This dissertation explores the process of creating and touring a community-sourced memorial quilt for the anti-mountaintop removal activist Julia “Judy” Bonds, who died in 2011. As a practice, the project positions memorialization as a possible framework for social movements to utilize when faced with loss that allows for actions that honor members of the movement while still engaging in consciousness raising and organizing efforts. From a theoretical standpoint, the practice of memorialization—especially when it is intentionally designed to align with the practices/legacy of the person(s) being remembered—is also considered through an object oriented ontology perspective, providing insight into the affective ways that a more personal/community base memorial can be considered as both a symbolic and real material representation of a person who has died.As a practice, the dissertation brings together work on object oriented ontology and travel as a way to highlight travel as a mobile object and performative practice, not just as a practice that allows for research to be presented, which can serve as a valuable site of knowledge generation and creation.Finally, this document is concerned with the materiality of textual representation, offering a series of experiments in performative writing to align with the larger goals of community organizing and environmental action, insisting that the documentation of our actions as well as the actions themselves can help to imagine new ways of being and knowing.

This dissertation considers the subject of ecovillages, intentional ecologically-oriented sustainable communities developed in the U.S., and the different understandings of community involvement, structure, and challenges that members of these communities confront in their efforts at managing these time and labor-intensive settlements. Informed by the work of performance ethnographers and critical phenomenologists, I consider twelve interviews I conducted on-site and electronically with people living in ecovillage settlements. Taking these interviews and my own observations from on-site visits to two ecovillages as entry points, I conducted a phenomenological analysis informed by a critical phenomenological ethos of these accounts, highlighting five motifs that recurred across their recollections of their lived experiences: (1) intentional design; (2) happenings; (3) community; (4) motivations; and (5) political and environmental ethos. I then considered how these motifs suggested several contingent foundations that underwrite the experience of ecovillage community formation more generally. I identified three such contingent foundations: (1) intention; (2) boundaries; and (3) becoming. From these foundations, I propose a phenomenological rendering of community in ecovillages as a purposive act of ongoing relating between the human and more-than-human world that is cultivated through an attention to articulated principles, enacted through actions and behaviors that follow from these principles, and reaffirmed through mutual witnessing and commitment to the aforesaid principles. Such an understanding of community poses interesting implications for communication studies and related sub-disciplines. I consider some of these implications in the conclusion to my dissertation, before outlining some of the future work I hope to pursue relating to ecovillages and intentional communities more generally.

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This study seeks to understand public and institutional uptake of the public hearing genre. More specifically, this study examines how public hearing genre conventions are established and how those conventions inform and often govern tensions that arise in public discourse about a contested environmental project. In my research, I analyzed a corpus of public comments from two Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) 401 Water Quality Certification public hearings that were held in August 2017 and hosted by Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ). Additionally, I conducted interviews with 13 community members and two state representatives who spoke at one of the two hearings. This approach led me to several important findings. Most significantly, I found that while many community members understood VA DEQ's stated purpose of the public hearings, they prepared comments that spoke to an entirely different purpose because they were responding to a different kind of problem than that of VA DEQ. This finding is crucial to understanding the other tensions and ideas of consensus that occur among citizens and VA DEQ representatives since the kind of problem informs the uptake of the public hearing and the overall interpretation of the public hearing genre. My dissertation thus argues that there are ways we might reimagine ideas of effectiveness, consensus, and the public hearing genre, specifically in the case of the 401 Public Hearings and more generally in other public hearings where public discourses center on a contested environmental project like the MVP. / Doctor of Philosophy / This study examines the role and effect of public hearings and the tensions that sometimes arise within them. More specifically, I analyze transcripts from the two 401 Water Quality public hearings about the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). These hearings occurred in August 2017 and were hosted by Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ). Additionally, I conducted interviews with 13 community members and 2 state representatives who spoke at one of the two hearings. This approach led me to several important findings. Most significantly, I found that while many community members understood VA DEQ's stated purpose of the public hearings, they prepared comments that spoke to an entirely different purpose because they were responding to a different kind of problem than that of VA DEQ. This finding is crucial to understanding the other tensions and ideas of consensus that occur among citizens and VA DEQ representatives since the kind of problem informs how people prepare for and engage with the public hearing and the overall interpretation of the public hearing as a genre. My dissertation thus argues that there are ways we might reimagine ideas of effectiveness, consensus, and the public hearing genre, specifically in the case of the 401 Public Hearings and more generally in other public hearings where public discourses center on a contested environmental project like the MVP.

This thesis explores the factors that influence the extent to which the World Wide Web (henceforth web) is utilised by corporations in an environmentally sensitive industry to communicate with their stakeholders in relation to environmental issues. The study initially establishes, in theory, the communication potential of the web and possible factors which can impact on the extent to which this potential is utilised for environmental communication. Subsequently, it examines the use of the web by specific companies in the Australian minerals industry for communicating environmental issues to their stakeholders over time. Explanations for current practices are established through an analysis of the impact of the factors established in theory on web based environmental communication in the Australian minerals industry.¶ A model was established to guide the research process for this study. Drawing upon media richness theory (Daft & Lengel, 1984, 1986; Sproull, 1991; Valacich et al., 1993), the Media Richness Framework was developed to provide criteria for assessing the communication potential of the web. It was also posited that the extent to which this potential is utilised in practice is dependent on management’s web based communication needs. These needs incorporate timeliness, accessibility, presentation and organisation, and interaction. Contextual factors, which include limitations of web based technologies, economic, internal organisational and external stakeholder issues, influence these needs.¶ Case study research (Hagg & Hedlund, 1979; Yin, 2003a, 2003b; Scapens, 2004) was used as the methodological approach for this thesis in order to obtain an in-depth understanding of current web based environmental communication practices. An evaluation of the websites of mining companies was used as the basis for selecting three companies as cases. These cases involved a triangulation of approaches towards data collection: monitoring corporate websites on a regular basis; interviewing appropriate personnel in these organisations; and evaluating documents related to the companies’ environmental communication practice. Data gathered from interviews, websites and documents were analysed for individual cases and then through cross-case comparisons. The intention was to confirm the research model and to potentially extend it through a consideration of other factors not identified in theory but evident in current practices.¶ The findings of this research indicate that even though the web has the potential to enhance environmental communication in an environmentally sensitive industry that is subject to extensive stakeholder pressures, there is variation in its use by companies in the Australian minerals industry. An evaluation of the practices of the three chosen companies highlighted that while the web is used extensively by these companies in comparison with other corporations in the industry, the case study companies were at different stages of web based environmental communication.¶ Management’s web based environmental communication needs and the influence of contextual factors on these needs explained the variation in web based environmental communication across all three companies. Moreover, two other factors emerged from the field; these are referred to as the double-edged sword and change in management philosophy. These findings from the field highlight that the need for communication through the web could have unintended consequences while a change in management could alter the current approach towards web based environmental communication.¶ This study into the use of the web in the Australian minerals industry highlights that the medium has an impact on environmental communication practice. Further research could assess the communication potential of the various media used for environmental communication in order to extend the explanatory power of the current study. This study also outlines arguments in support of extending theorisation in environmental communication. Existing theories for social and environmental accounting, such as stakeholder and legitimacy theory (Roberts, 1992; Lindblom, 1993; Deegan, 2002) need to be accompanied by other theoretical perspectives in order to capture a range of potential factors that could impact environmental communication practices. Such insights could provide a comprehensive understanding of environmental communication in different contexts.

<p>  </p> <p>Science by its very nature is a networked discipline. Experiments and research build off of past experiments and research. Labs are collaborative spaces where many individuals work together with an array of technologies and other infrastructural elements. Much of the work of network building in science is done online as scientists communicate with each other and with the public on platforms like Twitter. But how do science communicators work in these online, digital spaces to build their networks and communicate? What kinds of rhetorical choices do science communicators make when they share research or reach out to connect with others? How do social media, networking, and other technologies influence those choices? What kinds of networks are created in these online, public discussions? In this study, I draw from actor-network theory and assemblage theory methodologies to begin answering these questions. Using snowball sampling, I recruited 12 climate science communicators from three network clusters: Purdue scientists, scientists whose work was highlighted by the nonprofit Black in Environment, and science writers for NASA. Drawing from choices I observed in the Twitter writing of participants, I then spoke with each participant in a discourse-based interview, inviting them to reflect on the choices they made as they wrote online. </p> <p><br></p> <p>The resulting conversation indicated the nonhuman (such as technologies) and human influences on their online discourse. Our discussions also revealed how participants used rhetorical strategies around identification and emotion to better appeal to their specific audiences. With identification, they not only asked themselves how an audience might react to their writing, but also engaged in internal dialogue with their imagined audiences and used conversational language. With emotion, participants emphasized the importance of humor and positivity as strategies by which to make online spaces more appealing and welcoming. This study offers four takeaways from the data: (1) science communicators should be aware of and take control of the networks that surround them; (2) public science communication should still be specific and directed at smaller audiences; (3) science communication—especially in online public spheres like Twitter—should not shy away from engaging with emotion; and (4) those of us who teach writing can (and should) teach writing as a networked process. </p>

Emissions of carbon dioxide, dioxins, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter as well as use of non-renewable resources and energy are some important sustainability challenges for the Swedish steel industry. Much effort has been made, mainly by technical solutions, which to a high degree have decreased the emissions during the last 30 years. Technical solutions however will not be sufficient to reach sustainable development, stakeholder involvement is also necessary. Stakeholder theory states that stake­holder involvement must include a dialog between the stakeholders involved and the operation. The first step in this process is to identify which key issues the stakeholders find most important and then the organisation needs to start interact with its stakeholders. This thesis deals with such issues. Stakeholder preferences for environmental issues were assessed with conjoint analysis, Q-methodology and focus group discussions. The theory of planned behaviour was used to assess how attitudes were connected to background factors and a potential pro-environmental behaviour. Five studies have been carried out in the framework of this thesis. The studies include: a literature review, method evaluation, evaluation of environ­mental objectives in stakeholder groups, screening of relevant factors, evaluation of steel environmental characteristics, identification of barriers to the introduction of new materials and the im­pact of worry and risk perception on strategic environmental decisions. It can be concluded that the methods applied in the studies work well in eliciting preferences. It has been possible to show how different stakeholder groups as well as individuals prioritise environmental objectives and sustaina­bility issues. Since individuals within a stakeholder group vary considerably in preferences, the results from this thesis show the importance of illustrating results on an individual level instead of the traditional group level. Also, a method has been tested where the results were brought back to the respondents in order to stimulate discussions between different stakeholder groups.

The social and environmental impacts of consumer electronics and information communications technologies (CE/ICTs) reflect dynamics of a globalized and interdependent world. During the early 21st century the global consumption of CE/ICTs expanded greatly while the infrastructure behind CE/ICTs, especially the extraction and disassembly phases, became more integrated. This dissertation examines how messages about the social and environmental impacts of CE/ICTs changed during this period and explores the discursive power of actors involved in environmental justice campaigns surrounding the disposal and disassembly of electronic waste (e-waste). The dissertation reports the results of a mixed methods investigation of twelve years of media coverage of e-waste through quantitative content analysis and qualitative document analysis. The analysis examined almost 800 articles from eleven media outlets between 2002 – 2013 and explored differences between legacy media coverage (e.g. The New York Times, USA Today) and coverage from digital news outlets focused on technology (e.g. Ars Technica, CNET, Gizmodo). When the story of e-waste began to gain traction in media outlets, the haze of commodity fetishism cleared for a brief moment and the social relations of exploitation behind the wonders of technology were included in media narratives. While the media coverage about e-waste initially examined environmental justice issues of pollution and labor exploitation, the coverage evolved into focusing on the technical and business solutions to managing the environmental problems and the growth of a private sector profiting from mineral reclamation through electronics recycling.

Na emergência da revolução comunicacional instaurada pelas mídias digitais e diante dos desafios postos pela crise ambiental e busca por padrões de desenvolvimento mais sustentáveis, o trabalho desenvolvido teve o objetivo de pesquisar experiências de jornalismo ambiental praticado em espaços digitais voltados (blogs ambientais). Por estar ligado ao subprojeto Novas tecnologias da comunicação e educação ambiental na bacia do rio Corumbataí, vinculado ao Projeto Temático do Programa Biota da Fapesp Mudanças socioambientais no Estado de São Paulo e perspectiva para conservação, este trabalho considerou a bacia do rio Corumbataí como ponto de partida para o desenvolvimento do estudo de forma a criar alternativas para execução da educação ambiental na região. O trabalho desenvolve análises sobre a forma e conteúdo de postagens de nove blogs selecionados e de um blog produzido em âmbito universitário, o educorumbataí. As análises com relação à estrutura dos blogs e postagens, ou seja, de natureza técnica e operacional, foram desenvolvidas por meio de análises webmétricas e as voltadas ao conteúdo, foram realizadas com base no referencial teórico da educação ambiental e diretrizes político-pedagógicas do Programa de Educomunicação Socioambiental do Ministério de Meio Ambiente (2005). As análises webmétricas e de conteúdo dos blogs possibilitaram, num primeiro momento, compreender as manifestações culturais populares e uma nova ética nas relações homem-ambiente e homem-sociedade pautadas e construídas em processos coletivos de transformação social. As temáticas ambientais nesses espaços digitais têm ganhado conotações mais holísticas, saindo da dicotomia catástrofe e impacto ambientais. O uso do blog possibilitou também um fazer educativo e participativo para aqueles que pretendem atuar junto a sujeitos que vivem em elevado estado de vulnerabilidade socioambiental, em função da experiência vivenciada pelos autores e leitores nas construções das postagens abordadas e nas possibilidades educomunicativas de se trabalhar o ambiente na rede. A teorização é feita considerando as correntes da educação ambiental de Sauvé (2005), os princípios de educação ambiental transformadora de Loureiro (2004), os aspectos da complexidade de Morin (1985), inseridas nesses processos, e os conceitos estruturantes acerca de blog, cibercultura, comunicação e jornalismo ambiental. / In the emergency communication revolution brought by digital media and facing the challenges posed by the environmental crisis and search for more sustainable patterns of development, the work aimed to investigate experiences of environmental journalism practiced in digital spaces facing (environmental blogs). By being connected to the subproject \"New communication technologies and environmental education in the river basin Corumbatai\", linked to the Thematic Project of FAPESP \"socio-environmental changes in the state of Sao Paulo and prospects for conservation\" this work considered the basin Corumbatai as a starting point for developing the study to develop alternatives for the implementation of environmental education in the region. The paper develops the analysis of form and content of posts of nine selected blogs and a blog produced in the university, the educorumbatai. The analyzes regarding the structure of blogs and posts, ie, technical and operational, were developed through analysis and webmetrics oriented content, were based on the theoretical framework of environmental education and guidance of the politicalpedagogical Educommunication Environmental Program of the Ministry of Environment (2005). Analyses webmetrics and content of blogs allowed at first to understand the popular cultural events and a new ethics in human-environment relationships and man-ruled society and constructed in collective processes of social transformation. The environmental issues in these digital spaces have gained more holistic connotations, leaving the dichotomy disaster and environmental impact. The use of the blog also allowed to make an educational and participatory for those who intend to work together with individuals who live in a high state of socioenvironmental vulnerability in light of the experience lived by the authors and readers in the construction of posts and discussed the possibilities of working the educomunicative environment in the network. The theory is made considering the current environmental education Sauvé (2005), the principles of environmental education transforming Loureiro (2004), aspects of the complexity of Morin (1985), embedded in these processes, and structural concepts about blog cyberculture, communication and environmental journalism.