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Environments in the Public Sphere

Module description

Environmental issues are an increasingly central arena for social and political debate, as concerns widen over the severity and speed of environmental change. In this module, we will learn about the societal, media and governance processes involved in these debates, in past and present; and contestation over what individuals, institutions, and society can - and should - do about it. We will explore these ‘environments in public’ through key conceptual lenses including environmental communication, mass media and the public sphere; publics and governance; environmental pasts, futures, philosophies, and imaginaries; environmental social movements; and dilemmas of scale, expertise and experience.  You will investigate how environmental issues are made to matter, contested, and acted upon in today’s fast moving mass media and wider public sphere.  In so doing, you will learn how to critically analyse and understand multiple claims about environmental change; and in turn to communicate clearly about these debates.

This module does not require any prior knowledge skills or experience including pre-requisite and co-requisite modules , and is suitable for non-specialist students, including those on interdisciplinary pathways.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to introduce environmentalism and sustainability as processes of public communication, campaigning and social change since the mid-20 ^th C. In so doing, it aims to introduce key scientific, philosophical and theoretical debates on the environment, alongside real-world developments in environmental governance. It will equip students with the key skills to help them critically evaluate scientific and political claims about environmental issues made in mass media coverage and the wider contemporary public sphere. The primary context will be the UK and the European Union, continually contextualised into global perspectives on environmental debates.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. demonstrate a critical understanding of the origins and development of contemporary environmentalism.
• 2. critique and evaluate how environmental issues have been framed in public and policy arenas
• 3. critically analyse the roles and perspectives of multiple actors and positions in environmental controversies.
• 4. display knowledge of the complexities of environmental governance across multiple sectors and scales.
• 5. evaluate critically public initiatives to tackle environmental problems
• 6. recognise the difficulties of achieving meaningful environmental debates and collective decisions about action.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. think critically, analyse debates and present coherent arguments about socio-environmental issues
• 8. critically evaluate the effectiveness of and barriers to environmental action.
• 9. investigate, analyse and understand processes of contestation in the modern public sphere via lobbying, mass media, public engagement and policy formation.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 10. evaluate ideas and contemporary public debates.
• 11. demonstrate critical media literacy skills – search for, contextualize and evaluate mass media content
• 12. present written material in a clear, coherent and accessible manner
• 13. learn how to work effectively in a group to produce a short film or podcast and evaluate others’ performance.
• 14. contribute productively and co-operatively to group discussions

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following:

• Contemporary histories of environmentalism and green philosophies.
• Environmental imaginaries: storytelling pasts and futures.
• Roles of the public sphere, mass media and environmental communication
• Campaigning: environmental social movements and NGOs
• Environmental publics, citizenship and participation.
• Science-policy interfaces: the role of knowledge
• Environmental governance: conceptual frameworks and instruments
• Global environmental issues: scale, expertise and experience.

These conceptual lenses will be used to help students investigate and understand substantive topics in environmentalism such as air pollution, water, waste, land management; biodiversity, energy and climate change.

In addition, a dedicated ELE site will provide students with links to key texts and lecture materials.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Core Texts (all available as ebooks from the Library)

• Eden, Sally. (2016). Environmental Publics. Abingdon; New York: Routledge.
• Evans, J. (2012). Environmental Governance. Routledge.
• Fry, K.G. (2023). Dynamic Media Environments: Expanding the Scope of Media Literacy. Taylor & Francis.
• Hansen, Anders (2018). Environment, Media and Communication (2nd ed.). Abingdon; New York: Routledge.
• Warde, P., Robin, L., & Sörlin, S. (2019). The Environment: A History of the Idea. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press.

‘Key Issues’ Supporting Texts

• Agnoletti, M., & Serneri, S. N. (2014) (eds). The Basic Environmental History. Cham, Switzerland: Springer
• McCormick, J. (2017). Environmental Politics and Policy. Macmillan.
• Russel, & Kirsop-Taylor, N. (2022). Handbook on the governance of sustainable development. Edward Elgar.

Key words search

Environmental communication; environmental governance; environmental controversies; science policy; mass communication; mass media; public engagement; public participation; environmental history