PR or Social Movement? : Against Climate Change Campaignes in Japan

This presentation examines the national campaign against climate change in Japan through the "frame alignment process" with from the state to the public based on the frame analysis in the social movement research.

State sponsored global environmental campaigns have been blamed for its policies that hide the economic disparity and political-social inequality underlying global environmental problems and trivializing it into matters of personal effort. However, specific analysis of these campaign activities had yet to be conducted.

Thus, I investigated one of the national campaigns against climate change, Team Minus 6% (2005-2010) and Challenge 25 (2010-2013), in order to clarify problems that had been focused on and values and strategies that had been adopted.
The results showed an overall preference for "frame bridging" and "frame amplification" in the frame alignment process in order to hide conflicts among stakeholders. They repeatedly represented and stressed unity in the fight against climate change through “All Japan.”

In particular,
1. They focused on non-eco-friendly lifestyles as the major cause of increasing carbon dioxide emissions while lobbying efforts, against politics delaying the solution of climate change, receded into the background.

2. They presented the value of "individual environmentalism" in which the efforts of every individual adds up to a major force against climate change. As proof, they would quantify carbon dioxide reductions in accordance to numbers mobilized in a campaign or of individual actions.

3. They adopted a "personal interest strategy," whereas individual interests and climate change issues are connected.