Minters style of writing is one of a kind, he is not your ordinary author especially not with his curly brown hair and nerdy characteristics, mainly not your ordinary book. He presents us with an extraordinary reading, based on our most inner guilt's that we may not yet come to realize, that we are slowly harming our planet with our wants and needs that are not sustainable for the environment as we think and as they claim to be. For example did you know that “ iphone touch screen isn’t made from the same glass as a beer bottle...it contains a range of so called rare elements, including indium, a valuable mineral...costs more than $200 per pound” (Minter, 256). Minter reveals to us extraordinary evidence that he acquires by actually contacting
“Marcia Clark.... Guilty as charged.” In the TV series “OJ Simpson vs The People”, a recreation of the OJ Simpson murder trial of 1994, the media, the lawyers, and the judge criticize the prosecutor, Marcia Clark, for her identity as a woman rather than her skill as a lawyer. Looking through a feminist lense, it is evident that women are constantly scrutinized for their appearance and behaviors differently than men.
For the Junior summer reading, the “nonfiction” book written by Dave Eggers has developed substantial controversy regarding its credibility. Although throughout the book Zeitoun was depicted as a righteous hero that suffered great injustices due to the racial profiling and islamophobia. However, in 2013 that persona was challenge when he was accused of attempted murder of his ex wife Kathy. This resulted in severe press coverage surrounding both Zeitoun and Eggers damaging their reputations, many believing that the event of the book are fabricated in order to better serve Eggers purpose. Nevertheless, Eggers work should still be read by students because it allows them to practices identifying strategies crucial for the AP English course.
While I do agree with Mckibben’s ideas to an extent, I am not convinced that merely getting back to the basics is enough to repair the damage already done to the environment. Individuals can minimize wasteful habits and provide a positive impact, but it will be minimal. Jensen’s thoughts that corporations and industries must reduce waste and pollution to repair the environment is proven through the examples he provides. Individuals should recycle and reduce waste to help, but industries need to do their part as well.
As The World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Stay In Denial, by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan, is a graphic novel about the state of our environment. They use cartoons and abundant sarcasm to convey the message that the attempts people are making to save the environment are not enough to do any real good. Their message challenges both those of Edward O. Wilson and the University of Connecticut in that Jensen and McMillan’s ideas are much more radical and suggest that the ideas posed by Wilson and UConn, such as the importance of recycling and sustainability efforts, are ineffective at saving the environment. We must resolve the challenges posed by Jensen and McMillan so that all of the ideas put forth in the sources may work together rather than against each other. In order to do this we must accept that some of the ideas given by Jensen and McMillan may be too extreme to do any real good and that the ideas suggested by Wilson and UConn, though slightly ineffective, are nonetheless important steps in saving the environment. Taken alone, none of their ideas will save the environment; instead it is necessary to combine the ideas of Wilson, UConn, and Jensen and McMillan in order to create a more realistic plan to save the planet.
Pollan is right in his mindset to push humanity into action in order to undo the damage we have caused, and although the most beneficial changes for the environment seem like drastic lifestyle changes, such as growing our
In “The Changing Nature of Nature: Environmental Politics in the Anthropocene” environmental politician Paul Wapner depicts the human impacts on nature, and their significant intervention in ecosystem dynamics. His research outlines the “end of nature” (Wapner, 37) and aims to put emphasis on the beginning of the Anthropocene, suggesting that we are finally realizing that nature is not merely a material object. With this in mind, Wapner argues that the ways in which we protect nature should be significantly different, this, justifying his study. In order to form an argument, Wapner begins by summarizing a general piece of academic research, and through this is then able to provide an organized overview of the logic of his argument. The alternation
Napolean Bonaparte once stated, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” Hoover and Roosevelt had very different viewpoints on how to handle the Great Depression. Hoover preferred “rugged individualism,” and FDR preferred “helping hand” philosophies. Hoover believed in assisting business in hope that this support would create a trickle down impact which would lead to investment and more jobs. FDR, on the other hand, wanted to provide people with jobs to increase confidence and correcting failures in certain economic institutions, leading to a bubble up scenario. It is ironic that Hoover knew how it felt to suffer in poverty as a child, yet FDR better handled the job of reassuring citizens that he was the man to get the nation out of its slump.
He compares and contrast on how environmentalists have mislead society into thinking that we as a race are doomed. He states that environmentalists argue that Earth is currently facing lot of environmental concerns and that our raw materials are becoming more and more scarce. Environmental problems like global warming, animal extinction, air and water pollution, waste buildup, and many more affect mankind. And also the degrading of our planet has increased at an alarming rate over a small time span. As a result, our actions have not been in favor of protecting the planet, so natural disasters are hitting us on a bigger than before.
“A Letter from the Future” by Richard Heinberg describes to readers of a not too distant future (2101) an Earth in which its resources have been squandered and is facing an irreversible environmental meltdown caused by human’s greediness and mismanagement. Heinberg writes from the future to try and educate past civilization on what is happening in the future and how if their actions don’t change in how they treat their natural resources their future will irrefutably be destroyed for all mankind. Heinberg wrote this letter in order to explain just how dangerously high our current use of resources are and how it will impact the future.
The situation laid out by Pollan is a very scary premise. He portrays a world that will no longer be recognizable to us in the not so distant future. In paraphrasing NASA scientist James Hansen Pollan says, “We have only ten years to start cutting — not just slowing – the amount of carbon we’re
Today in British society, class systems are still as prevalent as they were in the 19th century, there are seven social classes, ranging from the elite at the top to the extreme poor at the bottom. Typically in English society social class was always defined by occupation, wealth, and education with an addiction of social and cultural classes added. Social classes is a prevalent aspect of British society since before recorded history, it was the addition of money, land and title that increased the division of the classes. As the industrial revolution swung into full force, the division of classes strengthened. Social mobility became a common occurrence as society developed and moved forward towards the twentieth century. This holds true in the novel Hard Times, written by Charles Dickens in the Nineteenth century, examines the British class system through examples of social relationships and the labor force. (4)
"It is probably a mere accident that I never killed," states Richard Wright during an interview. (Kinnamon 596) Often times, an alternative people would turn to would be violence in a way to escape the world they lived in, but one man held so much inspiration over a society that was and still is shaded by prejudice. What many fail to realize is one can transform the direction of the way society works simply by using words. Because of Richard Wright’s writing style, he depicts the racism and bigotry set in American society in his novel and writes this story by using examples of his personal experiences to create an impact for the later generations.
“The End of Nature,” by Bill McKibben is a startling book of non-fiction depicting the future in store for the environment and humans. His somber yet hopeful approach allows readers to sense the real intensity of this situation of mass environmental changes whilst remaining expectant of the advancements in the
The essay opens up with McKibben talking about how the political campaign against global warming is flawed because at our current point there is nothing much that can be done to fix it.(Mckibben,1) He then goes to state that humans are the biggest culprit behind global warming and supports this by giving examples such as SUVs and American ignorance.(2,9) He concludes by saying that if ten percent of America were to go green, it still would not save the planet, but ten percent could get the government’s attention to pass laws making everyone go green. (11)
We have spent hundreds of years ruining the planet and to be honest most people don’t care. The world that we live in today is more concerned about the best looking car rather than the car that is best for the atmosphere. They don’t take the time to recycle because they don’t care where the materials end up and quite frankly it’s been going on like this for a long time, all the way back to grandparents and great grandparents. If you are raised in a family who doesn’t necessarily care about global warming and what’s happening to the earth then the cycle is going to continue and in the blink of an eye the entire planet will be in shambles. People are losing their farms because of the increase of heat in the northeast. Increased storm surges are affecting the productivity of crops and forests in the southeast region and the list goes on. But even the people who are being affected directly may not be concerned about the bigger issue. One person cannot save an entire planet so even if everyone in our class is blown away by this research and chooses to change their lifestyle in order to help the earth, it still won’t be enough to undo all the damage that has already been