Juxtaposition in Environmental Health Rhetoric: Exposing Asbestos Contamination in Libby, Montana

This essay argues that juxtaposition is an important rhetorical convention for overcoming uncertainty and institutional inertia in relation to environmental health hazards. The essay illustrates the rhetorical dynamics of this convention in the public discourse that exposed the problem of asbestos contamination in Libby, Montana, and contends that the dichotomous moral framing of this problem was an effective and morally appropriate example of "ecospeak."