Climate Change as Visual Discourse

Climate change has become a significant issue of global concern and it has become important to employ effective communication strategies to increase the awareness and participation of people. In different media outlets, the newspapers still have a major role to play in terms of spreading environmental information especially in places where the print media still hold sway. This paper explores climate change as a visual discourse through an examination of visual representations of climate change in newspaper images and how such representations are perceived by the audience in Himachal Pradesh which is a climate-sensitive area within the Indian Himalayan ecosystem. The study assumes the mixed-method approach, which involves visual content analysis of the chosen newspapers and the analysis of audience perception through surveys. The results indicate that the newspaper coverage is mainly characterized with disaster oriented images, including floods, landslides and forest fires that highlight the immediate effects of climate change. Although these images are helpful in attracting attention and creating emotional appeal, they can be rather shallow and cannot convey the processes and solutions to climate in the long-term perspective. Audience analysis shows that there is a high level of awareness and emotional response with a high correlation between visual perception and exposure to visuals. Nevertheless, the study also finds out that there is a disconnection between awareness and behavior change, since more awareness does not necessarily lead to sustainable environmental behavior. The paper highlights the need to have a more balanced visual representation that incorporates informative as well as solution-oriented visuals to increase the level of knowledge and encourage people to act. The work is an interdisciplinary contribution as it combines the ideas of the media studies, environmental science, and social psychology. It also provides valuable information to policy makers, environmental communicators and journalists to enhance effective communication of climate change. This study underlines the significance of strategic media representation in the context of tackling one of the most urgent issues of our days by focusing on the role of visual discourse

Climate change · Content analysis · Effects of global warming · Newspaper · Perception · Visual media · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature · Media Studies and Communication

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