Paris Climate Agreement Genre Analyst

Randy Ross
University of Texas at El Paso
Professor Pappoe
RWS 1302 9:30-11:30
Paris Climate Agreement Ross 2

Introduction

Recent news that the United States pulling out of the Paris agreement has been in the

works for many years. The issue is very important for everyone to be aware of what is happening

to the planet. These two genres that have shown the process and important of the Paris agreement

with one being a video by Ted talks by Christiana Figueres, who was Executive Secretary of the

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 2010-2016. Figures. She

was responsible for the international climate change negotiations for the 2015 Paris agreement.

Figueres describes her involvement, the process, and how the Paris agreement would be

executed. The second genre is a working letter that breaks down the elements of the Paris

Agreement. The article is written by three members of the climate community that are working

for World Resource Institute Jennifer Morgan, Yamide Dagnet, Dennis Tirpak. With this analyst,

the video and article will be broken down to show their strengths and weakness for how they are

presented.

Audience and Purpose

The main purpose of the video is to inform as well as inspire. The video shows

inspiration with explaining how that before they started the process of coming to agreement

everyone had doubts of them completing their tasks. The videos main focus it to inform how the

process of getting the committees from countries to agree on the Paris Climate Agreement. The

intended audience for the video would be an individual that would have to know the basics about

the Paris Climate agreement. The overall language of this video is very formal and professional

with the way she is speaking to the audience. For example, Figueres does not use any slag in the

presentation as well as keeps the conversation on topic and does not go off topic. She does talk

about her personal experience that is on the main topic of the presentation. A few weeks ago, I
Paris Climate Agreement Ross 3

was with a colleague who was trying to decide on a Tahitian pearl that he wanted to give to his

wonderful wife Natasha (Figueres 2016). This video does not use any type of jargon that

wouldnt be understood by a random passerby. There would be no need to further explain any of

the information that is be put out to the audience. The audience for the video would have to be

looking for a behind the scene of what was happening during the agreement. The audience would

also wouldnt just stumble upon this video by accident they would have to be looking for such a

video

The second genres main purpose is to inform in great detail about the Paris Climate

Agreement. The article breaks down every part to ensure that the reader is well informed on how

the Paris Climate Agreement. This article is designed to be a nonbiased paper that gives detail of

the essential elements of the Paris Climate Agreement. The language of the article is very

professional with the use of simplified terms to allow the common person to understand what is

being applied. Overall the paper stays away from the use of terms that one might not know, if the

author uses a term that is not clear then they will describe the term. For example, Stabilization

of the global temperature at a specific level requires that only a fixed amount of GHG emissions

is emitted in the future (the carbon budget). This means that, if the budget is depleted, GHG

emissions have to be zero. (Morgan 2014) The intended audience for this article would be

anyone in the science community, politicians, or people that have been interested in the Paris

agreement. This article could also be for anyone in the general population that is interested in

understanding the Paris Climate Agreement with a better clarity. With this article could bring in

a larger audience then the video due to the article having a larger amount of information then the

video. Also the article breaks everything down to clarify how the agreement will help and what

the overall process is. One thing the video does have over the article is the length.
Paris Climate Agreement Ross 4

Structure and delivery

For the first genre, the organization of the video is very informal but in a way still in a

formal setting. With the speaker on a stage dressed in business casual. The beginning is opened

with a personal experience with the global climate change then moving to a failure of a climate

plan. In the middle of the video the areas that were changed with an advancement. At the end of

the video Figueres explains how she had a personal experience where the general public where

aware of the climate change convention and the Paris agreement. The video is also structured in

a way where the view does not lose interest in the video itself. The Video doesnt not have

limitations due to the fact that the speaker has doubt the chances of the Paris Climate Agreement

passing with a unanimous vote. While the speaker only has those doubt she dont not have an

argument that the agreement is not the right choice. The video has a lot of feeling due to personal

stories are told. With a video the viewer has a better understanding of the feeling placed behind

the stories being told. . This video is a unique insight of the agreement. The videos length is only

14 mins with such a short video it is more of something that would get someone more interested

in the agreement. The video is geared to pull viewers into a more personal look at the agreement,

the being easier to watch helps gain the attention to show an insight into the process of how the

Paris Climate Agreement was created and discussed.

The second genre I structured very differently than the video of the first genre. The article

is very professional and organized in a way that is easy to locate information. The article has a

contents box on the first page to help the reader find a section with ease. The information in the

article is organized in a way where the beginning is set up to give an over view of the article.

With breaking the sections down with clear headings to allow the reader to distinguish the titles

from the text. With the feeling for the article there are limitations in place, because it is to
Paris Climate Agreement Ross 5

inform the reader the elements and ideas for the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. The article is

displays research, opinions, and analysis by the authors they are not affiliated with any political

parties the information given it purely to inform the public. With only showing information from

the three individuals there is no negative notation stating that the agreement would not be an

ethical idea. The structure of the article supports its intended purpose to inform the population

with its straight forward layout with the information up front with no need for interpretation.

With a clear break, down of information into sections with very clear heading of each paragraph.

With the article being 48 pages is quite a bit larger, although with the sections broken down to a

smaller size one could if the information they are trying to seek quicker.

Rhetorical Issues

The two different genre have their own unique way of displaying ethos pathos and logos.

Ethos is the means in which to convince the audience with the authors credibility or character.

Pathos is the emotional appeal, which is an attempt to persuade the audience to appeal to the

writers emotions. Logos is the use of logic in the genre, the way that the audience is convinced

by the use of logic or reasoning.

Ethos

The first genre being the video the speaker Christiana Figueres was Executive Secretary

of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Figueres was the

Director of Renewable Energy in the Americas (REIA). With having someone of her stature,

Figueres has enough credibility to talk about the process of the Paris Climate Agreement. The

second genre being the working letter has three climate professionals that all work or worked for
Paris Climate Agreement Ross 6

the World Resource Institute (WRI). Jennifer Morgan worked for the WRI in 2009 as the

Director of the Climate Program, she over saw the institutes issues on climate change as well as

guided the WRI on making strategies to help country keep a positive direction on achieving a

zero carbon future. Yamide Dangnet works for the WRI as a senior associate and leads projects

on the UNs framework for Climate Change Convention. Dangnet has a Master in Engineering

from the University of Technology of Compiegne. Dennis Tripack has been working with

climate change since 1985, he was also the Director if Global Change Policy Division at the US

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Pathos

The video is trying to get more people emotionally and inspired to get involved in climate

change. With the use of personal stories and giving behind the scene look with details on what

goes on behind the doors. first Monday morning, but here's what I did: I panicked. And then I

panicked again, because I realized I have no idea how we're going to solve this problem.

(Figueres 2016) While trying to get more people involved and informed on the global climate

efforts. The second genre the article is informing people straight to the point with little emotion.

where they would use facts as well as reassuring that there is a plan in place to make a difference

and that could be done with the Paris Climate Agreement. Climate change impacts are already

visible, they are hitting the poor and vulnerable the hardest, and they pose economic and ethical

challenges to governments and citizens around the world. (Morgan 2014)

Logos

The video uses facts on how many countries that were percent and how they

changed their vote to go in favor of the agreement. Also, Figueres also displayed a chart to show
Paris Climate Agreement Ross 7

the process of the agreement.

The article uses over thirty different references to back their claims, as well as using multiple

statistics to show what they are explain is factual. The article displays a greater amount of logos

then the video, the article being more information than an inspirational speech to the audience.

This long-term goal is consistent with IPCC findings that global GHG emissions need to be

reduced by 40-70 percent, in comparison with 2010 levels, by 2050 to have a likely chance (>66

percent) of keeping warming below 2o C. (Morgan 2014)

Paris Climate Agreement Ross 8

Conclusion

With both of the genres they display each of their own way of expressing the Paris

Climate Agreement. These genres are very different in many ways with how information is

discussed and displayed. But they both give good insight on the Paris Agreement. With the video

being gears toward a behind the scene looks and the process and the article giving a very detailed

method on how the agreement would be executed with what needed to be done for each country

that signed the agreement. With Climate being a real thing that has been overlooked by sceptics,

this article and video are proof that there is something globally in place to make that difference.
Paris Climate Agreement Ross 9

References

Christiana Figueres. (n.d.). Retrieved June 16, 2017, from

http://www.christianafigueres.com/#/

Dennis Tirpak. (n.d.). Retrieved June 16, 2017, from http://www.wri.org/profile/dennis-

tirpak

Figueres, C. (2016, February). Transcript of "The inside story of the Paris climate
agreement". Retrieved June 14, 2017, from
https://www.ted.com/talks/christiana_figueres_the_inside_story_of_the_paris_climat
e_agreement/transcript?language=en#t-31617

Jennifer Morgan. (n.d.). Retrieved June 16, 2017, from http://www.wri.org/profile/jennifer-

morgan

Morgan, J., Dagnet, Y., & Tirpak, D. (2014, December). ELEMENTS AND IDEAS FOR
THE 2015 PARIS AGREEMENT. Retrieved June 14, 2017, from
http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/uploads/ACT_Elements_Ideas_final_web.pdf

Yamide Dagnet. (n.d.). Retrieved June 16, 2017, from http://www.wri.org/profile/yamide-

dagnet