Communicating Nature: How We Create and Understand Environmental Messages

by Julia B. Corbett

A broader and more comprehensive understanding of how we communicate with each other about the natural world and our relationship to it is essential to solving environmental problems. How do individuals develop beliefs and ideologies about the environment? How do we express those beliefs through communication? How are we influenced by the messages of pop culture and social institutions? And how does all this communication become part of the larger social fabric of what we know as "the environment"?

Communicating Nature explores and explains the multiple levels of everyday communication that come together to form our perceptions of the natural world. Author Julia Corbett considers all levels of communication, from communication at the individual level, to environmental messages transmitted by popular culture, to communication generated by social institutions including political and regulatory agencies, business and corporations, media outlets, and educational organizations.

The book offers a fresh and engaging introductory look at a topic of broad interest, and is an important work for students of the environment, activists and environmental professionals interested in understanding the cultural context of human-nature interactions.

Genres: Environment, Nature

368 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 2006

Reviews

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was a lot of interesting information in the beginning, but this book did not expand on how to have important discussions with people who are unaware or may not "believe" in environmental causes. It also is riddled with TONS of grammatical errors, which for me made this very tedious to read. This was a required reading source for a class, so that was very disappointing. The book seems to start to fall apart near the end. I found it difficult to follow the author's train of thought in the last chapters of the book. I had to reread paragraphs to try to grasp where she was going with the information. I think the author has great intentions, but really needed a better editor and to spend a little more time with the end of the book. Although I liked the topic and idea of this book, I didn't feel right giving it more than a 2-star review due to the grammar and falling apart at the end.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are curious about why when you think of "nature," you think of mountains, streams, and animals and NOT humans, this is a cool book to investigate. It's an academic book geared toward a public outside the academy. It's readable and informative.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the second time reading this book. It has incredibly helpful information, especially for those in the field of environmental communication or education. It's a lot to take in, and I'm glad I re-read this because I picked up much more the second time.

[Kelly Coyle DiNorcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great overview of how we fail to communicate effectively about the environment, and how we can succeed. It was extremely informative but still eminently readable. I especially liked the examination of how the media portray animals and nature.

[Abid Alrashedi · Rating 5 out of 5]

good