Emotion and environmental narratives: a multimodal ecolinguistic analysis of the Red Sea rescue narratives

Abstract

Corporate sustainability narratives have become an important site for examining how ecological responsibility is constructed and communicated. This study investigates how Red Sea Global (RSG), a Saudi multi-project developer, represents environmental sustainability through turtle rescue narratives. It analyzes two blog articles from RSG’s official website that narrate the rescue, recovery and release of three hawksbill turtles. Drawing on Stibbe’s ecolinguistic framework and Kress and van Leeuwen’s visual grammar, the analysis examines how emotions, language choices and visual composition work together to shape ecological meaning and institutional identity. The findings indicate that emotions such as hope, empathy and pride contribute to discourses of care and stewardship. Textually, evaluative framing and biomedical legitimation establish the authority and necessity of intervention. Visually, salience, framing and high modality foreground human care and successful recovery. The analysis also identifies cultural elements that distinguish RSG’s narratives from generic global sustainability discourse, including Arabic naming practices and the symbolic framing within a cultural context. These strategies construct a coherent storyline of rescue, recovery and release that foregrounds institutional stewardship while backgrounding broader ecological pressures. The overall discourse is beneficial but also ambivalent, as it highlights institutional care while not addressing the broader ecological causes of harm.