Communication in Defense of Nonhuman Animals during an Extinction and Climate Crisis

Dear Colleagues,

As modern science and critical scholarship are recognizing nonhuman animals as fellow subjects and conscious, sentient beings with interests deserving of respect, moral dilemmas abound as humanity acknowledges the threats our activities pose to human and nonhuman animal life, including the sixth mass extinction and anthropogenic climate change. In this Special Issue, we aim to focus on the impact this environmental havoc is having on nonhuman animals living in nature (including those free roaming animals who coexist in our urban spaces) and the vital role that media and communication play in contributing to and remedying these crises. We invite concerned scholars to explore how issues affecting “wildlife” are constructed in media discourses or perceived and acted upon by media audiences/publics (media is broadly defined to include journalism, film and television, advertising, social media, or campaigns). Consider any of the following issues affecting animals in nature to critically interrogate from a communication and representation perspective:

• Zoonotic diseases, pandemics, and relations between nonhuman animals and human animals;
• Sixth mass extinction causes and solutions;
• Agribusiness, fishing, the food industry, or human dietary practices that contribute to the death of animals in nature, extinctions of species, or habitat loss;
• Alternative human dietary or farming practices, like veganism or veganic farming, seeking reduced or regenerative impacts on ecosystems and their animal inhabitants;
• Human population growth and/or consumption and effects on animals in nature;
• Climate crisis and connections with biodiversity loss (or common solutions);
• Free roaming animals as climate refugees along with human populations;
• Indigenous perspectives or decolonial approaches to defense of animals in nature;
• Social movement strategies for wildlife conservation or animal protection (including individual animal welfare);
• Non-native/introduced/‘invasive’ animal species and humane/just solutions to perceived problems;
• Compassionate conservation (the application of the principles of do no harm, individuals matter, inclusivity, and peaceful coexistence);
• Interspecies justice and interspecies ethics approaches related to human and nonhuman animal relationships in nature, including resolution of conflicts;
• Hunting/killing and fur trapping of animals in nature;
• Parks/sanctuaries/refuges—legal protection of habitats and biodiverse ecosystems; Half-Earth Project (E. O. Wilson); accommodation with local human community needs;
• Human displacement of non-domesticated animals by domesticated farmed animals and/or infrastructure/development (weight or mass displacement references);
• Human and nonhuman animal coexistence in urban environments;
• Predators/carnivores and perceived threats (including species reintroduction programs);
• Cultivation of a sense of interdependence or kinship with animals in nature;
• Anthropomorphism of free roaming animals in productive or unproductive ways; linguistic choices in defining, categorizing, or constructing them as species or as individuals;
• Zoos/aquariums/and other wildlife captivity facilities and “conservation” efforts.

The editors take a critical animal studies and critical media studies approach and appreciate submissions that contribute to this work by not only respecting individual nonhuman animals as fellow sentient beings but also by providing prescriptions to problems facing animals in nature and offering constructive guidance to communicators.

Prof. Carrie P. Freeman
Prof. Núria Almiron
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journalism and Media is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Papers should be in the range of 6,000 to 9,000 words and Authors should include a literature review section after the introduction section. Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access Special Issue will be waived. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• wildlife
• biodiversity
• mass extinction
• compassionate conservation
• hunting and fishing
• zoonotic diseases
• media
• representation
• communication
• animal rights and protection