Analyzing My Text's Cultural Setting

This blog post includes my responses to specific questions about the cultural setting of my chosen article for Project 2.

Identifying the cultural setting is the obvious first step. This article was originally published on September 12, 2012. The medium that first published the article was Project Syndicate which is based in Prague, Czech Republic, where the author was living at the time.

The author of the article, Bjørn Lomborg, is originally from Denmark but has studied and worked in the United States.

The article is written using information from the US switch to natural gas in the last decade to discuss how the industry should be handled in the US in the present day.

Bodin, Ulf. "Bench" 9/9/2013 via Flickr. Attribution-NonCommercial License

1. What values, ideas, norms, beliefs, even laws of the culture play an important role in the text?

It is the common goal of human society to do what is best for the environment and world in general so that future generations can live in more prosperity.

The Kyoto Protocol is a "law" that serves importance in the text. It refers to the 2005 international treaty that devotes nations to reduce greenhouse gases due to the recognized existence of climate change and the fact that carbon dioxide emissions have caused it. It's a law that enforces the already accepted responsibility of humans to find a way to reduce the damages done to the environment already.

Another norm that most may not like to accept is the unspoken rule that nothing will get done until if it is not cost efficient. No institution is willing to enact a policy if they do not have the money for it.

2. Does the text address these cultural values, beliefs, etc., directly or indirectly?

The text doesn't address the values directly, however every point made in the article is based on its support of the cultural beliefs above. All of the supporting arguments state the cost efficient or emission reducing effects of fracking without needing to explain why those effects are good things. The Kyoto Protocol is mentioned in the article but it's not explicitly pointed out as relating to a value or belief, rather as an event. 

3. What is the relationship of the text to the values, beliefs, etc.? Is it critical of these aspects of the culture? Is it supportive? Does it seek to modify these aspects of the culture in a certain way?

The whole structure of the article is based on these cultural values. The author welcomes the commitment to using energy that is environmentally friendly as every one of his environmentally focused points on emission reduction is mentioned because it supports this effort to find green energy. Each of the financial claims made in the text rely on the universal principle that supports doing what will cost the least amount of money.