With global warming being one of the most talked about issues in the world today, its threat to potential environmental crises in poor countries has caused many already unstable governments to collapse. These crises are brought on by ever worsening environmental degradation. Nicholas Kristof, a world traveler and two-time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist has contributed to this responsibility by informing the public with his 2007 article, “Our Gas Guzzlers, Their Lives. ” Lester Brown also discusses the negative affects global warming has in the developing world in his article, “ Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization?
” The authors both use similar and different tactics in making their articles affective to their readers. Kristof and Brown both present seemingly sound and insightful arguments, and are ultimately successful due to their use of the three rhetorical appears ethos, pathos, and logos. Both articles are encouraging Americans to become aware of the environmental declines that are undermining the world food economy, falling water pressure, and eroding soils and rising temperatures. Brown and Kristof use their knowledge about the environmental effects on third world countries to gain the readers attention and respect.
Kristof specifically builds his ethos by interviewing public officials, such as Uganda’s president, and authorities on the subject, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Kristof states that the panel “foresees water shortages and crop failures in much of Africa,” even to the point that “‘crop net revenues could fall as much as 90 percent’” (Kristof 579-580).
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Once he brings the economy into the picture, it makes his point more attractive to an American audience. He also shows his enthusiasm and eagerness to help bring awareness to the worsening situation evolving in Bujumbura, Burundi.
Kristof shows off how compassionate he is through his win-a-trip journey in which he takes one student and one teacher who are winners of an essay contest on a reporting trip. Telling readers about his win-a-trip journey allows him to portray himself as dedicated to helping spread the word about how his audience can help people in third world countries. Ultimately, Kristof uses his compassion and interest for countries like these to draw in the reader; therefore, making his essay and arguments more respectable and worth reading. His knowledge about countries like Burundi only adds to his credibility, which makes his essay more persuasive.
One way Brown builds ethos in his article is by stating, “many years I have studied global agricultural, population, environmental and economic trends and their interactions” (Brown).
This shows readers that he is knowledgeable and has had experience with the issues he is informing the reader about. Brown also uses a confident tone when talking about facts and his thoughts on the effects of global warming.
Having a confident tone is an attention grabber to readers and is something both authors do to grab the audience’s attention. On top of using effective ethos, Kristof and Brown also builds a valid argument using pathos. Pathos is also a similar rhetorical term Brown and Kristof use as a strategy to draw in the readers. Kristof begins his essay with, “If we need any more proof that life is unfair, it is that subsistence villagers here in Africa will pay with their lives for our refusal to curb greenhouse gas emissions” (Kristof 579).
This quote sets the tone for emotional appeal Kristof effectively uses to draw in his readers.
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These elements contribute to the short story’s effectiveness as author uses different literary forms and styles to connect the reader to the story. Style has many characteristics that help the author engage the reader such as; punctuation, the use of connotations, and culture. This is what helps the reader’s imagination take over, paint the picture, and get emotionally connected to the author’s ...
Kristof’s use of pathos is most effective because he paints a clear picture of what life is like as a villager in Bujambura, Burundi. Burundi is reported to be the poorest country in the world, with an average income of only one hundred dollars. With life expectancy rates only at forty five years old and one in five children dying before they even reach the age of five, our greenhouse gas emissions and gas usage is not making anything better but actually helping cause deaths, as well as food and water shortage which are leading to more starvation and poverty.
Kristof also gives three huge examples that play a major role in the survival in the people of Burundi. He discusses the importance of the harvest and crops. Without food, the villagers starve to death. With the rising temperatures, it causes malaria and diseases to spread rapidly. On top of these two major issues, without food and water wars could be started. It emphasizes the important role citizens of wealthy western countries play in lives of the villagers in countries like Burundi.
Brown uses pathos as a strategy in his article when he says, “As demand for food rises faster than supplies are growing, the resulting food-price inflation puts severe stress on the governments of countries already teetering on the edge of chaos. Unable to buy grain or grow their own, hungry people take to the streets” (Brown 50-57).
Using facts like these triggers the readers to feel bad for the people of poor countries who are already struggling on a day-to-day basis. His use of pathos pulls one in to the global warming catastrophe, makes it real, and makes one feel responsible.
Brown also goes on to talk about South Africa and Haiti and the negative affects that global warming has had on their crops. He refers to the slogan “Less Sail, More Hunger” to grab the readers attention. Not only do Kristof and Brown’s articles trigger emotional responses as they explains the harsh reality some countries may have to face in the future, they also develop logos by using logical reasoning to explain what the consequences could be to these countries in a few years if we do not start taking the issue seriously now.
Logos is one of the stronger parts of both Kristof and Brown’s essays. Due to the vulnerability of Burundi, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has “projected reductions in yield to some countries could be as much as 50 percent by 2020, and crop net revenue could fall as much as 90 percent” (Kristof 580).
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Using logic and examples increases the effectiveness of Kristof’s essay because it gives real reasoning to the serious effects green house gas emissions are having on small third world countries.
Its prime focus is to grab the readers attention and warn them that our environmental irresponsibility can and will lead to thousands of innocent people dying. Brown states, “The biggest threat to global stability is the potential for food crises in poor countries to cause government collapse. Those crises are brought on by ever worsening environmental degradation” (Brown 50-57) After Brown’s statement he goes on to list fact after fact about how global warming is going to lead to instability in many countries.
Kristof and Brown’s argument is overall effective in the fact that it allows readers to become aware that what we do in first world countries effects people in places less fortunate. Kristof and Brown seek to warn the readers of the damaging effects pollution and greenhouse gases are having on certain countries. Through the rhetorical analysis of ethos, pathos, and logos, Kristof and Brown similarly, clearly and effectively supports their essays with knowledge, emotion, and logic.
