Communication and our environment: Categorizing research in environmental advocacy

Abstract

The role of communication in the cause of environmentalism cannot be overestimated and, clearly, the 1990's offer scholars a great opportunity to research and develop theoretically grounded, practical approaches to advocacy in the area of environmental discourse. However, previous attempts to study the complex dimensions of environmental advocacy have been spread across a variety of disciplines resulting in a rather fragmented understanding of how persons use communication in service of the environment. This paper presents a categorizing scheme and reviews studies concerning environmental advocacy. The framework is used to synthesize related research and theory, identify barriers to effective advocacy, and suggest practical applications in the field of environmental communication.