Abstract
With the growing awareness about the impact of images in climate change communication, wind turbine images are largely associated with positive and solution-oriented actions. This article questions if this is inherently so. Empiric material from the Norwegian media coverage of land-based wind power plants in 2018 and 2020 suggests that wind power images are transitioning from green icons to more ambiguous and sometimes downright threatening representations. The visual transformation is particularly salient in the growing body of photojournalistic images, as opposed to photographs from commercial sources such as news agencies and wind power companies. In addition, it seems that even the symbolic meaning of wind power icons is transitioning from representing a hopeful “future perfect” to symbolizing nature degradation and political arrogance. These findings generate a call for contextual awareness when it comes to identifying visual meaning, and caution about treating “solution visuals” as ready-made tools for greater climate awareness.