Rhetoric Commons^™

The Ethics And Effectiveness Of Rhetorical Strategies Employed By Environmental Groups And The Palm Oil Crisis, Mason T. Pellegrini

Global Honors Theses

In a world where climate change brings us ever closer to human-made catastrophe and, simultaneously, corporate interests fiercely oppose those who protect the environment, the work of environmental activists is now more critical than ever. Primarily, this work that environmental activists engage in is wielding rhetoric (symbolic communication) in as effective a way as possible to sway public opinion. However, effectiveness cannot be the only determining factor when choosing a rhetorical strategy: ethics complicates the matter. To shed light in this important area—the intersection between the ethics and effectiveness of rhetorical strategies employed by environmental activists—is the goal of this …