The Harm of Air Pollution for Drivers at Red Traffic Lights - Essay Example

I think Dr. Prashant uses good technical writing in his paper, which includes pathos, logos, ethos, tons, purpose, and minds audience. And I am going to explain how he does that and where.

Dr. Kumar first underlines the huge impact of pollution on human health by stating that the World Health Organization has linked air pollution to “seven million premature deaths every year.” This technique consequently suggests that the paper and the science article are formal and professionally written to engage the readers’ attention.

People around the world are not that curious to read about air pollution, however, the fact of seven million premature deaths every year will make people want to know how to avoid that, as it made me. The author particularly uses the World Health Organization’s statement as background information and support to emphasize the importance of his study on air pollution. Also since Prashant Kumar is a Doctor from the University of Surrey, he got his master`s degree in Environmental Engineering and Management, which gave him more credibility or Ethos in readers’ eyes and made his arguments seem more valid to the audience.

The reader is basically any person in our society who is concerned about their health but this article can relate more to the people who are more sensitive to air pollution like senior citizens, pregnant women, and children. Pregnant women as an audience will be even more interested as Dr. Kumar emphasizes “seven million premature deaths every year.” In this way, the author may have been engaged in the emotions of the readers as well, so it can be said that there are traces of pathos. As it is known that children`s and senior`s immune systems are weaker than the immune systems in adults’ bodies, this fact makes this article more related to children and seniors than to adult people who are naturally in good shape.

Dr. Kumar grabs the reader’s interest in the subject by giving them the fact that “road vehicles, in particular, are known to emit polluting nanoparticles which contribute to respiratory and heart diseases”. He states that even though “drivers spend only 2% of their journey time passing through traffic intersections managed by lights, this short duration contributes to about 25% of total exposure to these harmful particles.” It is also measured and calculated that the harmful particles’ concentration is 29 times higher while drivers stop at red light comparing to the free flow of traffic. At this point, the writer is trying to engage the readers’ logos which is for sure the biggest technique used to persuade them. Generally in scientific journals and publications, persuading by the use of reasoning is preferred which can be seen in this article as well. But for sure there are usually Ethos and even sometimes Pathos.

In conclusion, it is very interesting how the writer could use all these persuasive techniques together to publish an effective and informative journal (article?). It is also worth mentioning that Dr. Kumar presented some alternatives to avoid being exposed to this harmful particle in the stoplights. Whether drivers keeping vehicle windows shut and the fans off or pedestrians avoiding these routes or even authorities constructing flyover bridges instead of traffic lights. Coming up with these alternative methods is another way of reasoning for the importance of his thesis and experiment. In my opinion, people who read Dr. Prashant's article will know the effect of air pollutions on them and will know how to avoid getting affected by air pollution. Read More