Winner of the Christine L. Oravec Award in Environmental Communication!
“This volume advances inquiry in areas of social movement study, environmental discourse, and applied approaches to public address. The unique preparation and collective gathering of data serves as a model for scholars considering broad forms of research collaboration. Rhetoric and public address scholarship has largely been a solitary affair, but this book demonstrates how research can be both independent and collaborative. The book is perhaps most promising as a pedagogical text. The editorial consideration of interdisciplinary and public audiences is evident in consistently clear writing, with theoretical frameworks straightforward enough for advanced undergraduate reading yet engaged enough for use in graduate seminars. The variety of approaches and practical conclusions can offer innumerable points of discussion for general courses in theory and criticism as well as specific topics such as modern movements, environmental discourse, and public dissent. At minimum, this book should be essential reading for any student of contemporary social movements.” – Rhetoric and Public Affairs
"Climate change deniers have benefited from political strategies developed by conservative think tanks and public relations experts paid handsomely by the energy industry. With this book, environmental activists can benefit from some scholarly attention turned to their efforts. This book exhibits the best that public scholarship has to offer. Its authors utilize sophisticated rhetorical theory and criticism to uncover the inventional constraints and possibilities for participants at various sites of the Step-It-Up day of climate activism. What makes this book especially valuable is that it is not only directed to fellow communication scholars, but is written in a clear and accessible style to bring the insights of an academic field to a broader public of activists committed to building an environmental social movement." — Prof. Leah Ceccarelli, University of Washington
“This is an unusually interesting volume grounded in a sustained and coordinated analysis of the Step It Up campaign. Generating a multifaceted and shared archive for analyzing the SIU campaign on global warming, the volume’s multiple authors critically examine intersecting dimensions of the SIU campaign—its persuasive strategies, organizational dynamics, and political practices for everyday citizens—with an eye on implications for enhancing the larger environmental movement. Readers with a practical and theoretical interest in social and political movements will find this book engaging and leavened with heuristic value.” — Professor Robert L. Ivie, Indiana University, Bloomington
