ABSTRACT

In this study, Richard Alexander presents a series of original and empirically based case studies of the language and discourse involved in the discussion of environmental and ecological issues. Relying upon a variety of different text types and genres – including company websites, advertisements, press articles, speeches and lectures – Alexander interrogates how in the media, press, corporate and activist circles language is employed to argue for and propagate selected positions on the growing ecological crisis. For example, he asks: How are ecological and environmental concerns articulated in texts? What do we learn about ecological ‘problems’ through texts from differing sources? What language features accompany ecological discourse in differing contexts and registers? Attention is especially directed at where this discourse comes into contact with business, economic and political concerns.

chapter 1|10 pages

Introduction

chapter 2|16 pages

Integrating the Ecological Issue

chapter 3|14 pages

Ecological Commitment in Business

chapter 4|13 pages

The Framing of Ecology

chapter 6|18 pages

Wording the World

chapter 7|29 pages

Shaping Environmental Discourse

chapter 8|22 pages

Resisting Imposed Metaphors of Value

chapter 10|26 pages

Language and Orwell’s Problem

chapter 11|26 pages

Concluding Obfuscation and Disinformation