Noted historian William Cronon advocates a "humanist environmentalism." In response, this conference explores a "wilderness environmentalism," so that wilderness is not merely an important value and a crucial measure of our success but the ground that makes possible our existence. This conference considers the possibilities of wilderness advocacy in a postmodern, mass-mediated public sphere. That is, the consideration of wilderness takes place with the understanding that the very idea of wilderness is mediated through various technologies (photograph, television, film, computers) and that environmental activism is a media practice.

Consequently, this conference will explore questions around the relation of environmental activism to the media and how human-nature relations are formed and transformed through media. Given our current historical and political context, this conference welcomes pointedly political inquiries. Political questions may include: What are the social and political benefits and costs of continuing to deploy wilderness as raison d'etre and/or political trope? Can wilderness environmentalism help forge political alliances among disparate groups that share a common critique of global corporate industrial capitalism? We hope to foster a substantive debate over wilderness, media, and environmental politics.

In keeping with the tradition of the previous seven Conferences on Communication and the Environment, papers and panel proposals that are not related to the 2005 Conference theme are also welcome.

Conference Directors:
Kevin DeLuca, University of Georgia, Department of Speech Communications
William Griswold, University of Georgia, College of Journalism and Mass Communication