The Anthropocene in Global Media: Neutralizing the Risk

287 Pages·2020·23.247 MB·English

by  Leslie Sklair

The Anthropocene in Global Media
This book offers the first systematic study of how the ‘Anthropocene’ is reported
in mass media globally, drawing parallels between the use (or misuse) of the
term and the media’s attitude towards the associated issues of climate change and
global warming.
Identifying the potential dangers of the Anthropocene provides a useful path
into a variety of issues that are often ignored, misrepresented, or sidelined by the
media. These dangers are widely discussed in the social sciences, environmental
humanities, and creative arts, and this book includes chapters on how the contri-
butions of these disciplines are reported by the media. Our results suggest that
the natural science and mass media establishments, and the business and politi-
cal interests which underpin them, tend to lean towards optimistic reassurance
(the ‘good’ Anthropocene), rather than pessimistic alarmist stories, in report-
ing the Anthropocene. In this volume, contributors explore how dangerous this
‘neutralizing’ of the Anthropocene is in undermining serious global action in the
face of the potential existential risks confronting humanity. The book presents
results from media in more than 100 countries in all major languages across the
globe. It covers the reporting of key environmental issues, such as the impact
of climate change and global warming on oceans, forests, soil, biodiversity, and
the biosphere. We offer explanations for differences and similarities in how the
media report the Anthropocene in different regions of the world. In doing so, the
book argues that, though it is still controversial, the idea of the Anthropocene
helps to concentrate minds and behaviour in confronting ongoing ecological (and
Coronavirus) crises.
The Anthropocene in Global Media will be of interest to students and scholars of
environmental studies, media and communication studies, and the environmental
humanities, and all those who are concerned about the survival of humans on
planet Earth.
Leslie Sklair is emeritus professor of Sociology at the London School of
Economics and Political Science. His work has been translated into more than
ten languages. He is the President of the Global Studies Association (UK), and,
in 2016, the Czech Academy awarded him the František Palacký Medal for his
contribution to Historical Sciences.
Routledge Studies in Environmental Communication and
Media
Climate Change and Post-Political Communication
Media, emotion and environmental advocacy
Philip Hammond
The Discourses of Environmental Collapse
Imagining the end
Edited by Alison E. Vogelaar, Brack W. Hale, and Alexandra Peat
Environmental Management of the Media
Policy, industry, practice
Pietari Kääpä
Participatory Networks and the Environment
The BGreen Project in the US and Bangladesh
Fadia Hasan
Participatory Media in Environmental Communication
Engaging communities in the periphery
Usha Harris
Journalism, Politics, and the Dakota Access Pipeline
Standing Rock and the framing of injustice
Ellen Moore
Environmental Literacy and New Digital Audiences
Patrick Brereton
Reporting Climate Change in the Global North and South
Journalism in Australia and Bangladesh
Jahnnabi Das
Theory and Best Practices in Science Communication Training
Edited by Todd P. Newman
The Anthropocene in Global Media
Neutralizing the risk
Edited by Leslie Sklair
For more information about this series, please visit: https: // www . rout ledg e . com
/Rout ledge -Stud ies -i n -Env ironm ental -Comm unica tion- and -M edia / book- serie s /
RSEC M
The Anthropocene
in Global Media
Neutralizing the Risk
Edited by Leslie Sklair
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Leslie Sklair; individual chapters, the
contributors
The right of Leslie Sklair to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 9780367375973 (hbk)
ISBN: 9780429355202 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
Contents
List of figures vii
List of tables ix
List of contributors x
Acknowledgements xii
Abbreviations xiv
PART I
The Anthropocene and media 1
1 Editor’s introduction 3
LESLIE SKLAIR
2 Anthropocene in the mass media: The big picture 22
LESLIE SKLAIR
PART II
Media coverage of the Anthropocene: A global survey 35
3 Africa’s Anthropocene in the media: A kaleidoscope of
contradictions 37
MERYL MCQUEEN AND LESLIE SKLAIR
4 The Anthropocene in North American media: The pursuit of
the ‘good’ Anthropocene 55
LESLIE SKLAIR, CHAD STEACY, JONATHAN DEVORE, AND RON WAGLER
5 Challenges and ideas of representations of the Anthropocene in
Latin American and Caribbean media 83
VIVIANE RIEGEL, SOFIA ÁVILA, AND JERICO FIESTAS-FLORES
vi Contents
6 The Anthropocene in the media of North Asia 97
LESLIE SKLAIR, KA HO MOK, AND YUYANG KANG
7 South Asia: The ‘provincializing’ dilemma 118
LESLIE SKLAIR, JAHNNABI DAS, AND SUNITHA KUPPUSWAMY
8 Latecomers to capitalism, latecomers to the risks of the
Anthropocene 141
VLADIMIR VULETIĆ AND ENI BULJUBAŠIĆ
9 Western Europe: Planetary Eurocentrism 159
BORIS HOLZER AND LESLIE SKLAIR
10 The Anthropocene in Middle Eastern media: Invisible oil? 187
BARAN ALP UNCU AND RAMZI DAROUICHE
11 Oceania: Big islands, small islands, and the Anthropocene 202
LESLIE SKLAIR
PART III
From the Anthropocene to the Anthropo-scene 215
12 Media coverage of the Anthropocene in the social sciences and
environmental humanities 217
VIVIANE RIEGEL
13 Media coverage of Anthropocene-related creative arts 232
LESLIE SKLAIR
14 Conclusion: We need to talk about the Anthropocene 252
LESLIE SKLAIR
Appendix 1: Countries in Regions 265
Index 266
Figures
1.1 Ichthyosaurs attending a lecture on fossilized human remains.
Lithograph by Sir Henry de la Bèche, 1830, after his drawing.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0). © Wellcome collection 8
2.1 Thinking like a planet, thinking like humans (Andrew Zolnai) 25
2.2 Emissions by country (© Union of Concerned Scientists) 30
3.1 ‘What do you think of HAT’s word of the year?’, Antroposeen
in Afrikaans (2016) 41
4.1 Fabulous Anthropocene (2013) © Robyn Woolston www
.robynwoolston .com 63
4.2 Infographic for 143 Countries (Mark Jacobson). www .
thesolutionsproject. org 67
4.3 Word cloud USA, Boykoff et al. (2018) 79
5.1 Campaign poster ‘1.5 to stay alive’ © Jonathan Gladding 90
5.2 Anthropocene display (2019) © Museum of Tomorrow, Rio 94
6.1 Chinese novel Anthropocene (2016) © Zhao Defa 103
6.2 Museums in the Anthropocene (Age of Man), conference poster
(2016) © National Museum of Science Tokyo 109
7.1 Loss of green cover after the Gaja cyclone, Thanjavur district of
Tamil Nadu © Ms. S. Mahalakshmi (2019) 122
8.1 Special issue on the Anthropocene in the Czech magazine A2
(2016) © A2 145
8.2 Big polluters bankrolling COP 24, Poland (2018) © Corporate
Accountability and Corporate Europe Observatory 152
9.1 Le Monde man (2016) © Nini La Caille 161
9.2 First public international conference on the Anthropocene (2011)
© Geological Society of London 165
10.1 Palestinian, Jordanian, and Israeli teenagers campaign together
to save the Jordan © Eco Peace Middle East 190
11.1 Anthropocene special issue, Balairung (Indonesia), (2018)
© Jurnal Balairung 209
12.1 L’Atlas de l’Anthropocene’ (2019) © Sciences Po Presse 219
13.1 Special exhibition on the Anthropocene at the Deutsches
Museum Munich (2014) © Deutsches Museum 234
viii Figures
13.2 Destroying nature is destroying life (2018) © Robin Wood/
Illusion CGI Studio 240
13.3 Stain, Spain, Santander (2011) © Pejac @pejac art 241
13.4 Capitalist Ruins, acrylic, one of four high-density polystyrene
panels, epoxy, hand-carved text (2020) © Justin Brice Guariglia 242
14.1 ‘Can I get mine with long duree?’ (2015) © Felice Wynham,
https://kuchka. org /ecomyopia 256
14.2 ‘Degrowth’ (2015) © Barbara Castro (Barbaracastrourio. c om) 258
Tables
2.1 Summary results by years and regions 23
2.2 Publications with 36+ Anthropocene items (beginning 2000 to
end 2017) 24