Critical Thinking, Global Warming
Global warming has been portrayed as a very complicated issue that continues to bites the heads of many leaders in the current times. The writer of the article has really tried to persuade the readers on how serious the issue of global warming has become, what causes it and how it has been dealt with by various countries and organizations worldwide. The writer uses various devices to try and convince any reader on the causes of global warming for instance the writer says “Warnings from the scientific community are becoming louder”, here the writer emphasizes that it is a great concern on the increase in gases that cause global warming. The writer further tries to show how there has been a sharp rise in global warming due to global emissions and there is no better way to express this rise but through the use of the statement where there is use of the words jumping of global emissions by three percent in 2011 and a further jump looms in 2012 of about 2.6percent.
The writer shows clearly that while developed countries are working towards the reduction of global emissions, developing countries are really struggling with this and there is a sharp disparity between developed and developing countries when it comes to this. This he has clearly portrayed by use of rhetorical device in the statement “But the decline of emissions in the developed countries is more than matched by continued growth in developing countries like China and India”. The writer also implies that there have been little or no efforts by many nations to try and combat this issue of global warming and he uses rhetorical device in the statement “Yet nations around the world, despite a formal treaty pledging to limit warming — and 20 years of negotiations aimed at putting it into effect — have shown little appetite for the kinds of controls required to accomplish that goal.” This statement Puts emphasis on the fact that most nations have not put seriousness in the issue of dealing with global warming that the issue deserves.
This article is a rhetoric one since the writer by all means tries to persuade the readers on the issue of global warming. This is through various ways such as the use of rhetoric devices and deductive and inductive reasoning in the statements that he writes. All this are coupled by facts on research that have been conducted and he clearly puts the figures down for readers to see and get convinced when they read the article and get persuaded on just how serious the issue of global warming is and the causes and the eventual effects if it is not looked into keenly. This article is not an argumentative one since there are no arguments raised on the issue rather only forms of persuasions by the writer so that readers can be convinced that global warming is a serious problem.
There is also a lot of validity in the article since the writer bases the article on facts and actual figures that have been researched on. The writer is very precise in what they are writing on since the figures are actual for instance when he writes that global emissions are expected to jump by 3 percent in 2011 and 2.6 percent in 2012 and also when he stated that If that there have been records of 34,008 new daily high records set at weather stations as compared to 6,664 new record lows that have been maintained by weather channel meteorologist .this are not figures that one can state without serious research being done and hence makes the article valid in terms of facts that the writer has put down.
The article ahs been written in a logical manner and all the ideas that the writer tries to put forward are logically developed. First the writer introduces global warming as a serious problem and goes ahead to state what causes global warming. He then further elaborates on the measures taken to try and deal with the issue by developed countries and tries to explain why it is a challenge to deal with global warming in developing countries as compared to their counterparts in developed countries. All this ideas are properly put forward and they are developed in a logical way such that any person reading the article will be convinced on the issue of global warming (Kemerling, 2011).
Further in the article the writer gives a background on global warming which is done in a logical manner starting from human influence, emissions, as well as factors that are not in regard of human activity. Thereafter there is a categorical explanation of the steps that have been taken to try and find a solution to the problem of global warming.
Humans are a powerful influence on climate, and hence it can be deduced that they can be associated with global warming. With the rise in emissions and green house gases a deduction can be made that they play a big role in the continued increase in global warming. There are other climate changes that are not due to human influence they include long ocean cycles that have also been attributed to global warming. From an inductive point of view the writer portrays all this factors to be the causes of global warming are clearly explained in the background (Crossman, 2011).
An example of a syllogism that the writer uses is when he gives the conclusion that there have been a decline in emissions in the united states among other developing countries from the facts that they have transferred some manufacturing companies to developing countries and also the conscious efforts in place to limit emissions such as the use of renewable power sources such as natural gas.
This article has been an eye opener on the causes of climate change and it has made me change my views on the causes of global warming and hence made me see that not only human activity can cause climate change. This article is very persuasive and convincing when it comes to the issue of climate change.
References
Crossman, A. (2011).Deductive reasoning versus Inductive reasoning. Retrieved February,5,2012 from http://sociology.about.com/od/Research/a/Deductive-Reasoning-Versus-Inductive-Reasoning.htmKemerling, G. (2011). Arguments and Inference. Retrieved February, 5 2013 from http://www.philosophypages.com/lg/e01.htmThe New York Times. (2013).Global warming and climate change. Retrieved February 5,2013 from http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html
