The Environmental Issue From Hell Rhetorical Analysis

Bill McKibben's "The Environmental Issue from Hell" argues that climate change is a real and dire concern for humanity. His essay deals with the methods and persuasive arguments needed to spur American citizens and the government on to change to more eco-friendly choices. The arguments he proposes are based largely upon emotional appeals calling for empathy and shame, and examples of what in our daily lives is adding to the changes we're seeing in the climate.

To promote a viable campaign, the issue needs to be made real to your audience. McKibben expresses the difficulty in doing that for this issue, because carbon dioxide is insubstantial, direct effects are in gradual widespread changes that aren't easily noticed. He raises the point that the average American is so far detached that even the increasingly severe weather systems created by global warming wouldn't bother him, because he lives a life going from

one air conditioned building to the next. This he leads on desensitizes the public to the gravity of this issue.
The tone of arguments then changes, from one less informative to one that calls forth an appeal to your emotions. it raises the issue of the plight where global warming and the changing weather systems is more severe. The example given is Bangladesh, a country to the south of china. Where changing climate led to mass flooding across their nation for a period of three months, leading not only to a human crisis for them, but an economical one as their large agriculture focus was unable to produce any crops.
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If the call for empathy doesn't sway you, then there's always the call of shame.

McKibben points out that because of our foolhardiness, all future generations will look back at us, and see us as doing nothing to fix an obvious problem They will never forget our mistake, because we as a whole do nothing to fix. This McKibben feels is justified, because if a previous generation had done something on this scale, then we would look back and call them fools ourselves.

McKibben symbolizes one of the causes of climate change in his essay as being the Sports Utility Vehicle. He posits that as time progresses our nations gas efficiency has actually been going down due to the change to these vehicles. His appeal, the fact that swapping to one of these gas-guzzling mammoths for a year is the equivalent of leaving your fridge open and running for six straight years. The legitimacy for the need of these cars he claims is invalid, the average American only needs to drive across streets, generally well maintained ones, not go off-road to reach their

destinations.
The aim of all of this, is to mobilize America's citizenry. He promotes the local grassroots measures of going out and advising people the benefits of picking a fuel efficient car, or the college students who swear pacts to avoid SUVs. He promotes this idea not because these individuals will make a noticeable impact on our Carbon output, but because these people as a whole represent public opinion and when a large group of citizens share a common opinion and are vocal about it, the government is forced to shift to align with those opinions. He points out that while it may turn ugly, getting the issue out there is what it takes for the system to respond, and that it needs to happen faster than it is.