Running Head: Global Warming and Polar Bears 1

Global Warming and Polar Bears

Mariah Jose Armendariz
The University of Texas at El Paso







Global Warming and Polar Bears 2

Global Warming and Polar Bears
The National Wildlife Federation presents an article that provides information on how the
populations and habitats of polar bears have been affected by global warming. The text is
directed to a specific audience, has a purpose and rhetorical appeals that complement and create
an informative article. The information provided has a carefully organized structure by cause and
effect of the problem discussed through the content.
The first part of the context to discuss is the audience. The information provided is
directed for people who are concern about the effects of global warming on the populations of
polar bears. The structure of the text and the vocabulary used is simple English, and is easy to
comprehend by anyone. For example this part of the text the polar bear is actually a marine
mammal that spends far more time at sea than it does on land (National Wildlife Federation,
2012), is giving an introduction to the topic, and demonstrate that the level of complexity in the
vocabulary is not to high, so the reader can easily understand the content. Another audience, are
people that after reading this information could be potential donors. In a separate part of the
article, there is an area directed for people who want to donate for the conservation of the polar
bear habitats.
The purpose of the article is to inform how the polar bears have been impacted by global
warming. It presents three important effects: the decreasing of populations, how the swim
conditions of the bears are affected and their fewer hunting opportunities. This article has a
structure of cause-effect. The cause of the decrease of the populations is the low temperatures
registered in the polar areas, and this end up causing another problem. The swim conditions of
the bears are also affected by the low temperatures because the ice platforms are more and more
separate from each other. Then the bears take longer to reach these platforms making their swim
Global Warming and Polar Bears 3

more hazardous. The third effect is the loss of hunting areas. The polar bears prey, seals, is
declining affecting the bear nutrition status and reproduction rates.
An important area to focus is the rhetorical appeals in the text; ethos, pathos and logos.
To begin, the ethical appeals in this article are information from agencies provided by experts
like a U.S. Geological Survey or the Endangered Species Act. This is with the end of provide
objective and reliable information. Some agencies and biologists had been made research in this
area and the article show part of their results. An example of this is that a U.S. Geological
Survey gives a projection that two thirds of polar bears will disappear by 2050 (National
Wildlife Federation, 2012). This is real information of statistics expecting future effects of the
decreasing in the population of bears. There is a second example shown in the text from the
Endangered Species Act. This example presents factual information from the Act mentioned
before recorded in 2008. The text refers to the bear as a threatened species under the
Endangered Species Act primarily because of the decline of its primary habitat: sea ice
(National Wildlife Federation, 2012).
The logical appeals of the article are facts and results of investigations and research. This
article is referring mostly of the Hudson Bay located in the northwest part of Canada. These
results and facts from the investigations are in their majority from this Canadian Bay. The article
provides dates and/or percentages, giving the information a more precise and credible look. One
example is registered in 2011 Rapid Arctic ice melt in 2011: Arctic sea ice extent for January
2011 was the lowest in the satellite record for that month. The year saw the second lowest Arctic
ice levels since 1979 when observation began (National Wildlife Federation, 2012). Here there
is shown a range of time from the beginning to the latest observation, and how the record was
affected to be precise. Then there is another example of a direct effect over the bear, and the
Global Warming and Polar Bears 4

results are specifically presented with percentages. As a result, average bear weight has dropped
by 15 percent, causing reproduction rates to decline. The Hudson Bay population is down more
than 20 percent (National Wildlife Federation, 2012). This example concludes with a numerical
data of the decrease of the populations of polar bears.
The third rhetorical appeal in the text is pathos, although in the text there are not too
many parts appealing literally to pathos, the information is trying to appeal to the audience
feelings. The article mention an example of what a female polar bear had to do to survive and the
consequences. A female polar bear reportedly swam for nine days - nonstop-across the
Sea before reaching an ice floe, costing her 22 percent of her weight and her cub (National
Wildlife Federation, 2012). By presenting this specific example the article makes the audience
feel sad for the bear and what she had to do to survive. Also, in a certain way the audience can
feel worry about the loss of populations of this animal and later being persuade to do something
about it. Global Warming is not only affecting the living conditions of the bears, their behavior
has changed too. Nowadays they have to readapt and change their natural actions to the new
climatic conditions in order to survive.
This article from the National Wildlife Federation presents information simple and easy
to read for any audience. Also invites the reader to donate for the conservation of the polar bear
habitat. This text has the purpose to inform and present facts and data of how the polar bear has
been affected by the global warming. The rhetorical appeals ethos, pathos and logos presented
are explaining in very detailed way with objective, accurate and reliable information. The article
reaches the goal of informing the audience about research and investigations from agencies and
experts presenting dates, percentages and examples. The precise and well organized data give an
exact view to the real effects on the populations and habitats of polar bears that global warming
Global Warming and Polar Bears 5

is causing through the past years. After presenting the content, the article conclude remembering
that the polar bear is an endangered species, but there is still a solution, which is taking
immediate action to prevent a future disaster in the polar bears populations.
















Global Warming and Polar Bears 6

References:
National Wildlife Federation (2012). Global Warming and Polar Bears.
Retrieved from: http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Threats-to-Wildlife/Global-Warming/Effects-on-
Wildlife-and-Habitat/Polar-Bears.aspx