In the article, How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled, published by NPR on September 11 of 2020, Laura Sullivan, the author analyzes how communities have been deceived into believing that the plastic they have been conscious about isnot truly getting recycled. Within the article Laura Sullivan highlights the aspects of what really happens behind the scenes with recycling within a community. She addresses the issue by shining light on how plastic companies themselves will encourage recycling within a communityto encourage others, yet spend the money on advertising the importance of recycling instead of putting the money towards recycling. Sullivan also makes aware how most of the plastic that gets used gets sent to China, although China had closed their doors to accepting plastic two yearsago. Laura Sullivan explains how when she tried to highlight the issue with recycling how no one seemed to care. She explains how communities think recycling is helping and is beneficial for the environment that no one seems to pay attention to when the issue is brought to light. Sullivan thoroughly explains how that plastic can be reused again, yet no companies and or communities want to challenge the process to complete all the steps recycling requires. These steps include going through every piece individually and cleaning these pieces and so on.(Sullivan) At the end of the article Sullivan explains how all the years companies spent advertising recycling that most of the recycling was ending up in the ocean or in dumps that surrounded other areas of wildlife and communities. As explained in the article, our earth is approaching the point of no return as we are slowly killing what we as a community live on. ● Author's purpose - To inform the public the truth about recycling and highlight what could possibly be done with the process of recycling yet it is getting avoided. ● Audience - Practicing Eco Activists.(those who recycle)● I came to the conclusion of who the audience is by narrowing down the information Sullivan is presenting. With this Sullivan is presenting the information to pro eco activists since she never explained how to recycle, she explained the truth behind recycling and how the process could be better behind the scenes yet it is not. The article begins by catching the attention of the audience by referring to a moment the author, Laura Sullivan, encountered when she had witnessed a landfill that plastic was said to be recycled went instead. Sullivan’s thesis was difficult to focus on throughout the article. Sullivan explains throughout her article the problems with recycling and the process of recycling but to uncover her thesis was a challenge. Laura struggled to bluntly identify the goal of her article tothe target audience. To uncover what the thesis of the article required one to read the entire article and process what her goal was when publishing the article. While reading the audience can associate the thesis surrounding issues with recycling, but to understand her key points of theissues of recycling required the reading of the complete article to have the audience have a takeaway. Sullivan’s supporting reasonings were strong throughout the article. The informationshe had included was factual and assisted with understanding the thesis and the reason the article was published. Laura’s information allowed readers to take away information that requires research to be identified. The truth about recycling plastic was uncovered within her article and was identified and highlighted throughout the article. It was included that plastic is not always recycled, companies promote recycling yet do not participate, and the process of recycling. As a reader, it would be more beneficial for a research article such as Sullivan’s to include a stronger thesis that introduces readers to what they are about to read. As a takeaway, the article pushed me to think differently of what I can do personally to help better our planet. My thoughts steer this direction because what I am recycling is not truly getting recycled. It is encouragedthroughout communities to recycle as our earth is slowly deteriorating to see if the process can be slowed or even possibly fixed all though there is no difference. As Laura was explaining how she had witnessed the landfills firsthand or how companies do not take their own advice, I approached the decision to become more aware of the actions I make when it comes to how theseactions are going to affect the planet. Reading the article felt as if it was a reality, check into the system we live in and how words are not always going to be true. The text confirmed suspicions that have occurred when it comes to recycling. From my understanding the process of recycling has always been difficult, time-consuming, and costly. I was unaware that is the heart of the truth. Sullivan’s article focused on how in reality recycling does not work behind the scenes. In the future I hope to pay more attention to my actions in regard to plastic. Living in a dorm, I have noticed in the past six months my personal use of plastic has skyrocketed. I’ve been aware of my actions and others have encouraged both my roommate and I to recycle more in hopes of helping the environment. Moving forward it is important to encourage and educate others on their decisions when it comesto plastic use. Educating others can benefit situations and I hope to further the process of almost eliminating plastic in the future. Growing up with a father who is eco-friendly I regret not payingmore attention to his actions and choices when it comes to reusing and being conscious about myactions. In relation to the rest of the article Sullivan implied how recycling necessarily does not benefit the earth in anyway, in reality if the smallest percentage of recycling is truly recycling that lowers that number of plastic waste. Any number is better than none. As expressed, our earth is in danger and even the littlest of change can help in some way. Although not all plastic that is recycled truly gets recycled, we can hope that the items that are, are helping our