Celebrities are Heating up the Climate Change Debate
It’s a common debate: Should celebrities weigh in on climate change or stick to their roles on the red carpet?
Recent polls show that public opinion is divided on this issue.
It has become increasingly common to see celebrities voicing their opinions on climate change in varying degrees. Some prefer to show their support by re-sharing a tweet or posting a photo with a caption along the lines of “Save the earth”. Other celebrities show greater involvement by becoming politicians or getting involved in environmental politics.
An example of this is Leonardo DiCaprio. In addition to voicing his opinion on climate change across his social media accounts, he also has his own environmental organisation (Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation) and has released two climate change documentaries. In 2016, when the actor (finally!) took home his first Oscar, he used his acceptance speech to declare that “climate change is real” and to call for collective action. This short speech made a significant impact on the internet. According to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal article PLOS ONE:
“DiCaprio’s speech was a major moment for climate change advocacy, inspiring record levels of social media engagement and near record levels of online information seeking for climate change, apart from any similar increase in traditional news coverage.”
The impact of DiCaprio’s Oscars speech shows that celebrities can play a significant role in influencing society and starting the conversation on climate change.
Celebrities Create Strong Connections
Prior to the 1980s, there was a narrow spectrum of voices; consisting of scientists, environmental groups and companies who spoke about climate change issues in the public sphere. As stated by Dahlgren & Sparks, the public sphere is defined as a domain in which individuals “exercise formal and informal control over the state: formal control through the election of governments and informal control through the pressure of public opinion”. Now the boundaries of who is considered an authorized speaker has expanded; leading to the introduction of new ‘actors’ in the public sphere: — celebrities.
This migration of celebrities to areas that aren’t traditionally associated with their jobs in media and entertainment is a form of ‘celebritization’.
According to The International Journal of Press/Politics, the development of modern technology such as smartphones, internet, and other digital media has enabled climate change advocates to communicate with a mass audience in new ways, resulting in a change in political communication strategies.
#SaveTheAmazon
We all know about the Amazon Rainforest fire, right? I feel it’s impossible not to with the amount of social media coverage it attained.
I remember waking up one day to my Instagram filled with reposts and shares about the ‘Lungs of the world’ burning. One of the first and most recurring posts I saw was from Leonardo DiCaprio. Although DiCaprio’s post of the Amazon Rainforest was informative and included a clear call-to-action (“So what can YOU do?”), this isn’t always seen in contemporary celebrities advocating for climate change.
A major challenge for journalists covering climate change is that the scientific components can be difficult to comprehend. This has made it crucial for traditional voices in the public sphere such as scientists to communicate more clearly on the “complexities of climate science and about the societal and economic impacts of a warming climate.’’
Many celebrities advocating for action against climate change choose to act as emotional witnesses. This means going beyond scientific data and facilitating more of an emotional connection with climate change. This Instagram story (actor Noah Centineo) and tweet (pop singer Camila Cabello) are one of many examples.
As shown in these examples, celebrities on social media provide easily digestible content making them more of an accessible source than many of the scientists who report on climate change. This is what makes celebrities so pivotal in the political landscape. By creating an emotional tie in the public’s everyday lives, celebrities work to influence the audience to feel a certain way about climate change.
Does this emotional content encourage the viewer to take action?Unfortunately, most times, it doesn’t. Celebrities get the public concerned with climate change and effectively spread the word to a large audience, but there’s a lack of direction of how people can get involved; whether it be by donating or volunteering.
In addition to this, many celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jaden Smith and Madonna shared fake images. These photos were of other fires in different countries, or Amazon fires taken in previous years. This meant many of the images shared on social media were misleading and did not accurately reflect the current state of the Amazon Rainforest.
Surely, it’s easy to dislike these celebrities when they seem ineffective and underqualified to be speaking up about these issues. But we must admit, celebrities are great at getting the conversation going and bringing awareness to these important topics. At the end of the day, these stars are regular people like you and me. So, who says they aren’t allowed to voice their opinion when they too are living on the same planet as everyone else affected by climate change?
What’s important is that as public figures, celebrities need to become better educated on the topic and find a good mix between creating an emotional connection whilst still being informative and providing a clear call-to-action on climate change.
I also think celebrities alone can’t change the world. The government needs to get more involved so that this issue goes further than just words and sympathy, but into real changes being made through stronger action plans.
Let’s cut these celebrities some slack, stop mocking them and start supporting them.
