Finegan 1

Nicole Finegan
Professor Fielding
WRTC 103
21 February 20216
The Controversy About Corporate Pollution
The environment impacts every living thing, so it makes sense to care about the
leading reason as to why it is diminishing. Tom Zeller published his article Business
Must Adapt to Climate Change to convince business owners to change in a way that
lowers their environmental impact to increase profits. Nicole Finegans PSA criticizes air
pollution created by power plants. Although currently unpublished the piece would fit in
well on the National Resources Defense Councils website or other sites concerned with
corporate pollution. Through the skillful use of rhetorical appeals, Tom Zellers Opposing
Viewpoints article and Nicole Finegans PSA evoke support for businesses innovating to
create a better environment.
By integrating environmental friendly procedures, companies not only improve the
quality of the biosphere, but also their success. The article begins by arguing that climate
change is indeed occurring and labels the change as a problem. The author pulls various
quotes from different critically acclaimed sources such as Al Gore. Zeller then suggests
that the lead culprits in causing this climate change must alter their business tactics to
help not only the environment but also their business. He goes on to exemplify CocaCola and some small businesses success in becoming a greener company. Zeller ends
the article arguing that extreme weather, due to climate change, has already starting to
become the norm, which negatively impacts the economy.

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Zellers history as a writer and background research solidify his ethical appeal
within his article. As stated within the article, Tom Zeller Jr. is a senior writer at the
Huffington Post and a former reporter and editor at the New York Times (Zeller 1),
confirming his status as a polished researcher and skilled writer. Due to his professional
status, Zeller is a trustworthy critic of businesses adapting to climate change.
By incorporating statistical data from reputable sources, the article effectively
implements logical insight into its argument. Towards the end of his argument, Zeller
includes results from a survey saying, a full 86 percent [of business surveyed] said
climate change risks, or investing in adaptation solutions, pose a business opportunity
(Zeller 8), which is evidence that most businesses agree with Zellers main claim about
their practices. This piece of evidence is effective because hes using statistics directly
from the parties involved. Not only does the author appeal to the audiences logical
nature, but he also employs tactics to appeal to emotion in order to add to the
effectiveness of his persuasion.
Zeller uses Gores account of democracy related claims to construct an emotional
appeal in his argument. Zeller quotes Gore as saying, [Corporations are] trampling all
over the rules of democratic discourse (Zeller 6). This quote evokes the readers sense
of patriotism because America was founded inherently on democratic values. By using a
quote stating that American corporations ignore their countrys values Zeller effectively
persuades readers to believe businesses that pollute are actively unpatriotic.

Establishing standards to reduce

toxic pollution from the
thousands
of power plants
And reduce the exposure
Prevent respiratory
nationwide
Save
as many
as
of children
to could..
mercury
and
and cardiovascular
17,000
lives aResources Defense
lead. National
diseases
PSA
against
power plant pollution within the United States
Council
year

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Finegans PSA creates a public call to action to address the claim that power plants emit
deadly substances which must be regulated. The ad uses powerful imagery when
representing a power plant as a gun and uses red text to draw the eye. The PSA attempts
to use statistical fact in a persuasive manner to draw attention to the issues pollution can
cause. By using rhetorical appeals Finegan creates awareness about corporate pollution,
an issue important to her.

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Although researched in the area of global warming and businesses affect on the
environment, Finegan is by no means an expert. In fact, she tends have a bias towards
forcing corporations into reducing their carbon footprint because she only presents one
side of the issue. Regardless, she incorporates a statistic from the National Resources
Defense Council to try to authenticate her argument and persuade the audience that the
topic was well researched. Finegan also uses the statistic in her PSA in order to add logic
to the argument.
With the aid of a statistic, Finegan implicitly makes her claim about power plant
pollution. The argument is arranged in a logical order with emphasis on the details that
support her claim. Supported by evidence from a credible source, the PSAs general claim
that power plants produce harmful pollution is clear and has specific details that also
support its logical reasoning. Although the PSA includes a considerable amount of logical
appeal, its most effective appeal is to the audiences emotion.
Through powerful visual alterations, Finegan effectively elicits an emotional
response from her audience, therefore making it one of the stronger appeals in her PSA.
By juxtaposing the text coloration and making the facts supporting her argument more
visually apparent, the audience focuses on the shocking pieces of the statistic. The
coloring also creates an emphasis on the severity of toxic air pollution in order because it
is the message she wants the audience to receive. Finegan also replaces a power plant
tower with the image of a gun. This engages the audiences common knowledge the
harmfulness of guns and equates it the harmfulness of power plants. The metaphor
visually simplifies Finegans argument in order to be easily understood by a wide
audience.

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The PSA and verbal argument act as compliments to each other as their strengths
lie in different appeals. The PSA appeals more to pathos than the verbal argument
because the information is presented more dramatically. The PSA adds information
specific to power plants producing air pollution that the article did not include. It also
goes into depth about the harm on society and not just a business progress. For the
everyday American the PSA is more persuasive because it contains information pertinent
to them. Likewise, the written argument is more likely to persuade business owners about
the harms of pollution because theyre the intended audience. Both the PSA and verbal
argument work together to warn different members of America about the harms of
pollution on health and economic success.

Works Cited:
Cityscape Tower Smoke Air Pollution. Digital image. Wisegeek.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21
Feb. 2016.
Handgun PNG Image. Digital Image. PngImg.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.

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"What's at Risk from Industry's Full-Scale Assault on the EPA and the Clean Air
Act?" Clean Air Act, EPA Clean Air Act of 1970. Natural Resources Defense
Council, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
Zeller, Tom. "Business Must Adapt to Climate Change." Adaptation and Climate Change.
Ed. Roman Espejo. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Rpt. from "The
Business Case for Climate Change Adaptation." http://www.huffingtonpost.com.
2011. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.