This class is designed to enhance your public advocacy and speaking skills,
while reviewing the different contexts and implications of environmental
communication.  The course is a blend of skills and rhetorical theory. . .
focusing on how we communicate about environmental issues in a global
society.  It is a ton of fun for the self-motivated learner who wants to
communicate an environmental message with more power!  Please join us,
Nicole Colston



SPCH 095 Environmental Communication
92892 Z1

*
*

*Course Description*:

This course will investigate environmental communication, focusing on the
rhetorical and persuasive efforts by numerous agencies and citizens to shape
human interactions with the environment. Communication of environmental
issues is essential for public awareness, information exchange, and action
in an era of rapid population expansion and resource depletion which is
leading to global unsustainability.

*Specific Goals*:

   1. To increase student awareness of environmental issues, including the
   strategies and arguments used by groups, institutions, the media, and key
   individuals.
   2. To develop the ability to describe, analyze, and evaluate public
   communication about the environment.
   3. To develop a personal environmental ethic and corresponding advocacy
   messages.



*Primary Readings* (with numerous supplemental articles):

   Cox, J. Robert (2006).  * Environmental Communication and the Public
   Sphere*.  Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.


   Deluca, Kevin M. (1999). * Image Politics: The New Rhetoric of
   Environmental Activism*. New York: Guilford.


*Sample Assignments*:

1) Environmental News Assignment: Find a current environmental story in the
news media. This can be a magazine article, newspaper story, TV show or
Internet based story. Write a 2-3 page (500 word) analysis of the news
coverage, drawing on class readings and your our insights and be prepared to
make a short presentation to the class about your findings.

2) Environment and Popular Culture Assignment: Find a cultural product that
is based on an environmental theme. This can be any type of product, from an
advertisement to a food product or any type of consumer product. Write a 2-3
page (500 word) analysis of this product drawing on class reading and your
own insights, bring the item to class and be prepared to make a short
presentation to the class about your findings.

3) Local Environmental Group Assignment: Find a local environmental group
and examine their visual and rhetorical strategies. How do they present
themselves? How do they present their arguments? How do they reach their
audience? Write a 3-4 page (750-1000 word) analysis of the environmental
communication of this group, drawing on class reading and your own insights
and be prepared to share your findings with the class