George Joshua Richard Monbiot, age 45, is a journalist and author as well as an environmental and political activist from the United Kingdom. His book “Heat- How to stop the Planet from Burning” won the Italian Book prize Premio Mazzotti. Furthermore he received the UN Global 500 Award for Outstanding Environmentalist.
From the introduction and sections of chapter one of the book Heat, Monbiot begins by calling out environmentalist as hypocrites which I as a reader found amusing. However, he goes on to detail how more developed countries are the reasons to blame for the high emissions of carbon dioxide. This was exemplified through chapter one as he tells a story of Dr. Faustus and how he makes a deal with the devil to receive 24 years of special powers. Conversely, after the powers vanish in 24 years Dr. Faustus has to give his soul to the devil. The devil keeps his word and comes for Dr. Faustus. We as humans are much like Dr. Faustus in which we care for the present and disregard the future. We have taken earth for granted so to speak and in the near future risk the chance of losing our privilege to live on it to coincide with the story.
George Monbiot presents the reader with the rhetoric of pathos, ethos, and logos. The emotion of pathos is evident when Monbiot talks of the disappearing rain forest in South America, rising oceans, and increased temperatures that allow diseases to spread more readily. The emotions of fear are brought to the forefront by the author. This could be used by Monbiot as persuasion to act sooner rather than later. In order to present his information to the reader, he builds his foundation through the rhetoric of ethos or credibility. On page XXIII of the introduction, Monbiot states what he believes are trustworthy sources and gives background to the reader of his studies before writing this book. Lastly, he uses logos or information in his writings. I applaud him in his use of logos because he tells a story rather than giving the reader a stat sheet to dissect. His best use of logos comes on pages 18 and 19 where he presents the reader with visible graphs of carbon emissions over the years.
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I like how you used Monbiot's story about Dr. Faustus because I think that was one of his best ways to capture the attention of the reader. It was humorous, but in between the lines there is some truth within the story. Nice job.
ReplyDeletei like how you tied in the Dr. Faustus story with what he was trying to say about people
ReplyDeleteVery good detail of when he used each pathos egos and logos. I also agree with you about how you liked his writing by telling stories and not just spitting out stats.
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ReplyDeleteThe story about Dr. Faustus intrigued me as well. I thought he used a ton of pathos in his writing with all the visuals about the ocean rising, forests disappearing, ice caps melting, and on and on. I agree with the thought that he tells us a story, instead of just giving us complicated stats he gives us stats and then paints a picture of what would happen if we don't fix it giving the reader more to think about.
ReplyDeleteI think you brought up a very good point about how as humans we only care about the future and whats going on right now and disregard the past, and also the fact that we have taken this place for granted and everything it has to offer and it could be gone in the near future.
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