"Bigfoot" - A review (Reading Assignment, Week 5)

In the article, “Bigfoot,” written by Michael Specter, the main idea of the article is easy to understand; however the actual thesis statement is a bit hard to identify within the body of the text. The overriding theme of the article is an informative piece about carbon emissions and what some of the possible solutions to the growing carbon emissions issue may be. It covers a lot of information, including some causes of carbon emissions and some of the long-term effects of these emissions upon the environment as well as some effects upon the global economic community. The thesis does not seem to be clearly stated until the beginning of the fifth paragraph; it is here that Specter (2008) states, “Possessing an excessive carbon footprint is rapidly becoming the modern equivalent of wearing a scarlet letter. Because neither the goals nor acceptable emissions limits are clear, however, morality is often mistaken for science” (Specter, 2008). This thesis seems to allow Specter to explore the large scope of topics all relating to carbon emissions that the article addresses while still staying within the focus of the thesis statement.

The question posed by Professor Sullivan, “What differentiates this essay from what a newspaper account of the honeybee situation would say?” seems to be out of context when thinking about the topic of carbon emissions, which was the main idea of the article “Bigfoot,” published in The New Yorker. According to Save the Honeybee a webpage helping to, “…elevate public awareness of the catastrophic decline of the world wide bee populations…” (Reich & Yavne, n.s.) the concept of both articles would be completely different. The newspaper article detailing “the honeybee situation” would inevitably provide many details about the “…catastrophic decline of the world wide bee populations…” (Reich & Yavne, n.d, “Save the Honeybee”) however it would seem that there would be very little talk of carbon emissions.

In the article “Bigfoot,” there are many sources quoted while addressing the topic of carbon emissions. One of the sources quoted was New Science, in which Specter addresses some research showing a link between obesity and carbon emissions; this research is shown on the New Scientist Environment Blog. Another piece of information that was borrowed in Specter’s article was the idea of a “100-Mile Diet,” this is in fact true, and information pertaining to the idea can be found on the webpage 100 Mile Diet: Local Eating for Global Change. A third piece of information that was used within Specter’s article was the idea of Issac Berzin, who is reportedly planning to “…put an algae farm next to a power plant….throw some algae in and it becomes a super photosynthesis machine and sucks the carbon dioxide out of the air like a sponge” (Specter, 2008); this was confirmed with a USA Today article that details Berzin’s aspirations to, “…turn the nation's greenhouse-gas-belching power plants into clean-green generators with an attached algae farm next door” (Clayton, 2006).

Overall Michael Specter’s article, “Bigfoot,” was very informative and well written; it offered technical data without overwhelming the reader with too much information. The article addressed a topic that is very much in the forefront of the world’s current state and it addressed the topic in a way that gave information to the reader in many aspects of the issue and created a very well-rounded base for the previously uninformed reader about the topic of carbon emissions.


Specter, M. (2008). Big Foot. The New Yorker, February 28, 2008. Retrieved February 25, 2008, from http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/02/25/080225fa_fact_specter?printable=true


Reich, B., & Yavne, E. (n.d.). Save the Honeybee. Retrieved February 25, 2008 from http://save-the-honeybee.org/index.html



Cited Sources from the article, “Bigfoot,” by Michael Specter:

Carrington, D. (2006). Carbon sequestration in obese humans. New Scientist Environment Blog. Retrieved February 25, 2008 from http://www.newscientist.com/blog/environment/2006/12/carbon-sequestration-in-obese-humans.html


100 Mile Diet: Local Eating for Global Change. Retrieved February 25, 2008 from http://100milediet.org/


Clayton, M. (2006). Algae – Like a breath mint for smokestacks. USA Today, January 10, 2006. Retrieved February 25, 2008 from http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-01-10-algae-powerplants_x.htm