Introduc
tion
This essay is a rhetorical criticism on Greta Thunberg’s “How Dare You” speech at the U.N. Climate Action Summit. In her speech, Greta Thunberg blames world leaders and their inaction on climate change for the loss of dreams and childhood for not only herself, but the other young people of the world. During this essay, Thunberg’s invention of the speech will be analyzed, which will mainly involve the analysis of Thunberg’s use of ethos, pathos, and logos.
Artifact Description
Greta Thunberg, at the age of 16, is a “Swedish climate youth activist.” In her efforts to fight climate change, Thunberg has received worldwide recognition. In 2108, Thunberg “sparked an international international movement to fight climate change.” (“Greta Thunberg Biography”).
She also found herself frequently skipping school on Fridays to “protest outside the Swedish Parliament.” (“Greta Thunberg Biography”). Also, due to social media, Thunberg’s actions have spread across the globe and “influenced millions of young people all over the world to organize and protest.” (“Greta Thunberg Biography”). Thunberg has also launched “Fridays for Future.” “Fridays for Future” is when she and other young people throughout Europe “walkout” in order
“to pressure leaders and lawmakers to act on climate change.” (“Greta Thunberg Biography”). Thunberg was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in March of 2019.
On September 21, 2019, Thunberg’s gave her “How Dare You” speech at the United Nations Climate Action Summit before world leaders. In her speech, Thunberg criticizes the inaction of world leaders on the issue of climate change. Also, days after her speech, Thunberg “joined 15 other young climate activists to file an official complaint that five countries - Argentina, France, Germany, Brazil, and Turkey - have not honored the Paris Agreement pledges and have therefore violated the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child treaty.” (“Greta Thunberg Biography”). Thunberg’s speech even garnered the attention of President Trump, who mocked her in a tweet that says, “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!” (“Greta Thunberg Biography”).
Method of Criticism
The five canons of the Neo-Aristotelian method of rhetorical criticism are invention, organization, style, memory, and delivery. (Foss, 33). In this neo-aristotelian criticism of Greta Thunberg’s “How Dare You” speech, the focus will be on Greta Thunberg’s invention in her “How Dare You” speech. Invention is “the location and creation of ideas and materials for the speech.” (Foss, 33). Inventions is “based on two major forms of proof. External or inartistic proofs are those the rhetor uses feom other sources but does not create. Internal or artistic proofs, those that the rhetor creates, fall into three categories: (1) logos or logical argument; (2) ethos or the appeal of the rhetor’s character; and (3) pathos or emotional appeal.” (Foss, 33).
Findings Greta Thunberg begins her speech by saying “My message is that we’ll be watching you.” She starts out strongly in the delivery of her speech, and puts the audience on edge by saying that they will be watched. Thunberg then continues to say that, “This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”). In this part of her speech, Thunberg is using pathos and is appealing to both pity and anger. She is evoking pity because she is missing school, which is on the other side of the ocean, and is far from home. She also evokes anger when she expresses her own anger. She is angry that she is here and she is angry that “you all come to us young people for hope.” despite the older world leaders, who are in the audience, ignoring the issue of climate change. She really hits her point when she says, “How dare you!” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”), which is repeated throughout her speech. She continues on to say that, “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet
I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems
are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk
about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you! For
more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to
look away and come here saying that you’re doing enough, when the politics
and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight. You say you hear us and that
you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want
to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing
to act, then you would be evil” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”).
During this section of her speech, Thunberg is using pathos and logos. She is once again
evoking anger and sadness, as she herself experiences the emotions. She is angry that the world leaders are full of empty words and promises on the issue of climate change. She evokes her anger unto the audience when she says “We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of economic growth.” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”). She is also evoking her sadness that people are suffering and dying. She also evokes the emotion of anger and sadness when she says, “Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil.” Furthermore, she can be seen using logos when she mentions that, “People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are dying.” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”), and when she says that, “For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear.” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”). She is using logos by using logical facts to point out how important climate change is. She is presenting facts: people and ecosystems are dying. She then goes on to say,
“The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a
50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees [Celsius], and the risk of setting
off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control. Fifty percent may
be acceptable to you. But those numbers do not include tipping points,
most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or
the aspects of equity and climate justice. They also rely on my generation
sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with
technologies that barely exist. So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us -
we who have to live with the consequences. To have a 67% chance of
staying below a 1.5 degrees global temperature rise - the best odds given by
the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] - the world had 420 gigatons
of CO2 left to emit back on Jan. 1st, 2018. Today that figure is already down
to less than 350 gigatons.” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”).
During this section of her speech, Thunberg mainly uses logos. She is using logical reasoning to convince her audience to act on climate change. She is using statistics and percents to back up her previous statements that climate change is a serious issue, and it should not be ignored. Her discussion of real facts about climate change also helps in building her credibility to the audience. She is not just ranting and stating her opinion, she actually knows what she is talking about. She says, “The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees [Celsius], and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”). In this quote from her speech, Thunberg is both demonstrating her understanding of the subject and stressing the importance of the issue. She also refers back to the beginning of her speech where she says, “This is wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope.” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”), by saying that “They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist. So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us - we have to live with the consequences.” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”). Once again, Thunberg is uses pathos to evoke the emotion of anger. She is evoking anger because the world leaders are passing off the issue of climate change as unimportant and as something that the future generations will fix, but the truth is that it is an issue now.
“How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just ‘business as usual’
and some technical solutions? With today’s emission levels, that remaining
CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 1⁄2 years. There will not be
any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today,
because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not
mature enough to tell it like it is.” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”).
During this section of her speech, Thunberg once again uses the phrase, “How dare you.” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”). This one repeated phrase throughout the speech helps her pathos. She is evoking anger and shame in the audience. She evokes anger because they even dared to ignore the issue, but she also evokes shame with the phrase because she is essentially telling the world leaders that they should be ashamed of themselves. She also uses logos again by pushing the facts onto the audience when she says, “With today’s emission levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 1⁄2 years.” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”). She also calls the world leaders out again for their lack of action by saying, “There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”). She also kind of evokes the feeling of shame in the audience during this line as well. A 16 year-old-girl is telling a room full of world leaders, that they are not mature enough to handle the truth, so the just play the issue of climate change off as insignificant.
“You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your
betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to
fail us, I say: We will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this.
Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up.
And change is coming, whether you like it or not. Thank you.”
(“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”).
In the final section of her speech, Thunberg blatantly calls out the world leaders once more by saying “You are failing us.” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”). She even goes so far as to tell the world leaders that “The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this.” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”). She is practically daring them to continue to ignore the issue. She is making it known that climate change is real and is a problem now; it is not to be passed off anymore, and if it continues it will not be accepted. She is making it known that they will be watched to see if they actually listen to not only her, but countless others as well. Furthermore, just as she began her speech strongly, she ends on a strong note as well. She says, “Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”).
Overall, while Greta Thunberg evokes the use of ethos, pathos, and logos in her speech, I found that she mostly uses pathos and logos; however, both the use of pathos and the use of logos were about equal, so neither was more dominant over the other. Thunberg is also very straightforward in her delivery of the speech. She does not beat around the bush of why she is there or what she hopes changes. She frequently uses the phrase “How Dare You” (“Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech”), and calls out the world leaders for their inaction and ignorance. Furthermore, throughout the speech it seems as if she is shaming and scolding the world leaders like a mother to a child, which is ironic considering she’s only a teenager and they are adults. Even at a young age, Thunberg did a wonderful job in her speech. She spoke strongly and efficiently; furthermore, not only did she have strong, well thought out points, but she also provided evidence to support her points. Through my neo-aristotelian analysis of Greta Thunberg’s “How Dare You” speech, I have concluded that Thunberg did an excellent job in using ethos, pathos, and logos in her speech, along with providing a strong delivery of her speech to the audience.
Works Cited:
Foss, Sonja K. Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice. Waveland Press, 2018.
Staff, Bio. “Greta Thunberg.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television,
12 Nov. 2019, www.biography.com/activist/greta-thunberg.
Staff, NPR. “Transcript: Greta Thunberg's Speech At The U.N. Climate Action Summit.”
NPR, NPR, 23 Sept. 2019, www.npr.org/2019/09/23/763452863/
transcript-greta-thunbergs-speech-at-the-u-n-climate-action-summit.
Copy of Greta Thunberg’s Speech
"My message is that we'll be watching you. This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you! For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight. You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe. The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees [Celsius], and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control. Fifty percent may be acceptable to you. But those numbers do not include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate justice. They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist. So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us — we who have to live with the consequences. To have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5 degrees global temperature rise – the best odds given by the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] – the world had 420 gigatons of CO2 left to emit back on Jan. 1st, 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons. How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just 'business as usual' and some technical solutions? With today's emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 1/2 years. There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is. You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not. Thank you."
Link to the video of her speech: https://youtu.be/KAJsdgTPJpU
Comments