Environmental communication is an area of growing interest within the communication for development discipline; this course provides an overview of its theoretical approaches, research literature, and practical applications. Possible topics expected to cover on this course includes the social construction of nature, and human relationships with nature, through discourse, rhetoric, and communication practices, critical and cultural approaches to environmental discourse, communication about environmental issues in organizational, mass media, political, and international contexts, environment and social impact: knowledge, attitude and practices, communication in environmental advocacy, awareness and social change.
Through this course, students will identify ways in which public discourses socially construct relationships between nature and humans, demonstrate an understanding of critical and cultural approaches to environmental communication, identify and implement communication skills relevant to disseminating environmental information in organizational, political, and international contexts, identify key issues in norms, social change, participation and demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate environmental advocacy, awareness and social change.