Rhetorical Analysis:

World Leaders Adopt 1.5 C Goal- and were damn well going to hold them to it,
By Bill McKibben

Nathan Santillana
80509138

World Leaders Adopt 1.5 C Goal- and were damn well going to hold them to it by Bill
McKibben is an opinion article focused on the recent Paris Climate Agreement released on
December 12, 2015 in Paris, France. The rhetorical strategies: ethos, pathos, and logos are
implemented throughout the article offering a fairly solid argument. As founder of 350.org and
writer of numerous climate control related articles, McKibben displays a fair amount of
expertise. His experience concretes his credibility as a trustworthy climate related writer. With
ethos firmly established, the article is a display of humorous witty comments aimed towards
emphasizing the shear enormity of the claims promised by the Paris Climate Agreement.
In the very first paragraph, McKibben appeals to pathos as he states, Heres the crucial
plaintive paragraghwritten in the indecipherable bureaucratese that attends this international
circus. His humorous statement seems to contain a hint of mockery, probably due to past
experiences and let downs. The paragraph then proceeds to the excerpt which contains the goals
set during the Agreement, of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and efforts to
limit any temperature increases to 1.5 C, 2.0 C max. Soon after, there is further implementation
of pathos as the author humorously interprets the indecipherable bureaucratese.
Paragragh two contains similar implementations of pathos as the previous paragraph
except this time it is followed by logos mixed with pathos as McKibben states, 1 degree
above average pre-industrial temperatures, and considering what thats already done1.5 C will
still be trouble, but manageable trouble. This sentence briefly brings a sense of fear as the
author explains just how bad the situation already is, and foreshadows that it will be worst if the
goal is not reached.
The next paragraph begins with a grasp at pathos as McKibben states that although the
goals of the Paris Agreement seem farfetched, we can be hopeful that at least we can hold our

governments to their promises. He then uses pathos again as he states previous government
contradictions in his hilarious statement, What, you want to build a pipeline? I thought you
were going to go for 1.5 degrees. You want to frack? Are you fracking kidding me? Although
his statements are geared towards a more pathos approach to the problem, he offers a bit of logos
as he reminds us that many times our governments forget their promises.
Paragragh 4 also uses logos and pathos as McKibben reminds us that after his Democratic
nomination in 2008, Barack Obama stated that his administration would mark the moment when
the rise of the oceans began to slow followed by Obamas very contradiction as he decided to
pass the building of the Keystone pipeline. Pathos is used in the succeeding sentence as the
author gives us a hilarious reminder that the fight to cancel the building of the pipeline was won.
McKibben then ends his article with another shot at pathos as he states, Now every
world leader has said something similareven ifthey didnt quite mean those wordsWell
be the nagging parent/teacher/spouse. Well assume they really want action. And well demand
they prove it. Ending with a witty Game on.
The appeal to humorous pathos is very heavily used in this article. We can assume that
this might very well be McKibbens preferred style of writing. His ideas are very well presented,
concerning his opinion on the Paris Climate Agreement, and it offers a clear picture concerning
his thoughts on the matter. That said, McKibbens attitude might be very pathos oriented as his
own personal emotions may be mixed causing a generally negative take on his chosen topic. But,
this may be outweighed by his strong appeal to ethos as a seasoned climate change writer.

Reference:
McKibben, B. (2015, December 12). World leaders adopt 1.5 C goal and were damn well going to
hold them to it. Retrieved from http://grist.org/climate-energy/world-leaders-adopt-1-5-c-goal-and-weredamn-well-going-to-hold-them-to-it/