https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6544-8891
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ABSTRACT
Animals featured prominently during the United Nations’ 2021 Climate Change Conference (COP26), both within the meeting and outside during protests. This begs the question: How are animals portrayed in climate change discourse? To answer this question, we conduct visual and discourse network analysis of animal-related Instagram posts collected around COP26. We present a typology of four ways in which animals are framed as (1) metaphors for climate-related concerns, (2) citizens with interests worth respecting, (3) biodiversity or key ecosystem components, and (4) resources for human use, showing how each framing connects to various discourses and organizations/collective actors. Compared to previous research on climate communication, our findings reveal a broader range of animals are integrated into climate change discourse, and humans are often framing animals in multiple ways at once for various eco-political purposes. In addition, our analysis suggests that, compared with other sectors of society, governmental organizations are giving much less attention to animal issues in their climate communications. Finally, our results show how engaging a diversity of perspectives about animals – and eschewing the dominant resource-framing of animals – can enhance climate change discourse by broadening the range of discussions and potential solutions to the current ecological crisis.
© 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
Acknowledgement
We would like to express our gratitude to the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable and insightful comments. Our deepest thanks, as well, to Dr. Stewart Lockie (James Cook University) for his recommendation, and to the Environmental Sociology team.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. We use the term ‘animals’ to refer to non-human animals.
2. Photos by the third author.
3. For marine ecosystems, ‘overexploitation, of fish, shellfish and other organisms’ is the main threat (Díaz et al. Citation2019, 18).
4. Instagram post examples () from original dataset were re-accessed on May 5, 2023 via Google Chrome. Google Translate used for posts not in English (i.e., ).
5. While polar bears are widely adopted symbols of the disproportionate impacts of climate change on the Arctic, some argue this displaces attention from the human impacts of Arctic climate change, including northern communities’ climate adaptation challenges (Callison Citation2014; Wright Citation2014).
6. Although traditional wildlife photography could be seen as commodifying or distancing animals from human life, we highlight its connection to the animals-as-biodiversity category as it is the most common form of visually representing biodiversity.
7. Whereas animals-as-citizens may also present meat and dairy production as ethical problems.
8. The discourse networks are organized to be as readable as possible (minimal overlapping) and as orderly as possible (grouping together nodes that connect to the same ‘animals as’ framings and have similar numbers of ties).
9. This includes carbon trading and ‘green growth.’
10. Of which plant-based diets and low/zero-waste lifestyles are most prominent.
11. Brazil’s animal/Amazon-related climate messaging may change going forward as the new (post-COP26) Brazilian president has committed to reversing deforestation accelerated by his predecessor. Still, industry-friendly solutions for maximizing (animal) agricultural outputs/efficiency are central within the new government’s agenda (Freitas Citation2022).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Yasmin Koop-Monteiro
Yasmin Koop-Monteiro is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of British Columbia (with a Master’s in Sociology from the University of Toronto). Yasmin’s research foci include environmental sociology, animal studies, social movements, and social network analysis. Her PhD thesis combines survey and interview data to explore how factors like friendships (to fellow activists and animals) and emotions might promote participation in low, medium, and high risk/cost animal rights activism. Yasmin’s other works include: an analysis of community gardens and crime published in the Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, a review of innovations developed to include animals in sociological research published in Current Sociology, a co-authored review of recent developments within the field of social network analysis published in the Canadian Review of Sociology, and a forthcoming co-authored book chapter in the Sage Handbook of Social Network Analysis (2nd edition).
Mark C.J. Stoddart
Mark C.J. Stoddart is Professor in the Department of Sociology at Memorial University, with research interests in environmental sociology, climate change, social movements, and communications and culture. He is the author of the book, Industrial Development and Eco- Tourism: Can Oil Extraction and Nature Conservation Co-Exist? (Palgrave). Through a comparative analysis of Denmark, Iceland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Norway, and Scotland, this project offers valuable lessons for how coastal societies can better navigate relationships between resource extraction and nature-based tourism. His work appears in a range of international journals, including Energy Research & Social Science, Ecology & Society, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Environmental Communication, and Society & Natural Resources.
David B. Tindall
David Tindall is a Professor in the Department of Sociology, at the University of British Columbia. His research expertise spans the areas of environmental sociology, social networks, and social movements. A primary focus of his research has been upon contention over environmental issues. He has developed an ego social network model of micromobilization for collective action related to environmentalism. He has also published extensively on climate change policy and discourse networks. His current research examines the role of social networks in facilitating action to address climate change, and compares and contrasts the roles of virtual and non-virtual social network ties. He is the lead editor of a special issue of Social Networks on Anthropogenic Climate Change, and lead editor of the Handbook of Anti-Environmentalism. He has published in numerous environmental outlets, including Nature Climate Change, Society and Natural Resources, Environmental Politics, Ecology and Society, Environmental Sociology, Environmental Communication, Energy Research & Social Science, and Local Environment.