Millions of lives are being put at risk
every day. These lives are crucial to the survival of the world
itself. It's extremely hard to believe that this mass wipe out is
being ignored by anyone. This tragedy is animal and plant extinction.
It is shocking to think that the world is currently experiencing the
“sixth mass extinction of plants and animals” that Earth has yet
to experience, and it appears to be “the worst spate of species
die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago”
(“The Extinction Crisis” par. 1). This is the biggest wipe out we
have yet to witness, and we're just sitting back and watching it
happen with a bag of popcorn.
 |
| Courtesy of Google Images. |
Over the course of my research, I found many shocking statistics when it came to extinction rates. As a nature lover, I could hardly believe some of the things I came across. 99 percent of currently endangered species are being driven to extinction by human activities such as deforestation and climate change. Out of this 99 percent,
- 21 percent of reptiles (9 percent in the United States alone),
- 1/3 of amphibians,
- 31 percent of birds,
- 21 percent of fish,
- 30 percent of invertebrates,
- 1/5 of mammals and
- 68 percent of plants are either threatened species or endangered species (“The Extinction Crisis” par. 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 16).
Since each ecosystem depends on an
intricate web of lives, each extinction affects another species in
some way. "Extinctions are likely to snowball," one
extinction leading to the next, if the problem is not stopped quickly
(“The Extinction Crisis” par. 2). This effect will end up biting
us in the butt, no doubt.
 |
| Courtesy of WWF. |
Not to mention, we are losing so many
species that researchers and scientists haven't even had the chance
to discover: “If we don't know how much there is to begin with, we
don't know exactly how much we're losing.” Over 100,000,000 different species have been
identified in the world, and
there's no telling what wonders we haven't found that have already
ceased to exist (“How Many Species Are We Losing?” par. 6).
It is our job to help out these species that our essential to our well-being as humans. The Living Planet Index found a 30% incline in animal extinction from 1970 up until about a decade ago (“What Are The Major Reasons Why We Are Losing So Much Biodiversity?” par. 2). Protecting our local species is a great way to start. Teaming up with your community to maintain a clean environment is essential to the growth of plant and animal population.
 |
| Courtesy of Google Images. |
Essentially, consumption as a whole
needs to come down several notches on the greedy scale. “We have
picked, logged, plucked and hunted the animals, trees, flowers and
fish for medicine, souvenirs, status symbols, building materials and
food” (“What Are The Major Reasons Why We Are Losing So Much
Biodiversity?” par. 3). The human population currently consumes the
amount of resources that could be provided by a planet and a half.
This is obviously a problem, since we only have one planet to love
and live on. Our ecological overshoot, or “using resources faster
than they can regenerate while creating waste,” will eventually
cause a total depletion of resources. It has recently been discovered
that “humans, and our behavior, have changed the Earth's
ecosystems more rapidly and extensively in the past 50 years than in
any other period of human history” (“What Are The Major Reasons
Why We Are Losing So Much Biodiversity?” par. 5 and 8). In turn for
taking all these species' lives, we will potentially become extinct
in the future. Pay day is coming up, and we are DEEP in debt.
Works Cited
"The
Extinction Crisis." Center for Biological Diversity. Center
for Biological Diversity,
n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.
"How
Many Species Are We Losing?" WWF Global. WWF,
n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.
"What
Are The Major Reasons Why We Are Losing So Much Biodiversity?"
WWF Global. WWF, n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.
To start off, I really liked how you made some words bolded for emphasis, different colored fonts, and stated your topic right away to effectively grab your reader’s attention. You did a really great job with your persuasive purpose of informing you readers and provoking them to take action on this issue. Throughout your post you effectively used all three rhetorical strategies. For ethos it is clear you did your research and took the time to find reliable sources to get your facts. I liked how you made your in-text citations links so your readers can see where you are getting your information from. You made your readers feel like they could believe what you are writing about. You appealed to logos by stating facts and quotes to support your argument and further persuade your readers, showing you have a clear understanding of plant and animal extinction. Your blog was chock full of tear-jerking pathos! Nobody wants to know that they are the reason all of this wildlife is being wiped out. Your appeal to pathos was, in my opinion, the most effective rhetorical strategy when persuading your audience. I still cannot believe that 99 percent of these extinctions are from human activity! The only thing that I would suggest is maybe introducing the author of the source before quoting from it to further enhance your ethos. I know that’s hard with a word limit. Overall, I think you were very successful in accomplishing your persuasive purpose. It was very informative and easy to read. I really liked how your last sentence tied in with your title, too. I learned a lot about extinction are really enjoyed your piece. Great work
ReplyDeleteAnna Catherine's persuasive purpose was extremely well written out and explained. It is clear that she wants people to take action and is emphasizing the reasons why action is so needed. Anna specifically hits the heartstrings with her use of pathos. I was shocked with the fact that “99% of currently endangered species are being driven to extinction by human activities.” This clearly would make anyone feel guilty, and then she goes on explaining each part of the “99%” which makes me feel even more guilt. Another use of pathos would be the bolded words. They make the important parts that she is emphasizing stand out and stick into the mind. I would say the next best rhetorical strategy she used is her use of logos with her facts. Her facts are well cited and all appeal to intellect. She appeals to logic, with her facts because after reading I had the “duh” moment on why we should act, we are killing all these animals and forcing them to go extinct. Also her appeal to evidence with her reliable sources and has cited these in her text. Her strongest logo would be her statistics and facts though. They were wisely chosen and researched well. She used them with the purpose to prompt action and I believe she has fulfilled that purpose. She checks off all three of Cicero’s levels of persuasion. 1. Evoke emotions, check. 2. Change audience’s minds, check. 3. Get audience to act, check. My only suggestion for improvement would be maybe make your bolded, emphasized works/sentence another color along with bold to make an even bigger impact on your audience!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI really liked your blog; it was very well written. I wrote my blog on a similar topic! I believe your persuasive purpose was to convince your audience that we are harming wild animals too much and something needs to be done. I believe you accomplished your persuasive goal by using a combination of ethos, pathos, and logos. You used ethos in your blog by using credible sources and crediting them with in-text citations. You clearly stated that you found this information through research, which enhancing your credibility. You used pathos by using words like “tragedy” and “mass extinctions.” This pulls at your readers’ heartstrings and makes them feel bad for the animals threatened by extinction. I think the pictures you chose were perfect for you blog, especially the one with all the cut down trees because it makes you think about the ecosystem that thrived among those trees. You also incorporated logos with all the facts and evidence used to back up your claims. The most shocking fact that stood out to me was that “99 percent of endangered species are being driven to extinction by humans.” If I could change one thing about your blog, it would be to make it shorter paragraphs. Other than that, it was a very well written blog!