Ecological Rhetoric: Strands and Trend

Since the 20th century, the increasing focus on the environment has drawn people's attention to the concept of ecology, bringing about Ecolinguistics, Ecoliterature, Ecosemiotics, etc. However, ecological rhetoric as a subdiscipline needs to be clarified. This essay aims to explore its origin, major strands, and future trend. We find that ecological rhetoric can be traced to Kenneth Burke's thoughts in the 1930s, and that there are four major strands -- ecological composing, in situ rhetoric, transhumanism, and rhetorical ecology, of which in situ rhetoric is the most promising, justified by its philosophical foundation, transdisciplinarity, inclusiveness and operability. Philosophically,