Berry says that global warming solutions are " a tissue of cliches that is now the common tongue of promoters, politicians, and journalists." (pg 2) Well, Mr. Berry, good job in defining your entire article for your readers. What you're saying is just as cliche as what they're saying. Hmm...there is conspicuous consumption? Our country is greedy? I had absolutely NO IDEA. "We are not likely to be granted another world to plunder in compensation for our pillage of this one."(pg 4) If that isn't cliched idea, I don't know what is.
Berry uses references from literature, current events, and common knowledge about our culture to back up his claims. For example, on page 5, he uses quotes from Christopher Marlowe's Tragical History of Doctor Faustus to make a parallel between what he is saying and what happens in this book. Basically, he says that we think that there are unlimited resources on this earth when, in fact, there aren't.
I like how Berry uses sarcasm to "spice up" this article. I particularly like the quote on page 1 which states "Perhaps by devoting more and more of our already abused cropland to fuel production we will at last cure ourselves of obesity and become fashionably skeletal, hungry but-thank God- still driving." When he satirized our culture in this way, he was able to not only induce a chuckle, but also assert that we need to care less about superficial problems (like the obesity epidemic) and focus on the fact that the planet we live on is being destroyed. I don't really see how that idea isn't cliche, like he says about other global warming solutions, but whatever.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You make some very good points in this blog. Not only are they solid topics, but you did a great job of providing textual proof and showing how many of his ideas can be broken down. I also liked your opinions at the end and how you qualified them with Berry's ideas then took them to another level.
ReplyDelete