Media preferences, low trust and seasonal adjustment: Communicating climate change adaptation to vulnerable, low socioeconomic groups in Adelaide

Abstract

Communicating the need for climate change adaptation has been described as an urgent global and national challenge. However, there is limited understanding of how to communicate this issue to people from low socioeconomic, urban groups in developed nations. This paper discusses findings from an investigation into the challenges of communicating climate change adaptation to such groups in Adelaide, Australia. Survey data collected from 110 participants living below the poverty line in suburban Adelaide indicates that the media logic employed by state climate change adaptation planners targeting this group may need reconsideration and that the present approaches used are in danger of having unintended consequences. Amendments are required in part due to very low levels of trust in democratic institutions charged with communicating climate change adaptation to society. The survey results also suggest that media consumption in this group is largely confined to commercial television and Facebook and that seasonal factors may be an important consideration when designing communications specifically for vulnerable groups in urban Adelaide.