Week Five: Blog Project- Global Warming

We chose to focus on Global Warming as our disaster, and while Global Warming is not a disaster in and of itself, it has vast potential to become one. The blog we chose can be found here, http://globalwarmingwatch.blogspot.com/. Throughout the course of the blog, the author evokes the idea that global warming is getting progressively worse, and brings up numerous points to try to show that the odds of global warming being human caused are getting higher and higher. He goes further and brings up what is currently being done to combat the problem, and what needs to be done in the future.

Featured Articles
"How climate denial really works," "How climate denial really works part 2," "Our problem is climate change is not our problem."

http://globalwarmingwatch.blogspot.com/2010/03/our-problem-is-climate-change-is-not.html http://globalwarmingwatch.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-climate-denial-really-works-2-50-of.html
http://globalwarmingwatch.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-climate-denial-really-works.html

How we create global warming is one problem, but whether we believe we humans are the cause or not is the bigger disaster. Before we can figure out a way together to put a stop to the gradual heating of the planet, we must all agree on what the causes actually are, natural or man-made ones. The blog author believes global warming is man-made, and in these posts he explains how denialists (those who believe global warming is a natural occurrence) come to be denialists because of the news media. Another problem the author states is our lack of proactiveness. Global warming will not be a major disaster until much later, but because the “urgent always trumps the long term,” it will be too late if no effective actions are taken now.

"The 90% chance we cause observed global warming now sits at 95%"

http://globalwarmingwatch.blogspot.com/2010/03/90-chance-we-cause-observed-global.html

This featured article discusses the recent changes in observed global warming that have led the percent likelihood that it's been caused by humans to increase from 90 to 95%. Edinburgh University determined that the initial study underestimated man's effect, for now our reach has spread even to Antarctica. Based on this evidence, it would be very hard for anyone to say that global warming was natural, and if the information we have is correct, Global warming is on pace to become a great disaster.
Based on the paragraph, it's said that there is increasing evidence in reports pointing that global warming is very likely man-made, and some of the scientists from different institutions suggest the percentage taken in natural variation in climate change has lessened and is not the major influence of global wariming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states there is an increasing body of observations which give a collective notion of a warming world and other changes in the climate system and the new and stronger evidence is that most of the observed warming is attributable to human activities based on the scientific papers the panel had access to.
In order to obtain this information, more than 100 scientific papers were accessed, of which a vast majority cited evidence which pointed to human involvemnet in the recent climate changes. Such human influence has led to changes in the Arctic which has led to a shrinking of the Arctic Sea ice at a rate of 600,000 sq. km per decade. The only dissent in this belief is that disasters such as Hurricane Katrina have been falsely blamed on man's involvement.

"Emissions down, interest up: Banking on a carbon neutral future"
http://globalwarmingwatch.blogspot.com/2010/09/emissions-down-my-interest-up-carbon.html

This post is an overview of the actions one bank (NAB) has taken to reduce their carbon footprints in an effort to cut emissions, and save energy. With the ever prevailing threat of global warming top 200 CEOs are making carbon neutral pledges such as switiching printers and photo copiers to print doublesided, cardboard boxes replacing paper waste baskets and installing communal recycle bins. All of these steps have resulted in a savings/reduction of 60K tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year. That fact in itself the author seemed impressed with concluding "They are a bank of the future." Overall, Australia is taking a step in the right direction to prevent the ever present doom and gloom of global warming.




Conclusion
The articles we selected above illustrate what we feel to be the best summary of the author's perspective on global warming. As the blog progressed, the author shifted from the realization of the current issue, to what the public is doing in an attempt to halt the spread of global warming. Despite global warming's lack of urgency, this blog reiterates the vast potential which global warming possesses to become a full blown disaster.



Writting by Ryan Yusuf, Ryan Welty, Adrienne Bradley, Hsin Ying Wu

After the terrorist attack of 9/11, Americans’ perception altered to form a new era of American pop culture and changed the public’s perspective of disaster, giving the public an actual event as a reference point between real life and fictional disasters.

The general audience could include any American that was personally affected by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Americans share a special bond with the event in a sense that everyone felt the same way when the news came about. The feeling was a uniform fear of terrorism. Shortly after this feeling, though, an up rise of hope and determination to fight terrorism was established, sending a shock wave of patriotism across the United States. With this patriotism, we were able to move forward from this tragedy and engage terrorism at its core.

The poster is effective because it relates to the audience through symbolic figures of patriotism. The statue of liberty takes up the largest portion of the poster and it displays the freedom of the United States. The audience can relate to the poster because everyone knows what the statue of liberty is and knows the message that comes along with the structure. Analytically, we can infer that the location of the poster is New York City, the place of the terrorist attacks because of the World Trade Centers in the background. A plane is shown, along with a message that explains that it is the only plane that did not reach its destination along with the other planes. People know of this plane, the American citizens on board caused the plane to land away from its intended target and only caused the citizens on board to pass away.
Nate, Dan, Pete

United 93 Thesis and Audience

Despite the controversial nature of thematic disaster movies, such as United 93, the infusion of such disaster into Hollywood blockbusters depicts the American public’s desire to indulge in the disaster represented on the big screen.

The intended audience would be the American public. Within the scope of the American public are Americans who are drawn to this disaster genre as well as Americans who want to satiate their appetite for disaster; in this case the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Madeline, Huihong Chen, Ryan

United 93: Duane', Adrienne, Ferris

1. Tragedy and terror against the United States inspires a dramatic increase in patriotism via unification of the general public because there is no social boundary in disaster.

2. The intended audience might consist of the everyday and average American who cares about the economic state and reputation of their country. The intended audience would not consist of someone who is indifferent about the state of their country and who disregards and lacks patriotism as a whole.

By Hsin Ying, Bonnie, Ryan and Syn Dee

Thesis:

Disaster movies after the 9/11 incident were no longer blithe because Americans were more experienced with real-life disasters. Movies are now made to connect with the solemn feelings of the American people through a more realistic perspective via fictional disasters on the screen.

Audience

The intended audience is American public who have been or have not been exposed to the 9/11 incident, as well as people who are familiar with previous disaster movies.

United 93: Thesis by Jordan, Dallas, and Corey

Unlike fictional disaster movies of the post-9/11 era which focus mainly on apocalyptic, sensationalistic disasters, non-fictional movies portray peoples' renewed patriotism and their struggle for freedom in the face of insurmountable resistance, which reflects the attitudes of the American people following the tragedies of September 11, 2001.

The movie United 93 targets Americans who have forgotten about the fourth plane that crashed during the tragedies of September 11^th. This fourth plane is a symbol of resistance and the traditional American value of courage. However, Americans often forget about the United 93 flight because of the focus on the collapse of the two World Trade Center towers in New York City and the attack on the Pentagon in Washington D.C.

United 93 by Kyle Witham, Nicole Lefton, and Jina Yu

Thesis:
The emphasis on the englarged Statue of Liberty in the movie poster of United 93, which alludes to America's history of welcoming immigration, portrays a direct contrast to the way 9/11 triggered foreign paranoia.

A possible intended audience for the movie poster of United 93 may be patriotic Americans that would be intrigued by the focus on the Statue of Liberty. These people might be interested in the events of 9/11 because it openly relates to America and its sense of security and pride. The movie poster also has an educational appeal. In the subtitle, it states "Four planes were hijacked, three of them reached their target... This is the story of the fourth." This subtitle is probably intended to draw in audiences that are curious to learn what they do not know about the disaster of 9/11.