新SAT作文7范文
Many people treat global warming as dogma. For John Hawkins, in the essay “5 Scientific Reasons That Warming Isn’t Happening,” the existence of global warming is far from proven. In fact, the evidence points against global warming. Hawkins builds his case against global warming by asking rhetorical questions, examining failed assertions, and citing encouraging recent events.
Rhetorical questions sprinkled throughout the essay encourage the readers to question their assumptions about global warming. Hawkins opens with two questions designed to establish him as a credible, even-handed voice. By juxtaposing “climate deniers” with “global warming cultists” and questioning why there is so little discussion about the science behind the supposedly scientific topic of global warming, he presents his views as a level-headed evaluation of the facts, rather than a kneejerk emotional reaction. His next question occurs at the end of the second paragraph, where his redundant wording reminds the reader of the lack of global warming since 1997. It also highlights the reductivist logic of those who propagate global warming without thoroughly examining the evidence. The essay concludes as it began, with a final question that serves as an indirect call to action. By asking the reader “wouldn’t it be more scientific to reject hasty action based on faulty data…?” he allows the readers to come to his desired conclusion on their own. These carefully worded rhetorical questions set the stage for more concrete attacks on global warming. Hawkins makes three key attacks against global warming science. First, he shows that much of the scientific consensus surrounding global warming is based on a tautology: “The primary ‘scientific’ argument for global warming is that there is a ‘scientific consensus’ that it’s occurring”. However, consensus is far from evident: thousands of scientists have signed petitions questioning whether humans have caused global warming or whether global warming exists at all. Second, he stresses that climate change models have consistently been incorrect. Even government-sponsored models “’have failed miserably’”. By citing respected members of the scientific community, Hawkins dismantles the notion that global warming is indisputable. Similarly, he argues that famous doomsday predictions about global warming have failed the test of time. The Artic is not in a death spiral and the West Side highway is not underwater.
The argument against global warming is rounded out with a discussion of signs that indicate a reversal in the planetary warming trend. In the second paragraph, Hawkins points out that even a respected climate change scientist acknowledges that there has been no warming over the past seventeen years. The absence of warming over the past seventeen years becomes san even stronger refutation of global warming when put in context. The alarming global warming trend was in fact only a twenty-two year period sandwiched between twenty-five years of
global cooling and the steady temperatures of the past two decades. In paragraph four, he explains that Arctic ice levels, frequently lamented as proof of global warming, have actually increased significantly since 2012. Hawkins presents himself as a fair arbitrator of the evidence and calls on his ideological rivals to be open-minded by acknowledging the recent increase in ice levels and the probability that they represent good news about climate change.
John Hawkins cleverly takes on global warming from several different angles. Rhetorical questions cause the reader to begin rethinking their assumptions about global warming. Evidence that contradicts global warming demonstrates that the science is far from settled. Finally, positive trends give hope for a future that is far brighter than the one depicted by the doom and gloom prophets of global warming.