A broader and more comprehensive understanding of how we communicate with each other about the natural world and our relationship to it is essential to solving environmental problems. How do individuals develop beliefs and ideologies about the environment? How do we express those beliefs through communication? How are we influenced by the messages of pop culture and social institutions? And how does all this communication become part of the larger social fabric of what we know as ""the environment""?
Communicating Nature explores and explains the multiple levels of everyday communication that come together to form our perceptions of the natural world. Author Julia Corbett considers all levels of communication, from communication at the individual level, to environmental messages transmitted by popular culture, to communication generated by social institutions including political and regulatory agencies, business and corporations, media outlets, and educational organizations.
The book offers a fresh and engaging introductory look at a topic of broad interest, and is an important work for students of the environment, activists and environmental professionals interested in understanding the cultural context of human-nature interactions.
Introduction Chapter 1: The Formation of Environmental Beliefs Development of Environmental Belief Systems Childhood and Nature Sense of Place Historical and Cultural Context Chapter 2: A Spectrum of Environmental Ideologies Unrestrained Instrumentalism Conservationism Preservationism Ethics and Values-driven Ideologies Animals Rights Land-based Ethics Transformative Ideologies Ecological Sensibility Deep Ecology Social Ecology Ecofeminism Native American Ideologies Eastern Religious Traditions Shared Concepts in Eastern Traditions Conclusion Chapter 3: The Links Between Environmental Attitude and Behavior Environmental Attitudes and the People Who Hold Them Opinions and the Environment Environmental Concern Over Time Environmental Knowledge The Links Between Attitudes and Behaviors Influences Upon Attitude Types of Pro-Environmental Behavior Predicting Behavior Attitudinal Factors Personal Factors Contextual Factors Habit and Routine Approaches to Changing Behavior Conclusion Chapter 4: Work and Consumer Culture Work vs. Leisure This Thing Called Work Working...to Shop Working...Toward Leisure Consumption and Daily Life Development of the "Buyosphere" Why We Buy Consumption as Process, Not Purchase Working or Playing in Nature Conclusion Chapter 5: Leisure in Nature as Commodity and Entertainment Leisure: Busy and Commodified Local Landscapes A Long Affair with Lawns and Landscapes Local Parks Entertainment What Disney Has Given Us Television and Films Themes for Environmental Movies Tourism Pilgrims and Pilgrimages The Visual, Consumable Vacation The Development of Tourism The Management of Tourists and Their Experiences Eco tourism Conclusion Chapter 6: Faint Green: Advertising and the Natural World Four Types of Ads Featuring the Environment Nature as Backdrop Green Product Attributes Green Image Environmental Advocacy Ads with Combined Appeals How ¿Green¿ is the Appeal of Ads? The Phenomenon ¿ and Oxymoron ¿ of Green Ads The Business of Advertising Advertising and Education The Psychology of Advertising Nature as a Selling Tool Narcissism in Ads Nature as Sublime Disconnecting from Nature Psychological Elements Working Together Conclusion Chapter 7: Communicating the Meaning of Animals Animals as Symbols and Shorthand Why Do Animals Matter to Us? Predators Attitudes Toward Animals Perceptions of Animals Animal Knowledge Good Animal, Bad Animal Neoteny Anthropomorphism Ethical Relations and Animal "Rights" Media Messages and Animals News and Animals Animals and Advertising Zoos The Historical Legs of Zoos On Display Conclusion Chapter 8: News Media News and Social Reality How Environmental Stories Reach the Media The Environment Beat Information Subsidies How the Media Choose News Journalists as "Gatekeepers" Journalistic Norms: Fairness and Objectivity News Values Event-driven Economic Constraints and Advertising Influences How the Media Report Environmental Stories Story Construction News Sources Community Structure and Self-interest How the Media Frame Environmental Stories Subjective Selection of "Objective" Facts Internal and External Influences on News Frames Types and Characteristics of News Frames Frames Influence Audience Perceptions ¿Guard Dog¿ Media and Social Change Conclusion Chapter 9: Battle for Spin: The Public Relations Industry The PR Goals of Government The PR Goals of Business Public Relations: Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics Public Relations within Organizations Persuasion and Propaganda Perception Management and Scientific Uncertainty Spin: Image vs. Performance Strategy and Tactics: Getting the Green Word Out Video News Releases Trade Association Campaigns Front Groups and Fake Grassroots Conclusion Chapter 10: Communication and Social Change Changing the Dominant Social Paradigm to an Environmental One A Taxonomy of Environmental Groups Informal or Grassroots Groups Formal or Institutional Groups Lessons for Movement Communication Within the Individual Within the Message Within the Message Environment Tactical Choices Member Communication Appeals to Activists Communication with News Media Avenues for News Partial Success for the Environmental Movement A New Vision for the Communication of Environmental Change
""Traditionally, Nature's beauty has been in the eye of the beholder, when not in the wayof the bulldozer. Now, Julia Corbett turns a scientist's eye to how we communicate with each other about the natural world. Her astute and deep analysis is greatly needed. .""
' Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods
""Corbett gives practical advice in this text for her students in environmental studies ... The author explores attitudes toward the environment from lawn care at home to ecotourism. Valuable for graduate and undergraduate students as well as the lay public and organizations concerned with the environment. Summing Up: Recommended.""
' CHOICE
""For those involved with the communication of nature, this is an important book. No matter where your particular point of view fits into the spectrum of environmental ideology, understanding how your beliefs were formed and how they color your views of the natural world is important.""
' Science Books & Films
"" theoretically sound and immediately practical. [Professor Corbett] has writtenan excellent textbook, filled with fun little gems of activities that will encourage studentsto complement the content knowledge [she] provides with their own personal experiences.""
' Tarla Rai Peterson, Texas A&M University; editor of Green Talk in the White House
""This is a wonderful book for any student of the environment.... Julia Corbett provides a valuable text exploring issues ranging from the morality of zoos to our consumer society and the 'buyosphere.' Readers will come away with a new understanding of nature and culture.""
' Susan K. Jacobson, University of Florida; author of Communication Skills for Conservation Professionals
""Communicating Nature is a timely and important book on a subject that has received relatively little critical attention. This book should be of great value to people interestedin promoting and marketing more responsible and effective resource management andenvironmental conservation.""
' Stephen R. Kellert, Yale University; author of Building for Life
""This focus on the role of communication'in its broadest sense'in the construction ofenvironmental beliefs and behaviors will be a must-read for environmental communicationstudents and practitioners.""
' Sharon Dunwoody, University of Wisconsin-Madison
""Corbett's book is carefully researched and thoughtfully presented...her overall tone is unflinchingly objective...Communicating Nature is extremely successful at laying bare the messages that shape our attitudes.""
