The Ethos of an Earth Day Poster that Seems to Say Very Little

As stated in regards to the Kairos of the environmentalist movement, the 1960s, extending to the 1970's, was a time when Americans were being made aware of the environmental issues around them, most notably through works such as Rachel Carson's Silent Springs, a novel that awakened the public to the dangers of DDT and sold 500,000 copies around the world. In addition, human-caused, environmental disasters such as the Santa Barbara oil spill, a tragedy where 3 million gallons of crude oil was spilled into the Ocean, also spread environmental awareness. Earth Day was a result of this growing momentum towards environmental reform.

This flier advertises the first Earth day, a nationwide demonstration for environmentl awareness. Though it does not say very much and though it's very simple, it does contain appeals to extrinsic and intrinsic ethos. In terms of extrinsic ethos, the flier's creditability was established by the building momentum that the environmental movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. People were already aware of a need for environmental reform. The credibility of the poster's message, portraying the sources and effects of air pollution, as well as the flier's necessity were established by budding environmental awareness. In fact it is because of this established creditability that the poster could say so little and yet still deliver its point. The only words on the poster is "Environmental Action" and a date. But the poster's argument is clear-- that there is a need for change, and it starts on Earth Day.

 The poster also uses ethos by appealing to the culture of protest and action in the 1960s. With protests, marches, and sit-ins occurring across the country concerning issues of war, civil rights, and freedom, there is a culture of action within the public. I would categorize this as ethos because it speaks to the morale/attitude of the people who made the poster and the people who read it. This is a time when it was natural, ethical to take action upon one's beliefs. The poster, in regards to its call to action, is very blunt: "Environmental Action." In fact the date of the demonstration was emphasized in much larger font than the explanation of what Earth Day would be about. It's almost like the poster was saying, "We need environmental reform. We're having a protest this date. You know the deal."

-Samuel Han