What if I were to tell you that the world as we know it is slowly coming to an end? All sorts of new questions would arise, such as how, who is to blame, and what can we do to stop this? Now what if I were to tell you that the cause of our slowly dying Earth is you? Not just you, but all of humankind! This makes the whole concept even harder to grasp, people all over the world are avoiding blame, and the problem altogether. This problem is global warming, an increase in surface and ocean temperatures due to a rise in gas emissions by humans. But I am not alone in saying these things, more and more people are finally starting to realize the danger that Al Gore has brought to our concern in his book “An Inconvenient Truth.” In this book, Gore defines global warming is a global issue that is rapidly getting worse primarily through the use of pathos (showing people and animals in danger because of this issue), and logos (multiple case studies, scientific graphs, and educational pictures), along with some personal experience in hopes that people everywhere will see the severity of this problem.

            Global warming is defined as “An increase in the earth's atmospheric and oceanic temperatures widely predicted to occur due to an increase in the greenhouse effect resulting especially from pollution.” (merriam-webster.com) To further clarify, the greenhouse effect is defined as “the warming of the Earth's atmosphere that is caused by air pollution ◊The greenhouse effect occurs when warmth from the sun is trapped in the Earth's atmosphere by a layer of gases (such as carbon dioxide) and water vapor.” (learnersdictionary.com) The Earth’s temperature is noticeably increasing due to the huge increase in greenhouse gas emissions (CO2, Methane, and Nitrous-Oxide). Sadly, we have no one to blame but ourselves for this increase in gas emissions because of the deadly combination of technological advancement, and increase in population. Every person has a carbon footprint, all depending on what your daily routine consists of. One who chooses to turn the lights of when they leave the room will have a smaller carbon footprint then those of us who just get lazy, and those who choose to carpool leave a smaller carbon footprint than those who don’t. With population increasing worldwide, these are more and more carbon footprints that we need to worry about, all adding up the inconvenient truth that is global warming. This is an issue that we face everyday, but many of us choose to do nothing about it. If we continue to act this way, well, lets just say Earth will not have much of a future…

            Al Gore focuses on getting everyone to become aware of the issue, therefore the target audience is all of humankind, because it affects us all equally. To help do this he places smaller arguments in the text to support the central argument that global warming in fact a big deal. For example, one argument is that we need the people of Earth to come together and battle this issue as a team, although it starts with one person making a difference. A common misconception is that just one person changing their lifestyle to reduce the size of their carbon footprint will do nothing in the bigger picture. But it has to start somewhere doesn’t it? Gore is very passionate about this argument, and even includes a section at the end of his book, stating multiple things that just one person can do to help eliminate the climate crisis. One of the most important pieces of advice that Gore gives in this section is simply “educate our selves and others” (pg. 305) on global warming. The more people that become educated and passionate towards this issue, the easier it will be to take it down. Gore also states that if the world is to work together as a whole (which is what we will need to happen for this crisis to be averted) it will help teach people to put our differences aside and help each other work towards the greater good. He goes on to say that if humankind began to function like this, it would give us the moral capacity to take on other challenges, such as HIV/AIDS, poverty, and other pandemics affecting the world.

            Another argument that Gore focuses on is that the increase in number and severity of natural disasters we are seeing is directly related to global warming. He uses scientific charts to show that these disasters have been becoming more destructive in the last decade, and compares it to the increase in global warming showing a direct correlation. One chart demonstrates the total economic losses from great weather and flood catastrophies, showing that in the last decade almost 750 billion dollars in damage has been done, compared to the decade before that when damages only tolled up to about 290 billion. The excessive amount of heat in the atmosphere is causing strange patterns in weather that are not what we would call normal, and the same goes for the ocean as well. Studies have shown that with an increase in water temperature , hurricanes and other ocean storms show a similar increase in the storm’s moisture content and wind velocity, causing the storms to become much more deadly (as demonstrated by Hurricane Katrina). Many more people are being affected by storms like this because there is a greater quantity of storms, and they prove to be getting worse. In 2004 the record for number of tornadoes in the United States was shattered. Not only is global warming affecting these type of weather patterns, but more and more fires are breaking out in dry parts of the world due to excessive heat in the atmosphere, and bodies of water are evaporating causing a shortage in drinking water. As you can see, global warming has a much larger affect on us than just a rise in temperature, and it is imperative that we do something about this threat before it is too late.

            This is one of the touchiest issues in the world today. Many people choose not to believe that it is real so that they do not have to adjust their lifestyles. That is why it is crucial that Gore uses rhetorical techniques to convince the audience of the true importance of the subject at hand. One technique that Gore really hits hard on is pathos, or appealing to the reader’s emotions. He does this in many different ways throughout the book. For example, Gore shows various images of wildlife and ecosystems being negatively affected by global warming. One that hit especially hard for me was a picture of a polar bear trapped on a floating piece of ice, as it watches it’s home melt away slowly. All sorts of species are facing a dramatic decrease in population worldwide, especially those who live in arctic or oceanic ecosystems. Animals are innocent, and people often have a soft spot in their heart for them. Gore knows this and is utilizing it to the fullest; he even finds pictures where the animals look sad as crazy as it sounds. I don’t know about you, but when I see a picture of a sad penguin watching his winter wonderland turn to slush, it really gets to me. Not only does Gore use pictures of animals to get to people, but he also uses pictures of natural disasters, and the devastation that they leave behind. Pictures of homes destroyed, and thousands of people left with nowhere to live, but that’s only if they were lucky enough to survive. Many of us have seen images like this, with the coverage of Hurricane Katrina, or the deadly tsunamis that hit the Fiji islands. It really gets you thinking… “What if that was me?” Images like these often make people want to help those suffering; needless to say, these images take a huge toll on our emotions. Gore uses both types of images to create these sad feelings, in hopes that people will see the devastation due to global warming, and want to stop it that much more.

Dillon peer review by Ahmed Alshaibani.docx