Article published In:
Culture of Sustainability and Discourses of Social ChangeEdited by Franzisca Weder
[Journal of Language and Politics 22:5] 2023
► pp. 640–660
Edited by Franzisca Weder
[Journal of Language and Politics 22:5] 2023
► pp. 640–660
ICT environmentalism and the sustainability game
Over the past three decades, corporate branding has trended strongly towards environmental conscientiousness and green rhetoric, often heralded under the term “sustainability” – a broad and mutable rhetorical strategy that not only serves industry self-interest but is mobilized by civil society actors as well. This tension is especially apparent in the information communication technologies (ICT) sector. Employing Wittgenstein’s concept of the language-game, this article describes how sustainability has been deployed by tech companies, and how these efforts have also been contested – and strategically mobilized – by activist environmental non-profits and critical scholars seeking to reform tech sector practices. Combining environmental communication, political economy, and discourse analysis, we investigate the conceptualization and communication of sustainability as a discourse within and against the sector.
Keywords: environmental communication, environmental media studies, STS, infrastructure studies, sustainability studies, political ecology
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Sustainability: Brief histories of a language-game
- 3.The sustainability game in ICT and among its detractors
- 4.Greenpeace’s clean click campaign
- 5.The microsoft carbon fee
- 6.Sustainable subsea networks
- 7.Discussion and conclusion
- Acknowledgements
-
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