All The Most Common Bit Of Climate Misinformation Is Wrong By Howard Lee

Bryce Richards

Brenda Yoakum

ENG105

25 April 2023 All the Ways the Most Common Bit of Climate Misinformation is Wrong Climate change is caused by the combination of natural and human factors, but the overwhelming scientific consensus is that human activity is the primary driver of the current rapid warming trend. Howard Lee's article, “All the ways the most common bit of climate misinformation is wrong”, uses tone, sentence structure, and repetition to sway the opinion of the reader. Lee uses vivid words and startling statistics to describe each sub-point of his article, that natural events aren’t to blame for climate change, but the consequences of mankind's actions.

The sentence structure of Lee’s article flows well with the integration

“But silicate weathering is much too slow to make a difference in our time. It’s like an ant eating an elephant: it will get there eventually, but at the slow pace of plate tectonics—in hundreds of thousands of years”(Lee). He uses the clever analogy of an ant eating an elephant to describe the effects of silicate weathering, allowing the reader to analyze the information and put the events into contrast. “It’s not the sun, it’s not natural variation, it’s not volcanos, it’s not earth's orbit, and it’s not plate tectonics”(Lee). Lee starts each sub-point of his article with “It’s not” to start repetition which provides magnitude and structure to his material.

Lee also uses certain wording and tone in his text to convey the magnitude of not only climate change, but why humans are the cause. “The current rate and magnitude of warming are unprecedented and are largely linked to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and land-use changes”(Lee). Lee gives examples of the human factors in the cause of climate change and his wording in this sentence gives the reader a sense of humility that their own actions have led to this global