Along with his colleague Nives Dolšak from the UW School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, UW Political Science Professor Aseem Prakash authored an article about the environmental movement for the popular, academic journal Solutions. In the article Prakash and Dolšak argue:
“The [environmental] movement needs to draw strength from the power of the people, not from the appeal of celebrities. This is an inconvenient truth that the environmental movement must tackle.”
Specifically, Prakash and Dolšak discuss whether there is a downside to having Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio as two of the most prominent messengers for the movement. Though their efforts “have focused public attention on environmental problems, […] these messenger also hurt the movement in important ways,” particularly because they “do not live up to the movement’s ideals.”
The article titled "Does the Environmental Movement Need New Messengers?" appeared in Volume 8, Issue 3 of the Solutions journal, which came out in May 2017. Solutions “is a non-profit print and online publication devoted to showcasing bold and innovative ideas for solving the world’s integrated ecological, social, and economic problems.”