Close Analysis of Text:

Global Warming is Bubbling Under

from
Mail and Guardian
25 June 2013

PHR Bates
53795660
Assignment No. 756626

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The goal of this essay is to provide a close reading and critical analysis of an extract of the text
Global Warming is Bubbling Under, as it appears in TL101/3/2014, the full article being
originally published in the Mail and Guardian, 25th June 2013. This essay will take into account
the effectiveness of the article as a whole and will critically examine how this is borne out in the
structure and lexicon of the article. Special attention will be paid to the heading and prcis, as
well as the connotation of certain words and how they contribute to the articles meaning.
The text initially appeared in the South African online newspaper, Mail and Guardian. The genre
of the newspaper article is borne out by the structure inherent to the article: firstly a headline,
brief and designed to catch the eye and serve as an extremely brief summary of the article.
Next, the prcis: a slightly longer sentence that serves to state the main points or argument of
the article. The body of the article is next, where the main argument is elucidated. Analysis will
begin with the heading.
The heading begins with the words global warming: these are the first words that the reader
sees and instantly introduces the subject of the article. The heading describes global warming as
bubbling under. The reader would likely be familiar with the usual expression bubbling over
but their expectation is reversed by the word under. This irony is effective for two reasons:
one, the incongruity attracts the attention of the reader and provokes interest, ensuring the
reader will read on, and two: bubbling under implies subterfuge or sneakiness, as in the word
undercover. This feeling of subterfuge is echoed in the first line of the body of the article, with
the word trickery.
The prcis provides a bit more information than the heading, but still acts as a summary of the
article. Introduced in the prcis is the subject of the article, the climate-change sceptics, and
what their agenda is, namely getting the public to think that global warming has paused. A
reader is more likely to engage with an article that is personal to them; the use of the word
you turns the prcis into a direct address to the reader. This gives the impression that climatechange sceptics are targeting the public directly, making the reader more likely to engage. The
conjunction but introduces both the first refutation of the claims made by the sceptics, and
the first main counterclaim: that only surface warming has paused. Beneath echoes under
from the heading, and carries similar connotations of a hidden agenda. Heat is building refers
to the heating caused by global warming, but also the heating up or invigoration of the debate
surrounding global warming. In this way the line alludes both to the actual physical process of
global warming, as well as the debate surrounding global warming.
It is clear that the aim of this article will be to persuade the reader that global warming is real
and continuing in spite of sceptics theories.
The body of the article begins with Sceptics cite a clever bit of mathematical trickery The
word cite carries an academic connotation, along with the later words fact, prove and
predicted. Cite is not used here to lend legitimacy to the claims of the sceptics by
associating them with academia. Instead it is used to imply that the sceptics are not really
academic in their approach. This is further borne out in the way that the word prove is
enclosed in double-quotes, so as to diminish the legitimacy of the word and create doubt as to
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whether or not there is actual proof for the sceptics claims. The use of the word
mathematical is somewhat alienating to the audience and evokes images of mathematicians
manipulating numbers in a way a layman cannot understand and using the results to confound
the public. Hence the use of the word trickery, which echoes the idea of subterfuge and a
hidden agenda, alluded to in the heading and prcis. The article is clearly attempting to discredit
the claims of the sceptics by saying that the sceptics claims are based on trickery and not
actual evidence.
Ironically the article has not offered counter-evidence to back up its claims that the sceptics
claims are trickery. This could be because the article as a whole tends to use non-technical,
nonthreatening language, such as very warm point and scary truth, to make the text more
accessible to laypersons in the readership, and tends to gloss over specific details (in the case
the specifics of the sceptics argument), for the same reason. To a reader with a better
understanding or more technical mind, this works to the articles detriment as it would appear
that the article is dumbing down the technical aspects, which could deter a more advanced
reader. Another example of this dumbing down is the articles conflation of global warming
and climate change: these two phenomena, while similar, are not the same. This could again be
to simplify the argument and make it more accessible.
The article goes on to acknowledge that temperature increaseshave not been as rapid as
were predicted, but attempts to discredit the use of this fact to argue that global warming is
slowing down, by describing the actions of the sceptic group with the colloquial term selling,
with the meaning to persuade (another) to recognize the worth or desirability of something.1
This word has a negative connotation: someone engaged in selling is more likely to provide only
evidence supporting their product or ideology, and may attempt to mislead the buyer about
the positive aspects of the ideology. This negative connotation fosters in the reader distrust of
the sceptics theories, thereby advancing the aim of the article. The word narrative meaning
story carries the implication that the sceptics claims are without truth, furthering the aim of
the article.
The second paragraph of the body of the text aims to explain the way that the sceptics are going
about attempting to disprove the occurrence of global warming. This is written, as mentioned
above, with simple and non-technical language. From this we can conclude that the article was
meant for a layperson with a little technical knowledge, but an interest or concern in the
environment. The underlined phrase sensational headlines is most probably a link to another
page providing further information and perhaps examples of the mentioned sensational
headlines.

Farlex, Sell, The Free Dictionary

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From reading the simple explanation in the third paragraph, the reader is assumed to have some
vague knowledge of what global warming is, but not how it functions, hence the explanation.
The phrase scary truth employs emotive language to get an empathetic response from the
reader. This engages the reader further and fosters distrust for the sceptics claims: they
portrayed as hiding something scary from the public, further discrediting them.
To conclude, the newspaper article is written for the internet version of a newspaper, for a
South African audience. It is aimed at readers who are non-technical and concerned with the
environment. Readers are assumed to know what global warming is but not how it functions,
and simple language is used to aid understanding. The article uses appropriate language for its
target audience, and supplies enough detail that the reader is not without support, but not too
much so as to overwhelm. The aim of the article is to discredit the theories of climate change
sceptics, by both refuting the evidence they present and by discrediting them directly. The
article is effective in its goals and achieves its purpose well.

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Bibliography
Farlex, Sell, The Free Dictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sell [accessed 28-08-2014]

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Declaration
I, Peter Harley Robertson Bates, student number 53795660, hereby declare that this assignment
number 756626 module ENG2602 is my own original work. Where secondary material has been
used (either from a printed source or from the Internet), this has been carefully acknowledged
and referenced according to departmental requirements to the best of my ability. I understand
what plagiarism is and am aware of the departments policy in this regard. I have not allowed
anyone else to copy my work.
Signed:
Date: 1 September 2014

~~ END ~~

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