The Narrative Cycle of Climate Change in the Greek Newspapers, 2001–2008

This paper aims to establish whether the longitudinal framing of climate change (CC) in Greek newspapers exhibits the characteristics of a “narrative cycle,” with different themes becoming prominent at different periods in accordance with the media’s narrative considerations. In order to test this assumption, we formulate a number of hypotheses which we test with data originating from three Greek newspapers over the period 2001–2008. We find that the scientific and ecological/meteorological themes of CC are more often mentioned during the initial phase of media coverage, arguably due to media’s attempt to open the narrative and capture the public’s attention. Public protests and debate feature more prominently during the peaked phase of coverage, in accordance with the narrative need for a climax, while the later period of coverage, when some kind of resolution to the story should be offered, is characterized by the prominence of policy-making and economy-related issues.     

Actors and Audiences: Negotiating Fisheries Management

This paper combines narrative and policy performance analyses to explore why resource management is contentious even when resources are increasing in abundance. Employing a case study of red drum in North Carolina, the study aimed to find out how different narratives of fishery science interact with policy performances to create outcomes that exacerbate conflicts. Examining six years of fisheries governance, the study explores how policy performances shape managers’ interpretations of fisheries science and modes of interacting with each other. The study finds that despite being a so-called success story, red drum management remains controversial because while user groups are concerned about access and allocation questions, managers focus on debating the meaning and implications of scientific data. Though compromises between user groups are made, conflict continues because the process through which they are reached creates frustration rather than understanding. That resource access dilemmas remain so prominent confirms that continually increasing scientific information has done little to solve resource conflicts, a key point in the dawning era of ‘big data'. The findings underscore the need for more scrutiny of how policy-making is performed, to provide insight into where interventions might promote better collaboration and acceptance of compromises.     

Users’ Perspectives About the Potential Usefulness of Online Storylines to Communicate River Research to a Multi-disciplinary Audience

ABSTRACT

Effective communication practices are needed to support adaptive, collaborative and integrative environmental management. We propose the use of online storylines to communicate scientific outcomes in a way that is captivating, easily understood and accessible. Based on 20 interviews, we identified important attributes for the storyline content, structure and user interaction. We designed a storyline example about stakeholders’ perceptions of a river management intervention with consequences on the landscape. The intended audience consists of multi-disciplinary researchers and practitioners that could consider or apply research solutions outside their field of expertise in river management. We introduced the example in a workshop with 14 participants from research and practice. Our findings highlight the importance of including narrative elements via images, interactive figures and timelines to illustrate the research context. Moreover, storylines should explicitly state benefits as well as the limitations of the river research and include a glossary to clarify specific terms.     

Diversifying forest expertise: forest journals narrating policy change

ABSTRACT

During policy change, the role of the actors communicating the change to different audiences is accentuated. The media plays an increasing role, either as an actor or by providing a stage for other actors. In particular, specialised journals represent an influential, albeit understudied, sphere of policy studies. We use the narrative policy framework complemented with frame analysis to trace how specialised media can affect policy implementation through implicit suggestions for action. Using this combined approach, we analyse how specialised forest journals, which are the most important forest information source for Finnish forest owners, have conveyed the renewal of forest legislation in Finland. The core message of the journals is that forest owners should, despite their new freedom granted by the reform, rely on experts rather than experimenting when managing their forests. This suggests that the media contributes to a path-dependent continuation of a forest policy that is based on a rationalistic exploitation ethos. The innovative potential, which the policy change aimed at encouraging, is thereby partially undermined. However, the analysis of the narratives also reveals that forest expertise and professionalism are diversifying. This notion is important as diversity can eventually lead to narratives supporting more fundamental change in forests management.     

Unpacking the post‐Haiyan disaster resettlement narratives of young Filipino women informal settlers in Tacloban City,Philippines

Post‐disaster resettlement narratives encapsulate the complex mobile–spatial processes that are embedded in a post‐disaster context. The existing literature on disaster relocation and resettlement accords primacy to the logistical, practical, structural, and physical dimensions of residential transitioning. Building on this knowledge, this study conducted a spatial narrative inquiry to generate a link to mobile–spatial realities interspersed in diverse temporal trajectories. It did so by tracking the embodied rhythms of people and objects evoked through the retelling of post‐disaster resettlement stories by 12 young Filipino women informal settlers. The key findings are organised in three spatial narratives: ‘house near the sea'; ‘there at the bunkhouse'; and ‘here in Ridgeview'. These narratives are anchored in the overarching dimensions that underpin Filipino informal settlers’ experiences of (not) moving in and out of disaster resettlement areas. Lastly, the findings are explained in the light of the theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of disaster resettlement specific to informal settlers.     

Strategic planning harnessing urban policy mobilities: the gradual development of local sustainability fix

The aim of our article is to follow how global policy models affect local policy making. Each city has unique local challenges in promoting development, e.g. economic growth, but also needs to find a balance between these targets and demands for sustainable city solutions. In our empirical study, we follow how ideas of waterfront development – to attract new inhabitants and promote economic growth – and global demands of carbon control were used interactively in a strategic spatial planning process in the city of Tampere, Finland. During the six-year planning process, these two policy targets became interdependent, created a new policy-making domain, and led to a combinatorial development of sustainability elements arising from this domain. These findings demonstrate the serial use of global policy models in the creation of a local urban ‘sustainability fix’. To conclude, the intertwinement of diverse global policy models in a city planning process creates easily a recursive cycle that redefines urban sustainability within cities and intercity networks. This perspective makes local policy narratives and strategic planning highly important in urban sustainability research as promoting urban sustainability becomes an inherently ambivalent practice.     

Is legislation a barrier to the sustainable management of game species? A case study of wild deer in Britain

Wild game management for hunting in Western society has become increasingly complex as stakeholders have multiplied and as ‘sustainability’ influences the contemporary debate. This paper questions whether the current legal framework for game management, which has evolved from early European civilisations to focus on ‘hunting rights’, is relevant to regulate the contemporary environmental, social and economic dimensions of wild game and their management. Employing a narrative analysis to focus on deer, the study identifies key legislative tenets and highlights the pertinence of historical laws to contemporary conflicts. The analysis suggests that current legislation is increasingly divergent from contemporary trends and has created inertia with respect to sustainable deer management. The paper offers four options to redress this: state intervention; voluntary collaboration; financial incentives; and establishing a legal responsibility for management. It is concluded that significant innovation is required in one or more of these four areas to facilitate the contemporary sustainable management of wild deer in Britain.     

Human performance in polar environments

An overview of the physical, psychological, social, and coping aspects of living and working in polar regions is presented, assessing findings from both expedition teams and work groups. A personal narrative describing the experiences of a polar expeditioner is interspersed in relevant sections to provide a deeper understanding of the challenges of performing in an extreme environment. The application of findings from polar environments as an analog for space missions is discussed. We conclude that further research is needed on the integration of psychosocial and neurobehavioral adaptation. Furthermore, it is important to consider both the positive as well as negative features of living and working in polar and other extreme environments, and develop training strategies and countermeasure tools to optimize performance in these conditions.     

The Misdiagnosis: Rethinking “Nature-deficit Disorder”

This study examines and critiques “nature-deficit disorder” (NDD), Richard Louv's popular theory of how and why children are alienated from nature. Specifically, I explore NDD within the context of one forest conservation education program that aligns with and operationalizes Louv's message. Underlying Louv's and forest educators' discourses are culturally specific assumptions about human-nature relationships. Both evoke a fall-recovery narrative—that children are separated from nature and must return—and promote science and naming to reconnect. I argue that, in the absence of deeper cultural examination and alternative practices, NDD is a misdiagnosis—a problematic contemporary environmental discourse that can obscure and mistreat the problem. I call on adults to rethink human-nature disconnectedness by returning to the psyche, digging deeper to the problem's cultural roots, and using nontraditional communication practices such as emotional expression and non-naming.