Mobilizing action in times of climate emergency: the role of trustworthy narrators in establishing an enabling discursive environment

In times of climate emergency, engagement of all stakeholders – political, media and societal – is of utmost importance. However, contemporary media ecology has diminished the possibilities of governments to exercise control over information flow. A hierarchical way of communication has been replaced by a more flattened communication involving multifaceted communication and interaction. In such circumstances, the question of what makes the strategic narrative persuasive is essential to ask. Informed by conceptual framework of strategic narratives, this paper draws on the research about the alignment between formation, projection and reception phases of climate change strategic narrative in Latvia. Applying a premise that the persuasive power of strategic narratives is higher if there is an alignment between all phases of the narrative life-cycle, the research demonstrates that climate change narratives in Latvia are fragmented, variously domesticated and lack an engaging transformative perspective. Certain level of alignment can be found at horizontal level, where agents of similar interests use similar elements of narrative structure. Vertical interaction is less observed, especially regarding the bottom-up dynamics of narrative formation. Aiming to explain the low level of alignment this paper introduces the perceived trustworthiness of the narrator as an intervening factor in the persuasive power of strategic narratives. Using a mixed research design – a nationally representative sociological survey and semi-structed interviews with representatives of Latvian society – a correlation between the perceived trustworthiness of the narrator and the persuasive power of strategic narrative has been revealed. Looking at engagement from the perspective of discursive environment, which either enables or disables action on climate change, this paper provides insights both for academia and practitioners on the challenges green transition faces, especially in societies with low initial trust to the government.