Environmental issues are currently a major concern for many parties. According to a report by Berkeley Earth, in 2023, air temperatures increased by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Terms such as global warming, climate change, extreme weather, flash floods, and landslides, which describe the worsening condition of the Earth, are frequently encountered in various media.
Addressing these issues requires cooperation from multiple parties, including linguists who study language in its speakers’ social and cultural contexts. Because human perception of the environment is shaped through language, linguists’ involvement in environmental conservation efforts is necessary.
“These linguists are responsible for constructing positive discourse that raises speakers’ awareness and concern for the environment through the use of lexicon, syntactic constructions, and various other aspects,” said Professor Suhandano, a lecturer at the Department of Indonesian Literature, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada (FIB UGM), who was inaugurated as a professor of anthropological linguistics on Tuesday (Feb. 11).
In his speech, Professor Suhandano explained that ecolinguistics focuses on the relationship between language and the environment. In Indonesia, ecolinguistic studies are categorized based on language diversity, local wisdom regarding the environment, language extinction, and ecological awareness.
He believes that media discourse should also be analyzed from an ecolinguistic perspective due to its significant influence on public opinion.
“Besides reflecting the writer’s perspective on the reported topic, media coverage also shapes public perception of the issue,” he stated.
He cited research on climate change discourse in the media over the past ten years, which found that climate change is still positioned as a global issue and a responsibility of governments and international organizations.
The public, as readers, has not been actively involved in climate change discourse. News coverage on climate change is dominated by themes related to science and natural phenomena rather than being framed as a phenomenon triggered by human behavior.
In reality, humans are part of an ecosystem, yet climate change discourse has mainly been constructed as a purely natural phenomenon. Ecological awareness, which includes knowledge of humans’ role as subjects within the ecosystem who manage the environment as a livelihood resource, also needs to be promoted.
“As an agent that shapes public perception, the media has the opportunity to share ecocentric narratives,” he asserted.
For Professor Suhandano, language reflects speakers’ worldviews about the environment and influences their ways of thinking and acting. Linguistic research should help address the environmental crisis currently faced by the planet’s inhabitants.
He urged linguists to continue producing and reproducing positive discourse that raises awareness of humans’ role in the ecosystem. Language that encourages disregard for the environment should be avoided; instead, language in any discourse should foster public concern for environmental issues.
“Linguists may not hold the key to solving environmental problems, but they can write the instruction manual,” emphasized the Head of the Master’s Program in Linguistics at FIB UGM.
The Chair of the UGM Professorial Board, Professor M. Baiquni, stated that Professor Suhandano is one of 525 active professors at UGM and one of 17 professors that FIB UGM has had.
Author: Triya Andriyani
Photographer: Donnie