IFS 3033 - Lecture notes 1-10 PDF

Title IFS 3033 - Lecture notes 1-10
Course Communication in the Enviornment
Institution Florida State University
Pages 12
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1-10-18 https://prezi.com/khpucxnfffcc/keyword-nature/ Nature is the essential quality of human sense, the inherent force which directs either the world or human beings, a fixed property (natural man/ woman). Chapter One: https://prezi.com/nllkkkqdepvm/introduction-to-environmental-communication/ Realm of influence that is created when individuals engage others in communication- through conversation, argument, debate, or questioning- about subjects of shared concern or topics that affect the wider community. Areas of Study: 1.) Environmental rhetoric and discourse a.) Pragmatics of persuasion b.) Critical discourse 2.) Media and environmental journalism a.) Agenda setting b.) Framing 3.) Public participation in Environmental Decision Making a.) Opportunities and barriers to public input 4.) Social marketing and advocacy campaigns a.) Public education/advocacy campaigns 5.) Environmental collaboration and conflict resolution a.) Stakeholders working together vs conflict 6.) Risk Communication a.) Studies of communicating technical communication b.) Cultural understanding is as important as technical info 7.) Representation of nature in Popular culture a.) How do popular media products reinforce/challenge the status quo. Definition of Environmental communication: On prezi

1) EC is pragmatic: a) Educates, persuades, alerts, mobilizes 2) EC is constructive: Helps to compose representations of nature environmental problems.

1-17-18 Symbolic Construction of Nature ***You have to post two stories by the end of semester and respond with a comment of 25 words or more to 2 posts from your peers. You then have to screenshot your posts and turn them in before the start of class on April 16.*** Discorse- Pattern of knowledge and power communicated through linguistic and non-linguistic human expression Concept of “Antagonisms”-central to understanding challenges to established. Discorses in nature represent something apart from humans Preservation vs conservation: ● John Muir- initiated the preservation of the Yosemite Valley, resulting in the establishment of the first US National Park. ● Only after genocidal cleansing killed all the native inhabitants of the Yosemite valley Ecological Conciousness: ● Tensions between President and Conservationists ● “Eco” from the Greek “Oikos” means house or dwelling ● 1904 Ernest ● 1949-Aldo Leopold- A Sand County Almanac. ○ Nature is a holistic thing and humans impact it and we should take care of it. ● 1947- Marjory Stoneman Douglas- The Everglades River of Glass Public Health: ● Public health and the protection of the commons (the people) ● 1960s saw the rise of attention to antagonism of pollution ● Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring”- 1962 ○ Said to have launched the modern Environmental Movement ○ Public challenge to business practices ● Carson was predated by others

○ Ellen Swallow Richards, first woman admitted to MIT (1873), chemist, worked on water pollution issues. ○ Dr Alice Hamilton ● April 22, 1970- First Earth Day ● 1970- The Clean Air Act and The Clean Water Act Passed (Enforcement) ● 1970-Pres Richard Nixon signs the national environmental policy act (NEPA) -CORNERSTONE OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ● Environmental justice movement trying to go against moving trash away from the “hoods” Climate justice: First world carbon users (Australia,USA) are directly influencing third world countries Sustainability: Capacity to negotiate environmental, social and economic needs and desires for current and future generations.

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News Media and Environmental Journalism ● Traditional news media: TV, radio and print-is restricted by news hole ○ News hole is the amount of space available for a news story ■ Ex: Tir during a broadcast or number of column inches in a newspaper ● As environment stories have become more complicated, the news holes have been shrinking-newspapers cutting number of pages and number of staff ● Shrinking news holes puts pressure on journalists to simply issues to make them fit the limited space ● The result has been an expansion of online environmental news because the online environment has far fewer space constraints ● By the 1960s, news stories and images of environmental issues became regular features ● In 1990, Society of Environmental Journalists formed to “advance public understanding...

○ Problem: based on a particular event and don’t get the attention they deserve. ● Only 12% of environmental reporters have science degrees ● Cycles of Coverage: ○ 1989 was the year of the Exxon Valdez spill (Valdez, Alaska) ■ Disturbing and stunning images get more attention. ○ Years following the spill saw a decline in coverage, even after 1992 with the election of Bill Clinton ○ 1996, the Tyndall Report documented only 174 mins of major TV news coverage of environmental stories ○ 9/11 focused news on the “war of terror” and the enviro news hole shrunk even further ○ 2006 resurgence of news after TIME magazine cover “be worried,be very worried” about climate change and the release of the film An Inconvenient Truth ○ IPCC report in 2007 concluded that rising temps were “very likely” due to human caused greenhouse gases ○ By the end of the decade, enviro news began to drop off again ○ While coverage has been cyclic, overall coverage of CC as been steadily rising. ● Polar bear is a symbol ● Perfect storm of a shrinking economy, loss of ad revenue and move to the internet has rearranged journalism as we know it ● Newspapers/print continue sharp decline- TV is stable but well below historic norms ○ Fewer reporters, less space ○ Seattle Post Intelligencer went online and cut 165 reporters and kept only 20 ○ Lots of science experts (cut first bc most expensive to keep) ● 2008 CNN cut entire science, tech andd enviro news staff ○ Results in weathercaster reporting on climate change ● 2013- NYTimes closed Environmental desk and green bling ○ Resulted in drop of CC coverage. News is produced/manufactured, often in response to a problem ● Forces that shape news production ○ Newsworthiness: news values ■ Prominence ■ Timeliness ■ Proximity ■ Impact ■ Magnitude ■ Conflict

■ Oddity ■ Emotional Impact ○ Conflict is a very influential news value ■ Loggers vs. tree huggers ■ Scientists vs skeptics ● Media Frames ○ Frame: The cognitive maps or patterns of interpretation that people use to organize their understanding of reality (Goffman) ○ Competing groups attempt to gain public support not by presenting new facts but by altering the frames or interpretive dimensions for evaluating ● Norms of objectivity and balance: ○ Foundational concept for modern journalism ○ This is the goal of balancing information and avoiding the biases of the reporter ○ Balance: ■ Attempt to present “both sides” of an issue ■ Not all stories have 2 sides-would we require every story about space to have a quote from the flat earth society? ○ Political economy: This idea refers to the economic interests of the owners to sell papers or gain viewers/listeners ○ Major news outlets are owned by multinational corporations who also ○ Gatekeeping: This is the idea that editors and managers decide what stories get covered. ● Media Effects ○ Agenda setting: The media does not tell us what to think, but what to think about ○ Narrative framing: Provides structure to organize facts. ○ Cultivation analysis: Theory of storytelling- repeated exposure to a set of messages is likely to produce agreement in the audience with the opinions expressed in those messages ■ Public health is the best way to cause attention on climate change ○ Citizen Journalism: rise of smartphones and tablets make citizens effective eyewitnesses JAN-29

Chapter 6: Risk and Science Communication ● From fracking to GMOs to nuclear waste storage, the public is continually confronted with complex science that may impact public health.

● Questions about the role of scientists and science communication in moments of environmental controversy. ○ What is the proper role of scientists in deciding policy in a democracy? ● Progressive movement of the 1920s and 30s wanted to relyon neutral science to make policy decisions ● Symbolic legitimacy: perceived authority of a policy, source of knowledge or an approach to a problem. ● Science is the site of conflict when the legitimacy of science itself is questioned Fracking and Environmental Science: ● Horizontal drilling technique widely used in the US and beyond ● Created a boom in US energy production ● Gasland documentary highlighted problems with fracking ● Struggle over science itself ● “Halliburton loophole” contributed to contentious debate about what counts as knowledge ● Halliburton is an major MNC ○ Got EPA to stop investigations of fracking ● Tension between “technical” and “public” spheres of informations ● Pavillion,WY study and controversy The Precautionary Principle: ● Knowledge about the effects humans are having on the environment is always incomplete. ○ Chemicals, biodiversity, climate change ● Small fraction of the 70,000 chemicals now in use have been tested. ● Precautionary principle: 1991 Nat’l research council offers new rationale for “prudent policy that demands margin of safety”. ● Kolbert’s Sixth Extinction (2014) is an example of scientist speaking out in the face of grave dangers ● 1985-Conservation Biology as Crisis Discipline- Michale Soule ● Q of scientist’s identity, ethical duty has historical roots ○ 1945-concern about nuclear weapons ○ 1969-Union of Concerned Scientists formed ■ Address survival problems in late 20th century to present ■ 250,000 members Early Warners: Disputes over the public role of environmental scientists: ● Debate within the Scientific community

○ How does advocacy de-legitimize the data they are advocating ● Political Interference ○ Dr. James Hansen, 2005 - “Tipping point” speech led to monitoring of all his speeches and writing ○ Ian Thomas (ANWR maps- fired) ○ 2004-Union of concerned scientists report of Bush Administration ○ 2002/3- Philip Clooney- chief of staff for WH council on Envior policy edits report from climate change science program ○ Changes under Obama- less political interference API ● Leading misinformation oil and gas industry ● Most well finding lobbying organizations ● Represent over 650 corporate members (i.e. Exxon) Science and Symbolic Legitimacy Conflict ● Industry contests science that challenges products (liability and sales) as well as to avoid further regulation of that industry ● Communication tools to challenge science include: ○ Hire friendly scientists ○ Production of books and articles out of think tanks ○ Use of rhetorical “trope of uncertainty” ● Symbolic legitimacy boundaries define a policy, idea, as reasonable, appropriate, and acceptable. ● Goal is to stop or slow public mobilizing around an issue ● Calls for “more science” is a stalling tactic ● Trope of uncertainty is attempt to reverse the assumption of the Precautionary Principle ● GOP Global Warming Memo ○ 2001 Frank Luntz memo- raise doubt to delay action on climate change ● 1989-Global Climate Coalition (GCC)-Industry group designed to promote uncertainty on CC ● Climategate media disaster ● Skeptics are often associated with Conservative Think Tanks ● As a result, US News media has been significantly more likely to portray Climate Change as scientific uncertainty/controversy than other industrial nation’s media. Communicating Climate Science: ● Recognition that scientists are losing the PR wars ● Media and pop culture

○ TED talks ○ Youtube ○ TV- NOVA, Cosmos series New Climate Messages: ● 6 Americas important for understanding audiences ● To reach disengaged, need low-involvement strategies ○ Requires only heuristic info processing ○ Promote positive social norms ○ Show rather than tell ○ Personalize the threats ○ Involvement through narratives ● Film Chasing Ice is a good example ● Recognition of need to engage audience involvement in diverse ways.

CHAPTER 7: ENVIRONMENTAL RISK COMMUNICATION AND THE PUBLIC ● Risk communication: sharing of information about environmental risks ○ Any public or private communication that informs individuals about the existence, nature, form, and severity, or acceptability of risk. ● Risk society: is defined by large-scale nature of risks and the potential for irreversible threats to human life from modernization itself. ● Black swan events: are unexpected high-magnitude events that are beyond what modern society can usually protect ● Exposure to risk is unevenly distributed in society. ● Risk assessment is the evaluation of the degree of harm or danger from some condition such as exposure to a toxic material. ○ iDENTIFY HAZARD ○ Define the pathways of human exposure ○ Determine huma response ○ Risk ● Example for 4 step Procedure - knowww ● Anthropocentric Bias- Focuses on adult white male exposure, discounting range of humans and all other species ● Acute Single Dose Test: Hazards assessed in isolation with short term exposure. ● Cultural Theory of Risk Assessment :

○ Those who are exposed to environmental...

BALANCE AS BIAS ● Q of the role of the press in creating a gap between popular discourse and scientific consensus ● US Prestige press: ○ NY Times, Wash Post, LA Times, Wall Street Journal ● Journalistic norms and values responsible for providing equal space to climate change ○ Result is informational bias that amplifies the views of a small minority. ● Ideological vs informational bias ○ Informational bias results from professional Method: ● 1988-2002: 4 papers (NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post, Wall St. Journal) ● Why start in 1988? ○ Hansen first testifies to Congress about anthropogenic climate change ○ Margret Thraser speaks to Parliament about global issues ● Anthropogenic: Originating in human made News Trends vs Scientific Trends: ● They then compared the news trends to science and political discourse ● Release of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report in 1990 began politized debate- increased denial. TEST REVIEW: ● 350.org (science activism, awareness) ● The fossil fuel industry has known about the effects of CO2 since the 1970s ● Insideclimatenews.org (nonprofit) ● Conservative think tanks (americans for prosperity) ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

John Muir Rachel Carson-Love Canal Hetch-Hetchy-How did Peter Sandman explain risk?-Conservation(utilitarian POV) vs preservation (for preservation sake) Frank Luntz did what?-Exxon Valdez What’s happening to the newspaper industry and media at large?



Is science under attack? How?

60-70 mc Song lyrics once 2 articles

From the Society of the Spectacle to the Realm of Stimulation: Kellner and Best: ● Karl Marx: Capitalism generated new form of society organized around the production of commodities and accumulation of capital ○ Neo-marxists: ■ Object world assumes command Situationist practice: Detournement- deconstructing the images of bourgeoisie society by exposing the hidden manipulation or repressive logic. ● ●

Turning around, upside down Disarticulation of cultural forms

Jean Baudrillard: ● Rise of the real without reality, the map precedes the territory ● Society of the simulacrum ● Postmodern Turn ○ Abandons individual and social transformations as illusions ○ The object is absorbed into the image and dematerializes ○ Rise of sign value ■ No longer attached to the materiality of use and exchange ■ Free to float and establish its own meaning through manipulation of associative chains ■ Pure simulacrum ■ The hyperreal is the death of the real- only to be resurrected within a system of signs-reality replicated from a model THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA: ● Comes from a paper by Paul rozen ● The term comes from a 1976 paper by Paul Rozen

○ ○

Argues that we are part of a food chain or web. We have the ability to modify the food chain

3-19-18 ● https://fsu.instructure.com/courses/38718/files/936673?module_item_id=268004 Image Events: ● 1975- Greenpeace “save the whales” campaign ● Image event- a “mind bomb” that explodes in the public consciousness to transform the way people view the world. ● Since 1971 (Since Alaska anti-nuke campaign) Greenpeace has used image events repeatedly- resulting in a membership of over 5 million people and gross revenues of over $160 million. ● Strong response is indication of success ○ French commandos bomb Rainbow Warrior ○ US navy rammed Greenpeace ship blocking Trident sub. Greenpeace: ● First group with primary focus on image events ● Built on Marshall McLuhan’s, “media is the message” ● Drama=controversy=coverage ● Earth first! ● Glenn Canyon Dam- crack banner ○ Ed Abbey’s Monkey Wrench Gang ● Further expansion of Direct Action ○ Aimed at the audience ○ Smart and creative communication of the message is important ○ Work to expand the universe of thinkable thoughts. ● The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975) ○ Edward Abbey ● Response has been to criminalize direct action- equate with terrorism ● FBI, private investigators have all surveilled Earth First! ● Case of Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney ● Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFCT) ○ Anti-toxics and strip mining group ○ Variety of direct action tactics ● Allegany Country Non-Violent Action Group (ACNag) ○ Fought low-level radioactive waste dump- won

● Both are part of environmental justice groups ○ NIABY vs. NIMBY (Not in anyone’s backyard/ Not in my backyard) ● Many EJ activists have been targets for violence Rhetoric and Image Events ● IE challenge ideas that rhetoric is: ○ Reasoned ○ Civil ○ Rational ○ Discourse-meaning words ● Movements are outside the system and rely on rhetoric that challenges the system’s values and authority (conservation movement i.e-attacking in and challenging the way things are) DeLuca Chapter 5: ● DeLuca sets up MSM Media Frames ● DeLuca reminds us that hegemony is a process and news media do NOT always reproduce dominant ideology. ● Case 1: ○ Greenpeace and Russian Whalers ■ Set in cold war frama ■ Activists become American heroes fighting communism ■ Free world vs. evil empire ■ No need for objective side in this debate- evil is evil...


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