Where do we go next?

Much of the discussion on creating a sustainable society revolves around how we should or even could possibly have a sustainable society. The first critique against a sustainable society is, "So do we just get rid of all our technology and go back to hunting, gathering, and living in caves?" Well the answer is of course not. We must find a way to create a sustainable society without pushing the progression of humanity backwards, which is a very tall task.

Communication is Key

As we have discussed throughout the duration of this course, effective communication is essential to initiating this sustainable society that environmental scientists and activists around the globe believe we need desperately. In order to utilize effective communication, we must determine the mediums of communicating that are the most effective for create social change. This week's readings present contradicting information regarding the effectiveness of social media in this push for climate change activism. Malcolm Gladwell's article from The New Yorker discredits the use of social media in the battle for activism in climate change, as he believes that social media breeds slacktivism. Gladwell feels that social media users gain a false sense of activism (slacktivism) by sharing, retweeting, or liking, etc. a post on one of these sites. He believes that people do not actually create any true difference by being an activist online. On the other hand, Kirilenko, Molodtsova, and Stepchenkova conducted research on Americans' use of Twitter actually creates climate change awareness and furthermore a contribution to moving towards a sustainable society (2015, p.92). The findings of their study show that Americans use Twitter to share information about climate change, and that they associate climate change with unusual weather patterns (Kirilenko, Molodtsova, & Stepchenkova, 2015, p.92). Kirilenko, Molodtsova, and Stepchenkova's work acknowledges Twitter's ability to spread information at an extremely fast pace, and therefore being a good tool to spread awareness about climate change.

I agree with Kirilenko, Molodtsova, and Stepchenkova's research more so than Malcolm Gladwell's ideas put forth in his article from The New Yorker, "Small Change". Twitter is an effective tool for spreading awareness on climate change, and I do agree with Gladwell in the sense that Twitter will not be the sole cause for halting climate change. However, I do feel that Gladwell fails to acknowledge the benefits of social media, and just focuses on what it cannot do. Social media may lead to slacktivism, however, this practice of slacktivism still passes on important information. The future of environmental communication lies in the hands of those who will be motivated to push for change outside of the realm of social media. Social media can effectively transmit information, and this information can be used by motivated individuals who want to make a change. Just like any major task, it cannot be accomplished through one element. This fight to change to a sustainable society will take multiple layers of activists, pushing for change through social media, within their occupations, live protesting, and ultimately taking up this issue with federal governments. The legal systems in all nations must be on board to push big corporations away from their "designed for the dump," money driven organizational strategies with new legislation. This is an idea that is put forth in "The Story of Electronics" YouTube video that was a part of this week's readings as well.

To sum up, the answer to the question of "where do we go next?" is very complex. In order to take the next step towards a sustainable society it will require every nation around the world to buy into this concept from their government down. Due to the many layers of people, organizations, corporations, governments and so on that need to be on the same page, extremely persuasive environmental communication is necessary.

Bibliography

Gladwell, M. (2010). Small change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted. The New Yorker, October 4.

Kirilenko, A., Molodtsova, & Stepchenkova, S. (2015). People as sensors: Mass media and local temperature influence climate change discussion on Twitter. Global Environmental Change, 30, 92-100. 

“The Story of Electronics (2010)”.