Bolderdijk and his colleagues from the University of Groningen looked at how people can be influenced to make more sustainable choices.

New words, or neologisms, appear often in discussions about climate change. For example, the term ‘flight shame’ describes the guilt people feel about flying because of its environmental impact. But do these new words only show changing attitudes, or can they also help or slow down social change?

How new words shape our thinking

Using insights gained from linguistics and environmental psychology, the team saw that that neologisms possibly speed up or block social change. However, this topic has not yet been fully explored. New words help people understand new ideas. They make it easier to talk about complex issues. This can increase awareness and influence behavior.

Changing views on climate issues

New words can also change how people see climate problems. This is important because how we describe an issue affects how we react to it. For example, ‘climate crisis’ sounds more urgent than ‘climate change’.

Using theories from cognitive science and ecolinguistics (the study of language and the environment), Bolderdijk and his colleagues explain how new words can:

• Introduce new ways of thinking.
• Make people take action faster.
• Sometimes slow down action, depending on the word’s impact.

To understand these effects, they looked at climate words used frequently between the 1970s and 2018. These terms help shape climate discussions:

1. Flight shame – Feeling guilty about flying because of its impact on the climate.
2. Greenwashing – When companies pretend to be environmentally friendly but are not.
3. Carbon indulgence – Paying money to compensate for carbon emissions without actually reducing them.
4. Climate crisis – A way to describe climate change as an urgent problem.
5. Climate change – The general term for long-term changes in temperature and weather.

Key findings

• New climate words help people understand and discuss important issues.
• The way we describe climate change affects how people react to it.
• Choosing the right words can help activists, policymakers, and citizens encourage positive change.

By understanding the power of language, the researchers show how words can potentially be used to motivate people to take action and help fight climate change.

Publication Details

For more detailed information, read the paper The Role of Neologisms in the Climate Change Debate: Can New Words Help to Speed Up Social Change? Authors: Greta Zella, Tommaso Caselli and Saskia Peels-Matthey (University of Groningen) and Jan Willem Bolderdijk (UvA Amsterdam Business School).