Al Gore’s Documentary - Inconvient Truth Global Warming

In Al Gore’s documentary, his argument is extremely emphasized by the way in which he tries to persuades his audience. He uses many arguments, which are backed up with even more personal anecdotes, and yet more facts to prove his point. Overall, every on of his persuading mechanisms can be classified as either Logos, Ethos, or Pathos. These three persuasive tools make his call to action more logical, more reliable, and more appealing to peoples’ morals. When comparing Al Gore’s use of these three persuasive tools to Frederick Douglasses use, Gore uses more of a variety of these tools. Gore also presents his argument in a decisive way to flow in a well thought out manner. On the other hand, Douglass uses more Pathos and Ethos than Logos by a substantial amount and merely recounts his first hand account on the topic, using one of the three tools in where ever he wants.

Al Gore uses an exorbitant amount of Logos to back up his argument and to prove his point. In one particular scene He goes from fact to fact with the use of multiple graphs, charts, studies, and hard facts presented in a succession. In this one scene he shows a massive graph dating back 650 million years ago to present, showing the correlation between carbon dioxide levels of the air and the temperature. From this graph, it is platently, and logically, presented to show that higher carbon dioxide levels in the air lead to a higher temperature. Using the same graph, he further shows the “projected concentration for the next 50 years” which is a good three times what it is today. With this, he comments that if only this amount equals an ice age and twenty feet of snow, then what would be the effect for that large number predicted on the warm side. Later on in the same scene he shows another graph showing the break up of each countries overall contribution to green house emission, contribution to green house emission in per territory/state, and use of resources. The results were staggering but persuasive because they were so astonishing.

In the movie, there is also some Ethos used. Gore uses many references to scientific studies by professional scientists, famous quotes by professional politicians, and even uses his own first hand account to deem himself reliable on his information presented. He uses a specific quote from Winston Churchill, a prolific politician from the past. The quote sums up his entire point for that segment of the movie, and uses a reliable source to prove it to the audience. In another example of ethos, Al Gore uses a veriety of diagrams put together by trusted, professional scientists.

Throughout