KINGSTON, R.I. – March 31, 2025 – Genevieve Guenther, the Renaissance literature scholar turned climate activist, will speak at the University of Rhode Island, Thursday, April 24, 5 to 7 p.m., as part of the URI Metcalf Institute’s annual lecture series.  

Her talk will take place in the Higgins Welcome Center on URI’s Kingston Campus and is free and open to the public. Guenther’s talk will be moderated by 2024 Metcalf alumnus Daniel Wolfe, graphics reporter with The Washington Post, and is presented in collaboration with URI’s Department of English and the Harrington School of Communication and Media. The lecture series will include three events this year, including the Leeson Lecture in June and a third event in the fall.

Wolfe says he is looking forward to returning to URI for the program, noting, “I’m eager for my chat with Dr. Guenther about this moment in history and how to navigate its politics and impacts.”

Guenther turned to climate research and activism after becoming a parent. She was increasingly alarmed about the world her son would inherit. She often writes conversation-changing opinion pieces that upend conventional wisdom about climate change. An expert in climate communication, Guenther uses her training in rhetoric and cultural politics, along with social science research, to reimagine ways of communicating the phase out of coal, oil, and methane.

She is the author of The Language of Climate Politics: Fossil-Fuel Propaganda and How to Fight It, described as “revelatory” by Publishers Weekly, and she is the founding director of End Climate Silence. She also serves as an expert reviewer for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and her research has appeared in both scholarly journals and media outlets such as Scientific American, The New Republic, and MSNBC. Her activism and writing have been profiled in The New Yorker and in The New York Times Magazine.

Guenther believes that much of the language for the climate crisis is inaccurate and misleading, and that fixing this problem requires not just reframing talking points, but recognizing how speech itself—what is and isn’t said about climate change—upholds a dangerous status quo. She consults with advocacy organizations, businesses, and elected officials to advise on climate disinformation, myths, climate politics, clean-energy development, understanding climate policy overseas, and new solutions for climate communication. URI’s Metcalf Institute hosts public lectures every year to showcase climate and environmental scientists, journalists, and other experts discussing real-world problems.

“Metcalf is committed to our mission of advancing the public’s understanding of climate and environmental science with the goal of helping individuals and organizations take action to help adapt to our changing world,” says Fara Warner, Metcalf’s executive director. “During these uncertain times, Metcalf is doing what it has done for more than 25 years: bringing scientists, journalists, science communicators, and the public together to learn from each other and to help engage with and communicate about the environmental challenges facing all of us.”

URI’s Metcalf Institute is a global leader in professional development training and programs for public audiences, benefitting more than 3,200 journalists, scientists, and science communicators, and their audiences, since 1998. Graduates of the Metcalf Institute program for journalists include Rosanna Xia (Los Angeles Times), Ezra David Romero (KQED), Jake Spring (Washington Post), Coral Davenport (New York Times), Ayurella Horn-Muller (Grist), Kate Siber (Outside), Alex Kuffner (Providence Journal), Maria Temming (Science News), and Terry L. Jones (Floodlight).

Guenther’s lecture is presented with support from the Office of the President, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of the Environment and Life Sciences, the Department of Communications and Marketing, the Center for the Humanities, and Phi Beta Kappa (Beta Chapter of Rhode Island).

The lecture series will continue on June 10 with the annual Leeson Lecture featuring Julian Agyeman, author and professor of urban and environmental policy and planning at Tufts University, whose research focuses on environmental and food justice as well as the nexus of food and immigration.

Visit here for details on Guenther’s visit. Registration is requested but not required. Learn more about Metcalf’s upcoming programs here or email metcalf@uri.edu with questions. Get on the Metcalf newsletter list for updates here.