Graphs of grief and other green feelings: the uses of affect in the study of environmental communication

Abstract

How can theories of affect and felt emotions be useful in studying the communication of environmental crises? Beginning from tears spilt over a graph of transgressed planetary boundaries published in an academic paper, this article explores the presentation in graphic visual forms of affective imagery and a growing sophistication amongst scientists, policymakers and activist communicators in the visualization of information, data and stories employed to carry the often difficult and complex messages of current earth systems crises. Critically, this article attends to the "emotion work" of such images. Taking a lead from cultural sociology and attempting to elucidate the relationship between societies under pressure and its choice of texts, this article considers the environmental documentary Cowspiracy [Anderson, K., & Kuhn, K. (2014). Cowspiracy. San Francisco, CA: AUM Films & First Spark Media.] to ask questions of affect's relation to expressions of the earth systems crisis, which is also a crisis of culture.

From «Cowspiracy» to «Seaspiracy»: Discursive Strategies in Contemporary Vegan Advocacy Documentaries

“…The thematic and narrative parallels of Cowspiracy and Seaspiracy encourage a conception of the two films as forming a hermeneutic unity. The combined analysis of the two documentaries thus draws on the theoretical sources referred to in the previous section while also considering scholarly output on Cowspiracy (Lockwood, 2016;Weik von Mossner, 2021) and Seaspiracy (Lamb, 2021;Hearne, 2021;Pauly, 2021;Belhabib, 2021;Rooney, 2022;Harris, 2022;Yeo & Silberg, 2022). A qualitative approach is adopted to assess the films' discursive strategies, using the tools offered by film analysis.…”

Vida e Morte na crise das barragens

“…As each new scientific discovery reveals more details of the complex interplay between human worlds and natural worlds, we are also increasingly faced with our inability to tell these worlds apart". Para os objetivos deste estudo, privilegiamos aqui a noção de luto ambiental ou ecológico (WINDLE, 1992;EATON, 2012;LOCKWOOD, 2016;CUNSOLO;ELLIS, 2018).…”

“…Se, como aponta Purdy (2015), o antropoceno demanda uma política que mescle questões ecológicas com humanitárias, isto é, questões de conservação ambiental e questões de justiça social, experiências de luto podem ser produtivas tanto para revalorizar a importância de outros agentes naturais na nossa vida quanto para influenciar a esfera pública em proveito das suas principais vítimas humanas. Para movimentos socioambientais, ele pode vir a ser estratégico, como uma forma de incitar novas sensações e reações que potencialmente levariam à concepção de comportamentos coletivos mais sustentáveis ao planeta (LOCKWOOD, 2016).…”

Spectacular environmentalisms: media, knowledge and the framing of ecological politics

“…In these terms, the lack of ethical imperative is part of the zeitgeist of the age, as much as of the beliefs of the messenger. Lockwood's (2016) starting point is his grief at the stark facts of biodiversity loss which he contrasts to the tears of joy that flowed when he watched the documentary film Cowspiracy. This leads to his enquiry into the role of affect and emotive responses in contemporary environmentalism.…”