NESS SEMINAR
Dr Saffron O’Neill
Date: Tuesday 14th February
Time: 12 – 1pm
Location: Online via zoom
Images are everywhere, playing a central role in how we engage with climate change. Despite their importance though, they are often relegated to the status of background ‘wallpaper’: given little thought by researchers, journalists, policymakers and others. This is a problem as it can lead to images which can stigmatise particular groups of people, and which poorly represent the risks of climate change – and importantly, how we could address those risks. This talk will summarise Dr O’Neill’s work, from discussing which images are dominant in media narratives about climate change (and which are marginalised); to how this impacts on peoples’ engagement. Three cases studies of climate imagery (polar bears, climate protest and heatwave imagery) will be used to show the limitations of current visual portrayals of climate change in the media; but also to show how a more diverse visual discourse can help us re-envision how we might live in a climate-changed future.
Saffron O’Neill is Associate Professor in Geography at the University of Exeter, UK. She currently holds a Leverhulme Research Fellowship titled ‘The Visual Life of Climate Change’. Saffron is also Co-Director of the ESRC-funded ACCESS network (Advancing Capacity for Climate and Environment Social Science). She is a regular media commentator, and advises a diversity of stakeholders, on climate communication. Saffron tweets @SaffronJONeill.
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