Environmental Communication Division 

 National Communication Association

Photo by Barb Willard, 2018 NCA pre-conference field trip in Salt Lake City, Utah

Welcome

The Environmental Communication Division of the National Communication Association is a multidisciplinary effort to support a broad audience of academics, professionals, and practitioners to share and build theoretical, critical, and applied scholarship addressing environmental communication in a variety of contexts. 

We believe all communication involves an environmental dimension, because symbolic and natural systems are mutually constituted. Humans are one part of the broader ecosystems and cultures we inhabit, both shaping and shaped by our corporeal, intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and physical alienation from and proximity to those spaces and communities.

To explore these rich and significant connections, we encourage qualitative, quantitative, and critical scholarship and pedagogy that showcases and advances our understanding of the production, reception, contexts, or processes of human communication regarding environmental issues. Many members of the division also belong to the International Environmental Communication Association (http://theieca.org/) to participate in an international group of researchers and practitioners. 

The 2024 NCA convention theme is "Communication for Greater Regard." The word "Regard" comes from Old French and is connected historically to New Orleans. "Greater Regard" will push forward conversations about cultivating care and concern; that which we regard is deemed important, granted value, and given consideration. To be a “regarder” is to be one who watches, takes notice, and is expressive, often by increasing with thoughtful intensity amid a climate where less use of regard is occurring. We look forward to seeing you at New Orleans! 

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to: