Environmental Communication Division
NCA Conference
San Antonio, November 15-19, 2006

Good, Bad, and Ugly: Visual Rhetoric in Environmental Campaigns

Chair: Jennifer Peeples, Utah State University
Respondent: Lester Olson, University of Pittsburgh
* "Toxic Images: Human Health and Environmental Contamination in Vietnam." Jennifer Peeples, Utah State University
* "A Visual Discourse Analysis of a Chemical Manufacturing Site: A Juxtaposition of Imagery and Meaning." Ann Jabro, Robert Morris University
* "Visions of Environmentalism on the Web: Image Activism in the Age of New Media." Dylan Wolfe, Clemson University
* "The Divisive Rhetoric of Earth Communication Office Campaigns: How Use-Value Overwhelms Interconnectedness in Visual Representations of Environmental Degradation." Curt Gilstrap, Drury University
* "Visual Apologia in Corporate Environmental Advertising." Terence Check, St. John's University

Previous examinations of visual environmental texts have primarily focused on images of the sublime. Much less attention has been paid other forms of environmental imagery-the unattractive, the institutional, the ineffectual, and the anti-environmental. This panel examines these changes in order to understand the use and effi cacy of visual texts in contemporary environmental controversies.

Critical Reflections on Environmental Communication: Discourse and Performance Studies in our Field

Chair: Judith Hendry, University of New Mexico
Respondent: Jonathan Gray, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
* "Copied Nature." Tony Adams, University of South Florida
* "Ecotourism and Local Culture: Nature as Mother, Virgin and Resource." Jane Bloodworth Rowe, Old Dominion University
* "Ecological Panopticism and the Discourse of Environmental History." Brent M. Heavner, Marshall University
* "Environmentalism Within Postplace America: Capitalism, Technology, and the Loss of Place in Landscape." Rebecca A Kuehl, University of Georgia
* "Performance Ecology: Setting up a Queer Camp between Wilderness and Wildness." Daniel Blaeuer

Case Studies in Environmental Communication: Perspectives on Conflict and Advocacy

Chair: Todd Norton, Washington State University
Respondent: Mark Meister, North Dakota State University
* "Playing our part: Teaching and modeling sustainability in the communication classroom." Elizabeth Shelley Sink, Colorado State University
* "Discussing Lolo: A qualitative study of the rhetoric surrounding an environmental controversy." Philip Sharp, University of Montana
* "Planting Trees, Arguing for Change: The Advocacy of the Green Belt Movement." Lisa D. Slawter, University of Georgia
* "The Patagonia Catalog and the Power of Photography." Rachel Silverman, University of South Florida
* "Connecting Literature for Action: Rhetoric of Science and Sociology of Science Informing Environmental Confl ict Studies." Jessica Durfee, University of Utah

Teaching Environmental Communication: A Site for Connection and Action (short course)

Connecting Public Participation Theory and Practice: Application and Discussion

Chair: Phaedra Pezzullo, Indiana University
Respondent: Lawrence Prelli, University of New Hampshire
* "Ecological Science as a Politically Constituted Land Community." Tarla Peterson, University of Utah
* "Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities of Juxtaposing Public Participation and Collaboration: Insights from Theory and Practice." Susan Senecah, SUNY, Environmental Science & Forestry
* "Exploring the Relationship Between Public Participation and Participatory Communication: Insights from Theory and Practice." Gregg Walker, Oregon State University
* "Dialogism and the Practice of Public Participation." Caitlin Wills Toker, Gainesville College; Jennifer Hamilton, University of Cincinnati

Public participation is one site within environmental communication research where there is a need for theory to produce practical connection and action. This need causes challenges. In a climate where researchers not only struggle with implementation, but also face an unsupportive administration, it is important to refl ect upon the tension between theory and practice. The papers in this panel all address the attempt to use theory to achieve connection and action in environmental public participation.

Creating Sites/Sights for Nonhuman-Animal Rights: Connecting Theory with Action

"(Re)Creating Tourist Sites to Connect with the Animal-Other." Jessica Durfee, University of Utah
* "Connections, Choices, and Changes: Three C's of Locating Youth as a Site for Animal Rights." Carrie Packwood Freeman, University of Oregon
* "Fowling the Waters: Anthropocentrism in Proposed Legal Responses to Cruise Ship Pollution." Brent M. Heavner, Marshall University
* "Animal Rights or Managed Nature? Beach Ponies, Dolphins and Scientists in Virginia Beach, Virginia." Jane Bloodworth Rowe, Old Dominion University
* "Ape Language Research and the Argument for Nonhuman Personhood." mary caroline trachsel, university of iowa

This panel seeks to identify sites of potential transformation for the human relationship with nonhuman animals that is currently defi ned largely by anthropocentrism, even within environmental discourse. These transformative sites range from physical locations like zoos, beaches, and cruise ships, to the attitudes and communicative actions of beings (both human and nonhuman primates), to the policies of our social institutions. Panelists work to re-imagine human sights and (mis)conceptions of nonhumans towards a less speciesist discourse.

Filming Nature: Environmental Documentaries and Visual Discourse

Chair: Andrew Opel, Florida State University
* ""March of the Penguins" and the Rhetoric of Family Values: Framing the Environment and Political Ideologies." David Tschida, St. Cloud State University
* "Food for Thought: Documentaries, Discourse and Diet." Carly Woods, University of Pittsburgh; Damien Pfister, University of Pittsburgh
* "Political Ecology in Large-Format Films: Analyzing Environmental Representation & Audience Reception of IMAX Scientific Nature Documentaries." Jason Smith, Florida State University
* "Envisioning a different time and place: Being Caribou and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge debate." Salma Monani, University of Minnesota
* "The Memory of Landscapes: An Injury to One and the Persistence of Environmental Injustice." Andrew Opel, Florida State University

This panel will explore the world of contemporary environmental documentaries. From the commercial "nature" fi lms aired on cable channels and in IMAX theaters to more independent, critical pieces such as An Injury to One or Butterfl y environmental documentaries are becoming an increasingly visible site of political discourse and social critique. Through a series of close readings, audience response and political ecology critiques, this panel will asses the communicative potential of this burgeoning art form.

Naturalizing Rhetoric: Environmental Politics and the Visual Poetics of National Parks

Chair: Thomas Patin, Ohio University
* "Visualizing Space and Spatializing Vision: Theorizing Practices of Seeing, Knowing, Representing, and Being in Contemporary National Park Tourism." Robert Bednar, Southwestern University
* "Can Patriotism Be Carved In Stone?: A Critical Analysis of Mt. Rushmore's Orientation Films." Teresa Bergman, California State University, Chico
* "Thinking Like a Mountain: Mount Rushmore's Gaze and the Environmental Political Thought Problematic." William Chaloupka, Colorado State University
* "Camping with A.Y.: Nature, Nation, and the Aesthetic in Georgian Bay Islands National Park." Catriona Mortimer-Sandilands, York University, Toronto
* "Critical Vehicles Crash the Scene Spectacular Nature and Popular Spectacle at the Grand Canyon." Mark Neumann, University of South Florida

Our primary subject of inquiry is the visual rhetoric of spaces and places in American cultures that are usually identified with the completely natural: national parks. The panelists will explore aspects of visual rhetoric in national parks such as the imperialism of orientation films; the environmental ethics of the elevated gaze; critical disruptions of national park spaces; the production of imagined geographies; and the technologies for the aesthetic and anthropological reproduction of nature.

The Communication of Materialism/Consumerism and the Natural Environment

Chair: Todd Norton, Washington State University
* "The Highest Price of Materialism?: Adding "Environment" to the Discussion of Communication, Materialism and Well-being." Jennifer Good, Brock University
* "Water: Its Unstable Defi nition in the Making of Water Rights." Michelle LaVigne, University of Wisconsin, Madison
* "It's easy being 'green': Fetishization and hegemony in the mainstreaming of 'green' consumption." Joy Piazza, University of Missouri, Columbia
* "Consumption as Environmental Ethic? Analyzing Appeals for Buying Local and Organic." Leah Sprain, University of Washington
* "The Sprawl of the South(east): Environmental Justice and The Rhetorics of Smart Growth." Cindy Spurlock, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
* ""Consumption, Media, and the Environment:" An Undergraduate Course." Steve Schwarze, Univ of Montana

This panel establishes a "site of connection" between the communication of consumerism/materialism and our relationship with the environment. Consistent with the ECD's intellectual diversity, the six diverse papers on this panel represent a range of methodological and ideological approaches in the exploration of this understudied area. From green consumption, to the commodifi cation of water, to the buying of organics, the panel challenges the most cherished of current global mantras: consumption is good for us.

Top Papers in Environmental Communication

Chair: Stacey Sowards, University of Texas, El Paso
Respondent: Peter Bsumek, James Madison University
* "The Illustrated Image, the Trope of Color, and the Mythic Hero in Dr. Seuss's "The Lorax."" Dylan Wolfe, Clemson University
* "The Captain Planet Television Series: Connecting Audiences with Environmental Agendas, Issues, and Actions." Lea Jane Parker, Northern Arizona University
* "Communicating Risk through Drawing on the Words of Others: Public Hearings on Wal-Mart, Zoning, and the Threat to the Aquifer." Richard Buttny, Syracuse University; Jodi Cohen, Ithaca College
* "Environmental Justice Content in Mainstream, 6-12 Environmental Education Guides." Ann Kushmerick, Drexel University; Lindsay E Young, Drexel University; Susan Stein, Drexel University
* ""Somethin' Tells Me It's All Happening at the Zoo:" Discourse, Power, and Conservationism in the Contemporary Zoo." Tema Milstein, University of Washington

Environmental Communication Division Business Meeting

Participants:
* Stephen Depoe, University of Cincinnati
* Phaedra Pezzullo, Indiana University
* Stacey Sowards, University of Texas, El Paso
* James Cantrill, Northern Michigan University
* Peter Bsumek, James Madison University
* Jessica Durfee, University of Utah
* Todd Norton, Washington State University
* Richard Besel, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
* Steve Schwarze, University of Montana
* Barbara Willard, DePaul University Damon Hall, University of Utah
* Jonathan Gray, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
* Tarla Peterson, Texas A & M University

Community, Identity, and Place: Environmental Sites for Connection and Action

Chair: Phaedra Pezzullo, Indiana University
* "Identification and Imagined Communities: Witnessing Anti-Globalization Environmental Activism On Screen and In Person." Phaedra Pezzullo, Indiana University
* "'Memory Mapping' Place as a Pedagogical Tool for Fostering Ecological Identity." Jonathan Gray, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
* "The Trouble with Cronon: A Critique of a Placeless Theory of Rhetoric." Peter Bsumek, James Madison University
* "The Sacred Work of Farming in Later Life: Creating Sites for Successful Aging." Melissa Aleman, James Madison University
* "Constructing Urban and Rural Spaces as Underrepresented Communities in Cancer Research and Funding." Carlos Aleman, James Madison University

How we define ourselves in relation to each other and the environment has profound impacts on our bodies, our culture, and our planet. Given the conference theme, this panel explores how symbolic and natural connections within and between communities shape our sense of identity about people and places in ways that motivate human action. Each paper is grounded in original research and, overall, they refl ect a diverse range of environments and academic approaches.