Growing Environmental Communication

Expressive Culture, Civic Ecology, and Slow Activism in Southern West Virginia

Bibliographic Data

ID2765415
AuthorsJordan Lovejoy (jordan lovejoy is Assistant Professor of Environmental Justice and Humanities in the Department of Environmental Studies at the College of the Holy Cross, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume138
Issue548
Pages159-189
Publication date2025-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of American Folklore (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8715 • E-ISSN: 1535-1882
PublisherUniversity of Illinois Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.5406/15351882.138.548.02
OpenAlexW4411149701
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited25

This article explores how slow activist methods have led to local promotion of environmental stewardship in southern West Virginia. By investing care in public space and community life, the Wyoming East High School Friends of the Earth student group has fostered an ability to speak across political and generational divides to discuss topics like climate change, environmental advocacy, and future livability. I offer a case study of slow activism by the Friends of the Earth group, and I analyze four key strategies the students use that speak to local affect and life in the area: focusing on economic opportunities, emphasizing educational support, collaborating for project sustainability, and engaging expressive culture. Through slow activism, civic ecology, and expressive culture, these students employ a type of folklife that grows environmental concern, communication, and care across divides

Biology · Environmental ethics · Geography · Sociology · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Ecology · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism · Rhetoric and Communication Studies

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