Comparative Commentary on Global Warming Essay

â€Å"Taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions† (â€Å"Text A†), an international newspaper advertisement from Exxon Mobil and â€Å"An Agenda for Climate Action† (Text B†), a speech by Eileen Claussen, the President of Pew Center on Global Climate Change were both written in 2006 with the focus on global warming. The author in both commentaries strives to bring out the message that as human beings, we must take action to stop the worsening of climate change. Text A is a published article by a company that emphasizes that everyone in the world should be able to take part in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and that illustrates the range of actions, in particular technological advances the company has taken to address the problem. As for Text B, it is a speech delivered to university students that identifies the ultimate cause of the problems of climatic change the world is facing now. Even though the message of the two texts is the same, the way th ey convey it differs, in terms of the structure and content, language usage, purpose, and narrative perspective. The structure and content of the two texts are very similar even though there are some obvious differences. First, the introduction of the two texts is very similar in terms of the message their text strives to bring out. Text A starts with â€Å"We’d like to use this space to share our thoughts on actions to address the risk of climate change† while Text B is slightly different as it opens with a courteous introduction first but what follows is this, â€Å"I am here today to talk about what climate change solutions might entail†. This clearly shows that even though the two introductions i.e. the words used and the focus area are not the exact same, but without doubts, they are intended for the same purpose, to persuade people to take action. As for the sentencing and paragraph style, both are written in small paragraphs with long sentences, each having a specific point to make. In Text A, the 4th paragraph is about the need to develop new approaches that are suitable for consumers and to improve the present economic situation and current living standard. The 7th paragraph is about the company improving energy efficiency and having reduced a lot of emission. In Text B, the 3rd paragraph states the major cause for climate change, which is environmentally unfriendly actions done by humans. In the 5th paragraph, it talks about how the rate of mountain glaciers melting is increasing rapidly. These examples show that each paragraph from the two texts has a specific point to make and is clearly structured. Differences can also be found due to the different nature of the texts, Text A being an international newspaper advertisement that promotes their company, Exxon Mobil while Text B is a speech by Eileen Clausen in the Yale University with the aim to raise awareness of global warming to ring the bell that everyone must come together and take a â€Å"comprehensive approach†. First, they use different ways to inform their audiences.†¯ Text A is presented with descriptions and actual statistics of the actions the company have been taking so as to promote their company while Text B is a speech that strives to deliver the message to the audience that climate change is a serious problem, so uses more examples and easy-to-understand facts and information such as how the natural phenomenon that are occurring now is just â€Å"the tip of an iceberg†. Second, the way they start differ. For instance, Text B starts with a sentence in the very beginning that Text A does not, which is â€Å"Thank you very much. †¯It is grate to be here at Yale University†. This is because Text B is a speech so it must show some kind of gratitude for being able to give out a speech. In contrary, Text A is only an advertisement, which does not need to show gratitude that way, however, it has more to do with tone. The tone of†¯Text A is very formal and serious but not demanding because they are trying to promote their company. Although the tone in Text B has a certain level of seriousness, it is more towards the friendly-conversation kind of feeling. It is presented like how close the audience and Eileen Clausen are, this is so that the audience would be more interested and take account of the global issues more. The data of the two texts are not the same. Text A talks about solutions to reduce green house gas emissions, â€Å"Working with vehicle manufacturers and engine makers on programmers that could improve fuel economy by as much as 30% while significantly reducing emissions† and â€Å"improving energy efficiency at our facilities Steps taken since 1999 resulted in CO2 emissions saving of 11 million tones in 2005†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In Text B†, it talks about the risks that human activities have brought upon climate change. For instance,† what they showed is that the second largest land-based ice sheet in the world is losing ice twice as fast† and â€Å"we know that hurricanes are becoming more intense, not just in the Atlantic which gave us Katrina and Rita†¦Ã¢â‚¬ The information used in each of the texts to convey its message is different. Since Text A is an advertisement for its own company, it would be very uncommon for it not to pressure its audience into buying its products. Exxon Mobile does this by firing all the actions it has taken to tackle the problem of climatic change, creating the impression that using or buying their products is one of the ways to save the planet. However, since Text B is only a speech with no special interest, it only needs to address the seriousness of the situation without pressuring the audience that â€Å"these, if I may say this, are just the tip of the melting iceberg†, implying that what was said is not all that there is to it, there are many more risks out there. With and without the pressure, it shows how different the texts are and their impacts on the audience. As between the two texts, one focuses on solutions while another one on risks. Text A focuses on the solutions the company has come up with while Text B talks about the risks caused by human activities. In addition to that, Text A focuses on economics solutions while Text B focuses on geographic problems. For instance, in â€Å"Text A†, phrases such as â€Å"allow continued economic growth and improvements in living standard. Technological advances will be critical†highlight the economic aspects and developing technology to improve living stand requires money, so it is indirectly asking its customers to use or buy the company’s products. In Text B, the risks talked about are all related to the changes geographically not economic risks, such as â€Å"loss of mountain glaciers†, â€Å"but in all oceans where hurricanes occur† and â€Å"One study found that 130 species-both plants and animals- have responded to earlier spring warming over the last 30 years.† In addition to that, Text A focuses on achievements while Text B on problem.†¯ In Text A, the sentence, â€Å"working with vehicle manufacturers and engine makers on programmes that could improve fuel economy by as much as 30% while significantly reducing emissions† shows an achievement because by working with other manufacturers and company, Exxon Mobile would be able to benefit the fuel economy as well as reduce emissions. In Text B, the sentence,† we also know that we are experiencing a worldwide loss of mountain glaciers, a trend that is accelerating. By mid-century, most mountain glaciers may be gone,† reveals a problem. Hence, the focus of each Text is different although they bring out the same message. Although both texts talks about reducing emissions, Text A, â€Å"Our scientists and engineers are working to reduce emissions today and in Text B, â€Å"We need to move from an economy based on burning of fossil fuels to one based on energy efficiency.† Text A is more prone to the side of benefiting their consumers â€Å" and Text B is prone to talk about the cause of global warming â€Å"The impacts of climate change across the globe are occurring in patters that can only explained by human activities and not by natural variations in regional climate.† The ultimate message that the two texts have differs, Text A if to promote their company and to persuade customers to do something therefore buy their product. Text B is to persuade people that we must take action to prevent the worsening of climatic change. This is shown by the conclusions which it also includes the use of technical words, even though both texts use 1st person as narrative perspective to express their information, at first in Text A, the use of â€Å"we† was to represent the whole Exxon Mobil â€Å"We’d like to use this space to share our thoughts on actions† but it changed to a â€Å"we†, which meant the society and themselves â€Å"We all have a role to play.† Initially, in Text A, the use of â€Å"I† was to represent the speaker, the president of Pew Center on Global Climate Change â€Å"I am here today to talk about what climate change solutions might entail† but it literally changed to â€Å"We†, again it includes everyone â€Å"We need to act now to cone up with ways to limit emissions growth without.† The switch of the technical words emphasizes the message that wants to be sent across so they make everyone as a whole, make them think they are involved and would have consideration on whether to act or not. The people targeted by each commentary are different. For Text A, since it is a published advertisement of a company, a profit-making company, to be specific, the targeted audience undeniably would be its customers (the public) in the sense that buying their products would amount to saving the planet. In contrast, â€Å"Text B† has a narrower focus on university students â€Å"It is great to be here at Yale University†, people of high intellect and education, so explanation is not needed, therefore the message are more straightforwardly expressed. However, on a more in-depth analysis of the content of their commentary as discussed above, it may be that Text B is able to reach a wider audience than Text A. The reason is that the language used in Text B is easier to understand, contains more common, day-to-day language, for example â€Å"The earth is warming; the impacts-once only predictions- are now upon us and are likely to worsen,† whereas almost half of the Text A in fact involves technical language, for example â€Å"Exxon Mobil is the lead sponsor and study areas include solar, hydrogen, biofuels and advanced transportation,† which can be thought to be targeting at people such as professors, university students, climate change ambassadors, engineers, surveyors, etc. In conclusion, Text A and Text B have many similarities and differences between the content and language usage, for example the ultimate message, talking about risks or solutions, geographical problems or economy problems, technical language and tone etc. There are also many other differences and similarities that haven’t been mentioned such as the Text A inform in present continuous, Text B is repetitive and does not patronize, scope (broad or limited, modern or historical) etc. Lastly, the two texts clearly convey the same theme through the description of solutions and risks, to take action for climate change.