Unveiling unseen climate practices on Instagram
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2238-7714.no.2020.171996Keywords:
Climate practices, Human connection, Instagram, Visual studies, PhotographyAbstract
Climate change is often portrayed through stereotypical, extreme or controversial messages, with the role of human agency attached to consumption and demonstrations. Such depictions can be demotivating and cause issue fatigue. There is a need to broaden and elaborate our understanding of human connections to climate change. The aim of this paper is to identify a wide array of climate practices expressed by social media users. An empirical study of 42 Finnish ecological Instagram accounts was conducted. The textual and visual contents of climate-related posts were qualitatively analyzed to identify climate practices and the role visual images play in these representations. Six types of climate practices were identified in the data: detaching, reforming, transilluminating, persevering, caring and consolidating. The visualization of climate practices should be expanded in the media to broaden the understanding of potential human agency in the climate crisis.
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BRIGHENTI, A. Visibility: a category for the social sciences. Current Sociology, v. 55, n. 3, pp. 323–342, 2007. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392107076079.
CALDEIRA, S. P.; DE RIDDER, S. Representing diverse femininities on Instagram: a case study of the body-positive @effyourbeautystandards Instagram account. Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies, v. 9, n. 2, pp. 321–337, 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/cjcs.9.2.321¬_1.
CORNER, A.; WEBSTER, R.; TERIETE, C. Climate Visuals: Seven principles for visual climate change communication (based on international social research). Oxford: Climate Outreach, 2015.
COULDRY, N.; Media, society, world: Social theory and digital media practice. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2012.
DOWLING, R. Geographies of identity: climate change, governmentality and activism. Progress in Human Geography, v. 34, n. 4, pp. 488–495, 2010. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132509348427.
EISEWICHT, P.; KIRSCHNER, H. Giving in on the field: localizing life-world analytic ethnography in mediatized fields. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, v. 44, n. 5, pp. 657–673, 2015. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241615595437.
GRASSENI, C. Communities of practice and forms of life: towards a rehabilitation of vision. In: HARRIS, M. (org.) Ways of knowing: new approaches in the anthropology of experience and learning. Oxford: Berghahn, 2007, pp. 203–221.
HULME, M. The conquering of climate: discourses of fear and their dissolution. The Geographical Journal, v.174, n.1, pp. 5–16, 2008. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2008.00266.x.
HIGHFIELD, T. Social media and everyday politics. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2016.
INSTAGRAM Year in Review 2018. Instagram (blog) 12/dez/2018. Disponível em: https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/instagram-year-in-review-2018. Acessado em: 20/mai/2020.
JOFFE, H. The power of visual material: persuasion, emotion and identification. Diogenes, v. 55, n. 1, pp. 84–93, 2008. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0392192107087919.
IPCC. Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate. IPCC, 2018. Disponível em: https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/. Acessado em 20/mai/2020.
KANGAS, J. Näkymätön ilmasto, näkyviä kuvia: Ilmastoriskin visualisointi ja kuvallinen kehystäminen Helsingin Sanomissa [Visualization of the climate risk and image framing in Helsingin Sanomat]. Media & Viestintä, v. 39, n. 4, pp. 209–227, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.23983/mv.61407.
LEE, D.-H. Digital cameras, personal photography and the reconfiguration of spatial experiences. The Information Society: ICT Adoption and User Choices, v. 26, n. 4, pp. 266–275, 2010. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2010.489854.
MACDOWALL, L. Instafame: graffiti and street art in the Instagram era. Bristol: Intellect, 2019.
MCFARLAND TAYLOR, S. Ecopiety: green media and the dilemma of environmental virtue. Nova York: New York University Press, 2019.
METAG, J. et al. Perceptions of climate change imagery: evoked salience and self-efficacy in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Science Communication, v. 38, n. 2, pp. 197–227, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547016635181.
MOERNAUT, R.; MAST, J. Fighting carbon dioxide or fighting humans? The ideological fault lines underlying two climate change frames. International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, v. 14, n. 2, pp. 123¬–152, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/macp.14.2.123_1.
NIEMELÄ-NYRHINEN, J.; SEPPÄNEN, J. Kuvajournalismi ja eettisen kuluttamisen haaste [Visual journalism and the challenge of ethical consumption]. Media & viestintä, v. 42, n. 3, pp. 165–186, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.23983/mv.85780.
O’NEILL, S. Z. 'It's a crisis, not a change': the six Guardian language changes on climate matters. The Guardian (on-line). 16/out/2019. Disponível em: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/16/guardian-language-changes-climate-environment. Acessado em 20/mai/2020.
O’NEILL, S.; NICHOLSON-COLE, S. “Fear won’t do it”: promoting positive engagement with climate change through visual and iconic representations. Science Communication, v. 30, n. 3, pp. 355–379, 2009. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547008329201.
PINK, S. Situating everyday life: practices and places. Londres: Sage, 2012.
SMITH, N.; JOFFE, H. How the public engages with global warming: a social representations approach. Public Understanding of Science, v. 22, n. 1, pp. 16–32, 2012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662512440913.
SOPER, K. Alternative hedonism, cultural theory and the role of aesthetic revisioning. Cultural Studies, v. 22, n. 5, pp. 567–587, 2008. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09502380802245829.
THOMPSON, J. B. The new visibility. Theory, Culture & Society, v. 22, n. 6, pp. 31–51, 2005. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276405059413.
TIGGEMAN, M.; ZACCARDO, M. ‘Strong is the new skinny’: a content analysis of #fitspiration images on Instagram. Journal of Health Psychology, v. 23, n. 8, pp. 1003–1011, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105316639436.
VAN HOUSE, N. Personal photography, digital technologies and the uses of the visual. Visual Studies, v. 26, n. 2, pp. 125¬–134, 2011. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1472586X.2011.571888.
VIVIENNE, S.; BURGESS, J. The remediation of the personal photograph and the politics of self-representation in digital storytelling. Journal of Material Culture, v. 18, n. 3, pp. 279–298, 2013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1359183513492080.
YUSOFF, K. Biopolitical economies and the political aesthetics of climate change Theory, Culture & Society, Los Angeles, v. 27, n. 2/3, pp. 73–99, 2010. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276410362090.
ZAPPAVIGNA, M. Social media photography: construing subjectivity in Instagram images. Visual Communication, v. 15, n. 3, pp. 271–292, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1470357216643220.
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2020-07-10
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How to Cite
Unveiling unseen climate practices on Instagram. (2020). Novos Olhares, 9(1), 120-129. https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2238-7714.no.2020.171996
