Rhetorical Analysis Of Warming Climate Leading To Changes In The Sea Turtle Population

The Washington Post published a scientific article on November 11, 2019, called “Warming Climate Leading to Changes in the Sea Turtle Population”, in this article the author attempts to persuade the reader that the effects of global warming and increasing temperatures which lead to the female sea turtles being born more regularly than male could possibly lead the animal to become endangered. Throughout the text, the author appeals to the reader's sense of logic, he or she proves their credibility and using diction along with imagery, appeals to the audience’s emotions to prove his point and create evidence that convinces the reader of his argument. 

In the article, the author uses logic and scientific research to argue his or her point, creating a logical appeal. At one point in the text, the author says “ The past five years have been the hottest years recorded on earth… temperatures might keep rising this way. If so, scientists believe that less than 1 out of 100 of the country’s sea turtles will be born male by year 2100”. The author uses facts about their argument which helps appeal to the reader’s logical sense. Proven numbers would appeal to the reader because it is hard to believe the author’s argument if it does not have specific facts. If the author just left it at turtles are going to be more likely to become female, then first of all the reader would lose interest and secondly, everyone would be very skeptical of the authors argument, this is why the author has to use scientifically proven facts, that will solidify the argument he or she is trying to get across to the reader. The author in this article was very good about giving lots of facts and numbers to support his argument.

         The author expresses an appeal to ethos in this article by using trustworthy sources. In the article, the author makes an appeal to ethics because he uses a credible source. For example, the author quotes a scientist by the name of Adolf Marco Llorente and by explaining that Llorente tracks turtles on Boa vista. This shows the reader that the author took the time to get his info from a source that has experience in the topic of his argument. Also, explaining what the source does that would gives them experience in that specific field proves to the reader that the person is well informed on the topic. If the author just went ahead and put in his own opinion without having any actual experience himself, or having any proof from a person who is actually experienced in the subject then the reader would have no way of knowing if what the author is saying is true or faulty. The writer of this article has done their research and has gone and found sources that help prove his or her argument, giving the reader a reason to believe that what the author is saying is true. Although this article could have been better about appealing to ethics, for example, the author fails to discuss the turtles mating rate, perhaps the male turtle can impregnate multiple female turtles, allowing turtles to produce hatchlings. This would leave the reader wondering about the information that the author left out and leading the reader to maybe feeling that the author is not knowledgeable enough to discuss the topic. the author also fails to mention why they themselves are experienced enough to talk about the subject leading reader to wondering if the author is accomplished enough to talk about this topic. If the author really wanted to make themselves credible, they should have added more reasons as to why they are capable to argue about this topic. 

Finally, to further the authors argue the author appeals to the reader’s pathetic sense by using details and diction. In the text, the author states “ Turtle hatchlings worldwide will probably be female. This is dangerous to their survival. Male and female turtles are both needed to have baby turtles.” The author talks about the turtles survival and how the change will affect the turtles, talking about this can cause the reader to feel concerned, and with the author using diction to illuminate parts by saying dangerous instead of something more subtle and less appealing to the senses like, this might have an effect on their survival, which would not be very noticeable to the reader. At the very beginning of the article, the author describes with imagery a sea turtle crawling out of the ocean to go lay her eggs at midnight. The way the author describes the situation allows the reader to feel almost as though they were at the beach, and most people have been to the beach at some point in their life so this would have allowed the reader to relate to the stories and feel invested in it. There were some faults that the article had though, the author was very invested in the logical side of the text failing to make a point of how humans are one of the main causes of this with all of our pollution and economic problems, which would have been a really good way for the author to appeal to the readers pathetic appeal because it would have made the reader feel guilty and feel as though they are to blame, and make them want to act, and try to change in a way to help the turtles. 

The author’s argument is that sea turtles are in danger because the temperatures on earth are rising causing turtles to be female rather than male. Throughout the text he or she appeals to the ethical, logical, and pathetic senses of the reader, using diction, imagery facts, and sources to prove his or her argument. The authors argument is there to help prove to his or her audience that our human-caused global warming if affecting creatures life the sea turtle and putting them in danger of going extinct because, the heat is causing more females to be born than males, which can lead to little reproduction happening, resulting in the extinction of the sea turtle. 

Work cited page

“Warming climate leading to changes in sea turtle population”. Editorial. Washington Post adapted by Newsela, 11 Nov. 2019