Climate Communications
“I think we can agree that we should, not that we often do, but we should treat our relatives differently than we treat resources.”
Metaphors are cognitive, cultural devices that shape who we are and how we approach our problems. The current climate crisis is one such problem.
Mother Earth Indigenous Metaphors and other Frames for the Climate Crisis
Metaphorical Frames and the Climate Crisis
"Energy Freedom"
Work done in collaboration with economist Adan Martinez Cruz.
How can we communicate environmental messages to increase adoption of pro-environmental attitudes? This work explores 5 different Metaphorical Framings (MF) for the climate crisis (Okonski & Martinez-Cruz, in preparation). Preliminary data trends suggest that the energy freedom (Green Tea Party) framing was rated as the most reasonable and most enjoyable MF. It made people more likely to vote for candidates who are proactive in addressing climate change. Participants in this condition rated themselves as more conservative than those in the science not settled group indicating that this MF may be a positive strategy to use amongst conservatives allowing them to maintain their identity yet change their stance towards climate change.
Mother Earth Metaphors in the US
“You couple that with the idea that Lenape spirituality emanates from your connection to place so the land when you get relocated to another section of Mother Earth where you’re not familiar with the plants, you’re not familiar with the animals, you’ve got to begin all over again to regenerate your spiritual health.”
Work done in collaboration with the Lenape of Delaware, the Okanagan people of Washington State, the Yuki Tribe of Northern California and Luciane Corrêa Ferreira.
Metaphors are cognitive, cultural devices that shape who we are and how we approach our problems. The current climate crisis is one such problem. Consider these words from one participant who was thinking of the planet as if it were a mother: “I imagine a wash of intense hot and cold over my entire body with slight needles of pain in different locations.” This participant is simulating details about temperature and proprioception in order to understand how climate change feels.
In addition to urban US data, members of three US Indigenous communities were also interviewed: The Lenape of Delaware, the Okanagan people of Washington State, and the Yuki tribe of Northern California.
Mãe Natureza Metaphors in Brazil
“Então, assim, eu acho mais como metáfora mermo com a-forte. E você sentir... a terra como mãe.
This work was done in collaboration with the Pataxós of Minas Gerais and Luciane Corrêa Ferreira.
The Mother Earth metaphor is not limited to the US. The twitter hashtag #maenatureza is frequent, e.g.: “It’s not just a planet, it’s a womb. #maenatureza” (Okonski & Ferreira, 2019). This framework encourages respect and care for the planet as if it were a pregnant woman or your own mother. Conceptualizations of environment as a backdrop/commodity systemically contribute to the climate crisis and environmental injustice. Ongoing work in Brazil seeks to understand how embodied, engendered perspectives shape conceptualizations of the Mother Earth metaphor and to investigate how urban/indigenous population’s respective experiences with nature impacts how they frame environmental issues.
In particular, indigenous data has been collected with the Pataxós from Brazil and various communities from the US revealing that they consider the Mother Earth metaphor in a literal sense as it relates to their religious cosmology, ethnomedical traditions, and ongoing enactments of different elements of this allegorical complex. Theories of environmental racism and ecofeminism are applied when discussing this data.