ABSTRACT
How can a justice orientation for public relations be deployed to shape climate change action? In this chapter, environmental justice is discussed in terms of reconfigured relationships with nature and recognition of our connections with and emotional attachments to nature. The value of a kinship/partnership model with nature is explored to rethink how climate change communication may be reconfigured. In particular, the discussion focuses on issues of guardianship and water protection, the value of strong global network of activists, an awareness of risks, and the importance of continual pressure on extractive industries as mechanisms for climate change action. Examples of recent legal recognition of personhood status for various environmental entities highlight the significance of valuing indigenous ways of thinking and spiritual or emotional, empathetic connections with the environment. For public relations theory, guardianship and personhood may help the field move beyond ideologically invested models of mastery over nature, a resource-dominant view of the environmental and schismatic ways of thinking about the relationship between nature and culture. Practically, guardianship and personhood offer mechanisms for working through complicated or contested governance models for climate change action.
