“International Biodiversity Conference: Taking Stock”

Intro:

Form= speaker (Prof. Chris Lee)+ Slides, formal address, transcript

Audience= international leaders, fellow ecologists, educated, environmental interests

Purpose= to review progress in achieving targets since 2002 and look beyond

Tone- positive+ hopeful; “It is with great pleasure…”

Inviting; opening slide

Shifts to being more firm and commanding with imperative statements, telling us “we must” and action is “essential”, “vital”, that there should be “no excuses” and terms like “exactly” leave no room for compromise (aim to provide examples of ways tone is conveyed)

1)  Seeks Reflection

Visual- opening slide
Title “Taking Stock” / Ø  Natural, friendly, inviting, coherent landscape
Ø  Silhouette of adult and child illicit feelings of protection
Ø  Powerful reminder of values
Ø  Sense of a job to be done, project undertaken
Ø  Obligation to assess, ‘stock taking’
Successive questions
“has this been….?”
“honestly, how well…?” / Ø  Raise doubts
Ø  Invite self criticism
“It is time we stopped kidding ourselves” / Ø  Also invites self criticism

2)  Highlights environmental problems:

Figures of habitat destruction: 40%, 50%
Species lost at “100 times the natural rate of extinction” / Ø  High proportions accentuate loss
Ø  Alarming
Excessive language
o  “grip” of extinction, “destruction”
o  “grim situation”, “too late”
Descriptions of damage
o  “degradation”, “rampant”, “deepening”, “untenable” / Ø  serious, overbearing
Ø  emphasises need for a response
Ø  problematic, urgent
Comparison with extinction of dinosaurs / Ø  Significant period of evolution; includes fear of such monumental change
Listing contributors to extinction
o  Disease, hunting, climate change… / Ø  Provides a focus for action

3)  Attacks human efforts:

Critical language
o  “thoughtless human actions”
o  “failure”
o  “haphazard”
o  repetition of “lack of…”
descriptions of approaches (sarcasm)
o  “wonderful”, “glossy”, “inspiring”
o  “faint promises”, “platitudes”, “talk-fest”
other terms
“real action”, “concrete results”, “serious action” / Ø  Conveys recklessness
Ø  Exposing our flaws
Ø  Provokes guilt
Ø  Presents efforts as superficial, insincere, ineffective
Ø  Invites self consciousness
Ø  In contrast, these words remind us of the contention of this presentation
Ø  Seeking substance over empty gestures
Metaphors
o  “Epidemic of affluenza”
o  “affluent hunters and gatherers” / Ø  Imposing view of developed nations, we are the disease and therefore accountable

4)  Appeals to the global citizen in us all:

Language
o  “goal”, “safeguard”, “commitment”
o  “sadness”, “sadly”
o  “clearly”, “honestly”, “in truth”, “As we all well know…” / Ø  Positive connotations of meaningful objectives
Ø  Provokes regret for what has occurred
Ø  Invites confidence in ideas presented
Ø  Suggests a shared knowledge/views
Pronouns
o  “we” (repetition), “We”
o  Then “You and Your country” (uppercase) / Ø  Shared responsibility, collective guilt
Ø  Shifting to individual and global responsibility
Ø  Importance of each listener
Emotional appeals
To vanity/ego
o  “most educated generation”
o  “the powerful economic giants”
to social consciousness
o  vulnerability of the poor
o  closing slide (visual) and Eisner quote / Ø  Promotes a sense of ability
Ø  Responsibility, duty
Ø  Larger size of hands cradling earth reinforces notion of protective role, captures idea of preciousness…
Ø  Encourages us to be gentle with the earth
Ø  Significance of double meaning of ‘treasure’ (noun and verb)

5)  Calls for action:

Repetition of “crucial” (other examples in intro) / Ø  Fervent
Ø  Urges attention
Cliché- “The time for talk is over” / Ø  Incites reaction
Ø  Prompts feelings of impatience with inaction
Listing those “in power” that this talk is targeting
o  Politicians, corporate leaders, householder / Ø  Spreads responsibility
Ø  Empowers ordinary people

Conclusion:

Structure

o  Raises questions and provides an answer: “Is any of this new information? Of course not!” (exclamation sets the tone)

o  Statistics cited directly questioning “how far have we really come…?”

o  Similarly uses quote from UN then queries achievements

Ø  Overall structure sets up doubts and rouses dissatisfaction

Ø  As with opening and closing slides, speaker is looking for unity and genuine commitment in preserving biodiversity (restating earlier commitments)

Ø  Moves from questioning effectiveness of actions so far, to assuming a shared understanding, to provoking stronger social consciousness, “at all costs”