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A short class with Sarah and her students. The other ways are under More.
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Compare two headlines: 'Climate change brings warmer summers' and 'Climate crisis brings deadly heatwaves'. Are the facts different?
Not really, but the second sounds much more urgent and frightening.
That is framing. Which words create the urgency?
'Crisis' instead of 'change', and 'deadly heatwaves' instead of 'warmer summers'.
In 2019 The Guardian changed its style guide to prefer terms like 'climate crisis'. Why might a newspaper do that?
Because 'change' sounds slow and harmless, and they wanted readers to understand how serious it is.
Exactly. Every environmental text frames its subject, so we always ask what the words make us feel.
In 1992 a twelve-year-old, Severn Cullis-Suzuki, spoke at the Earth Summit in Rio. Why might a child be persuasive there?
She speaks for the generation that will live with the consequences, which gives her a kind of credibility.
That's ethos. What about Greta Thunberg repeating 'How dare you' at the UN in 2019?
It's pathos, direct and accusing, so the leaders feel guilty, and the repetition makes it stick.
And where would logos come in?
When a speaker uses scientific data or evidence to prove the problem is real.
Strong environmental texts usually combine all three.
A shampoo bottle covered in leaves says 'natural and eco-friendly', with no other details. What should a critical reader ask?
What exactly is natural about it, and where is the evidence?
If there is no evidence, what might it be?
Greenwashing, making the product sound greener than it really is.
Which key concept of the chapter does this connect to?
Communication, because it is about how language is used to persuade, and connections, because our shopping choices link to global problems.
Good. Analysing texts like these prepares you to write honest, powerful environmental texts of your own.
Word choices such as crisis or change shape how readers understand and respond to environmental issues.
Scientists, activists, communities, writers and advertisers speak about the environment for different purposes.
Ethos, pathos and logos explain how environmental texts persuade.
Imagery, metaphor, tone, structure and pronouns strengthen a text's message.
Asking what is claimed, what evidence supports it and who benefits helps expose greenwashing.
Framing: "Climate change brings warmer summers" and "Climate crisis brings deadly heatwaves" can describe similar facts, but the second frames them as urgent and dangerous.
Voice: Severn Cullis-Suzuki's speech at the 1992 Earth Summit gained moral force because a child was addressing the adults making decisions about her future.
Greenwashing: A product labelled "natural and eco-friendly" with pictures of leaves but no evidence or certification should be questioned.
Same facts, new frame, the feeling's not the same.
Two posters hang side by side. One reads "Please consider saving water." The other shows a cracked, dry riverbed with the words "This was a river." Students walk past the first and stop at the second. The facts did not change; the framing did.
P-A-C before E-P-L: Purpose, Audience, Context first, then Ethos, Pathos, Logos.
C.P.C. - Communication, Perspective, Connections, the chapter's three key concepts.
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What is framing?
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What terms did The Guardian's 2019 style guide prefer to "climate change"?
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What are ethos, pathos and logos?
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Where and when did Severn Cullis-Suzuki give her famous speech?
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What is greenwashing?
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The way the choice of words presents an issue and guides the reader's response.
The point of view from which a person or group sees and describes an issue.
A persuasive appeal based on the speaker's credibility or character.
A persuasive appeal to the audience's emotions.
A persuasive appeal based on logic, reasoning and evidence.
Descriptive language that creates pictures or sensations in the reader's mind.
Making a product or organisation sound more environmentally friendly than it really is.
Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
This lesson opens the chapter on environment and sustainability by asking how language shapes what we notice, feel and do about the natural world. It introduces framing, the voices that speak about the environment, and the analytical toolkit the chapter applies to speeches, poems, stories and articles.
The same environmental facts can be framed in very different words: in 2019, for example, The Guardian changed its style guide to prefer "climate emergency, crisis or breakdown" to "climate change", because the older term seemed too gentle. Environmental texts come from many voices, including scientists, activists such as Severn Cullis-Suzuki and Greta Thunberg, communities, poets, novelists and advertisers, each with a purpose and an audience. To analyse them, the chapter uses purpose, audience and context; the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos and logos; and literary choices such as imagery, metaphor, tone, structure and voice. It also teaches critical reading, including spotting greenwashing, and connects all of this to the key concepts of communication, perspective and connections, the global context of globalization and sustainability, and criteria A to D.
The big question of this chapter is: how does language shape the way we see, feel about and act on environmental issues? Rising temperatures, polluted rivers and disappearing forests are physical facts, but what people do about them depends partly on how those facts are put into words.
Framing is the way a choice of words presents an issue and guides the reader's response. In 2019, the British newspaper The Guardian updated its style guide to prefer "climate emergency, crisis or breakdown" to "climate change", and "global heating" to "global warming", because it felt the older terms sounded too passive and gentle for what scientists were describing. Other choices frame nature differently too:
Noticing framing is the first step in analysing any environmental text.
Environmental texts come from many speakers, each with a different perspective:
The chapter's core texts include speeches and writing by young activists such as Severn Cullis-Suzuki and Greta Thunberg, a poem by Robert Frost and a short story by Gabriel García Márquez, so you will compare how different voices and forms approach the same theme.
Not all green language is honest. Greenwashing means making a product or company sound more environmentally friendly than it really is, for example through vague words such as "natural", "eco-friendly" or "green", pictures of leaves, and no evidence. Critical readers ask: what exactly is being claimed, what evidence is given, and who benefits if I believe it?
The chapter is built around three key concepts: communication (how authors convey urgency, hope or critique), perspective (how different cultures and voices view sustainability) and connections (how global problems link to local and personal actions), within the global context of globalization and sustainability. Your work will be assessed against the four MYP Language and Literature criteria: A Analysing, B Organizing, C Producing text and D Using language. Analysing texts in this chapter will prepare you to write your own environmental texts with the same awareness of how words shape action.