Slide 1: The Greta Effect

What can one individual do to attack a global issue?

On Friday August 20, 2018, a 15 year old girl decided to skip school to protest outside parliament for more action against climate change. Bringing only herself and a simple message, she sat and waited. Not even a year later, more than 17,000 students in 24 countries joined this girl and took part in protesting in Friday school strikes for climate change.

 

Slide 2: Artifact

So, my artifact is an image of Greta Thunberg at her first school strike for climate protest in Sweden. This image calls its audience to act out their civic duty to be proactive in advocating and fighting for the changes you want to see, no matter how big the change is, and no matter how small you start out.

 

Slide 3: Rhetorical Situation

• The rhetorical situation of this artifact calls the audience to uphold their civic duty of being globally aware of issues and voting for politicians who will take action and protesting against those who don’t. This image was taken because Greta decided not to attend school until the 2018 Swedish general electionon  September 9 2018 to draw attention to climate change. Every day for two weeks, Thunberg was sitting quietly on the cobblestones outside parliament in central Stockholm, handing out leaflets that declare: “I am doing this because you adults are shitting on my future.”
  • In addition, her protest began after the heat waves and wildfires during Sweden’s hottest summer in at least 262 years.
  • This is the perfect moment to make a change. Voting for elections is one of the most civic actions an individual can take to select leaders they want to represent them and their values. Greta kairotically took advantage of this critical moment by protesting every day before the election. In doing so, she raises awareness for her cause and calls for those individuals to rethink their relation to climate change. She is also calling for the politicians to prioritize the climate question in a place where they are directly feeling the effects of it.

Slide 4: Kairos

• This artifact is also kaoirotically directed towards the modern day, technically advanced youth by the artifacts medium of being a phone photograph posted on social media. This is so effective because we are in a technology age. All age groups, genders, cultures, etc.. have access to social media and this platform connects individuals around the world. In just one post, this artifact was made available to everyone everywhere and went viral. By using such a popular medium and taking advantage of the popularity of social media, Greta is able to become an inspiration to those who want to also protest for the things they believe in.
  • In addition, the quality of the photo is not professional, and Greta isn’t posing. The photo seems completely authentic and gives Greta credibility in that her actions are not for one photo and then done. Greta is serious about what she is out there fighting for and this can make her seem very relatable to her audience and once again inspire others who see her photo to do the uphold their civic duties.

 

Slide 5: Pathos 

This artifact uses pathos to sway the emotions of the viewers. When looking at the picture, the first thing we see is Greta: a lone, young girl with pigtails, sitting on the ground, a stoic facial expression, and her limbs closed in on herself. This imagery evokes an emotional response from all views, especially parents who have children just like Greta. It plays on the trope that children are innocent and should be protected to urge others out there to want to help this girl. In order to help her, you need to listen to her message and understand what she wants, which is to fight for urgency on the issue of climate change.

 

Slide 6: Logos

The next thing we see is her striking white sign with bold black letters. Her sign reads Skolstrejk för klimatet (School strike for climate). Notice how simplistic and minimalistic her sign is. There is no color, there are no designs, there is no anything except for her message, or her reason for being there. Using her clear and simple wording to call attention to the climate, she is appealing to her audiences sense of rationality and logic by making her statement seem easy to understand and follow. While unfortunately there is a complex solution to a global issue of climate change, Greta urges that we all need to first make the steps to cause change, and that politicians need to start acting. And this sign is the same sign she uses as she continues to protest all around the world spreading this simple, but urgent message wherever she goes.

Slide 7: Commonplaces

In addition, this artifact plays on a commonplace of ideals similar to the American Dream to call its viewers to take civic action: If we work hard, we can create the changes we want to see. While this protest started in Sweden, Greta has shown that all it takes is persistence, passion, and willpower to achieve the attention you want in order to create the changes you want. One girl has become the face of an environmental revolution that started with her using her human rights to protest and speak her mind.

Slide 8: Beyond the Picture and Closing

Greta’s main point is that the adults of large corporations and in political positions are not doing enough to prevent and reverse the effects of global warming. Their failure now lays in the hands of children.

Since this artifact was published to the world, Greta has given many speeches and been very active using her newfound public attention. She protests with young activists everywhere and continues to use social media to call individuals to attention and protest. Which, in my mind, is the very definition of civic engagement.

This one picture started a global revolution in calling urgency in young people to fight for the changes they want to see in the world.

5 min 10 sec

 

 

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