In our latest report, ‘Framing Adaptation’ [PDF download], we explore how five of the largest UK environmental organisations are contributing to the adaptation narratives that we see gaining traction.
Including a foreword from Dr. Antje Brown (University of St Andrews), this report summarises undergraduate dissertation research conducted by TGT volunteer Carys Richards.
Framing Adaptation builds on our ‘We Need to Talk About Adaptation’ research, which examines the media coverage of adaptation by Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, RSPB, The Green Party of England and Wales, and WWF UK. Our previous research found that these organisations are largely silent on adaptation.
‘Framing Adaptation’ seeks to untangle how environmental organisations are framing adaptation and the adaptation narratives they contribute to. Frames and narratives are powerful because they are easily normalised and often left unchallenged.
We reviewed 2,534 articles in total from a period between March 2017 to December 2019. There were only 19 adaptation-focused articles that we could examine.
The frames explored are:
the ‘mitigation’ frame
the ‘security’ frame
the ‘techno-scientific’ frame
the ‘ecological’ frame
The report summarises what these frames are, and the potential implications of each. Our findings suggest that organisations are moving away from the positioning of adaptation as the poor cousin to mitigation, and are no longer viewing adaptation as just a technological solution to the impacts of climate change. The most common frame used was to present adaptation as a security issue.
The Glacier Trust urges UK environmental organisations, journalists and campaigners to contribute to the adaptation narrative and consider carefully how they frame these contributions.
We still need to talk about adaptation, and when we do- let’s consciously frame it. Let’s actively drive the conversation.