Scientific America’s blog post entitled, “Man discovers a new life-form at a South African truck stop,” by Rob Dunn speaks about a new species that recently discovered. The article begins with establishing ethos to gain some credibility since this is a blog post. He speaks about German biologist Oliver Zompro who has an impressive resume. He found his first species at age twenty and and by the time he was thirty he had named many more. He has made it his goal to study the world and discover all the hidden species that are still out there to be found. The appeal to ethos in the beginning helps make the reader aware that this post is much more than just something on a blog, but is actually factual. This helps with the context of the article and by providing background about Zompro’s studies and his adventures in Africa, the reader is able to see how important this finding is. By making the struggle to find this insect appear difficult, Dunn also appeals to pathos, giving the reader a feeling of hope and adventure, as though he or she is on the trip with Zompro. While the discovery by a man at a truck stop of a species, Mantaphasmatodes, that has never been discovered before is remarkable, Dunn’s purpose in the article is not to just speak about that. His purpose is to stress to the reader the importance of paying attention to his or her surroundings, no matter where they are, because with observation comes the discovery of new things.
Plos blog also published a post related to the conservation and discovery of new species. This article, by T. DeLane Beeland, entitled “Saving Ethiopia’s ‘Church Forests'” is about the struggle to maintain the environment based on tradition and conservation in Ethiopia. This article speaks about how the forests are viewed as holy and the people who live among them view them as a “home for all of God’s creatures.” This viewpoint has made the coptic forests spiritually protected. This article begins with explaining the forest’s spiritual significance for the reader, appealing to pathos to make the reader relate through a sense of faith. This sense of faith connects the reader to the people living among the forests and makes the reader more able to understand the importance of the forest not only for the environment, but also for the people, who view the woods as “church forests.” Beeland then appeals to ethos by explaining the significance of the article through the eyes of Alemayehu Wassie Eshete, an Ethiopian forest researcher with a PhD in his country’s coptic forests. By using a credible source who is very knowledgeable and works with the country to educate the younger generation Beeland proves to the reader that her post has a great amount of significance, especially when speaking of preserving the forest that many use as a spiritual awakening.
Both posts act as attempts to persuade the reader to pay attention to the surroundings and protect them because everything one encounters has worth. Both posts, published in blogs utilize ethos to establish a sense of credibility so that the reader will trust what the author is saying. Credibility is completely necessary in the cases of both these blogs because a reader is aware that not everything on the internet is true, especially when dealing with sources where one doesn’t know who exactly the author is. Also, by backing up their points with knowledgeable people, both Beeland and Dunn are able to be trusted. Both blog posts make slight appeals to pathos to generate a response from the reader. The fact that both speak of the new discoveries within and the conservation of the environment relates to the reader and encourages them to help preserve their planet. By utilizing species that are relatively new to society, like the dung beetle that are specific to human feces and the Mantaphasmatodes, the authors show the reader that protection of the environment is necessary because there are still so many things left undiscovered. Both authors utilize different methods to grab the reader’s attention and relate to them to convince him or her to pay attention to the world. In an age where the environment is getting destroyed on a daily basis, it is important to show people that we need to protect it because there is still so much that is undiscovered.
WRT 102.22: Science & Society 