'Rhetorical Analysis Of Climate Change' By Al Gore

As climate change becomes a bigger issue, many individuals find themselves terrified at the thought of a destroyed, uninhabitable earth. These fearful emotions often lead to bleak outlooks on the future, causing people lose hope in the human race’s ability to improve. To combat this, head of the Climate Reality Project, Al Gore, gave a lecture at TED2016 on why people need to be optimistic about climate change. In this lecture, Al Gore makes an effective argument for a positive environmental outlook by supporting his talk with facts that appeal to the audience 's emotions, while also demonstrating his credibility.

Al Gore begins his talk with a bit of humor to lighten the mood. He explains, “I was excited to be a part of the ‘Dream’ [section], and then I found out I 'm leading off the ‘Nightmare?’ section of it” (Gore). Here, he is referencing peoples already negative stigma towards climate issues, as his talk was classified as a “nightmare” on the event’s line up only because of its topic of focus. He continues to say, “And certainly there are things about the climate crisis that qualify. And I have some bad

The first of which is where he starts his argument, and he uses a pathos appeal to get the audience thinking about the current state of the climate. He says, the accumulated amount of man-made, global warming pollution that is up in the atmosphere now traps as much extra heat energy as would be released by 400,000 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs exploding every 24 hours, 365 days a year” (Gore). Not only that a ridiculous amount of energy, but by making a connection to a tragic, massive killing like the one at Hiroshima, he appeals to the listeners’ fears, and grabbing their attention. The contrast between the answer to this question and the next ones that follow is very distinct, as he is positive the rest of the