Talking Green: Exploring Contemporary Issues in Environmental Communications

In Talking Green, leading communications researchers analyze and explore some of the dominant obstacles confronting environmental advocates. There is no one «right answer» to the question of environmental communications strategies and tactics, just as there is no one «environmental communications». The wide range of interrelated issue areas that comprise environmentalism requires a wide range of approaches to audience research and campaign development and implementation. The goal of this book is to identify and explore some of the common questions and challenges that confront environmental communicators. This holistic approach – from the practical to the theoretical and back to the practical – is designed to narrow the gap between research and application and provide insights to interested parties in both areas.

Lee Ahern is Assistant Professor in the Advertising & Public Relations Department in the College of Communications at Penn State University and Senior Research Fellow for the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication. His research focuses on the description, analysis, and ethics of strategic messages, primarily in the context of environmental and health communications. Dr. Ahern is also Vice Head of the International Environmental Communications Association.
Denise Sevick Bortree is Assistant Professor in the Advertising & Public Relations Department in the College of Communications at Penn State University and Senior Research Fellow for the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication. Her scholarship focuses on ethical strategies that organizations use to cultivate long-term, stable relationships with key audiences. Dr. Bortree’s award-winning research has appeared in many peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Public Relations Research, Nonprofit Management & Leadership, and the International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing.