Environmental semiotics: an emergent field of interdisciplinary articulation

Abstract

This article presents the bases and the main theoretical and
methodological aspects, that have guided the construction of
the environmental semiotics, as a new field of interdisciplinary
research, whose general objective is the inquire about the processes
of significance generated by individuals, in the bosom of
their social groups within their own culture, to interact with the
environment in which they inhabit. These processes are conducted in a specific territory, through various social practices
expressed by beliefs, rituals, uses and management of renewable
and non-renewable natural resources, some of which have been
over time, sustainable or unsustainable for the planet.
The article shows the range of work in the last 20 years since
the approach of environmental semiotics. These studies have
been conducted in Mexico by the author, at rural, urban and
rururban level. In the article are also presented, questions that
have guided investigations in different institutional contexts, as
well as the challenges in the various fields of disciplinary are
currently face.
This paper proposes to environmental semiotics, as a field
of interdisciplinary dialogue among multiple environmental
meanings, that promotes conceptual bridges and help articulate
looks from: science, technology, education, the government and
citizens, to propose solutions to the contemporary environmental
crisis, which generate new senses of societies relationship with
the environment.