We Know We Are Hypocrites, But Do We Believe It? The Limits and Possibilities of Hypocrisy Discourse for Sustainable Consumption

Climate change is often presented as a super wicked problem, displaced over space and time, requiring constant re-evaluation and without agreed-upon solutions. If climate change is indeed a super wicked problem, then might it also invite an equally difficult set of super wicked dilemmas? Hypocrisy draws attention to the most salient aspect of such a dilemma: we’re all part of the problem but in ways that often render suspect the claim that individual lifestyle actions are the solution. In the context of the need for urgent climate change action, we pose accusations and admissions of hypocrisy as a type of super wicked provocation, equally displaced over time and space, necessitating ongoing self and institutional re-examination without offering clear or salient choices for sustainable consumption, but nevertheless inviting important conversations. Drawing on existing quantitative and qualitative research showing that hypocrisy discourse is not simply a sensationalist PR strategy of conservatives but is rather a broad, significant and multifaceted form of climate change discourse, we engage with the varied modes of hypocrisy language in contemporary English language legacy media. In doing so, we will offer both practical and theoretical tools for environmental communicators, scholars and students to consider if, and how, hypocrisy can act as fertile terrain for pro-climate action.