Global Warming and the Effects on our Health

Anaiz Ramirez

The University of Texas at El Paso

Dr. Moushumi Biswas

RWS 1302: Rhetoric and Writing Studies

 Introduction

Global Warming is a controversial issue and one of the most threatening problems we

face today. Currently, there is an ongoing debate on whether it is caused by human activities or

natural processes of Earth. Global Warming is the unnatural overheating of Earth, which causes

climate change and does impact our health. Many people choose to ignore the problem, or are

unaware of the contributions made to this issue and the effects impacting our health. People

should be aware of the damaging effects to their health, and should contribute to finding or

partaking in a solution to Global Warming and climate change. A video clip by HealthyDevs

titled, Climate Change Adaptation and Health, explains the effects of global warming to our

health and ways to prevent these issues. Communication Educations journal article, Medical

provider as Global Warming and Climate Health Educators: A Health Literacy Approach,

explains their research done to make people more aware of the damage caused to their health,

through medical providers. This essay will further analyze the two genres, the journal article and

the video clip, by analyzing the audience, purpose, rhetorical issues, structure, and style.

Audience and Purpose

The first genre by HealthyDevs, Climate Change Adaptation and Health, is a YouTube

video that was published on December 16, 2016. The purpose of this short video clip was to

inform viewers of the impacts of climate change to our health. The second genre, Medical

provider as Global Warming and Climate Health Educators: A Health Literacy Approach, by

Communication Education, which is a quarterly academic journal. The purpose of the journal

article was to inform the readers of the effects of global warming on their health, through the
means of their health care provider. Both of the genres have a similar purpose, but approach it in

different ways. The purpose of the first genre is to explain several effects of global warming that

impacts our health and giving simple solutions to these problems in an entertaining way. The

purpose of the second genre is inform the audience of the impacts of global warming through

medical providers by finding a medium zone between the providers and patients.

The audience intended to be reached by the first genre is everyone. This video can be

viewed and listened to in more than one language, meaning its target audience is everyone,

globally. The audience targeted for the second genre is health care providers and they're patients.

Because the purpose of this journal article is to inform people of the damaging effects on our

health from climate change, the best way to get through to the people is by their medical

provider. However, in order for this to happen there must be a medium zone or a form of

health literacy. Health literacy is the understanding of health information in order to make ones

own health decisions. The two genres have the same purpose, but very different targeted

audiences.

Rhetorical Issues

The two genres will further be analyzed by its rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and

logos. The video clip and the journal article each use the appeals in accordance to their genre.

Ethos

The video clip by HealthyDevs, does not entirely use this rhetorical appeal throughout the

clip. It simply has credits at the end of the video, giving credit to the producers and publishers,
which are, HealthyDevs, GIZ (a German Cooperation), and the Climate Media Factory.

HealthyDevs and GIZ are both commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic

Cooperation and Development, and the Climate Media Factory was created by the University

Balbesberg and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).The second genre, by

Communication Education, uses this appeal throughout the entirety of the journal article. The

journal article is based on research from The World Health Organization (WHO), The National

Academy of Sciences, The National Library of Medicine (NLM), and the Institute of Medicine

(IOM). The journal article explains how this research was used to conduct a study of their own to

find a simpler way to inform patients of the impacts of climate change on their health.

Pathos

The first genre fairly uses the pathos rhetorical appeal throughout the video. The video

clip begins by explaining what effects, such as natural disasters and vector borne infections,

caused by climate change that effect our health. It uses specific examples such as, children

falling ill to malaria that has only been able to spread due to the rise in temperature. They cannot

be treated however, because of the inadequately trained medical providers. The video clip also

uses other examples that target families and small villages using this emotional appeal in order to

reach the audience. The journal article by Communication Education does not use this rhetorical

appeal in any way other than trying to make the reader understand the damaging effects of

climate change on their health. The video clip is much more effective in using the ethos

rhetorical appeal than the journal article.

 Logos

The video clip uses specific examples that have happened or are happening in our world.

It uses this appeal by finding solutions to these problems and explaining the effects of the

solutions. The video clip begins using this appeal by having the viewer understand and showing

them how climate change has created these issues and how they also effect our health. The video

clip then shows how certain steps taken will solve each problem from the examples previously

stated by using this appeal. The second genre uses this appeal by conducting an experiment on

finding the most effective ways to communicate to a patient. The journal article descriptively

explains the experiment and how the results were calculated in order to find that medium zone,

in which a health care provider can explain the effects of global warming on a patients health in

a way they will effectively understand.

Structure and Delivery

The first genre is very organized and follows a topical order, meaning that it presents its

main points in a logical order, making the central idea very clear. The video clip begins with the

description of global warming and climate change, followed by indirect and direct effects of the

issue at hand. The video clip then explains some of these effects by showing examples of them,

and then following them with a solution to each of the examples. The video clip gives its

message in an entertaining and simple way, in which the audience can easily follow along. The

second genre is also very organized and detailed. Like the first genre, it begins by describing

global warming and climate change, and its effects on our health. It then goes on to inform the

reader of the research found that explains the gap between medical providers and they're patients.

It is then followed by a very descriptive experiment conducted to close the gap between the two.
The delivery of the second genre is a bit more complex than the video and would take more time

for the reader to fully understand the message conveyed. The video clip however, is brief and not

as detailed as the document.

Style and Language

The video clip by HealthDevs is simple and formal. The video clip does not require the

viewer to read along, but to listen and watch the story as it unfolds. The video clip uses the

cartoon story to make it simple and entertaining for the audience to follow along as well as being

informative of the issue. This video clip is very straightforward and much less complex than the

language of the second genre. The second genre is much more descriptive and uses a more

complex language. An example of this would be like the use of the word health literacy. The

document then defines the word and how it applies to a persons skills when applied in various

health situations. In order to fully grasp the concept of this journal article the reader must have

some background knowledge of global warming and health related literacy skills.

Conclusion

In conclusion, The two genres do vary from each other, but portray the same message.

The two forms of communication were further analyzed in this essay by analyzing the audience,

rhetorical appeals, structure, and style of the two. The video clip is much more easier to follow

along, while the journal article gives the reader a more descriptive piece of the same idea. The

video clip is for all audience ranges and is very entertaining, as well as informative. As

mentioned before, the journal article is much more complex than the video clip, making the

video clip much more effective than the article.

 References

Melinda Villagran, Melinda Weathers, Brian Keefe & Lisa Sparks (July 2010). Medical provider

as Global Warming and Climate Health Educators: A Health Literacy Approach. Vol.9, No.3.

Communication Education.

HealthyDevs. (2015, December 16). Climate Change Adaptation and Health: It is time to act.

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JgE0aTEFpQ