Abstract
Scholars of environmental communication have had difficulty discerning whether and how nature should be considered as an economic resource for humans. This article examines how strategic definitions of environmental substance can forward a rhetorical vision of sustainable economics. Turning to a successful anti-fracking campaign, it illustrates the definitional means through which activists challenge fossil fuel dependence with an ecological perspective of economic and environmental health. Contextual, nutritive, and directional substance in New York’s “We Are Seneca Lake” campaign together constitute the Finger Lakes’ local economy as a blueprint for a sustainable future. This article contributes to scholarship and advocacy at the intersections of environmental activism and industry rhetoric.
Highlights
For 4 years, protestors affiliated with Upstate New York’s “We Are Seneca Lake” (WASL) campaign struggled against the efforts of an energy company, Crestwood Equity Partners, to transform salt caverns beneath the Finger Lakes into storage containers for gases used for high-volume hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as “fracking.” WASL gained national coverage in the New York Times, and high profile environmental leaders Bill McKibben and Josh Fox traveled to New York to support the campaign (McKinley, 2014; Schwartz, 2016)
Whereas a sustainable economy affirms the consubstantiality between human economies and the natural environment, extractive, fossil fuel based economies reject humankind’s connection to nature
A sustainable economy provides longterm stability for local communities and relies upon a healthy environment. Through their contextual definitions of substance, WASL illustrates sustainable economics as tied to local place and, further, as mutually exclusive with the extractive, capitalist vision championed by the fossil fuel industry
Summary
For 4 years, protestors affiliated with Upstate New York’s “We Are Seneca Lake” (WASL) campaign struggled against the efforts of an energy company, Crestwood Equity Partners, to transform salt caverns beneath the Finger Lakes into storage containers for gases used for high-volume hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as “fracking.” WASL gained national coverage in the New York Times, and high profile environmental leaders Bill McKibben and Josh Fox traveled to New York to support the campaign (McKinley, 2014; Schwartz, 2016). Attention to three overlapping types of substance shows how WASL forwards a vision of sustainable economics grounded in a connection between humans and nature and dialectically opposed to fossil fuel extraction. When protestors define themselves as Seneca Lake itself, they construct humans, economics, and nature as sharing nutritive substance.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
