Julie Doyle
University of Brighton
Michael Goodman
University of Reading
The Climate Change Network has focused upon two activities during 2019: finalising a special issue of Climatic Change on the topic, ‘Practicing Everyday Climate Cultures’; and organising a roundtable for the MeCCSA 2020 conference at University of Brighton on the subject, ‘Media in/for the anthropocene: What is the responsibility of media in the climate crisis?’ Both activities place media and culture as central to understanding the climate crisis, particularly the ways in which everyday cultural and media practices shape climate engagement and action. Co-edited by ourselves as Climate Change Network Co-Chairs, and with former Chair, Nathan Farrell, the special issue of Climatic Change (published early 2020) will contribute a rigorous and complex understanding of the connections of culture, media and everyday practice—often over-looked by scholars and the public—in the context of climate change mitigation. With contributions from scholars in media studies, geography, psychology and sociology, the papers and commentaries in the Issue explore and interrogate the practices of everyday climate cultures through consumer and corporate advocacy, the creation of ordinary ‘climate citizens’ through media and material culture, and the everyday technologies deployed for climate mitigation. This will be the first special issue of the journal to focus upon media, culture and the everyday in the context of climate change, and emerged out of a 2016 Network event.
For the MeCCSA2020 roundtable, emphasis is placed upon questions of how media access, representation and voices shape climate stories, with a specific focus upon questions of justice, education and media scholarship in the climate crisis. Panellists include media-focused campaigners, youth activists, media professionals and media scholars. From this roundtable, and through collaborative dialogue at MeCCCSA 2020 we aim to identify our key foci for 2020 network activities.