Apocalyptic discourses about ecological crisis in contemporary media culture

Abstract

Ecology is a very common topic in contemporary media, whether it concerns global problems, like climate change and devastation of ecosystems, or it addresses local questions of air, water, or soil pollution, waste disposal, or natural resources. As an inspiration for apocalyptic discourses, the ecological catastrophe remains in media culture, dispersing through visions of a changed future worlds, a collapse of an overpopulated and resourse-drained civilisation, devastation of natural and living worlds, pollution sickness, wars, and a growing social-economic gap. Media texts that are the subject of the research show shapes of apocalyptic scenarios in the everyday talk about ecological problems, but they also present many meanings and interpretations of these issues, especially in terms of economic and political interests that induce complex discourses about sustainable growth, that is the capability of the system to avoid collapse and control the risks it is based on. The text clearly presents several ecological topics and their different interpretations that imply a crisis of trust in institutions (a trust that they are capable of resolving ecological problems), as well as the potential of apocalyptic discourses as political and ideological means in defining the crisis and keeping it within the system.