ABSTRACT
People's understandings of nature and environmental problems are culturally grounded. However, research in environmental communication still requires the development of robust models or frameworks to help researchers design projects that not only account for culture, but that incorporate culture within the core of research and communication designs. There are many socio-environmental conflicts and problems around the world that affect distinct nationalities, races, or ethnicities. Part of the solution to these issues involves interdisciplinary scholarship to make sense of the communication challenges that are involved. Racial and ethnic groups define nature and environmental protection differently. As a result, these definitions affect environmental laws and policies through their influence on public knowledge, political culture, institutions, and subjective human perceptions. Therefore, an examination of the cultural characteristics of different racial and ethnic publics is relevant to how environmental protection takes shape. The chapter also presents an overview of key concepts discussesd in this book.
