Communicating Sustainability

Communicating Sustainability is a book of evidence-based strategies for making sustainability vivid, accessible, and comprehensible. To do this, it brings together research from a range of specialties including cognitive psychology, visual perception, communication studies, environmental design, interpretive exhibit design, interpretive signage, wayfinding, storytelling, courtroom litigation, information graphics, and graphic design to illustrate not only what approaches are effective but why they work as they do. The topic of sustainability is vast and complex. It interconnects multiple dimensions of human culture and the biosphere and involves a myriad of systems and processes, many of which are too large, too small, too fast, or too slow to see. Many people find verbal explanations about all of this too abstract or too complicated to understand, and for most people the concepts of sustainability are regarded as quirky, peripheral, and not essential to everyday life. Yet the challenges of sustainability concern the very survival of most species of life on Earth, including the human species. In order for life as we know it to survive and thrive into the future, sustainability must become broadly understood—by everyone, not just activists or specialists. This book offers tools to help make complex systems and nuanced, abstract ideas concrete and comprehensible to the broadest range of people. The goal of communication, and of this book, is to build understanding.

Modern and professional communication is required to realise the goal of sustainability in society. This book develops a theoretical and empirical framework, integrating interdisciplinary perspectives from communications theory, psychology, sociology, educational sciences, systems theory and constructivism. Its aim is to inform the establishment of sustainability communication. Complementing this theoretical framework, the book provides methods and concepts in a range of fields such as corporate practice, education and media. The book addresses the scientific community and students as well as communicators in all categories of sustainability communication.

With chapters written by experts in their field, this volume advances the understanding of theory and successful practice of marketing and promoting environmental sustainability. Some experts predict that the next big trend in business will involve the green economy. Yet, communicating sustainability to consumers provides a set of challenges for marketers that do not necessarily follow all the rules of other types of marketing communication. In many ways the concept of sustainability challenges the core ideals of promoting consumption. Accordingly, this book identifies for researchers and practitioners the barriers that keep customers from engaging in environmentally sustainable consumption and find ways to overcome those barriers. The book includes topics such corporate advertising strategy related to sustainability, corporate social responsibility advertising, greenwashing, advertising related to values, persuasion and persuasion knowledge in sustainability marketing, social media and sustainability, and advertising and public policy.

"This guide shows how the power of communication can be harnessed for achieving the goal of promoting more sustainable lifestyles. It is designed to be read by local and national government authorities, and everyone else who wants to develop and implement public awareness campaigns on these issues."--Publisher website.

The Textbook seeks for an innovative approach to Sustainability Communication as transdisciplinary area of research. Following the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are intended to transform the world as it is known, we seek for a multidisciplinary discussion of the role communication plays in realizing these goals. With complementing theoretical approaches and concepts, the book offers various perspectives on communication practices and strategies on an individual, organizational, institutional, as well as public level that contribute, enable (or hinder) sustainable development. Presented case studies show methodological as well as issue specific challenges in sustainability communication. Therefore, the book introduces and promotes innovative methods for this specific area of research.

Effective sustainability communication can deliver business value. Get it wrong, however, and the reputational damage will be costly. Stakeholders, and the general public as well as activists, are unforgiving of companies whose products, services, business practices or culture fall short of their socially responsible rhetoric. Based on close to one hundred in-depth interviews with leading experts, Christian Conrad and Marjorie Thompson's The New Brand Spirit helps corporate communications and marketing professionals tackle this conundrum by providing a first-hand view of eight distinct and relevant stakeholder perspectives. Nineteen comprehensive and well-researched best practice cases from sustainability leaders like IBM, Unilever, Marks & Spencer and Puma will inspire all those tasked with communicating sustainability with practical and applicable tools and lessons learned. The result is a book that will enable senior executives, corporate communication professionals and brand managers to decide when, to whom and how to communicate sustainability related messages - and when not to.

Prepared as a contribution to the Rio+10 process, this book offers a wide range of views and perspectives on sustainability per se and on environmental education and communication in particular. It is being published in the framework of the project »Sustainability Centres in the North Sea Region» but significantly enhanced to include case studies and examples of on-going works in a number of industrialised and developing nations. This publication is, thanks to its scope and international nature, of interest to anyone concerned with the sustainability debate, one of the most important matters in the 21st Century.

Although the information and communication technology (ICT) industry accounted for only 2 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2007, the explosive increase in data traffic brought about by a rapidly growing user base of more than a billion wireless subscribers is expected to nearly double that number by 2020. It is clear that now is the ti