CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2019
| Author | Stambler, Maria Alexandrovna |
|---|---|
| Title | Green Awakening: Social Media for the Environment in Russia ??? Best Practices from Activists |
| Summary | Social media’s growing presence in our everyday lives allows for information to travel across spatial and temporal boundaries, connecting people in all corners of the world. Environmental NGO’s (ENGO’s) are harnessing social media’s potential to raise awareness about environmental issues and motivate the public to tackle them. However, no in-depth research has been conducted into the way ENGO’s in Russia are utilizing social media to put the environment on the mainstream agenda and foster concrete action towards solving the ecological issues facing the country. This research seeks to address this gap because Russia is the world’s largest country by territory and one of the largest in terms of population. It is therefore essential to understand whether ENGO’s and environmental advocacy groups in Russia are utilizing social media like their western counterparts to tackle the country’s most pressing environmental problems and if yes, how and with what perceived success. In-depth interviews with communications experts from several Moscow-based ENGO’s suggest that social media channels are allowing Russian ENGO’s to bypass traditional media and offering a cost-effective way to reach and engage the Russian public, though their choice of social networking sites is rather different to those used in the West. Experts concluded that without social media, a “green awakening” would not happen in Russia – or would happen at a much slower pace. Future research needs to examine whether this “green awakening” could have the potential to lead to institutional change by applying pressure on the government and law-making bodies in Russia. |
| Supervisor | Steger, Tamara |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy MSc |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2019/stambler_maria.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University