About this book
Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere is the first comprehensive undergraduate textbook in the growing field of environmental communication. It takes as its theme the role of communication in influencing the ways in which we perceive the environment as well as what actions we and others take in our relations to the natural world. The text blends scholarship and hands-on experiences to provide a theory-based and coherent description of the concrete communication practices and sites in the debates over environment protection.
Additional theory and vocabulary are introduced, as are case studies and examples for closer examination of the principal sites and practices of environmental communication--including forums for public participation, advocacy campaigns, media coverage of environmental stories, risk communication, and models of dispute settlement.
Contents
Part I: Conceptual Perspectives #
1. Studying Environmental Communication #
2. Social/Symbolic Constructions of "Environment" #
Part II. Citizen Voices And Public Forums #
3. Public Participation in Environmental Decisions #
4. Conflict Resolution and Collaboration in Environmental Disputes #
Part III. Media Coverage Of The Environment #
5. Media and the Environment Online #
6. Risk Communication: Environmental Dangers and the Public #
Part IV. Voices For Change #
7. Environmental Advocacy Campaigns #
8. Environmental Justice/Climate Justice: Voices From the Grassroots #
Part V. Environmental Discourses Of Science And Industry #
9. Science Communication and Environmental Controversies #
10. Green Marketing and Corporate Advocacy
Customer Reviews
Biography
Robert Cox (Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh) is Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His principal research areas are environmental communication, climate change communication, and strategic studies of social movements. One of the nation's leading scholars in environmental communication, he has been President of the Sierra Club three times (2007-2008, 2000--2001 and 1994--1996) and has served for 20 years on the Sierra Club's Board of Directors. His published work includes critical studies on the discourse of the civil rights, peace, labor, and environmental movements.
Cox is also on the Board of Directors for Earth Echo International, dedicated to oceans and marine ecology. He currently advises the Sierra Club on its communication outreach in the U.S., and serves on editorial boards of journals such as "Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture". Cox advises U.S. environmental groups on their communication programs. He regularly participates in environmental initiatives and has campaigned with former Vice President Al Gore and singer Melissa Etheridge.
