The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the Clearview newspaper.

“In the next mayoral election, residents of Clearview should vote for Ann Green, who is a member of the Good Earth Coalition, rather than for Frank Braun, a member of the Clearview town council, because the current members are not protecting our environment. For example, during the past year the number of factories in Clearview has doubled, air pollution levels have increased, and the local hospital has treated 25 percent more patients with respiratory illnesses. If we elect Ann Green, the environmental problems in Clearview will certainly be solved.”

This argument is based on the editorial that appeared in a Clearview newspaper. As per this editorial, in the next mayoral election, residents of Clearview we should vote to replace Frank Braun who is a member of the Clearview town council with Ann Green who is a member of the Good Earth Coalition. The writer has supported his recommendation by citing that more number of patients with respiratory illnesses is reported in the local hospital and this is due to increase in the number of factories in this area. Based on this evidence, the author has concluded that the current council members have failed to protect the environment, which is a serious problem, and hence, the increase in the number of respiratory illnesses is due to the council. However, there are several logical flaws in this argument.

The first point referred by the author is that the number of factories has doubled in the area. However, the author has not provided any significant proof to establish a relation between respiratory diseases and the factories. He has not even mentioned the types of factories established in the town. There is a possibility that the factories are not the actual cause of the pollution. They might not be emitting smoke or harmful gases. The factories here might be strictly obeying the laws of protecting environments, and must be filtering all the emissions from the factory. The newly increased factories might be the high tech software companies that do not emit foul gases and smoke. The author provides no evidence to substantiate his assumptions, so it is unfair to blame the factories for the increased number of illnesses.

Secondly, the increase in the number of patients in the local hospital does not indicate that more people have got respiratory illnesses last year itself. Perhaps the reported increase is due to the increasing awareness among the Clearview town residents about respiratory illnesses. There are chances of patients coming from the other towns due to good facilities in the local hospital. In addition, the respiratory illness can be due to increase in bad habits like smoking. Hence, no conclusion can be drawn about the Clearview’s environment problem based on the record of respiratory illnesses last year.

Even if we consider that the environment conditions are worsening in the town, there is no evidence that Frank Braun is the key person behind this policy of the council. Therefore, there is a possibility that though Frank Braun holds a strong environment-protecting concept in the local voting about environment, but he has no authority to stop the passage of the council’s decision. Similarly, just assuming that Ann Green, who is from the Good Earth Coalition will play a key part in the council’s decisions and have the authority to make some changes to the local environment is not acceptable. The evidence provided by the author are not convincing at all.

The writer should have provided the voting record of Frank Braun and his authority in making environment laws. He should have provided the types of factories installed in the town whether they emit smoke and harmful gases. Above all, dedication of Ann Green towards the environment laws is also required to conclude the argument.