Like wildflower seeds tossed on fertile ground, the figures of speech, sometimes called the “flowers of rhetoric” (Flores rhetoricae), have multiplied into a garden of enormous variety over time. As the right frame of this web resource illustrates, the number of figures of speech can seem quite imposing. And indeed, the number, names, and groupings of figures have been the most variable aspect of rhetoric over its history.

The figures first acquired their names from the Greeks and Romans who cataloged them. Although attempts have been made to anglicize or update the figures’ names, this sometimes proves to confuse things, even though the Greek and Latin terms are odd to modern ears. Pronunciation guides and etymologies have been provided to clarify the Greek terms, in particular. And because there are so many synonyms or close synonyms among the figures, each entry contains equivalent and comparative terms from Greek, Latin, and English.

Over time, these figures have been organized in a variety of different ways in order to make sense of them and to learn their various qualities —much as a scientist might classify the flora of a forest, grouping like species into families.  The simplest (and oldest) arrangement for the figures divides them into two broad categories, “schemes” and “tropes”—useful starting points.

As rich and interesting as the figures are, they do not constitute the whole of rhetoric, as some have mistakenly surmised. Such a view is a vast reduction of the discipline of rhetoric, which has just as much to do with the discovery of things to say (Invention), their arrangement (Arrangement), committal to memory (Memory), and presentation (Delivery–using the rhetorical appeals) as it has to do with the figures of speech, which are typically categorized under the third of these canons of rhetoric, Style. Though this text distinguishes between different elements of rhetoric, in reality, they are all intertwined.

For example, the most identifiable tropes include metaphor and simile. These are simply comparisons: “Life is a journey”; “Watching TV is like taking a visual anesthetic.” But “comparison” itself is a topic of invention, a commonplace to which one may turn to generate ideas about something: “Let us compare life to a journey. We set out at birth, travel through various regions, and arrive at the bleak destination of death…” The difference between a figure and a topic of invention, then, may sometimes simply be a matter of degree, or it may be a matter of whether one views the strategy as one of expression of an idea (an issue of style) or the composition or discovery of an idea or argument (an issue of invention). The point is, that we should recognize the close proximity of the figures and the topics of invention.

Before we dive into the diverse rhetorical devices, watch this video on Basic Rhetorical Devices for a quick overview:

This video by Kirks PLE English explains a few basic rhetorical devices to help master them.

Tropes

There are many, many rhetorical devices. Some you may recognize from studying literary devices in English courses through the years and others may seem quite foreign (literally–as they are Greek!). You’ll notice that different devices are featured in different places–the key is to be on the lookout for how a speaker uses language to emphasize (or de-emphasize) points.

The main two categories of rhetorical devices are schemes and tropes, which both have to do with using language in an unusual or “figured” way.

• A trope is an artful deviation from the ordinary or principal signification of a word.
• A scheme is an artful deviation from the ordinary arrangement of words.

“I work like a slave” [trope: simile]”I don’t know if I’m working my job or my job, me” [schemes: antimetabole, ellipsis, personification]

Notice how each figure of speech uses language in an artful way to make a point. Tropes focus on how a particular word is used, whereas schemes play with the way words are arranged.

Kinds of Tropes

Remember, a Trope is an artful deviation from the ordinary or principal signification of a word.

1. Reference to One Thing as Another
2. Wordplay and puns
3. Substitutions
4. Overstatement/Understatement
5. Semantic Inversions

Reference to One Thing as Another

Metaphor: Reference to one thing as another, implying a comparison.

No man is an island —John Donne

For ever since that time you went away,
I’ve been a rabbit burrowed in the wood —Maurice Sceve

Life is a beach.

Who captains the ship of state?

Simile: Explicit comparison of one thing to another.

My love is like a red, red rose —Robert Burns

Her hair was like gravy, running brown off her head and clumping up on her shoulders.

The day we passed together for a while
Seemed a bright fire on a winter’s night —Maurice Sceve

You are like a hurricane: there’s calm in your eye, but I’m getting blown away —Neil Young

The air-lifted rhinoceros hit the ground like a garbage bag filled with split pea soup.

Synecdoche (si-nek’-do-kee): A whole is represented by naming one of its parts.

The rustler bragged he’d absconded with five hundred head of longhorns.
Both “head” and “longhorns” are parts of cattle that represent them as wholes.

Listen, you’ve got to come take a look at my new set of wheels.
One refers to a vehicle in terms of some of its parts, “wheels.”

“He shall think differently,” the musketeer threatened, “when he feels the point of my steel.”
A sword, the species, is represented by referring to its genus, “steel.”

Metonymy (me-ton’-y-my): Reference to something or someone by naming one of its attributes.

The pen is mightier than the sword
The pen is an attribute of thoughts that are written with a pen; the sword is an attribute of military action. – Edward Bulwer-Lytton

We await word from the crown.

I’m told he’s gone so far as to give her a diamond ring.

The IRS is auditing me? Great. All I need is a couple of suits arriving at my door.

Personification: Reference to abstractions or inanimate objects as though they had human qualities or abilities.

O beware, my lord, of jealousy!
It is the green-ey’d monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.
—Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello 3.3.165-67

The insatiable hunger for imagination preys upon human life
—Samuel Johnson

Wordplay and Puns

Antanaclasis (an’-ta-na-cla’-sis): Repetition of a word in two different senses.

Your argument is sound…all sound. —Benjamin Franklin
The meaning of “sound” first appears to be “solid” or “reasonable”; in its repetition, it means something very different, “all air” or “empty.”

In thy youth learn some craft that in thy age thou mayest get thy living without craft.
The meaning of “craft” first means “vocation”; in its repetition, it means “fraud” or “cunning.”

While we live, let us live.

In the following example, antanaclasis occurs with an entire phrase whose meaning alters upon repetition:

“If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.” —Vince Lombardi

Paronomasia: Using words that sound alike but that differ in meaning (punning).

A jesting friar punned upon the name of the famous humanist Erasmus, “Errans mus” [erring mouse]. —Puttenham

A pun is its own reword.

Syllepsis: Using a word differently in relation to two or more words that it modifies or governs (sometimes called zeugma).

In the following example, “rend” governs both objects, but the first rending is figurative; the second literal:
Rend your heart, and not your garments. Joel 2:13

You held your breath and the door for me
—Alanis Morissette

“Fix the problem, not the blame.” —Dave Weinbaum
The verb “fix” governs both “problem” and “blame.” In its first instance, “fix” means “solve,” but this verb shifts its meaning when applied to its second object, where the understood “fix” = “assign.”

Onomatopoeia (on-o-mat-o-pee’-a): Using or inventing a word whose sound imitates that which it names.

The buzzing of innumerable bees
The “zz” and “mm” sounds in these words imitate the actual sounds of bees.

Substitutions

Anthimeria: Substitution of one part of speech for another.

I’ve been Republicaned all I care to be this election year.
Noun used as verb.

Did you see the way those blockers defenced on that last play?
Noun used as verb.

Feel bad? Strike up some music and have a good sing.
Verb used as noun.

Periphrasis: Substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name or of a proper name for a quality associated with the name.

In the TV show “Dinosaurs” the infant dino called his father, “Not-the-Mama.”

He’s no Fabio to look at; but then, he’s no Woody Allen, either.

Said of Aristotle: “The prince of Peripatetics” —Angel Day

Overstatement/Understatement

Hyperbole (hy-per’-bo-lee): Use of exaggerated terms for emphasis or effect. Hyperbole is often accomplished via comparisons, similes, and metaphors.

I’ve told you a million times not to exaggerate.

I’m starving.

Auxesis: Arranging words or clauses in a sequence of increasing force.  Reference to something with a name disproportionately greater than its nature (a kind of hyperbole).

Said of a scratch: Look at this gaping wound!

After missing breakfast: I’m dying of hunger!

Litotes: (li-to’-tees): Understatement used deliberately, especially when expressing a thought by denying its opposite. Can be used for expressing modesty or downplaying one’s accomplishments in order to gain the audience’s favor.

It isn’t very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain. —J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

Running a marathon in under two hours is no big deal.

Meiosis: Reference to something with a name disproportionately lesser than its nature (a kind of litotes).

Said of an amputated leg.: “It’s just a flesh wound” —Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Semantic Inversions

Rhetorical Question: Asking a question for a purpose other than obtaining the information requested. Rhetorical questions can be used as an ethical appeal to endear the speaker to the audience.

“Why are you so stupid?” is likely to be a statement regarding one’s opinion of the person addressed rather than a genuine request to know.

When someone responds to a tragic event by saying, “Why me, God?!” it is more likely to be an accusation or an expression of feeling than a realistic request for information.

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” says the persona of Shakespeare’s 18th sonnet.

Irony: Using language in such a way as to convey a meaning opposite of what the terms used denote (often by exaggeration). Irony is often used for the purpose of derision, mockery, or jest.

When in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, the constable Dogberry says “redemption” instead of “damnation” (itself a malapropism), the fact that he means precisely the opposite of what he so passionately exclaims makes this a comical use of irony:

O villain! thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this.

Oxymoron: Placing two ordinarily opposing terms adjacent to one another. A compressed paradox.

…Yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe.
—Milton, Paradise Lost 1.62-64

The Sounds of Silence

Festina lente (make haste slowly).

Paradox: An apparently contradictory statement that contains a measure of truth.

It seems impossible to me that this administration could so quickly reverse itself on this issue.

Schemes

A scheme is an artful deviation from the ordinary arrangement of words.

Kinds of Schemes

1. Structures of Balance
2. Change in Word Order
3. Omission
4. Repetition

Structures of Balance

Parallelism: Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.

Parallelism of words:

She tried to make her pastry fluffy, sweet, and delicate.

Parallelism of phrases:
Singing a song or writing a poem is joyous.

Parallelism of clauses:
Perch are inexpensive; cod are cheap; trout are abundant; but salmon are best.

Isocolon: A series of similarly structured elements having the same length.

Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered).

BOGO-Buy one, get one (free).

Tricolon: Three parallel elements of the same length occurring together.

Veni, vidi, vici. —Julius Caesar (The English is not a tricolon because the translations are not all the same length.

Antithesis: Juxtaposition of contrasting ideas (often in parallel structure).

“It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.” —Abraham Lincoln

“It can’t be wrong if it feels so right” —Debbie Boone

Climax: Generally, the arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of increasing importance, often in parallel structure. More specifically, climax is the repetition of the last word of one clause or sentence at the beginning of the next, through several clauses or sentences.

Miss America was not so much interested in serving herself as she was eager to serve her family, her community, and her nation.

The following passage from the Bible shows that version of climax that is synonymous with anadiplosis:
But we glory also in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience; and patience trial; and trial hope; and hope confound not, because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us. —St. Paul

Change in Word Order

Anastrophe (an-as’-tro-phee): Inversion of natural word order for the sake of emphasis.

The verb before the subject-noun (normal syntax follows the order subject-noun, verb):
Glistens the dew upon the morning grass. (Normally: The dew glistens upon the morning grass)

Adjective following the noun it modifies (normal syntax is adjective, noun):
She looked at the sky dark and menacing. (Normally: She looked at the dark and menacing sky)

The object preceding its verb (normal syntax is verb followed by its object):
Troubles, everybody’s got. (Normally: Everybody’s got troubles)

Preposition following the object of the preposition (normal syntax is preposition, object [“upon our lives”]):
It only stands / Our lives upon, to use Our strongest hands
—Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra 2.1.50-51

Parenthesis: Insertion of a verbal unit that interrupts the normal syntactical flow.

The garrulous Polonius from Hamlet can’t help but interrupt himself as he speaks to King Claudius about Prince Hamlet’s behavior toward his daughter, adding a parenthesis to his own parenthesis:

But what might you think,
When I had seen this hot love on the wing—
As I perceiv’d it (I must tell you that)
Before my daughter told me—what might you,
Or my dear Majesty your queen here, think…?

—Shakespeare, Hamlet 2.2.131-35

Apposition (AKA appositive): Addition of an adjacent, coordinate, explanatory element.

Albert Einstein, perhaps the greatest of scientists, seemed not to have mastered the physics of hair combing.

Omission

Ellipsis: Omission of a word or words readily implied by context.

“The average person thinks he isn’t.” –Father Larry Lorenzoni
The term “average” is omitted but understood after “isn’t.”

John forgives Mary and Mary, John.
Note that the comma signals what has been elided, “forgives”

Asyndeton: Omission of conjunctions between a series of clauses, often resulting in a hurried rhythm or vehement effect.

He was a bag of bones, a floppy doll, a broken stick, a maniac. – On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Brachylogia: Omission of conjunctions between a series of words with the effect of a broken, hurried delivery.

Phillip! Rise! Eat! Leave!

Love, hate, jealousy, frenzy, fury drew him from pity —Angel Day

Polysyndeton (pol-y-syn’-do-ton): Opposite of asyndeton, a superabundance of conjunctions between clauses, often slowing the tempo or the rhythm.

I said, “Who killed him?” and he said, “I don’t know who killed him but he’s dead all right,” and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights and windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat where I had her inside Mango Key and she was all right only she was full of water.

—Ernest Hemingway, “After the Storm.”

Repetition

Alliteration: Repetition of initial or medial consonants in two or more adjacent words.

Why not waste a wild weekend at Westmore Water Park?

Assonance: Repetition of similar vowel sounds, preceded and followed by different consonants, in the stressed syllables of adjacent words.

The sergeant asked him to bomb the lawn with hotpots.

Polyptoton: Repetition of words derived from the same root.

With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder.

—John of Gaunt in Shakespeare’s Richard II 2.1.37

Anaphora: Repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses.

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as [a] moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands;
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings [. . .]
This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is now leas’d out — I die pronouncing it —
Like to a tenement or pelting farm.

—John of Gaunt in Shakespeare’s Richard II (2.1.40-51; 57-60)

Epistrophe: Repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of successive clauses.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us.” —Emerson

Hourly joys be still upon you!
Juno sings her blessings on you. [. . .]
Scarcity and want shall shun you,
Ceres’ blessing so is on you.
— Shakespeare, The Tempest (4.1.108-109; 116-17)

We are born to sorrow, pass our time in sorrow, end our days in sorrow.

Epanalepsis: Repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning of the clause. More strictly, repetition at the end of a line, phrase or clause of the word or words that occurred at the beginning of the same line, phrase, or clause.

“In times like these, it is helpful to remember that there have always been times like these. ” —Paul Harvey

“Believe not all you can hear, tell not all you believe.” —Native American proverb

“A lie begets a lie.” —English proverb

“To each the boulders that have fallen to each.”
—Robert Frost, “Mending Wall”

Anadiplosis: Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause.

The love of wicked men converts to fear,
That fear to hate, and hate turns one or both
To worthy danger and deserved death.
—Shakespeare, Richard II 5.1.66-68

The following shows anadiplosis of a phrase:
…a man could stand and see the whole wide reach
Of blue Atlantic. But he stayed ashore.

He stayed ashore and plowed, and drilled his rows…
— Charles Bruce, “Biography”

Climax: Repetition of the scheme anadiplosis at least three times, with the elements arranged in an order of increasing importance.

Miss America was not so much interested in serving herself as she was eager to serve her family, her community, and her nation.

The following passage from the Bible shows that version of climax that is synonymous with anadiplosis:
But we glory also in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience; and patience trial; and trial hope; and hope confounds not, because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us. —St. Paul

Antimetabole: Repetition of words, in successive clauses, in reverse grammatical order. (Sometimes mistaken as chiasmus)

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. —John F. Kennedy

You can take the gorilla out of the jungle, but you can’t take the jungle out of the gorilla.

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. —Samuel Johnson, Rasselas

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! —Isaiah 5:20

Chiasmus: Repetition of ideas or grammatical structures in reverse order in successive phrases or clauses (not to be mistaken with antimetabole).

But O, what damned minutes tells he o’er
Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strong loves.
—Shakespeare, Othello 3.3

The idea of affection occurs in “dotes” and “strongly loves”; the idea of doubting in “doubts” and “suspects.” These two ideas occur in the quotation in an A B B A order, thus repeated and inverted.

It is boring to eat; to sleep is fulfilling

The pattern is present participle-infinitive; infinitive-present participle.

Connection to Media Literacy

Media literacy requires the ability to critically evaluate the content, structure, and intent of media messages. By recognizing and analyzing the use of rhetorical tropes and schemes, individuals can uncover the underlying strategies employed by media creators to persuade, entertain, or inform. For example, an advertisement may use metaphor (a trope) to create a vivid image of a product, while employing repetition (a scheme) to reinforce a key selling point. Identifying these devices helps in understanding how the message is crafted to appeal to specific emotions, values, or cognitive processes, thereby fostering a deeper and more critical engagement with media content.

Understanding rhetorical tropes and schemes not only enhances the ability to analyze media but also empowers individuals to become more effective communicators and critical consumers. Recognizing how these devices are used in various media forms, such as advertising, journalism, film, and social media, allows individuals to discern the underlying intentions and biases of media messages. Furthermore, those involved in media creation can employ these rhetorical tools to craft more compelling and ethically responsible content. Ultimately, the knowledge of rhetorical tropes and schemes contributes to a more media-literate society, capable of both creating and consuming media in an informed, thoughtful, and responsible manner.

Case study: Commonplaces for climate action in the 2019 general election^[1]

Although the dominant issue at the time of the 2019 General Election was Brexit, climate change received greater attention than it had ever before. Indeed, Chris Stark, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change, argued that ‘this election really is the climate election’.^[2] The dispute over climate change in the United Kingdom has been intensified since 2010 developing into a partisan issue which, despite not reaching the level of intensity it has in the United States, became a key political battleground.^[3] This conflict culminated during the 2019 General Election, when a ‘climate debate’ was hosted by Channel 4 and attended by five political leaders (with Boris Johnson replaced by an ice sculpture). For the purposes of this article, I have analyzed the manifestos published by five parties: Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Scottish National, and Green Party. Despite focusing primarily on the sections devoted specifically to climate action, I have studied and integrated into the analysis every reference made on this issue in the manifestos. I have also considered the role of visual rhetoric in these text events, as images ‘provide rich moments of rhetorical invention’;^[4] at the same time, they can stiffen our imagination,^[5] as they naturalize the symbolic message communicated^[6] and therefore can enhance a process of decontestation. The set of data chosen for this study is consistent with the requirements of a rhetorical analysis: it aims to persuade, it is context-specific, and remains open to contestation, as the values that underpin it cannot be verified or discredited using external objective criteria.

The analysis evidences that some parties (Conservative, Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party (SNP)) used – in different intensities – ‘economic growth’ as the commonplace for the invention of arguments for climate action. Economic growth – measured as the rise of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – has been the single most important policy goal across the world for most of the last century.^[7] The argument that it is possible to continue growing the global economy while protecting the natural environment is so common that growth ideology dictates the terms of national and international climate discourse.^[8] Although the roots of this argument can be located in the 1990s and the paradigm of ecological modernisation,^[9] it gained prominence on the level of institutional and political support in the years following the global financial crisis of 2007–2009. According to this line of thinking, the impact of the ecological crisis could be minimized or even rectified by introducing a new grand narrative and a new vision for development: that of a ‘green economy’, in the context of which green growth would provide the alternative to the model of growth followed until then. In this context, climate change specifically was framed as an economic opportunity and specifically as the opportunity to create new markets and, therefore, new jobs in an altering economy. Since then, this argument has become the dominant political response to climate change as a number of international organizations, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the United Nations (UN), popularized this argument through their documents and practices.

The ideology of growthism is contested by those who view the very logic of free-market capitalism as being in opposition to physical reality and planetary boundaries (Rockström et al., 2009).^[10] They, therefore, refute the idea that capitalism can be ‘greened’, arguing that the logic of accumulation and growth that is inherent in capitalism further exaggerates problems caused by resource exploitation.^[11][12] Yet, even among those who endorse this particular position, there is disagreement over how societies should be organized in view of unprecedented climate changes. For example, proponents of a Green New Deal advocate decarbonization through radical transformation to replace the capitalist social order with democratized control over major energy systems and resources.^[13] Others emphasize that it is possible to remain agnostic about growth when planning economic activities while considering human prosperity, irrespective of whether GDP is growing or not.^[14] They thus advocate a post-growth vision that revolves around social equity and ecological integrity. Yet, others foreground the importance of placing the well-being of humans and nature at the center of economic and social organization.^[15] The analysis that follows shows that these ideas are not merely part of scholarly debates; they inform arguments for climate action in the United Kingdom.

The commonplace of ‘economic growth’ had a prominent place in the manifestos presented by the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. One of the key six commitments of the Conservative Party was ‘reaching net zero by 2050 with investment in clean energy solutions and green infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions and pollution’, pledging to ‘protect the planet’ through ‘free markets, innovation, and prosperity.’^[16] The climate action plan proposed by the Conservatives is fuelled by technological innovation and investment ‘in clean energy solutions and green infrastructure’, exemplified by ‘the innovations of British battery-makers and turbine designers’.^[17] The plan would ‘deliver economic growth’.^[18] Working with the market, the Party promised ‘to deliver two million new high-quality jobs in clean growth’ that will deliver ‘clean energy’, and ‘clean transport’.^[19]

In a similar fashion, Liberal Democrats pledged to ‘take urgent action to save our planet’ outlining a vision for ‘a green society’ and ‘a green economy’^[20] within the context of ‘a growing economy’.^[21] Their plan argued for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by ‘creating markets for climate-friendly products’,^[22] ‘investing in climate-friendly infrastructure and technology and creating new green businesses and jobs’,^[23] thus turning ‘the birthplace of the industrial revolution into the home of the new Green Revolution’.^[24] The use of images of wind turbines in the manifesto visually supported and complemented this plan, thus reproducing the dominant argument that technological progress and economic growth can be achieved in harmony with the natural environment. All humans have to do is harness the power of nature and put it in the service of economic growth and progress.

For the Conservative Party, environmental protection can deliver economic growth through investment in infrastructure, science, and research. For Liberal Democrats, climate change was explicitly viewed as ‘a massive opportunity to create a different future’,^[25] greener and climate-friendly. In both cases, growth served as the main commonplace for the invention of arguments for taking action against climate change, with investment in technology and innovation celebrated as the means to achieve economic growth while cutting carbon emissions. For both parties, growth and environmental protection go hand-in-hand; one cannot be delivered without the other. Such intensification of investment, manufacturing, and construction contributes significantly to economic growth, job creation, and energy efficiency. Nonetheless, in practice, the argument that economic growth can be combined with action to avoid climate breakdown lacks empirical support.^[26] It not only intensifies the marketisation of nature and climate change, but it also diverts attention from the issues of social justice inherent in environmental issues.^[27] It is not surprising, then, that other parties deviated from this dominant view.

SNP makes for an interesting case because, although it acknowledged the centrality of economic growth in its vision for Scotland, it simultaneously argued that economic growth cannot be ‘unrestricted’ and must be ‘sustainable’. The SNP pledged ‘a moral responsibility to tackle climate change and ‘transition to net zero while creating economic opportunity’,^[28] while changing the way the economy works to ‘address economic injustice at source’ and preventing the catastrophic ‘impact of unrestricted economic growth’^[29] on the environment. Although sustainability was at the heart of the SNP’s climate plan, the manifesto did not make clear how any restrictions on growth would be applied or how they would be compatible with the goals of increased investment and job opportunities.

The case of Labour was also interesting in that its manifesto sought to insert an alternative position into the climate debate. In advocating a Green Industrial Revolution that would create 1 million jobs to transform ‘industry, energy, transport, agriculture, and buildings, while restoring nature’,^[30] Labour adopted the terminology of the emerging solution of a Green New Deal. Its manifesto was more detailed compared to that of other parties, outlining plans for how investment would be used as part of a programme for decarbonising the energy sector, with infrastructure operating under public ownership and training offered to workers who would be employed in the sector as part of a green-just transition. Such an embrace of intensified green economic activity without appeal to growth is congruent with the insurgent vision of post-growth. The use of images of wind turbines and electric buses in the Labour manifesto visually supported the argument that post-growth does not have to mean the return to a pre-modern condition. Statements such as ‘transforming our economy into one low in carbon, rich in good jobs, radically fairer’,^[31] ‘tackling the destruction of our planet is a question of justice’,^[32] ‘our commitments to ecosystem repair and environmental protections work hand in hand with sustainable jobs and industries, and social justice’^[33] point to the fact that the commonplace of Labour’s arguments for a ‘green transition’ is social equity.

The Greens were the only party that explicitly denounced economic growth, stating that it ‘will no longer be the way we measure progress’.^[34] The flagship of the Green manifesto was the Green New Deal, a comprehensive plan covering all aspects of economy and society that aims not merely at tackling climate breakdown but also at transforming the economy and society in a fair way. Investment is targeted towards communities and businesses that depend on polluting industries and the overarching goal is to ‘kick-start the great transition to a net zero carbon economy and a better quality of life’.^[35] The commonplace for climate action in the Green manifesto is the concept of well-being, interpreted as ‘improvement in health, reduction of inequality and the restoration and protection of the natural environment on which we all depend’.^[36] The purpose of taking climate action is human and ecological well-being. The lack of images of wind turbines and electric buses from the Green manifesto is not incidental; the visual arguments deployed by the Greens involved climate activists protesting against the climate emergency and Green politicians meeting with people. This is not to suggest that UK Greens do not appeal to technology; the implementation of their Green New Deal requires investment in technologies and energy systems that will replace polluting with renewable ones. What is important is that the goal of such transformations is not the pursuit of economic growth but ‘the wellbeing of citizens, society and the natural world’.