Pollution In Paul Bogard's Essay Let There Be Dark

Pollution is one of the biggest global killers, affecting nearly 100 million people. Pollution comes in many different forms and affects the world and the environment in many different ways. Along with the best known pollutants such as water, air, and land, there are other pollutants that many people do not know much about. These include light, noise, thermal, and household pollution and are all just as damaging as the most known ones. Pollution is an introduction of a harmful or poisonous substance into the environment that has a negative effect on life around it. Pollution is deadly, and it is destroying the only world suitable for life. Pollution is a

Throughout the adaption, Bogard appeals to pathos when he discusses his childhood relationship with the darkness. Bogard says that “at my family’s cabin on Minnesota lake, I knew woods so dark that my hands disappeared before my eyes. I knew night skies in which meteors left smoky trails across sugary

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 the beginning of Bogard's essay, he shares a short anecdote about his cabin at night. This hook lets the audience know that Bogard has been, and seen, the sky and the fact that it is slowly fading away. The anecdote also has a lot of imagery and affects the audience's emotions a little. It makes us feel worried, wanting to read more, hoping for a solution. Bogard’s essay was effective because of the amount of evidence, the reasoning to illustrate that evidence, and the imagery/ word choice.

Bogard believes in the preservation of natural darkness. He begins to build his argument thru imagery, explaining its worth and what people today haven't been able to see. Not only that but the article itself is all about how in today's society, people are their own cause of trouble. Not only are they affecting themselves,but the environment around them: including many nocturnal animals. By them allowing to have artificial light all through the day, more and more disorders and pollution is taking place.

Bogard uses multiple facts and comparisons to show the audience that light pollution has caused many issues ranging from health problems all the way to how light pollution affects the animal kingdom.

Bogard starts his introduction paragraph with an observance, “At my family’s cabin on a Minnesota lake, I knew woods so dark that my hands disappeared before my eyes. I knew night skies in which meteors left smoky trails across sugary spreads of stars.” He uses personal anecdotes to introduce the subject of this passage and help him build his claims. Then Bogard moves from his observance to his general claim in the introduction paragraph, “I worry we are rapidly losing night’s natural darkness before realizing its worth. This winter solstice, as we cheer the days’ gradual movement back toward light, let us also remember the irreplaceable value of darkness” He uses the form of inductive reasoning so he can use pathos to his advantage and persuade the reader easier that natural darkness needs to be

Paul Bogard uses rhetoric devices, such as anecdotes and rhetorical questions, in order to connect with the readers and help them relate to his purpose. He starts his article by using an anecdote which is a story about his childhood in Minnesota lake, where he said, “I knew woods so dark that my hands disappeared before my eyes. I knew night skies in which meteors left smoky trails across sugary spreads of stars.” The anecdote here uses imagery and metaphors as discussed before, however, the analysing of this anecdote does not stop there. In this specific anecdote, the writer makes the readers question themselves if they remember a time where it was so dark, that they could not even see their own bodies. This anecdote’s purpose is to connect with readers on a personal level, in order for them to later understand the author’s purpose for this article, and later sympathise and agree with the author. Paul Bogard wants the readers to personally feel that they understand the “irreplaceable value of darkness,” as he says in his article. He also refers back to this anecdote in later parts of his article when he says “Even the northern lake where I was lucky to spend my summers has seen its darkness diminish.” This quote also conveys how the author wants people to sympathise with him and his

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.

He recounts the story in a way that gives it a whimsical feeling, saying "meteors left smoky trails across sugary spreads of stars. " Bogard thinks of it as a important childhood experience, something that is "irreplaceable." By using this anecdote and describing it the way he did, he is making the audience think about their own life; about if they had ever had an experience like his. If they had not, they are first introduced to his idea of how important natural darkness is- that it is something everybody should experience.

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.

Bogard offers his first argument at the beginning of the second paragraph, and continues into the third paragraph, making points based on common sense, as well as referencing scientific studies. He mentions that the World Health Organization, and the American Medical Association agree with his views. Referencing these kinds of big names is important for Mr. Bogard to do, in order to show his readers that his statements are valid. After stating his points on the problems humans experience from light pollution, Mr. Bogard takes a look at the animal kingdom in paragraph four. Here, he uses statistics and numbers to back up his points, saying things like "400 species of birds that migrate at night in North America" and "moths that pollinate 80% of the world’s flora."

In the passage of "Let there be dark" Paul Bogard the author tries to convince the reader that light pollution has turned into a big epidemic, and that we are losing the darkness because of it. Throughout the entire discourse he uses many methods such as persuasive diction, soft tone, and factual evidence to propose his argument. The passage shows a well amount of each of these and provides the reader with many good points. The author uses persuasive diction such as "Irreplaceable value" "diminish" and "losing" to acknowledge the value that the darkness has, and to explain the impacts that we are causing due to our overuse of artificial light.

Light pollution is becoming a problem throughout the world, and certain people have decided to rise against it. In the article “Let There Be Dark”, Paul Bogard outlines both the benefits of preserving natural darkness and the problems with light pollution. He constructs an argument to persuade the audience that light pollution needs to be lessened. Paul Bogard builds his argument for the preservation of natural darkness by using a personal narrative, citing facts, and appealing to the reader’s emotion. Bogard, on multiple occasions, tells stories about his own personal life, showing off his firsthand experience with the benefits of darkness.

Pollution is the introduction of harmful substances or products into the environment. It is a major problem in America and as well as the world. Pollution not only damages the environment, but damages us also. It has cause many problems ranging from lung cancer to the greenhouse effect. It is all among us but we continue to live in our own filth. What is the reason behind this flawed logic? In this paper I will examine the problems and solutions for this issue.