Rhetorical Justice and Climate Narrative Power

Sor Juana was a master rhetorician who understood that controlling narrative means controlling reality. Her poetry, essays, and theological arguments fought for the right to shape meaning and interpretation in her world. Climate discourse reveals similar narrative power struggles: fossil fuel companies spend billions narrating climate denial, techno-optimists promise market solutions without systemic change, while Indigenous land defenders' testimonies receive minimal platform. Rhetorical justice means democratizing who gets to frame the climate crisis and its solutions. When billionaire entrepreneurs dominate climate conversations while frontline communities' visions are marginalized, we replicate colonial patterns where dominant voices define reality. Sor Juana's rhetorical legacy demands we amplify marginalized climate narratives: Indigenous visions of land stewardship, feminist analyses of consumption and care, Global South perspectives on climate reparations. Climate justice requires not just changing policies but transforming whose voices shape meaning-making around our planetary future. Rhetoric matters because narratives drive policy, investment, and cultural transformation.