Narratives, Rhetorical Genres, and Environmental Conflict: Responses to Schwarze's “Environmental Melodrama”

Abstract

The appearance of Steven Schwarze's essay, “Environmental Melodrama” (Schwarze, 2006) as the lead article in a recent issue of The Quarterly Journal of Speech marks an important moment of recognition for environmental communication scholarship. Schwarze's essay demonstrates how studies of environmental rhetoric can contribute to rhetorical theory more generally, while addressing practical questions regarding the rhetorical aspects of environmental conflict. The contributors to this forum respond to Schwarze's arguments, drawing in part upon their own case studies of rhetorical action and narrative in environmental conflict.

Keywords:

• Climate Change
• Comedy
• Conflict
• Crisis
• Kairos
• Identification
• Irony
• Kenneth Burke
• Melodrama
• Rhetoric

Notes

William J. Kinsella is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at North Carolina State University. Previous versions of these essays were presented at the Ninth Biennial Conference on Communication and the Environment, Chicago, 24 June 2007. Correspondence to: Department of Communication, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 8104, 201 Winston Hall, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA. Email: [email protected]

Peter K. Bsumek is Assistant Professor in the School of Communication Studies, James Madison University. Correspondence to: School of Communication Studies, James Madison University, MSC 2106, 1276 Harrison Hall, 54 Bluestone Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22807, USA. Email: [email protected]

Gregg Walker is a Professor of Speech Communication and Adjunct Professor of Forest Resources, Marine Resource Management, and Applied Anthropology at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA. Correspondence to: Department of Speech Communication, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-6199, USA. Email: [email protected]

William J. Kinsella is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at North Carolina State University. Correspondence to: Department of Communication, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 8104, 201, Winston Hall, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA. Email: [email protected]

Terence Check is an Associate Professor of Communication at St. John's (MN) University and the College of St. Benedict. Correspondence to: Department of Communication, St. John's University, Collegeville, MN 56321, USA. Email: [email protected]

Tarla Rai Peterson is Boone & Crockett Chair of Wildlife and Conservation Policy at Texas A&M University. Correspondence to: 2258 TAMU, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-2258, USA. Email [email protected]

Steve Schwarze is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Montana. Correspondence to: Department of Communication Studies, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA. Email: [email protected]