ABSTRACT
This chapter considers popular non-fiction books that focus on environmental themes and issues. It argues that the commonplaces about science and the environment that it identifies fall into recognizable patterns that participate in the formation and transformation of social activities and relationships. The chapter focuses only on six books, and also on how commonplaces about science are invoked in two major ways in these works: to represent science as a social activity or to represent science as an agent participating in social relations. The chapter shows how these commonplaces are used in a particular environmental location by developing a case study of a local grassroots organization. It is organized around two categories: first, the scientific commonplaces that represent science as participating in the construction and reshaping of social relations; and second, and the commonplaces that represent science as forms of activities.
