Rhetoric Review Dec 2010

New York TimesEnvironmental Rhetoric: Constituting Artists of Living

Betsy L. Verhoeven

Abstract

New York Times articles on environmental issues attempt to constitute an audience transcending gender, race, politics, and religion in its pursuit of environmentally sound behavior. While some articles' use of a rhetoric of sacrifice is undercut by fear appeals and an exclusionary narrative strategy, other NYT articles come closer to transforming the rhetoric of sacrifice into a widely inclusive, aesthetically grounded, and celebratory narrative strategy. Taken together, the articles seek to transform readers not so much into environmentalists as into what Foucault described late in his life as “artists of living.”

Journal
Rhetoric Review
Published
2010-12-17
DOI
10.1080/07350198.2011.530101
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical criticism gender and writing
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (48) · 2 in this index

  1. Valerie Bannister (2007)
    The New York Times
  2. Michael Barbaro (2007)
    The New York Times
  3. Edwin Black (1970)
    10.1080/00335637009382992
    The Quarterly Journal of Speech  ↗
  4. Murray Bookchin (2007)
    Social Ecology and Communalism
  5. Keith Bradsher (2007)
    The New York Times
Show all 48 →
  1. Kenneth Burke (1966)
    Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method
     ↗
  2. Kenneth Burke (1969)
    Rhetoric of Motives
     ↗
  3. Judith Butler (2005)
    Giving an Account of Oneself
     ↗
  4. Maurice Charland (1987)
    10.1080/00335638709383799
    The Quarterly Journal of Speech  ↗
  5. Clark Gregory, S. (1996)
    Green Culture: Environmental Rhetoric in Contemporary America
  6. Catherine Collins (2008)
    10.1177/1329878X0812700116
    Media International Australia  ↗
  7. James Crosswhite (1996)
    The Rhetoric of Reason: Writing and the Attractions of Argument
  8. Sharon Crowley (2006)
    Toward a Civil Discourse: Rhetoric and Fundamentalism
     ↗
  9. Sharon Crowley (1999)
    Ancient Rhetorics for Modern Students
  10. Robert Danisch (2006)
    10.1080/10417940600846078
    Southern Communication Journal  ↗
  11. Eldred Janet Carey (2002)
    Imagining Rhetoric: Composing Women of the Early United States
     ↗
  12. Kevin Ells (2008)
    10.1080/17524030802396737
    Environmental Communication  ↗
  13. Thomas Friedman
    The New York Times
  14. Michel Foucault (1984)
    The Foucault Reader
  15. Michel Foucault (1988)
    Technologies of the Self: A Seminar with Michel Foucault
  16. Greta Gaard (1997)
    10.5840/enviroethics199719136
    Environmental Ethics  ↗
  17. Greg Garrard (2004)
    Ecocriticism
     ↗
  18. Ronald Greene (1998)
    10.1080/00028533.1998.11951614
    Argumentation and Advocacy  ↗
  19. Carl Herndl (1996)
    Green Culture: Environmental Rhetoric in Contemporary America
  20. Holcomb (2006)
    “Anyone Can Be President”: Figures of Speech, Cultural Forms, and Performance
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  21. Johnson (2009)
    (Environmental) Rhetorics of Tempered Apocalypticism in An Inconvenient Truth
    Rhetoric Review
  22. Brenden Kendall (2008)
    10.1080/17524030801945583
    Environmental Communication  ↗
  23. Jimmie Killingsworth, M. (1992)
    Ecospeak: Rhetoric and Environmental Politics in America
  24. 10.1177/002194360103800105
     ↗
  25. Mark Meister (2006)
    Environmental Communication Yearbook
  26. Jonathan Miller (2007)
    The New York Times
  27. Toby Miller (1993)
    The Well-Tempered Self: Citizenship, Culture, and the Postmodern Subject
     ↗
  28. Bob Morris (2007)
    The New York Times
  29. Olson Lester C. (2004)
    Benjamin Franklin's Vision of American Community: A Study in Rhetorical Iconology. Studie…
  30. Eric Paras (2006)
    Foucault 2.0: Beyond Power and Knowledge
  31. Chaïm Perelman (1982)
    The Realm of Rhetoric
  32. Peterson Tarla Rai. (2004)
    Green Talk in the White House: The Rhetorical Presidency Encounters Ecology
  33. 10.1353/par.2007.0024
     ↗
  34. Powell Robert Andrew. (2007)
    The New York Times
  35. Reich Robert B. (2007)
    Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life
  36. 10.1080/10714420490492166
     ↗
  37. Santos Mark C. (2008)
    Sizing up Rhetoric
  38. Steven Schwarz (2006)
    10.1080/00335630600938609
    Quarterly Journal of Speech  ↗
  39. Smith Cynthia Duquette. (2000)
    10.1080/07491409.2000.11735773
    Women's Studies in Communication  ↗
  40. Sarah Stein (2002)
    10.1080/00335630209384369
    The Quarterly Journal of Speech  ↗
  41. Jeffrey Walker (2000)
    Rhetoric and Poetics in Antiquity
     ↗
  42. Michael Warner (1993)
    The Phantom Public Sphere
  43. Bryan Williams
    Nightly News.
CrossRef global citation count: 1 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Computers and Composition Jun 2026
    Navigating platform algorithms: Global south feminist activists’ rhetorical and composition practices in digital advocacy on social media ↗
    Kalpana Shrestha
    rhetorical criticism social media gender and writing
  2. Rhetoric Review Apr 2026
    Y Que del Espíritu (And What of the Spirit): Nopaliando as Latinx Feminist Ecological Rhetoric ↗
    Carolina Hinojosa; Kenneth Walker
    rhetorical criticism gender and writing
  3. Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric Feb 2026
    Voices from Rock Bottom: Queering Addiction Recovery Rhetoric & Community Literacy ↗
    Danielle Bacibianco
    rhetorical criticism archival research multimodality literacy studies gender and writing public rhetoric community literacy
  4. College Composition and Communication Feb 2026
    Crying Censorship Wolf: Prefiguring Contemporary Realities through Disciplinary History ↗
    Holly Hassel; Kate L. Pantelides
    rhetorical criticism literacy studies gender and writing
  5. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jan 2026
    Lessons in Security Logics from Cold-War Guatemala ↗
    Brittany Halley; Elizabeth Velasquez
    rhetorical criticism decolonial rhetorics technical communication gender and writing