Changing public discourse on the environment: Danish media coverage of the Rio and Johannesburg UN summits

Abstract

Environmental degradation and unsustainable development were addressed on a global scale at the UN Summits in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and Johannesburg in 2002. This chapter presents analyses of Danish television coverage of these two summits and related topics viewing the media stories as exemplary cases of wider public conceptions of the environment. Over a decade rhetoric about the summits and the environment changed, the agenda changed, and key environmental issues were repackaged. These changes are further interpreted in relation to ecological modernisation and discussed as a possible development towards post-environmentalism. Already ecological modernisation can be perceived as post-environmentalist, but this article wants to suggest a downfall also for ecological modernisation as a prominent discourse and a more direct challenge to the legitimacy of environmental concern and thus a further break with environmentalism.

Psycho‐Social Processes in Dealing with Legal Innovation in the Community: Insights from Biodiversity Conservation

“…Framed by this notion, biodiversity discourses in EU documents shifted more and more towards conciliation and balance between ecological and economic goals, and further away from the intrinsic value of species. This arguably opened the way for a new notion to enter these documents: ''ecological modernization,'' which some authors believe is characteristic of present times (Baker 2007;Petersen 2007). Ecological modernization favors technology and economic entrepreneurs as the key actors for social change (Baker 2007;Petersen 2007) and defines nature as ''a 'standing reserve' of exploitable resources'' (Baker 2007, p. 303).…”

“…This arguably opened the way for a new notion to enter these documents: ''ecological modernization,'' which some authors believe is characteristic of present times (Baker 2007;Petersen 2007). Ecological modernization favors technology and economic entrepreneurs as the key actors for social change (Baker 2007;Petersen 2007) and defines nature as ''a 'standing reserve' of exploitable resources'' (Baker 2007, p. 303). As compared to the first ones, today's EU documents can also be said to accentuate the economic benefits of biodiversity protection by stressing now how ecosystems provide 'services' (see CEC 2006) in a vision compatible with a view of nature as a reserve of resources.…”

Higher Education Students’ Perceptions of Environmental Issues and Media Coverage

“…Gooch, 1995;Holbert et al, 2003;Riffe et al, 2007;Riffe & Hrach, 2009;Smith & Joffe, 2012;Sarrina Li, 2014). Climate change was not perceived as the most serious issue, even though it has dominated environmental news in recent years (Dispensa & Brulle, 2003;Antilla, 2005;Boykoff & Boykoff, 2007;Petersen, 2007;Gavin, 2009;Boykoff, 2009;Speck, 2010;Young & Dugas, 2011;Lyytim‰ki & Tapio, 2009;Lyytim‰ki, 2011).…”

“…Petersen (2007) found that ëalthough limits of growth was one prominent theme in 1992 in Danish television it was entirely absent in 2002, whilst coverage of criticism of the high cost and irrational priorities in environmental politics made an appearance.í Contrary to the discourse of ecological modernisation and sustainability, the issue of population growth was framed as an important environmental problem (Petersen, 2007).…”

From Game Protection to Wildlife Management: Frame Shifts, Organizational Development, and Field Practices

“…1986; Stewart, Smith, and Denton 1989). One of the central analytic foci has been the development of a movement's discursive frame (Benford 2011; Petersen 2007; Snow 2004, 2008; Snow, Vliegenthart, and Cooigall‐Brown 2007). This socially constructed interpretation of history describes the origins of the movement, heroic exemplars of the movement, its process of development, and its future agenda (Benford 2002; Davis 2002).…”