DATES : June 27 – June 30, 2009
LOCATION/HOSTS : Portland, Maine. University of Southern Maine, Department of Environmental Science University of Maine, Department of Communication & Journalism
PURPOSE OF THE CONFERENCE :
The central theme for the 10th Biennial Conference on Communication and Environment will be “Environmental Communication as a Nexus.” As concern over the environment has risen on the international, national, and local agendas, as a discipline, what role has or should Environmental Communication played ? How should other disciplines view and use Environmental Communication to advance environmental protection and promote sustainability ? How should Environmental Communication play a role in the way we comprehend the relationship between how we live and the limits of the natural world ? As the impacts of globalization and a world view of environmental problems become clearer, we see that our material practices have an impact on not only nearby places but also faraway places, both natural and cultural. Is and has this been communicated successfully ? This conference will explore the role of Environmental Communication in defining, understanding, and solving local, regional, national, and global environmental problems. We invite submissions that explore the conference theme from a broad range of scholarly approaches to environmental communication and its relationship to other disciplines involved in environmental protection and sustainability. Given our current political context facing a global energy and climate crisis, this conference welcomes papers with an applied policy context. Potential paper topics might include – but are definitely not limited to – analysis of and arguments about :
* Cultural reactions, perceptions, and constructions of environmental problems * Social and political impacts of a worldwide pursuit of the “American dream” * Mediated representations in popular culture, art, music, and/or the public sphere connecting individual and collective actions and impacts * Influence of decentralized mass media on accurate communication of environmental problems and solutions * Emergence of global environmentalism and the role of communication
In this conference, we hope to foster a lively and substantive discourse over the environment, society, media, and sustainability. In keeping with the tradition of the previous nine Conferences on Communication and the Environment, papers and panel proposals that are not related specifically to the 2009 Conference theme are welcome. We particularly encourage international and graduate student participants.
