Balancing Apocalyptic and
Positive Emphases in
Climate Change Rhetoric
Becoming Catalysts for Change Outside
of CLQ 3360 and 3361
Why Positive Emphasis?
• Disparities exist between classroom discussion and
real-life experiences (Garrard).
• Interpersonal communication affects climate
images and attitudes (Cole 265).
• Style is important in politically-charged discussion
(Grant 79).
“No good has ever come from feeling
guilty, neither intelligence, policy, nor
compassion. The guilty do not pay
attention to the object but only to
themselves, and not even to their own
interests, which might make sense, but to
their anxieties.”
Paul Goodman (qtd. In Hardin 9)
What Will We Discuss?
Can positive messages inspire change?
Why use negative language?
Why use positive language?
What is Kitty Locker’s positive emphasis?
How do Locker’s suggestions relate to films about
climate?
• What are the consequences of negative
approaches in films?
• How can we apply positive emphasis to climate
discussions?
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Can Positive Messages
Inspire Change?
Though negative language has a function in
communicating the urgency of climate
change, rhetoric using positive emphasis is
generally more effective in inspiring public
agency on climate issues than negative,
apocalyptic messages. The concept of
positive emphasis can help us—students of
CLQ 3360—relate our new knowledge of
ecological concerns to the world beyond the
classroom.
Why Use Negative
Language?
• Builds Ethos
o Honesty
o Example: Layoffs
• Avoids “Panglossian Disorder”
o “The neurotic tendency toward extreme optimism in the face of likely
cultural and planetary collapse”
o Views vulnerability as weakness
• Communicates Urgency
What Is Kitty Locker’s
Positive Emphasis?
Translating Tools for Business Communication to
Environmental Rhetoric
1. “Avoid negative words with negative
connotations” (Locker 40).
• Negative: Congress has failed to pass Kevin’s law.
• Better: Congress hasn’t passed Kevin’s law.
• Still Better: If enough constituents write to their
legislators in support of Kevin’s law, the bill could
pass in 2013.
2. “State information positively. Focus on what
the reader can do rather than on what you
won’t or can’t let the reader do” (Locker 41).
• Negative: The EV1 will not allow you to drive more
than 70 miles without visiting a charging station.
• Better: You can drive 70 miles without recharging in
the EV1.
• Still Better: You can conserve energy by driving an
EV1, which can operate for 70 miles before
recharging.
3. “Justify negative information by giving a
reason or linking it to a reader benefit”
(Locker 42).
• Negative: We cannot allow the tar sands project to
grow without causing significant pain to the Fort
Chipewyan people.
• Better: To honorably uphold the treaty with the
people of Fort Chipewyan and allow them to live
safely in the environment they have sustained for
hundreds of years while preserving its natural
beauty, talk to your representatives about
downsizing the Alberta tar sand project.
4. “If the negative is truly unimportant, omit
it” (Locker 42).
• Negative: Being environmentally conscious means
choosing to walk and bike instead of drive when
possible. At least you don’t have to walk three miles to
reach clean water, the way people do in parts of
Uganda.
• Better: Being environmentally conscious means choosing
to walk and bike instead of drive when possible.
• Still Better: Being environmentally conscious means
choosing to walk and bike instead of drive when
possible. By doing this, you can stay healthy while
promoting environmental sustainability.
5. “Bury the negative information and
present it compactly” (Locker 42-3).
• Positive Messages
o Beginning and end
o Bottom of the first page
o Ample space and time
• Negative Messages
o Middle
o Short, without repetition
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How Do Locker’s
Suggestions Relate to Films
about Climate?
An Analysis of An Inconvenient Truth, Chasing Ice, and Six
Degrees Could Change the World
Is An Inconvenient Truth a positive
film?
• Happy Chapter
o Depicts solutions as “afterthoughts”
o Referred to as “a nature hike through the Book of Revelations” (Nordhaus
and Shellenberger)
o Gives most time to expressing the depressing state of climate
• “Tempered Apocalypticism” (Johnson)
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Takes a big-picture approach
Appeals to the everyday citizen
“Mixes” rhetorical strategies (Johnson 32-4)
Uses a strategic title
“In America, political will is a renewable resource”
-Al Gore
How does Positive Emphasis work
in Chasing Ice?
• Negative Language
o Refers to an “irreversible tipping point”
o Includes an incongruent happy chapter
o Says a minimum of 1 million people will be displaced already.
• Attempts at Positive Rhetoric
o Uses beautiful imagery/art
o Takes a big-picture approach
o Engages scientific rhetoric for ethos
“The happy chapter was vague, general, and offered impractical solutions.”
-Student, Panel Discussion
Does Six Degrees Could Change the World
use Locker’s positive emphasis?
• Apocalyptic Approach
o Negative Language—”Appetite for energy”
o Includes trivial, negative information
o Asks audiences to identify with human victims
• Happy Chapter
o In spite of happy chapter, ends film with, “14,000 new cars hit the road
every day.”
o Focused on small, personal home changes.
“We need to hear something that empowers us”
--Student, Panel Discussion
What are the consequences of
negative approaches in films?
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Implies lack of consensus .
Alienates the audience (Garrard).
Falls behind rhetoric of climate deniers.
Can result in negative latent functions no matter the
audience (Duvall).
o Denial
o Fatalism
How can we apply positive
emphasis to climate discussions?
• Pick Your Battles
• Emphasize Benefits
• Praise Achievements
• Be Specific
• Watch out for Hidden Negatives
“[The environment] is a highly value-laden
content, and one person’s solution may be
another’s catastrophe. It is a content that
incorporates aesthetic, spiritual, social, political,
and economic dimensions alongside (not
separate from) the purely scientific. Furthermore, it
is a content that does not and should not focus
solely on environmental disasters and negative
issues. Environmental education is not simply
about ‘saving the whale’ or indeed ‘saving the
world.’ It is equally about the development of an
appreciation of the wonders and beauty of the
world, and a sense of wanting to save it—in short,
the development of ecological thinking or of an
en environmental ethic” (Garrard 378).
Discussion Question 1
Identify a film that used negative language
effectively. What functions did the negative tone
serve and what did the filmmakers do to mitigate the
consequences of negative language?
Discussion Question 2
Some believe that apocalyptic language is a sign of
weak environmentalism while others think that it is a
response to political tension surrounding
environmental issues. Do you believe filmmakers and
politicians use negative language consciously or, like
the examples above, as a result of a political
‘climate?’
Discussion Question 3
How might positive emphasis translate into your life
and environmental awareness beyond CLQ 3360?