Language, Social Media, and Climate Change: The Role of Language in Driving Climate Awareness in the Digital Age

Riki Nasrullah; Kisyani; Fafi Inayatillah

doi:10.35516/Hum.2026.9235

Authors

Riki Nasrullah Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Surabaya, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1081-4177
Kisyani Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Surabaya, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7397-850X
Fafi Inayatillah Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Surabaya, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2807-0231

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35516/Hum.2026.9235

Keywords:

Climate awareness, climate change, communication, language, social media

Abstract

Objectives: This study examines the impact of linguistic choices on enhancing climate awareness in the modern digital environment, focusing specifically on social media platforms within the Indonesian sphere. The motivation for this research stems from the urgent nature of climate change, which has significantly affected public health, economic stability, and the sustainability of ecosystems throughout Indonesia. With Indonesia's number of social media users exceeding 191 million as of 2023, these online platforms hold tremendous potential for disseminating knowledge and raising awareness about climate issues. However, the frequent use of arcane language in climate change discussions often escapes the understanding of the general populace, thus hindering the generation of an effective response.

Methods: The study employed a quantitative survey approach with 120 participants, selected through stratified random sampling, to examine social media interaction patterns, climate change perceptions, and linguistic frameworks in climate-related discourse.

Results: The results of this investigation indicate a preference among many participants, especially young adults, to use social media primarily for entertainment rather than for environmental education. Despite this inclination, social media remains a crucial source of climate change information for a significant portion of those surveyed. It is observed that straightforward and contextually appropriate language is significantly more effective in conveying climate change information than employing intricate, specialized terminology.

Conclusion: This study highlights the critical need for comprehensible language to promote a more comprehensive understanding and involvement with climate change matters, thus aiding the collective effort toward environmental conservation

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Bosone, M., & Nocca, F. (2022). Human Circular Tourism as the Tourism of Tomorrow: The Role of Travellers in Achieving a More Sustainable and Circular Tourism. Sustainability (Switzerland), 14(19), 1–35. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912218

Diehl, T., Huber, B., Gil De Zúñiga, H., & Liu, J. (2021). Social Media and Beliefs about Climate Change: A Cross-National Analysis of News Use, Political Ideology, and Trust in Science. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 33(2), 197–213. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edz040

Fernández-Vázquez, J. S., & Sancho-Rodríguez, Á. (2020). Critical discourse analysis of climate change in IBEX 35 companies. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 157, 120063. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120063

Granderson, A. A. (2017). The role of traditional knowledge in building adaptive capacity for climate change: Perspectives from Vanuatu. Weather, Climate, and Society, 9(3), 545–561. https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-16-0094.1

Gupta, S., Rajan, S., & Balakrishnan, P. (2023). Climate change communication in the Global South: Linguistic and cultural nuances on social media platforms. Climate Communication Journal, 12(1), 45–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2023.1861049

Irwin, A. (2021). Risk, science and public communication: Third-order thinking about scientific culture. In Routledge Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology (pp. 147–162). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003039242-9

León, B., Negredo, S., & Erviti, M. C. (2022). Social Engagement with climate change: principles for effective visual representation on social media. Climate Policy, 22(8), 976–992. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2022.2077292

Loureiro, M. L., & Alló, M. (2020). Sensing climate change and energy issues: Sentiment and emotion analysis with social media in the U.K. and Spain. Energy Policy, 143, 111490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111490

Luqman, Y. (2021). Millennials Information-Seeking Behavior About Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.4108/EAI.9-10-2020.2304814

Moser, S. C. (2010). Communicating climate change: History, challenges, process and future directions. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 1(1), 31–53. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.11

Moser, S. C. (2016). Reflections on climate change communication research and practice in the second decade of the 21st century: What more is there to say? Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 7(3), 345–369. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.403

Moser, S. C. (2017). Communicating Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.436

Nisbet, M. C., & Kotcher, J. E. (2009). A two-step flow of influence?: Opinion-leader campaigns on climate change. Science Communication, 30(3), 328–354. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547008328797

Nurbawa, M., Binawan, A., Pua, E., Majeri Mangunjaya, F., & Tobing, I. S. L. (2015). Faiths from the archipelago: Action on the environment and climate change. Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion, 19(2), 103–122. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685357-01902003

Park, S. (2020). How celebrities’ green messages on Twitter influence public attitudes and behavioral intentions to mitigate climate change. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(19), 7948. https://doi.org/10.3390/SU12197948

Pendergrass, K. L., Sampson, W., Walsh, T., & Alagna, L. (2019). Toward environmentally sustainable digital preservation. American Archivist, 82(1), 165–206. https://doi.org/10.17723/0360-9081-82.1.165

Poberezhskaya, M. (2018). Blogging about Climate Change in Russia: Activism, Scepticism and Conspiracies. Environmental Communication, 12(7), 942–955. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2017.1308406

Roberts, H., & Emmett, A. (2022). Effective climate communication: The importance of language clarity on social media. Journal of Climate Literacy, 18(4), 212–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clil.2022.00567

Ruyffelaert, A. (2022). Raising concepts and awareness of sustainability and the environment in higher education through French foreign language teaching: A multidisciplinary didactic proposal. Language Learning in Higher Education, 12(2), 617–626. https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2022-2063

Sabherwal, A., Ballew, M. T., van der Linden, S., Gustafson, A., Goldberg, M. H., Maibach, E. W., Kotcher, J. E., Swim, J. K., Rosenthal, S. A., & Leiserowitz, A. (2021). The Greta Thunberg Effect: Familiarity with Greta Thunberg predicts intentions to engage in climate activism in the United States. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 51(4), 321–333. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12737

Schäfer, M. S., & Painter, J. (2021). Climate journalism in a changing media ecosystem: Assessing the production of climate change-related news around the world. In Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change (Vol. 12, Issue 1, pp. e675–e675). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.675

Social, W. A., & HootSuite. (2021). Digital 2021.

Wang, T., Lee, J., & Park, H. (2023). Breaking down the barriers: The impact of simplified language in climate change messaging on social media. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 85, 101832. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.101832

Zarei, A., Mahdavi, M., & Mohammadi, S. (2022). Social media as a tool for climate change communication in the Global South. Journal of Environmental Science and Public Health, 10(6), 247–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvsci.2022.104327

Zein, M. R. A., Fadillah, K. L., Febriani, N., Nasrullah, R., & Khang, N. T. (2024). Social media use for climate change campaign among Indonesian millennials. PRofesi Humas, 8(2), 168. https://doi.org/10.24198/prh.v8i2.50167