Advocacy Website: Mount Nittany Conservancy

Focused on preserving “Mt. Nittany from commercial and residential development by acquiring land and maintaining areas already under the Conservancy’s,” the Mount Nittany Conservancy proves to advocate for the protection of an important symbol of pride in the community. Throughout the website, the use of ethos, or ethical appeal, and pathos, or emotional appeal, is more apparent than that of logos, or logical appeal. The ethical appeal is used less than the emotional appeal, but it is still apparent on the website.

For example, to emphasize the moral dilemma, the site emphasizes the uses of Mount Nittany, such as hiking or discovering, that are available thanks to their contributions. The emotional appeal, however, is used more intensely throughout the website to create a strong sense of community, which is abundant in the Penn State area. By mentioning that trails are maintained by volunteers, offering the opportunity for the site’s visitors to “hear the complete story” of Mt. Nittany, and allowing donors to support through a life-estate deed, the Mount Nittany Conservancy does a great job at emotionally involving visitors with their cause.

While, in my eyes and those of the Mount Nittany Conservancy, it would certainly be logical to protect Mount Nittany, the use of logical appeals to explicitly state, provide, and offer an abundance of factual information detracts from the overall quality of the argument presented on the website. The use of logical appeals is certainly lacking, but I do want to mention that it is somewhat present. For example, the website states that they “conserve 800+ acres of beautiful Mount Nittany in Centre County’s Nittany Valley” and provides a lengthy explanation of Mount Nittany’s geology and soils.

However, it is equally, if not more, important to provide factual information that bolters the essentials of who, what, how, when, and why. Who decided to encroach upon Mount Nittany in the first place? What has their presence done in favor of Mount Nittany over the years? How does their organization use their support and donations to prevent the degradation of Mount Nittany? When did this problem arise? Why did Mount Nittany Conservancy establish themselves? Some of the answers to these questions may seem intuitive, but to those who support commercial and residential development, the answers may not be as clear. If the Mount Nittany Conservancy would like to sway the opinions of those in opposition, it would be beneficial to provide stronger logical appeals.