The Culture of Nature and the Rise of Modern Environmentalism: The View Through General Audience Magazines, 1945–1980

Podeschi, Christopher W.

doi:10.1080/02732170701218499

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The fact that we found a consistent trend provides some evidence for the validity of our definition. This finding is consistent with other recent research revealing a decrease in the depiction of natural environments, compared to that of built environments over time (McComas et al, 2001;Podeschi, 2007;Williams et al, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…McComas et al (2001) found decreasing attention to depictions of the environment in non-news entertainment and fictional shows on television over just a 6-year period. Podeschi (2007) documented a reduction in the representation of natural settings (described as "the obviously 'natural,' like a wilderness landscape" (p. 304)) in general audience magazines between 1945 and 1980. The increasing distance from nature that is found even in the media can affect attitudes about environmental issues.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Historical evidence for nature disconnection in a 70-year time series of Disney animated films

2014

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The assumed ongoing disconnection between humans and nature in Western societies represents a profoundly challenging conservation issue. Here, we demonstrate one manifestation of this nature disconnection, via an examination of the representation of natural settings in a 70-year time series of Disney animated films. We found that natural settings are increasingly less present as a representation of outdoor environments in these films. Moreover, these drawn natural settings tend to be more and more human controlled and are less and less complex in terms of the biodiversity they depict. These results demonstrate the increasing nature disconnection of the filmmaking teams, which we consider as a proxy of the Western relation to nature. Additionally, because nature experience of children is partly based on movies, the depleted representation of biodiversity in outdoor environments of Disney films may amplify the current disconnection from nature for children. This reduction in exposure to nature may hinder the implementation of biodiversity conservation measures.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical evidence for nature disconnection in a 70-year time series of Disney animated films

2014

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“…Daniels (1996) analysis of children’s science textbooks from 1950 to 1991 found a marked decrease in the treatment of environmental themes, and Shanahan and McComas (1999) charted a pattern of decrease in references to the environment in television entertainment and news programs during the 1990s. A study of general‐audience magazines found that after the 1960s, nature was less common in the imagery and text (Podeschi 2007). The pattern across media types combined with the decline in participation in nature‐based activities suggests that there has been a substantial change in the place and salience of nature in the broader culture.…”

Section: Isolation From the Natural Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Human‐Environment Dialog in Award‐winning Children’s Picture Books*

Williams

Podeschi

Palmer

et al. 2011

Sociological Inquiry

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Picture books often play an important role in childhood socialization. Given the seriousness of environmental problems, we ask how natural, modified, and built environments have been portrayed in children's books. To answer this question, we analyze the 296 books receiving Caldecott awards from 1938 to 2008. Two possibilities are explored with respect to content change. Growing concern about critical environmental problems, such as decline in biodiversity and deforestation, may have led to an increase in illustrations and stories about wild animals and the natural environment. Alternatively, the increasing isolation of people from the natural world may have resulted in a decline in the perceived relevance of these environmental issues and resulted in fewer stories and depictions. Our findings support the isolation hypothesis. There have been significant declines in depictions of natural environments and animals while built environments have become much more common. These findings suggest that today's generation of children are not being socialized, at least through this source, toward an understanding and appreciation of the natural world and the place of humans within it.Because children's picture books often play an important role in socialization (e.g., Houston-Price et al. 2009), researchers have examined the contents of these books to discover how the significant issues of the time are being depicted. As Pescosolido, Grauerholz, and Milkie (1997:444) point out, ''the intended clarity and moral certainty with which adults provide children with tales of their world offer a fortuitous opportunity to examine social relations and belief systems.'' Efforts to achieve women's and civil rights and protection of the environment represent three of the most publicized and influential social movements in modern American history, and thus, numerous studies have examined portrayals of gender and ethnicity. No studies, however, have examined the way the environment has been depicted.The purpose of our study is to examine the way the environment has been portrayed in children's picture books and to discover whether this has changed over time. Two sets of events have been taking place in American

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“…This approach to the relationality of mediation, social practice, and the environment echoes recent moves towards more-than-representational theories that draw attention to the interplay of discourse, affect, and the embodied performances of humans and non-human nature (Lorimer 2007(Lorimer , 2008Nash 2000). The mass media are a key social force that shapes cultural understandings of the environment and structures society-environment interaction (Brockington 2009;Castells 2004Castells , 2009Cottle 2004;Elliot 2004;Hannigan 2006;Hansen 2010;Lester 2010;Mazur 1998;Podeschi 2007;Shanahan and McComas 1999;Wall 1999). For example, some media discourse about the environment reinforces understandings of nature as a resource for human use, while other discourses enact nature as a tourism attractor by defining specific environments as nodal points within tourism networks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

From Fisheries Decline to Tourism Destination: Mass Media, Tourism Mobility, and the Newfoundland Coastal Environment

Stoddart

Sodero

2014

Mobilities

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In this paper, we examine narratives of tourism mobility circulated through print news media coverage of Newfoundland published in Canada, the UK, and the USA between 1992 and 2010. Initially articles were situated within a larger narrative of fisheries collapse, rural decline, and out-migration. In recent years, however, the discourse shifted to emphasize how non-human nature, including whales, icebergs, and national parks, serves as a tourism attractor, yielding benefits for rural communities. We draw on Latour's work on political ecology, as well as on Urry's work on tourism, mobility, and climate change, to analyze the eco-political implications of media accounts of tourism and the Newfoundland coastal environment.

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The Culture of Nature and the Rise of Modern Environmentalism: The View Through General Audience Magazines, 1945–1980

Cited by 7 publications

References 23 publications

Historical evidence for nature disconnection in a 70-year time series of Disney animated films

Historical evidence for nature disconnection in a 70-year time series of Disney animated films

The Human‐Environment Dialog in Award‐winning Children’s Picture Books*

From Fisheries Decline to Tourism Destination: Mass Media, Tourism Mobility, and the Newfoundland Coastal Environment

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