Belonging to the Rainbow Region: Place, Local Media, and the Construction of Civil and Moral Identities Strategic to Climate Change Adaptability

Abstract

The “Rainbow Region” in northern New South Wales, Australia, has attracted much attention because of its visibility and meaning as a ‘meeting place’ of countercultures and for the articulation of social and environmental ideals that challenge mainstream practice. We argue that the idiosyncrasies of this region—its history, the character of its social networks, the aesthetic and lifestyle attributes of landscape implicit to its evolving place identity—have led to various expressions in eco-cosmopolitanism evident in a thriving local newspaper industry, and film and television production that has reached international acclaim. This case study explores the role of the Rainbow Region's creative class in providing the creative edge in media and cultural production that has the capacity to facilitate social change towards sustainable practices.