The End of Nature, a book by Bill MacKibben, serves as a warning to readers about the risks to human life presented by the rapid change in the climate and the connection between human activity and global warming. (McKibben, 1989). He also uses clear logos and pathos to draw attention to the issue of climatic change and conveys ethical concerns and repercussions regarding the end of nature. McKibben touches on human activities that are responsible for the destruction of nature such as cutting down of trees and emission of gases into the atmosphere as well as the consequences of such actions such as depletion of the ozone layer and acidic rain. He criticizes people’s ignorance of how their actions make affects nature (McKibben, 1989).
Ethos
Ethos helps in providing an appeal to ethics. It is meant to convince the readers of the credibility of the person trying to persuade them with facts. In an attempt to convince his audience of his credibility, McKibben gives a true reflection of what he observes concerning the destruction of nature as a reputable writer. Throughout the book, Mckibben is consistent to his warning that humanity and their industrial culture have contributed to the ending natural processes of the planet earth. He also gives his contribution about the less efforts put by man t save the planet.
Logos
Logos appeals to logic and it helps in persuading the audience using logical reasoning. Mackibben persuades his audience by factual reasoning concerning the destruction of nature and the scientifically proven consequences of such actions by human beings. He incisively gives the components of the environmental crisis that we face today as a result of our actions and ignorance of the long term and short term consequences that come along with human failing to take care of the nature. He explains his reasons in both human and scientific terms.
Pathos
Pathos appeals to the emotions of the audience and it helps the writer to persuade his audience by creating an emotional response. Mckibben uses some words in his writing that really triggers the readers’ emotion concerning their ignorance towards saving nature. The end of nature triggers the emotions of the readers as the destruction of nature is tightly bound to the existence of human being on earth. He goes further to state that humans will have to make a choice between their material world such as cars and house and natural world that is safe for their lives.
Global warming has negatively affected the natural beauty of the planet earth. One of the most profound impacts of climate change is the effect that it has had on the beauty of the earth and the ecosystem in which we live (Botkin et al, 2007). Global warming has been attributed to human activities such as deforestation and emission of dangerous gases that are responsible for forming acidic rains among other activities and the effects on nature has been destructive. McKibben observes that as a result of these irresponsible human activities and their ignorance of the effects of their actions on nature, the globe has negatively been affected. The effect of such human activities has resulted in the rise in temperature and unpredictable rain pattern thereby affecting agriculture and food production. The extinction of some natural plants and animals has also been observed as a result of global warming. The emission of carbon dioxide into the air has literally contributed to the end of the nature by causing a corrosive on nature thereby destroying the beauty of the planet earth.
The climatic changes as a result of global warming are slowly destroying nature and the ecosystem in which we live. The aggregate harm that human activities have caused to nature is quite profound and has led to the destruction of nature. McKibban states that humans have every aspect of the physical nature and this has led to changes in weather and climate (Fowler, Blenkinsop, & Tebaldi, 2007). Climatic changes have affected all natural aspects from the soil to the sky and even the sea thereby affecting all living things on the planet. The depletion of the ozone layer, the massive alteration of the stratosphere and the extinctions of some plants and animals all points to the end of nature as described by McKibben.
The effect of global warming has become so intense that if we do not take a step further to reduce the effect then, our extinction as human beings is almost eminent with time (Nelson et al, 2010). Food insecurity is a major issue of concern that has resulted from global warming. Most crops are not able to cope with the changing weather and this has led to low food production (Crutzen, Mosier, Smith, & Winiwarter, 2016). Torrential downpours and powerful storms such as hurricanes and typhoons, the rising sea level has led to increased floods killing many people and the number is expected to increase over the coming years pointing out to the fact that if no actions are taken to deal with the global warming then our end as human being is nearer than we first believed.
Conclusion
In conclusion, McKibben book The End of Nature comes to us a warming of the eminent dangers of the global warming as a result of human activities. It represents our ignorance of the need to take care of the environment and should human continue with their activities that destroys nature in the, their extinction along with other living things is eminent with time. The end of nature as a result of global warming is supported by both theoretical and scientific evidence as has been presented in this paper.
References
Botkin, D. B., Saxe, H., Araujo, M. B., Betts, R., Bradshaw, R. H., Cedhagen, T., ... & Ferrier, S. (2007). Forecasting the effects of global warming on biodiversity. Bioscience, 57(3), 227-236.
Crutzen, P. J., Mosier, A. R., Smith, K. A., & Winiwarter, W. (2016). N2O release from agro-biofuel production negates global warming reduction by replacing fossil fuels. In Paul J. Crutzen: A Pioneer on Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Change in the Anthropocene (pp. 227-238). Springer International Publishing.
Fowler, H. J., Blenkinsop, S., & Tebaldi, C. (2007). Linking climate change modeling to impacts studies: recent advances in downscaling techniques for hydrological modeling. International journal of climatology, 27(12), 1547-1578.
McKibben, B. (1989). The end of nature. Random House Incorporated.
Nelson, G. C., Rosegrant, M. W., Palazzo, A., Gray, I., Ingersoll, C., Robertson, R., ... & Msangi, S. (2010). Food security, farming, and climate change to 2050: Scenarios, results, policy options (Vol. 172). Intl Food Policy Res Inst.
