Environmental Communication for Children: Media, Young Audiences, and the More-Than-Human World (Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication)

This book explores the nexus between children, media, and nature during a time of planetary crisis marked by climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. In this time of planetary emergency, children have become an increasingly visible part of conversations about the human/nature relationship – they have also become an important market for environmentally-themed media content. Indeed, recent years have seen a proliferation of environmental texts, products, and narratives for young people: children are recognised and addressed as audiences for environmental content across a range of media including news, films, television programs, magazines, videogames, and transmedia franchises. Through analysis of a range of case studies, this book examines the construction of children as green audiences, the intersection between media and environmental literacies, and the mainstreaming of children’s voices in environmental communication. The book will appeal to readers with an interest in children’s media and the industry imperatives that shape the production of children’s culture as well as to students, scholars, and practitioners in the field of environmental communication. Contents Chapter 1: Children, Nature, and the ‘Unliveable’ Future ‘Childhood’ and ‘Nature’ Media, Memory, and Intergenerational Connections Methodology and Chapter Overview References Chapter 2: Green Time and Screen Time: Mapping the Relationship Between Children, Media, and Nature The Nature Deficit Disorder and the “De-naturing” of Childhood “There’s No App for This”: Green Time Versus Screen Time “A New Sense of Wonder”? Real and Virtual Nature Misinformation and the Commercialisation of Childhood Media and Environmental Literacies References Chapter 3: Transformation or Simplification: The Production of Environmental Knowledge in Children’s News Children, News, and the Environment Analysing Children’s Environmental News—CNN 10, Newsround, and BTN A Soft Approach? Adaptation and Transformation The Challenge of Environmental News for Children References Chapter 4: From Knowledge to Efficacy: The Greening of Children’s Television ‘A Tough Nut to Crack?’ Television and Environmental Communication Environmental Virtue and Vice (De)constructing the Curious Child Green Identities in Local Places References Chapter 5: Nature on Screen: Making ‘the Environment’ Visible in Children’s Film From Ecocinema to Disney: Children’s Film and the More-Than-Human World The Jungle Book: Obscuring Environmental Problems The Sidelong Glance: Moana and Frozen II “We Are the Lorax”: The Trouble with Transmedia A Bridge Between Fantasy and Reality References Chapter 6: Young Explorers in Virtual Ecosystems: Environmental Empathy in Animated and Digital Worlds Environmental Empathy in Wolfwalkers and How to Train Your Dragon “Peace with Nature”? Virtual Ecosystems in Minecraft Media and Environmental Literacies, Revisited References Chapter 7: The Mainstreaming of Children’s Voices in Environmental Communication Environmental Activism (and Children) Media Tools and Popular Culture Stolen Childhood and a Planet on Fire: The Messages and Tactics of Young Environmental Communicators The Framing of Youth Climate Activism by Adults and Mainstream Media Traversing the Adult/Child Boundary Rewriting Childhood References Chapter 8: Conclusion: Media, Young Audiences, and the More-Than-Human World References Index