Conceptual Metaphors in Climate Change Discourse: A Critical Comparative Analysis of Ideological Framing in British and American Newspaper Reporting, 2020–2024

John Baker Devidom

doi:10.5281/zenodo.21727076

Authors

John Baker Devidom Jacobs University Bremen: Bremen, City state Bremen, DE https://orcid.org/0009-0003-8898-0567

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21727076

Keywords:

conceptual metaphor, critical metaphor analysis, climate change discourse, media discourse, ideology, ecolinguistics

Abstract

This study investigates the role of conceptual metaphor in constructing ideological positions on climate change in British and American print media. Drawing on Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) conceptual metaphor theory, Charteris-Black’s (2004) critical metaphor analysis, and Fairclough’s (2003) critical discourse analysis, the research examines how metaphorical framing shapes public understanding and ideological positioning in climate-related journalism. A corpus of 800 newspaper articles was compiled from four major outlets—The Guardian, The Telegraph, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal—published between 2020 and 2024, enabling a comparative cross-ideological and cross-national analysis. The study identifies five dominant metaphor clusters: CLIMATE CHANGE IS A BATTLE/WAR, CLIMATE CHANGE IS A JOURNEY, THE EARTH IS A BODY, THE ECONOMY IS AN ECOSYSTEM, and CLIMATE CHANGE IS A GAMBLE. These metaphorical mappings are not evenly distributed but vary systematically across outlets in alignment with editorial ideology and stance toward climate science and policy intervention. Climate-concerned outlets predominantly employ crisis-oriented and victim-based metaphors, foregrounding urgency, moral responsibility, and ecological vulnerability. In contrast, climate-skeptical or economically conservative outlets favor metaphors of uncertainty, risk, and economic consequence, framing climate action in terms of cost-benefit calculation and institutional hesitation. The findings demonstrate that metaphor is not merely a rhetorical device but a structuring mechanism of ideological meaning in environmental discourse. The study contributes to ecolinguistics, critical metaphor analysis, and climate communication research by showing how metaphorical systems function as discursive tools that mediate public interpretation of climate change and reinforce competing ideological narratives in contemporary media ecosystems.

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