Paul Bogard Let There Be Dark Summary

How can day exist without night; how can night exist without darkness? In Paul Bogard’s, “Let There Be Dark”, Bogard elucidates on the absence of darkness in today’s world. With authenticity, Bogard analyzes the significant elements of darkness in both a rational and factual way. In “Let There Be Dark”, Bogard creates a refined and persuasive analysis using rhetorical appeals to endorse his ideology on preserving Earth’s natural darkness.

In the essay, “Our Vanishing Night”, Verlyn Klinkenborg discusses light pollution. Light pollution is due to human’s use of artificial light during the night. Klinkenborg uses examples of how this type of pollution effects not only humans and their biological clocks, but how it effects other organisms in the wild. In this essay, I will analyze the author argument and aspects of it that includes authority, topic, tone, context, exigence, and audience to determine whether the essay was effective or ineffective in getting Klinkenborg’s argument across to the reader.

In Holly Wren Spaulding’s essay, “In Defense of Darkness,” her main claim is that we have fallen away from darkness and immersed ourselves in a society of lightness. Furthermore, she claims this has lead humans to lose touch with basic human emotion as well as the sensual and spiritual experience true darkness has to offer. Spaulding makes this claim evident through exceptional use of personal testimony and copious appeals to value.

The readings for this project helped me understand the meaning of how we (humans) ignore the details and love to just see the stuff that matters for us and that is it. Klinkenborg in his paper about light pollution said, “We've lit up the night as if it were an unoccupied country, when nothing could be further from the truth. Among mammals alone, the number of nocturnal species is astonishing” (243). He talks about how we human forget about other species which live with us on the same planet and that we just care about ourselves and think that the humans only one that matters. We do not see something like light pollution as something that is ruining the planet.

“Night exposes much that is wrong with human nature and reveals little that is right”. Discuss.

In Paul Bogard article, “Let There Be Dark”. The reader gets a look at light pollution. Bogard explain the purpose of his writing when he states, “ We will never truly address the problem of light pollution until we become aware of the irreplaceable value and beauty of the darkness we are losing.” Bogard builds his argument by using pathos, logos, and ethos to persuade his audience that natural darkness should be preserved.

In Paul Bogard’s “Let There Be Dark”, he emphasizes the lack of natural darkness due to artificial lighting. Bogard uses personal accounts, effective word choice, and the three appeals to urge us to find a solution in order to allow our future generations to be exposed to the natural darkness of the night sky.

Paragraph IV: In section three (paragraph four) Bogard uses powerful emotional language concerning other parts of the world and their species. Bogard helps you to visualize why land and sea animals need darkness. He emotionally draws us close to natural pest control by nocturnal animals and how they save “American” farmers billions of dollars. The destruction term “bulldozer of the night” mentally brings you outside and helps readers to understand, without darkness, Earth’s ecology would “collapse”.

In his essay, Paul Bogard argues that it is necessary to preserve darkness. Paul is trying to persuade the reader to take his side and help him achieve his goal of saving natural darkness. To do this, Paul uses tons of rhetorical devices and appeals to emotions while also providing facts and studies to support his argument. His main weapon though, is the way he talks to the reader. His tone is what makes his essay an effective one.

Paul Bogard, a professor of creative nonfiction and environmental literature, in his work entitled, “Let There Be Dark” discusses the effects associated of light pollution. Bogard’s purpose is to display the harmful effects on humans and the ecosystems surrounding them due to the increase of light at night and how to solve them. He utilizes pathos, ethos, and logos in order to portray to readers the urgency and negative effects caused by light pollution.

In the passage, Bogard proposes various arguments on natural darkness and its preservation. He tries to persuade the reader that preserving natural darkness is crucial by providing examples based on an organisms health, religious practices, and a national problem. The author also uses statistics to further express his opinion to the reader.

In the adaptation of "Let There Be Dark," Paul Bogard develops his argument to persuade the audience of how the natural darkness is significant to the world and how it is vital for it to be preserved. Through the use of logic, anecdotes, and thought-provoking questions, Bogard is able to build a convincing and strong argument to preserve the natural darkness. A rhetorical technique the author implements is logic and reason. The author claims that darkness is vital in the production of melatonin, which prevents cancers from developing.

In the solitude of pitch-black infinite space, “men forgot their passions”-all values were lost, hopes and goals were put on hold, and only darkness existed. A world living in darkness was forced to displace its

We as humans were put on this earth to survive along with many other species. Some may argue that humans are the masters of the world and at the top of the food chain. The truth is that humans are soft, relatively weak, and have no sharp fangs or claws to protect themselves. Our most deadly weapon for defense is our brain. The world is a beautiful place with fragile checks and balances that make it all go around. Ecosystems thrive on the simplest organisms that are a food source for larger plants and animals. These fragile ecosystems have been a part of this world since the beginning. The human population is encroaching into the forests and other habitats where plants and animals live. The world is

Scintillating stars dot the night sky, glistening brightly as if to soften the profound blackness that surrounds the Earth. A gentle wind breezes, moving the towering trees in a synchrony that elicits a sense of wonder. Noises, quite dissonant and unintelligible to the human ear, howl dolefully in the distance. For a moment, it seems, a synergy with the greater cosmos is possible. Can one resist being moved by such equanimity with a world unknown? How can one not be provoked to thought, to a pondering of the existences of creatures that live intertwined with humanity, and yet remain so unfathomable? Regretfully, the modern, “civilized” Westerner is inculcated with a mode of thinking that precludes such an equilibrium with the environment. As such, the realities of the nonhuman world fail to have eminence; the importance of nature, and of its destruction, tragically eludes humankind. Such Western antagonism toward nature creates an impasse that not only sunders physical and spiritual well-being, but also threatens humanity’s delicate interspecies relationships, as well as interactions among human beings.