Introduction
The following texts under discussion in this paper are entitled Climate gloom and doom? Bring it on. But we need stories about taking action, too by Jon Christensen and What if we all stopped pretending by Jonathan Franzen. Both of these works address the topic of Global pollution, Global warming, and Climate change, which are relevant to the current situation in the world. Each of these texts should be defined and analyzed within the article genre. According to Serdali’s definition, an article is a special genre of media, where a problem is interpreted, comprehended, and generalized. Therefore, Christensen’s and Franzen’s pieces fit into this definition, since the main problems and consequences of Climate change and Global pollution are identified and discussed. They are presented and generalized according to the rules of the article genre.
Main body
Articles, as a genre, require authors to outline a problem, comprehensively explain it and suggest a possible solution. In this case, both Christensen and Franzen followed the rules of the genre. They outlined the problem of climate change and explained how global pollution was its principal cause. The suggested solution was that people should consume fewer natural resources and strive to reduce the global carbon footprint. As the authors produced an outline, explanation, and solution, they prove a thorough dedication to the main rules of the genres.
The purpose of both articles is easily found; it provides public awareness of the increasing threat of global pollution and its consequences for future generations. There are many articles techniques that different authors use to address readers and bring their attention to the topic. However, this paper will focus on the methods used by Christensen and Franzen, which are vignettes, contrast, snapshot, foreshadow, and quote (Rani and Shashank). Using such methods helped them to organize a text, making it more attractive for reading, and, thus, widening the audience of readers. Wider audiences help to achieve the purpose of the article by expanding awareness to larger numbers.
Vignette is used as a technique to present a scene, a person, or an organization in an article (Rani and Shashank). Both Christensen and Franzen use this method in their texts. Christensen says, “M. Sanjayan, the chief scientist, has lots of TV experience, and he was eager to try something different”. Here he seeks to profile a man who helped to achieve his goal of sharing information about climate change. Franzen uses vignette as a method as well by writing: “The Republican Party’s position on climate science is well known, but denial is entrenched in progressive politics, too”. By saying so, the author describes an organization that is in denial of climate change due to commercial reasons. Both authors describe other people or organizations to provoke a specific reaction to the existing problem, which makes this technique effective.
Contrast is a technique used to compare things or people to highlight their differences (Rani and Shashank). For example, Franzen says, “Other kinds of apocalypse at least have the binary neatness of dying: one moment the world is there, the next moment it’s gone forever”. Here Franzen tries to emphasize that there is always a possibility of different kinds of disasters that can destroy the world, but that climate disaster is no less dangerous. The author highlights the importance of a problem by successfully using the method of contrast which compares climate change to other apocalyptic scenarios. Moreover, it is more real because it is currently happening.
Another method used in the articles is Snapshot, which describes how something looks or what exactly it is (Rani and Shashank). Christensen says “why are people so bad at thinking about climate change, the impact of our consumer habits, the footprint, the fate of our cell phones, in addition to food waste as a huge contributor to greenhouse gases”. Franzen states in his article that “you have a good chance of witnessing the radical destabilization of life on earth”. The description of the problem in the article is of crucial influence in gaining a broader readership since many remain inattentive and unaware of the issue, thus providing an essential snapshot to spark further interest.
Foreshadow is an essential method when addressing the public since it predicts the future based on current information (Rani and Shashank). In Christensen’s texts, he mentions the likelihood of “the most catastrophic possible consequences of climate change this century if we continue with business as usual”, and Franzen says, “If you’re under thirty, you’re all but guaranteed to witness it”. By illustrating the likelihood of future scenarios, the authors foreshadow the possible consequences of people’s actions and emphasize the probable outcome by using this particular method.
The last technique involves the use of quotes which are also necessary for a well-organized paper. Franzen mentions Kafka’s words about hope for humanity. A reasonable quotation adds further substance to written works, while the author appears more educated on the topic. On the other hand, Christensen does not quote anyone famous. However, his text is still quite interesting to read, so not following this rule did not harm the overall impression of the article.
In conclusion, Christensen and Franzen use several methods to address the public in their articles. While both authors use most of the techniques, the authors differ in their choice from this list of techniques. For example, Christensen uses vignettes, and snapshots and Franzen use vignettes, contrast, snapshot, and quotes. However, while they do not use every method, the articles are still quite interesting to read, well-organized, and informative. Using the discussed method increases the chance of a more specific audience to read it since people who are already interested in the topic do not need to be encouraged in reading the article. It may be suggested that both authors were aiming to address people who know nothing about Global pollution. Therefore, the goal of successfully addressing the audience was achieved by both Christensen and Franzen.
Conclusion
The problem of Global pollution and Climate change has increasingly become a prevalent topic. Both articles are written in a semi-formal, non-academic style that caters to ordinary people. The authors do not use specific scientific terminology, but rather try to make the message as clear as possible. Moreover, the authors point out the importance of the current situation and encourage people to take immediate action. Both articles suggest that most people are aware of the current pollution problem, and thus seek to target those that remain unaware and encourage them to change. Therefore, it can be concluded, that the main audience of the article is those who lack basic knowledge of the problem.
Moreover, the authors make the effort to also influence those who may possess the basic knowledge and yet remain unenthusiastic about the climate threat, describing it as alarmist and inconclusive. Both of these audiences can be influenced by using suitable methods and techniques of communication found in the works of Christensen and Franzen as well as numerous outlets within the mainstream media.
Works Cited
Christensen, Jon, “Climate gloom and doom? Bring it on. But we need stories about taking action, too.” The Conversation. 2017. Web.
Franzen, Jonathan. “What If We Stopped Pretending the Climate Apocalypse Can Be Stopped?” The New Yorker. 2019. Web.
Rani, Usha, and Shashank Sahu. “Comparison of Clustering Techniques for Measuring Similarity in Articles.” 2017 3rd International Conference on Computational Intelligence & Communication Technology (CICT), 2017. Web.
Serdali, Bekzhigit K., et al. “Genres of Modern Mass Media.” International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, Modestum LTD, 2016. Web.