An examination into the ways in which museums communicate about and engage audience on climate change and environmental issues on their Facebook platforms

Abstract

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges that the world is facing at the moment. The climate change issue has been identified as “one of the most significant and fastest growing threats to people and their heritage worldwide” (García, 2019). It affects many aspects of people's lives and the planet. The social, physical, environmental and economic worlds are all impacted by climate change. Due to human activity, the temperature increases globally, leading to more severe and frequent natural disasters (Jigyasu, 2019). The Ministry for the Environment has identified aspects on which there will be likely impacts of climate change. These include higher temperatures, flooding, water resources, sea-level rise, health, biodiversity, built environment, transport, agriculture, and business and finances (Ministry for the Environment, 2019). The extensive list provides details only for New Zealand. While other countries will likely have similar impacts, other aspects may also be included and might be more severe. Climate change could potentially have a more significant negative impact on developing countries in comparison to developed countries (Dotson et al., 2012). However, some people are still uncertain about the scientific facts about the causes and effects of climate change and the impact of human actions (Parker et al., 2019).