Talking sustainability: Shaping environmental narratives on Reddit

Abstract

Social media and virtual communities are becoming increasingly important spaces that shape narratives around the issues of environmentalism and sustainability. These serve as educational tools, and as spaces for sharing ideas and opinions on topics of interest. Reddit is an example of how individuals from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds can utilize a common space for meaning-making on relevant issues. This research aims to establish how participants frame themselves as members of the online community, r/Sustainability, and how they utilize the virtual spaces to enact their narratives on real-world environmental issues. An investigation of why and how users are framing these narratives based on their personal experiences is a topic addressed in this study. Using a critical ecolinguistic approach, the use of linguistic and semiotic resources within the virtual space are analyzed to establish how participants are negotiating their understanding of environmental sustainability.