Abstract
Global environmental change has been a topic of discussion in the media for many decades, and social perception of media terminology has been a topic of research interest. However, a systematic review of large-scale online discussions and the terminology used has not been undertaken. Here, we analyze 16 years of Reddit discussions, encompassing 11.5 billion posts, to examine how language surrounding climate change has evolved over time from 2005 to 2021. We applied sentiment analysis, polarity, subjectivity, and readability metrics to discussions of “global warming” and “climate change”. We found that the use of “climate change” surpassed “global warming” in 2013, with “climate change” associated with more negative sentiment and higher subjectivity. Additionally, we observed a decline in the proportion of climate-related discussions over time despite the increasing total number of posts. These findings suggest that public engagement with climate topics on Reddit is waning, and the choice of terminology significantly influences the tone and complexity of the discourse. Our results have important implications for how climate issues are communicated and perceived by the public.
Published Version
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