Ethan Sayers
Samantha Mudd
October 24, 2010
English 151
An Inconvenient Truth
When presented with the opportunity to watch the presentation by Al Gore known as, An Inconvenient Truth, you may have one major thought in your mind. “Is this fact or fiction?” You’ve heard all about the so called, “climate change”, but is it actually the devastating ordeal it is being hyped up to be? Well, in this presentation Al Gore tried to persuade his audience that climate change is going to be, and continue to be, detrimental to the earth as well as all of its inhabitants. Throughout his presentation he makes valid points that have been proven by years of study. This has helped push me to be on Gore’s side of the argument. Although I do not fully know the extent to what the climate change can do, I feel that there needs to be a change made. Backing up Al Gore’s argument seems to be the way to ensure change is made.
Throughout his presentation Gore emphasizes one major aspect, change. For example, all people on earth need to stand together as one and demand a more eco-friendly earth, not only for ourselves but for the planet earth too. He says we need cut out carbon dioxide emissions, and how does he tell us to do so? Change, in his mind, is the biggest thing we can do to help slow or possibly stop the climate change. Throughout his presentation he presented various facts to help build his argument. For example, one way he demonstrated this was by showing the audience charts over the carbon dioxide and temperatures rising. Then another time he gave scientific explanation to natural disasters, such as Katrina. Yes, we knew about the hurricane and all the death and destruction it caused. Yet, some didn’t know that the extreme strength of the storm was caused by warm waters further out in sea and that the warm waters were also caused by the climate change. Al Gore provides facts to strengthen his argument, but then he relates his findings to explain the science behind a horrible incident. In this case he chose an event from our life time so his audience could remember it and then in some aspect, “connect the dots”.
Other than the way Gore actually brought about his information, there’s the actual information to consider. He presented many different “theories” that some people in the audience probably didn’t consider real. He presented these ideas and then he provided facts to back them up. For example, he spoke about his professor from college, Roger Revell, who just so happens to be a well-known scientist due to his global warming research. It was the facts that he presented and his use of logos that would sway the audience’s opinion to be on his side of the argument. He used pathos throughout his presentation to make his audience feel empathy for him, as well as sway the audience’s view of his presentation. For example, he presented all this information about climate change and then added heart wrenching stories about his son’s near death accident and his sister’s death. He then proceeded to finish his presentation with saying the climate change is “different from any problem we [people as a whole] have ever faced before”. That’s a powerful quote in my mind; after he has your emotions on full throttle he just slams that quote on you. Think of a suspenseful movie when someone says, “The world lays on your shoulders now”. It’s as if Gore is passing the audience the responsibility to save the world in a sense.
Now, let’s move on to articles related to Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, which help build more credibility on Gore’s side.
First of all, who was Gore before he set out to be the environmentalist that he is today? The answer is, the Vice President of our United States. Does this play a role in his new found career today? According to Melinda Henneberger the answer is no. She wrote a journal regarding Al Gore presenting in Idaho on a college campus. Let’s give some background for Al Gore. He is a democrat. Yes, I know what you’re thinking; does his political party have anything to do with his presentations? Well, in most people’s minds republicans won’t even give his presentation the time of day. However, Henneberger states that at his presentation in Idaho “every committed Democrat in the state has congregated on the campus for the day, that's all. Even the reddest of states has its dissenters”. At the end of the day, it’s not about your political party, it’s about finding a better resolution to help save our earth, and that’s exactly what Gore is trying to do. He has moved past the politicians and has set forth on a greater meaning. Looking back on his movie, An Inconvenient Truth, do you realize that this was a huge stepping stone for moving forward with global warming research? His presentations are what really started the big question, “is global warming fact or fiction”? Through all of his presentations he has made new believers. For example, Nick Gourley of Eagle, Idaho, whose parents are republicans, stated “once you see the movie, it’s a no-brainer”. Since seeing Gore’s movie Nick “realized how big the problem really was”. The problem referring to global warming, and all of this change was brought about by Gore. Now, if you’re still not convinced that political parties have nothing to do with this issue let’s refer to a article from the Environmental News Service. This article emphasizes that public figures from all around the world are meeting and debating a further course of action to take when it comes to the climate change. At this meeting John McCain, a republican U.S Senator, spoke very strongly of how he still believes “America’s best days are ahead of us”. Tony Blair, British Prime Minister, also stated that progress on the issue of climate change has been made to an extent that “seemed unimaginable even a short time back”. Those being just several of many that spoke at the conference. So all in all, it’s not truly about your nationality or political status. It’s all about change, and that’s what Gore said needed to happen before anything could be done to stop global warming.
Another article, Global Warming, was written by Subhankar Banerjee, an environmental educator. In this article Banerjee discusses the climate change as a whole. For example, he spoke about how World leaders are trying to take action, but in the end he says the “international debate is a momentous tussle between rich and poor countries over who steps up first and who pays most for changed energy menus”. In Gore’s presentation he hinted on this aspect, Gore went into further depth of the countries that have been trying to make changes and then he went into the countries that haven’t totally converted to the “green” environmental idea. He did this by showing a chart over all the countries in the world and which ones have converted to a better eco-friendly nation opposed to those who haven’t. Banerjee also states that,
“recent fluctuations in temperature have intensified the public debate over
how urgently to respond. A string of large snowstorms in the Washington
area and freezing weather in Florida in the winter of 2009-2010 were seized
on by climate skeptics. But the combination of flooding, heat waves
and droughts in the summer were taken by most researchers trained in
climate analysis as evidence to show that weather extremes are getting worse”.
Now think back, didn’t Gore emphasize on this single idea? Didn’t he tell his audience that due to climate changes there has been droughts lasting months at a time in some places? Then in other places there would just be downpours for a day or two, which in return cause major flooding? The answer is yes; he stated at the beginning of his presentation that he didn’t like the term “Global Warming” because there isn’t always just warming going around it’s an all-out climate change. Since the beginning of the climate change Gore explained that winters have been getting rougher in places such as Florida. Then in areas such as Africa droughts have been persistent and have made new records when it comes to the amount of rainfall per year. Scientists around the world are agreeing with what Gore has been trying to warn people all over the world about. Editor-in-chief of science, Donald Kennedy also backs this statement in his article called Acts of God? In this article he states that “as Katrina and two other hurricanes crossed the warm Gulf of Mexico, we [he and his team] watched them grow in strength”. How can anyone want to claim Gore sells falsified information during his presentations? This is just one example of many scientists and journalists backing up Gore’s main points with their own published findings.
Of course since Gore is presenting a nationwide dilemma there will be scientists, politicians and average day Joes that will try to prove Gore wrong. David Roberts, a journalist for Grist Magazine, wrote about how most critics have left him thinking that what they said was the “worst, sloppiest, most dishonest piece of reporting”. An example he gives is a critic, Don J. Easterbrook. Easterbrook said, "there are a lot of inaccuracies in the statements we are seeing [from Gore], and we have to temper that with real data”. However, after further research to find these “inaccuracies” Robert states Easterbrook really had “exactly one inaccuracy and it's based on a thuddingly obvious misunderstanding”. So what can we as an audience witnessing these false accusations conclude? That not everything we hear about Gore’s presentations is true other then what Gore has said during them. After all, there are handfuls of scientists and journalists that back up Gore’s statements every day. Those who try to prove them wrong have ended up being wrong themselves. Therefore, it seems that the only ones “blowing smoke” are the critics themselves.
All in all, what have we really learned? First, we learned that Gore not only gives “theories”, but they are all backed by years of study conducted by many scientists all over the world, not just him. Also, that in order to achieve any progress on the climate change issue we need to change. Not just people of America, but people all over the world need to stand together as one and demand a more eco-friendly earth, not only for ourselves but for the planet earth too. Lastly, it’s not truly about your nationality or political status, some critics may think otherwise, but republican John McCain and democrat Al Gore prove them wrong. These two are only one example of how politicians are working together to help stop a worldwide problem. There are also other world leaders involved as well. This just proves that in times of need people from any region of the world can and will work together to find a resolution. Al Gore’s, An Inconvenient Truth, is just well known due to the fact is was a major building block and has pushed many to help find a cure for the climate change. Throughout the years, Al Gore has given many presentations that have helped make people take his side on the argument that the climate change is real, and that it’s happening now. So with this I ask you, what can you do today to help build a more eco-friendly earth tomorrow?
Works Cited
Banerjee, Subhanker. "Global Warming." Www.nytimes.com. Associated Press, 6 Oct.
2010. Web.
Environmental News Service. "Climate Change Front and Center at World
Economic Forum." Www.truth-out.org. 29 Jan. 2007. Web.
Henneberger, Melinda. "HuffPo's Melinda Henneberger: Gore Sells Out Idaho's
10,000 Seat Taco Bell Arena "Faster Than Elton
John"..." Www.huffingtonpost.com. 27 Jan. 2007. Web.
Kennedy, Donald. "Acts of God?" Www.sciencemag.org. 20 Jan.
2006. Web.
Roberts, David. "Debunking the NYT's Sloppy Hit Piece on
Gore." Www.huffingtonpost.com. 13 Mar. 2007. Web.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Project 4: Formal response Due- 10-19-10
Ethan Sayers
Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth started with him describing nature as a whole to his audience and creating a sense of feeling about nature. After he has really made us, the viewers, really think about the world we live in he then sets out into his reoccurring topic, global warming, known to some as, the climate change. During his presentation he begins to talk about his personal life and relates it, or tries to relate it, to the climate change. He talks about his life of pursuing more information about everything affected by the climate change. For example, he talks about Greenland’s glacier caps slowly eroding away. He also talked about how its creating stronger storms as a whole an example of this as he stated was, Katrina, the hurricane that struck New Orleans. He explains that the water temperatures and water levels have come to create stronger storms. Throughout his presentation he continues to back up his statements with examples and facts to back it up. Then in his closing it sounded like he took a more direct route towards the audience. He was more serious and had a different tone in his voice. One of his last sentences that really caught my eye was him saying that the climate change was “different from any problem we [people as a whole] have ever faced before”. During his presentation he used three major tools, pathos, logos and ethos. All three played a specific role in his presentation as a whole, pathos to spread an emotional appeal to us, the viewers. He also used ethos to make him stand out as a character. Then logos which would help build his credibility.
Throughout his presentation he had several examples to help build his logos. For example, when he talked about a teacher he had in college, Roger Revelle, a well-known scientist for his research in in global warming. Having him as a teacher and helping him conduct experiments was something Al described as, one of the things that pushed his curiosity to pursue more information towards the climate change. This helps with his logos because it builds a professional background in the eyes of his audience. Another example of his use of logos is all of the charts to show temperature and carbon dioxide rising rapidly. One chart he showed was the chart of the ten hottest years in the world. So he would present a new topic about something and then he would finish it off by showing proof for that topic. He was very dedicated to this topic and did a lot of work to prove his findings.
One thing Al promoted very well was his use of pathos. For example, he used his sons near death experience in the very beginning of his presentation to describe how his son may have never seen “our world” again. He then goes into how further generations will not be able to see “our world” in the future because of the climate change. No more glaciers and what not. Although in my opinion bringing up his sons accident to promote pathos wasn’t a very strong standing point, but it got the audience thinking about the children of the future in some aspect. Another example of this is something he brought up in the very end to motivate the audience to make a change in their life. He began to talk about how “we” were destroying our home, the earth. He pointed out that we only have one home and without it, we have nothing.
Then there is ethos, how Al represented himself in his presentation. Well in my opinion it varied within topic to topic. For example, when he talked about his son or his sister’s death, he was more emotional. Then towards the end he was more straight forward and more powerful in his words, as if he was demanding us to make a change in the world not only for ourselves but for the earth as a whole. Another example is when he was presenting charts or evidence of some sort; he seemed to move more slow and explanatory. That way he got the whole audience to understand what was being shown, as if he was a teacher and we were his students.
All in all, All Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, was a very informative presentation of the topic we know as global warming or as the climate change. Throughout his presentation he gave many examples and a lot of proof to back up his findings as well to build his logos. He also put a lot of emotion into the audiences head, whether it was talking about the polar bears drowning and his son’s accident. He found a way to instill some sort of emotion into us and build his pathos. Then there was the way he presented himself, he would change his tone or his speech pattern within topic to topic. Such as his emotional tone versus his straight forward tone. It just varied topic to topic to build his ethos. His presentation was very informative and put together very well, and I bet he has reached out to many citizens not only in the U.S but in countries around the world.
Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth started with him describing nature as a whole to his audience and creating a sense of feeling about nature. After he has really made us, the viewers, really think about the world we live in he then sets out into his reoccurring topic, global warming, known to some as, the climate change. During his presentation he begins to talk about his personal life and relates it, or tries to relate it, to the climate change. He talks about his life of pursuing more information about everything affected by the climate change. For example, he talks about Greenland’s glacier caps slowly eroding away. He also talked about how its creating stronger storms as a whole an example of this as he stated was, Katrina, the hurricane that struck New Orleans. He explains that the water temperatures and water levels have come to create stronger storms. Throughout his presentation he continues to back up his statements with examples and facts to back it up. Then in his closing it sounded like he took a more direct route towards the audience. He was more serious and had a different tone in his voice. One of his last sentences that really caught my eye was him saying that the climate change was “different from any problem we [people as a whole] have ever faced before”. During his presentation he used three major tools, pathos, logos and ethos. All three played a specific role in his presentation as a whole, pathos to spread an emotional appeal to us, the viewers. He also used ethos to make him stand out as a character. Then logos which would help build his credibility.
Throughout his presentation he had several examples to help build his logos. For example, when he talked about a teacher he had in college, Roger Revelle, a well-known scientist for his research in in global warming. Having him as a teacher and helping him conduct experiments was something Al described as, one of the things that pushed his curiosity to pursue more information towards the climate change. This helps with his logos because it builds a professional background in the eyes of his audience. Another example of his use of logos is all of the charts to show temperature and carbon dioxide rising rapidly. One chart he showed was the chart of the ten hottest years in the world. So he would present a new topic about something and then he would finish it off by showing proof for that topic. He was very dedicated to this topic and did a lot of work to prove his findings.
One thing Al promoted very well was his use of pathos. For example, he used his sons near death experience in the very beginning of his presentation to describe how his son may have never seen “our world” again. He then goes into how further generations will not be able to see “our world” in the future because of the climate change. No more glaciers and what not. Although in my opinion bringing up his sons accident to promote pathos wasn’t a very strong standing point, but it got the audience thinking about the children of the future in some aspect. Another example of this is something he brought up in the very end to motivate the audience to make a change in their life. He began to talk about how “we” were destroying our home, the earth. He pointed out that we only have one home and without it, we have nothing.
Then there is ethos, how Al represented himself in his presentation. Well in my opinion it varied within topic to topic. For example, when he talked about his son or his sister’s death, he was more emotional. Then towards the end he was more straight forward and more powerful in his words, as if he was demanding us to make a change in the world not only for ourselves but for the earth as a whole. Another example is when he was presenting charts or evidence of some sort; he seemed to move more slow and explanatory. That way he got the whole audience to understand what was being shown, as if he was a teacher and we were his students.
All in all, All Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, was a very informative presentation of the topic we know as global warming or as the climate change. Throughout his presentation he gave many examples and a lot of proof to back up his findings as well to build his logos. He also put a lot of emotion into the audiences head, whether it was talking about the polar bears drowning and his son’s accident. He found a way to instill some sort of emotion into us and build his pathos. Then there was the way he presented himself, he would change his tone or his speech pattern within topic to topic. Such as his emotional tone versus his straight forward tone. It just varied topic to topic to build his ethos. His presentation was very informative and put together very well, and I bet he has reached out to many citizens not only in the U.S but in countries around the world.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Campus History Project Due: 10-2-10
Ethan Sayers
When starting a project of any form there are always “obstacles” you must conquer to get the job done. First things first, you need to decide the biggest question, “What is it that interests me?” and from there is where project begins. That’s only the beginning you then have to decide the following; who do I want to reach out to, how will I reach them and why do I want to reach those people with my project? Now that I have the wheels turning let us begin.
This project of ours began with our class going on a tour of the Ohio University campus and finding something that interested us. The Ridges caught my eye. Some may ask, “Why?” Well, Athens is my hometown, and I have heard so many tall tales and stories about the Ridges that I decided that the Ridges is where my project lay.
I decided to make five flyers about the Ridges. One being an “intro” flyer and the other four were for treatments that the Ridges used to try to heal the human mind. I tried to envision how the Ridges worked back in the glory years and contemplated what exactly they would use to try to promote to people. Then it hit me. The reason places like the Ridges were built was for people with a sickness in the brain to be kept. What would people like to see more than for those people to be healed? With any possibility for someone to be healed, or even a cure for the sick mind to be found, people would line up for miles. The purpose of my flyers over treatments was to reach an audience that was sympathetic for the sick or for people curious to see how the Ridges tried to heal the human mind. Granted, my preferred audience did fall through when the Ridges was closed down, so I just used my imagination in the way I pretended the Ridges was still up and running.
I made my flyers look older so that they would resemble the times of the Ridges. I changed the font to a somewhat cursive type because, in my mind, I picture cursive as a more of an older type of writing, and I thought it would fit. I added a small brief of what each treatment was, and then a picture of what the treatment would look like in a spectator’s perspective.
I decided to make my flyers with very little information on them. Granted, that may not look good if you’re grading it, but if you want to attract someone to something, you never give them the whole story. You bait them with something and get their curiosity aroused to bring them, or make them ask for more. Truthfully, if you read a poster saying come see a doctor perform four treatments on mentally sick people to try and help them, the thought of going would definitely cross your mind. In my peer review I was told my flyer was basic. In a way, that’s exactly what I was aiming for. I tried to add information to hook you, not make you read it and get bored and move on. In my mind, the lack of information is what will attract people; all they need is the right bait.
Now with everything you do or try to do, something will always go wrong. That’s just life. So of course, the night before its due, my printer decides not to work. The flyer I turned in looked nothing like the one I had originally designed on my laptop. The one I had was a lot more, now that I see the “new” one I guess we could say, modern, and strayed from the purpose of my original project. I included a picture that covered the whole page, and made it transparent, then wrote everything on it. It didn’t look like a historic flyer at all. I guess I could say that I lost my focus and just tried to make it “pop” with all the excessive pictures and what not. The one I turned in today went through a lot to get there. My laptop is synced to my printer, not to my mom’s. So I had to transfer my flyers to her laptop, which isn’t as new as mine, so of course it doesn’t have the programs mine had to have to be able to do what I did. Urg, technologies… don’t even get me started on that!
Anyway, on her laptop it’s just the typing and the pictures. None of my things from my laptop made it to hers except the skeleton of it all. I like the one I turned in more. However, the font on my laptop was a really cool cursive and I thought that definitely made the flyers “pop”. So, I guess all I would change about my flyers now is just the font. Everything else is how I had it going in my mind, and to me, that’s a success.
All in all, when it comes to any project, remember the basic “obstacles” you must conquer in order to made your project the way you want it. In my case, the older form of a flyer was the way I wanted to portray my project because it was over the Ridges, and that place is from a different era. However, if I were to do a project over, let’s say, Baker Center, then I would use a new colorful flyer because it’s new. So I guess with every project there are different ways to portray what you’re thinking. I hope you like my flyers and the way I went about doing my project. Thank you.
When starting a project of any form there are always “obstacles” you must conquer to get the job done. First things first, you need to decide the biggest question, “What is it that interests me?” and from there is where project begins. That’s only the beginning you then have to decide the following; who do I want to reach out to, how will I reach them and why do I want to reach those people with my project? Now that I have the wheels turning let us begin.
This project of ours began with our class going on a tour of the Ohio University campus and finding something that interested us. The Ridges caught my eye. Some may ask, “Why?” Well, Athens is my hometown, and I have heard so many tall tales and stories about the Ridges that I decided that the Ridges is where my project lay.
I decided to make five flyers about the Ridges. One being an “intro” flyer and the other four were for treatments that the Ridges used to try to heal the human mind. I tried to envision how the Ridges worked back in the glory years and contemplated what exactly they would use to try to promote to people. Then it hit me. The reason places like the Ridges were built was for people with a sickness in the brain to be kept. What would people like to see more than for those people to be healed? With any possibility for someone to be healed, or even a cure for the sick mind to be found, people would line up for miles. The purpose of my flyers over treatments was to reach an audience that was sympathetic for the sick or for people curious to see how the Ridges tried to heal the human mind. Granted, my preferred audience did fall through when the Ridges was closed down, so I just used my imagination in the way I pretended the Ridges was still up and running.
I made my flyers look older so that they would resemble the times of the Ridges. I changed the font to a somewhat cursive type because, in my mind, I picture cursive as a more of an older type of writing, and I thought it would fit. I added a small brief of what each treatment was, and then a picture of what the treatment would look like in a spectator’s perspective.
I decided to make my flyers with very little information on them. Granted, that may not look good if you’re grading it, but if you want to attract someone to something, you never give them the whole story. You bait them with something and get their curiosity aroused to bring them, or make them ask for more. Truthfully, if you read a poster saying come see a doctor perform four treatments on mentally sick people to try and help them, the thought of going would definitely cross your mind. In my peer review I was told my flyer was basic. In a way, that’s exactly what I was aiming for. I tried to add information to hook you, not make you read it and get bored and move on. In my mind, the lack of information is what will attract people; all they need is the right bait.
Now with everything you do or try to do, something will always go wrong. That’s just life. So of course, the night before its due, my printer decides not to work. The flyer I turned in looked nothing like the one I had originally designed on my laptop. The one I had was a lot more, now that I see the “new” one I guess we could say, modern, and strayed from the purpose of my original project. I included a picture that covered the whole page, and made it transparent, then wrote everything on it. It didn’t look like a historic flyer at all. I guess I could say that I lost my focus and just tried to make it “pop” with all the excessive pictures and what not. The one I turned in today went through a lot to get there. My laptop is synced to my printer, not to my mom’s. So I had to transfer my flyers to her laptop, which isn’t as new as mine, so of course it doesn’t have the programs mine had to have to be able to do what I did. Urg, technologies… don’t even get me started on that!
Anyway, on her laptop it’s just the typing and the pictures. None of my things from my laptop made it to hers except the skeleton of it all. I like the one I turned in more. However, the font on my laptop was a really cool cursive and I thought that definitely made the flyers “pop”. So, I guess all I would change about my flyers now is just the font. Everything else is how I had it going in my mind, and to me, that’s a success.
All in all, when it comes to any project, remember the basic “obstacles” you must conquer in order to made your project the way you want it. In my case, the older form of a flyer was the way I wanted to portray my project because it was over the Ridges, and that place is from a different era. However, if I were to do a project over, let’s say, Baker Center, then I would use a new colorful flyer because it’s new. So I guess with every project there are different ways to portray what you’re thinking. I hope you like my flyers and the way I went about doing my project. Thank you.
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