017).
Social sciences and humanities play a key role in this debate for two main reasons.
Through a critical analysis of natural sciences, they can help the decision-making
process to be more effective, and they can improve the knowledge about climate
change and its cultural meaning. Thus, social scientists are well-positioned to explain
consensus and controversy and their ‘creation’ (or construction). They can unravel
the interplay between science, power, and politics, highlighting those particular
processes that transform norms into habits (Latour and Woolgar 1979). They can,
therefore, help find solutions to climate change-related political issues examining
social and cultural representations. For this reason, Crate (2011) proposed a new
methodology, namely that of ‘climate ethnography’—that is a multi-sited, critical
collaborative ethnography able to adopt cross-scale, multi-stakeholder, and interdisciplinary approaches into research and practice—to investigate and understand, on
a local level, how indigenous peoples perceive and conceptualize the climate and
its changing nature. On the other hand, Kempf and Hermann (2014) criticized this
approach because of the supposed cultural essentialism
1 it entails. Moreover, Crook
and Rudiak-Gould (2018) suggest the importance of taking into account indigenous
ecologies and philosophies to better understand the reception of climate change in
regions of the world like the Pacific Islands.
Finally, social scientists can interpret and observe the role of images and the
role of the Internet, nowadays a fundamental means of communication strategically
positioned to influence trust towards specific discursive constructions (Scott-Parker
et al. 2017). The Internet and social media are a key component of many climate
activists’ campaigns. Indeed, one of the characteristics I first noted was their activity
on the web. This was a privileged point of observation, explicitly used by the activists
to explain their positions and views on climate change.
The data used in the article was collected between February and June 2018 in New
Caledonia. In Nouméa, I met and interviewed Billy Cava, the coordinator of 350
Nouvelle-Calédonie, the Caledonian branch of the movement 350 Pacific. Following
1 Cultural identity is not a static concept; rather, it is both historically created and the result of
interpretation.
C. Ledderucci
Moreover, decision-makers’ actions are influenced and embedded in socio-cultural
and political values, as well as scientific contexts in which ‘facts’ are created (Lahsen
2010).
At this point, it is important to mention the role of mass media in the creation
of climate change as one of the most discussed realities in the twenty-first century.
The scientific issue of global warming was popularized by mass media during the
mid-1980s, strengthening the idea that climate change is an undeniable scientific
truth. Over the last decades, media coverage has shaped the public perception on the
theme of climate change by utilizing what Boykoff and Boykoff (2007) identified as
first-order journalistic norms exploiting personalization, dramatization and novelty.
This has been possible because of an accurate choice of news coverage influencing
an interplay between scientists, policy actors and the public. More recently, mass
media played a key role in suggesting the controversy over climate change and its
reality, promoting popular debate regarding the issue (Swain 2017).
Social sciences and humanities play a key role in this debate for two main reasons.
Through a critical analysis of natural sciences, they can help the decision-making
process to be more effective, and they can improve the knowledge about climate
change and its cultural meaning. Thus, social scientists are well-positioned to explain
consensus and controversy and their ‘creation’ (or construction). They can unravel
the interplay between science, power, and politics, highlighting those particular
processes that transform norms into habits (Latour and Woolgar 1979). They can,
therefore, help find solutions to climate change-related political issues examining
social and cultural representations. For this reason, Crate (2011) proposed a new
methodology, namely that of ‘climate ethnography’—that is a multi-sited, critical
collaborative ethnography able to adopt cross-scale, multi-stakeholder, and interdisciplinary approaches into research and practice—to investigate and understand, on
a local level, how indigenous peoples perceive and conceptualize the climate and
its changing nature. On the other hand, Kempf and Hermann (2014) criticized this
approach because of the supposed cultural essentialism
1 it entails. Moreover, Crook
and Rudiak-Gould (2018) suggest the importance of taking into account indigenous
ecologies and philosophies to better understand the reception of climate change in
regions of the world like the Pacific Islands.
Finally, social scientists can interpret and observe the role of images and the
role of the Internet, nowadays a fundamental means of communication strategically
positioned to influence trust towards specific discursive constructions (Scott-Parker
et al. 2017). The Internet and social media are a key component of many climate
activists’ campaigns. Indeed, one of the characteristics I first noted was their activity
on the web. This was a privileged point of observation, explicitly used by the activists
to explain their positions and views on climate change.
The data used in the article was collected between February and June 2018 in New
Caledonia. In Nouméa, I met and interviewed Billy Cava, the coordinator of 350
Nouvelle-Calédonie, the Caledonian branch of the movement 350 Pacific. Following
1 Cultural identity is not a static concept; rather, it is both historically created and the result of
interpretation.