# 7) Waste And Consumption

Bibliography

 

·       Conkin, Paul Keith “The State of The Earth.” environmental challenges on the road to

                   2100. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, c2007                          
 

·       Leonard, Annie “The Story of Stuff.” How our obsession with stuff is trashing the

                  planet, our   communities, and our health - and a vision for change. New York: Free 
                  Press, 2010

·       Shah, Anup “Consumption and Consumerism.” Global Issues. 06 Mar. 2011. Web. 18

                  Sep. 2012. http://www.globalissues.org/issue/235/consumption-and-consumerism

·       Public Library of Science. "America's increasing food waste is laying waste to the  

           environment."  ScienceDaily, 25 Nov. 2009. Web. 18 Sep. 2012.

                  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091124204314.htm

·        Ferry, David  “The Urban Quest for ‘Zero’ Waste” The wall street journal,

            September 11,2011.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405311190458320457654223322692292.html

          

·       “Solid Waste” Pollution A to Z. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 18 Sep. 2012.  

                   http://www.encyclopedia.com 

 

 

#6 American farmers vs. Corporate farmers

 

         When I was asked by my English 102 professor to write a post about genetically engineered food, in particular Monsanto (The Multinational Agricultural Biotechnology Corporation), I knew I would have someone to discuss the topic with. My girlfriend (Elizabeth) is a vegetarian and is very much against any type of genetically engineered products, especially when it comes to food. All of the vegetables we eat either comes from our own garden or comes from the organic farmers at the farmers market. Even the meat that she buys for me comes from organic farmers that don’t use any growth hormones. So, even before I started this assignment I’d already had many long and in depth conversations at the dinner table about genetically engineered crops.

             As I read up on the Monsanto Corporation and dug deeper into the things Elizabeth has been saying for years, I was outraged about what I found out. This Corporation tries to convey their image as being for the small American farmer when in fact they are destroying the American farmer. They push there genetically engineered and herbicide resistance seeds on to the farmers. The farmers who use these seeds are then forced to buy them every year, because Monsanto seeds are engineered to be infertile. The farmers who don’t buy from Monsanto and wish to plant organic crops find themselves in court because these patented seeds spread from neighboring farms and end up in their crops. These farmers then go bankrupt battling an army of Monsanto lawyers for having these seeds in their crops, the very seeds the farmer wanted nothing to do with in the first place. It angers me that the Monsanto Corporation is destroying the American farmers, but it angers me more that the courts and our legal system are allowing it to happen.

 I was also shocked to learn there is basically no regulations are research going on involving genetically engineered crops. In the video “The World According to Monsanto”, author Jeffrey Smith stated “the reason GM crops are here is based on a deception that occurred in the FDA”. The FDA came up with the term (G.R.A.S) for GM crops, meaning “generally recognized as safe”. Smith basically said to label something as G.R.A.S, typically takes years of studies and the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community, which smith states “The FDA had neither”. The FDA and other government regulatory agencies pushed Monsanto’s products through the system as quick as possible, without any regard to consumer health and safety. James Maryanski, biotechnology coordinator at the FDA from 1985 to 2006, admitted that the GM regulations were based on politics rather than science. It sounds to me like the public’s health and safety was put into the hands of politicians rather than highly trained, highly skilled, independent scientists.

The fact that these GM foods are not required to be labeled says a lot. They don’t want us to have a choice. It amazes me how the united states government can over regulate just about everything a person can think of, but when it comes to something as vital and important as consumer health and safety, the government can turn their cheek and basically have no over sight or regulation. The fact is Monsanto has too much power and influence in the top levels of our government. This has a lot to do with the term revolving door. There have been dozens of people in the last few decades who either worked for Monsanto and left to go work for a government agency are who left a government agency to go work for Monsanto. According to redicecreations.com, Margaret Miller, one of Monsanto's researchers, wrote a report to the FDA about Monsanto's growth hormones, so the FDA could determine if they were safe or not. Shortly before the report was submitted, miller was hired by the FDA and her first job was to approve the very same report that she had written. This is a huge conflict of interest!

 We should do away with all of the genetically engineered crops and all the companies who produce them, starting with the Monsanto Corporation. We have the right to know if our food came naturally from Mother Nature or was engineered in a lab by scientists. Farmers have grown crops and have supplied us with food for centuries, without the need for genetically engineered crops and they can still do it today. We should all think a little harder about the food we consume and decide if we want American farmers to supply our food are do we want corporate farmers in suits to do it? We all have a vote and we cast that vote every time we go grocery shopping. Who will you vote for?

 

                                         Work Cited

 

Smith, Jeffrey. “The World According to Monsanto” wed. 12. Sept. 2012 (Canada/France/Germany: Marie-Monique Robin, 2008: 108 mins)

 

Maryanski, James. “The World According to Monsanto” wed. 12. Sept. 2012 (Canada/France/Germany: Marie-Monique Robin, 2008: 108 mins)

 

Red Ice Creations. “Monsanto’s Government Ties” wed. 12. Sept. 2012

http://www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/monsanto.html

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                     

 

 

# 4  Do we really have a choice?

 

I took a political compass test in my English 102 class. I scored very close to the center of the spectrum, which I was a little surprised of at first. Although for most of my life I’ve not had much interest in politics. I have (since getting older) found myself more concerned with the policies of my country and the politicians that govern it.      

            Most of my family is registered democrats, so up until I was around twenty one I thought of myself as a democrat as well. Then the attacks on 911 happened, and like most of Americans I was glued to the TV news networks. For months all I watched was CNN, NBC, and FOX news channels. When the news coverage of the attacks started to fade, and the news networks started their normal everyday coverage again, I continued to watch. As I continued to watch and become more aware of the political issues, I found myself leaning more and more to the republican side of the big issues. So, I decided to register as a republican and have voted republican ever since.

            Now, eleven years later, a political compass test, and a lot of thought on the issue, I find myself wondering “Should I be an independent”.  And I think the answer might be yes. The line between democrat and republican is as blurred as it has ever been. I think it’s very difficult to vote for a candidate and not just the party their affiliated with. I know people who never keep up with politics at all and will vote for someone just because they belong to one party or the other. It seems that most politicians are always saying the same thing and it’s not a new candidate we vote for each election, just a different face for that party.

            I think our society would be better off if we did away with the political parties. We should have individual candidates campaign on their experiences and ideals and not just following the direction of a large party. I think this would make candidates more likely to think outside the box and bring new and fresh ideals to some of the county’s problems. I think this would also cause voters to be more willing to take the time and put in the effort to investigate the different candidates and vote for the one that upholds their values and beliefs and would best represent their own community. Citizens should feel that their vote matters and it can bring positive changes to their community instead of feeling like their voting for the lesser of two evils.

            I feel the political party system is just one of many problems in the government. There are many more like, the effect news media and interest groups have on elections, the size of government, too many government regulations, corruption, no term limits for congress, and a big one, Campaign Finance. It seems that you have to be either very wealthy are in the pockets of big corporations to get elected or even be heard, no matter how qualified, passionate, are patriotic you are. I do think there is a need for government, but I also think it is way too large and has too much power and control. I don’t know what the answer to all these problems should be, but I know in order to solve them we will have to make some big changes in our political system and that can only be done by passionate individual citizens, not power hungry politicians. 

 

 

#2  Are You Persuaded

 

            I just finished reading Coercion: Why we listen to what ‘They’ say, by Douglas Rushkoff. In this, Rushkoff’s writes about Coercion, and how we are constantly being persuaded and influenced in our everyday decisions. From the cloths we wear to the brand of soda we drink, there’s some type of marketing strategy trying to control how and what we buy as well as what we like.

            Rushkoff is telling us that there are hidden persuasions everywhere; we just need to be more aware and learn to recognize these tactics. Take a super market for example, the first thing you see (or smell) is the deli. ‘They’ hope the fresh produce will put you in to shopping mode. Then ‘They’ take the everyday shopping items like eggs, milk, and bread and spread them throughout the store, hoping that it will increase the chance you will buy other items as you walk through the store. When you do make it to the checkout line, you find it surrounded by impulse items.

 Rushkoff also talks about the internet and public media, and how he believed this new media would bring an end to the age of manipulation. I think the internet is a double edged sword. On one hand, it gives us tremendous power. It allows us to research, do price comparison, post our own videos, and share our own ideals with the world. On the other hand, marketers have adapted their tactics and found ways to persuade and control us through the internet. From pop-up to spam to advertisements and tracking cookies, not only can ‘They’ get to us through the internet, they can track our purchases so they can better target us.

            I really liked how the story changed at the end. How Rushkoff, throughout most of his story was telling the reader of how effective marketing strategies are and warning us about media control, only to find out that he was using the very same persuasion tactics on the reader. He showed how easily you can become a victim of persuasion and not even recognize it. I think he was very effective at getting his point across. I really enjoyed this article and would recommend it to someone else.

 

^{#1 Question for ourselves}

I just finished reading Michael Ryan's "An Introduction to Criticism". I think Ryan was talking about cultural, and how cultural has evolved over time, how it is used in different societies around the world. How words and stories can be powerful cultural instruments that can change the world by changing how people think, perceive, believe and act. How people’s cultural and people’s viewpoints are different depending on their perspective of the world. How societies simplify complex events in the world, which they really just don’t understand.

            I agree with many of the author’s points, like the fact that we absorb preferences from the cultural in which we grow up in and that “who we are” is constructed by the people we come in to contact with as we grow up. I believe that many of our preferences such as taste, music, and art come from our cultural. It seems societies with different culturals all around the world have their own preference for food and music. The people a person comes in contact with, especially as their growing up, has a huge impact on who they are, how they think, act and their view points of the world.

            I also agree with the author that terms like terrorism misrepresent reality, that the Middle East or the world of Islam is too complex to be summed up in a single term. I think many people, especially American’s think of the Middle East and Islam when they think of terrorism. Most think terrorist hate America because of our freedoms. I think most Americans think of the world as good vs. evil, and that America is always on the side of good. That’s what we want to think, that makes it easier and simpler. Most Americans never think of our adversary’s perspective. That maybe the people in the Middle East and Islam, feel threatened and surrounded by America’s military might. That America is selfish and greedy, and that our only interest overseas is securing, for ourselves, all the oil rich countries of the Middle East. That America can do as it likes, support and defend who they like and invade and conquer who they don’t. I think for the most part, at least I like to think, Americas intentions overseas our good, although I can easily see how some people in the world could see America as “world bullies”.

             I think this article shows us we need to open our eyes and look at the world in a different way. We need to stop being lead around and to start questioning for ourselves, things that we’ve maybe never thought about in the world. We need to realize that there are different perspective on every   issue and not just our own. Until we do this we will never truly understand the world we live in.