The word “media”—the plural of “medium”—is from the Latin medius, meaning “middle.” Though it may refer to a specific substance, such as an artist’s paint or clay, since the 19th century the term has pertained broadly to anything that is a means of transmission or communication. There are new media, old media, mass media, mixed media, transmedia, social media, and, of course, the environmental media of natural elements such as air, water, and soil that sustain life.

This issue of LA+ will explore the relationship between environmental media and media environments. Our knowledge of environments and landscapes is fused with the media we use to understand them, just as our environments and landscapes are themselves suffused with media. Media technologies have significant environmental effects that impact people and landscapes due to energy consumption, electronic waste, and resource extraction. On the other hand, narrative forms of media play a pivotal role in environmental advocacy and education about environmental issues; yet media are not simply neutral channels that transmit content produced by other means. Rather, as Raymond Williams so eloquently stated, mediation “alters the things mediated, or by its nature indicates their nature.” For this issue of LA+, we invite contributors to reflect on the mediating function of different forms of media by considering how they influence what we know, how we know it, and how we interpret the world around us.


Email abstract and short bio to laplus@design.upenn.edu by 15 June 2024. For information on submissions, see www.laplusjournal.com/Submissions.