Critical Analysis of Carl Sagan’s “The Nuclear Winter”
Critical Analysis of Carl Sagan’s “The Nuclear Winter”
As the number of political tensions and war conflicts increase each and every day in this era of scientific development, the availability of nuclear warheads poses an even greater danger to humankind. Was there really a lesson to be learned from the Hiroshima-Nagasaki affair? Carl Sagan in his article “The Nuclear Winter” throws light on the threatening possibility that the onset of a nuclear war today will cause extreme and previously unanticipated reactions that can put even our very existence into jeopardy. The author argues that subfreezing temperatures caused due to the radioactive fallout blocking the sun would result in a chain reaction which will cause people on Earth to starve because of the unavailability of food and hence, would reduce the human population to that of pre-historic times or even make them extinct. Sagan succeeds in his objective of educating the people about this great possibility by using logically well organized ideas, establishing his own credibility and using illustration and figures to his own advantage. However, the use of unprofessional language when referring to the political leaders of this world and a little over assumption on his part does cause him to lose grip over the reader.
In the essay under consideration Sagan starts by stating the obvious, that the immediate death toll in the event of a nuclear war would be huge, but the real story starts afterwards. Simulated models show that the multiple nuclear strikes would cause dust from the surface of the Earth to rise carrying with it the radioactive material. The quantity of this mixture would be so large that it would block the rays of the Sun, thus, causing the surface of Earth to cool down. Plants which need sunlight for photosynthesis will start to die and subsequently the animals that feed on them would follow suit. This would result in a widespread famine. The death toll of the aftermath would be equal to, if not
As the number of political tensions and war conflicts increase each and every day in this era of scientific development, the availability of nuclear warheads poses an even greater danger to humankind. Was there really a lesson to be learned from the Hiroshima-Nagasaki affair? Carl Sagan in his article “The Nuclear Winter” throws light on the threatening possibility that the onset of a nuclear war today will cause extreme and previously unanticipated reactions that can put even our very existence into jeopardy. The author argues that subfreezing temperatures caused due to the radioactive fallout blocking the sun would result in a chain reaction which will cause people on Earth to starve because of the unavailability of food and hence, would reduce the human population to that of pre-historic times or even make them extinct. Sagan succeeds in his objective of educating the people about this great possibility by using logically well organized ideas, establishing his own credibility and using illustration and figures to his own advantage. However, the use of unprofessional language when referring to the political leaders of this world and a little over assumption on his part does cause him to lose grip over the reader.
In the essay under consideration Sagan starts by stating the obvious, that the immediate death toll in the event of a nuclear war would be huge, but the real story starts afterwards. Simulated models show that the multiple nuclear strikes would cause dust from the surface of the Earth to rise carrying with it the radioactive material. The quantity of this mixture would be so large that it would block the rays of the Sun, thus, causing the surface of Earth to cool down. Plants which need sunlight for photosynthesis will start to die and subsequently the animals that feed on them would follow suit. This would result in a widespread famine. The death toll of the aftermath would be equal to, if not
Cited: Sagan, Carl, R. P. Turco, O. B. Toon, T. P. Ackerman. “Nuclear Winter: Global Consequences of Multple Nuclear Explosions” Science Vol. 222. no. 4630, pp. 1283 – 1292. 23 December 1983.