From Environmental Protection to Climate Politics
Dynamics of the Parole on Environmental Politics in the Finnish Parliament 1960–2020
Keywords:
Ympäristö, Ilmastonmuutos, Eduskunta, Parlamenttipuhe, Laskennalliset ihmistieteet, Data-analytiikka, TekstinlouhintaAbstract
In this article we analyse how concepts and terminologies related to environmental politics used in plenary debates of the Finnish Parliament (eduskunta) have changed between 1960 and 2020. Our primary material consists of digitised plenary session minutes of the Finnish eduskunta. In the analysis we combine computational methods like text mining and exploratory data analysis with traditional qualitative analysis. The results evidence that parliamentary debates on environmental issues have significantly changed as regards both intensity and amount, but also concerning the content. The intensity and volume of these debates have increased steadily. However, a time series analysis evidences a strong variation in intensity, thus reflecting differences in the room of manoeuvring for environmental debates over time. As regards the content, the main change is illustrated by the transition from a nature-centric parole towards climate change driven rhetoric. Especially in the 21st century concepts related to climate change have become central meta-concepts. According to our interpretation, this change evidences the mainstreaming of climate change driven public discourses during the past two decades. Parliamentary debates for their part reflect this change: current debates on climate change are a meta-discussion, a discursive umbrella, under which politicians debate on environmental protection, preservation of biodiversity, as well as on concrete measures to control the global warming.
