Tulevaisuuteen suhtautumisen tavat ilmastonmuutosaiheisissa verkkokeskusteluissa

Abstract

This article explores different ways of envisioning the future observed in online discussions on climate change. The discussions were gathered from reader comments made in online news articles and forums related to climate change from 2015 to 2019, and each discussion was categorised based on a fourfold conceptual distinction between utopia, dystopia, anti-utopia and anti-dystopia. The outlooks on climate change were anti-utopian and anti-dystopian more often than utopian or dystopian, although dystopian outlooks were more numerous than utopian ones. Those findings indicate that neither an extremely good nor bad future is commonly expected due to climate change but that an inclination towards pessimism prevails. This can be explained by the fact that presenting the future as overly bad or non-ideal can sharpen the identification of risks. Awareness of the prob-lems related to ideals and of the worst possible outcome activates to combat the threat more effec-tively than reverie and comforting.