Page 136 - Sustainability Communication Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoritical Foundations

Chapter 11
Climate Change as an Element

of Sustainability Communication

Jens Newig

Abstract Climate change communication is a new and fast-developing element of
sustainability communication. It can be conceived of both as communication about
and as communication of climate change, referring to an analytical and a normative
dimension of the concept. In this contribution, climate change communication will
be outlined and its role within the larger field of sustainability communication will
be discussed.

Keywords Climate change • Climate change communication • Mass media • Media
discourse • Participation

Climate Change as a Sustainability Issue that Calls
for Communication

Anthropogenic climate change constitutes a paradigmatic sustainability problem,
reaching well beyond what is commonly known as ‘environmental problems’. For
three fundamental reasons, communication is a key element in societal strategies to
cope with climate change.
First of all, the issue of climate change is characterised by a high level of
complexity and uncertainty. As a global issue, its causes and (potential) implica-
tions vary greatly around the world (Young et al. 2006). The complex and highly
non-linear system of interdependencies among the elements of the global climate
are still not fully understood, rendering forecasts of the effects of greenhouse gas
emissions and other factors highly uncertain, if not impossible. As moreover the

J. Newig (*)
Research Group Governance, Participation and Sustainability,
Institute for Environmental and Sustainability Communication,
Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany
e-mail: newig@uni.leuphana.de

J. Godemann and G. Michelsen (eds.), Sustainability Communication: Interdisciplinary 119
Perspectives and Theoretical Foundations, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-1697-1_11,
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011