Fr. 39.90

Language of Climate Politics - Fossil-Fuel Propaganda and How to Fight It

English · Hardback

Shipping usually within 1 to 3 working days

Description

Read more










The Language of Climate Politics offers readers new ways to talk about the climate crisis that will help get fossil fuels out of our economy and save our planet. It's an analysis of the current discourse of American climate politics, but also a critical history of the terms that most directly influence the way not just conservatives but centrists on both sides of the political divide think and talk about climate change. In showing how those terms lead to mistaken beliefs about climate change and its solutions, the book equips readers with a new vocabulary that will enable them to neutralize climate propaganda and fight more effectively for a livable future.

List of contents










  • Preface: We

  • Introduction: Why Words Matter in Climate Politics

  • Chapter 1 Alarmist

  • Chapter 2 Cost

  • Chapter 3 Growth

  • Chapter 4 "India and China"

  • Chapter 5 Innovation

  • Chapter 6 Resilience

  • After Words: Walking the Talk

  • Index of Keywords

  • Notes



About the author

Genevieve Guenther is the founding director of End Climate Silence and affiliate faculty at The New School, where she sits on the board of the Tishman Environment and Design Center. Dr. Guenther advises NGOs, corporations, and policymakers on fossil-fuel disinformation and climate communication, and she serves as Expert Reviewer for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Her research has appeared in both scholarly journals and media outlets such as Scientific American, The New Republic, and MSNBC, and she has been invited to speak about climate and language to audiences at Duke, Columbia, and Harvard, among other universities. She lives in New York City with her family.

Summary

A groundbreaking investigation into the propaganda justifying the fossil-fuel economy, The Language of Climate Politics offers readers powerful new ways to talk about the climate crisis that will help create transformative change.

"If you want to understand the climate crisis and you only have time to read one book, this should be it." - Kieran Setiya, author of Life is Hard

"A revelatory study...It's a breath of fresh air." Publishers' Weekly Starred Review

In an illuminating analysis, Dr. Genevieve Guenther shows that the climate debate is not, in fact, neatly polarized, with Republicans obstructing climate action and Democrats advancing climate solutions. Partisans on the right and the left often repeat the same fossil-fuel talking points, and this repetition produces a centrist consensus upholding the status quo, even as global heating accelerates.

Weaving this analysis through fascinating critical histories of the terms that dominate the language of climate politics—the words we, alarmist, cost, growth, "India and China," innovation, and resilience—Dr. Guenther shows how this consensus is established. Fossil-fuel interests weaponize the discourses of science, economics, and activism, co-opting and twisting climate language to help greenwash their plans for ongoing extraction. But all too often climate scientists, economists, and even advocates will unwittingly echo the false and dangerous assumptions of their supposed political opponents. This apparent agreement between foes, filtered through the news media, not only influences our common-sense yet mistaken views about the climate crisis but also enables powerful decisionmakers to justify the corporate and policy actions that threaten us all. Revealing this dynamic, Guenther shows how to transform it.

Ultimately, The Language of Climate Politics is an inspiring call to arms, a book that equips readers with powerful new terms that will enable them to fight more effectively for a livable future.

Additional text

The primary obstacle to tackling the climate crisis is political, not technological. And the political battle has become a war of words. In this important book, Genevieve Guenther navigates the battlefield with insight and wit, expertly elucidating the ways in which the modern climate discourse has been polluted by bad actors with an agenda of business-as-usual dependence on fossil fuels. Read this book and be better prepared to meet the defining challenge of our time.

Customer reviews

No reviews have been written for this item yet. Write the first review and be helpful to other users when they decide on a purchase.

Write a review

Thumbs up or thumbs down? Write your own review.

For messages to CeDe.ch please use the contact form.

The input fields marked * are obligatory

By submitting this form you agree to our data privacy statement.