Clean energy futures and place-based responses: A comparison of letters-to-the-editor in two Australian regions
Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: A region's cultural environment-how people communicate and how local media represent the immediate social and natural environment-is indicative of local dominant normative values that underpin potential capacities for climate change mitigation and adaptation. This article explores this premise with a comparison of two regions in Australia: Northern Rivers (New South Wales) and Ipswich-Lockyer (Queensland), and draws attention to readers' letters published in two daily newspapers, The Queensland Times (Ipswich) and The Northern Star (Lismore), with a specific focus on the Clean Energy Legislative Package. Leximancer software is used to analyse the content of readers' letters published over a nine-month period coinciding with the passage of the legislation through the Australian parliament. The results indicate important differences in local discourses and suggest a focus on local socio-cultural landscapes and their capacities for community dialogue are potentially useful for understanding how communities talk about, and the extent to which they will accept climate change policies.
Authors: Kitty van Vuuren, Daniel Angus, Susan Ward
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W61460388