Publications
Publications
Books
Media and Environment
Libby Lester
Environmental Conflict and the Media
Edited by Libby Lester and Brett Hutchins
Global Trade and Mediatised
Environmental Protest
Libby Lester
Environmental Pollution and the Media
Glenn D. Hook, Libby Lester, Meng Ji, Kingsley Edney, Chris G. Pope, Luli van der Does-Ishikawa
Research Handbook on Communicating Climate Change
Edited by David Holmes and Lucy Richardson
Children of Tomorrow: A Novel
J.R. Burgmann
Latest reports
Building community water literacy: Practical advice
Building community water literacy: Technical report
Switching On: Benefits of Household Electrification in Australia
Carbon - The Unauthorised Biography: Impact Report
Thinking Climate:
A Snapshot of Italian Views on Climate Change
Malaysia national survey on climate change concern, behaviour,
and media attitude – preliminary report
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Reports Reports
Australian gas literature review
A review of existing research on gas in Australia, providing context for how gas is discussed across policy, media and public discourse.
Australia Media coverage
Gas representation in Australian digital news media
How gas is reported in online news, including key narratives, framing and trends.
Australia Media coverage
Coverage of gas and energy topics in mainstream media finance bulletins
How gas and energy are presented in finance reporting, and opportunities for collaboration across networks and presenters.
Australia Media coverage
Media consumption habits and energy literacy across free-to-air television and radio audiences in Australia
Early insights into how Australian audiences consume media and understand energy topics across free-to-air television and radio.
Australia Media coverage
Building community water literacy: Practical advice
Published by the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities, this industry guidance presents evidence-based recommendations to help those in the water sector uplift water literacy levels. Read more about the Building community water literacy project.
Australia Behaviour Comissioned reports
Building community water literacy: Technical report
This project involved a rapid review of research from the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC) to develop practical recommendations for conducting effective community management. Researchers used a mixed methods approach to develop and test practical recommendations to propose guidance for building water literacy through community engagement.
Australia Behaviour Comissioned reports
Switching On: Benefits of Household Electrification in Australia
This report draws together existing research and literature to showcase the benefits and challenges of residential electrification. It focuses on the financial, health and energy benefits of household electrification, job opportunities, and residential electrification policies currently in place or planned around Australia.
Australia Commissioned reports Renewable energy
Carbon - The Unauthorised Biography: Impact Report
This study surveyed viewers of the film Carbon - The Unauthorised Biography (n = 304) and found that viewing the film led to improvements in both understanding of the role of carbon in the world, and intentions to undertake more climate action.
Audience surveys Behaviour Commissioned reports
Thinking Climate: A Snapshot of Italian Views on Climate Change — Companion to Technical Report
This report is a companion to the technical report, and details the key findings from a national survey of Italian perspectives on climate change concern, knowledge, issue importance, policy attitudes, personal action, media consumption, trusted information sources, and personal values. To view the full technical report click here.
Audience surveys Behaviour Commissioned reports Europe Extreme weather Health
Malaysia national survey on climate change concern, behaviour, and media attitude – preliminary report
This survey focuses on Malaysia's public perception, behavioural responses, and media preference around climate change.
Audience reports Malaysia
Climate Change: Concern, Behaviour and the Six Australias
This report documents the findings of a surveys of 3098 Australians and examines their levels of concern and action on climate change.
Australia Audience surveys Behaviour
Australia’s COVID-19 Vaccine Audiences
This study shows there are five distinct publics on COVID-19 vaccination in Australia with varying patterns of interest and concern, and different levels of trust in sources and channels for information.
Australia Audience surveys Behaviour Health
AFL fans' perception of climate change and of AFL action on climate change
This report documents the findings of a survey of 567 Australians and their views on AFL action on climate change.
Australia Audience surveys Sport
Best practice data visualisation: Guidelines and case study
This report details guidelines for best-practice data visualisation and presents an in-depth description of design and content choices for an urban heat island case study.
Data visualisation
Supporting climate-friendly behaviour change
This fact sheet provides an introduction to one of the latest models for understanding what influences behaviour change, and explains how this model can help climate change campaigners support individuals to adopt new behaviours.
Behaviour
Australia's Clean Technology Future: Audience Perceptions and Message Framing
This report aims to summarise the current literature on renewable energy communications. To complement the literature review, the MCCCRH launched a survey to delve into the current audience segmentations in Australia, levels of knowledge and engagement with renewable energy, both for domestic use and for export, and statements which resonate when considering renewable energy.
Audience Reports Australia Commissioned Reports Energy
Black Summer: Australian newspaper reporting of the nation's worst bushfire season
This report examines the media coverage the unprecedented Australian summer 2019/20 bushfires.
Australia Media Coverage Extreme weather
Temperature check: Greening Australia's warming cities
Commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation, this report examines the benefits of vegetation in cooling our cities.
Commissioned reports Australia Extreme weather
Black Saturday: Australian newspaper reporting of the nation's deadliest bushfire
This report examines the media coverage five days either side of 2009's deadly Black Saturday bushfires.
Australia Media Coverage Extreme weather
Love 40 degrees? Climate change, extreme heat and the Australian Open
Commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation, this report examines the impact that climate change and extreme heat are having on the Australian Open.
Australia Commissioned reports Sport
Vicious cycle: Climate change, extreme heat and the Tour Down Under
Commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation, this report examines the impact that climate change and extreme heat are having on Australian cycling and the Tour Down Under.
Australia Commissioned reports Sport
Caught behind: Climate change, extreme heat and the Boxing Day Test
Commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation, this report examines the impact that climate change and extreme heat are having on the Boxing Day Test.
Australia Commissioned reports Sport
Scoping study of Victorian national parks as sites to communicate climate change
The following report is a pilot analysis of the ten most visited National Parks in Victoria and there potential for acting as sites to communicate climate change.
Australia
Media coverage of climate science in Australian newspapers: A case study of the State of the Climate reports
This report examines the media coverage around the release of the past five State of the Climate reports, examining the framing and extent to which climate climate science is discussed in the Australia media.
Australia behaviour Media Coverage
Climate change communication in the Pacific Islands
Commissioned by ABC International Development, Climate Change Communication in the Pacific Islands analyses newspaper reporting across nine Pacific Island Countries- Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Media Coverage
Visualising the power of renewables in the City of Monash
This survey details the results of a collaborative study between Monash University and the City of Monash in which 457 residents were interviewed to understand the motivations and barriers that households experience with regards to installing renewable energy in the home.
Australia Audience surveys Behaviour
Cyclone Debbie: Sonification background report
This report examines the formation and impacts of Cyclone Debbie, the most powerful storm to make landfall in Queensland.Australia Extreme weather
The 2017 Australian weather presenter survey
This report documents the initial findings of the first Australian weather presenters survey and sought to understand the collective attitudes of the Australian weather presenting community in relation to climate change.
Australia Audience surveys Behaviour
Newspaper reporting of the September 2016 South Australian mid-latitude cyclone
This report looks at the way that climate change is reported on in relation to extreme weather events. It examines the mid-latitude cyclone that damaged infrastructure in South Australia on September 29 2016, causing a statewide power blackout when it brought down 22 transmission towers.
Australia Media coverage Extreme weather
A survey of Australian TV audiences' views on climate change
This report documents the findings of a national survey of TV audiences’ views on climate change in Australia.
Australia Audience surveys Behaviour
A survey of Melbourne TV audiences’ views on climate change: Key Findings
Our city-based reports are available on request. Please contact us at mcccrh@monash.edu to be directed to the corresponding author.
Australia Audience surveys Behaviour
A survey of Sydney TV audiences’ views on climate change: Key Findings
Our city-based reports are available on request. Please contact us at mcccrh@monash.edu to be directed to the corresponding author.
Australia Audience surveys Behaviour
A survey of Perth TV audiences’ views on climate change: Key Findings
Our city-based reports are available on request. Please contact us at mcccrh@monash.edu to be directed to the corresponding author.
Australia Audience surveys Behaviour
A survey of Adelaide TV audiences’ views on climate change: Key Findings
Our city-based reports are available on request. Please contact us at mcccrh@monash.edu to be directed to the corresponding author.
Australia Audience surveys Behaviour
A survey of Brisbane TV audiences’ views on climate change: Key Findings
Our city-based reports are available on request. Please contact us at mcccrh@monash.edu to be directed to the corresponding author.
Australia Audience surveys Behaviour -
Lester L. (2023), Journalism and Environmental Futures, Routledge Companion to News and Journalism, Routledge, S Allan (ed), UK, pp. 1-10.
Lester, L. and S. Cottle (2022), Protests, publics and participation (still in an environmental age). In A. Hansen and R. Cox Routledge Handbook of Environment and Communication
Foxwell-Norton, K. & Lester, L., 2022, (Not) saving the Great Barrier Reef from disaster: media then and now, Communicating Endangered Species: Extinction, News and Public Policy. Freedman, E.,
Shipley Hiles, S. & Sachsman, D. B. (eds.). 1st ed. Abingdon Oxon Uk: Routledge, p. 187-202 16 p. (Routledge Studies in Environmental Communication and Media).
McGaurr L, Lester L, (2021), The Climate Gaze and Koalas in Extremis, Intimate Relations: Communicating (in) the Anthropocene, Lexington Press, A Dare and V Fletcher (ed), Washington DC, USA, pp. 353-370. ISBN 9781793629289
Richardson, L. M., 2020, Introduction to climate change communication campaigns, Research Handbook on Communicating Climate Change. Holmes, D. C. & Richardson, L. M. (eds.). 1st ed. Cheltenham UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, p. 212-213 2 p.
Richardson, L. M., Dec 2020, Practitioner engagement with communication and behavioural science research, Research Handbook on Communicating Climate Change. Holmes, D. C. & Richardson, L. M. (eds.). 1st ed. Cheltenham UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, p. 242-255 14 p.
Holmes, D. (ed.) & Richardson, L. (ed.), 2020, Research Handbook on Communicating Climate Change 1st ed. Cheltenham UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. 384 p.
Lester, L. (2019) Global Trade and Mediatised Environmental Protest: The View from Here. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
Lester, L. (2010) Media and Environment: Conflict, Politics and the News. Cambridge: Polity.
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Jayakody, D.Y., Adams, V.M., Pecl, G.T., E. Lester. My place is at risk: spatial assessment of climate risk perceptions along the East Coast of Tasmania and related landscape value associations. Reg Environ Change 25, 87 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-025-02400-1
Pandya-Wood, R., Azhari, A., Johar, H., Johns-Putra, A., Muhamad, N., & Su, T. (2024). Systematic review of climate change induced health impacts facing Malaysia: gaps in research. Environmental Research Health, 2(3).
https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ad6208Richardson, LM, Thaker, J, Holmes, DC 2023, ‘Comparative analysis of Australian climate change and COVID-19 vaccine audience segments shows climate skeptics can be vaccine enthusiasts’, Sci Rep 13, 1118, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-26959-5
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Thaker, J., Richardson, L. M. & Holmes, D. C., 2023, Audience segmentation analysis of public intentions to get a COVID-19 vaccine in Australia, Public Understanding of Science. 32, 4, p. 470-488 19 p.
Tranter, B., Lester, L., Foxwell-Norton, K. & Palmer, M. A., Aug 2023, In science we trust? Public trust in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projections and accepting anthropogenic climate change, Public Understanding of Science. 32, 6, p. 691-708 18 p.
Thaker, J., Richardson, L. M. & Holmes, D. C., Aug 2023, Australians' perceptions about health risks associated with climate change: exploring the role of media in a comprehensive climate change risk perception model, Journal of Environmental Psychology. 89, 13 p., 102064.
Painter, J., Ettinger, J., Holmes, D., Loy, L., Pinto, J., Richardson, L., Thomas-Walters, L., Vowles, K. & Wetts, R., 2023, Climate delay discourses present in global mainstream television coverage of the IPCC’s 2021 report, Communications Earth and Environment. 4, 1, 12 p., 118.
Richardson, L. M., Thaker, J. & Holmes, D. C., Dec 2023, Comparative analysis of Australian climate change and COVID-19 vaccine audience segments shows climate skeptics can be vaccine enthusiasts, Scientific Reports. 13, 1, 14 p., 1118.
Holmes, D., Garas, B. & Richardson, L. M., 2022, Australian Newspaper Framing of Renewables: The Case of Snowy Hydro 2.0, Environmental Communication. 16, 1, p. 23-42 20 p.
Lester, L. & Konkes, C., 2021, Audience perspectives on paying for local news: A regional qualitative case study, Journalism Studies. 22, 8, p. 1066-1082 17 p.
Konkes, C., Nixon, C., Lester, L. & Williams, K., 1 Dec 2021, Coal versus coral: Australian climate change politics sees the Great Barrier Reef in court, Queensland Review. 28, 2, p. 132-146 15 p.
Nixon, C., Konkes, C., Lester, L. & Williams, K., Jun 2021, Mediated Visibility and Public Environmental Litigation: The Interplay between Inside and Outside Court during Environmental Conflict in Australia, Laws. 10, 2, 13 p., 35.
Richardson, L. & Wickes, R., 26 Feb 2020, Collective Efficacy, Oxford bibliographies in Sociology. Spillman, L. (ed.). New York NY USA: Oxford University Press
Richardson, L., Ginn, J., Prosser, A. M. B., Fernando, J. W. & Judge, M., Mar 2020, Improving Research on the Psychology of Sustainable Consumption: Some Considerations from an Early Career Perspective, Journal of Social Issues. 76, 1, p. 150-163 14 p.
Edwards, P., Fleming, A., Lacey, J., Lester, L., Pinkard, E., Ruckstuhl, K., Bezuidenhout, C., Payn, T., Bayne, K. & Williams, T., 1 Feb 2019, Trust, engagement, information and social licence - insights from New Zealand, Environmental Research Letters. 14, 2, 10 p., 024010.
Tranter, B. & Lester, L., 1 Aug 2017, Climate patriots? Concern over climate change and other environmental issues in Australia, Public Understanding of Science. 26, 6, p. 738-752 15 p.
Cullen-Knox, C., Eccleston, R., Haward, M., Lester, E. & Vince, J., 1 Jan 2017, Contemporary Challenges in Environmental Governance: Technology, governance and the social licence, Environmental Policy and Governance. 27, 1, p. 3-13 11 p.
Mcgaurr, L. & Lester, L., 2017, Environmental groups treading the discursive tightrope of social license: Australian and Canadian cases compared, International Journal of Communication. 11, p. 3476-3496 21 p.
Lester. L. (2016) Media and Social Licence: On Being Publicly Useful in the Tasmanian Forests Conflict’. Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research, 89 (5): 542-551.
Lester, L. (2016) Containing Spectacle in the Transnational Public Sphere, Environmental Communication, 10(6): 791-802.
Lester, L. (2015), Three Challenges for Environmental Communication Research, Environmental Communication 9(3): 392-397.
Lester, L., L. McGaurr, and B. Tranter (2014), The Election that Forgot the Environment? Issues, EMOs and the Press in Australia, International Journal of Press/Politics, 20(1), 3-25.