Environmental communication and science communication – conversations, connections and collaborations
Davis, Lloyd, Fähnrich, Birte, Nepote, Ana Claudia, Riedlinger, Michelle and Trench, Brian
(2018)
Environmental communication and science communication – conversations, connections and collaborations.
Environmental Communication, 12
(4).
pp. 431-437.
ISSN 1752-4032
This commentary considers the separate but interconnected evolution of science
communication and environmental communication as fields of research and practice, and
argues for better mutual understanding between the fields, including an understanding of
necessary differences. It notes that the repertoires of science communication and
environmental communication overlap but have different emphases. Environmental
communication emphasises public allegiances with a view to persuasion; science
communication has focussed on public understanding and appreciation of science. The
potential and the need for closer cooperation are growing as the authority of science is
challenged in political arenas. Both fields recognise the important contributions of science to
public sense-making and informed decision-making on major issues. Increasing engagement
with the science that underpins environmental issues could benefit environmental
communicators. In political contexts, science communication could learn from environmental
communication’s greater attention to advocacy and symbolic representations.