Toby Miller is coediting a special edition of Frontiers in Communication with the theme FOOD, MEDIA AND THE ENVIRONMENT  – cultures, practices, policies.

The handling of different environmental risks has become an evermore present feature in contemporary society and challenges caused by climate change are among the most pressing issues. Climate change is caused by a number of factors, linked to political decisions as well as and human behaviour and choices we make in our everyday life. The food issue, and then especially the big negative impact of contemporary meat production and consumption, has frequently been pointed out as a major concern as well as a solution to the crisis. We are interested in the mediated communication of food and its implications. Addressing the issue of food and media also put a particular headlight towards the role of the citizens who in public discourse to an increasing degree is pointed out as the responsible party. This tendency can be seen in environmental discourse in general but is particularly clear in the field of food consumption. 

The issue of food is related to fundamental values and is an important part of several of the UN goals for a sustainable development: e.g. no hunger, good health and well-being, responsible production and consumption and climate action. We are interested in how food issues are communicated and framed in relation to sustainable development and then mainly climate change. We welcome contributions addressing different parts of the communication chain and studies on media production and content as well as studies of audiences/consumers and the way they engage (or not) with these issues. We also wish to address the relationship between, politics, media, science and the public.

The field of environmental communication has grown at about the same pace as the problem of climate change has been acknowledged globally as a major problem of our time and we now reach to science and environmental communication scholars to contribute with different perspectives on the issue of food and media.

Toby welcomes contributions in the wide range of problems concerning food discourses with a particular focus the on mediated environmental communication.