Melissa Aronczyk: How Corporate Public Relations Coopts Environmental Sustainability

#112: Author and professor Melissa Aronczyk shares what she's learned about the history of greenwashing, environmental public relations, and the multiple tactics corporations have utilized to elbow their way to table when solutions that effect their bottom lines are being discussed. Dave Chapman ties Melissa's insights to what the organic movement has witnessed, especially as regards environmentally-sane agriculture and brand messaging. 

Melissa Aronczyk is the co-author of "A Strategic Nature: Public Relations and the Politics of American Environmentalism" and an associate professor of Media Relations at Rutgers Univeristy. You can follow her work at:

https://melissaaronczyk.com/

To watch a video version of this podcast with access to the full transcript and links relevant to our conversation, please visit:

https://www.realorganicproject.org/melissa-aronczyk-how-corporate-public-relations-coopts-sustainability-episode-one-hundred-twelve

The Real Organic Podcast is hosted by Dave Chapman and Linley Dixon, engineered by Brandon StCyr, and edited and produced by Jenny Prince.

The Real Organic Project is a farmer-led movement working towards certifying 1,000 farms across the United States this year. Our add-on food label distinguishes soil-grown fruits and vegetables from hydroponically-raised produce, and pasture-raised meat, milk, and eggs from products harvested from animals in horrific confinement (CAFOs - confined animal feeding operations).

To find a Real Organic farm near you, please visit:

https://www.realorganicproject.org/farms

We believe that the organic standards, with their focus on soil health, biodiversity, and animal welfare were written as they should be, but that the current lack of enforcement of those standards is jeopardizing the ability for small farms who adhere to the law to stay in business. The lack of enforcement is also jeopardizing the overall health of the customers who support the organic movement; customers who are not getting what they pay for at market but still paying a premium price. And the lack of enforcement is jeopardizing the very cycles (water, air, nutrients) that Earth relies upon to provide us all with a place to live, by pushing extractive, chemical agriculture to the forefront.

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