After going through some of my older stuff I found this essay that I wrote in the beginning of the first semester this year for English. It was a class assignment: to write an essay analyzing the satire of the article, "Climate Crisis", from theonion.com. The article isn't really covering an actual news story. I mean. . . what are the chances of the government building a giant air conditioner for the nation?? Anyway, I wanted to share this on progressiveu.org in order to show some interesting points the article makes about global warming. Enjoy. :)
Road to “Climate Crisis”
When addressing global warming as a “Climate Crisis” issue, people generally think of environmental activists striving for their cause. However, when the government steps in, a whole new influx of criticisms and commentary are extracted from different perspectives on the multiple properties of a solution. Once again, President Bush utilizes his adamant nature on political issues as well as creating new spoofs in his speech that’s an easy target for satire. Beside these musings, the author of this article hones in on society in general and questions how far people will go to succor the convenience of society.
Obviously, bias persuades various national demographics to believe in the necessity of a campaign or proposal. Of course, to appeal to the people, politicians or any advertisers need to present a positive front in order to promote their objectives in a favorable light. Positive reviews, in this case, came from Nancy Pelosi who believes the national air conditioner will provide employment opportunities and benefit certain companies. Evidently, the president uses absolute or extreme words such as “threatens”, “must”, or “undeniably”in his speech to exaggerate the urgency of this climate situation. One particular contrast illustrated in his quotes is his agenda to “ensure our children” and future generations to “live in a world where they don’t get sweaty” and have to change clothes frequently. In the beginning of the article, the author even mentions the reminiscence of President Kennedy’s speech drawn from Bush’s presidential address. During Kennedy’s time, the American government necessitated the man on the moon pledge to gather a national united front in their drive to compete with Russia’s advances.
However, there’s going to be complications of a plan that are yet to be resolved. Despite Bush’s claim to dedicate all resources for the massive construction, there is only a finite amount to expend for this and the country’s residents. For this reason, many fiscal conservatives and environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, suggest alternatives such as building giant fans and accommodating an automatic ‘sleep’ mode during nighttime respectively. Ironically, the White House seems to focus their concerns on the unit’s qualifications for an Energy Star certification yet they haven’t delved into other options possible of achieving the same cooling function in a cost-effective manner.
Inevitably, this technology’s innovations as well as its inconveniences will attract a certain balance of pros and cons. For instance, Canada's farmlands will suffer shortages from droughts if obstructed by the enormous back vents. Even though Prime Minister Stephen Harper has established this as a danger to their economy, the country’s outcry may likely be ignored. Furthermore, North Dakota and surrounding states may reproach relocating from their hometowns as a result of the vast space required for construction. Plus, what if tax increases are imposed on citizens to fund this monstrous project? Support from Congressional democrats and republicans, the White House administration, and especially companies contributing to this construction invigorates the public cause, but what about views Al Gore has on this matter? Known as a former vice president and environmental activist, even he seems to exhibit doubts about Bush’s take on global warming, noting to work on his development on “a personal spacecraft” to travel to a “distant planet”.
After observing the processes of creating a solution, people can realize that no idea will ever be infallible enough to avoid reprehension or disapproval. In addition, the author seems to satirize the perpetual need to further society’s conveniences. With the growing advances of technology, however, aspects of our own lives, from morals to work ethics, seem to have become more complicated in our generation. Does ‘progress’ really exist? Perhaps this assessment of idealism is the real ‘inconvenient truth’.
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Also, I uploaded this essay on my Zinch account.
And. . . the article can be found here:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/addressing_climate_crisis_bush
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