Effective Climate Communication

“Effective Climate Communication provides a fresh perspective on communicating climate change in a climate of public disengagement and anxiety. Using these realities as starting points, Denisova explores key issues around greenwashing, news narratives, and the need for de-colonising practices. By asking 'what slows down citizen action?' Denisova’s thoroughly researched and clearly written text calls for persistence, care and creativity. Combining compassion and practicality, the lessons in Effective Climate Communication will be useful for researchers, policy-makers, activists and storytellers in their fights for climate justice.” - Anna Feigenbaum, Professor in Digital Storytelling, Bournemouth University, UK This book explores the urgent challenges of communicating climate change in the media. While many books have been written about climate change, this book goes to the very heart of what makes humans care about stories enough to act. In a direct and sympathetic approach, Denisova tackles problems of greenwashing, news narratives, colonial framings and more. Taking climate anxiety as a starting point, the author positions herself with empathy and asks the question: ‘what slows down citizen action?’ This fresh perspective acknowledges the pressing challenge of public disengagement and the anxiety people feel when faced with increasingly bleak headlines as the climate crisis intensifies. There is a surprising challenge to apocalyptic storytelling and a hero’s narrative, which Denisova argues are counter-productive, while solutions are provided for media storytellers. This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to ease climate-related anxiety and foster a deeper sense of empowerment in their audience. Anastasia Denisova is a Senior Lecturer in Journalism at the Communication and Media Research Institute, University of Westminster, UK. She specialises in viral cultures, internet memes, and climate change communication and is the author of the book Internet Memes and Society (2019) and the policy brief Fashion Media and Sustainability (2021). She has published widely in top academic journals, including Social Media + Society; Media, Culture and Society; and Journalism. Dr Denisova is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a board member of Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture.