An Appeal to a Generation

1325 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Earthquakes _____

The essay “Lessons From Lost Worlds” was written by Jared Diamond, a Pulitzer prize-winning author, physiologist, and ecologist. In the article, Diamond discusses his thoughts on the past, present, and future environmental issues of the world and how history could play a role in prevent future disasters. As the piece opens, he appeals to emotion by using his children as a real life example. By using specific cases of collapsed ancient civilizations he appeals to the reader through logic. Diamond effectively uses both appeals to logic and to emotion by giving hard-hitting facts and close-to-home examples that drive home his “cautiously optimistic” message of the world’s ability to prevent future environmental issues.

One of the convincing methods Diamond uses is the appeal to emotion. Emotionally charged words and phrases are used to persuade readers by invoking strong feelings within them. While his use of logic can sway the audiences’ minds, it is also very important to sway their hearts as well. By using vivid emotions like fear and hope, he strikes his audience right in the heart.

Fear is undoubtably one of the strongest emotions, a fact in which Diamond uses to his advantage. He taps into the things that his readers are familiar with, such as nuclear warfare and globalization, and forces them to consider the ‘what ifs’. Diamond states, “...terrorists could at worst kill ‘only’ a few tens of millions of us. The even greater environmental problems that could do in all our children are ... global warming and land and water degradation”. In that passage he uses the common anxiety of terrorism to show how worried he feels people should be regarding environmental issues. Diamond also speaks of globalization in relation to te...

... middle of paper ...

...re evident when paired with articles that echo similar evidence. One of the greatest strengths of the essay is the structured and cohesive examples Diamond gives. The information is laid out in a logical, informative manner which gives the piece a solid frame. Another strength is his expansive vocabulary which allows him to place the most appropriate phrases in the most effective spots. Diamond’s article well pairs emotion and logic together in a compelling way that resonates with his readers, resulting in an informative and interesting essay.

Works Cited

Diamond, Jared. “Lessons from Lost Worlds.” Time 26 Aug. 2002: A54+. Academic OneFile. Web. 23 Nov. 2009.

“Giants of Easter Island.” Dir. Graham Townsley. Digging for the Truth. History Channel, 2005. DVD.

“The Rise and Fall of the Mayan Empire.” Science@NASA Headline News. 4 Nov. 2004. Web. 5 Jan. 2011.

Show More
Related

  • The Last Americans: Environmental Collapse And The End Of Civilization, By Jared Diamond

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jared Diamond is born in Boston on 1937. He is a physiologist, ecologist, and a prolific writer. Diamond has published hundreds of articles that is about science. Not only that Diamond is a writer, but he also received his Bachelor’s Degree at Harvard University in 1958 and PHD at Cambridge University in 1961. Diamond is currently working at UCLA as a professor of geography and physiology. He has done many research about ecology and the evolutionary of biology in New Guinea and many other southwest Pacific islands. Diamond has done many projects in his career. He is also a field researcher and director of the World Wildlife Fund. No only he published hundreds of articles, but he also wrote many essay in his life. One of his essay that he shared to the public is called, “The Last Americans: Environmental Collapse and the End of Civilization.” Diamond wrote this essay on June 2003. The essay that Diamond wrote is about the environment and how it is failing miserably.

    Read More

  • Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond

    1506 Words  | 4 Pages

    The environmental movement in politics is often overplayed causing people to loose interest in the issue, but Jarred Diamond makes it impossible to ignore the issue in his book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Jared Diamond hopes to catch as many peoples attention as he can; the name alone, “Collapse”, makes him appear to be an alarmist looking for attention. He has just cause though for blowing the whistle on society. He makes parallels to previous failed societies and to modern societies showing how the practices that we employ are similar to these failed societies. He is suggesting that America, as well as other countries, are headed down the path of ecocide more possible a global ecocide. Through his extensive research and numerous examples he makes it impossible to argue with his thesis. While all of examples seem redundant and like he is over emphasizing the point he does this to show his thoroughness. He also does it to show that he is correct. Diamond does not want to be wrong; he is a major author who gets a lot of attention when he releases a book. People look to discredit Diamond’s work. Due to this he gives ample resources to support this thesis.

    Read More

  • Michael Crichton State Of Fear Summary

    711 Words  | 2 Pages

    Michael Crichton was an amazing novelist who penned numerous literary works that has impacted today’s societies. In his book, State of Fear, an eBook extra presents a speech given by him called, Why Speculate? Aspects of this speech show the reader that he disapproves of the ways that the media speculates and creates a public that is misinformed about the events of the world. Upon further elaboration, the reader can become aware that Michael Crichton is a critic of global warming, and believes it is nothing more than media speculation. The key idea of the book was the debate of global warming and bioterrorism. Global warming and the emission of greenhouse gases is a concept heavily found in the curriculum, as a student analyzes how different

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Silent Springs And If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    As a society, we focus some of our thoughts on how to preserve the Earth and different ways to recycle and keep it clean. Although we do have an effort into saving our home planet, we, as a whole race, don’t have our hearts in it. There are the people who are obsessive economists and worry about the world excessively and those who don’t care enough or at all. The two stories both present a possible outcome for our lack of effort in preserving the Earth in two different genres, fiction and nonfiction. Of the two stories “Silent Spring” and “If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth…”, the one i felt most affected by was Marvin in, “If

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Jonathan Smith's A Modest Proposal

    234 Words  | 1 Pages

    Jonathan Smith’s most prominent persuasive skill used was pathos. Smith started the proposition by establishing his tone and using loaded words such as “helpless” and

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Collapse By Jared Diamond

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the book “Collapse” written and theorized by Jared Diamond, historical societies known for their peril due to environmental and human catastrophes. Jared Diamond analyzes the root causes of failed societies and uses his knowledge to depict today’s warning signs. The main focus of this book is to present clear and undeniable evidence that human activities corrupted the environment. To prove this Diamon used past societies, modern societies, and social business societies as a foundation. The most specific and beneficial theories that Diamond analyzes would be the decline of biodiversity on Easter Island, the deforestation of the Greenland Norse, the mining mismanagements in Australia and big businesses.

    Read More

  • Government + Food Industry = ?

    1478 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...to interpret the material up to the reader, but the use of these appeals help persuade the audience member to think a certain way. These analytical tools prove just how effective and in depth writers go into their material to make their work come across more powerful and influential, and each of these authors did just that.

    Read More

  • Roy Scberg's Learning How To Die In The Anthropocene?

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    Will this century mark the decline of society? Is the future safe from the mistakes of mankind? In “Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene”, Roy Scranton suggests that the question we should be asking ourselves about global warming is not whether it exists or how it can be stopped, but rather how are we going to deal with it. The purpose of the article is to convince everyone that current life is unsustainable, and that nothing can be done to reverse the process; we must acknowledge that the future will be drastically different and plan in advance if civilization is to keep moving forward. Dr. Scranton develops a realistic tone that relies on logos, pathos, and ethos appeals to persuade readers of his claim. Scranton sufficiently backs up

    Read More

  • Modern Environmentalism In Rachel Carson's Silent Spring

    867 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is generally agreed that modern environmentalism begins with ‘A Fable for Tomorrow’, the first chapter in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962). The fairytale-like opening to the book begins with the words, ‘There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings’, painting a classic pastoral picture where she describes civilization far from modern ills coexisting with nature yet away from the perceived danger of the wild. However pastoral peace swiftly gives way to destruction- 'Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change. Some evil spell had settled on the community: mysterious maladies swept the flocks of chickens; the cattle and sheep

    Read More

  • Mayan Religion

    1535 Words  | 4 Pages

    BYU Studies 38.4 (1999): 43-64. Print. The. Sharer, Robert. A. The Ancient Maya.

    Read More

  • Climate Change In Octavia Butler's Parable Of The Sower

    727 Words  | 2 Pages

    Despite the increasing amount of scientific evidence that support global climate change, many countries still use fossil fuels. The U.S. in particular is considering the revitalization of the coal industry instead of focusing on the production of clean energy. This inability to change will eventually lead to our downfall and our world will become like that of Lauren’s. In order for our survival, we have to seek out other planets because we are not changing fast enough for the sake of our planet. As our world’s climate continues to change rapidly, our resources are running and we are starting to split the world’s population into two groups: the wealthy and the poor. This is a sign that our world might become like that of Lauren’s dystopia. We cannot continue to live in this world with the belief that there is a world after death, like Lauren says, “We'll adapt. We'll have to. God is Change” (Butler, 147). We, human race, have to adapt and change or else we will eventually disappear. There is no supernatural being that can save us from our own destruction because the human race refuses to change. Even if we manage to move another planet, we will eventually turn that planet into another hell. The problem is not with the world, it is with

    Read More

  • Unwinding the Spool of Civilization in Ponting's The Green History of the World and Quinn's Ishmael

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    Clive Ponting's The Green History of the World and Daniel Quinn's Ishmael both critique the dominant paradigms of modern human civilization-especially where its relationship with environment is concerned. Both feel strongly that we are in trouble. Neither are quite willing to make final connections and present us with a systematic method for getting out of our impending ecological crisis, but they both do spell out what has been wrong, what is wrong now, and what will happen should we choose not to take evasive action.

    Read More

  • The Maya Civilization

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Maya culture has a long history that started in about 1000 BC. The history of the Maya is divided up into four different time periods: The Middle Preclassic Period, Late Preclassic Period, Classic Period, and Postclassic Period. The Middle Preclassic Period was when the small areas started to become city-like in the way that they started to build larger temples. The Late Preclassic Period was when the cities began to expand with paved roads and massive pyramids. The Classic Period was the time the Maya civilization hit it’s peak. Populations were growing rapidly and the structure of politics was formed. The Postclassic Period was when warfare was on the rise and cities were being abandoned(Coe 2005). This paper will focus on the Classic Period due to the fact that that is the greatest time period in Maya history.

    Read More

  • My Generation Essay

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    The generation that I was born into can sometimes be easily misunderstood by those in earlier generations. The individuals in my generation get thrown many different labels such as those that Rosie Evans (n.d.) listed in her article, “Millennials, Generation Y, the Lost Generation, boomerang kids, the Peter Pan generation…” and more. This can impact us as a whole because some will begin to live by the labels, in some cases that can be negative but in others it may be beneficial. Many people in this generation believe that they can’t reach their full potential due to labels and prejudgment, while there are others believe nothing can hold them back. When we get labeled all together that is also what may drive some to try to stand out from the

    Read More

  • Generation Z Essay

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    Generation Z is determined to change the future and is at an advantage over all previous generations to do so. This group is those born between the years 1995 and 2012, whom are currently ages 4 to 21. Statistics show Gen Z is extremely mature for their age with the lowest levels of drug use, alcohol consumption, smoking, and teenage pregnancy in decades, as stated by JWTIntelligence. This demonstrates that they are future orientated. Generation Z is unified, diverse, realistic, and technologically advanced, making them the generation with the power to impact the world.

    Read More

More about An Appeal to a Generation

Open Document