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Gore's Science the Kairos of an Inconvenient Truth and the Implications for Science Writing

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Gore's Science the Kairos of an Inconvenient Truth and the Implications for Science Writing University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2011 Gore's Science The Kairos Of An Inconvenient Truth And The Implications For Science Writing Carolyn M. Glasshoff University of Central Florida Part of the Environmental Studies Commons, and the Rhetoric Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Glasshoff, Carolyn M., "Gore's Science The Kairos Of An Inconvenient Truth And The Implications For Science Writing" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 1929. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/1929 GORE’S SCIENCE: THE KAIROS OF AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR SCIENCE WRITING by CAROLYN M. GLASSHOFF B.A. University of Florida, 2007 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of English in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2011 © 2011 Carolyn M. Glasshoff ii ABSTRACT Modern Americans are exposed to scientific and technical information on a daily basis that urges them to react as well as learn about new ideas. The popular science writing that circulates this information must be portrayed in a way that makes it easy for lay people to understand complicated ideas while at the same time remaining complex enough to convince readers that the information is reliable, accurate, and worth learning. In making decisions about how to accomplish this balancing act, science writers make decisions that influence the audience’s opinion about new scientific ideas, how easily the audience will accept or reject these ideas, and how the audience will react to the new information. In order to be as influential as possible on their audience, science writers must take full advantage of rhetorical kairos, or opportune timing. For this, they must keep in mind not only the chronological time and physical space, but issues including political maneuverings, society’s morals, popular culture, and a myriad of other considerations. Any text must be influenced by the kairos that exists both before the text is created and during the presentation. In addition, each text helps create a new kairos for texts that come after. This is especially true in the field of popular science writing. Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth is a useful text for analysis of this process, as he portrays scientific information to a lay audience in order to promote acceptance of a controversial idea and to encourage action based on that acceptance. Because he is working on a delicate topic for the time, Gore had to rely heavily on the kairos of the moments before and during his presentations, and he created a fertile kairos for continuation of the environmental discussion. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I’d like to thank my thesis advisor, Dr. J.D. Applen, for his feedback and guidance throughout the writing process, for his excitement for my interest in science writing, and for his constant encouragement. I’d also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Melody Bowdon and Dr. Paul Dombrowski, for the time they put into reading my work and for their valuable feedback. Finally, I’d like to thank my parents, Jan and Dennis, and my husband, Jesse, for their love, support, encouragement, and, most of all, patience. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW: RHETORIC, SCIENCE, AND THE RHETORIC OF SCIENCE .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 KAIROS AND “INVENTION-IN-THE-MIDDLE” ....................................................................................... 8 THE RHETORIC OF SCIENCE ................................................................................................................. 13 KAIROS IN SCIENTIFIC AND SCIENCE RHETORIC .............................................................................. 16 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER 3: SETTING THE SCENE: THE GREEN MOVEMENT, AL GORE, AND POPULAR SCIENCE ..................................................................................................................................................................... 30 THE AMERICAN GREEN MOVEMENT .................................................................................................. 30 AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH: GORE’S RHETORICAL ARSENAL .......................................................... 36 AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH AS A SCIENCE TEXT ................................................................................ 48 CHAPTER 4: CONVENIENT TIMING: KAIROS AND AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH .......................... 53 SITUATED KAIROS: EXTERNAL INFLUENCES ..................................................................................... 53 The Political Lead-up: The Birth and Life of the EPA ................................................... 53 The Environmental Lead-up: Ozone Holes and Hurricanes ...................................... 55 The Popular Culture Lead-up: The Wonder and Risk of Science ............................. 57 CREATING KAIROS: GORE’S PREPARATION ....................................................................................... 58 INVENTION-IN-THE-MIDDLE AND THE KAIROS OF THE MOMENT: CREATING THE TEXT......... 61 Building and Rebuilding an Ethos ........................................................................................ 66 Multiplying Identities ................................................................................................................ 68 Changing Dunamis ...................................................................................................................... 75 Fellow Shifters: The Audience ............................................................................................... 78 v Turning, Turning, Turning ....................................................................................................... 82 THE NEW MOMENTS: OPPORTUNITIES AFTER AIT ....................................................................... 83 Press.................................................................................................................................................. 84 Business........................................................................................................................................... 86 Environmentalist Groups ......................................................................................................... 89 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................... 90 CHAPTER 5: COMMUNICATING SCIENCE: IMPLICATIONS OF AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH .. 92 THE BUILDUP: EXTERNAL INFLUENCES ON KAIROS ........................................................................ 92 RESPONDING TO KAIROS ...................................................................................................................... 99 CREATING KAIROS: THE IMPACT OF POPULAR SCIENCE WRITING ........................................... 111 SCIENCE WRITING AS INVENTION-IN-THE-MIDDLE .................................................................... 118 IMPLICATIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 119 CHAPTER 6: PEDAGOGICAL APPLICATIONS .......................................................................................... 121 BENEFITS OF TEACHING KAIROS ....................................................................................................... 122 BENEFITS OF ANALYZING SCIENCE WRITING ................................................................................. 123 WHERE THIS WILL HELP ................................................................................................................... 124 INCORPORATION ................................................................................................................................. 125 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................ 126 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................... 127 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................................ 132 vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION The green conversation is one that today saturates nearly every aspect of American society. Apartments boast that they provide a green lifestyle. Businesses proclaim that their buildings are LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Designs [“LEED”]) certified. Colleges list their recycling practices in recruitment material. Chain stores offer environmentally
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