Francis Williams
Engl 1301
16 Oct. 2012
“The Island in the Wind” Critical Analysis
The island of Samso converted their fossil-fuel-dependent island completely into a clean energy island in "The Island in the Wind." Elizabeth Kolbert goes to Samso to visit Jorgen Tranberg and his wind turbine. The community of Samso used to depend on fossil fuels, but now, after embracing the power of clean wind energy, Samso now produces more energy than it uses. At the rate gas, oil, coal, and natural gas is being used around the world, the CO2 released will destroy the ocean ecosystem. Soren Hermansen is an avid believer in clean energy, so he constantly pitched the idea of clean energy all over Samso until everybody was bitten with the clean energy “bug.” A research group travels to Samso to discover the effects of the wind turbines. Hermansen guides the research group to a few different district plants to show them some alternative ways of creating energy. The whole community worked together and helped Samso to become a clean energy island of which they are proud. Of the several types of argument styles, Kolbert uses the logical style the most. Logical arguments appeal to the reader’s reason and intelligence. She does this by pointing out numerous facts about how much pollution the world creates and how we can use clean energy. She says, an estimated thirty-one billion barrels of oil, a hundred trillion cubic feet of natural gas and six billion tons of coal will be burned this year. Burning oil, coal and natural gas all produce carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a harmful gas that stays in the atmosphere and also mixes into the ocean. If this trend continues the ocean will become altered to the point where ecosystems could become extinct. This can be avoided, however, if the world turns to clean energy. Just look at Samso, it turned to clean energy a while back and now creates more energy than they use, making them a clean, energy-efficient island. To start