Rhetorical Analysis Of Let There Be Dark By Paul Bogard

In “Let There Be Dark,” by Paul Bogard , Paul writes about how light pollution has affected our life. Paul Bogard builds an argument to persuade his audience that natural darkness should be preserved by reminding his readers the benefits of darkness, using art, he also statistics and facts,and giving the reader solutions to stop light pollution.

Paul Bogard starts of by building his argument by reminiscing about a personal story, about how his life was before light pollution. Paul Bogard captures the readers by describing the beauty of the dark skies that he remembers. He says,“ I knew night skies in which meteors left smoky trails across sugary spreads of stars.” He mentions how clear the dark sky used to be and how visible the stars were. He reminds the readers about the irreplaceable value of darkness. He mentions how times have change by saying, “Today though when we feel the closeness of
He uses statistics from the World Health Organization and studies from the American Medical Association to provide factual evidence on the impact light pollution has on our bodies and nature. He says, “Our bodies need darkness to produce the hormone melatonin, which keeps certain cancers from developing, and our bodies need darkness for sleep. Sleep disorders have been linked to diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and depression, and recent research suggests one main cause of “short sleep” is “long light.” He continues by mentioning prime examples how the rest of the world depends on darkness as well, including birds,insects, mammals,fish and reptiles. Paul Bogard states the affects light pollution has on Earth’s ecology. He says,“Ecological light pollution is like the bulldozer of the night, wrecking habitat and disrupting ecosystems several billion years in the making. Simply put, without darkness, Earth’s ecology would