Open AccessUnveiling unseen climate practices on Instagram
Author(s) -
Niina Uusitalo
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
novos olhares
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2238-7714
pISSN - 1516-5981
DOI - 10.11606/issn.2238-7714.no.2020.171996
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , climate change , social media , visual media , consumption (sociology) , sociology , political science , environmental resource management , ecology , social science , computer science , environmental science , multimedia , law , biology
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.