What is it about?
This study looks at how people on different sides of gas pipeline debates express their views and how these views reflect their thinking. I examined public statements from two major pipeline protests—the Dakota Access Pipeline in the U.S. and the Coastal GasLink Pipeline in Canada. By analyzing how people talked about the pipelines, I explored differences in how each group sees the world, what they focus on, and how they build their arguments. The goal was to understand the deeper thought patterns behind the debates, not just the surface-level disagreements. This kind of analysis can help people better understand each other in environmental conflicts and improve communication between communities and industries.
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Why is it important?
This work is important because it offers a new way to understand environmental conflicts—not just by looking at facts or political positions, but by studying how people think and communicate. It shows how disagreements over pipelines often reflect deeper mental frameworks and values. These insights can be used to design better conversations between stakeholders, reduce misunderstandings, and support fairer, more inclusive decision-making processes. The method used in this study could also be adapted to other kinds of place-based disputes around the world.
Perspectives
As someone with a background in both environmental studies and discourse analysis, I wanted to explore how language reveals the mental and emotional undercurrents of resource conflicts. I was especially interested in how Indigenous and community voices are represented, and how their perspectives can be better understood and respected through linguistic research. This work reflects my belief that communication is not just a tool, but a space where worldviews meet—and sometimes clash. By making those underlying patterns more visible, I hope to support more constructive, just, and meaningful dialogue around environmental issues.
Craig Frayne
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Cognitive analysis of gas pipeline discourse, Metaphor and the Social World, February 2025, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/msw.23019.fra.
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