Climate Change Campaign Research Articles

Eco-Maqāṣid in Climate Change Campaigns: From an Ecolinguistics Study to the Philosophy of Islamic Law

This article aims to uncover ‘eco-maqāṣid’, an Islamic legal philosophy related to environmental awareness. Using a multimodality approach, the study begins by understanding the textual and visual meaning of climate change campaigns with Islamic themes on the @greenpeace.id Instagram account. The data were further explored through ecolinguistic studies to reveal The Stories We Live By, Ecological Philosophy (ecosophy), and Maqāṣid al-Sharī’ah. The findings show that the type of story constructed through the representation of the relationship between images and text is predominantly in the category of Salience, highlighting the importance of maqāṣid principles to environmental aspects. The principle of hifz al-nafs supports the promotion of environmental sustainability to protect Muslim health from the impacts of climate change. Hifz al-māl plays a role in the efforts of mitigation and adaptation to the threats of climate change to protect the assets and economic well-being of Muslim communities. Hifz al-nasl is related to the sustainable prese­­­rvation of Islamic rituals, holidays, and cultural traditions. Meanwhile, hifz al-dīn is reflected in the endeavor to care for the environment as a religious duty manifested from Quranic verses and Hadith. Hifz al-‘aql resonates with strengthening environmental education through Ulama advice and Islamic ethics. Finally, all ḍarūriyyāt al-khams advocates for the protection of all elements in nature. This integration of maqāṣid into ecosophy illustrates how Islamic principles guide environmental management against climate change, creating a framework called ‘eco-maqāṣid’.

The Effective Communication through Climate Change Campaign in Sustainable Port Development

Port development has an impact on climate change. A sustainable port as a solution to the problem focuses on three pillars: economic, social and environmental. This article explores and analyses the challenges to the development of sustainable development of PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo), using PT Terminal Petikemas Surabaya (TPS) as a case study. Our aim in this study is to highlight the importance of two pillars, namely environmental and social in the concept of sustainability. This study analyses the environmental climate change campaign conducted by TPS. The researcher used a qualitative descriptive approach to conduct the case study. Data were collected through interviews and observations as primary data, while internal company data, documentary films, internet media coverage, and literature studies became secondary data. The research revealed the company's communication process by collecting information regarding the number of impressions received from news coverage and social media reports. Since TPS has not determined a standardised score, the communication process needs a more comprehensive evaluation. TPS should focus on this area further to determine the effectiveness of its current communication strategy.

Communication, theory of change, and clean energy

Some years ago, I stepped away from my faculty position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) to become more deeply engaged with the Sierra Club, one of the oldest environmental NGOs in the United States. Given my research, I knew insights into strategic communication in advocacy campaigns would likely be applicable, particularly, to the climate change efforts in which I was planning to participate. Climate change campaigns, like campaigns focused on other issues, usually involve multiple forms of communication—grassroots organizing, social media, demonstrations, media coverage, placards, canvassing, etc. Beyond these tactical uses, NGOs also may conceive a strategic rationale for a campaign itself as derived from core communication principles. As it turned out, I would have an opportunity to help to design one such campaign, a message driven initiative to accelerate the movement toward a greater commitment to use 100% clean, renewable energy in the United States.

Social media use for climate change campaign among Indonesian millennials

Background: Climate change has threatened humanity and brought about serious impacts for at least two decades. The terrible threat can be addressed through social media. Purpose: This study examined how Indonesian millennials use social media to discuss and advocate for climate change. Methods: It employed mixed methods to combine climate change data from scholarly sources and strategic communication strategies in social media campaigns. Results: The results indicated a predominant presence of millennials, particularly in the 20-29 age group, using Instagram as the primary platform for climate change discussions. Social media highlighted limited engagement with experts and concerns about misinformation and emphasized the vital role of celebrities and influencers in climate change campaigns on social media. Conclusion: The research suggested that social media platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp facilitate climate change discussions among Indonesian millennials. They enable tailored communication strategies and emphasize the potential for social media campaigns to influence a certain behavior. This research also emphasizes the need for a combined approach involving online and offline channels, better climate change education, and collaboration. Implications: The findings underscore the necessity for Indonesia’s climate change advocacy to integrate offline and online communication strategies that are tailored to individual preferences and enhance millennials’ understanding through targeted education and social media campaigns. Public figures may also be involved for broader impacts.

Authoritarian Environmentalism as Reflected in the Journalistic Sourcing of Climate Change Reporting in China

ABSTRACT This study investigates how Chinese news media cover climate change through the lens of authoritarian environmentalism, China’s alternative model of environmental governance. Combining computational methods and manual coding, we analyzed the sourcing patterns of climate change articles across three news media types (party media, financial media, and metropolitan media) from 2013 to 2021. Results showed three features: First, state officials were predominant in all sourcing categories, drowning the voices of experts, non-governmental organizations, and citizens. Second, only a small percentage of sources concerned scientific knowledge, environmental problems, and collective action. Instead, most highlighted climate change campaigns as achievements of China’s leadership. Third, critical opinions were gradually muted over time. These findings indicate that the issue of climate change has been utilized by Chinese news media as a tool to serve the legitimacy of authoritarian governance and promote the image of top leadership, rather than encouraging citizens and stakeholders to participate in environmental actions.

Perception of climate change in an academic community in Colombia—a pilot study in a developing country

The study applied a climate change (CC) perception survey in Colombia between 2021 and 2022 to gather information about the national academic community from UNAD University (Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia). The survey's fundamental component was the use of Yale's Six Americas Super Short Survey (SASSY) questions and algorithm, which allows the segmentation of the population into six audiences based on their views on climate change. In addition, the study analyzed the perception regarding causes and consequences of extreme climate events, personal engagement to reduce CC, opinions on public policies, and the willingness to participate in CC campaigns. This study contributes to increasing the understanding of the CC perception of specific community groups in developing countries. Furthermore, these pilot results can help orient universities and the academic community in designing their CC communication and education strategies.

Analysis of the Level of Exposure to Environmental Content in University Facebook Pages in Kenya

This research examined the frequency of environmental content and which type had the most likes, shares, and comments to ascertain the level of exposure to environmental content on university Facebook pages in Kenya. The study did content analyses for a period of three months (February – May 2023)of environmental content posted on the official Facebook pages of eight universities (four public and four private universities) that were sampled from 68 universities in the country using simple random sampling. The main objective of teh study was to examine the level of exposure to environmental content on university Facebook pages. The research used desktop research methodology to gather freely accessible data. The research focused on two specific objectives: to investigate the frequency at which environmental content was posted on the university Facebook pages in Kenya and to ascertain the level of engagement with the environmental content posted on the university Facebook pages in Kenya. The research used a quantitative content analysis design to determine the frequency and types of environmental content universities disseminate on their official Facebook pages.. A thorough content analyses code was devised to classify environmental content by types such as climate change, sustainability programs, conservation efforts, and environmental awareness campaigns. The research examined how often environmental content was posted on the official university Facebook pages in Kenya compared to other themes. Additionally, it assessed engagement metrics for environmental posts including likes, comments, and shares, which revealed the degree of user engagement and possible influence of such content. The research provided insights into how prevalent and widely known environmental issues became through postings on university social media pages.

Sea surface temperature anomalies and cash holdings: Evidence from fisheries companies

This study examines the impact of sea temperature anomalies on the cash holdings of fisheries companies from 27 countries for the period of 2013–2019. The main findings using a dynamic panel regression revealed a positive relationship between temperature anomalies and cash holdings. We find that firms tend to hold more cash to response the high temperature anomalies. This strategy is taken as a precautionary action to tackle climate-related risks, supporting the cash management and nature resource-based view theory. This precautionary cash will lead to underinvestment, hurting the fisheries industry growth. Thus, policymakers and corporate management must prioritize their efforts in the climate change campaign to avoid higher sea temperature anomalies.

Economic implications of climate change effects and awareness level among arable crops farmers in south-south, Nigeria

The foremost aim of the survey is to determine the economic implication of climatic effects and awareness level among respondents. Multi-stage procedure of sampling was adopted in assortment of the study sample. Studied data were attained with the aid of designed questionnaires and analysed using descriptive statistics. Respondent were matured with average age of 49 years with low educational level of primary school who were mostly married female gender. The study observed moderate family size of 9 persons having 19 years farming experience undergoing full-time arable crop farming and respondents mostly grown cassava, cocoyam, yam and maize. Climate agent affected respondents negatively leading to loss of arable crops output and annual income. Respondents were aware of climatic factors but attributed it to natural disaster and punishment from their gods. Climate change awareness level was low as most respondents does not believe that climate change exist. This is of serious concern to climate change scholars in bridging the awareness gap level in our society especially in the rural areas and Government and NGOs should provide short term relief and credits to respondents. It further recommends awareness of climate change campaign in the rural communities.

Iconic 21st Century Activist "T-Shirt and Tote-Bag" Combination Is Hard to Miss These Days!

Iconic 21st Century Activist "T-Shirt and Tote-Bag" Combination Is Hard to Miss These Days!

Framing Climate Change in the 5th Estate: Comparing Online Advocacy and Denial Webpages and Their Engagement

Debates about anthropogenic climate change grew increasingly polarized as online channels emerged as primary news sources. This raises the question of how online media shape the perceived salience of climate change issues. Guided by agenda-setting theory and framing theory, this study utilized topic modeling to examine online climate change advocacy and denial webpages posted from 2007–2019. Engagement with media agendas, public agendas, and framing related to climate change were examined. Advocacy webpages were more engaging than denial webpages. The more frequently that a climate change topical frame was covered by online media, the more likely it would be engaged on social media (SM). Climate change topical frames differed in their ability to engage SM users. Several competing climate change advocacy and denial topical frames differed significantly in SM engagement. Results can help researchers to design effective climate change campaigns as well as develop programs to track and combat online misinformation.

The pikas of China: a review of current research priorities and challenges for conservation.

Of the approximately 30 extant species of pika (Ochotona; Ochotonidae; Lagomorpha), at least 23 occur in China. Of these, 8 are endemic, and 3 are classified as Endangered by the IUCN. Research into most Chinese species is scarce, and there is much to learn about basic aspects of their ecology. We reviewed the literature on the 23 Chinese Ochotona species, with the aim of highlighting knowledge gaps and biases in research allocation. Specifically, we identify (1) which pika species receive the most attention from researchers, (2) which topics are the most frequently studied, and (3) how well research satisfies conservation priorities. We covered a total of 879 articles, most of which were written in English or Chinese. Around 75% of all publications focused on the plateau pika Ochotona curzoniae. Seven species were represented by 10 or fewer publications each. Endangered and endemic species were particularly poorly represented. 204 papers treated pikas as a pest, while 13 studied conservation issues. Nine species were considered possible targets for pest control, including some poorly known endemics. We make some recommendations on how research into Chinese Ochotona could be improved, including: (1) recognizing that the current species-level taxonomy may be an ineffective way to prioritize conservation research in Ochotona, (2) directing more research toward threatened and endemic species, subspecies, and populations, (3) researching the ecosystem engineering effects of pikas, (4) collecting basic data on natural history of the many understudied species, and (5) researching threats, including climate change and pest control campaigns.

Chinese Public Perception of Climate Change on Social Media: An Investigation Based on Data Mining and Text Analysis.

Climate change is a serious threat to humankind. As broad public participation is required in climate change mitigation efforts, it is critical to understand how the public talk about climate change on social media. This study sets out to increase the understanding of Chinese public awareness of climate change, as well as explore the potential and limitations of social media for public engagement on climate change issues. It examines the Chinese public's discussion about climate change on social media Weibo during the last six years through data mining and text analysis. The analyses include volume analysis, keyword extraction, topic modeling, and sentiment analysis. The results indicate three main aspects of public awareness and concern regarding climate change. First, public awareness of climate change is growing in China. Second, the sentiment analysis shows that the general sentiment toward climate change is becoming more positive over time. Third, based on keyword extraction and topic modeling, the discussion on climate change shows a top-down perspective, an optimistic economic perspective, and a preference for celebrity content. The study provides a comprehensive picture of Chinese social media users' views on climate change issues, based on large-scale research data. It contributes to a better understanding of what Chinese people think about climate change on social media generally. These findings may provide government and environmental organizations with valuable insights for better climate change campaigns on social media.

Changing the World One Meme at a Time: The Effects of Climate Change Memes on Civic Engagement Intentions

ABSTRACT The risks that animals and humans face from climate change are frequently featured in climate change memes. Although memes may appear to some as silly jokes, little is known of the impact they may have in the formation and spread of individuals’ perceived risk of climate change and intention to participate in climate change campaigns. This study tests the effect of climate change memes on the perceived risk of climate change and the intention of online engagement regarding climate change issues. Results show that exposure to climate change memes increases individual intentions of online civic engagement regarding climate change. Additionally, empathy is found to mediate this effect. However, risk perception of climate change is not altered after exposure to climate change memes.

Eco-office campaign as a way to achieve the sustainable development goals in Directorate General of Taxes

Excessive use of paper and plastic is one of the factors that causing climate change. Directorate General of Taxes starts to implement eco-office concept as one of the responsibilities of good governance in supporting climate change campaign. It is an effort to improve environmental quality and work environment comfort through daily behaviour change of DGT employees. DGT is expected to hold public service by taking resources efficiently, such as reducing the use of tax report paper forms and disposable drinking bottles. This literature review research aims to arrange the strategy of campaign message needed to get obedience followed by behaviour change of the DGT employees in implementing the eco-office concept in daily life. This paper is a compilation of several data and previous research concerning climate change campaigns that would be collected systematically and then deeply analyse to obtain research findings. The result showed that the message content and media are the main things in campaign strategy arrangement. To obtain obedience, the content of the message has to include reward, punishment, expertise, and impersonal and personal commitment. Mass media can be used as a medium to convey the message of an eco-office campaign that can change the audiences’ behaviour.

Tropospheric vertical profiling of the aerosol backscatter coefficient and the particle linear depolarization ratio for different aerosol mixtures during the PANACEA campaign in July 2019 at Volos, Greece

The PANhellenic infrastructure for Atmospheric Composition and climate change (PANACEA) campaign took place in July 2019, to assess the presence of aerosols both in situ and at different heights, in selected cities of Greece suffering from high air pollution levels. One of these sites was the city of Volos (39.21° N., 22.57° E). Vertical profiles of the aerosol backscatter coefficient (baer) and the particle linear depolarization ratio (δp) of maritime polluted, urban, smoke and dust mixtures were measured during using the mobile depolarization Aerosol lIdAr System (AIAS). 42 aerosol layers were characterized, out of which 40% were of urban origin, 26% of smoke origin, 21% maritime polluted aerosol layers and 12% dust mixtures. The maritime polluted and urban aerosols showed a mean δp value at 532 nm of 4 ± 1%, within a range of 2–6% and 2–5%, respectively. The smoke aerosols showed a mean δp value of 6 ± 1%, within a range of 3–9%, while the dust mixtures showed a mean δp of 20 ± 4%, ranging from 13 to 29%. Finally, the majority of these layers were observed above 250 up to 2000 m height asl., although the dust mixtures reached 3000 m height asl.

Climate Change and Social Campaigns

The impact of climate change on humanity and nature is increasingly evident. The atmosphere and oceans have warmed, leading to rising sea levels, a sharp drop in Arctic sea ice, floods, heatwaves, and fires. Calls to action are getting stronger. Concerns about climate change have become a full social movement, stimulating climate activism from the bottom up to the world, especially among young people. Campaigns are initiated by governments and international organizations, scientists and scientific institutions, organizations, groups, and people in civil society, public intellectuals and political, religious leaders, people of culture and entertainment. These campaigns generally aim to inform, raise awareness and shape public understanding about the science, problems, and policy of climate change, with the hope that, first of all, people will change their attitudes and behavior, and secondly, will mobilize to put pressure on policymakers for effective climate policies.

Understanding the Outcomes of Climate Change Campaigns in the Australian Environmental Movement

Climate change is a global problem requiring a collective response. Grassroots advocacy has been an important element in propelling this collective response, often through the mechanism of campaigns. However, it is not clear whether the climate change campaigns organized by the environmental advocacy groups are successful in achieving their goals, nor the degree to which other benefits may accrue to groups who run them. To investigate this further, we report a case study of the Australian climate change advocacy sector. Three methods were used to gather data to inform this case study: content analysis of climate change organizations’ websites, analysis of website text relating to campaign outcomes, and interviews with climate change campaigners. Findings demonstrate that climate change advocacy is diverse and achieving substantial successes such as the development of climate change-related legislation and divestment commitments from a range of organizations. The data also highlights additional benefits of campaigning such as gaining access to political power and increasing groups’ financial and volunteer resources. The successful outcomes of campaigns were influenced by the ability of groups to sustain strong personal support networks, use skills and resources available across the wider environmental advocacy network, and form consensus around shared strategic values. Communicating the successes of climate change advocacy could help mobilize collective action to address climate change. As such, this case study of the Australian climate change movement is relevant for both academics focusing on social movements and collective action and advocacy-focused practitioners, philanthropists, and non-governmental organizations.

The Characteristics, Activities and Goals of Environmental Organizations Engaged in Advocacy Within the Australian Environmental Movement

ABSTRACT A sustained groundswell of grassroots advocacy is required to trigger the urgent action required to solve our many global environmental problems. To gain a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics, issue focus, tactics and targets of this grassroots advocacy, we analyzed the website communications of 497 environmental movement organizations (EMOs) undertaking advocacy in Australia. Findings indicate that Conservation and Protection issues continue to dominate, although a wave of new climate change-related issue groups have emerged in recent years. Almost half of all groups operate at a local level. EMO websites suggest that their actions are primarily normative (vs. radical), and focus primarily on information provision. Of the 960 campaign targets identified, just over half were political, however, climate change, renewable energy and sustainability campaigns more often targeted individuals or business entities. We identify the areas where further investigation could advance the research agenda on grassroots environmental advocacy.

Perceived Climate Variability and Farm Level Adaptation in the Central River Region of The Gambia

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the recurring erratic and uneven rainfall distribution has resulted in low crop yields, income losses, and low food stock. In response to these climate change challenges, farmers have recourse to several coping strategies to survive. This present paper explores farmers’ perception of climate variability and the coping strategies in use in the Central River Region of The Gambia. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze perceived climate variability and farm level adaptation options in the region. Data were collected from 283 farmhouses through transect walks, quantitative surveys including the use focus group discussions. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results revealed that farmers generally perceive an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events and a decrease in the duration of the growing season. With regards to vulnerability and severity, nearly 95% of the respondents considered the dryness as the main threat to their farming activities and perceived its consequences as the most severe. The results equally showed that the perception of changes is linked to the adoption of some adaptation measures among which the preferred were the use of chemical fertilizers (66%), though it is stated to be the most expensive. The Spearman correlation test showed that the use of water conservation techniques is highly correlated with the quality of soil surface structure (p ≤ 0.01) and soil storage capacity (p ≤ 0.01). Findings of this study are of paramount importance in planning and implementing adaptation policies in The Gambia and beyond. To improve farmers’ resilience, drought tolerant crops should be promoted along with climate change and variability awareness campaigns.