ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to determine the effectiveness of America’s Wetland campaign. The “America’s Wetland” campaign focused on the economic role that coastal marshes, such as in Louisiana, and coastal activities, such as offshore drilling, had on the nation. It pointed out that marshland played a critical role in the lifecycle of the nation’s seafood industry. The media depiction of local impact epitomized three main sub-themes: local conflict, human suffering or personal loss, and a sense of widespread disaster. The sense of disaster dominated all other sub-themes. The campaign, called “America’s Wetland,” attempted to portray coastal erosion as not just a problem for coastal states but as a problem affecting the nation. The stories that concentrated on national impact, however, tended to view coastal erosion as part of a larger picture of global warming. It is clear from the data that Louisiana’s attempts to make coastal erosion a national economic issue was less than a resounding success.
