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The topic is "Pollution from an Economic Perspective

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The topic is "Pollution from an Economic Perspective."

Aristotle defined rhetoric as "the faculty of discovering in any particular case all of the available means of persuasion." In our world today, we have available a large variety of alphabetic, visual, aural, and multimodal genres that we can use to communicate our message.

SINGLE-USE PLASTIC & Sustainable Alternatives 8-10 % of the U.S. oil supply is used to make plastic bags 95% 3,728 miles of marine pollution is plastic The length of the Great Wall of China. The amount of plastic in the enviornment could rebuild this wall every 12 months Common types of single-use plastic Plastic Water Bottle Plastic Straws Plastic Bags Sustainable & Affordable Alternatives Stainless steel, bamboo, or glass straw Reusable cloth bag Stainless steel or glass water bottle Keep these items in your car for easy access REFUSE, REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE Based on information from 1. 1bagatatime.com 2. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b06635 3. plastic-pollution.org I have been researching and writing about single-use plastic. Single-use plastic, such as plastic bags, straws, and plastic water bottles, are greatly contributing to pollution across the world. Single-use plastic is also harming wildlife and ecosystems. Additionally, it takes a large amount of the world’s oil supply (a precious resource) to manufacture plastic items. I care deeply about the health of the Earth and humanity, and I strive to live in balance with the planet. Today’s plastic pollution is something that future generations will have to deal with for decades. I hope that learning about single-use plastics will give me the knowledge I need to make more sustainable and healthy decisions for myself, humanity, and the planet. By learning about this issue, I will be able to teach others. I hope to help decrease plastic pollution and discover sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic. I chose to make an infographic using canva.com. The main message of the infographic is that plastic is polluting our planet, using our oil supply, and there are many sustainable and affordable alternatives to single-use plastic. The infographic has ten different colors in it, mostly greens, indigo, blues, black, and white. The top of the infographic has the title “SINGLE-USE PLASTIC & Sustainable Alternatives”. Below the title there are three indigo circles showing different statistics about plastic. There is text below each circle explaining what each number means. These statistics explain the amount of oil used to manufacture plastic bags, the amount of marine pollution that is plastic, and the length of the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall of China is explained because the amount of plastic in the environment could rebuild the Great Wall of China every twelve months. The next section below the statistics shows three simple black and white images of common single-use plastic items: a plastic bag, a plastic straw, and a plastic water bottle. Below each image there is a blue arrow pointing down to the words “Sustainable & Affordable alternatives. Below these words there are three images for alternatives to plastic bags, straws, and bottles. There is a reusable cloth bag, reusable straw, and a reusable water bottle. Below each of these images is text to describe each item. The next section down has the words “REFUSE, REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE” with a green and white recycle symbol next to it. The very bottom of the infographic has the websites listed that the information is based off of. The exigence of the visual argument is plastic pollution across the world. This is an ongoing issue, but it has significantly increased in the past few decades. This is a problem because plastic pollution is harming the health of animals, ecosystems, and humans. Plastic is commonly broken down into microplastics which further pollute the environment and water of the Earth. This exigence is something that can be modified by choices made by individuals, corporations, and governments each and every day. The primary rhetorical audience is anyone who uses single-use plastic. The secondary audience could be those who shop at grocery stores, use plastic water bottles, and use plastic straws. The audience appreciates convenience. They want something functional and easily portable to bring their goods and beverages home from the store. There is also a wide array of perspectives in the audience. Many individuals do not think about what type of impact the plastic they use has on the environment, animals, or themselves. Some individuals in the audience are conscious of using reusable, sustainable options such as cloth bags, reusable water bottles, etc. Some would rather use single-use plastic than reusable options. The audience is rhetorical because they can make a change regarding the issue of single-use plastics. Each time they purchase something from the store they have a choice to use single-use plastics or not. The small individual actions they make every day can influence and change the use of single-use plastics. The infographic appeals to logos, or logic, because it has practical alternative items to use instead of plastic. Additionally, it appeals to the audience’s logic because the audience does not want to pollute the planet or use all of the oil supply. The visual argument also uses ethos because the statistics and facts in the infographic are taken from credible and reliable sources. One of the sources is a peer reviewed research paper, which is especially trustworthy. The short and to the point infographic and words appeal to the audience who values convenience as well. The infographic appears to pathos, or emotion, because the statistics may make the audience feel sad, depressed, shocked or guilty about the amount of plastic pollution across the world and their own contribution to it. These feelings may influence the audience to want to make more sustainable choices. The alternative options listed in the infographic may then make the audience feel excited and satisfied because they have the answers they were looking for provided in the same visual. The may also be excited to purchase the sustainable alternatives and to help decrease pollution on the planet. There are some constraints in this visual argument. My own experience researching and writing about plastic may make me more aware of the issue and more motivated to make a change in regards to single-use plastic. The audience may not be as motivated because they do not know as many details about the extent of plastic pollution on the planet. Additionally, the audience might not be as motivated to use sustainable and alternative options to plastic because they are not as convenient. The infographic is also constraining because it just gives short and simple information about single-use plastic and its effect on the environment. It does not allow for thorough description of the problem, and it does not give a full view of single-use plastic. All of these constraints may drive the author and reader further apart. In conclusion, I think the infographic I created is a great way to reach a larger online audience who does not want to spend a lot of time reading. The visual appeal of the infographic will draw readers in, and the statistics will get their attention. I also think having sustainable options on the page will allow for the audience to be motivated to make a change. Overall I think I made a visual argument that the audience with effectively receive. The issue that I chose to write about throughout the class is broken promises. Broken promises are something that I initially related to my childhood and the way in which my father raised me which was the idea that people’s word was their bond. This mentality is the type of “old school” thought process that my family values. Broken promises are something that I believe occurs to everyone. This is because everyone has been on the receiving end of a broken promise as well as been the one to break a promise at some point in their life. The more that I have researched and reflected on the issue, the more that I am realizing people tend to break a promise on accident. This happens each day in casual conversation with those around us. My goal in this assignment is to focus on this culture of making promises lightly specifically for educators in the school setting. I hope that this comic can leave a lasting impression on educators, who have the opportunity to interact with students, to make intentional and valued promises to the children of our next generation. My visual is a cartoon comic strip that depicts a teacher promising to write a letter of reference for a student seeking higher education in school. I tried to do my best to use the gestures along with the background to really be able to give an obvious impression to the viewer. This is so that a viewer can glance at the strip and immediately get the message. The image would be embedded and accompanied by text reminding educators that their word might mean the world for one of their students. The main message is that educators should really be mindful of their promises to students. The comic strip would be located in an article that is researching student-teacher interactions. In my opinion, this comic could serve to quickly remind teachers that their obligations should be to the students first. This strip would be a good way to grab the audience’s attention and show them that there are things out of their hands. They can however do their best to build meaningful relationships with their students by placing their needs above their own. One of the main motivations for the creation of this text was because I had to deal with similar issues growing up. My broken promise came from a coach who offered to write letters of reference to players of our team who were seeking to play at the college level. I waited around after training to get my coaches help with applications to schools. I remember him telling me that he was “sorry to burst my bubble”, but he would not help me. It crushed me and I am still unsure exactly what his reasoning was. My family believed that it was out of spite because of their refusal to pay for me to travel to our largest tournament which was located at Disney World because we could not afford it. My personal experience can show that this is a problem because the breaking of a promise could be adding onto the distrust of a child. In a perfect world, this would not need to be an issue and thus connects to Bitzer’s idea of exigence. This is something that can and should be modified. The intended audience for this image is high-school educators. It could also extend to other people who are in the position of being a mentor which should be explained in the accompanied text. One of the main characteristics of the intended audience is that they are in a position of power. They are looked up to by the students with which they interact with. The audience is rhetorical according to Bitzer’s ideas because they can be influenced to directly change the situation/issue. I believe that the image mainly focuses on the audience’s pathos. This is because it directly illustrates a situation that could happen to the audience in their position of power within the school. It is designed to make the them first feel guilty at the presumed verbal abuse of the father through his language and stance. They will likely visualize themselves in the teacher’s shoes and focus on what they could have done to support the student. It can also make them angry at the circumstances that the child is in. The visual is supposed to make the audience feel empowered as well. They can directly change the circumstances of this situation by placing their promise to the student as a high priority. It can play into the Logos of the audience because they can directly honor promises made to students. The comic is made directly for them to place themselves into the educator’s shoes. The main constraint is the comic itself. It is relatively short and only five slides long which means that it can leave the cartoon up to various interpretations in regards to the message. Another constraint might be the idea that not all students are verbally abused at home. This would then lead the audience to be dismissive towards the image. This could happen at a more predominantly wealthy school district that does not seem to have any of the obvious issues at first glance. Another constraint could be that it is impossible to analyze their everyday conversation with each student. This seemingly daunting task could distract educators from the main purpose of being mindful with students and placing student’s needs above their own. These beliefs or attitudes could line up directly with Bitzer’s idea about constraints. I believe that this simple comic could lead to reminding educators of their purpose to ultimately serve and protect the students that they interact with. In my opinion, they have an opportunity to leave a lasting impact on the students that they teach and give them the gift of trust which the students may not find otherwise at home. This cartoon should bring the audience’s attention to all of the things mentioned. The visual located in an accompanied article would be an effective way to draw the reader in through the intended ethos. It should also achieve its purpose in reminding the audience of the importance in keeping their promises to students.