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Open Letter Addressed to the Environmental Science Department at UCSB

To Our Dear Esteemed Colleagues,

The world is changing arguably for the worse, in contrary to what certain individuals

would suggest. ​Sea levels and global temperatures are rising, natural habitats are being

destroyed, and biodiversity is declining as a result. While exploring the tropical rainforests of

Brazil, species that once flourished here are on the verge of extinction as the years go on. Our

investigation has led us to believe that deforestation is the root of the problem. We have

concluded that the burning of biomass for agricultural use or resources is affecting the albedo

and evapotranspiration of the region. As a result, land surface temperatures are increasing, killing

off many species of organisms that couldn’t adapt to the warmer environment. We should be

angry at the US Office of Global Change due to their lack of efforts in maintaining

environmental stability and must acknowledge a demand for immediate change. Something must

be done before these forests are broken down to the point of no recovery.

We are not here to advocate for the abolishment of the practice but stress the importance

of reducing over-deforestation before it is too late. We are well aware of the benefits of the

practice, including newly functional materials and food production, however the long term

consequences certainly outweigh the pros as our planet might be destroyed as result. ​As we move

forward, we must consider the action of promoting the planting of forests to assist Mother

Nature's recovery

For the Sake of Our Planet

Prevallo et. al
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Anthony Tran

Allison Bocchino

Writing 2

4/22/2020

Metacognitive Reflection

When someone asks you to translate something for them, what is your immediate

thought? It might be along the lines of, “Do I understand this language well enough to interpret it

for them?” Translation is the act of communicating from one language to another, however, the

term language is ambiguous. Language can be defined in many ways and may refer to translating

Japanese to Korean, which is what most people are thinking, but you can also translate different

forms of mediums. For example, ​the skill of translation, that others may have little to no

experience in, allows you to establish communication for others who may not initially

understand. To clarify. a confusing set of instructions can be translated into illustrations,

computer coding to human language, or a scientific paper into an open letter. By understanding

the various forms of popular text, you’ll develop a better understanding of writing, such that

academic genres are more objective and restricted to a specific audience in contrast to

nonacademic genres which are less formal and intended for the general audience.

As you read both academic and non-academic genres, you’ll most likely come to the

realization that academic genres are typically less humanistic than their non-academic

counterpart. This is seen in the primary academic text, ​Impacts of forestation and deforestation

on local temperature across the globe​, written by environmental scientists, to describe the effects

of forrestation and deforestation on land surface temperatures on a global scale. The structure of
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this paper distinctly resembles that of the scientific method, with main subheadings titled,

“Abstract,” “Introduction,” and “Materials and Methods.”1 Scientists within the field of

environmental science take advantage of the scientific method because it allows them to

objectively conduct experiments and collect data. By dehumanizing the researcher and

minimizing bias, it will remove any prejudice in the evidence accumulated. In addition, academic

papers are generally directed towards a specific audience.

The typical range of audience within an academic genre is smaller than that of a

non-academic genre and is restricted towards a smaller group whose knowledge resembles that

of the respective discourse community. Scientists within the environmental science community

rely heavily on quantitative analysis rather than qualitative reasoning in order to convey their

research. This is shown in the academic paper, where the author made use of numerical values to

proficiently explain their reasoning, “​The total effect of ΔF on ΔLST in Brazil was estimated as

-0.64, meaning that, on average, an increase in one standard deviation of forest cover (= 21.7%)

reduced LST in 0.64 standard deviations, i.e., 0.36˚C (0.64 x 0.57˚ C, 0.57˚ C being the standard

deviation of ΔLST).”2 This type of analysis enables the authors to reduce over explanation of

their data because the numerical values speak for themselves. In addition, the use of discourse

specific terminology or jargon has the same effect as “recent studies have quantified how some

biophysical processes, such as shortwave radiation and latent heat flux (directly coupled to

albedo and ET, respectively)3. The author uses words such as, “shortwave radiation,” “latent heat

1
​A Prevedello Jayme, R Winc Gisele k, M Weber Marcelo, Nichols Elizabeth, Sinervo Barry,
"Impacts of forestation and deforestation on local temperature across the globe." ​PLoSONE​ 14,
no. 3 (2019): 1-2.
2
​Prevedello et. al, 9-10.
3
​Prevedello et. al, 2.
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flux,” and “albedo​,” with the assumption that the reader already has knowledge required to

understand the meaning behind them. To sum it all up, the use of quantitative analysis and jargon

allows the author to efficiently present their research without having to clarify and cater to a less

broad audience.

Contrary to their opposite, non-academic genres, or in this case, open letters, are less

formal and intended for a bigger audience. This is because open letters are generally widely

distributed, although the letter used confusing terminology or incorporated a lot of numerical

values, the general public wouldn’t be able to understand. Generally, open letters are used in

order to give an opinion or openly protest a problem which is why open letters are more

subjective than academic genres. In the following open letters, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,”

“​Open Letter to the United Nations​,” and “Open Letter To Kansas School Board” written by

Martin Luther King, Niels Bohr, and Bobby Henderson respectively, the authors address

problems within society in the form of an implicit and explicit audience. Open letters are

generally used to focus on a particular audience, the explicit audience, that the event is addressed

to, while simultaneously persuading the real audience, the implicit audience. These types of

letters usually indicate their explicit audience by their title or by who they’re addressing the letter

to, such as “Dear X.” This is seen in the three open letters, where King’s explicit audience is

“My Dear fellow clergymen,”4 Bohr “Open Letter to United Nations,”5 and Henderson “Open

letter to Kansas School Board.”6 The implicit audience is more vague and harder to pinpoint;

4
​King Jr, Martin L. ​Letter from Birmingham Jail.​ Letter. Bates College. (Accessed January 12,
2001)
5
​Bohr, Neils. “Open Letter to the United Nations.” Letter. ​Science ​112, no. 2897: (1-6).
6
​Henderson, Bobby. ​Open Letter to Kansas School Board​. Letter. The Science Creative
Quarterly. (Accessed March 25, 2006)
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normally the implicit audience is a group or individual that can initiate change or is the source of

the problem. In the case of the “Letter from Birmingham Jail, Luther indicates the implicit

audience by expressing disappointment towards a certain group of people in the letter, addressing

them as “white religious leadership” or “white man.”7

For an academic genre to be turned into a non-academic genre, the restricted audience

characteristic of an academic genre must be expanded in order to fit the widespread audience of

the non-academic genre. The formal tone of an academic genre was thus translated into a less

rigid paper, allowing for an open discussion on the effects of deforestation. In order to do this,

quantitative analysis was exempted from the letter and was replaced by a description explaining

the results of the experiment. Furthermore, the use of jargon was significantly reduced so that the

general readers were still equipped enough to understand. Jargon was included in order to better

explain the results of the experiment as removing it completely would undermine the point of a

research paper, which is to explain or propose a situation or solution to a certain topic. By

eliminating the purpose of an academic paper, the remaining writing would be merely random

facts. However, the main point is removing quantitative analysis and reducing the amount of

jargon used was done in order to make the intended audience less restricted to a certain group, as

targeting a specific audience may result in the loss of a mass population of readers. This also

makes the tone of the paper less formal and more subjective compared to an academic genre so

that the general public can give their thoughts on the topic. The purpose of an open letter is to

present an open opinion or protest, so restricting the audience would only reduce the amount of

people that can hear it.

7
King
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When writing, you need to consider the conventions of the given genre. For example, if

you intend to write nonfiction, you need to make sure that what you’re writing is based on real

events and supported by facts. ​By understanding the characteristics of a specific genre, your

writing can easily be distinguished within or outside such groups.8 A concern brought up to light

was maintaining both motives of the academic and non-academic genres and was done by

incorporating the results of the experiment on forrestation/deforestation and presenting an

opinion/frustration on the practice. Furthermore, whenever you read or write, you must take into

account the relationship between the reader, writer, and text.9 In an open letter, determining the

explicit and implicit audience will allow you to establish the argument that the author is trying to

make to the real/implicit audience. ​For instance, once you realize that the implicit audience that

King is addressing are the “white moderate,” you’ll understand that King is openly protesting

racism and the oppression of Black Americans during the Civil Rights Movement.

To conclude, whereas an academic genre is more objective based and restricted to a

specific audience, open letters are intended for the general reader which allows the author to get

their point across regarding an opinion or open protest. In the translation of an academic genre to

non-academic, quantitative analysis was exempted, and jargon was reduced in order to expand

the intended audience that is characterized with an open letter and make the tone less formal and

subjective. In addition, ​open letters are made to blatantly protest or give an opinion on an event

so having a wider audience would help inform others of the situation at hand. Translation enables

effective communication between people of different backgrounds based on their language,

cultural practices, or distinct set of skills. Being able to effectively translate different genres and

8
Jessie. ​“Making Choices in Writing.” ​Open English @ SLCC 2​ 3
​Szalay,
9
​Rosenberg, Karen. “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources.”
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language allows an individual to effectively acquire new knowledge due to the elimination of

multiple language barriers.

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Bibliography

A Prevedello Jayme. R Winc Gisele k. M Weber Marcelo. Nichols Elizabeth. Sinervo Barry.

"Impacts of forestation and deforestation on local temperature across the globe." ​PLoS ONE​ 14,

no. 3 (2019): 1-18. ​https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213368

Henderson, Bobby. ​Open Letter to Kansas School Board.​ Letter. The Science Creative

Quarterly. ​https://www.scq.ubc.ca/open-letter-to-the-kansas-school-board/​ (Accessed March 25,

2006)

King Jr, Martin L. ​Letter from Birmingham Jail​. Letter. Bates College.

http://abacus.bates.edu/admin/offices/dos/mlk/letter.html​ (Accessed January 12, 2001)

Bohr, Neils. “Open Letter to the United Nations.” Letter. ​Science 1​ 12, no. 2897: (1-6).

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/112/2897/1

Szalay, Jessie. ​“Making Choices in Writing.” ​Open English @ SLCC 2​ 3

https://openenglishatslcc.pressbooks.com/chapter/making-choices-in-writing/

Rosenberg, Karen. “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources.”

https://writingspaces.org/rosenberg--reading-games
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