A Wide Angle View Of Fragile Earth And Elizabeth Kolbert's The Weight Of The World

The environment has been a controversial issue in society since the Industrial Revolution. Human kind is advancing, but the environment is deteriorating. We are now in the 21st century, yet there are still changes that the world is waiting on. Both Yann Arthus-Bertrand in “A Wide Angle View of Fragile Earth” and Elizabeth Kolbert in “The Weight of the World” have an underlying agreement that everyone is to blame for these environmental changes. In order for environmental advancement, we must cooperate with one another because as a nation we are interlinked. At the beginning of the Ted-Talk, Yann asserts his credibility to the audience when he states, “I have a big impact on the planet to travel here by plane.” His diction begins with “I” to

Yann incorporates the nationalistic audience by referring to different countries around the world. He describes the Alberta people and the extensive extraction of oil, the people from the Himalayas and their dependency on the glacier for water, and African people starving while Americans feed corn to the animals. Yann does this by targeting the audiences’ emotions by making them feel guilty of their actions and their role in destroying the earth. Elizabeth indirectly illustrates her audience through Figueres because the article is about the nation negotiating the maximum level of temperature rise due to carbon emissions through the Paris agreement. She mentions first, second, and third world countries. No matter how big or small the amount of carbon emission is released into the atmosphere, everyone in the nation has a fault in causing a disturbance on earth. Elizabeth depicts the severity of the environmental damages when she asks Figueres, “What would happen if the emissions line did not start to head down soon,” and her reaction were welled up tears in her eyes. It inspires passion of change and sympathy for the environment because Figueres is a woman who is spiritedly persuading the nation to prevent global collapse. Her tears are the fear of the fall of humankind, if the carbon levels of emission do not

The factual evidence, proven by science, certifies to the audience the deterioration of the earth. The numbers give the nation a perspective on how powerful the solutions should be. Not only does Yann present statistical data, but he indicates visuals to demonstrate the correlation to the numbers. The audience gains comprehensibility on how the excessive use of resources is affecting the people and environment. Elizabeth expresses her logistics in terms of the cause and effect imposed through the U.N.F.C.C.C and the meetings. The treaties and proposals instituted allows the nation to understand the measures that need to be taken. Elizabeth describes the process and the certain regulations that each country needs to meet or come to a consensus on. While Yann and Elizabeth certify their credibility through the statistical facts and numbers, they do it by making their audience-the nation-understand the process and visualize a better