TOW #7: Written Text- Lessons From Hurricane Sandy

With the one year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy being this week, Adam Sobel from CNN was inspired to write his text “What we didn't learn from Superstorm Sandy”.  Adam Sobel is a professor at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, therefore he definitely has ethos and is certified in this area of discussion. The text basically beings with a summary of the destruction of the storm, however he leads into what went wrong with Sandy and the reason it devastated the east coast. While Sobel agrees that our leaders and society were planned for Sandy, we were lucky to survive because in the future the storms with the magnitude of Sandy will hit the east coast more often. Sobel then introduces how Global Warming will create larger storms in the future, that are much stronger than Sandy; therefore we must learn from Sandy and apply it to future storms.

While the audience of the text can be any particular American, I believe it is directed towards our political leaders because Sobel’s purpose is warning Americans of the lessons we did not learn from Sandy, and even though we may have survived Sandy, the future may not be quite as promising since the intensity of storms will only increase due to environmental factors.  

Sobel uses cause and effect to connect to logos in order to appeal to his audience and furthermore stress his purpose. By stating that Global Warming will increase the levels of the sea and also the temperature of water, it is obvious to realize that he not only makes a valid point, but also the effects of Global Warming will indeed create stronger hurricanes. Connecting to Sobel’s purpose, if we barely managed through Sandy last year, we will definitely be in major trouble in the future if we do not learn lessons from Superstorm Sandy of 2012. I believe Sobel achieved his purpose through the logos appeal and realization that we must take in the lessons we learned from Sandy last year. 

Link To Adam Sobel's "What We Didn't Learn From Superstorm Sandy" 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/26/opinion/sobel-superstorm-sandy/index.html?hpt=op_t1