The final 2011 Conference on Communication and Environment program is now available

The final program (PDF) for the 2011 Conference on Communication and Environment in El Paso is now available. Looking good! See you in El Paso.

International Environmental Communication (IECA) Elections: List of Candidates for Board of Directors positions

The International Environmental Communication Association (IECA-provisional name) has launched as a new organization.  Go to our web site at http://environmentalcomm.org for updates about what is going on with this exciting new effort.

Elections for 8 Board of Director positions will be held from mid-April to mid-May–you can now register to vote by going to http://environmentalcomm.org and clicking on “elections.”

Here is the final list of candidates for Board of Director positions (for complete biographical information, go to http://environmentalcomm.org and click on “elections”):

Board of Directors for the International  Environmental Communication Association 2011 Candidate List (FINAL)   23 candidates

Dr. Lee Ahern, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, College of Communications; Senior Research Fellow, Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication, Penn State University (USA) http://comm.psu.edu/people/laa182

Dr. Jose Reuben Q. Alagaran II, PhD, President, Philippines Communication Society; Consultant, Adaptation to Climate Change and Conservation of Biodiversity (ACCBio) Project; Head, Research and Publications Management Office & Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Miriam College (Philippines)

Dr. I. Arul Aram, Director, Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMMRC), Anna University (India)http://www.annauniv.edu/MediaScience/arularam.html

Dr John Blewitt PhD, FRSA, Director of Lifelong Learning, Aston University, Birmingham (UK) http://www1.aston.ac.uk/ids/llc/about/director-of-life-long-learning-centre/

Dr. Anabela Carvalho, Ph.D.; Department of Communication Sciences, University of Minho, Braga (Portugal); Co-founder and Vice-Chair, Science and Environment Communication Section, ECREA (European Communication Research and Education Association  http://www.scienv-com.eu)http://intranet.uminho.pt/carvalho.page

Richard Doherty, Doctoral Student, Institute of Communications Research, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (USA) http://tigger.uic.edu/~rdoherty/Site/CV.html

Dr Julie Doyle, Ph.D., Principal Lecturer in Media and Communication Studies, School of Arts and Media, University of Brighton (UK); Co-founder and Vice-Chair of the Science and Environment Communication Section, European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) : http://artsresearch.brighton.ac.uk/research/academic/doyle

Dr. Neil Gavin, Department of Politics, University of Liverpool (UK); Convener-Climate Change, Environment and Sustainability Network, Media, Communication, and Cultural Studies Association(MECCSA) http://www.liv.ac.uk/politics/staff-pages/n_gavin.htm

Anders Hansen, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, University of Leicester (UK); Founding Chair, Environment, Science and Risk Communication Group, IAMCR http://www.le.ac.uk/mc/staff/ash.html

Kathleen P. Hunt, Doctoral Student, University of Utah(USA)  http://faculty.utah.edu/u0647544-Katie_Hunt/biography/index.hml

Sangita Iyer, Founding Executive Director, Bermuda Environmental Alliance (Bermuda) www.bermuda-bea.org

Libby Lester, Ph.D., Associate Professor; Journalism, Media and Communications, School of English, Journalism and European Languages, University of Tasmania (Australia)  http://www.utas.edu.au/journalism/staff_profiles/lester/lester.htm

Soenke Lorenzen, Media Analyst, Greenpeace International (Netherlands) http://www.cestagi.com/view.php?Soenke_Lorenzen

Amanda Katili Niode, Ph.D., Coordinator, Division of Communication, Information, Education, Indonesian National Council on Climate Change; Manager, The Climate Project Indonesia (Indonesia) http://www.tcpindonesia.org/

Dr. Manoj K. Patairiya, M. Sc. (Environmental Biology), Visiting Professor, Global Communication, Chungnam National University, South Korea, Director, National Council for Science & Technology Communication (South Korea) www.dst.gov.in http://dst.gov.in/scientific-programme/s-t_ncstc-bio-off.htm

Mark Pedelty, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Resident Fellow at the Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota (USA)http://environment.umn.edu/about/ione_bios/mark_pedelty.html

Emily Plec, Ph. D., Associate Professor, Communication Studies, Western Oregon University (USA)  http://wou.academia.edu/EmilyPlec

Raul Reis, Ph.D.,Professor & Chair, Department of Journalism & Mass Communication, California State University, Long Beach (USA)  http://www.csulb.edu/~rreis

Stacey K. Sowards, Ph.D., Associate Professor & Research Fellow, Department of Communication, Sam Donaldson Center for Communication, University of Texas at El Paso (USA)  http://academics.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=67102

Nadarajah Sriskandarajah, PhD, Professor of Environmental Communication, Dept of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences , Uppsala (Sweden)http://www.sol.slu.se/environ/

Miguel Vicente-Mariño, PhD, Senior Lecturer, Vice-Dean of the School of Legal, Social and Communication Sciences, University of Valladolid – Segovia Campus (Spain) http://uva-es.academia.edu/MiguelVicenteMarino

Barb Willard, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Joint Appointment – College of Communication & Department of Environmental Science & Studies, DePaul University (USA)  http://communication.depaul.edu/Faculty%20and%20Staff/Full%20Time%20Faculty/willard.asp

Ruben Zondervan, Executive Director, Earth System Governance Project, International Project Office, Lund University, Lund (Sweden) www.earthsystemgovernance.org

Interim Bylaws for the new “International Environmental Communication Association”

If you’re interested in Environmental Communication (and you are or you wouldn’t be here), you’re invited to make comments and suggestions about the new Bylaws of the “International Environmental Communication Association.” Comments can be made directly here on the blog, or submitted via email by going to http://environmentalcomm.org/ and following links to “bylaws.”

These bylaws are an interim document; visitors to the Association’s new website will have the opportunity to vote for their provisional ratification during the April elections of the founding Directors of the Board. All comments and suggestions will be passed on to the Board of Directors for their consideration before the final ratification of the document.

The bylaws are a PDF document available here.

New professional association launch team needs volunteers

Colleagues:  At next week’s National Communication Association convention in San Francisco CA, we are holding a forum to discuss the launch of a new international professional association dedicated to environmental communication (http://indications.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/proposed-international-environmental-communication-association-strategic-planning-document/ ).  We’ve established a timeline for implementation by mid-year 2011.

We are looking for volunteers to help with four working groups that will lead the launch effort:

*Financial (incorporation, revenue sources, seed money)

*Organizational (finalizing name, mission statement, organizational structure and by-laws)

*Membership/outreach (disseminating information about the new association to academic and non-academic audiences around the world; finding ways to maximize value of the new association)

*Web site/elections (establishing a web home and identity; setting up and conducting electronic elections in Spring 2011)

If you are interested in helping with any of these working groups, and especially in chairing or co-chairing one of the groups, please contact me at depoesp@ucmail.uc.edu.  The working groups will begin their efforts in the next few weeks.

Exciting times ahead for environmental communication!

the “house of cards” house of cards

For all my skepticism toward most “climate skepticism,” I find the case of Judith Curry very interesting. This recent post at her blog Climate Etc. repeatedly resorts to metaphors like “‘Alice down the rabbit hole’ moments” and “bucket[s] of cold water being poured over my head” to describe her experiences venturing outside the warm world of academic climate science to one that’s exposed to the harsh winds of public and media scrutiny. The post includes an account of her journey from mainstream climate scientist to one who is “sadder and wiser as a result of the hurricane wars [that followed the publication of an article published in the aftermath of Katrina], a public spokesperson on the global warming issue owing to the media attention from the hurricane wars, more broadly knowledgeable about the global warming issue, much more concerned about the integrity of climate science, listening to skeptics, and a blogger (for better or for worse).”

In recounting her story, Curry writes:

Proposed International Environmental Communication Association strategic planning document

For the past year an international task force has been developing plans for a professional organization dedicated to the field of environmental communication (EC). Up to this point, we have been mostly working internally. However, today we are releasing a strategic planning document for comment and discussion within and beyond the EC community of scholars, practitioners, students and activists.

Please download the International Environmental Communication Association strategic planning document (PDF) and have a look. We invite you to leave comments here on the blog, or send them to the Environmental Communication Network mailing list.

Please note that “International Environmental Communication Association” is a working name for the organization. In addition to your comments on the details of the proposed organization, we would also like to hear your suggestions for a name.

If you support the effort to build and promote the field and to improve and expand the practice of environmental communication, then I and my colleagues on the task force urge you to contribute to the discussion. And please pass this message on to people and networks you think might be interested.

The 10:10 Fiasco-A Case Study in the Case for a New Association

As most ECNers are probably aware, the entire environmental communications discipline took a body blow last week when the 10:10 organization released the flat-out bizarre web film “No Pressure.” In a series of scenes, climate-change skeptics are detonated into flying bits of flesh and geysers of blood. Including children. Unbelievable.