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A Strategic Nature: Public Relations and the Politics of American Environmentalism
A look at how public relations has dominated public understanding of the natural environment for over one hundred years.
In A Strategic Nature , Melissa Aronczyk and Maria I. Espinoza examine public relations as a social and political force that shapes both our understanding of the environmental crises we now face and our responses to them. Drawing on in-depth interviews, ethnography, and archival research, Aronczyk and Espinoza document the evolution of PR techniques to control public perception of the environment since the beginning of the twentieth century. More than spin or misinformation, PR affects how institutions and individuals conceptualize environmental problems -- from conservation to coal mining to carbon credits. Revealing the linkages of professional strategists, information politics, and environmental standards, A Strategic Nature shows how public relations restricts alternative paths to a sustainable climate future.
In A Strategic Nature , Melissa Aronczyk and Maria I. Espinoza examine public relations as a social and political force that shapes both our understanding of the environmental crises we now face and our responses to them. Drawing on in-depth interviews, ethnography, and archival research, Aronczyk and Espinoza document the evolution of PR techniques to control public perception of the environment since the beginning of the twentieth century. More than spin or misinformation, PR affects how institutions and individuals conceptualize environmental problems -- from conservation to coal mining to carbon credits. Revealing the linkages of professional strategists, information politics, and environmental standards, A Strategic Nature shows how public relations restricts alternative paths to a sustainable climate future.
320 pages, Paperback
Published January 7, 2022
3 people are currently reading
105 people want to read
About the author
Melissa Aronczyk
4 books1 followerI am an Associate Professor of Media Studies in the School of Communication & Information at Rutgers University. I’m interested in how ideas, things and practices become valuable; and the technologies of legitimacy that render them that way. My current research focuses on the intersection of promotional culture with environmental problems: How do promotional campaigns featuring the natural environment influence our ability to value climate futures?
Maria I. Espinoza and I are writing about this in our new book, A Strategic Nature: Public Relations and the Politics of Environmentalism, for Oxford University Press. It’s a critical look at the intertwined history of environmental (in)action in the United States and the rise of the PR industry in the twentieth century.
I have two other books out: Branding the Nation: The Global Business of National Identity, available from Amazon or via Oxford University Press; and Blowing Up the Brand: Critical Perspectives on Promotional Culture, an edited book with Devon Powers, available from Amazon. You can hear me talk about the ideas in my book, Branding the Nation, on the New Books Network podcast or on the National Public Radio show Marketplace.
Here at Rutgers I’m a Faculty Associate with the Eagleton Institute of Politics and Affiliated Graduate Faculty with the Department of Sociology. I’m also a Faculty Fellow with the Center for Cultural Sociology at Yale University and a Research Affiliate with the Center on Digital Culture & Society at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.
I’m currently an Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Communication, an independently published, top-quality peer-reviewed media and communications journal that has been trafficking in ideas and commentary about Canada and the world since 1974. See our excellent archival collection and find us on Twitter @canjcomm.
I’m also an editorial board member for the International Journal of Cultural Studies; the International Journal of Communication; and Advertising & Society Quarterly.
From 2020 through 2022 I am serving as the Chair of the Popular Communication Division for the International Communication Association.
Maria I. Espinoza and I are writing about this in our new book, A Strategic Nature: Public Relations and the Politics of Environmentalism, for Oxford University Press. It’s a critical look at the intertwined history of environmental (in)action in the United States and the rise of the PR industry in the twentieth century.
I have two other books out: Branding the Nation: The Global Business of National Identity, available from Amazon or via Oxford University Press; and Blowing Up the Brand: Critical Perspectives on Promotional Culture, an edited book with Devon Powers, available from Amazon. You can hear me talk about the ideas in my book, Branding the Nation, on the New Books Network podcast or on the National Public Radio show Marketplace.
Here at Rutgers I’m a Faculty Associate with the Eagleton Institute of Politics and Affiliated Graduate Faculty with the Department of Sociology. I’m also a Faculty Fellow with the Center for Cultural Sociology at Yale University and a Research Affiliate with the Center on Digital Culture & Society at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.
I’m currently an Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Communication, an independently published, top-quality peer-reviewed media and communications journal that has been trafficking in ideas and commentary about Canada and the world since 1974. See our excellent archival collection and find us on Twitter @canjcomm.
I’m also an editorial board member for the International Journal of Cultural Studies; the International Journal of Communication; and Advertising & Society Quarterly.
From 2020 through 2022 I am serving as the Chair of the Popular Communication Division for the International Communication Association.
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February 1, 2026A really fascinating and infuriating read!
My only critique would be that I wish this book was written in a more accessible way. While I appreciate the academic backgrounds of the authors and the research conducted/presented, I think the book largely reads more like a dissertation than something for public consumption. (Which is ironic since it’s ultimately about the need to dissolve barriers between “us” and “them” in order to combat climate change!)
My only critique would be that I wish this book was written in a more accessible way. While I appreciate the academic backgrounds of the authors and the research conducted/presented, I think the book largely reads more like a dissertation than something for public consumption. (Which is ironic since it’s ultimately about the need to dissolve barriers between “us” and “them” in order to combat climate change!)
Displaying 1 of 1 review