Commonplaces of Scientific Evidence in Environmental Discourses

Download or read book Commonplaces of Scientific Evidence in Environmental Discourses written by Denise Tillery and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-22 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the uses of scientific evidence within three types of environmental discourses: popular nonfiction books about the environment; traditional and social media texts created by a grassroots environmental group; and a set of data displays that make arguments about global warming in a variety of media and contexts. It traces the operations of eight commonplaces about science and shows how they recur throughout these contexts, starting with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and ending with contemporary blogs and social media. The commonplaces are shown to embed ideological assumptions and simultaneously challenge those assumptions. In addition, the book addresses the potential dangers involved in relying too heavily on aspects of these commonplaces, and how they can undermine the goals of some of the writers who use them.