Episode description

Would it help to see Superheroes do their recycling? Do viewers feel more invested in climate protests depending on what the protesters look like? And how does bingeing box sets contribute to emissions and a bigger carbon footprint? Pietari Kaapa explains how blockbusters might be able to have a bigger impact than documentaries about the climate emergency, and Sylvia Hayes describes the changes in news images of climate change protest influence audiences.

Sylvia Hayes is a postgraduate researcher at the University of Exeter and is currently on placement with Carbon Brief, a climate change news website. Her research looks in to the use of media and images in reporting climate change news. https://geography.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Sylvia_Hayes

Dr Pietari Kaapa is Reader in Media and Communications at the University of Warwick, where he specialises in environmental screen media, particularly film and television. He is also the Principle Investigator for the Global Green Media Network. https://globalgreenmediaproduction.wordpress.com/

Dr Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough is a New Generation Thinker based at the University of Durham.

The podcast series Green Thinking is 26 episodes 26 minutes long looking at issues relating to COP26 made in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UKRI. It explores the latest research and ideas around understanding and tackling the climate and nature emergency. New Generation Thinkers Des Fitzgerald and Eleanor Barraclough are in conversation with researchers about a wide-range of subjects from cryptocurrencies and finance to eco poetry and fast fashion.

The podcasts are all available from the Arts & Ideas podcast feed - and collected on the Free Thinking website under Green Thinking where you can also find programmes on mushrooms, forests, rivers, eco-criticism and soil. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07zg0r2

For more information about the research the AHRC’s supports around climate change and the natural world you can visit: Responding to climate change – UKRI or follow @ahrcpress on twitter. To join the discussion about the research covered in this podcast and the series please use the hashtag #GreenThinkingPodcast.

Producer: Sofie Vilcins