Communicating the Climate Crisis puts communication at the center of the change we need, providing concrete strategies that help break the inertia that blocks social and cultural transformation. Reimagining “earth” not just as the ground we walk upon but as the atmosphere we breathe—Eairth—this book examines our consumption-based identities in fossil fuel culture and the necessity of structural change to address the climate crisis. Strategies for overcoming obstacles start with facing the emotional challenges and mental health tolls of the crisis that lead to climate silence. Breaking that silence through personal climate conversations elevates the importance of the problem, finds common ground, and eases “climate anxiety.” Climate justice and faith-based worldviews help articulate our moral responsibility to take drastic action to protect all humans and the living world. This book tells a new story of hope through action—not as isolated, “guilty” consumers but as social actors who engage hearts, hands, and minds to envision and create a desired future.
Author(s): Julia B. Corbett
Series: Environmental Communication and Nature: Conflict and Ecoculture in the Anthropocene
Publisher: Lexington Books
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 229
City: Lanham
Cover
Communicating the Climate Crisis
Series page
Communicating the Climate Crisis: New Directions for Facing What Lies Ahead
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Eairth
The Science of Climate Change
It’s Us
A Climate-Changed World
Weather Is the New Polar Bear
Communicating a Super-Wicked Problem
New Directions for Climate Communication
Notes
Chapter 2
Fossil Fuel Culture
Fossil Fuels and Cultural History
Fossil Fuel Values and Cultural Identity
Consumption: The Defining Value of Fossil Fuel Culture
Climate Change, Social Order, and Cultural Trauma
Communication and the Climate Change Movement
Cultural Transformation
Notes
Chapter 3
Individuals as Social Actors, Not Consumers
Rethinking the Role of the Individual
Information and the Individual
Individuals Are Social Actors
Holistic Interactions Lead to Social Change
Collective Problem, Collective Citizens
“Bowling” for Social Actors
Notes
Chapter 4
Emotions and Climate Silence
The Mental Health Tolls of Climate Change
Facing Emotions and Fears
Defense Mechanisms We Employ
Working through Emotions
Ecological Grief and Mourning
Theories of Denial
Emotional Resilience
Notes
Chapter 5
Breaking the Silence
Talking Works
Why It’s So Hard to Talk about Climate Change
Aims of Climate Conversations
Preparing for Climate Conversations
Listening and Building Trust in a Climate Conversation
Scaling Up Your Climate Conversations
Values in Climate Conversations
When Talking Gets Tough
Practicing Conversations
Resources for Climate Conversations
Notes
Chapter 6
Justice and Faith
Foundations and Frames: The Moral Imperative
Environmental and Climate Justice
Goals and Tactics of a “Just Transition”
The Moral Imperative within Faith Traditions
Climate Action by Faiths, But Also Tensions
Strategies for Religious Conversations
The Urgent Moral Imperative
Notes
Chapter 7
A New Relationship with Eairth
A Journey of Relationships
Dancing at the Top of the Pyramid
Mending the Circle
A Transition to a New Relationship
All Flourishing Is Mutual
Notes
Chapter 8
Telling a New Story
Stories in Our Lives
Leaving Fossil Fuels as a Rite of Passage
Separating from the Old Story
The Liminal Transition
Truly Engaging with Hearts, Hands, and Minds
Reincorporation: Envisioning New Stories
Notes
Index
About the Author
