Featured Articles
Caraway, B. (2026). “Environmental Communication.” In Matthew Powers (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. Oxford University Press.
I have a new entry on “Environmental Communication” in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. From the abstract: Environmental communication is an interdisciplinary field that looks at how communication can impact human understandings, interactions, and responses to the environment and environmental issues. It explores both the symbolic and material dimensions of communication and its underlying infrastructures. Environmental communication scholars recognize the important role that communication plays in the production of meaning about nature and how it can raise awareness of environmental and ecological issues, assign responsibility, and define what solutions are practical or desirable. Emerging with the environmental movement of the 1960s and 1970s, environmental communication draws on concepts, analytical frameworks, and methods taken from rhetoric, media studies, science communication, journalism, risk communication, cultural studies, political ecology, and other related traditions. Its development as a distinct interdisciplinary field of research has been supported by conferences, scholarly organizations, and dedicated journals. Although there is considerable variation in the objects of study and analytical approaches, environmental communication scholarship is united by an abiding interest in how environmental meanings are produced, circulated, contested, and enacted through language, images, narratives, and media systems. Because the public often learns of environmental issues through media rather than through direct experience, environmental communication researchers investigate how representations of the environment and environmental crises in journalism, television, radio, motion pictures, social media, podcasts, and other platforms shape perceptions of risk. Scholars in the field also explore how framing, symbolic legitimacy, and institutional practices influence public opinion and policy debates. To read: CLICK HERE
Palter, J., & Caraway, B. (2023). Understanding the approaches taken by private ski clubs in Southern Ontario to address climate change and sustainability. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism.
Jarid Palter and I have a new article examining the ways that private ski clubs in Southern Ontario are attempting to adapt their operations to meet the challenges posed by climate change. From the abstract: The inter-annual weather variation associated with climate change has emerged as a major risk to the ski tourism industry, adversely impacting season length, snow quality, operating and investment costs, visitation, and neighboring markets. Existing research has focused principally on the overall impacts of climate change on the supply and demand of public ski areas operating on a for-profit basis. This study focuses instead on a niche but vital component of the ski industry—private ski clubs in Southern Ontario. This project is guided by the research questions: what are the approaches taken by Southern Ontario private ski clubs to address sustainability and climate change, and how do various stakeholders and operating structures shape these approaches? To answer these questions, we conducted semi-structured interviews with representatives from eight private ski clubs in Southern Ontario. After coding transcripts of the interviews, we identified the following major themes for discussion: resource efficiency, snowmaking, diversification, environmental management, waste management, business model, stakeholder influence and education. We found that private ski clubs are aware of the challenges they face and are making investments to better adapt their operations to the changing realities of climate change. We also found that there are distinct structural differences from public ski resorts that influence how private clubs approach sustainability, including their revenue model, membership base, and inability to scale. Based on our assessment, we recommend that private ski clubs begin to formally assess their climate resiliency on a regular basis. To read: CLICK HERE
Bhatia-Kalluri, A., & Caraway, B. (2023). Evaluation of Paytm in India’s Digital Payment Ecosystem. Journal of Social Inclusion.
Aditi Bhatia-Kalluri and I have a new article entitled “Transformation of the Digital Payment Ecosystem in India: A Case Study of Paytm.” From the abstract: Paytm is a payment app in India providing e-wallet services; it is also the most prominent mobile e-commerce app in the world’s third-largest economy. This article uses Paytm as a case study to better understand the global platform economy and its implications for social and economic inequities. We contextualize the emergence of Paytm by drawing attention to its relationship with India’s developing digital infrastructure and marginalized populations—many of whom are part of the platform’s user base. Our research is guided by the question: What resources, infrastructures, and policies have given rise to India’s digital payment ecosystem, and how have these contributed to economic and social inequities? Our analysis points to the tensions between private and public interests in the larger platform ecosystem, dispelling notions of platforms as neutral arbiters of market transactions. We argue that Paytm is socially beneficial to the extent that it reduces transaction costs and makes digital payments more accessible for marginalized populations; it is detrimental to the extent that it jeopardizes user data and privacy while suppressing competition in the platform economy. To read: CLICK HERE