Climate Change Denial and Public Relations

Abstract

This is the first book on climate change denial and lobbying that combines the ideology of denial and the role of anthropocentrism in the study of interest groups and communication strategy.Climate Change Denial and Public Relations: Strategic Communication and Interest Groups in Climate Inaction is a critical approach to climate change denial from a strategic communication perspective. The book aims to provide an in-depth analysis of how strategic communication by interest groups is contributing to climate change inaction. It does this from a multidisciplinary perspective that expands the usual approach of climate change denialism and introduces a critical reflection on the roots of the problem, including the ethics of the denialist ideology and the rhetoric and role of climate change advocacy. Topics addressed include the power of persuasive narratives and discourses constructed to support climate inaction by lobbies and think tanks, the dominant human supremacist view and the patriarchal roots of denialists and advocates of climate change alike, the knowledge coalitions of the climate think tank networks, the denial strategies related to climate change of the nuclear, oil, and agrifood lobbies, the role of public relations firms, the anthropocentric roots of public relations, taboo topics such as human overpopulation and meat-eating, and the technological myth.This unique volume is recommended reading for students and scholars of communication and public relations.

Climate change contrarian think tanks in Europe: A network analysis

“…The neoliberal, male-dominated profile of the network brokers is consistent with what the latest literature has shown in this respect, when addressing the convergence of far-right and neoliberal thought (Plehwe et al, 2020): the alignment between corporate interests and fake climate action that actually supports inaction (Almiron and Xifra, 2020) and, especially, the enmeshment between denial of climate change and conservative White males in the United States (Krange et al, 2019;McCright and Dunlap, 2011). The already high proportion of males in these think tanks is even higher among brokers, results that suggest possible lines of interest on male networking regarding climate inaction in light of approaches such as that of Hultman and Pulé (2018).…”

“…Empirical research on these networks illustrates how this influence has been exerted, in what has been termed a "structure of obstruction" (Climate Social Science Network (CSSN), 2021), and through the creation of a knowledge-interest nexus (Plehwe, 2014). This refers to the huge corporate investment in both direct and indirect lobbying against climate policy, including systematic and intensive activity devoted to the dissemination of contrarian information via think tanks, advocacy centers designed to reach public policy and media discourses (Almiron and Xifra, 2020).…”

Representación en la prensa española del papel de la agricultura animal en la crisis climática

“…Sin embargo, cabe destacar que los medios con líneas editoriales liberal-conservadora tienden a mostrar mayores proporciones de encuadres carnistas y de soluciones tecnológicas que los medios situados en un espectro ideológico más de centro o de izquierdas. • PI-3) No existe un negacionismo científico explícito, sino más bien uno de tipo ideológico, siguiendo la definición de Almiron (2020). Esta negación ideológica está relacionada con la cosmovisión antropocentrista y el especismo.…”

Fabricating Resemblance to Global Commitment: A Critical Discourse Analysis on BP Energy Outlook

“…However, the reluctance of the energy industry has been observed, and as one of the vested interests stated by Almiron & Xifra (2019), the energy industry is one of the barriers to effective reactions and may have been involved in the shift in our rhetoric. For such reason, the role of public relations management, and the realm of communication are areas worth focusing on for our resolution to the commitments made and the justice to both the resource-lacking and our future generation on its way.…”