Introduction of Rhetoric Analysis Essay & Brief Outline

In 2122, life will be very different—humans will have become acclimated to severe natural disasters in everyday life, such as rising sea levels, melting glaciers, dying coral reefs, acidifying oceans, and burning forests to name a few. Within the past few decades, human activities like burning greenhouse gas-producing fossil fuels, cutting down forests, using internal combustion engine vehicles have dramatically increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and, consequently, the average global temperature. Essentially, rising temperatures are causing environmental degradation, natural disasters, weather extremes, food and water insecurities, and economic disruptions. Right now, a rise in global temperature has led to the warming of the Antarctic Peninsula, breaking the continent’s ice sheet and, consequently, decreasing the local species populations. As the ice sheet melts at an alarming rate, it threatens a spike in sea levels and will potentially submerge all landmasses in a pool of water, which is clearly illustrated in an advertisement using an hourglass with water trickling down onto cities to emphasize the lack of time. As we “hide” behind a mask and stand by idly, our ignorance and failure to act quickly essentially downplay the importance of this issue, accurately reflected in an advertisement showing a sideways tree, with the canopy shaped into a human head and the trunk shaped into another head pictured with smoke smouldering from factories in a bleak, gloomy landscape. Using commonplaces, a representational, and temporal lens, these artifacts can be studied to balance talk of urgency with hopeful and creative ideas if we, as a society, are able to inspire positive change and finally put an end to this for good.

See an outline for the structure of the essay below!

• Introduce the severity of climate change and its impact on the world.
• Describe the two artifacts and discuss use of commonplaces, a representational, and temporal lens to analyze the issue at large.

• Discuss the hidden symbols and key takeaways from the first artifact (i.e., the hourglass).
• Emphasize the urgency to act as melted water (from glaciers) slowly submerges our world.

• Discuss the hidden symbols and key takeaways from the second artifact (i.e., the human head-like tree).
• Show how we are essentially “hiding” behind a mask and trying to ignore the devastating effects of climate change.
• Show how underneath the ground lives a factor-like and industrial setting that reflects the future of the world.

• Discuss the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and climate change and how it can be used to alleviate the effects of the issue (maybe consider mentioning something about AI in the introduction paragraph).

• End with something along the lines of “what can we do?” or “how will we take action against this issue in the future?” or “are we moving at a slow pace?”
• Underscore the importance of the issue and the urgency to act quickly.