Climate discourse: eluding literacy, justice & inclusion, by evading causation, privilege & diversity

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper examines climate change discourse in Southeast Florida through the lenses of intersectionality and environmental and climate justice. Specifically, we highlight two less pronounced justice principles, education and socioecological interdependency, in combination with a relational approach to intersectionality, to study how climate change is presented in a particular time (pre-2015) and place (Southeast Florida). We analyze media, event, visual, and resident-researcher data and find three paired narratives and omissions put forth primarily by middle-aged, middle-class professionals. First, we identify a rise of climate educators who promote climate reality and impacts, while neglecting the anthropogenic causes of climate change. Second, geophysical lessons are advanced, amid confounding coastal development. Third, professional interests are voiced, while population diversity, including migration histories and generational futures, go unrecognized as potential resources or concerns to broaden climate interest and action within and beyond the region. At a time when the region was discovering the early impacts of climate change, we find both progress and avoidance toward raising awareness and supporting action, whether intentionally, unintentionally, or consequentially.