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Shannon Kaminski

Eng-137H-012

Compost-alleuia brothers and sisters! Bring your eggshells, your apple cores, your rotten

bananas, your paper bags! Come in and feel the Earth! Linda Olsen, a Master Composter for the

Green Action Centre proclaims to the world, after she highlights the simple yet effective process

of self-compost. Her recognizable passion and excitement, and her use of understandable and

relatable language, along with her strong appeals to the audiences emotions work together to

assert the overarching purpose of the video: to educate the public on composting and to endorse a

change in behavior for a cleaner, better Earth. This is an assertion which is successfully

conveyed throughout the video due to the rhetorical strategies present.

First, the tone that is conveyed in the video . Lindas excitement for compost is clearly

shown throughout the video-- the first example can be derived from the opening lines of the

video when Linda proclaims her love for dirt. Immediately, the viewer is struck with a bit of a

shock, simply because dirt seems to be such a basic part of our everyday lives. Yes, we use dirt

to plant our gardens and vegetables, and essenially every living plant needs dirt-- but, dirt is also

dirty, filled with worms and insects, and, well, what is there really to love about it? It is her

excited tone however, that keeps the viewer interested in what exactly she loves about dirt--

especially the fertile soil that can be produced through her methods of composting. Before the

viewer even knows the basics about composting, Linda provides a strongly proclaimed statement

that exemplifies her passion and excitement about just what compost can do. Another example of

this excitement is the quote I pulled from the end of the video, when she hollers,
Compost-alleuia, brothers and sisters! Her exclamation is loud and clear, and this love for

compost is intoxicating for the viewer. She calls to us all as her brothers and sisters, as a way to

unify the audience with her, and endorse this new behavior. The passion alone that she emulates

throughout the video is enough to get people to make a change in their garbage disposal

behaviors.

Additionally, Linda carries an informational tone as she goes through the process of

creating ones very own compost bin. She goes through a step-by-step system, but whats

important is the fact that she doesnt make the informational video bland or boring. She carries

on with this excited yet credible tone, as she discusses the basis of how compost works-- the

breaking down of materials, by microorganisms, water and air. This is essentially a short lesson

of biology, yet when she describes the phenomenon of composted materials turning into rich,

fertilized soil, she keeps it in simple terms, and utilizes pacman-like visual graphics to keep the

viewer interested, and to make the potentially confusing process very easy to understand. With

understanding comes change in behavior, so this informational yet understandable tone is

essential for getting the viewer to make a change.

This leads us to the next critical rhetorical strategy, which is Lindas simple use of

language. Her language pairs hand in hand with her tone, but its important to recognize,

nevertheless. The first thing to notice is how relatable and commonplace her explanations are.

She describes the few materials necessary to create a compost bin-- a bin, browns, greens, water,

and air. Then she goes on to say, If you dont have enough dries, just take it from the neighbors!

They are getting it ready for you! We all have neighbors who rake their lawns, bag up the

crumpled leaves, and throw these bags of leaves into the woods, or on the side of the road-- now,
we have reason to actually utilize these once-useless heaps of rotted leaves, branches, and sticks

for something that will help our planet. Secondly, she describes how gardeners will quickly see

the advantages of using a compost bin-- no, she doesnt start rambling about how the roots will

have more nutrients from the decomposers and the microorganisms in the soil, nor the effects of

the carbon fraction and oxidizing material. Instead she simply describes the noticeably

lighter and fluffier soil, which implies its fertilizing powers, yet makes it relatable for any

common person who may be interested in a way to garden more effectively.

I also wanted to mention how she calls onto her brothers and sisters to come in and

feel the Earth. This is a very effective use of language as she calls the audience her family, and

thusly unifies herself with the audience, causing the audience to feel as though they relate to her,

along with her love and passion for compost. Also, after she relates herself to the audience, she

calls the audience to action, to come in and feel the Earth, which is a very simple call of action

but has implications to dig deeper, per se, and understand the benefits that composting can have

on the planet. This simple language is a successful appeal to a wide range of audiences, from

gardeners, to aspiring vegetable growers, to random viewers who want to help the planet-- and it

advocates for a change in behavior from the audience that is easy to follow.

The audience is not only appealed through this simple language, but also through their

emotions. At first, it isnt quite obvious, but as the video progresses, it is clear that an appeal to

pathos is in play throughout the entire film. I think the easiest appeal to human emotion is to talk

about something that is important to our well-being. In this case however, it is not the compost

talk that will necessarily make or break the audiences well-being, however it might be the

constant visuals of thriving plants, rich soil, beautiful sunflowers, and vibrant, plump vegetables.
All of which are implications of our planet earth-- an essential piece of every humans

well-being-- the place that we live, which supplies us with the vitalities of our own health and

happiness. Watching the video without any sound at all would give anyone an overcoming

realization at the beauty of our planet. When you give plants the proper materials to thrive, the

world becomes such a beautiful place-- this natural beauty is overwhelming (which alone appeals

to human emotion), but it also entails a human desire to help produce more natural beauty. Thus,

the video appeals to the audience through its emotive desires in order to further encourage a call

of action to help the planet-- not only by growing a more thriving and colorful garden, but also

by reducing waste that would otherwise end up in landfills.

While on the topic of landfills, did you know that only 18% of all human waste is

actually deserving of being buried into the ground? Thats right, a study in 2005 conducted by

the Annual Statistics Canada Human Activity and Environment Report concluded that human

waste is 40% organic, and 42% recyclable. With facts like these, why does America already have

over 10,000 landfills that are so full they are out of use? A related artifact, which is posted all

throughout Penn State University, and can be seen on every trash can labeled TRASH

(Landfill), that states Are you sure? Similarly to the video, this sign endorses a change in the

viewer, namely through its appeal to pathos. The question, Are you sure? demands self

reflection; it asks the viewer if he is sure he wants to throw his trash into a landfill, while he has

a plethora of other options for recycling/composting trash; it also alludes to the damaging effects

of landfills to the environment. While the video excites desires to help the planet by showing the

worlds natural beauty, the sign brings about self reflection, and furthermore, feelings of guilt for

throwing potentially recyclable trash into a landfill. Both make appeals to emotion, but they both
do so in different ways and excite slightly different calls of action. The videos attempt to appeal

to the humans love for the Earth and in turn his desires to effectively take steps to make it a

better place through self-compost. Meanwhile, the signs attempt to appeal to human guilt can

directly stop a person in his tracks from throwing trash into a landfill, ask him to take a second to

think about the damaging effects of landfills and then sort his trash properly.

In terms of demonstrating the effectiveness of compost, Linda Olsen and the filmmakers

of the Green Action Video do a successful job in my opinion. Linda exemplifies her love and

passion for composting through an excited and lively tone, while keeping the process of building

a self-compost bin concise and easy to understand. Additionally, the video appeals to human

emotion through its bright and awe-inspiring images of the worlds beauty. Altogether, the effect

of the video is to educate the audience on compost, and then call the audience to adopt this new

behavior in the hopes of creating a happier, cleaner planet. In contrast to the Are you sure?

signs, the video excites a change that isnt just an immediate call of action, but an adoption of a

new habit that will continually help the planet and reduce waste.

http://greenactioncentre.ca/reduce-your-waste/how-to-compost-video/

https://web.extension.illinois.edu/homecompost/science.cfm

http://greenactioncentre.ca/reduce-your-waste/why-should-i-compost/

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