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Quoting “the Environment”: Touchstones on Earth

This essay reflects upon the purposes of studying environmental communication by focusing on the variety of ways we quote “the environment” in our studies. Special attention is given to balancing the twin objectives of speaking about “the environment,” while also listening to what the environment says to us. In the process, we can serve a diversity of peoples, eco-parts and processes, through a language which can keep that diversity in view. How, then, can we assess movement, toward these ends? A proposal is made: We can gather Touchstones on EARTH into our studies, reminding ourselves that: Earth, “Environment,” is doubly quoted: Both the word and the world speak; Action is engaged in words, environments, and their peoples; Responsible research takes nature, or earth, to be the measure of the good; Time helps temper enthusiasms, and allows enduring insights to be built; Heuristic explorations as these can create insights about communication and environment, while generating better ways of dwelling on earth.