Confirmed to be a dangerous threat to the planet, global warming is a result of both natural and human causes. Therefore, many environmentalists, including politician Al Gore, find the need to broadcast the problem and promote action by humans to decrease their fossil fuel and carbon dioxide emissions. To demonstrate the possible influence humans could have on decreasing green house gas production, Gore created ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. This is a documentary following his tour throughout the world preaching the dangers of global warming and the role of the human population in decreasing the over abundant gases in the atmosphere. Although Gore’s film created a wave of action throughout the United States, his method of visually overemphasizing the dangers and threats to humans instilled fear and discomfort in the population, demonstrating an unfortunate use of manipulative and risk communication.
Al Gore’s greatest tool in creating a successful use of scare-tactics was publicizing his cause through the use of film. Film and television became effective forms of communication immediately upon arrival in the U.S. largely due to their highly influential role in emotional investment. By combining image and voice technology, film is overwhelmingly effective, and fascinatingly, people do not realize its effect on them. Even in my greatest effort against emotional involvement in the film, I found myself sympathizing with the polar bears and smiling after seeing the U.S. cities taking action. Yet the most influential emotion I felt from the film was fear: fear that my family in San Francisco would sink, relocating or even killing them, and fear that another natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina would destruct our nation. This ability to cause an uncontrollably painful influence upon the viewers demonstrates how scare-tactics are a useful, yet controversial tool by environmental activists.
Environmentalists and activists such as Al Gore and James Lovelock are also crafty in their use of risk communication. Risk communication emphasizes dangers and threats to point out the urgency of problems impacting the environment. Environmental films use risk communication to fuel the contextual impact on the viewers. By using risk communication to relate to the audience, The 11th Hour describes the CO2 possible influence on increased cancer and asthma cases in the world. Gore’s film as well uses risk communication for context, but instead conveys the message through the nationally infamous Hurricane Katrina. Because Gore takes advantage of this tragic event to emphasize his point, the activist’s use of risk communication is arguably immoral, thus verifying the negatives of his strategy.
Yet, the question is whether scare tactics and risk communication are the best strategies to fight environmental issues. It seems unfair and disappointing that the main method of reaching out to the public is scaring them into action. Many fear that the unbiased scientific evidence given through journalism is not effective enough in motivating the public to take action. This issue brings the question to mind; do desperate times call for desperate measures? I surely believe and hope not.
The purpose of our blog is to inform people and explain different strategies by various environmentalists and organizations to educate and call to action. Strategies such as advertisements, commercials, and demonstrations are some of the few emphasized among the blog. Fiona Kurtz, Karissa Bodnar, Megan Dalgleish, Andrea Osterhout, and Bianca Sutjiadi are the creators and masterminds behind the blog. Enjoy!
