It’s not easy being green

The public health implications of greenwashing, one of the most debated issues in environmental communication these days, is given short shrift in the public and scholarly debate. Greenwashing is a public relations tactic that involves “unjustified appropriation of environmental virtue” by organizations with questionable ecological track records (SourceWatch). Illustrative examples abound, including a Royal Dutch Shell [...]

Low Hazard/High Outrage?

A public health crisis or a crisis in communication? The listeriosis outbreak in Canada lends credence to Peter Sandman’s formula that risk f = hazard + outrage. Expectations of a growing death toll were confirmed today with news of an infant death in Manitoba. Yet just yesterday morning the issue seemed to be dipping below the [...]