A major issue that has popped up due to humanity’s actions has potentially caused one of the most dangerous threats to humans: climate change. The rising climate has caused numerous different issues throughout the world. One blog post from HealthAffairs breaks down the issues that have risen from the warming earth. David Introcaso, the writer of the article: “Climate Change Is The Greatest Threat To Human Health In History”, describes the problems that can or have already occurred as a result of climate change.
The article falls under the genre of a blog, as the article was posted under the blog section of the HealthAffairs website. This article was made to promote the dangers of the ever-growing climate on human health. The author provides various examples highlighted from the Obama Administration’s 2016 report. Topics include severe storms, the rising seas, drought and fires, as well as increased temperatures. While making this article, the author uses formal language and an informative tone to help try and convince the reader that climate change was far worse that what they may have assumed. An example of this in the author’s blog post is: “Studies show the current reality is for CO2 emissions to continue climb through 2040. This is due largely to China, Russia and Canada’s current energy policies that, if unchanged, will drive global warming above 5°C before the end of this century.” (Introcaso) All of this culminates into the rhetoric that argues for becoming more aware of the impending dangers that can arise. The author acknowledges that it will inevitably happen, but that should not defeat the point of the post’s purpose: to inform how climate change can and will affect us, and that measures have to be made to mitigate the damage. The author says this quote: “We have been robbing the planet. It’s only a question of how harsh or definitive the penalty will be. Nature bats last.” (Introcaso) This line, more specifically “bats last” is meant to imply how nature will stand on top in the end, dooming us before we can destroy it intentionally or not.
While reading this blog post in the website online, it was interesting to try and think about what stance the author had. Is he being more critical of what is happening? Is his post a warning instead? These questions help us determine the stance and what the author’s overall message is. Judging from the author’s words, and how he conveys the message through a mix of informative and critical tones, I can see that the author’s stance is to warn us about what is going to happen. An example used from the text is:
Rising seas or flooding compromises drinking water, human waste water treatment and storm water disposal that, in turn, results in increased risk of waterborne diseases caused by pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and protozoa… Waterborne diseases may actually be underestimated by as much as 43-fold and by up to 143 times for Vibrio species, for example, Vibrio cholerae Severe storm events also means increased food contamination via increases in the transport of pathoge such as salmonella and noroviruses. (Introcaso)
This piece of text show that he is warning the reader of the dangers climate change will bring in the near future. A contamination of drinking water is a very dire thing, but it becomes even more serious if the contamination may be underestimated. In the bigger sense of the blog post, it breaks down what can happen in the near future. However, judging by the how the author never suggested a solution or a way to minimize damage, the post is here to warn people and in some way, criticize countries that contribute to this crisis. The blog post says:
Studies show the current reality is for CO2 emissions to continue climb through 2040. This is due largely to China, Russia and Canada’s current energy policies that, if unchanged, will drive global warming above 5°C before the end of this century. At 4°C, for example, 44 percent of vertebrates lose half their geographic range, plants and insects over two-thirds, global grain yields fall dramatically, the world’s economy contracts by 30 percent and excess hyperthemia deaths in the US increase by over 700 percent. (Introcaso)
This paragraph is a criticism that state: “if these countries continue, then the climate change effects will only get worse.” (Inrtocaso)
A few more things to consider is the effect the medium has and what the rhetorical situation outlined in this blog post is. As a medium, a blog post is meant to provide information or introduce a topic. In this case, the medium is meant to give the idea of what is going to happen in the future, helping us by introducing a topic that may have never passed through our minds. Examples of this are shown throughout the post, such as: “ For example, should temperatures increase to 1.5°C, the report found of 105,000 species studied, four percent of vertebrates, six percent of insects and eight percent of plants would lose half of their climatically-determined geographic range.” (Introcaso) This example is meant to help raise awareness, which helps us to highlight the rhetorical situation. Here, the rhetorical situation is the seemingly uninterested or unaware view of climate change on humanity. This blog post is meant to solve this by introducing the idea of the effects climate change has on our lives. This can be shown in the conclusion portion of Introcaso’s post where he states:
US efforts to avoid what the world’s leading climate scientists increasingly describe as total dystopia remain anemic. Beyond the damage done by the president’s efforts, recent state efforts to limit greenhouse pollution via increased dependence on renewables, a ban on new drilling and a carbon tax failed respectively, in Arizona, a California county and in Washington largely due to the fossil fuel industry spending over $60 million in opposition. (Introcaso)
In the end, Introcaso is trying to give some awareness to this topic and not exclude or dismiss it, like what some countries may be doing.
In the end, the author wrote this blog post to warn about the looming danger we will face in the coming years. The effect of climate change he has written about climate change is to emphasize how dangerous it will become. Perhaps countries can slow down the eventual danger of climate change? Only time will tell.
Work cited:
Introcaso, David. Health Affairs: Leading Publication Of Health Policy Research & Insight, 10 Dec. 2018, www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20181218.278288/full/.
