Research on sustainability and environmental communication

In a conceptional paper Hoppe and Wolling (2017) proposed sustainability communication as an analytical framework for environmental communication research. Within this framework different levels of observation and communication are distinguished which allow to structure the research field and to develop a category system that can be used for the systematic analysis of research on environmental communication.

Furthermore the following questions are addressed:

  1. Which events and news factors influence the success of environmental campaignes and environmental organisations in obtaining media attention?
  2. Under what conditions and by what means can communication/reporting on environmental problems and/or environmental protection influence citizens' knowledge, attitudes and actions? A role models effective?
  3. How can the variance in media coverage on transboundary environmental disasters be explained? Do structural conditions of the affected countries play a role?
  4. How do people use the media before, during and after environmental crises and how can this behavior be explained?
  5. In order to address the critique that environmental protection is at the expense of the socially disadvantaged we ask: How do the media link the issue of social justice (poverty vs. wealth) to the ecological dimensions of the sustainability goals.