Communicating the Environment from the Periphery: Actors, Practices, Agency

Abstract

This introduction contextualizes the six contributions to the special issue Communicating the Environment from the Periphery: Actors, Practices, and Agency in Russia. It underscores the importance of studying environmental communication in fossil fuel-dependent authoritarian contexts such as Russia, where political and institutional conditions significantly shape how environmental issues are articulated and circulated. Addressing a gap in existing scholarship, the issue shifts attention away from mainstream channels such as mass media and toward a broader range of actors and channels involved in the production and dissemination of information about environmental and climate issues in contemporary Russia. The collection advances understanding of how environmental knowledge is produced and disseminated in non-democratic settings. The multidisciplinary contributions examine environmental and climate communication from the perspectives of climate scientists, extractive industries, higher education institutions, civil society organizations, Indigenous communities, and film.