Strategies for Effective Environmental Communication

This book is an informative and how-to guide for writing about the environment. Part One focuses on issues of environmental writing that writers must be aware of before they begin writing, such as environmental ideologies, affordances and constraints of various genres, considerations for audience, and social and political issues that influence environmental communication. Part Two is the how-to part of the guide with eight chapters that introduce readers to various writing strategies like how to write in narrative form, sensory writing, incorporating research, the use of visuals, and more.

Dr. Diane Martinez is an associate professor in the English Studies department at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, where she teaches technical and professional communication. Her recent research and publications focus on issues of environmental communication, ethics in science communication, and social justice and advocacy in environmental, scientific, and technical communication. She was the recipient of a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award for 2022-2023, where she spent eight months in Germany teaching and developing international collaborations for students and faculty. Dr. Drew Virtue is an associate professor in the English Studies department at Western Carolina University who teaches professional writing. He holds a BA in English from Illinois State University, an MA in English from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and a PhD in Rhetoric, Scientific, and Technical Communication at the University of Minnesota. His current research examines the intersections of rhetoric, pedagogy, and digital/web literacies with a special focus on how technologies impact our daily lives. He is also pursuing research based on the use of digital compositions and their connection to advocacy for national parks, an interest based on his love of the outdoors in Western North Carolina.

Part I.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Forms of Environmental Communication.- 3. Audiences for Environmental Communication.- 4. Motivations for Environmental Communication.- 5. Introduction to Part Two: Strategies for Writing and Creating Content (about 10 pages each).- 6. When and how to use narratives.- 7. Tone and Voice.- 8. Research.- 9. Sensory writing.-10. Writing about place/connection to place.- 11. Writing about the land/connection to the land. 12. Writing about people/connection to people.- 13. Visuals.- 14. Importance of Grammar.- 15. Conclusion.