What We Can Do To Balance the Effects of Urbanization with Sustainable Practices? Embracing Sustainability: How We Can Practice Mindfulness to Combat the Effects of Rapid Urbanization in Charlotte, NC—Adah Vanella (2024)

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Remediated Argument Sustainability Adah Vanella (2024) PDF version

A Note From the Instructor—Camellia Azzi

Throughout her research, Adah worked creatively and thoughtfully to propose solutions that address the health and environmental impact of urbanization in Charlotte, and it was exciting to see the culmination of her hard work in her multimodal project. She had expressed her interest in sustainable development early in the research process, and her reasoning behind appealing to a younger demographic demonstrates the kind of rhetorical decision-making that considers the target audience carefully when composing multimodal arguments. As she explains in her reflection essay, her strategic use of visual design elements and emphasis on key information in her infographic are made for rhetorical impact on her audience and create a sense of urgency and personal stakes in the issue. One of the key takeaways from Adah’s work includes the importance of experimenting freely with writing technologies and composing strategies as the process of engaging in visual rhetoric requires being mindful of the affordances and constraints of digital tools at hand.

Writer’s Reflection

For my remediated argument, the audience I chose to focus on were the Gen Y and Gen Z populations of Charlotte, North Carolina because I believe they will have more of an interest in sustainability since this aspect of environmental awareness has gained popularity in more recent years. I made the argument that if Charlotte residents can switch to more sustainable practices such as decreasing their use of harsh chemicals like bleach and pesticides, we can create a more environmentally friendly lifestyle which will in turn help the Charlotte area. It is hard to slow the effects of rapid urbanization, but if we can find alternative ways to combat this, such as being more mindful about how our actions affect the environment, it can make a world of difference. The initial idea that I had for this project was to focus only on urbanization, but I decided to incorporate water quality as well because I think showing how urbanization decreases Charlotte’s water quality will help show why it is so important to do something about these growing issues.

I believe implementing rhetorical strategies in a purposeful manner was the most challenging piece to creating the remediated argument. I chose to focus on pathos in order to evoke certain emotions to draw in readers in an effort to get them to want to take action on this issue. I focused on this most heavily in the mid-section of the infographic where I described the health complications that result from urban growth and densification (an increase in urban density). I believe issues can feel more real for the audience if it has the potential to personally affect their everyday lives, such as if they begin to have health complications as a result of unsafe drinking water. I also used logos in conjunction with pathos in my infographic through my consistent use of statistics that further explain the effects of urbanization on the environment and on a person’s or an animal’s health. By bolding these statistics in the mid-section, I believe it helped them to pop out as information for the readers to take note of, as they contain potentially shocking information that may be relevant to them. In a way, it is set to alarm the audience by using a logical statistic followed by an explanation that caters to the reader’s emotions. I believe my use of logos also created a sense of ethos because I cited my sources to the statistical information at the end of the remediated argument to demonstrate credibility by giving credit where it was due.

I looked at infographics by students from previous years which was very helpful in determining how I could set up the infographic visually and textually to draw readers in. The students used design elements such as color, line, and hierarchy in conjunction with rhetorical appeals to create a multimodal piece that could captivate a reader and make them want to learn more about the topic discussed. I used Canva to create the infographic, which was unfamiliar to me, as I have only used it once or twice. It took a lot of pressing buttons and accidentally deleting boxes to get the gist of the site, but once I gained a better understanding of it, the process became easier. Additionally, I have never really used an online platform to create an infographic, so it was interesting to play around with the different fonts, colors, and graphics to create a visually appealing piece. Creating an infographic template to organize my thoughts was pretty helpful because I could look through my research essay to find different points and statistics that I wanted to cover in my infographic. However, it was really challenging to organize this information in a way that made sense and flowed as you read the infographic from top to bottom. I had to take a step back and think about how I wanted it to flow and then move around the information piece by piece to reflect this mental flowchart.

The constraints I would like to discuss that arose during the process of creating the remediated argument in the format of an infographic were that I could use a limited amount of words before it became too crowded and hard for the audience to perceive and read. I really struggled with not giving too much information and condensing the knowledge I gained from my research essay. However, I believe I was able to condense it fairly well without simplifying it so much that it didn’t provide the necessary information. Lastly, the takeaways that I had from using rhetorical strategies in this way were that I experienced an opportunity to use rhetoric in a way that could be interpreted by a larger audience in the real world instead of in a classroom context, which helped me understand how rhetoric is seen and used in real life.

 

Works Cited

Clement, Matthew Thomas, Guangqing Chi, and Hung Chak Ho. “Urbanization and Land-Use Change: A Human Ecology of Deforestation Across the United States, 2001–2006.” Sociological Inquiry, vol. 85, no. 4, 2015, pp. 628-653. Wiley Online Library, doi.org/10.1111/soin.12097.

Debbage, Neil and J. M. Shepherd. “The Influence of Urban Development Patterns on Streamflow Characteristics in the Charlanta Megaregion.” Water Resources Research, vol. 54, no. 5, 2018, pp. 3728-3747. Wiley Online Library, doi.org/10.1029/2017WR021594.

Duncan, Charles. “PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ found in tap water across N.C. and the U.S., feds say.” Spectrum News 1, 5 July 2023, spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2023/07/05/pfas–forever-chemicals–found-in-tap-water-across-n-c–and-the-u-s—feds-say.

“Freshwater.” UN Environment Programme, www.unep.org/beatpollution/forms-pollution/freshwater.

“Our Current Understanding of the Human Health and Environmental Risks of PFAS.” United States Environmental Protection Agency, 16 May 2024, www.epa.gov/pfas/our-current-understanding-human-health-and-environmental-risks-pfas.

Suttles, Kelly M. et al. “Assessment of hydrologic vulnerability to urbanization and climate change in a rapidly changing watershed in the Southeast U.S..” Science of the Total Environment, vol. 645, 2018, pp. 806-816. Science Direct, doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.06.287.