To: HealthyPlanet

From: Ahmad Naweed Aryan

Cc: Cristina Gains
Subject: Stopping Global Warming
Date: June 24, 2009

Stopping Global Warming

Introduction:
One of the most controversial discussions of the current decade is the issue
of global warming. Global warming is defined as the rapid increase in the
average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere, oceans and landmasses.
Global warming is caused by a process called exaggerated greenhouse
effect. Greenhouse effect is caused when the heat energy of the sun is
trapped by greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and
water vapor are considered as greenhouse gases. Although a normal
greenhouse effect is necessary for sustaining life on the planet, increase in
the amount of greenhouse gases can cause an exaggerated greenhouse
effect and as a result create global warming. Global warming can have
severe negative impacts in the environment. These impacts include melting
of polar ice caps causing rise in the sea levels and flooding the coastal areas,
intense climatic changes, and distortion of the earth’s ecosystem.

Although everyone agrees that global warming is indeed happening, the

controversial discussion is whether it is a manmade or a natural process.
According to some scientists global warming is a natural process which has
happened in the past and will happen again. They present the medieval
warm period as an example of natural warm period and argue human role in
contributing to the global warming should be ignored. Majority of scientists
however, argue that global warming is a manmade process and it is causing
devastating effects on the environment and natural ecosystems. They
reason that human activities have brought up to the global warming because
humans have pumped a substantial amount of carbon dioxide, methane and
other greenhouse gases by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural
gas.

If we look at human activities it will become entirely obvious that humans are
playing a significant role in the problem of global warming by producing

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greenhouse gases. If you live in a big city you know how much pollution
humans are producing. We pollute the air by using cars, burning fossil fuel
and prevent filtering of the air by cutting trees. According to an article from
Encarta encyclopedia the amount of carbon dioxide has increased 35% since
1970. If we compare today’s climate to 20 years ago we will be astonished
how fast the climate is changing. We are witness to frequent storms, severe
droughts, diminishing glaciers and floods. If humans are not responsible for
this then why this change in the climate is happening so fast before our
eyes? By seeing the effects of what we do to the environment by our own
eyes and considering these phenomena we can be entirely confident that
global warming is a manmade process.

Because we are so sure about the role of humans in contributing to the

global warming we developed a visual argument depicting human role in this
phenomenon. Our target audiences are both governmental bodies and the
public. Because government may deny the role of humans in the global
warming issue, we also targeted public for our visual argument so the public
put pressure on the government to act. By designing our visual argument we
persuaded the public to help stop global warming. We drew the concern of
the public by showing their interests in danger if they do not act. In our
visual argument we considered different effective aspects such Logos,
Pathos and Ethos. Also the way the visual argument is designed, by bearing
in mind elements such as background, pictures, text sizes and text colors,
convey a powerful message to the audience and persuade them to accept
our the message of this visual.

Analysis:
We used a picture of the earth seen from the space as the background
picture for our visual. The reason for this decision was to utilize the “Pathos”
effect of the argument. Earth is a beautiful planet and is referred to as the
jewel of the solar system. If you compare it to the other planet you will agree
that this name for the earth is an appropriate name. By putting the picture of
the earth in the background we draw the empathy of the audience to the
beautiful earth and make them ready to act to save if from the calamities
that we have made to it. We have used three pictures accompanied by
some carefully designed text to draw attention of the viewer. The small
texts on the upper right corner of the visual argument list some of the
problems associated with the global warming. These are the things that are

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very important to the audience since it is related to their interests. “Rising
sea levels” for example is of great importance to the audience because most
of the world population is living in coastal areas. If there is a substantial rise
in the level of the oceans, it will definitely affect most of the people on the
planet and endanger their lives. So the audience can not be indifferent to
this message. Also there are other problems caused by global warming.
Drought threatens a large population of the planet who are living inland and
far from seas. Storms and flood threatens another large portion of the
population of the earth. In addition to these problems climatic changes affect
the output of the food production which will claim the lives of millions of
people. So, all of the audiences are somehow engaged in one or more of the
problems that is listed. By reading these messages the audience will think
about his own interests and is persuaded to accept the message that is
contained in the visual argument. Also we decided to show the results of one
of these problems by using a picture, because a picture is worth a thousand
words. We decided to show the effects of the rise in the sea levels which will
affect most of the people of the earth. By looking at the picture of a coastal
city which is invaded by the rising waves, the viewer pictures his own home
under water and is shocked by this situation that will happen if he is
indifferent about his role in global warming.

The pictures are chosen to have maximized effect on the viewer by the way
they are chosen a put together in order. The order of the pictures shows a
flow of problem, cause and solution. After the first picture that shows a city
invaded by the ocean we asked the question, “Who is RESPONSIBLE?” After
reading the question the audience seeks the answer for this question. The
word “RESPONSIBLE” is written in upper case letters and the size of the text
is bigger than the rest of the sentence. It makes an emphasis on the culprit.
It is the color of the text that shows the “responsible” is a culprit in this
scenario. In this case red color can be translated as war, conflict or blood.
The second picture and accompanying question give an indirect answer to
both the first question and to their own. The second picture show columns of
thick smoke that are emitting out of a factory. Of course it is clear that this
factory is a manmade structure. Its role to pollute the air is quite obvious.
The picture is accompanied on sides by two questions; the first one asks
“Does the EARTH betray US?”, and the second question reads “Or do WE
betray the EARTH?” Again the words “EARTH”, “US” and “WE” are written in
upper case letters and they are bigger than the rest of the sentence to
emphasize their importance. The words “US” and “WE” are written using red
color which shows conflict and blood. In contrast the word “EARTH” is written

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using blue color which shows piece and tranquility. It is also the color of the
earth as seen from the space. When the reader compares these two
questions, the texts, color of the texts and their accompanying picture with
the first question he finds an answer to these questions. He sees that the
words “RESPONSIBLE”, “WE” and “US” are written using color red which
shows conflict and blood. Also the way they accompany the second picture
proves that they are humans who betray the earth and that the earth is a
peaceful planet by its nature. By using this method we wanted the audiences
to find the answers to the questions by their own without a direct answer
from us and thus maximizing the persuasive nature of our argument.

The third picture which is also accompanied by a strong message to the

audiences has a significant effect on persuading the audiences to accept the
message which is embedded in the visual argument. We want to say that
although these problems are caused by us we shouldn’t loose hope. We want
to say it is not all over. We can change this situation and make the earth and
ourselves happy again. Because global warming not only harms us but also
the next generations, it is our duty to inherit a happy and nice planet for our
children. The first sentence accompanying the last picture reads “save the
NEXT GENERATION!” which is immediately accompanied by the second
sentence; “Save the PLANET!” It suggests that there is a connection
between saving the next generations and saving the earth. Because the
earth will be their home after we are gone and it is our duty to inherit them a
nice home. In these two sentences that we used the same method that were
used it the earlier questions namely using uppercase colored texts that are
bigger that the rest of the sentence. The words “NEXT GENERATIONS” is
written using pink color. It shows that there is still hope for our children and
we should not give up. Also the word “PLANET” is written using green color
which shows its kindness and hospitability. The last picture serves as
solution for the problem of global warming. It shows a picture of wind
turbines that are considered environmentally friendly source of energy. By
placing it at the last portion of our visual argument we indirectly proposed a
solution for the problem of global warming. We want to say that we can stop
global warming and save our children and our planet if we stop pumping
smokes into the air and use different kinds of renewable and environmentally
friendly energy sources.

And the last thing to mention is that there is a logo which shows two hands
holding the planet earth and caring it. If the audience is looking for more
information he can visit the website that is accompanying the global
warming issue. The address of the website is given following our logo.

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Conclusion:
By looking at the overall aspects of the visual argument that we considered
in this argument I believe that this visual argument can be very effective in
guiding the opinions of people toward the issue at hand. Because we utilized
the different elements of arguments such as Logos, Pathos and Ethos this
argument can deliver a strong message to the audiences. Also using of
accompanying texts and different color can strengthen the message within
it. We chose to ask questions from the audience rather than providing them
with the direct answers. The questions that are asked contain indirect
answers to themselves. The audience is encouraged to find the answers to
the questions by his own rather than swallowing an easy bit. This way when
the audience finds the answers to these questions by his own, it will have a
great impact on his beliefs and that is what we want.