Once again, I was absolutely enthralled with last weeks talk. Dr. Wai Chee Dimok’s speech brought to the forefront the idea that science and literature can be merged to give ourselves a better understanding of the world and the changes, mostly malignant, that are taking place in our environment today. The speech brought me back to Dr. Hensley’s speech about the similar matter. Once again, I was made to think that two things, environmental science and literature, that seem so different can actually work together to improve our knowledge and standards of living on Earth.
One issue in regards to the intertwinement of these two subjects is the fact that science often lacks a human element that encourages people to take a stronger interest in studying the effects of climate change, let alone believe that it is actually happening. This reminds me of the study of the types of persuasion in rhetoric, namely ethos, pathos, and logos. Science, while it is rich in its presentation of its findings in regards to logos, or logic, through numbers, scientifically written journals, and scholarly papers, it tends to lack pathos and ethos. Pathos is an appeal to one’s emotions while ethos is an appeal to a person’s ethics. These two rhetorical tools are what give an arguments its human element and not cold hard numbers and facts. While numbers and facts are extremely helpful in presenting an issue to people, they do not do a good job of making people want to act to solve that issue. For one thing, many people are incapable of understanding cold hard numbers and facts without the greater context of what they mean or what can be done to change them. Making pathos and ethos an integral part of the presentation of scientific facts to the larger society will cause more people to care about major issues like global warming and will compel them to act because they will believe that it is the right thing to do.
Lastly, just to touch on some of the cold hard facts that Dr. Wai Chee Dimok presented, I found the fact that our world’s bodies of water are becoming more acidic to be fascinating. This does not only come from the physical things we put in the ocean but also comes from the rising amount of CO2 in our atmosphere. As CO2 levels rise in the atmosphere, it reacts with chemicals in the ocean to create carbonic acid leading to the oceans rise in acidity. This is something I did not even realize before coming to the talk, and is just one more reason why people must be encouraged into fighting climate change. I believe, based on Dr. Hensley’s and Dr. Wai Chee Dimok’s speeches that the addition of a greater level of literary tools into scientific reporting will lead to a society of people that will feel more compelled than ever to do what is right and keep our planet from destroying itself. We don’t have much time, so we better start soon.