Cultural Analysis of "Why Climate Engineering Won’t Work"

“Global warming”—a phrase that carries a lot of weight for anyone who hears it.  With every article written and every speech made, feelings and opinions aroused by the topic grow stronger, whether they are passionate concern, extreme apathy, or simply annoyance.  When reading these texts, it is important to understand the cultural circumstances surrounding the author’s argument.

In Why ClimateEngineering Won’t Work, Anders Levermann brings up a topic that has been heavily debated for many years.  The arguments either lie in questioning if man-made climate change is real or in debating how the problem might be solved.  Levermann lays out in his article very clearly that climate engineering will not be able to reduce climate change.

Throughout the writing, Levermann tugs at three cultural ideas and values that help make the article seem of high importance.  He often reminds the reader how climate change is a “global” problem;

Gaddi, Heidi. "The effects of global warming" 04/18/2007
via Deviant Art. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

and although this may seem basic since it is referred to as “global warming,” he uses it to magnify the severity of the problem.  This strengthens his argument that one simple engineering trick will not fix the problem.

The author often mentions the “effects” of climate change.  By using this word, he implies that there was a cause to the problem, and in this case, man’s use of fossil-fuel.  Levermann wants to remind the reader of the cultural value that climate change is a man-made problem and therefore cannot be resolved by another man-made artificial solution.

This brings us to the last cultural word, “reverse.”  The culture believes in reversing the effects of climate change but does not want to reverse the cause of the problem.  Levermann argues that solving the problem can in no way be a quick fix.

The references to cultural values help to both strengthen the beliefs of the readers as well as get them to take their thinking a step further into what Levermann wants them to believe.