This evening I decided to go to my grandmother’s house to walk around. It was extremely cold outside but it was still clear and sunny. While walking I picked up some sharks teeth on the edge of the water to take home to a jar that I hold all of my sharks teeth in. I also saw two bald eagles flying around the river. Growing up my grandmother always pointed out the bald eagles to me as two of them lived right next to her house for a long time. My grandmother’s house is located on a hill that overlooks the Potomac River, the land her house is located on also has beach that my family and I have been going to for years. I always enjoy coming here as it is always quiet which helps me to just focus on me and my thoughts. As I sat by the river I thought about the article by Robert Cox titled, “Nature’s “crisis disciplines”: Does environmental communication have an ethical duty?” which we read for class. Cox explained that environmental communication is a “crisis discipline” and due to that it has an added urgency to advocate for the needs of the environment. (Cox, 6) I find that this is especially important when it comes to advocating for aquatic wildlife, as I feel as though it is the most talked about. Due to this, I then thought of the article, “Great Barrier Reef Coral Bleaching Catastrophe” which we read in class to understand how different websites approached advocacy of the coral reefs. I found that specific article to be very useful in communicating the “crisis” aspect of “crisis disciple” as it featured many images of dead coral reefs. (“Great Barrier Reef Coral Bleaching Catastrophe”)Although I agree that the sole mode of environmental communication should not be rooted in scaring people, I do find that images such as these can be meaningful in helping people understand what is happening to environments that they are not directly related to, such as the coral reef, or for some, the Potomac River.
Bibliography:
Cox, Robert. “Nature’s “crisis disciplines”: Does environmental communication have an ethical duty?” Environmental Communication 1.1 (2007): 5-20.
“Great Barrier Reef Coral Bleaching Catastrophe.” CNN, 23 Jan. 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/23/australia/great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-catastrophe-climate-intl-hnk/index.html. Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.
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