How We Frame Climate Danger Matters

By Sarah Westrick

Both the article featured in the guardian and the article featured on tes.com are reactions to climate protests, particularly those headed largely by school-age activists. Both articles stress the importance and necessity of students as leaders, paving the way for environmental action. But in some ways, the articles are framed in entirely opposite ways. 

Tes.com’s “Tackling the climate crisis must be a central focus of education” is the more urgently written of the two articles, but you might not think so just by reading the beginning of the article. Wyss talks of framing as the way in which information is presented to shape reader opinion. Although the tes article later stresses the immediacy required of climate action, it is opened with an explanation of a counterargument. If one were to read just the opening statement, they might leave the page without an understanding of at least on what track the article was going.

This type of opening could still work if the article was still able to employ the use of dread, as defined by Wyss, 

Both the article featured in the guardian and the article featured on tes.com are reactions to climate protests, particularly those headed largely by school-age activists. Both articles stress the importance and necessity of students as leaders, paving the way for environmental action. But in some ways, the articles are framed in entirely opposite ways. 

Tes.com’s “Tackling the climate crisis must be a central focus of education” is the more urgently written of the two articles, but you might not think so just by reading the beginning of the article. Wyss talks of framing as the way in which information is presented to shape reader opinion. Although the tes article later stresses the immediacy required of climate action, it is opened with an explanation of a counterargument. If one were to read just the opening statement, they might leave the page without an understanding of at least on what track the article was going.

This type of opening could still work if the article was still able to employ the use of dread, as defined by Wyss, who states “the greater the degree of suffering from a threat, the greater the perceived risk.” Although it is unwise to throw the scope of climate change onto readers from the very beginning, opening a piece about a danger as real as climate change without invoking a sense of fear does not inspire audiences, who have notoriously low attention spans, to continue reading about this vital subject. 

The guardian article, in juxtaposition, talks about the climate protests as something of importance from the get-go, using the word “emergency” to describe the climate situation within the first sentence. In addition to building some dread, this statement ties to Wyss’s control aspect of risk assessment, framing climate change as a problem requiring both personal and governmental action.

However, by the end of the article, the story starts to shift to a tone that is almost too hopeful and not action–inspiring. The story ends in confidence that “we will win” the fight against climate change, but this framing congratulates the reader (regardless of how much action they have really taken), and at a time where no major advancements on climate control have been achieved. 

At least however, these articles keep the focus on the issue at hand, unlike the article “Climate protests bring gridlock to DC morning traffic”, featured on CNN. This more recent piece attempts to report on the nationwide climate strike that occurred just last Friday. However, the title of the article, as well as its main points, frame the strike as a nuisance to commuters rather than a peaceful demonstration with a powerful and urgent message. 

The media, as the public’s way of gathering information and understanding the greater risks posed to their own safety and well-being has a role to play whose importance should not be understated. Therefore, the way that we talk about environmental risks to society will shape the action that is taken to combat these dangers. All these articles have something important to teach us about how to better frame risk in order to get the desired outcome.