Looking Green: A Rhetorical Analysis of Greenwashing in Fossil Fuel Advertisements

The world’s leading oil and gas companies knew the impact of fossil fuels on climate change as early as the late 1970s. Despite this knowledge, the fossil fuel industry proceeded to invest money in publicly denying the link between burning fossil fuels and climate change. There is increasing hindrance by American consumers towards fossil fuels as the consequences of their extraction and production become more glaring and evident in the environmental destruction and consequences of climate change across the globe. Growing environmental concerns about the impacts of fossil fuels, like oil and natural gas, from the general public resulted in mass efforts by the fossil fuel industry to combat these concerns. These efforts include multi-million dollar advertising campaigns designed to communicate specific messages regarding fossil fuels to regain declining support from American consumers. Rhetorical analysis using cluster criticism and ideological criticism of fossil fuel advertising campaigns uncovers the rhetorical strategies of greenwashing to show how the fossil fuel industry uses advertisements to counteract growing environmental concerns and reinforce hegemonic ideologies. Greenwashing deliberately creates confusion among American consumers about the impacts of fossil fuels on the environment and contributes to greater attempts by lobbyists to limit legislation and discredit science

Sovereignty Games: Tribal Gaming Regulation in the Contemporary United States

Native American sovereignty has been constantly threatened throughout the history of the United States, but now they are not being threatened in ways that we are used to. In the past sovereignty of Native Americans has been taken through outright violence, but now it is being taken through much more discreet means. Since the creation of Native American reservations they have been treated as sovereign nations that can set their own rules and regulations. This has been the precedent for gambling regulations as well, but the states didn’t like that they didn’t have control over gambling operations in their borders. States have operated very differently in terms of gambling regulation; the restrictiveness of each state varies depending on what state you look at. My study asked: what explains variation in how states regulate tribal gaming? For my research I conducted a comparative case study of two states in the United States that are similar geographically and culturally, but differ in the approaches they have taken on tribal gaming regulation. The dependent variable in my research was the restrictiveness of implementation of tribal-state gaming compacts. I found that economic incentives, political coalitions, and partisan composition of the state legislatures all influence state approaches to tribal sovereignty in the realm of gaming

Cultural Health Benefits and Challenges of Food Preparation and Consumption: A Comparative Study of The United States, Italy, and Norway

This study aims to investigate the cultural health benefits and challenges associated with food preparation and consumption in the United States, Italy, and Norway, with a particular focus on citizens in lower socioeconomic levels. By examining the dietary habits, social structures, and health outcomes in these three countries, this research aims to uncover broader insights into the health status and well-being of their respective populations. The study will employ secondary data analysis approach examining existing research on cultural practices and social support systems. The findings of this research will contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between food culture, socioeconomic status, and health outcomes, potentially informing policy decisions and public health initiatives in these countries and beyond

GUBIC: The global urban biological invasions compendium for plants

Abstract Urban areas are foci for the introduction of non-native plant species, and they often act as launching sites for invasions into the wider environment. Although interest in biological invasions in urban areas is growing rapidly, and the extent and complexity of problems associated with invasions in these systems have increased, data on the composition and numbers of non-native plants in urbanized areas remain scattered and idiosyncratic. We assembled data from multiple sources to create the Global Urban Biological Invasions Compendium (GUBIC) for vascular plants representing 553 urban centres from 61 countries across every continent except Antarctica. The GUBIC repository includes 8140 non-native plant species from 253 families. The number of urban centres in which these non-native species occurred had a log-normal distribution, with 65.2% of non-native species occurring in fewer than 10 urban centres. Practical implications: The dataset has wider applications for urban ecology, invasion biology, macroecology, conservation, urban planning and sustainability. We hope this dataset will stimulate future research in invasion ecology related to the diversity and distributional patterns of non-native flora across urban centres worldwide. Further, this information should aid the early detection and risk assessment of potential invasive species, inform policy development and assist in setting management priorities

Reconstructing a Voice in the Diaspora: Language and Hegemony in Theresa Hak Kyung Cha\u27s Dicteé

“Reconstructing a Voice in the Diaspora: Language and Hegemony in Theresa Hak Kyung Cha\u27s Dicteé” is a close reading into the experimental work Dicteé by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. The text explores the interplay of language, identity, and cultural hegemony and primarily focuses on how Cha deconstructs language and narrative to critique colonialism, patriarchy, and the diasporic identity that generations feel after losing their voice. The fragmentation of the text mirrors the effects of diasporic trauma, specifically with symbolic violence and the fragmentation of the self. Pierre Bourdieu, Antonio Gramsci, and Victor Turner’s theories — symbolic violence, cultural hegemony, and liminality respectively — analyze how institutional power shapes power and narrative, therefore how language reinforces dominant ideologies, keeping them dominant. The result of this is a feeling of liminality or being “in-between” identities. Through a close textual analysis of specific chapters or sections of the work, alongside an interdisciplinary approach that draws from literary theory, cultural studies, literary analysis, and philosophy, Dicteé reveals how language can be a tool of alienation and oppression. However, through Cha’s experimental style, the fragments have meaning reassigned, and language is reclaimed as a site of resistance, remembrance, and rebirth