Fewer polar bears, more people
The influence of imagery in climate change communication.
What picture comes to mind when I say ‘climate change’? When I posed this question to interview participants for my Masters dissertation, pretty much all of them said the same things:
“I think of climate change as, like, these really hot days where we get overrun by heat waves”
“Polar bears in the arctic looking all thin and suffering”
“I picture a lot of catastrophic stuff, so flooding, fires. Definitely the big wild fires that you see in Australia”
“dried up rivers and beaches in a heatwave”
It’s no coincidence that when asked to describe what imagery they associate with climate change, my interview participants (and nearly everyone I’ve asked since out of curiosity) listed images consistent with visuals that accompany climate news the most in mainstream media. Despite the complexity of climate change issues, the diversity of images used in its communication are surprisingly limited, and animals, extreme weather events, and natural disasters are the persistent favourites. Climate change and associated environmental issues are often perceived as somewhat abstract and difficult to imagine, especially when a lot of us don’t consider ourselves to be on the frontline of climate consequences. Therefore the mental images we develop are heavily influenced by what we see in the public domain.
We know that climate change is more than animal suffering and extreme weather. It’s social unrest, it’s food shortages, it’s deforestation, it’s climate refugees, it’s pollution, it’s coral bleaching, it’s species loss…it’s a whole lot more than the narrow selection of visual information that is displayed by the media.
In this piece, I’ll explore why our mental gallery of climate change is so small, and what images we should be using instead to spark most meaningful engagement.
Images are pretty important
As well as getting our attention, images play an important role in psychological processes such as memory and behavioural planning. Choice of image to accompany climate change media can be as, if not more, important than the narrative itself.
“…images can evoke strong affective responses, easily linking to emotions and goals. Furthermore, visual information is able to concretise risks, condense complex information, convey strong messages, and provide the basis for personal thoughts and conversations.”
My dissertation research revealed (and it’s obvious really) that there’s a correlation between how the news media chooses to visually present climate change news, and how we visualise climate change as a concept. Therefore as climate change communicators hold critical influence over climate change perception and social attitudes towards pro-environmental behaviours, it is important to consider the impact that our choice of imagery may have on interpretation of climate change information, understanding of issues and the consequences, and what one can learn from this to make better choices moving forward.
Enough with the polar bears
Climate change stories in the media are frequently accompanied by the same ‘iconographic’ depictions, and the use of the term ‘iconography’ in academic research relating to climate change communications has increased consistently over the last 15 years.
ICONOGRAPHY:
the visual images, symbols, or modes of representation collectively associated with a person, cult, or movement.
Zooming in on communications research around polar bear imagery as an example (and there’s a lot of it), although photos of polar bears in distress can get our attention through sparking empathy and an emotive response, images of sad polar bears do not contribute to an understanding of climate change as a complex issue and can be detrimental in the long-term. Empathy can increase engagement and makes wonderful clickbait, but how often do we meet polar bears in our everyday life? Using polar bears adds to the perception of climate change as a far away issue, which alters our interpretation of whether or not its an emergency. Not to mention, the persistent use of polar bears as the poster-child for climate change and a reliance on empathy to provoke engagement will just wear off after a while. The first time you see a sad polar bear on a melting ice cap is impactful, but it won’t hold the same weight the hundredth time. A lot of research claims that images like this, that evoke negative emotional responses, also create “emotional distance and feelings of disempowerment”, and are not considered pertinent for meaningful engagement.
It’s also undermining polar bear conservation efforts, so we should probably move on.
On top of all this, creating a widespread association between climate change and polar bears, it may weaken our grasp on the humanitarian aspects of climate change and prevent understanding of solutions. Overuse of polar bears is just the tip of the melting iceberg…
Where’s the humanity?
As well as polar bears, there is a media bias towards using photographs of environmental disaster to illustrate climate change. Of course the impacts of climate change are more visually prominent that the causes or solutions, but environmental consequences of climate change provide a visual subject matter that appears more often in news media than consequences on humanity or wider society, even across coverage specifically of social impacts.
In an analysis of academic literature conducted by Wang et al, they established that when humans are the subject of images accompanying media output around climate change, politicians, public figures or scientists are often the dominant image — not members of a general population; for example, victims of natural disasters or climate refugees. These findings underscore an area of concern; a lack of humanity presented in climate change imagery means a lack of visibility of issues that pose a direct threat to the public. In fact, there’s a couple of studies that show that politicians/celebrities, or ‘talking heads’, shown in the media actually undermine feelings of self-efficacy. Here is one.
In addition to this, when the causes of climate change are depicted, they tend to be represented using photographs of smokestacks, deforestation and transport, as opposed to everyday, relatable activities. It seems that images that directly connect to our day-to-day lives are rarely chosen.
Seeing ourselves provides us with an opportunity to imagine us experiencing the consequences. Empathy is an automatic, innate human response, and therefore presenting relatable images as part of the climate change discourse may not only strike an emotional response, but lead to a personal sense of responsibility.
What images should we be using?
Considering the points made above, and in my experience of selecting images to provoke engagement with climate issues, here are some considerations to make when selecting images to accompany your communications…
Photographs that provide context
Research shows that images accompanying climate information tend to be abstract and decontextualised, i.e. images do not necessarily directly visualise the article topic, nor do they place the topic in a local context. There’s no need to show a photograph of deforestation in Brazil to accompany your business’s sustainability policy just because it’s related to climate change. As explored above, images possess powerful cognitive influence, and if accurate, representational images provided to accompany complex information can help to give tangibility to the risks and consequences of climate change issues. Seek out imagery that is directly relevant to your themes.
Depict the desired behavioural outcome
As explored above, climate change is a concept too complex to visualise. Our mental images of climate change are influenced by what images we are exposed to. Take this and run with it — try depicting the pro-environmental behaviours you’re trying to provoke through your communication. Imagining a possible event outcome increases our belief that this outcome will occur, and imagining our own future behaviour increases the chances of enacting this behaviour. By offering a helping hand to support the visualising of this behaviour, we may be able to get there quicker.
Show human stories
Incorporate images that portray people directly impacted by climate change. Farmers struggling with drought, coastal communities grappling with rising sea levels, or individuals participating in climate protests. These images can evoke empathy, humanise the issue and help us connect ourselves to events and consequences of the climate emergency.
Avoid polarising imagery
While shock value can make great clickbait, be mindful of avoiding sensationalistic or overly graphic images that may polarise or distract from the intent of your communications. Images that inform and inspire action rather than causing divisiveness will lead to positive, meaningful engagement.
