Environmental Communication Commission
NCA Conference Sessions
Atlanta, November 1-4, 2001

The 87th Annual Meeting of the National Communication Association was held in Atlanta from November 1-4, 2001.The Environmental Communication Commission has organized the following sessions.

Download this page in Adobe Acrobat Reader PDF format suitable for printing.
Download this page in Palm DOC format suitable for handheld devices.

Thursday, November 1

ROOTING WOMEN IN NATURE: GENDERING NATURE AND NATURALIZING WOMEN

• "Mother Nature and Mother Earth: Competing Images of Femininity in Environmental Discourse." Catherine H. Palczewski, University of Northern Iowa
• "The Rhetoric of Women's Autobiography in Environmental Discourse: Lois Gibb's Love Canal and Sandra Steingraber's Living Downstream." Diane S. Hope, Rochester Institute of Technology
• "Tree-Sitting and Strip-Teasing to Protect the Wilderness: Strategic Performances of Femininity." Donna M. Kowal, State University of New York, Brockport

Respondent: Susan L. Senecah, State University of New York, Syracuse

COMPETITIVE PAPERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION

• "Discourses of Sovereign Power in Wildlife Management*." Daniel A. Grano, Louisiana State University
• "Arbor Luna, Axis Mundi: A Theoretical and Comparative Interpretation of Julia Butterfly Hill's The Legacy of Luna* **." Benjamin H. Ponder, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
• "Environmental Rhetoric, Theory, and Values Implications for Organizational Research." Alex Heintzman, University of Colorado
• "Ecofeminist Theory as a Political Resource: Overcoming Masculinist Oppression in PETA's Anti-Fur Campaign." Kerith M. Woodyard, University of Utah

Respondent: Patricia Paystrup, Southern Utah University

*Student Paper **Debut Paper

CREATING A SUSTAINABLE DISCOURSE COMMUNITY: AN ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ON ENVIRONMENTAL RHETORIC

• "Community, Communication and Common Ground." Diane Nicodemus, University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown
• "Corporate Imperatives and the Public Sphere: Environmental Lessons." John F. Monberg, University of Louisville
• "Corporate Ecology and Community Definition." David Saiia, University of Northern Iowa

Respondent: Kevin M. DeLuca, University of Georgia

Friday, November 2

PAPERS ON ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION

• "Painting Different Shades of Green in the Public Sphere: News Frames and the Environmental Movement in 1970 and 1990." Courtney L. Dillard, University of Texas, Austin
• "Selling the Environment Short?: Al Gore's Earth Day 2000 Address." Robert J. Hinrichs, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
• "Environmental Governing as Cultural Expression: (Re)Humanizing Man and Nature by Fostering a New Culture of Environmental Protection." Denise L. Scannell, University of Oklahoma

TALKING ABOUT WATERSHEDS, BROWNFIELDS, AND TOXIC TOURS: THE RHETORIC OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL DECISION-MAKING

• "Toxic Tours: Setting the Scene for Pubic Participation." Phaedra C. Pezzullo, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• "Reconstructing Communication and Restoring Creeks: A Rhetorical Ethnography of Stakeholder Involvement in Public Policy Decisions." David C. Gore, Texas A&M University
• "A Case Study of Haddam, Connecticut: A Rural Application of the Sustainable Brownfields Redevelopment Process." Cornelius B. Tyson, Central Connecticut State University
• "Social Change, Public Participation, and the Dangers of Civility." Kevin M. DeLuca, University of Georgia

Respondent: John W. Delicath, University of Cincinnati

ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM AS SOCIAL MOVEMENT

• "'Great Idea, But Could You Put It Someplace Else'?: The Rhetoric of Place and Identity in Community Activism." Jennifer A. Peeples, Utah State University
• "The Environmental Discourse of the Brazilian Amazon: Social Movement Strategy in the Globalization of the Public Sphere*." Anne Marie Todd, University of Southern California
• "Locating the Eco-Self in Radical Green Discourse: Considering the Situating Apparatuses of Identity in the Radical Ecological Movement*." Curt A. Gilstrap, Purdue University

Respondent: Marie A. Mater, Houston Baptist University

*Student Paper

ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION COMMISSION BUSINESS MEETING

Officers:
Jean P. Retzinger, University of California, Berkeley
Tarla R. Peterson, Texas A&M University
Mark Meister, North Dakota State University
Barbara E. Willard, DePaul University
Judith E. Hendry, University of New Mexico

Saturday, November 03

TOP PAPERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION

• "Manufacturing Activism Through Mediated Discourse." Diane Nicodemus, University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown
• "Finding Place: Definitions Shaping Rhetoric and Research*." David A. Tschida, University of Missouri, Columbia
• "The Greening of Hate?: The Sierra Club and U.S. Immigration Policy*." Nicolas Rangel, Texas A&M University

Respondent: Susan L. Senecah, State University of New York, Syracuse

*Student Paper

THE ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS OF GLOBALIZATION, OIL, WATER, AND TOXICS: INSTITUTIONAL ARGUMENTS AND COUNTER-DISCOURSES

• "'Opaque' Discourses, Civil Society, and the Demand for Transparency in Multilateral Economic Institutions." J. Robert Cox, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• "What We Worry About and Why: The Public and Policy Agendas of Pipeline Safety." Judith E. Hendry, University of New Mexico
• "`The Evidence Is In My Body': Re-articulating the Material Rhetoric of Toxic Politics." Phaedra C. Pezzullo, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• "The Vocabulary of Consensus: Struggle and Redefinition in the Georgia Ports Authority's Stakeholder Evaluation Group." Caitlin M. Wills, University of Georgia

Respondent: Stephen P. Depoe, University of Cincinnati

Sunday, November 4

THE PERIL AND PROMISE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTING FOR GOVERNMENT AGENCIES: A ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

• James G. Cantrill, Northern Michigan University
• Stephen P. Depoe, University of Cincinnati
• Susan L. Senecah, State University of New York, Syracuse
• Gregg B. Walker, Oregon State University

The following sessions, though not organized by the ECC, will also be of interest:

ECOLOGICAL THINKING AND MEDIA INTERSECTIONS

• "Where Ecology Came From." John F. Monberg, University of Louisville
• "The Medium is the Membrane." Lance A. Strate, Fordham University
• "McLuhan, Media, and Environmental Activism." Kevin M. DeLuca, University of Georgia

Respondent: Frank E. X. Dance, University of Denver

This session focuses on ecology and ecological thinking as it relates to our understanding of media and communication. As opposed to the reductional and determinist labels that have at times been applied to it, media ecology can be understood as a holistic approach to communication, consciousness, and culture. As ecological thinking has helped to form a field of media ecology, media ecology theory, in turn, has contributed to ecology and environmentalist movements and campaigns. Understanding how media shape the environment, and our conceptions of it, is more than just a matter of theory and philosophy, but rather has had real applications for media advocacy and activism.

THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF DISEASE: CONTRIBUTIONS TO A THEORY OF SCIENCE REPORTING AND PUBLIC POLICY

• "Blowing Smoke? Media Coverage of Environmental Risks and Public Health Policy." Michael E. Nitz, University of Idaho
• "The Social Construction of Depression." Cynthia Coleman-Sillars, Georgia State University
• "Heredity and the Individualization of Risk: The Case of Breast Cancer." Kelly Happe, University of Pittsburgh

EXPLORING THE VISUAL RHETORIC OF AMERICA'S NATURAL AND HISTORICAL NATIONAL PARKS

• Chris Spielvogel, Hope College
• Bruce J. Weaver, Albion College

APPLYING JEAN GEBSER: CULTURAL THEORY AND ITS APPLICATION TO EVERYDAY PROBLEMS OF COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL INTERACTION

• "Perspective Consciousness and Signalic-Codal Communication: The Dissociative Nature of African American Family Death Rituals." Charlton McIlwain, University of Oklahoma
• "Consciousness and Interpersonal Telecommunication: Gebser, the Internet, and the Cell Phone." David S. Worth, University of Oklahoma
• "Dissociation, Dehumanization and the Environment: Changing the Current Culture of Environmental Protection." Denise L. Scannell, University of Oklahoma
• "A Hermeneutic Critique of Mick & Buhl's `Meaning-Based Model of Advertising Experiences'." Phil Dalton, University of Oklahoma

TOWNHALL DEBATE I: RESOLVED: THAT THE CLINTON/GORE ENVIRONMENTAL RECORD IS BEST CHARACTERIZED BY THE PHRASE, "MERE RHETORIC"

• "Affirmative:." John W. Delicath, University of Cincinnati, Terence P. Check, St. John's University, Minnesota
• "Negative:." Anand Rao, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Peter K. Bsumek, James Madison University

NEW DIRECTIONS IN UNDERGRADUATE COMMUNICATION EDUCATION: MEETING THE NEEDS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

• "Pedagogy of the Consultation Course: Utilizing Instructional Frameworks and Service-Learning." Elise J. Dallimore, Northeastern University, Tasha J. Souza, Humboldt State University
• "Teaching the Human Communication Implications of New and Emerging Technologies." Scott T. Paynton, Humboldt State University
• "Critical Multiculturalism: Preparing Teachers to Meet the Needs of 21st Century Students." Deanna L. Fassett, San Jose State University
• "Where Nature and the Body Meet: The Pedogogical Exploration of Environmental Communication." Marianne Neuwirth, University of Utah
• "Communicating Change and Social Advocacy." Laura K. Hahn, Humboldt State University

Respondent: Jo Sprague, San Jose State University

VISUAL RHETORICS AND POLITICS: ART, IMAGES, AND ACTIVISM

• "Framing Feminism: Television News Images of Women's Liberation." Bonnie J. Dow, University of Georgia
• "Ansel Adams, Art, and Activism." Kevin M. DeLuca, University of Georgia
• "Progressive `Activism' vs. New Deal `Propaganda:' Re-reading the Photographic Practices of Lewis Hine and Dorothea Lange." Cara A. Finnegan, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• "Fruit of the Orchard: Photography, Cultural Activism, and Environmental Justice." John W. Delicath, University of Cincinnati

Respondent: Fernando P. Delgado, Arizona State University West

Download this page in Adobe Acrobat Reader PDF format suitable for printing.
Download this page in Palm DOC format suitable for handheld devices.