Effects of Climate Change on Wildlife

In class, we watched and discussed the Shock Doctrine Short Film by Naomi Klein and Alfonso Cuaron.  The short film, directed by Jonas Cuaron, is a visual response to Klein’s book of the same name which discusses America’s use of “disaster capitalism” to take advantage of disaster-shocked people.  Given the shocking nature of the topic, it was presumed that Klein and Cuaron would use strong visual media, and they did not disappoint.

The film starts with old footage of psychiatry videos discussing electroshock therapy, including graphic images of patients undergoing shock treatment.  Klein discusses the use of the electroshock therapy to reduce patients to a “child-like state” while images of these patients writhing around their beds are shown.  These opening images are a powerful opening the piece; you question how exactly this old psychiatric footage will relate to anything happening in the current time.  One specific clip of a man being shocked is used continually throughout the film to relate the physical shock he is experiencing to the emotional shock that occurs during a disaster event. 

Another powerful sequence in the film discusses how the CIA used the psychiatric basis of shock therapy to incorporate new torture techniques.  A series of images originally from a CIA manual are shown to demonstrate the number of techniques used.  However, instead of just showing these images, they are animated in the film to more clearly depict what is happening.  The use of this animation allows the filmmakers to add “humorous” details to emphasize the cruelty of the acts.  Words appear such as “wakey-wakey” during sleep deprivation, “drink up” during simulated drowning, and “aim well” as a man’s knee is shattered.

Perhaps the strongest use of visual media in the film occurs towards the end of the film as Klein lists a number of disaster examples.  Images are shown of these various events (9-11, Iraq, international coups) while facts and statistics regarding economics and deaths flash about the screen.  When we viewed the film in class, many people complained about how fast these facts come and go.  I’ve watched the film three times now and still can’t remember any of the facts, but in doing so, I realized that perhaps that is the point.  The quickness with which the words and images change increases the shock factor that they have on the audience, emphasizing Klein’s point that people can be controlled by shock.  Watching a movie is rarely shocking, but being bombarded with so many words and images is.  I think that controlling the audience’s shock towards the material in the short film helps emphasize the entire subject, and honestly, it was enough to make me want to read the book.

Since first defining my topic for this blog and the entirety of the ENGCMP 420 class, my thoughts have developed into something completely different than what I had originally intended.  With each writing project that is assigned, my thoughts become more detailed and refined.  Here’s an update on what I’ve done so far and where I stand in the context of my work. 

 One of my biggest issues during the memo assignment was in defining my audience.  Since the topic of wildlife devastation caused by global warming is a global problem, it was difficult for me to specify one particular audience to work with.  In thinking about what I would actually do as a risk communication effort, I realized that a more focused audience wouldn’t detract from the piece.  Rather, a concentrated audience would help shape the material being given such that it can clearly be used in a certain context.   

 In the end, I decided to make my risk communication audience be non-children visiting the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium.  Choosing this audience made sense since people visiting the zoo should be more interested in problems facing the animals that they are physically seeing at the time the material is given to them.  Having a local audience also allows me to specify certain problems facing animals in the region.  Through the issue analysis and press release projects, I was able to continue making specific designations for what my risk communication efforts would entail, using the zoo as the background for all of my work. 

 Another important development from the press releases was the establishment of a fictional non-profit organization in order to legitimize my risk communication plan.  The idea of “A Changing Future for Wildlife” is to both give credibility to my press releases and to allow me to rationalize the use of information around the country.  The use of this fictional organization has really helped me to be freer in my writing.  Before, I felt constrained by my personal authority, specifically my lack-there-of.  With the development of a credible organization, it makes sense that I would send out press releases and newsletters since that is the company’s purpose. 

 While working on the newsletter project I have had some difficulties focusing on what would be important enough to A) rationalize sending a mailing to my audience and B) cause my audience to pay attention and read the mailing.  The second problem specifically is greatly helped with the use of visual rhetoric; if a person sees an interesting picture on a piece of mail, maybe they will be more likely to continue reading.  Overall, with the development of a specific audience and the establishment of technical credibility (albeit fictional), my project has progressed to a much more legitimate topic than when first started.

Throughout the film “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore uses powerful images to emphasize his position on global warming.  These images come in many forms, from photos to charts and graphs.  One of the most powerful images is the chart that depicts the CO₂ concentration and temperature over the past 650,000 years.  This graph supports Gore’s main claim that the average carbon dioxide concentrations and temperatures in current times are much higher than at any other time in history.  It is one of the examples of a more technical image in the piece.  Gore tends to focus on a less technical audience, understandable since the movie could reach a wide audience that has no knowledge of science.  Other than the chart itself, Gore’s use of a scissor-lift to reach the top of the graph leaves the greatest impression, emphasizing the fact that the current results are “off the charts”.  The sight of the graph trends through the years, and the current standings, say more than any words on the topic could.

Another visual device, which I have discussed in my other post, is the “Futurama” cartoon defining global warming.  This cartoon is used to reiterate, in simple terms, the explanation of global warming that had previously given by Gore.  As I previously stated, I was not a fan of the forced humor that came with the piece, but in context, the animation is used as an important rhetorical device.  Having a working definition of global warming is integral in establishing the issue span of Gore’s argument.  Since the film audience may not understand any technical terms used in a formal definition, a cartoon is a simple way of presenting the information.

Finally, an example of photos used in the film is the comparison pictures of glaciers in the past and present.  This series of photos clearly show how glaciers around the world have melted significantly over time.  These photos help to emphasize Gore’s problem span since they highlight the point that the environment is changing and the world is getting warmer.  It is probably the least technical way to present the information; since photos are purely visual and involve little/no interpretation, it is difficult to dispute the fact that the photos change over time.  Because there is no interpretation involved, these photos are probably some of the more powerful images used.

Images are often used in rhetorical situations to emphasize an argument in a way that words cannot.  For my topic, images and other visual representations can be used to help the audience see the problem at hand, not just read about it.  Here are examples of two photograph images and an explanatory animation that I could use in my documents. 

Image 1) Glacier sign

This image is of a sign at a glacier park in New Zealand that clearly depicts the dangers of the melting glaciers.  While it is not directly related to the wildlife aspect of my topic, it does say a lot about global warming.  This photo would probably be most effective in conjunction with a poster type presentation of my topic since it brings humor that will not fit in as well with the written documents I have so far.  I think it would show people the dangers of these melting glaciers, since it is obviously enough of a problem to have a sign posted about it.  However, I could see many people being distracted by the humorous aspect of the sign and questioning whether it is real or not.  I suppose if I include a statement on how the problem of melting glaciers is serious enough that there are danger signs for it, it would prove the validity of the photo as well as emphasizing the seriousness of the problem. 

 Visual 2) Polar bear animation from An Inconvenient Truth

If giving a presentation or making some sort of film about my topic, the polar bear animation from An Inconvenient Truth could be a valuable resource.  The animation depicts a polar bear swimming in the ocean and trying to rest upon some ice, which in turn breaks and melts because of increasing water temperatures.  The polar bear is forced to continue swimming with no foreseeable resting area in sight.  The use of the animation would be a simple way to demonstrate some of the problems I discuss in my writings about melting sea ice in the arctic.  Since the animation is so simple and direct, I don’t foresee there being too many problems that would arise from the audience.  If anything, I see a problem with the animation being so directed on one tiny aspect of the problem that perhaps the audience won’t understand the full effect. 

 Image 3) Icelandic Reindeer

This photo shows an image of an Icelandic Reindeer.  In my issue analysis, I briefly discuss reindeer and other similar animals and how they are suffering from malnutrition due to decreasing vegetation.  This photo could help to emphasize that point.  Personally, I feel like the reindeer looks awkwardly small, and there is little greenery, thus highlighting the lack of vegetation.  I see the most problems with this photo because the effectiveness of it is clearly based on the audience’s perception; it is not as clear-cut as the others.  Just because I think the lack of vegetation is apparent doesn’t mean my audience will view things the same way.  Perhaps if I had an explanatory caption, or made specific reference to the photo and its context in the accompanying document, the audience will view it the way I do.

Unlike some of my classmates, I was very excited to get a chance to finally watch An Inconvenient Truth.  Since the movie came out, I have heard many positive things about it from friends (to use a term pegged in class, I have a number of flaming, hippy liberal environmentalist friends), and just never got the chance to see it.  Overall, I was rather pleased with the documentary as a whole, though I, like everyone else in the class, had some issues with certain aspects of the piece.

An Inconvenient Truth has two main components to it; the presentation on global warming that Al Gore gives to groups around the world and shorter autobiographical sections dispersed throughout the presentation.  The autobiographical scenes are, on a base level, obvious demonstrations of the democratic approach to risk communication, humanizing Gore and lessening the view of Gore as a technical expert.  While some of these scenes seemed a little out-of-place and unnecessary, many of them serve purposes beyond the basic appeal to the audience’s pathos and ethos.  One of these autobiographical segments discusses Gore’s college professor, one of the first scientists to notice the trends of global warming starting in the 1950’s, and how he shaped Gore’s future environmentalist efforts.  Rather than viewing this as a way of humanizing Gore as it may have been intended, I saw this as Gore establishing his technical expertise.  Honestly, I did not know what qualified Al Gore to become the leading environmentalist of the day.  The majority of Al Gore’s political career occurred during my childhood and earlier, so while I grew up knowing who he was, I had no idea that he held the first congressional hearings greenhouse gases back in the 1970’s.  Perhaps if I was older and had known all of this, I would find this section of the film as somewhat self-promoting and very focused on Gore’s politics.  However, from my point of view, this section was a necessity in establishing the scientific credibility that I had always been unsure of.

Another autobiographical scene that I found particularly useful was the description of Gore’s sister’s death from lung cancer.  While showing old photos of his family’s tobacco farm, Gore tells the story of how his family continued growing tobacco in spite of the Surgeon General’s warnings and did not regret it until his sister’s death from a lifetime of smoking.  Personally, while this is an obvious appeal to the pathos, ethos, and logos of the audience, the parallels of smoking and global warming as social pandemics really helped establish a comparative risk analysis for me.  My generation has grown up knowing the dangers of smoking, but our parent’s generation saw smoking go from a social norm to a grave danger.  After watching this film, I can see how global warming is our generation’s smoking.  The health dangers of smoking always existed, but until scientific proof came out, the public was unaware and uncaring.  Even with scientific backing of the dangers, smoking is still a rampant problem, and many people are so ingrained in their ways that they refuse to make a change.  Similarly, greenhouse gases and global warming have been harming our environment for an extensive period of time, but we the public have not known about it.  Now that we are becoming more aware, and we have significant scientific research that has informed us that we are part of the problem and has given us solutions to alleviate said problem, many still choose to disregard this and continue living in ignorance.  Perhaps when we are grown and can clearly see the changes that occurred in our lifetime, we too will regret not taking action sooner.

Many of my classmates wanted more of a focus on the “other side” of the global warming debate.  While I agree that more acknowledgement of the non-anthropogenic aspects of global warming would have been nice, I feel like acknowledging an “other side” would significantly weaken every argument Gore makes.  I can recognize that this is mainly based on my personal opinions toward the subject; regardless of any bias evidenced here or in any other outlet, I believe that it is fact that humans have drastically amplified the effects of global warming.  In not regarding the “other side” of global warming, I believe that Gore is showing that he is aware of his audience.  A person who is drastically against Gore’s beliefs, either political or environmental, is not going to watch this documentary by his/her own free will.  That being said, if Gore’s audience inherently believes and agrees with his opinions, why should he acknowledge something he believes is fictional?  The only thing I would have liked to see would be more projections of what would be happening minus the anthropogenic aspects of global warming (i.e. how many of those glaciers would have still melted?).

My only other complaint was the use of the Matt Groening, Futurama cartoon to explain global warming.  Part of my annoyance comes from the fact that I viewed Gore’s initial explanation as a very comprehensive yet simplistic definition, and I didn’t see the necessity in having a cartoon that said the same exact thing that Gore just said.  However, I do understand the purpose of the cartoon, and agree that a cartoon is a good way of making the science behind global warming more easy to comprehend.  If the cartoon used would not have been from Futurama, my annoyance would probably be lessened.  Personally, I feel that the cartoon had too much forced humor and did not follow the tone of the rest of the documentary.  We watched a cartoon clip from Bowling for Columbine, and while that clip was significantly more over the top, it seemed more in the style and tone of Michael Moore.  Al Gore used short quips to add humor to his presentation, but his humor is nothing like Futurama, and the combination of the two just did not blend for me.

In the end, I think that An Inconvenient Truth is a very effective piece of risk communication regarding anthropogenic global warming.  It clearly defined the science behind the problem in simplistic, audience-friendly ways and gave solutions on how to create change on a personal level (though these solutions probably should have been included more prior to the closing credits).   Regardless of personal opinions, I believe that if more people gave this film a chance, they would be able to get valuable information from it.  If nothing else, it is interesting to see images like the old and current glacier pictures, because most of us haven’t seen proof that things are changing.

The selections I read from the book “How to Write Powerful Press Releases” by Judith Welsh introduced me to the format of press releases, which I have had no experience with before.  The press releases that will be written should contain basic who, what, where, when, why information, but should also include more thought into what I want to get across to my audience.  So far, here are a few ideas I have for the project: 

1)  A press release introducing the blog/information/ “company”.  One of the reasons for sending a press release, as stated in the reading, is to promote a product.  If I were to start thinking of myself as running some sort of company, the first thing I would probably want to do is put my name out to the public.  Here I would want to address a wider audience than many of my pieces, perhaps to get more interest from related organizations.  I would have to think more about who I would want to address specifically though, as it would change the information I am sending. 

2)  A press release focusing on a specific current topic in my area of expertise.  If I find a recent article concerning global warming and wildlife, I could write a press release focused on educating the public on that current problem.  Again, this could be for a large audience since I am just generally educating with no real agenda other than perhaps spinning to topic to associate it with my work. 

3)  A press release announcing my plan to release my information as outlined in my previous projects.  This is perhaps the most thought out of my ideas so far.  In my memo and issue analysis, I have been discussing my audience as people visiting the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium.  In going along with this, if I were to be presenting my material there, in whatever form, it would seem logical to send out a press release announcing this.  This press release would be aimed specifically to people associated with my target audience, since I would want zoo visitors to be aware of my material being present there. 

The introduction of the press release project has really changed my whole outlook on this piece as a whole.  To imagine my writing as a plan for a fictional company to do actual (fictional) work really does change the entire tone of how I have been writing, both on this blog and in my assignments.  I am still unsure of how I will end up incorporating some of my ideas into my pieces, but I may be making some changes soon, so be on the lookout.

Here is a simple description of my project written in the A but B format:

A) Animals around the world are facing displacement and malnourishment due to the affects of global climate change but B) People are either unaware or unwilling to help alleviate the problem because they do not see the connection between the animals’ lives and their own.

The article, “Risk Communication, the West Nile Virus Epidemic, and Bioterrorism”, describes key features that are essential in producing an effective risk communication issue analysis.  These features are described in a highly technical manner, making the piece different than many of the other articles we have read thus far.  A main focus of the article is the need to be aware of your audience in order to get your point across.  We have discussed this importance very often in class, and the article gives more insight into this problem by presenting theoretical models of risk communication.  These models are as follows:

· The Risk Perception Model – where the audiences perception of what is being said greatly impacts their reaction to the information (often in a negative way)

· The Mental Noise Model – where the information leads the audience to be inundated with “mental noise”, a strong mental or emotional  reaction to the news that renders the audience unable to rationally act

· The Negative Dominance Model – where the negative aspects of a piece far outweigh the positive aspects

· The Trust Determination Model – where the audience’s reception of the information is greatly swayed based on the trustworthiness of the risk communicator

All of these models are very important in my work as a risk communicator.  Firstly, I will need to be aware of how the risks I discuss will be perceived by my audience.  As stated in the article, “When present, outrage factors take on strong moral and emotional overtones, predisposing an individual to react emotionally, which can, in turn, significantly amplify levels of perceived risk.”  While some outrage will be necessary in order to grab the audience’s attention, it is important to not stir the emotions of the audience too much or else they will be lost.  The Mental Noise and Negative Dominance Models will hopefully be easy to avoid by not laying out too much technical information and remembering to include positive messages in my piece.  Primarily, I will need to keep the Trust Determination Model in mind since this is one of the bigger problems for technical writers.  We often discuss in class how many people distrust scientific experts and large amounts of technical information.  The argument is summed up affectively in the article by saying, “Government officials, industry representatives, and scientists often complain that non-experts and lay people irrationally respond to risk information and do not accurately perceive and evaluate risk information^{(2, 19)}.  Representatives of citizen groups, worker groups, and individual citizens, in turn, often question the legitimacy of the risk assessment or risk management process”.  I hope that being aware of who my audience is and how they are thinking will help me break my technical writing habits and gain a certain amount of trust and credibility with my audience. 

The case studies used show both effective and ineffective examples of risk communication.  With the West Nile Virus situation, the proper people did their best in getting all the information they could to the public, but information was not clear and was over many people’s heads, leading to a “mental noise” problem.  The information in this case helps show how it is necessary to use visual aids such as charts and graphs to explain some of the more technical aspects of a risk.  The bioterrorism case study dealt mainly with the perceived risk, as many people would panic since the situation is not under their control.  Overall, I think the most important idea to take from this article is that the risk communicator needs to aware of the audience, how they might view your risk communication efforts, and how to alleviate their potential fears.

            The article “Introduction: Examining the Blog-Media Relationship” by Mark Tremayne briefly discusses the interaction between new, online forms of communication and traditional media outlets.  It begins by telling the story of a sixteen-year-old whose Myspace page entries caught outside attention and ended up being broadcast on national news.  Even though this story is only meant as an example to open an entire book on blogging, it is a good example of how quickly ideas can be spread on the internet.  This accessibility is something that worries me slightly about this blog; it will be necessary to double check the accuracy of anything I post because you never know who will see it.  What may initially seem to be a personal endeavor can very easily be seen by anyone throughout the world.

            The relationship between blogs and traditional media outlets is an ever changing one.  The article discusses examples of how bloggers have had major impacts on news stories from traditional outlets.  One such example was the infamous Dan Rather controversy where he ran a false story regarding the president’s military record.  It really proves the idea of the “wisdom of crowds” in that average people were able to unlock the falsities of the story, a story that was produced by a typically reliable traditional media source.  The article also shows how it is no longer necessary to be in the traditional media in order to have the “authority” to break news stories.  It is very similar situation to this blog since I have no expertise on global warming and wildlife, but the internet allows me to seem as if I do.

            The second article, “Blogging for Better Health: Putting the ‘Public’ Back in Public Health”, uses a sample of 47 mental health related blogs to determine some statistics about blogging.  In this sample, the majority of bloggers were young (percentages went down each decade from 20-30 to 50+) and female.  Most of these bloggers were the “patients”, the people personally afflicted by the health problems, and created their blogs in order to discuss their problems and potentially support others similarly troubled.  The results of this blogging were usually positive, connecting the bloggers with a discourse community through which they were comfortable sharing their stories.  Personally, I am quite fond of public health blogs and forums.  Just this week I have been having an allergic reaction to something, and in just a few minutes of Googling, I was able to discern that my reaction was from a shot I had just gotten at the doctors.  The increased availability of health information has been extremely effective in aiding the general public in diagnosing a multitude of problems.

            Overall, the discussion in this article had to do with personal, narrative-style blog, which is not really the same focus as this blog.  To a certain extent, there will be more personal responses to readings that follow this pattern, but it should be more of a formal setting than these mental-health blogs.  What is similar about the mental health blogs and this blog is the feeling that the blog brings a message that is not typically found in traditional media outlets.  For public health issues, people generally blog because they feel that there is something they can bring to the discourse community that has not been brought by typical means (doctors, experts, traditional media).  Similarly, the purpose of this project in risk communication has to do with presenting a problem in a new light, to a new audience, in a way that is not generally available.  Hopefully this blog will present an outlook on global warming that is different than what is traditionally heard in the media.

Here is a brief outline of the research and sources that I have used so far in developing my project.

I decided to work on the topic about global warming/climate change and its effect on animal habitats.  There is much more research to support this topic than to support my other topic option.  I am still not sure if I want to focus on a specific type of animal or ecosystem; once I get more research done on the topic I will have a better idea on whether or not I can narrow it down further.

So far, I have found a number of books that discuss animals and climate change.  These will be my first set of sources for the project.  Once I go over the material in these books, I am hoping I will have a more specific view of what I should look for in specific journal articles.  These books include:

·         Arris, Lelani, Jim Berner & Carolyn Symon; Arctic Climate Impact Assessment; Cambridge University Press; 2005.

o   This book should have information on the destruction of Arctic regions, which was my initial intent for this project

·         Claussen, Eileen, Vicki Cochran & Dera Davis; Climate Change: Science, Strategies, & Solutions; BRILL; 2001.

o   This book is more of an overview of the entire global warming/climate change problem but also has sections devoted to animal habitats and ecosystems.  I also hope that this source will offer more solutions to help me build my argument.

·         McCarthy, James; Climate Change 2001: Impacts Adaptation, and Vulnerability; Cambridge University Press; 2001.

o   Again, another book focused more on climate change but with a chapter on the effects on animals

In doing just a general search on my topic, I found a number of brief new articles that deal with different issues regarding animals and climate change.  I am not sure how many of these smaller articles I will use as sources, but for now, I will continue to look at articles from these sites for further inspiration:

·         www.livescience.com

·         www.exploratorium.edu

·         www.sciencedaily.com

·         www.nature.com

Other specific resources I intend to use include information from the Environmental Protection Agency, World Wide Fund for Nature, and any other environment or wildlife interest groups that I discover during my research.