Environmental issues have always a very large part of society. People’s views are different and many confrontations have occurred because of these varying looks on things. Some people want the environment to go untouched while others could care less what resources are used, just as long as they get what they need when they want. The article “Arctic Eyewitness; When will we realize we can’t drill our way to cheap gas?” talks about one environmental issue that is currently in discussion. Is it ok to drill in The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge located in Alaska? The article discusses why it is not ok to do such a thing. The author by the name of Mary Essen is effective in his effort to convince his audience that the valued land in Alaska is definitely not ok to drill for oil.
Although the article that Essen wrote was published in a Buffalo, New York newspaper, I am going to say that his targeted audience is the American people, mainly oil users and potential voters. His main message is that drilling for oil in this precious land of Alaska because it harms the environment and the drilling will not help gas prices go down because the gas industry is a global economy and drilling in one part of the world, will not help the gas prices go down.
Mary Essen uses his ethos to help his argument be more valid and his attempt to convince the population that this drilling should be stopped.He has done lots of research regarding this topic and you know that by reading the article. He knows lots of information and facts about the issue that better supports his argument. He talks about Exxon Valdez and how oil spills harm the environment and that the Exxon Valdez spill in particular, can kill thousands of animals and destroy the habitat that many of these animals live in. He makes note of President George W. Bush’s unpopularity by saying, “What’s changed is that artificially high gas prices have made it easier for oil companies and the Bush administration to manipulate the Americans into supporting an energy policy that will lead to even greater oil industry profits.” He is looking down on President Bush’s administration by making it sound like he knows what is best for the American people and what president Bush is doing is completely wrong.
Essen talks about deity and how the Indian people view the land that is being drilled upon as the “sacred place where life begins.” This points out that God knows about this place and it should be treated with respect because it is a sacred place. Marty Essen relates his personal experience to the reader to help convince that he knows what he is talking about.He personally went to the location and spent time there and to see of its beauty. He and his wife were able to canoe down rivers on the The article makes the reader feel guilty and shameful for wanting lower gas prices and not for not really paying attention about the causes and effects that it would have on the environment. It also appeals to emotion by giving a very detailed description of the land that is being used for oil. Upon their arrival to the drilling sight, Essen describes, “A sickening brown haze told us we were nearing Prudhoe Bay.” This immediately put a vivid image in my mind that this beautiful land is being ruined by this nasty brown cloud of smoke. Nobody wants a thing of beauty to be destroyed by something that can potentially be stopped.
location and had the opportunity to admire the wild life that lives in the area.
Marty Essen appeals to emotion in many different ways. He makes the point, mentioned above, that drilling in Alaska will not drop the gas prices because gasoline is involved in a global economy. He says, “We can’t drill our way to cheap gas. We can, however, with only a minor conservation effort, save more oil than we’d ever pump out of the Arctic Refuge. And if we put a full effort into weaning ourselves off oil, we won’t be passing the problem on to future generations.” This points out that it will effect the future of America.
Essen also talks about that this may affect the wildlife near you. In this important land, Essen exclaims, “More than 50 species of migrating birds hatch their chicks. Many of those birds will migrate to a park, forest of body of water near you.” This personally relates to many people that have birds around where they live. They will want them to continue to stick around and the drilling in Alaska could potentially cause that to not happen anymore.
Marty Essen is successful in using his sense of reasoning that the drilling in the Alaskan land in the sense that it is not necessary because it will not change the gas prices. His timing in writing the article is important because gas prices are a very large national issue. He is logical in his analogy between the size of the drilling factory and the cob webs in a house. Two different measurements are taken when explaining the size of the drilling area. They are 4,240 acres and 640,000 acres. Essen explains, “Imagine you come home from vacation and find cobwebs in every room, stretching from chair to chair and from wall to wall. You consult two friends - - an oil company lobbyist and an environmentalist. They lobbyist says, “The webs are thin. Let them me. You’ll still have most of the house to yourself.” The environmentalist says, “My dear friend, you have a spider problem!”” This is a logical explanation on the measurement of the oil field.
In conclusion, Essen used ethos, pathos, and logos in an effective way to convince the reader that drilling on this precious Alaskan territory can be harmful to the environment. He calls for action using a sense of patriotism. After reading the article, readers will walk away with a different outlook on gas prices and that drilling for more oil will not effect the price of gas in America.
The article that I found was one concerning the extensive population growth in America. It focused on myths about overpopulation as well as facts and falsities about the subject. It talked about why there is overpopulation and the largest reason for it was people who have immigrated here and have children that they are unable to comfortably take care of.
I chose this article through the advanced search in the EBSCO database. I was looking for articles published within the past six months and were not too scientific and hard to understand. This was a friendly article to me because there were many simple illustrations, graphs, and charts that helped me understand facts about overpopulation.
The process I used was pretty simple. It was explained to me by the librarian in the tutorial given in class. I went onto the Harold B. Lee Library web page, chose the EBSCO database, went into the advanced search section and typed in the specific criteria that I wanted to have come up in my article.
The library instruction session was extremely helpful to me because I never knew that those resources were available to me. I will use them for many papers in my future. The scholarly journals were extremely helpful and in my other classes, we need to cite similar journals that I will be able to find through the helpful information that was taught to me in those two class periods.
The advertisement I chose was a commercial aired during the baseball playoffs on TBS. It was an under armour commercial and it started by showing many professional athletes training with all of this high tech equipment. They were of course decked out in under armour gear and the camera zoomed in close at the various clothing and equipment they were wearing showing off the under armour logo (i.e. shoes, cleats, skull caps, tight fit under shirts, shorts, etc.). All of the athletes then assembled under a skyscraper and an enormous football player went to the top of the building and gave a speech in his low raspy football player voice. It pumped the rest of the athletes up to do better and his last line was, "we are the best, we are under armour, the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuture is ours!!!!" Then the congregation jumped up and down and went crazy.
The speaker was the under armour company. The message was to buy under armour gear and equipment.
The target audience was athletes looking to buy sports apparel and equipment and other athletes who are using a different brand of sporting goods and clothing to switch over to under armour. They targeted this audience because the people they used in the commercial are professional athletes themselves and are sponsored by under armour. They made it look appealing because all of the athletes are huge and ripped. They made them look sweaty to enhance their muscles and to show that the best athletes wear and use under armour stuff. The under armour company wouldn't target people who aren't athletes because there is no need for them to use under armour equipment.
Ethos- I think the ethos was done very well in this ad. The person who talked was a very well known professional football player for the Baltimore Ravens named Ray Lewis. Any person who is interested in sports knows of him and when he spoke people recognized that he endorses under armour. Because he is so ripped, the skin tight apparel made him look so sweet. This caught the audiences eye because they would think that if they wear under armour apparel too, they will look like him and be able to show their muscles off. Nike makes similar products but under armour has cool designs on the outside which sets under armour apart from nike. The audience notices this and it looks cool. At the end of the commercial, Ray Lewis gives a speech saying that under armour is the future. If he says it, shouldn't we wear it?
Pathos- Many emotions were felt while watching this advertisement. The music was hard core metal that would pump you up before an athletic event. This emotion of a somewhat adrenaline rush made me want to get up and go do something physical. It got my heart going and kept me interested in what was coming up. When the athletes were training in abnormal ways, such as running with chains attached to tires, doing pull ups on electrical wires, and other ways, an emotion felt was aggresiveness. You wanted to be them and do what they are doing and take what they have. Their opportunities, their body, their job, and all of their equipment.
Logos- Uder armour used simple logic when making this commercial. Some things they used was that if professional athletes use under armour gear, shouldn't the normal athlete? It is obvious that if they are going to use under armour, it makes them better and in order to improve your personal game, it is important to do everything like the pros. One simple thing is to wear what they wear. That is simple logic and it persuades people to buy under armour gear.
This ad was extremely effective for the intended audience. It used quality ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade me to want to purchase under armour products to better my game.
