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Environmental Communication Division Panels
National Communication Association Conference
San Diego, November 21-24, 2008

Re-Encountering Nature: Questioning Conventional Discourse, Seeking the Unconventional

Fri, Nov 21 - 8:00am - 9:15am - Manchester Grand Hyatt / Annie B
CoSponsor: Performance Studies Division
  1. Re-Encountering Nature: Exploring Magic as an Alternative Symbolic by Julie K Schutten (University of Utah)
  2. Whale of a "Show" or "Encounter?": Lived Metaphor and Eco-Cultural Experience by Tema Milstein (University of New Mexico)
  3. Raindrops on Roses, Not Ball-Crushing Torrents: The Composters Sing Songs of Activism by Alison Aurelia Fisher (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale), *Janet E. Donoghue (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale)
  4. Encountering Predators: From Bounties to Boundaries (A Rhetorical History of Predators in the United States from 1924-1964) by Peter K Bsumek (James Madison University)
Abstract: This panel looks at how socio-cultural forces intersect with conventional discourses of human-nature encounters and how alternative, transformative, or resistant discourses and related ways of encountering nature emerge or might possibly emerge. Presentations explore human-nature encounters within performative contexts and discourses including the Neo-Pagan movement and magic as a tool for ideological change, wildlife tourism and the spectacle versus the sentient interactive other, performative postmodern satire and ecofeminist advocacy, and transformative rhetorical history and "redefined" predators.

Environmental Communication Division Business Meeting

Fri, Nov 21 - 12:30pm - 1:45pm - Manchester Grand Hyatt / George Bush
Session Organizer: Jonathan M. Gray (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale)
Stacey Sowards (University of Texas, El Paso)
William J Kinsella (North Carolina State University)
Peter K Bsumek (James Madison University)

Hot Topic?: Politics and Perceptions of Global Warming

Fri, Nov 21 - 12:30pm - 1:45pm - Manchester Grand Hyatt / Annie B
Session Organizer: Jonathan M. Gray (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale)
Chair: Connie A. Bullis (University of Utah)
  1. Playing Politics with the Planet: Critiquing Political Discourses on Climate Change by Jessica Baty (University of Denver), Andy Kai-chun Chuang (University of Denver), Richard G. Jones Jr. (University of Denver)
  2. Governing Truth: Reconstructing the Gore-Hansen Dispute on Climate Change by Chris Russill (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
  3. Exemplification and Behavior Change: College Students' Perceptions of Climate Change Impacts by Amy E Chadwick (Penn State University)
  4. The Social Construction of Global Warming in Students' Environmental Perceptions, Beliefs, and Behaviors by Tatjana K Rosev (University of New Mexico), Sasha Arjannikova (University of Arkansas, Little Rock)
  5. Respondent: Tracy Marafiote (SUNY Fredonia)
Abstract: From political debates to campus perceptions, these papers address how global warming is represented in the public sphere and how those representations are perceived in public institutions.

The Greening of America's Children, Then and Now

Fri, Nov 21 - 2:00pm - 3:15pm - Manchester Grand Hyatt / Parlor Room 733
Chair: Rick A. Buerkel (Central Michigan University)
  1. Communication and Eco-Organizations by Rick A. Buerkel (Central Michigan University)
  2. Eco-Friendly Messages in Children's Programming by Nancy Buerkel-Rothfuss (Central Michigan University)
  3. Respecting the Environment through Children's Literature by Pamela L. Gray (Central Michigan University)
  4. Green Theatre for Children, a Case Study by Neil Vanderpool (Central Michigan University)
Abstract: Using a variety of communication sources, this panel will examine the gradual transformation of American culture from one of limited concern for the environment to one that actively promotes eco-consciousness to the next generation in a variety of forms. The focus will be on what organizations and various media are doing today to teach children about conservation and respect for the world and its many inhabitants.

Top Papers in Environmental Communication

Fri, Nov 21 - 2:00pm - 3:15pm - Manchester Grand Hyatt / George Bush
Session Organizer: Jonathan M. Gray (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale)
Chair: William J Kinsella (North Carolina State University)
  1. An Inconvenient Truth: Myth and Multiple Readings in Environmental Rhetoric by Thomas S. Frentz (University of Arkansas, Fayetteville), Thomas Rosteck (University of Kansas, Fayetteville)
  2. From War to Warming: Chronopolitical Rhetoric in the Global Warming Debate by Lisa Slawter (University of Georgia)
  3. Nature and the Simulacrum: (Re)construction, Commodification, and Contestation of Sacred Space in "The Petroglyphs" by Elizabeth A. Dickinson (University of New Mexico)
  4. The Ecology of Empire: Capitalism, Sustainability and the Multitude by Josh S Hanan (University of Texas, Austin)

Respondent: Jonathan M. Gray (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale)
Abstract: The top competitively selected papers submitted to the Environmental Communication Division

Forming an International Environmental Communication Organization: An Unconventional Move?

Sat, Nov 22 - 2:00pm - 3:15pm - Manchester Grand Hyatt / Betsy A
Chair: Stephen P. Depoe (University of Cincinnati)
Donal A. Carbaugh (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
Kevin M. DeLuca (University of Georgia)
Oyvind Ihlen (University of Oslo)
Mike E. Nitz (Augustana College)
Jennifer A. Peeples (Utah State University)
Susan L Senecah (SUNY, Environmental Science & Forestry)
Stacey Sowards (University of Texas, El Paso)
Jessica L Thompson (Colorado State University)
Gregg B. Walker (Oregon State University)
Abstract: This roundtable will involve panelists and audience members in a discussion about the potential value of forming a new international environmental communication organization as a way of strengthening the emerging sub-discipline of environmental communication and extending its reach, visibility, and influence beyond conventional academic boundaries and beyond U. S. borders. The panel will be part of a three-stage discussion that will include a blog- or list-serv conversation that occurs before the convention, and another roundtable panel scheduled to take place at the Eurpoean Communication Research and Education Association convention to be held in Barcelona, Spain on November 25-28, 2008 (www.ecrea.eu/).

How and When Should We Use this Crazy Green Thing?: Development, Validation (and Proposed Uses) of the Environmental Communication Scale

Sat, Nov 22 - 3:30pm - 4:45pm - Manchester Grand Hyatt / Parlor Room 617
Chair: Eric L. Morgan (New Mexico State University)
  1. Development of the Environmental Communication Scale by Jeffrey Kassing (Arizona State UniversityWest)
  2. Assessing the Validity of the Practicing Dimension of the Environmental Communication Scale by Heather Smart Johnson (Arizona State UniversityWest)
  3. Assessing the Validity of the Dismissing Dimension of the Environmental Communication Scale by Bonnie R Wentzel (Arizona State University)
  4. Assessing the Validity of the Confirming Dimension of the Environmental Communication Scale by Dayna N Kloeber (Arizona State UniversityWest)
Abstract: This panel features the work of a research team that developed the Environmental Communication Scale (ECS), a quantitative self-report measure that assesses the degree to which people engage and believe in environmental communication. The measure allows quantitative, social scientific scholarship to compliment traditional rhetorical approaches for studying environmental communication. Small group discussions designed to advance research agenda for specific uses of the scale will follow short presentations about the development and validation of the instrument.

unCONVENTIONal Themes, Signs, and Discourse: Cultural Representations and Environmental Rhetoric

Sun, Nov 23 - 12:30pm - 1:45pm - Manchester Grand Hyatt / Annie B
CoSponsor: Critical and Cultural Studies Division
Session Organizer: Jonathan M. Gray (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale)
Chair: Damon M Hall (Texas A&M University)
  1. On the Precipice of Disaster: Apocalypse, Progress, and Conquest in Daniel Quinn's Ishmael by Joseph Sery (University of Pittsburgh)
  2. Red Sky in Morning: Ecological Rhetoric Through Semiotics by Kevin Ells (LSU Alexandria)
  3. The Machine and the Garden: American Environmental Discourse in the Designs of Maya Lin by Brent A Saindon (University of Pittsburgh)
  4. A Moral Imperative: Theodore Roosevelt's "Conservation as a National Duty," 1908 by Jessica L Sheffield (The Pennsylvania State University)

Respondent: Jessica L Thompson (Colorado State University)
Abstract: These papers address a wide variety of environmental topics broadly considered Green Cultural Studies. These papers consider symbolic constructions of nature from art to presidential rhetoric to the semiotics of media.

Regulation, Risk, and Rhetoric of a Renaissance: Practical and Academic Perspectives on the Civil Nuclear Industry

Sun, Nov 23 - 2:00pm - 3:15pm - Manchester Grand Hyatt / Annie B
  1. Re-Framing Nuclear Power for Policies and the Public by Anthony R. Pietrangelo (Nuclear Energy Institute)
  2. Some Rhetorical Dimensions of a Proposed Nuclear Renaissance by William J Kinsella (North Carolina State University)
  3. Positioning Nuclear Power in the Larger Energy Discourse by Jeff Beattie (The Energy Daily)
  4. Nuclear Risk Communication: Beyond Perceptions and Analysis by Dorothy L Collins (Texas A&M University)
  5. Reliable Regulation: One Message, Multiple Audiences by Elmo E. Collins (U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
  6. Dialoguing Nuclear Power: Thematic and Practical Connections by J Kevin Barge (Texas A&M University)
Abstract: It is rare for practitioners associated with the nuclear industry to interact with researchers in the communication field. The goal of this panel it to create an "unconventional" space that brings these two groups together to set an agenda for nuclear communication and consider practical applications of the research. Practitioners include representatives from the nuclear industry, journalism, and the regulatory agency. Scholars will address these practices from the perspectives of rhetoric, risk communication, and dialogue.

Feeling Good and Freaking Out: Media Debates and Representations of Environmental Issues

Sun, Nov 23 - 3:30pm - 4:45pm - Manchester Grand Hyatt / Elizabeth D
Session Organizer: Jonathan M. Gray (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale)
Chair: Stacey Sowards (University of Texas, El Paso)
  1. Feeling Good About Doing Good: Examining the Potential of the Media to Motivate Proenvironmental Behaviors with Internal Benefit Incentives. by Elizabeth Cohen (Georgia State U)
  2. Global Warming and Apocalyptic Rhetoric: A Critical Frame Analysis of US Popular and Elite Press Coverage from 1997-2007 by Christina Foust (University of Denver), *William O Murphy (University of Denver), *Chelsea A.H. Stow (University of Denver)
  3. The Conventions of Climate Change Communication by Jessica L Thompson (Colorado State University), Sarah Schweizer (Colorado State University)
  4. The U.S. Broadcast News Media as a Social Arena in the Global Climate Change Debate by Adam Jeremy Kuban (University of Utah)
Respondent: James G. Cantrill (Northern Michigan University)
Abstract: These papers address media representations of environmental issues, with the primary focus on representations and debates over global climate change. All the papers are united by their focus on media framing of environmental issues.

Buying Into Green: When Organizations Adopt/Co-opt Environmental Ethics

Sun, Nov 23 - 3:30pm - 4:45pm - Building/Room: Manchester Grand Hyatt / Annie B
Session Organizer: Jonathan M. Gray (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale)
Chair: Barb Willard (DePaul University)
  1. Green Herring: Resisting the Cooptation of Environmental Ideologies and Anti-Systemic Movements by Brenden Escher Kendall (University of Utah)
  2. Locally Grown: The Possibilities for Synergy between an Environmental Ethic and Organizational Culture by Natalie E Shubert (Ohio University)
  3. Meeting the (Sustainable) In-Laws: The (Unholy?) Union of Business and Environmental Organizations by Tracy Marafiote (SUNY Fredonia), Diane M. Martin (University of Portland)
  4. Negotiating Environmental Planning at Universities and Colleges by Leah E LeFebvre (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee)
Respondent: David Tschida (St. Cloud State University)
Abstract: These papers address a variety of issues with organizational communication and the commodification of "Green". Topics examine both the problematics of "Greenwashing" and the laudable attempts of organizations to legitimately green their practices.
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