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Analyzing Paul Bogard's 'Let There Be Dark'

Decent Essays

In response to the growing problem of decreasing natural darkness, Paul Bogard builds an argument that natural darkness should be preserved in his article “Let There Be Dark.”. He uses research from a medical association about how natural darkness affects our health, explains how the loss of natural darkness affects our environment, and shows how this light increase affects parts of the world physically and financially. Bogard first describes how the natural increase of light affects our health. He refers to the quote from the American Medical Association, where they state that our bodies need darkness in order to produce a hormone called melatonin, which our bodies need to sleep. He explains how this hormone keeps certain cancers from developing. The American Medical Association also states that artificial light can cause sleep disorders which have been linked to diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and depression. By referencing this, Bogard demonstrates how artificial light can be detrimental to our health. His use of a credible source builds an argument …show more content…

He gives examples such as the 400 species of birds that migrate at night in North America and that sea turtles that lay their eggs. He also refers to nocturnal animals such as bats that save farmers billions in pest control, and the moths that pollinate 80% of the world’s flora. Bogard brings an emotional response into his argument by referring to ecological light pollution as a “bulldozer of the night”. He explains how artificial light disrupts ecosystems that have been around for billions of years and without darkness, these ecosystems would collapse. Bogard using the destruction of earth's environment as a way to further his argument shows the reader how the world around them is affected. This can trigger an emotional response from the reader and persuade them to support his

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