In search of a positive framework for communications about Global Climate Change. Positive communication about Global Climate Change / En busca de un encuadre positivo en la comunicación sobre el cambio climático global. Comunicaciones positivas sobre el cambio climático global

Abstract

After decades of wide spreading, Global Climate Change (GCC) is still rarely present in people’s minds and hearts or public policies. More recently, studies are suggesting that the catastrophic tone typically used in the dissemination of the topic should be replaced by positive approaches that would facilitate acceptance and participation of the general public in mitigative actions. In order to explore such possibility, we interviewed eight advertisers and eight environmentalists, asking them to design publicity campaigns aimed at new strategies of persuasion that would motivate palpable and proactive reactions from the public. The majority of the interviewees (13) were able to delineate positive campaigns whose content allowed the identification of important categories of such strategies. Our study indicates the importance of the joint collaboration among distinct professionals in the complex communication processes about GCC, so that irrelevant details may be discarded in favour of what is most relevant.