Paul Bogard’s adapted piece “Let There be Dark” that was originally published in December 21, 2012, revolves around Bogard’s strive to preserve natural darkness. Bogard’s fight is fueled by his awareness and knowledge of the damages the environment is suffering from. Bogard is worried that the next generation might not have the chance to explore and admire the milky way and the heavenly bodies that are dusted above us. Paul Bogard’s use of formal writing shows that preserving natural darkness is a serious and significant topic to him. The other reason Bogard uses formal writing is because his writing was published in a major broadsheet newspaper who’s readers are mature and expect polished and civilized works. In the first paragraph of “Let There be Dark” Paul uses a sad tone, he then uses imagery when he recalls a memory where it was so dark he could not see his hands and only the stars were visible Paul describes them as “ meteors left smoky trails across sugary spreads of stars” this makes the reader imagine what he saw and entices them to keep on reading. Bogard then uses a more factual tone and uses statistics “8 out of 10 children born in the United States will never know…” to support his composition. Paul used words like “worth” and “value” twice in the first paragraph, his use of the literary device emphasizes the importance of natural darkness. When Paul uses the past tense and tells us about how “All life evolved to the steady rhythm of bright days and dark nights.” then follows it by saying “Today, though, when we feel the closeness of nightfall, we reach quickly for a light switch.” it gives the reader a feeling that something is wrong with our modern day routine and that we should return to older ways when it comes to our dimming the lights habit or the lack thereof. It also shows how much humans have progressed and changed their patterns and not necessarily in a positive way. This idea is reassured in the next paragraph where Paul informs us about the harms that are caused by light pollution and the lack of natural darkness. Paul mentions all the serious issues that have risen from the lack of natural darkness like certain cancers, sleep disorders, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and depression. Paul makes it clear that humans are not the only species affected by light pollution. Paul mentions a list of animals that depend on darkness and states that artificial light is disorienting animals that are useful for humans “bats that save American farmers billions in pest control and the moths that pollinate 80% of the world’s flora.” Bogards uses a simile to show how damaging light pollution is “Ecological light pollution is like the bulldozer of the night, wrecking habitat and disrupting ecosystems several billion years in the making.” He ends the paragraph dramatically by offering an asseveration supported by the clearly researched information he mentioned before “Earth’s ecology would collapse….”. Paul Bogard wrote a whole paragraph on how natural darkness has inspired many of the influential artists, philosophers and stargazers. Without darkness the stars would not be seeable and the acclaimed artist Vincent Van Gogh wouldn’t have had the scenery that inspired him to draw his famous painting “Starry Night”. Bogard then makes the readers aware of the by-product of light pollution. He achieves this by stating facts like “Much of this light is wasted energy, which means wasted dollars.” This sheds a negative light on it because people naturally are greedy and want every penny they can get. The paragraph gives us insight on who the article is directed towards when he says “Those of us over 35 are perhaps among the last generation to have known truly dark nights.” but this sentence can also give the readers a nostalgic feeling especially when he adds “Even the northern lake where I was lucky to spend my summers has seen its darkness diminish.” because it makes the readers recall their own memories under the stars. The last paragraph in his passage starts with giving solutions to the problem discussed throughout the passage “It doesn’t have to be this way. Light pollution is readily within our ability to solve,” Paul then lists some solutions and states that other countries have already established these ideas, this motivates the readers to do so too so they can be a more gainful country. Paul Bogard concludes his article by saying that the problem of light pollution can only be solved when we truly value and cherish “the irreplaceable value and beauty of the darkness we are losing.”.
Thank you for er, highlighting this problem. Conversely, (I lived in the US and moved totheUK) , I found the problem less so in the US and much worse in the UK. I think that the City Councils should be retrained to limit the amount of lighting in urban areas. I had to move from an urban area to a rural area because I had the same problem as those students and had to put up "blackout " curtains to limit the excessive urban lighting around the neighbourhood.
Wow! This is such a great monologue. About 1 1/2 year ago, the City I live in replaced the amber street lighting on my street and neighborhood with the LED lights Paul discusses. I immediately knew the financial reasons for it but I also immediately knew how big a mistake it was for exactly the reasons Paul also discusses. I am a huge watcher of the night sky. With the amber lights, what was visible in the night sky was fairly limited but with the LED lights...well, I don't even really bother looking up when I walk out of my house anymore. What I could see before the LEDs has now been cut by more than half. I feel lucky to still see the brightest planets - Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Sad!!
The lighting industry and their cohorts teach us to fear the dark yet most break ins occur during the day when the home owners are out at work.although is it thoughtful to light up a church? plenty of daylight hours to look at such structures.
WarmLight LED's below 2700k would be better with bettewr shielding, dimming and no light tresspass across the world . Asia needs Warmlight LEd's like the western countries.
Paul Bogard’s adapted piece “Let There be Dark” that was originally published in December 21, 2012, revolves around Bogard’s strive to preserve natural darkness. Bogard’s fight is fueled by his awareness and knowledge of the damages the environment is suffering from. Bogard is worried that the next generation might not have the chance to explore and admire the milky way and the heavenly bodies that are dusted above us.
Paul Bogard’s use of formal writing shows that preserving natural darkness is a serious and significant topic to him. The other reason Bogard uses formal writing is because his writing was published in a major broadsheet newspaper who’s readers are mature and expect polished and civilized works.
In the first paragraph of “Let There be Dark” Paul uses a sad tone, he then uses imagery when he recalls a memory where it was so dark he could not see his hands and only the stars were visible Paul describes them as “ meteors left smoky trails across sugary spreads of stars” this makes the reader imagine what he saw and entices them to keep on reading. Bogard then uses a more factual tone and uses statistics “8 out of 10 children born in the United States will never know…” to support his composition. Paul used words like “worth” and “value” twice in the first paragraph, his use of the literary device emphasizes the importance of natural darkness.
When Paul uses the past tense and tells us about how “All life evolved to the steady rhythm of bright days and dark nights.” then follows it by saying “Today, though, when we feel the closeness of nightfall, we reach quickly for a light switch.” it gives the reader a feeling that something is wrong with our modern day routine and that we should return to older ways when it comes to our dimming the lights habit or the lack thereof. It also shows how much humans have progressed and changed their patterns and not necessarily in a positive way. This idea is reassured in the next paragraph where Paul informs us about the harms that are caused by light pollution and the lack of natural darkness. Paul mentions all the serious issues that have risen from the lack of natural darkness like certain cancers, sleep disorders, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and depression.
Paul makes it clear that humans are not the only species affected by light pollution. Paul mentions a list of animals that depend on darkness and states that artificial light is disorienting animals that are useful for humans “bats that save American farmers billions in pest control and the moths that pollinate 80% of the world’s flora.” Bogards uses a simile to show how damaging light pollution is “Ecological light pollution is like the bulldozer of the night, wrecking habitat and disrupting ecosystems several billion years in the making.” He ends the paragraph dramatically by offering an asseveration supported by the clearly researched information he mentioned before “Earth’s ecology would collapse….”.
Paul Bogard wrote a whole paragraph on how natural darkness has inspired many of the influential artists, philosophers and stargazers. Without darkness the stars would not be seeable and the acclaimed artist Vincent Van Gogh wouldn’t have had the scenery that inspired him to draw his famous painting “Starry Night”.
Bogard then makes the readers aware of the by-product of light pollution. He achieves this by stating facts like “Much of this light is wasted energy, which means wasted dollars.” This sheds a negative light on it because people naturally are greedy and want every penny they can get. The paragraph gives us insight on who the article is directed towards when he says “Those of us over 35 are perhaps among the last generation to have known truly dark nights.” but this sentence can also give the readers a nostalgic feeling especially when he adds “Even the northern lake where I was lucky to spend my summers has seen its darkness diminish.” because it makes the readers recall their own memories under the stars.
The last paragraph in his passage starts with giving solutions to the problem discussed throughout the passage “It doesn’t have to be this way. Light pollution is readily within our ability to solve,” Paul then lists some solutions and states that other countries have already established these ideas, this motivates the readers to do so too so they can be a more gainful country. Paul Bogard concludes his article by saying that the problem of light pollution can only be solved when we truly value and cherish “the irreplaceable value and beauty of the darkness we are losing.”.
Thank you for er, highlighting this problem. Conversely, (I lived in the US and moved totheUK) , I found the problem less so in the US and much worse in the UK. I think that the City Councils should be retrained to limit the amount of lighting in urban areas. I had to move from an urban area to a rural area because I had the same problem as those students and had to put up "blackout " curtains to limit the excessive urban lighting around the neighbourhood.
Wow! This is such a great monologue. About 1 1/2 year ago, the City I live in replaced the amber street lighting on my street and neighborhood with the LED lights Paul discusses. I immediately knew the financial reasons for it but I also immediately knew how big a mistake it was for exactly the reasons Paul also discusses. I am a huge watcher of the night sky. With the amber lights, what was visible in the night sky was fairly limited but with the LED lights...well, I don't even really bother looking up when I walk out of my house anymore. What I could see before the LEDs has now been cut by more than half. I feel lucky to still see the brightest planets - Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Sad!!
They're planets
The lighting industry and their cohorts teach us to fear the dark yet most break ins occur during the day when the home owners are out at work.although is it thoughtful to light up a church? plenty of daylight hours to look at such structures.
Thank you for this message.
i can see milky way from my village.
also, i can feel the real dark there.
and yes, i am one of those who love dark.
This is why the audience does not have light.
Thank you!
WarmLight LED's below 2700k would be better with bettewr shielding, dimming and no light tresspass across the world . Asia needs Warmlight LEd's like the western countries.
me, currently watching this in the dark: yes interesting
We must live Nature , purpose to be poet.He narrate, he make verse.
this piece of video is a part of our work in the school, but how can it not be on the official site of ted taht i can oly find it on youtube?
you can try TED offical website