Page 46 - Sustainability Communication Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoritical Foundations

3 Sustainability Communication: An Integrative Approach 29

In line with this broader understanding of the term, environmental communication
is not simply a social phenomena to be observed. It can also be strategically influ-
enced. This leads to the moral question about the ethical stance of the scientist.
Every researcher must answer the question as to whether it is enough to work on
analysing the relationship of humans to nature or whether he or she should use this
knowledge to make a contribution to combating environmental abuses (see Peterson
et al. 2007 on environmental communication as a ‘crisis discipline’).

Environmental Communication as a Key Instrument
of Environmental Policy

Environmental communication goes beyond traditional ideas of communication as
the dissemination of information, the findings of scientific research or the resulting
policy options. Doubtlessly it is an important instrument of environmental policy,
which however should not only be seen as governmental action. On the contrary,
environmental communication can be understood as the sum of all efforts undertaken
to develop society ecologically and sustainably (Hajer 1995). In societal communi-
cation the media play an important role not only for the creation of everyday knowl-
edge but to a much greater extent for the transmission of information about global
environmental changes. The medial handling of the environment is a difficult terrain.
Due to their complexity, environmental topics are much more closely related than
other issues to uncertainty and not-knowing and not-being-able-to-know. As a result
uncertainty in society grows and worries about the future become more prevalent
(BMU 2009). Mass media are most important for communication in modern societ-
ies because they are able to select and amplify the attention paid to a given topic and
so influence public opinion (Maasen 2009).
In the classic understanding of environmental policy, environmental communica-
tion is commonly considered to be a persuasive (or informational or appellative)
instrument. As a result its importance is often underestimated and it is classified as
a ‘soft’ instrument, although it has a central function in terms of the implementation
and acceptance of other instruments (Renn et al. 1995). It can be argued that envi-
ronmental communication “can be better understood as a kind of ‘basic instrument’,
namely in an adequate form it is necessary for the communicability and so the
acceptability and functionality of all other instruments” (Mierheim 2002).
Environmental communication should – especially when it is understood as ‘com-
munication for sustainability’ – be considered a ‘key concept’. “Environmental
communication seeks to enhance the ability of society to respond appropriately to
environmental signals relevant to the well-being of both human civilization and
natural biological systems. [And that] scholars, teachers, and practitioners have a
duty to educate, question, critically evaluate, or otherwise speak in appropriate
forums when (…) communication practices are constrained or suborned for harmful
or unsustainable policies toward human communities and the natural world”
(Cox 2007: 15f).