CO150 College Composition

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“Every day, Americans are bombarded with advertising about environmentally friendly goods and services. But how many really are green, and how many are just pretending?” (Greenpeace)

Overview: This assignment asks you to synthesize and utilize the fundamental skills taught in CO150, namely, the ability to use writing to communicate your critical analysis of an issue clearly and concisely with an awareness of your rhetorical situation.

In this assignment we will look at examples of the modern day phenomenon of “Greenwashing,” which the unjustified appropriation of environmental virtue by a company, an industry, a government, a politician or even a non-government organization to create a pro-environmental image, sell a product or a policy, or to try and rehabilitate their standing with the public and decision makers after being embroiled in controversy. Greenwashing gets its name from the popular phrase whitewashing, which is defined as “a coordinated attempt to hide unpleasant facts, especially in a political context.” For our assignment, we will expand the definition of greenwashing to include washing over issues related to a) environment, b) social justice, and c) indigenous rights.

Purpose: Your purpose for this assignment is to write a guest editorial or Op-Ed for a publication of your choice, or as a post to an environmental or greenwashing blog. In the essay you will first find a concrete example of greenwashing (ex: a speech, a commercial, a section of a company’s website, etc.). Next, you will summarize this rhetoric before analyzing and responding to the features of this specific case of greenwashing. Your analysis must turn into a response that should go beyond an obvious interpretation of the greenwashing by examining its underlying assumptions and implications—and then linking them to a larger context. An exceptional analysis and response will reveal something new or surprising—something casual readers might overlook.

Genre: Guest Editorial/OP-Ed or Blog. You will choose a publication to write for in this assignment. For a public argument it is important to utilize genres popularly used by the public. Traditionally, opinion pages in newspapers have been widely read by the general public looking for opinionated takes on current debatable issues. Blogs are increasingly becoming a common way for public arguments to be made and commented on, though they do not have the history of credibility of many traditional news sources.

Audience: Your primary audience for this essay is dependent on your publication choice, but in every case they will be people who appreciate the critical analysis found in editorials and informed blog posts. If you cannot decide on a publication, use the Rocky Mountain Collegian, but we should also strive to connect with informed readers of editorials in publications with larger audiences such as The New York Times and
The Washington Post.  Even if you choose a publication with a short word limit, you should strive to meet the page requirement for the assignment and then adapt your essay to fit the publication.

Resources: Take advantage of all your research from the semester. Read an editorial every day from The New York Times or the The Washington Post and the Collegian to get a sense of the genre. If you plan on submitting a blog post, revisit the research we did for Assignment 2, and check out the blogs specific to greenwashing.

Editorial Resources:
New York Times Opinion Page: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/
Washington Post Opinion Page: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/opinions/
Blog Resources http://thegreenwashingblog.com/
http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/greenwash?blog=26468&cat=34333&page=1&disp=posts&paged=2

Requirements:

• A detailed summary of the greenwashing: What is the situation? In the summary you should include: the context, who the greenwashing is targeting, what it is selling, and whatever relevant details you think are necessary for a reader to fully understand the situation. A summary in a public argument can take more creative liberties than an academic summary, so make your summary engaging by making appropriate tone, voice and style choices.
• A critical analysis of the greenwashing: What is it doing? The analysis addresses questions such as: What is the greenwashing doing? What does it assume about its audience? What messages does the greenwashing subtly communicate or imply through its use of content and composition? Begin your critical analysis with a clear thesis claim and support your claim with detailed observations from the greenwashing itself.
• A response to your analysis: What does this mean for us all? In this section you will follow through on the natural consequences of the greenwashing by connecting it to a larger context. What are the social, cultural, historical consequences of the situation and why do they matter? The response should discuss why your analysis is important and might address what would happen if greenwashing goes unchecked. Why should readers care about your interpretation and think critically about this issue?

 Materials to hand in with final portfolio:

• Rhetorical analysis worksheet
• Audience analysis worksheet
• Publication analysis worksheet
• Workshop drafts
• Final, polished draft

Paper Length: 900 - 1,200 words (3 - 4 pages double spaced)
Due: TBD
Worth: 20% of the semester grade