Find your op-ed

Find an op-ed (opinion editorial) on environmentalism written in the last 2 weeks. It can be on any specific topic, as long as there is some connection with environmentalism.
  • Post a link to the op-ed
  • Give a 1-2 sentence summary of it—what is the writer arguing?
  • Answer the question—how can you tell this is an op-ed? How does its writing style or structure persuade you in a way that is different from other genre of writing that you’ve looked at (like scholarly articles, essays, etc.?) Give specific examples from your op-ed.

5 Replies to “Find your op-ed”

  1. OP-ED on environmentalism (Gloria Li)
    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/opinion/snow-climate-change.html (published on March 7th, 2020)

    The author, Lisa W. Foderaro, argues that there has been little to no snow this year (in the months of November and December). However, New York has experienced a lot of rain, which she sees as a sign of climate change.

    To me, this popular article is an op-ed for two reasons. For one, she makes “I” statements, such as “I think of all the other mismatches as unfolding in nature”, which means she is opinionated on the subject. Secondly, her evidence is biased/one-sided, she does not include any counterarguments. For instance, she mentions that the Washington Post (another liberal source) has “reported that a tenth of the planet has already warmed up by at least 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit since the mid-late 19th century.” How might a non-believer in climate change react? At the end, she quotes Bill McKibben, a climate activist that will take any measure to protect the planet.

    1. Peyman’s Op-ed on Environmentalism

      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/opinion/yellowstone-wolves.html

      This article was published today on March 27th and was about the benefits that have come from the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park.  Ever since the initial 14 wolves were experimentally released into Yellowstone, their population has skyrocketed and provided the park with tourism and many environmental benefits as well.

      I could tell that this article was an op-ed because the author was providing his opinion on the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone. He kept explaining how it was very successful and beneficial, not only for the wolves but for tourism and preserving nature as well. In addition, the author also spent most of the focus of his article on the benefits of having many wolves in this region, rather than explaining the actual experiment in the first place. Lastly, I could tell it was an op-ed because the structure and argument was clear and to the point.

    2. Good identification of the “I” statements and the opinionated nature of the op-ed, Gloria! Peyman, you’re on target about noticing that the descriptions and evidence is very strategic—its about supporting the point of view not about being objective.

  2. This op-ed was write by Coral Davenport on March, 27th. This article was post on The New York times and the title is Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks Find Opposition Within: Staff Scientist. The reason why I said this is an op-ed is because I think I could see that the author doesn’t agree about some of the decisions in the article. Also, the author points out that there are a lot of times that the government want to reversing the rules that Obama set before. I’ve never heard this before so that I think this is an op-ed article.

    In this article, it seems like the author is explaining something to the readers, not only state the fact, so it’s not similar to others’ articles.

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