Influence of eco-destructive ideologies on environmental communication in workplaces in Italy and Pakistan

This study critically examines the influence of eco-destructive ideologies embedded in flood narratives during the floods that affected Pakistan in 2022 and Italy in 2023. Using a framework that combines principles of ecolinguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this research explores how eco-destructive ideologies embedded in media narratives can influence environmental communication in workplaces. Given that workplaces are central to societal functioning, the study investigates how politically framed hegemonic narratives of utilitarianism and economic growth shape workplace responses to climate-related disasters. It argues that eco-destructive stories obscure the urgency for climate action and may contribute to inaction in the workplace, sustainability policies and practices. By analyzing flood narratives in Italy and Pakistan, this research highlights how ideologies manifested in media discourse, often employed as political tools, impact organizational responses during extreme weather events. The study is based on a corpus of news articles from Dawn, BBC, ANSA, The Independent and DW, focusing on linguistic patterns such as metaphors and passivization. These patterns reveal how divisive political agendas, from both far-right and leftist perspectives, externalize blame, frame floods as “natural”, “bad weather” or inevitable, and politicize the discourse to downplay climate change’s role in floods. The study finds the key “eco-destructive ideologies” identified through analysis of the dataset: the attribution of climate change to “bad weather”, conspiracy theories, the exclusion and/or stigmatization of Indigenous and marginalized peoples, sensationalism, economic growth imperatives, and the conceptualization of floods through religious and apocalyptic schemas. The findings indicate that ideological frames in flood narratives in both contexts favour short-term economic priorities over sustainable and ecologically suitable solutions. Following the ecosophy of this study and suggestions by Prof. Daanish Mustafa, it is concluded that harmful narratives shaping our understanding of floods can be challenged, resisted, and transformed to promote ecological justice and resilience.