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Amanda Goldner
Professor Skutar
Intermediate Comp. 289
Essay #2, Final draft
14 April 2012
A Scientist Uses Grace and Knowledge to Save the World's Groundwater: The Power of Content
Order
Dr. Famiglietti is a humble scientist who appreciates groundwater resources with all of his heart.
He is a hardworking man who persistently wants to maintain water health in his beloved
California as well as in areas throughout the rest of the world. In a dignified and courteous tone,
he asks the congress subcommittee for any aid they can offer. He also hopes that they will listen
attentively to his words and testimony and feel inspired to get involved. Informing of the
necessity of groundwater to the human race is the great strength of his testimony and his main
method of persuading his audience. His credentials, descriptions and visual evidence of
successes in the GRACE project displayed in specific scientific graphs and diagrams obviously
impact the testimony's affect on the audience as well.
Famiglietti has a long list of credentials, and he isn't afraid to share, restate and remind
the audience in a professional and charismatic manner of what they are. He is a director of
hydrologic modeling, a professor of Earth System Science, Civil and Environmental Engineering
and a former director of the UCI Institute of Geo and Planetary Physics. These positions
highlight how experienced and well-versed he is in scientific matters. It would be difficult for
congress members not to have some belief in his data and research, recalling the
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accomplishments of this scientist. Famiglietti is proud and confident of his years in the scientific
field and thus a man the subcommittee and people of the world can admire and rely on. He
places his professional credentials at the beginning of his testimony to immediately receive the
audience's trust. Once a person's legitimate experience is heard by an audience, every word said
in that field of experience is more likely to sound accurate and believable. This is Famiglietti's
first strategy and his appeal to ethos at the beginning of his speech which is meant to arouse the
subcommittee.
With his credibility established, he moves to the surprising and monumental facts of
groundwater's many benefits and purposes to America, and also more generally to the world.
Water is really needed for everyone to live long and healthy lives. He asserts the true fact that
“...some two billion people rely on groundwater as a primary source of drinking water and for
irrigated agriculture” (Famiglietti). All humans collectively know the importance of water, but
for Famiglietti to speak about it to Congress gives the abilities of water and the consequences
when it becomes scarce more urgency. Another of his and general science findings are that
groundwater covers nearly 30% of world freshwater resources (Famiglietti). Thirty percent may
not seem like a lot when one imagines and assumes that Earth has an endless amount of water
since the human race has existed for so long, but the amount is vital. Famiglietti opportunely
exerts the appeal of logos to the audience in this moment of his testimony with a reminder of our
biological dependence on water. The emotional appeal of pathos is also activated because the
situation of a lack of water causes a much larger chance of death and this can incite panic. The
logical and emotional reaction to swaying between life and death is unsettling; this is humanity's
weakness that all are fragile to.
There is a limit to all natural resources and Famiglietti is honest, realistic and brave to
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underline that and look for solutions. He wants Congress to like his character and join him in his
rational thinking throughout hearing his account. He explains and provides much information to
elevate congress's responsive thinking to its most sensitive. “During the 66-month time period
studied water storage in the basins decreased by 31.3 km, or roughly the volume of Lake Mead
(Famiglietti). Famiglietti follows these statistics with more alarming information about the
importance and role of groundwater. Eighty percent of freshwater in the U.S is used for
agriculture, so the national supply of food and water are affected by groundwater and its
progress, as well as energy. Famiglietti sophisticatedly names the problems that can occur in
groundwater like “depletion, salinization and contamination” (Famiglietti). Instances like climate
change and overpopulation also hurt the quality and abundance of water, proven in the Sierras,
Rockies and Colorado River basin (Famiglietti). These scientific terms that he applies to describe
the different elements of groundwater reinforce his qualifications and credibility.
Famiglietti chooses to share his close to home and personal connection to the issues of
decreasing groundwater next. He pinpoints his focus on California specifically and the Central
Valley. He exclaims that this valley is one of the most hardworking regions of agriculture in the
world with being known for producing more than 250 crops worth around 17 billion dollars
(Famiglietti). This is 1/6 of irrigated land, 8% of total food produced in America, and the central
valley supplies 1/5 of the country's demand for water (Famiglietti). I feel it's apparent that he
carries pride for his state and has completed a lot of research there with other hydrologists.
Unfortunately, he reports that there's been a drought in California which is one natural event that
has affected the accumulation of groundwater.
Notifying Congress of this news, he wants to enforce the thought that tragedy can occur
anywhere, even in someone's home. His intention is also to jolt the audience into that feeling of
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security and belonging when each of them is in their “home sweet home.” Maybe they will
subconsciously associate a home of friends or family with groundwater and feel a familiarity and
need to protect it. Dr. Famiglietti may also be trying to get the listeners to believe and sense that
they're getting to know him as an individual and not just a public speaker. His words will
resonate deeper with every individual person if they feel an emotional linkage. Famiglietti
intends for intimacy and empathy of a continuing normalcy in daily life to be instilled and
mentally expressed. He wants these emotions, the pathos, to be a second pivotal effect on the
subcommittee in persuasively guiding them to assist in his projects.
His speech transitions to the active and long-going general groundwater preservation and
monitoring efforts that are sadly lacking in skill. Measurement records of groundwater are
disorganized and come from confusing agencies built of local, state and federal organizational
divisions. Many groundwater-ensconced areas are poorly watched and maintained, and the
amount of water usually can't be read or is classified as unknown (Famiglietti). Data and results
are expected at a fast or moderate pace in modern society with all of the multi-themed news
about Earth, America and society that is constantly being written, updated and posted on the
internet or in print. Circumstances being “unknown” is more frustrating than ever nowadays
when much knowledge is grasped easily and conveniently.
Suddenly, Famiglietti introduces a somewhat private secret mission that he and other top
hydrological scientists have been working on for years: GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate
Experiment). This mission is far more advanced than the general faulty system of groundwater
monitoring he noticeably depicted as negative and pathetic. He does that to overemphasize the
entrance of the GRACE project and its miraculous improvements. He is enthusiastic with his
descriptions of the competence of GRACE informing its “...measures are exceptionally accurate
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to the sub-micron level...” and it’s measuring of eloquent scientific terms of
“evapotransportation” and “stream flow” (Famiglietti). He assuredly informs the audience that
this has been a stable project from 2002-2008 and has had some success. The latest computer
technology modeling is used to improve accuracy and predictions of surface and groundwater
storage changes. These calculations are updated into an elite and high-functioning U.S. Drought
Monitor (Famiglietti). He desires for his audience to feel impressed and amazed by GRACE,
adding that NASA is involved in the mission as well and tests are processed and run at the
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. There is enormous awareness of NASA and its influential
scientific organization, and he takes advantage of its national fan base, thus appealing to ethos.
Famiglietti confidently narrates a concrete list of GRACE mission successes in water
flowing areas such as “Greenland, the Antarctic ice sheets, the Alaskan glaciers and the
Pantagonial glaciers in Chile” (Famiglietti). He resourcefully applies graphs and diagrams in his
presentation to illustrate this statement and reveal solid proof. GRACE has also orchestrated tests
in the Mississippi River basin and also in aquifers of Illinois, Oklahoma and Australia but good
visible data hasn't been developed yet. He raves that among hydrologic scientists, what GRACE
can do now was in the past regarded as an ultimate “holy grail” (Famiglietti). However, he
realistically admits that GRACE has a limited life span of three to five more years and isn't
invincible to electronic or battery failures; it is a human and a mortal invention.
Final news he enlightens the subcommittee about is the second project his hydrologic
teamed network wants to begin named GRACE 2. This would be an upgraded technology from
the imperfect GRACE 1 and all he requests for is a little Committee funding. He honorably asks,
“if your committee believes, as I do, that GRACE is invaluable in order to adapt water
management to changing climate, then please do what you can in Congress to help increase the
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priority of the GRACE 2 mission” (Famiglietti). I think he alerts the audience to GRACE 2 at
about the end of his speech to permeate that blurb of information as long as it will progress in
their minds. He probably believes that the concluding content he expresses is the most likely to
be recalled by the audience. Optimism will be summoned from this future, promising mission in
individuals and create a bright and permanent impression of Famiglietti's message. Extreme
hypothetical questions are placed in the same paragraphing as the GRACE 2 project to highlight
logos and pathos appeals again, as well as prolong them to beyond the time of his presentation.
“Will water be the 'oil of the future'...Will we have enough water to supply our growing
population? Will there be enough water to sustain agricultural activity” (Famiglietti).
Famiglietti rotates savoring the three types of rhetorical appeals throughout each chapter
of his testimony. I don't think his speech would have been as effective without these convincing
elements and the spots they are positioned in. A minor essence of his speech but subtly effective
one is the wise and gracious treatment of his audience. The embedding of credentials, unified
human facts and emotion, and statistical data are the ultimate forces of the Groundwater
Testimony.
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Works Cited
Famiglietti, James. “Hearing On Perspectives On California Water Supply: Challenges and
Opportunities”. Subcommittee On Water and Power. House Natural Resources
Committee , nd. Web. 25 April. 2012
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.