2025 Three Minute Thesis
Award Winner
Recipient of the 2025 Three Minute Thesis Award - First Place.
To go to the Graduate Student Award Recipients collection page, click here.
Presentation Type
Open Access Poster Presentation
View Presentation
Click image to view video:
Abstract
In March of 2025, the environmental group Greenpeace was found liable for nearly $667 million to Energy Transfer, the oil company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The lawsuit centered around Greenpeace's involvement in DAPL protests nearly a decade earlier. Energy Transfer's lawsuit is a textbook Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP), a lawsuit that weaponizes civic torts to infringe upon First Amendment rights. The jury delivered a verdict that is unprecedented in SLAPP litigation--one that has the potential to "chill" future public participation. This thesis uses a crisis narrative framework to analyze Greenpeace's public response to the lawsuit, particularly the language Greenpeace uses to renew support for their organization and the broader environmental movement.
Start Date
7-11-2025 11:00 AM
End Date
7-11-2025 1:00 PM
Event Host
Graduate Studies, University of Northern Iowa
Faculty Advisor
Tom Hall
Department
Department of Communication and Media
Copyright
©2025 Trevor Sams Hart
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Hart, Trevor Sams, "SLAPPing Back: Analyzing Greenpeace's $660 Million Crisis Narrative" (2025). Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) at UNI. 3.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/tmt/2025/all/3
Additional Files
Trevor Hart.mp4 (515264 kB)Video
tmt-Trevor Hart_otter_ai.srt (5 kB)
Closed Captioning SRT File
SLAPPing Back: Analyzing Greenpeace's $660 Million Crisis Narrative
In March of 2025, the environmental group Greenpeace was found liable for nearly $667 million to Energy Transfer, the oil company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The lawsuit centered around Greenpeace's involvement in DAPL protests nearly a decade earlier. Energy Transfer's lawsuit is a textbook Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP), a lawsuit that weaponizes civic torts to infringe upon First Amendment rights. The jury delivered a verdict that is unprecedented in SLAPP litigation--one that has the potential to "chill" future public participation. This thesis uses a crisis narrative framework to analyze Greenpeace's public response to the lawsuit, particularly the language Greenpeace uses to renew support for their organization and the broader environmental movement.
