Environmental Communication and Critical Coastal Policy
Communities, Culture and Nature
Routledge Studies in Environmental Communication and Media Series

The vast majority of the world?s population lives on or near the coast. These communities are an extraordinary and largely untapped resource that can be used to mitigate planetary disaster and foster environmental stewardship. Repeated waves of scientific fact and information are not inciting action, nor apparently producing enough momentum to change voting behaviour towards a progressive environmental politics. A critical coastal policy, underpinned by a deeper understanding of environmental communication, can offer something new to this status quo.

Environmental Communication and Critical Coastal Policy argues that more science and ?better? communication has been largely responsible for the lacklustre response by citizens to environmental challenges. Foxwell-Norton asserts that the inclusion of a range of local meanings and cultural frameworks with which experts could engage would better incite participation in, and awareness of, local environmental issues. The value and possible role of ?geo-community media? (mainstream, alternative and social media) is examined here to illustrate and support the key argument that meaningful local engagement is a powerful tool in coastal management processes.

This is a valuable resource for postgraduates, researchers and academics across environmental science and management, policy studies, communication studies and cultural studies.

1. The coastal terrain
2. Culture and the coast
3. Coastal policy and meaningful community participation
4. Coasts and media democracy
5. Coasts, communication and policy: The Cabarita Beach/Bogangar experience
6. Critical coastal policy and environmental communication: New directions?
7. Conclusion

Kerrie Foxwell-Norton is a senior lecturer in communication and media studies and a member of the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research at Griffith University, Australia.