Communicating Sustainability

Communicating Sustainability is a book of evidence-based strategies for making sustainability vivid, accessible, and comprehensible. To do this, it brings together research from a range of specialties including cognitive psychology, visual perception, communication studies, environmental design, interpretive exhibit design, interpretive signage, wayfinding, storytelling, courtroom litigation, information graphics, and graphic design to illustrate not only what approaches are effective but why they work as they do. The topic of sustainability is vast and complex. It interconnects multiple dimensions of human culture and the biosphere and involves a myriad of systems and processes, many of which are too large, too small, too fast, or too slow to see. Many people find verbal explanations about all of this too abstract or too complicated to understand, and for most people the concepts of sustainability are regarded as quirky, peripheral, and not essential to everyday life. Yet the challenges of sustainability concern the very survival of most species of life on Earth, including the human species. In order for life as we know it to survive and thrive into the future, sustainability must become broadly understood—by everyone, not just activists or specialists. This book offers tools to help make complex systems and nuanced, abstract ideas concrete and comprehensible to the broadest range of people. The goal of communication, and of this book, is to build understanding.

The Textbook seeks for an innovative approach to Sustainability Communication as transdisciplinary area of research. Following the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are intended to transform the world as it is known, we seek for a multidisciplinary discussion of the role communication plays in realizing these goals. With complementing theoretical approaches and concepts, the book offers various perspectives on communication practices and strategies on an individual, organizational, institutional, as well as public level that contribute, enable (or hinder) sustainable development. Presented case studies show methodological as well as issue specific challenges in sustainability communication. Therefore, the book introduces and promotes innovative methods for this specific area of research.

With chapters written by experts in their field, this volume advances the understanding of theory and successful practice of marketing and promoting environmental sustainability. Some experts predict that the next big trend in business will involve the green economy. Yet, communicating sustainability to consumers provides a set of challenges for marketers that do not necessarily follow all the rules of other types of marketing communication. In many ways the concept of sustainability challenges the core ideals of promoting consumption. Accordingly, this book identifies for researchers and practitioners the barriers that keep customers from engaging in environmentally sustainable consumption and find ways to overcome those barriers. The book includes topics such corporate advertising strategy related to sustainability, corporate social responsibility advertising, greenwashing, advertising related to values, persuasion and persuasion knowledge in sustainability marketing, social media and sustainability, and advertising and public policy.

Modern and professional communication is required to realise the goal of sustainability in society. This book develops a theoretical and empirical framework, integrating interdisciplinary perspectives from communications theory, psychology, sociology, educational sciences, systems theory and constructivism. Its aim is to inform the establishment of sustainability communication. Complementing this theoretical framework, the book provides methods and concepts in a range of fields such as corporate practice, education and media. The book addresses the scientific community and students as well as communicators in all categories of sustainability communication.

"This guide shows how the power of communication can be harnessed for achieving the goal of promoting more sustainable lifestyles. It is designed to be read by local and national government authorities, and everyone else who wants to develop and implement public awareness campaigns on these issues."--Publisher website.

Effective sustainability communication can deliver business value. Get it wrong, however, and the reputational damage will be costly. Stakeholders, and the general public as well as activists, are unforgiving of companies whose products, services, business practices or culture fall short of their socially responsible rhetoric. Based on close to one hundred in-depth interviews with leading experts, Christian Conrad and Marjorie Thompson's The New Brand Spirit helps corporate communications and marketing professionals tackle this conundrum by providing a first-hand view of eight distinct and relevant stakeholder perspectives. Nineteen comprehensive and well-researched best practice cases from sustainability leaders like IBM, Unilever, Marks & Spencer and Puma will inspire all those tasked with communicating sustainability with practical and applicable tools and lessons learned. The result is a book that will enable senior executives, corporate communication professionals and brand managers to decide when, to whom and how to communicate sustainability related messages - and when not to.

This edited collection focuses on theoretical and applied research-based observations concerning how experts, advocates, and institutions make climate change information accessible to different audiences. Communicating Climate Change concentrates on three key elements of climate change communication – access, relevance, and understandability – to provide an overview of how these aspects allow multiple groups of stakeholders to act on climate-related information to build resilience. Featuring contributions from a wide range of scholars from across different disciplines, this book explores a multitude of different scenarios and communication methods, including social media; public opinion surveys; participatory mapping; and video. Overall, climate change communication is addressed from three different perspectives: communicating with the public; communicating for stakeholder engagement; and organizational, institutional, risk, and disaster communication. With each chapter focusing on implications and applications for practice, this book will be of great interest to students and researchers of climate change and environmental communication, as well as practitioners interested in understanding how to better engage stakeholders through climate change-related communication.

This collection calls for improved technical communication for the public through an embodied, situated understanding of environmental risk that promotes social justice. In addition to providing a series of chapters about recent issues on risk communication, this volume offers a diverse look at methodological practices for students, researchers, and practitioners looking to address embodied aspects of crisis and risk that incorporate UX, storytelling, and dynamic text. It includes chapters that bring embodiment to the forefront of risk communication, highlighting the cycle of content creation, dissemination, public response and decision making, continuing iterations of educational efforts, and recovery, toward increasing adaptive capacity as a whole. In addition, this work directs necessary attention to overcoming perceptual difficulties, memory lapses, definitional differences, access issues, and pedagogical problems in the communication of risks to diverse publics. This collection is essential reading for scholars and can be used as a supplemental text or casebook for courses in technical communication, environmental communication, risk and crisis communication, science communication, and public health.

Environmental patriotism, the belief that the national environment defines a country’s greatness, is a significant strand in twentieth century American environmentalism. This book is the first to explore the history of environmental patriotism in America through the intriguing stories of environmental patriots and the rhetoric of their speeches and propaganda, The See America First movement began in 1906 with the aim of protecting and promoting the landscapes of the American West. In 1908, Gifford Pinchot and President Theodore Roosevelt hosted the White House Conservation Conference to promote the wise use of natural resources for generations of Americans. In 1912, Pittsburgh’s smoke investigation condemned the effects of coal smoke on the city’s environment. In World War II, a massive propaganda effort mobilized millions of Americans to plant victory gardens to save resources for the war abroad. While these may not seem like crucial moments for the American environmental movement, this new history of American environmentalism shows that they are linked by patriotism. The book offers a provoking critique of environmentalists’ communication strategies and suggests patriotism as a persuasive hook for new ways to make environmental issues a national priority. This original research should be of interest to scholars of environmental communication, environmental history, American history and environmental philosophy.

Effective sustainability communication can deliver business value. Get it wrong, however, and the reputational damage will be costly. Stakeholders, and the general public as well as activists, are unforgiving of companies whose products, services, business practices or culture fall short of their socially responsible rhetoric. Based on close to one hundred in-depth interviews with leading experts, Christian Conrad and Marjorie Thompson's The New Brand Spirit helps corporate communications and marketing professionals tackle this conundrum by providing a first-hand view of eight distinct and relevant stakeholder perspectives. Nineteen comprehensive and well-researched best practice cases from sustainability leaders like IBM, Unilever, Marks & Spencer and Puma will inspire all those tasked with communicating sustainability with practical and applicable tools and lessons learned. The result is a book that will enable senior executives, corporate communication professionals and brand managers to decide when, to whom and how to communicate sustainability related messages - and when not to.