Pezzullo and Cox help us to see how understandings and relations with nature and the environment have changed through t

Pezzullo and Cox help us to see how understandings and relations with nature and the environment have changed through the communication practices in five contested discursive periods. The additional readings, thus far, have expanded upon but also challenged their periodization and defining voices. In the early stages of our study of environmental communication, it is helpful to think about our (and our families’) past relations and understandings of the environment and the meaning of those for us today. Your personal environmental history is a result of your familys and societies historical relations with the environment(s) in which they live/d. Our lives and present environments are products of history, power relations, and the communication that transpired to make that history. Our parents and grandparents grew up in different environments from those of today. These past generations have related to and drawn from their environments, often with different goals and values than ours. 

Drawing upon the readings and audio/video content, write an essay (single-spaced typed pages, 1000 words) of your environmental history. While this essay is focused on your personal history, it must draw from the readings to place or relate your history to these broad American discursive environmental histories. In formulating your response, respond to the following: 

• Looking back to your grandparents (if possible), parents or caregivers up to your own generation, characterize the environments in which they and you have lived. Where were they located? What environments sustained your families and their communities? How did your family care for, transform, and exploit their environments?
• How does race, ethnicity, class, and gender play a role in the way you and your family have defined, related to, and valued the environment?
• Through what actions and relations were those environments made? What environmental privilege and/or injustices did they and you experience?
• How did the relationships your grandparents (if possible) and parents/caregivers had with their environments differ from the ones you have had?