Welcome to this annual environmental communication conference, hosted by the Mistra Environmental Communication research programme! This year’s conference has the theme “the politics of disagreement” and offers a platform for all researchers and societal actors to share and discuss research, develop collaboration and networks, and foster engagement.
Contemporary societies seem to be shaped by the instrumentalisation of disagreement, as political divergences are strategically used to gain power rather than to constructively address shared problems. Societal polarisation and disinformation appear to be symptomatic of this, while in some contexts we conversely witness de-politicisation and the suppression of disagreement.
Environmental and sustainability challenges are at the core of these struggles, and environmental communication – as the field of research concerned with the joint construction of meaning on environmental and sustainability issues – offers crucial insight into the role of disagreement in the performance of the political.