Identity Representation of Plants in Relation to Humans and the Lifescape

Whereas plants are essential in sustaining life, their representation in ecolinguistics and multimodal discourse studies is as yet underexplored. This chapter presents findings of an ongoing research project investigating how plants are represented in texts promoting environmental protection. Within the framework of ecolinguistics, critical discourse studies and multimodality, the study addresses the following questions: How are plants represented in connection with the environment they belong to and contribute to creating? How are plants represented in relation to humans and other animals? The data selected for analysis are influential and agenda-setting reports by authoritative international institutions and two short environmental videos. Drawing on Social Actor methodology, the study reflects on how it can be adapted and applied in written and multimodal texts for plant participants that lead life, move, act and establish relations in ways that are often imperceptible to humans and often neglected or misinterpreted in human discourse.