Genevieve Guenther

Last updated
Genevieve Juliette Guenther
Portrait-of-Genevieve-Guenther.jpg
Education Columbia University
University of California, Berkeley (PhD)
Organization(s) End Climate Silence
The New School
Website https://www.genevieveguenther.com/

Genevieve Juliette Guenther is an American author and climate change activist. [1] She is the founding director of the media watchdog organization End Climate Silence. [2] [1] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] She is currently affiliate faculty at the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School. [8]

Contents

Oxford University Press published her climate book The Language of Climate Politics: Fossil Fuel Propaganda and How to Fight It . The book debunks the new climate denial, threaded into science, economics, and geopolitics, that says we can keep using coal, oil, and methane gas and still halt global heating anyway. The book offers practical tips and clear, actionable messages to counter this denial.

Early life and education

Guenther received her bachelor's degree from Columbia University [9] and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2004, in Renaissance literature. [1]

Career

Literature

Guenther started her career as a tenure-track English professor at the University of Rochester. [1] Her book on English Literature, "Magical Imaginations: Instrumental Aesthetics in the English Renaissance," analyzes works by Spenser, Marlowe, and Shakespeare. [1]

Guenther writes scholarly and popular articles about the language of climate change, media coverage of climate change, and the cultural aspects of the climate crisis (see Bibliography below for examples).

She writes a weekly newsletter about climate disinformation in the language of climate politics and the news media, where she recommends effective climate talking-points and climate actions to help counter that disinformation.

She is the founding director of the volunteer organization End Climate Silence, which advocates for increased coverage of climate change in news media, [1] [2] [4] [3] [5] [6] [7] and has been cited as an "incredibly effective advocate for persuading journalists to include the climate emergency in their stories." [10] The group's advisory board is Brad Johnson, Michael Mann, Peter Kalmus, and Margaret Klein Salamon. [11]

Her work has been noted for her criticism of fossil fuel funding for university research, [7] as well as her criticism of discussions (such as What If We Stopped Pretending?) [12] that frame climate change as an "apocalypse" that "we can't prevent". [13] [14] Guenther has noted that technologies are available, at least in "research, development, and demonstration" phases, for decarbonizing the economy, "with the right policies." [15] Guenther has also been noted for praising the movie Don't Look Up as being useful in raising "awareness about the terrifying urgency of the climate crisis." [5]

Guenther has been an Expert Reviewer of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report. [9]

Oxford University Press published The Language of Climate Politics: Fossil Fuel Propaganda and How to Fight It in July 2024. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called the book a "revelatory study." [16] The Los Angeles Review of Books called the book a "manifesto and de facto minicourse in critical thinking, an often uncanny hybrid that nevertheless equips and empowers climate communicators to expose fallacies and disinformation in fossil-fuel interests’ rhetoric."

Media appearances

Guenther has been interviewed by a number of media outlets. [17] In 2018 she appeared on the CNN show Reliable Sources. [18] In 2019 she was interviewed by Brian Lehrer on "The Brian Lehrer Show," on WNYC public radio. [19] In October 2020 her work was profiled in The New Yorker. [1] In 2021 Guenther was interviewed on a climate-focused episode of The New York Times podcast, "The Argument." [20] In the UK, she is a repeated guest on the BBC.

Bibliography

Books

Selected Essays

Related Research Articles

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is the largest U.S. trade association for the oil and natural gas industry. It claims to represent nearly 600 corporations involved in production, refinement, distribution, and many other aspects of the petroleum industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Misinformation</span> Incorrect or misleading information

Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. Misinformation can exist without specific malicious intent; disinformation is distinct in that it is deliberately deceptive and propagated. Misinformation can include inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, or false information as well as selective or half-truths. In January 2024, the World Economic Forum identified misinformation and disinformation, propagated by both internal and external interests, to "widen societal and political divides" as the most severe global risks within the next two years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of climate change</span> Interaction of societies and governments with current climate change

The politics of climate change results from different perspectives on how to respond to climate change. Global warming is driven largely by the emissions of greenhouse gases due to human economic activity, especially the burning of fossil fuels, certain industries like cement and steel production, and land use for agriculture and forestry. Since the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuels have provided the main source of energy for economic and technological development. The centrality of fossil fuels and other carbon-intensive industries has resulted in much resistance to climate friendly policy, despite widespread scientific consensus that such policy is necessary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Business action on climate change</span> Range of activities by businesses relating to climate change

Business action on climate change is a topic which since 2000 includes a range of activities relating to climate change, and to influencing political decisions on climate change-related regulation, such as the Kyoto Protocol. Major multinationals have played and to some extent continue to play a significant role in the politics of climate change, especially in the United States, through lobbying of government and funding of climate change deniers. Business also plays a key role in the mitigation of climate change, through decisions to invest in researching and implementing new energy technologies and energy efficiency measures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate change denial</span> Denial of the scientific consensus on climate change

Climate change denial is a form of science denial characterized by rejecting, refusing to acknowledge, disputing, or fighting the scientific consensus on climate change. Those promoting denial commonly use rhetorical tactics to give the appearance of a scientific controversy where there is none. Climate change denial includes unreasonable doubts about the extent to which climate change is caused by humans, its effects on nature and human society, and the potential of adaptation to global warming by human actions. To a lesser extent, climate change denial can also be implicit when people accept the science but fail to reconcile it with their belief or action. Several studies have analyzed these positions as forms of denialism, pseudoscience, or propaganda.

Greenpeace USA is the United States affiliate of Greenpeace International, an environmental nonprofit organization that spawned a social movement inspired by direct actions on the high seas to stop whaling and nuclear testing. Headquartered in Washington D.C., Greenpeace U.S.A. operates with an annual budget of approximately $40 million, employing over 500 people in 2020. The organization relies on donations from members, refuses corporate contributions and refrains from endorsing political candidates, though in 2020 Greenpeace USA issued climate scorecards for presidential candidates and ranked them from best to worst on climate

The Prager University Foundation, known as PragerU, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit advocacy group and media organization that creates content promoting conservative and capitalist viewpoints on various political, economic, and sociological topics. It was co-founded in 2009 by Allen Estrin and talk show host Dennis Prager. Despite the name including the word "university", it is not an academic institution and does not confer degrees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate movement</span> Nongovernmental organizations engaged in climate activism

The climate movement is a global social movement focused on pressuring governments and industry to take action addressing the causes and impacts of climate change. Environmental non-profit organizations have engaged in significant climate activism since the late 1980s and early 1990s, as they sought to influence the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Climate activism has become increasingly prominent over time, gaining significant momentum during the 2009 Copenhagen Summit and particularly following the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ExxonMobil climate change denial</span> Overview of climate-related ExxonMobil controversies

From the 1980s to mid 2000s, ExxonMobil was a leader in climate change denial, opposing regulations to curtail global warming. For example, ExxonMobil was a significant influence in preventing ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by the United States. ExxonMobil funded organizations critical of the Kyoto Protocol and seeking to undermine public opinion about the scientific consensus that global warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Of the major oil corporations, ExxonMobil has been the most active in the debate surrounding climate change. According to a 2007 analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the company used many of the same strategies, tactics, organizations, and personnel the tobacco industry used in its denials of the link between lung cancer and smoking.

The CO2 Coalition is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit advocacy organization in the United States founded in 2015. Its climate change denialist claims conflict with the scientific consensus on climate change.

Climate Feedback (CF) is a web-based content annotation tool that allows qualified scientists to comment on stories online, adding context and noting inaccuracies. It is one of three websites under the Science Feedback parent organization that fact-checks media coverage. Science Feedback is a non-profit organization registered in France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carla Denyer</span> Co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales

Carla Suzanne Denyer is a British politician who has served as co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales alongside Adrian Ramsay since 2021 and as the Member of Parliament for Bristol Central since 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tobacco industry playbook</span> Propaganda techniques used by the tobacco industry

The tobacco industry playbook, tobacco strategy or simply disinformation playbook describes a strategy devised by the tobacco industry in the 1950s to protect revenues in the face of mounting evidence of links between tobacco smoke and serious illnesses, primarily cancer. Much of the playbook is known from industry documents made public by whistleblowers or as a result of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. These documents are now curated by the UCSF Truth Tobacco Industry Documents project and are a primary source for much commentary on both the tobacco playbook and its similarities to the tactics used by other industries, notably the fossil fuel industry. It is possible that the playbook may even have originated with the oil industry.

Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA) is an organization of ex-fire and emergency chiefs in Australia. They have a particular interest in addressing the underlying causes of extreme weather events, focusing especially on climate change.

Disinformation attacks are strategic deception campaigns involving media manipulation and internet manipulation, to disseminate misleading information, aiming to confuse, paralyze, and polarize an audience. Disinformation can be considered an attack when it occurs as an adversarial narrative campaign that weaponizes multiple rhetorical strategies and forms of knowing—including not only falsehoods but also truths, half-truths, and value-laden judgements—to exploit and amplify identity-driven controversies. Disinformation attacks use media manipulation to target broadcast media like state-sponsored TV channels and radios. Due to the increasing use of internet manipulation on social media, they can be considered a cyber threat. Digital tools such as bots, algorithms, and AI technology, along with human agents including influencers, spread and amplify disinformation to micro-target populations on online platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Google, Facebook, and YouTube.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andreas Malm</span> Swedish author and human ecologist

Andreas Malm is a Swedish author and an associate professor of human ecology at Lund University. He is on the editorial board of the academic journal Historical Materialism, and has been described as a Marxist. Naomi Klein, who quoted Malm in her book This Changes Everything, has called him "one of the most original thinkers on the subject" of climate change.

<i>The New Climate War</i> 2021 book by Michael E. Mann

The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet is a 2021 book on climate change by the American climatologist and geophysicist Michael E. Mann. In the book, Mann discusses the actions of the fossil fuel industry to delay action on climate change, the responses to climate change that he considers inadequate, and the responses he considers the best. The book received positive reviews. Mann argued in an interview with Rolling Stone's Jeff Goodell that a "clean energy revolution and climate stabilization are achievable with current technology. All we require are policies to incentivize the needed shift."

Mikaela Loach is a British climate justice activist, author, and former medical student.

Logically is a British multinational technology startup company that specializes in analyzing and fighting disinformation. Logically was founded in 2017 by Lyric Jain and is based in Brighouse, England, with offices in London, Mysore, Bangalore, and Virginia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "How Should the Media Talk About Climate Change?". The New Yorker . October 17, 2020. Archived from the original on August 11, 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
  2. 1 2 "EndClimateSilence.org". EndClimateSilence.org. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
  3. 1 2 "'It's now or never': UN climate report's 4 urgent takeaways". National Geographic. 2022-04-04. Archived from the original on April 5, 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
  4. 1 2 Michael E. Mann (2021-01-12). The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet. PublicAffairs. p. 67. ISBN   9781541758223.
  5. 1 2 3 "Don't Just Watch: Team Behind 'Don't Look Up' Urges Climate Action". The New York Times . 2022-01-11. Retrieved 2022-12-23.
  6. 1 2 David Wallace-Wells (2019-02-16). "Time to Panic: The planet is getting warmer in catastrophic ways. And fear may be the only thing that saves us". The New York Times . Retrieved 2022-12-23.
  7. 1 2 3 "Universities must reject fossil fuel cash for climate research, say academics". The Guardian . 2022-03-21.
  8. ↑ "[Cross-Post] "Our House is on Fire": Faculty at The New School on our Climate Emergency". tishmancenter.org. 2019-09-24. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
  9. 1 2 "Interview: Five Questions With Genevieve Guenther on Climate Communication". amasia.vc. Archived from the original on 2022-12-23. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  10. ↑ Margaret Klein Salamon; Molly Gagedate (2020-04-21). Facing the Climate Emergency. New Society Publishers. ISBN   9780865719415.
  11. ↑ "About". End Climate Silence.
  12. ↑ Jonathan Franzen (2019-09-08). "What If We Stopped Pretending". New Yorker.
  13. ↑ Michael E. Mann (2021-01-12). The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet. PublicAffairs. p. 188. ISBN   9781541758223.
  14. ↑ "Jonathan Franzen's made-up climate change model sparks online pile-on". The Guardian . 2019-09-09.
  15. ↑ "'It's now or never': UN climate report's 4 urgent takeaways". National Geographic. 2022-04-04. Archived from the original on April 5, 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
  16. ↑ "The Language of Climate Politics: Fossil Fuel Propaganda and How to Fight It". Publishers Weekly . 2024-05-01.
  17. ↑ "Press – Genevieve Guenther" . Retrieved 2022-12-21.
  18. ↑ "How media can improve climate change coverage". cnn.com. 2018-10-14. Retrieved 2022-12-20.
  19. ↑ "How Can the Media Cover Climate Change Better?". wnyc.org. 2019-09-19. Retrieved 2022-12-20.
  20. ↑ "Got Climate Doom? Here's What You Can Do to Actually Make a Difference". The New York Times . 2021-11-10. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
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