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Introduction

I will be analyzing two different environmental blogs in order to see how the authors of these blogs used ethos (the ethical appeal), logos (the appeal to the logic), and pathos (appeal to the readers emotions) to get their point across. I will also be looking at what the authors hoped to accomplish by writing their respective blogs, and seeing how effective they were at doing so. To choose the two blogs I will be analyzing, I searched for what was one of the most recent and urgent environmental crises, the devastation of the Australian bush fires on wildlife specifically. I looked for blog posts that talked about this crisis and what the current situation is for these animals.

This video talks about how the bushfires in Australia have affected the local wildlife and how damaging and devastating the damage has been.

Blog Post #1 Analysis

First Blog Post: https://secure.animalsaustralia.org/take_action/survived-fires-still-risk

Ethos: The author of this blog is appealing to the ethics of the reader in this post. They do this by showing how unethical it is to allow the animals being devastated by bush fires in Australia to also be hunted and killed. The author talks about how unethical it is to allow the killing of native animals when wildlife professionals and veterinarians are working hours a day to try to find and save these same animals. For example, the author says “Caring people around the world are watching in horror as Australia’s precious and unique wildlife is ravaged by fire.” This statement is telling the reader that if they were an ethical and caring person they would be horrified by what is happening and want to help.

Pathos: The author of this blog appeals to the emotions of the reader through making the reader feel sadness and anger towards the current situation with the wildlife in Australia. They do this by showing pictures of these animals so that the reader can fully understand what the animals are going through. The headline “He survived the fires, but he’s still at risk”, also makes the reader feel bad for the animal and want to do something to help.

Logos: The author of this blog appeals to the logic of the reader by telling what will happen if help isn’t provided for these animals and what the reader what they can do to help. The author writes “The next year is going to be critical in ensuring that we don’t lose some species forever. More than ever, native animals should be protected, not rescued just to be put back in harm’s way.” This statement appeals to the logic of the reader because it points out how illogical and ridiculous it is to spend time and resources helping save the lives of these animals just to allow people to hunt and kill them.

Second Blog Post: https://blog.therainforestsite.greatergood.com/australia-death-toll/

Ethos: Ethos, the ethical appeal is used in the blog “Nearly a Billion Animals Killed in Australian Wildfires”. The author talks about how the Koala population had already been in decline in Australia due to habitat loss, but over a third of the koala population perished because of the fires. This statement appeals to the ethics of the reader because an ethical person would become concerned and want to do whatever they could to help after reading this.

Pathos: The blog appeals to the emotions of the reader by making them feel sadness and concern for the animals effected. They did this by talking about the many ways animals have been effected by the fires, including loss of habitat and death. The author also wrote about how extinction is possible for some of these animals because of the sheer loss of life. This is appealing to the readers emotions because most people would be sad that the animals of Australia are at risk of disappearing forever.

Logos: The blog also appeals to the logic of the reader. They did this by explaining why the recent fires have been so devastating and noteworthy. This is because these fires have been more intense and frequent than the wildlife in the area is used to, which resulted in severe damage. This is appealing to the logic of the reader because it is using facts and logic to better explain the situation.

Conclusion

Both of these blogs used pathos very effectively in order to make the reader feel sadness and worry for the situation with the animals in Australia. They did this through showing pictures, videos, and describing how bad it has become for the animals. The authors also used logos and ethos, but much less than ethos. It is important to analyze blogs in order to better understand what their motives are and how they are getting their point across so that you can make your own decision on if you agree with it or not.

For my blog, I plan on using ethos, pathos, and logos to appeal to my audience and get my message across. I will use pathos heavily to spark emotion in the reader. My target audience will be people of high school or college ages who are also concerned with the current environmental situation.