Dick Durbin - Climate Change Brief

This Action Project is for unit 1 of our 11th-grade humanities class, Rhetoric. So far, we have been learning about recognizing and analyzing the rhetorical situation in everyday life, recognizing and applying stylistic devices in text, and understanding the succession of rhetoric, through the use of appeals. We started by learning about the origin of rhetoric and the three appeals: logos (logic), pathos (emotions), and ethos (trust). These three appeals are the building blocks for rhetoric in our everyday life and are apparent in every aspect of speech, text, etc. We also had a series of videos and texts to analyze, which helped deepen our understanding of the rhetorical situation, further recognize these components in everyday life, and then apply them. For this project, we were given a guiding question, "how do you use rhetoric to convince others," along with the task of creating a video for a current political candidate of some sort. For this video, we were supposed to choose a candidate of our choice and "brief" them to respond to a potential question, in a way that is not completely scripted, and will support their cause, by making them appear more trustworthy and eligible to run. I chose Senator Dick Durbin and the topic of Climate Change because I think that it is a very important issue right now. For this video, I set it up in a way where I was presenting talking points, regarding the question, so he could use those as a response. I thought it worked better to provide talking points rather than presenting a speech, because they are easier to remember and it felt more personal addressing him directly. I hope you enjoy my video below. 

 

Script: 

MM: Purpose of the video - to provide talking points to prepare Dick Durbin for a future question 

MM: Audience - this question appeals to a younger audience, like Millenials or GenZ, because they have been the primary activists in recent years 

MM: Show logo adaption 

MM: State the question - "What is your stance on Climate Change, what are you planning to do about it, and how can voters trust your plan?" 

MM: First, establish credibility (ethos) - you have been in the senate since 1982, you are passionate about climate change, and on multiple occasions, you have presented plans to congress, regarding Climate Change, and how it also affects Chicago. 

MM: Second, appeal to audiences' emotions (pathos) - you can do this by talking about ways to reduce Climate Change, like taking shorter showers, less food waste, and more recycling. Also, you can inspire the audience to think about the effects Climate Change has on animals, for example, sea turtles being strangled by plastic, or seals and polar bears losing their homes and dying because the icebergs are melting, and the forests that are being destroyed by wildfires. 

MM: Third, appeal to the audiences' logic (logos) - you can do this by sourcing statistics on Climate Change, like one from, https://climate.nasa.gov/, where it states that the global temperature has risen 2 degrees farenheit since 1980, and if it rises more than 1 degree more, then our effects will be permanent. Another one is from, https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-climate-change-what-you-need-know , says that the primary cause of Climate Change is our carbon emissions and if they don't get reduced by half, by 2030, and 100% carbon-free by 2050, then we are in grave danger. 

MM: Rhetorical Devices - two devices you could use are a simile and a metaphor because they are more direct in terms of relating to the topic. A metaphor you could use is, "the earth is a ticking time bomb," and I know it is kind of cliche but it accurately represents the Earth's current situation. A simile you could use is, "think of the poor animals running from the fires, their cries are like sirens, warning us of the destruction, that is yet to come." This just further emphasizes the warning signs that are being ignored and the animals that have to suffer through it. 

MM: Hopefully these talking points help!