Table Of Content‘The study is informed by Brereton’s vast expertise and continuing interest in
environmental ethics and the public sphere. Consequently, the questions about
audience-h ood and environmentalism that he tackles are not limited to merely
how media audiences consume and understand environmental messages, but
rather how those audiences might actually be motivated to take social action.
This makes his examination of the role of media in the formation of environ-
mental citizenship, understood as civic participation in an age of ecological crisis,
a crucial resource for those of us who are committed to confronting the challenge
of climate change.’
Patrick D. Murphy, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, Klein
College of Media and Communication, Temple University, USA
Environmental Literacy and New
Digital Audiences
Environmental literacy and education is not simply a top- down process of dis-
seminating correct attitudes, values and beliefs. Rather, it is one that incorpor-
ates and facilitates a dialogue with audiences of different persuasions and at all
levels of engagement, to help highlight and co- produce consensual solutions to
the major eco-c hallenges of our time.
Exploring the growing power and influence of media formats and outlets like
YouTube and gaming, alongside fictional and documentary film, this book con-
siders new modes of environmental literacy to ascertain the effectiveness of
digital and filmic stimuli on an audience’s perception of environmental issues,
and its specific impact on environmental action. Drawing on extensive research
across a broad range of media formats, Brereton establishes how environmental
narratives and meanings are created and being received by contemporary
audiences.
This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental
communication and media, eco-c riticism and environmental humanities more
broadly.
Pat Brereton is a Professor at Dublin City University, Ireland, and has taught
and published extensively around environmental communications and all forms
of new media.
Routledge Studies in Environmental Communication and Media
Environmental Communication and Critical Coastal Policy
Communities, Culture and Nature
Kerrie Foxwell-N orton
Climate Change and Post- Political Communication
Media, Emotion and Environmental Advocacy
Philip Hammond
The Discourses of Environmental Collapse
Imagining the end
Edited by Alison E. Vogelaar, Brack W. Hale and Alexandra Peat
Environmental Management of the Media
Policy, Industry, Practice
Pietari Kääpä
Participatory Networks and the Environment
The BGreen Project in the US and Bangladesh
Fadia Hasan
Participatory Media in Environmental Communication
Engaging Communities in the Periphery
Usha Harris
Journalism, Politics, and the Dakota Access Pipeline
Standing Rock and the Framing of Injustice
Ellen Moore
Environmental Literacy and New Digital Audiences
Pat Brereton
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-S tudies-in- Environmental-Communication-a nd-Media/book-s eries/
RSECM
Environmental Literacy and
New Digital Audiences
Pat Brereton
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Pat Brereton
The right of Pat Brereton to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-i n-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-04925-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-16968-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
To my youngest son Conor, who first told me about environmental
YouTube videos, together with Rita and Robert who kept me grounded and
gave me lots of ideas and criticism. Most sincerely to my wife Angela, for
her constant support and consideration. Finally, to our dear colleague
Louise McDermott who was the soul of Dublin City University (DCU) and
left this life far too soon.
Contents
Acknowledgements xi
1 Environmental literacy: an introduction 1
2 Understanding audience psychology and trigger points for
promoting environmental literacy 20
3 Promoting new media literacy: engagement with
sustainable environmental literacy 37
4 Food documentaries and green anxieties: actively
promoting environmental literacy 57
5 Eco- documentaries: old problems, new aesthetic
opportunities 76
6 Contemporary Hollywood blockbusters and
environmental narratives 96
7 An environmental analysis of post 9/11 Ameri can
televisual series 115
8 Netflix and emerging streaming networks: new forms of
immersive and addictive narratives and characterisation 131
9 Video games and environmental learning: new modes of
audience engagement 151
10 Going viral: YouTube and new forms of environmental
literacy 172
