'Climate change ends up taking a back seat': Multi-level obstacles to communicating about climate change in small nature-related non-profits

Abstract

A large middle portion of the Canadian population enjoys outdoor activities, is politically moderate, and is concerned about climate change (Lachapelle and Comeau 2024). Local nature-related non-profits (NRNPs) across the country support them, including hiking clubs, naturalist clubs, and nature conservation groups. Many of these organizations are entirely volunteer-run or with very small staffs, they have been in existence for decades, and their leadership is overwhelmingly White and affluent. The main questions of this dissertation are whether and how NRNPs communicate about climate change and what obstacles they face in doing so. The dissertation is a mixed methods study of NRNPs in Ontario, Canada. The study applies quantitative and qualitative analysis to interviews, Twitter feeds, websites, annual reports, and a survey. Primarily, semi-structured interviews were held with 43 communications officers to understand how their organizations framed climate change and the challenges they encountered. The dissertation employs a unique set of theoretical bases. It situates NRNPs in nature and illustrates the broader field using an actor-network theory (ANT) approach, adding two case studies to the ANT corpus. Addressing the concept of organizational inertia in the sociology of organizations, it finds a continuum of engagement on climate change communications and identifies obstacles at the levels of the individual, organization, and larger field. Whiteness theory is also employed to explore how the concept of environmental privilege applies to these organizations. The dissertation juxtaposes NRNPs’ treatment of decolonization, equity, diversity, and inclusion (DEDI) and climate change, finding that similar obstacles limit their uptake. Finally, framing theory reveals that framing by NRNPs tended to avoid the political discourse used by the climate movement, preferring instead post-political or apolitical discourse. Diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational frames generally referred to climate change implicitly rather than explicitly. In avoiding mentioning climate change, the links from these frames to climate change become muddied and fail to support the existing interest in climate action.