Towards a Reduced Pollution Society: Systematic Review on the Role of Storytelling, Social Media, Humor and Celebrities’ Influence for Research Communication

Abstract

Humanity's pollutive activities pose significant threats to biodiversity, agricultural productivity, and human health. Effective communication about these issues is crucial for fostering awareness and understanding. To achieve a more impactful dialogue, it is essential to facilitate collaboration across disciplines through an interdisciplinary system approach. This paper specifically aims to examine the role of storytelling, humor, and celebrities' influence in reinforcing pro-environmental behaviors. The focus is on reducing pollution and its impact through experiential, emotional, and aesthetic learning. To ensure the validity of the review, articles were systematically collected from accredited journal sites indexed by Scopus, Web of Science, and other reputable sources. The analysis indicates that anthropogenic pollutants, ingested through food, soil, air, or water, can have disastrous effects on human and environmental health. The study emphasizes the potential of storytelling, humor, and celebrities' influence to significantly mitigate these impacts. The integration of humor, storytelling, and the influence of celebrities in the media, as powerful communication tools, can contribute to a drastic reduction in pollution and its associated effects. These approaches serve as universal languages that resonate with diverse audiences. The study advocates for strong advocacy and effective communication strategies employing humor, storytelling, and celebrity influence. Celebrity influencers, with their substantial social influence, can act as science communicators, translating complex pollution statistics to inform the public about their contribution to pollution and motivating behavior change for environmental health improvement.