Climate Change Blogs – Rhetorical Analysis

Introduction

In this blog I will be analyzing two other blogs about climate change: Climate Change and Health: Wildfires and 10 Climate Change Impacts That Will Affect Us All. Both of these blogs talk about how climate change can impact human health in negative ways. I am writing this blog to cater to my audience, which consists of my english teacher and my classmates. I hope that this blog can present awareness about the potential effects of climate change and how to effectively convey an argument about the environment. When picking the environmental blogs that I wanted to do, I was mainly looking for something not too long or short and something about climate change. To me, climate change is such an important topic that needs to be addressed and resolved. We as humans are damaging our own home and if we don’t do something about it, our planet isn’t going to look so great in the future.

Ethos

Ethos is described in Everything’s an Argument as “when writers or speakers come across as trustworthy, audiences are likely to listen to and accept their arguments. That trustworthiness (along with fairness and respect) is a mark of ethos, or credibility” (1). When it comes to whether Climate Change and Health: Wildfires is credible or not, I would say that they are.

Climate Change and Health: Wildfires is a great blog that focuses on the devastation that wildfires cause, specifically the negative effects they can have on human health and of course the Earth. I really like how the blog uses multiple sources to back up different facts, such as the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, IOP Science, US Environmental Protection Agency, and Now This. Although the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times tend to lean more towards the left, they are both credible sources because climate change is a known issue that isn’t fake and they back up their information with actual statistics. IOP Science is a fantastic website that consists of many scholarly science articles made by professionals in the field. The US Environmental Protection Agency is one of the most credible sources to use for environmental topics because it is led by many scientists who peer review each other’s science data. Lastly, when Now This was cited in the blog, it is paired with a video that physically shows what wildfires have done to communities. It doesn’t get more credible than that. In the case of climate change, much of the information can be inferred, such as fire in the air causing respiratory issues and less trees meaning less oxygen. This blog tends to express different facts that fall in this kind of category of common knowledge, which I think is great. Hearing something that you kind of know already only strengthens your thought about whatever it is, in this case climate change.

10 Climate Change Impacts That Will Affect Us All is a great blog when it comes to ethos. The writer of the blog cites and uses a variety of information from credible sources, such as a college professor, a government agency, a professional on climate change working at an observatory, and more. In specific, the information cited often has links near it so that the reader, in this case me, can visit the sites where the blog took the information to “fact check” each citation. I really liked how they used a plethora of studies that provide accurate statistics and other data about what is happening and what can happen to humans as a result of climate change. All of the studies were done by trusted professionals working in the science field. Lastly, like the other blog mentioned before this, the blog uses some common knowledge that is known to be true, so I am able to instantly trust a decent amount of the blog.

Logos

Logos is all about logic, proof, and reasoning. It is sort of similar to ethos in the sense that it can deal with statistics and studies, but logos focuses more on the actual information versus where it comes from. The logic behind a blog can deal a lot with how it is organized, not just the wording. It is important to use visuals to help the reader understand certain concepts better.

Climate Change and Health: Wildfires is on point with its logos. The organization of the blog is perfect in my opinion because it starts with a brief introduction that grabs the reader’s attention. Then the sentence that follows acts as a wakeup call, stating that the conditions on Earth are only going to get worse, benefiting the wildfires to thrive. As stated in the ethos section, a number of studies and statistics are used to help support the information they are conveying. The wording throughout is easily understood, sophisticated, and to the point. The blog isn’t too long or too short. The videos and links inserted provide the reader with visual connections. When it comes to the actual setup of the website, the design is sleek and appealing to the eyes. The fonts used are easy to read and the visual media acts as great touches. There is a red box in the top right corner that says donate, instantly putting a weight on the reader to be a part of something. At the bottom of the blog, there is an even bigger box with more wording, basically asking the reader to become a part of our team and help us stop climate change. Also at the beginning of the blog, there is a red box at the right side of the words that says join us, encouraging the reader to provide their email and/or use their social media to follow what is going on with climate change according to the site.

10 Climate Change Impacts That Will Affect Us All is another eye-opening blog that is organized beautifully, even better than the other in my opinion. The blog starts right with a picture of flood damage to a room in a house with a person that appears to be looking for something in the wreckage. This grabs the reader in ways that words can’t. Right below the picture there is a quick introduction that ends up saying that there are ten ways all Americans will be affected by climate change if nothing is done about it, and people are already being affected. Each of the ten negative impacts of climate change are then listed with a number and in bold, letting the reader clearly see what can happen to them. I really like this method of organization and I find it quite effective to convey information. Like the other blog, this one uses a great number of sources, data, and statistics to back up what they are trying to say. Pictures are paired with most of the ten impacts of climate change on humans, which is super effective as well. Along with this, each bullet of the list goes into solid detail about what can happen, how it can happen, and why it can happen.

Pathos

Pathos can best be described as evoking emotion to the reader and convincing them of an argument. It can be seen in words, pictures, videos, music, and more. Both of the blogs elicit emotions to the reader and persuade them to do something, or take the next step. I think that both blogs did an amazing job when it comes to pathos.

Climate Change and Health: Wildfires can be seen to use a variety of methods to promote emotion to the reader. As soon as someone logs onto the website, a big picture of fires burning near houses can be seen, creating a feeling of sadness to the reader. It also makes the reader think of questions, such as why are these fires occurring and what can be done to prevent it. The use of red in the donate box and the join us box can evoke feelings of excitement, love, passion, and/or danger to the reader. The color green is also used, but it is more subtle and can make the reader feel peaceful and hopeful. The combination of red and green is a great mix that causes the reader to feel like something needs to be done about climate change. The purpose of the blog is to spread awareness of what climate change is causing and can cause and to persuade the reader to become a part of their works to stop climate change.

10 Climate Change Impacts That Will Affect Us All uses even more visuals than the other blog, which is especially important when trying to prove how climate change is devastating the Earth and humans. Like the other blog, as soon as you enter the website there is a picture, but this one is showing the wreckage done by a flood on a civilians’ home. The way this blog is organized is so smart for pathos, because it is almost calling out the reader, saying how they can and will be affecting by climate change. Showing this in bold for each main reason and putting it as a list is so effective. It makes the reader feel like they are going to be in trouble if they don’t do something or someone else doesn’t do something. Another thing in this blog that works really well is the use of inserting a “how to protect yourself” section beneath each of the ten ways climate change affects human. This makes the reader feel like climate change will affect them for sure.

Final Thoughts

I am really satisfied by both of the blogs that I have analyzed. They both use a number of methods to provoke ethos, logos, and pathos to the reader. They are great reads and use strong visuals to prove points and backup the overall message of what they are trying to say, which is climate change and its negative impact. Both blogs are quite effective and I encourage you to look into both of them and see what they are all about. As an ending note, although I have said that visuals are important to supporting an argument, I don’t have much on this particular blog. That is because I am again encouraging you to check out the blogs and see what images and video they use. Thank you for reading!

1) Lunsford, Andrea A.,Ruszkiewicz, John J.,Walters, Keith. Everything’s an Argument with Readings (Kindle Locations 1256-1258). Bedford/St. Martin’s. Kindle Edition.

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