Environmental Communication and the Public Sphere

Excellent book from environmental communication guru Robert Cox. In the age of inconvenient truths, environmental mania and natural resource confusion, environmental communication is fast becoming a professional and research field in its own right. Anyone involved in this field, from scientists to communications professionals to students will find this book to be the definitive overview of the many ways nature enters into cultures and societies, shaping our actions at a meta-level and in everyday life. A caveat applies here though: The second edition is updated and relevant, however the quality of the book itself - printing, layout and paper is noticeably lower and less inviting than the first edition, which is dissapointing.

The second updated edition of this classic college-level survey remains the only comprehensive introduction to the field of environmental communication and thus continues to deserve a place in any collection strong in environmental issues. The author uses his background as three-time president of the Sierra Club to explore the interaction between environmentalists and the political and media systems. This offers discussion of major issues and practices in the field and adds new information about court rulings on global warming, new media and more.

This book is incredibly valuable to anyone seeking to learn more about environmental and social movement communication. It's one of those rare books that smartly, coherently and comprehensively lays out the state of research on an important subfield of communication studies. It's also written in a way that is accessible to both practitioners and scholars.

From former Vice President Al Gore to Republican consultant Frank Luntz, there is one thing on which we all agree: in order to make a difference in environmental policy and ethics, we need to reflect on and improve the ways we communicate about the environment in the public sphere. This book is a step in that direction. The author of this textbook is not just book smart. J. Robert Cox, a Professor at the UNC-Chapel Hill, also has served in the Sierra Club as the President of the Board of Directors (2000-2001; 1994-96;2007-present) and as a Director (1993-1999; 2000-2006).