About the Book

Drawing together key frameworks and disciplines that illuminate the importance of communication around climate change, this Research Handbook offers a vital knowledge base to address the urgency of conveying climate issues to a variety of audiences.

International scholars survey the key disciplinary foundations of climate change communication including: climate science, audience studies, sociology, and the efficacy of diverse communication forms ranging from science communication, political communication and visual communication to film, theatre and the novel. Featuring key ideas critical to the contemporary climate discussion, such as climate denial, psychology, the use of images, journalism, campaigns, health, justice and climate change fiction, this timely Research Handbook intervenes in the global debate to offer a pathway for researchers and communicators to stimulate new methods of conceptualising and communicating climate mitigation.

Presenting an in-depth exploration of climate change messaging in relation to interpretive communities, this book is crucial reading for scholars and students of media and communications, climate science and environmental studies. Its key practical insights will also benefit practitioners of climate communication and science.

Table of Contents:
Contents: 1 Introduction to the Research Handbook on Communicating Climate Change 1 David C Holmes THEME I COMMUNICATING CLIMATE SCIENCE 2 Introduction to communicating climate science 22 Simon Torok and Ailie JE Gallant 3 Confidence and certainty in climate science 24 Ailie JE Gallant and Sophie C Lewis 4 Communicating climate change science with different audiences 33 Simon Torok, Karen Pearce and Susan Joy Hassol THEME II CLIMATE SCIENCE DENIAL 5 Introduction to climate science denial 47 John Cook 6 Sources and amplifiers of climate change denial 49 Riley E Dunlap and Robert J Brulle 7 Deconstructing climate science denial 62 John Cook 8 Responding to climate science denial 79 Emily Vraga and Sander van der Linden THEME III THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CLIMATE CHANGE COMMUNICATION 9 Introduction to the psychology of climate change communication 93 Kelly S Fielding 10 The role of psychological variables in developing effective climate change message frames 95 Anna Klas and Edward JR Clarke 11 The role of social norms in communicating about climate change 106 Kelly S Fielding and Winnifred R Louis 12 Communication to change climate-related behaviour 116 Christian A Klöckner THEME IV VISUALIZING CLIMATE CHANGE 13 Introduction to visualizing climate change 127 Mike S Schäfer 14 Stakeholders’ visual representations of climate change 131 Antal Wozniak 15 News media images of climate change: reviewing the research 143 Mike S Schäfer 16 Climate change visuals: a review of their effects on cognition, emotion and behaviour 153 Julia Metag THEME V CLIMATE CHANGE REPORTING 17 Introduction to climate reporting 162 Elisabeth Eide and Risto Kunelius 18 Climate reporting: challenges and opportunities 164 Elisabeth Eide and Risto Kunelius 19 Reporting extreme weather events 183 James Painter and Susan Joy Hassol 20 Reporting from vulnerable countries in the Global South 196 Goretti L Nassanga and Mofizur Rhaman THEME VI CLIMATE CHANGE COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGNS 21 Introduction to climate change communication campaigns 212 Lucy M Richardson 22 Climate change audience segmentation: an international review 214 Benjamin H Detenber and Sonny Rosenthal 23 Designing theory-based interventions to change behaviour effectively 230 Sebastian Bamberg and Maxie Schulte 24 Practitioner engagement with communication and behavioural science research 242 Lucy M Richardson THEME VII HEALTH COMMUNICATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE 25 Introduction to health communication of climate change 257 Anneliese Depoux 26 Communicating the public health implications of climate change 259 Melinda R Weathers, Marceleen M Mosher and Edward Maibach 27 A few points that communication on climate change could learn from the COVID-19 crisis 272 Anneliese Depoux and François Gemenne 28 Communicating the health co-benefits of climate change mitigation to households and policy makers 279 Alina Herrmann, Dorothee Amelung, Helen Fischer and Rainer Sauerborn THEME VIII CLIMATE JUSTICE COMMUNICATION 29 Introduction to climate justice communication 291 Anna Roosvall and Matthew Tegelberg 30 The importance of the matters, geographies, and mediations of justice 293 Anna Roosvall and Matthew Tegelberg 31 The unearthed and contagious logics of pluralist climate justice in the Russian Arctic 305 Dmitry Yagodin THEME IX CLIMATE CHANGE FICTION 32 Introduction to climate change fiction 317 Roman Bartosch 33 Beyond communication: climate change fiction 320 Axel Goodbody 34 Popularizing climate change: cli-fi film and narrative impact 330 Alexa Weik von Mossner 35 (In)attention to global drama: climate change plays 340 Julia Hoydis 36 Reading and teaching fictions of climate 349 Roman Bartosch Index 353