If You Love This Planet by Helen Caldicott

Contrast and Death In the short story “The Flowers” by Alice Walker, she uses the story of Myop to effectively contrast the issue of death that has profoundly influenced her. The utilization of contrast helps develop the main issue that has resided near Myop yet hasn’t effectively shown itself unless physically obtained. Young Myop’s encounter with death has certainly denuded the flower that has come to signify beauty and life.

In her essay “The Obligation to Endure”, Rachel Carson alerts the public to the dangers of modern industrial pollution. She writes about the harmful consequences of lethal materials being released into the environment. She uses horrifying evidence, a passionate tone, audience, and the overall structure of her essay to express to her readers that the pollution created by man wounds the earth. There are many different ways that pollution can harm the environment, from the nuclear explosions discharging toxic chemicals into the air, to the venomous pesticides sprayed on plants that kills vegetation and sickens cattle. The adjustments to these chemicals would take generations. Rachel

A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash definitely fits the category of “grit lit.” It is a novel about the Hall’s, a family who is wracked with grief, anxiety, and guilt after the ‘mysterious’ death of one of their sons, Christopher or Stump. The story encompasses more than just the story of the family though as it is told from the perspective of Adelaide Lyle, an old wise woman from the town, Jess Hall the youngest son of the family, and Clem Barefield, the sheriff of Marshall who also had heartache of his own that is intertwined with this families story in more ways than one. The novel incorporates most if not all of the features that is “grit lit” including: an element of crime, a focus on the bleakness of life, lyrical language, and a central character who wishes to escape their environment or get peace inside it.

Can you imagine being sold to someone that consistently beats you every day and also makes you sell your body for money that you don’t even get too keep. In “Half the Sky”, the author Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn gives the readers a glimpse of the oppression of women worldwide. “Half the Sky” is one of the most important books I have ever read. I would highly recommend this book to everyone. The first three pages I read already had me in tears. What makes this book so outstanding to me was reading and learning about all these different women and girls that has suffered in a way I didn’t think people were doing. Some of the stories were dealt with sex trafficking, maternal death, attacks on women, and not sending girls to school because of income. But the moving portrayals of the survivors improve the issues. Many of these survivors are healthy and doing very well. I never thought most of these stories that was in the book was going on in the world.

“Love Should Grow up Like a Wild Iris in the Fields” is an exquisite literary piece that exhumes the pragmatism of love. Griffin's poem is filled with compelling comparisons that display her true feelings on the matter. Even though love can be beautiful, this sentiment is not comparable to an iris in the field. Griffin believes that love is flawed, much like humans. Moreover, love is more closely related to the iris of an eye.

“The Sky Inside” by Clare B. Dunkle is a slightly future dystopian novel set in a post-apocalyptic world. People were starving, sick, and dying; so the government decided to have them compete for a better life. They staged game shows that would enable the winners to be moved into a completely safe, structured, dome, where they would never fear disease or war again. The losers, however, found a much different fate in starvation. Fast forward a few decades, and the grandchildren of the original inhabitants are prospering inside the dome, except for those who aren’t. The so called “Wonder Babies” a new model of genetically modified super-genius babies, are being tormented. The adults are fed up with the constant nagging of questions, the children are aggravated that this group of toddlers is smarter than them, and the wonder babies are unsatisfied with the education that they are receiving inside the suburb. No one is happy. Out of the blue, a man shows up and offers a solution to everyone’s problems, he offers to take away the wonder babies. Everyone is onboard, besides Martin. He does not want his sister to be taken away and can’t trust that the “school” she is being taken to is safe or even a real thing. As Martin begins to search for his sister, Cassie, he starts to discover secrets about the suburb that he has been contained inside of his entire life. Martin makes the decision that he has had enough and chooses to escape the suburb and find Cassie. He travels on foot for

In the book of All But My Life: A Memoir it follows the author’s life from her early youth years to later on her life. The author Gerda Weismann Klein is the main focus on this story which is her autobiography on which details her life around that time. The book is a memoir in which it is greatly detailed on certain key events in her life. During the book she describes many of the horrors that she had to witness and as well as the obstacles she had to face in her lifetime. The author is herself and she is writing based on the details she remembers from later on her life. The memory could be considered for a consideration since the time could of change her memory during the specific time she was talking about. The book provides vivid details from the beginning of her describing the atmosphere when the Germans arrived and the tense atmosphere towards the end when she gets out of the concentration camps.

William Stafford’s poem “Ask Me” is a short poem which consists of two stanzas which narrates his life through contemplation of his past. It is a reflection of his life where he embraces the experiences he went through. Stafford’s intent is to have the reader question and recollect on their own life pushing them to realize that it is a person’s personality that is substantive. He points out that a person is defined by their relationship with themselves and how this shapes the world around them. The tone of this poem has an important impact by setting the momentum within the first two lines. Through the use of inquisitive language it entices readers to analyze how a person’s worth is not defined by physical and tangible accomplishments however, by their personal values and morals.

NERVE is a New York Times Best Selling novel by Jeanne Ryan that has recently been converted into a major motion film. The story follows Vee, a senior in high school, notorious for being a shy behind-the-scenes-type-a-girl who becomes sick of being outshined by her friends. On a whim, Vee and enters NERVE; A GAME LIKE TRUTH OR DARE MINUS THE TRUTH. WATCHERS PAY TO WATCH, PLAYERS PLAY TO WIN CASH AND GLORY. Everything was harmless at first. But one challenge leads to another, and the prizes are simply too enticing to resist. Determined to stay in the game and win the grand prize, Vee and her partner Ian continue the competition -- until things turn sinister, deadly, and suddenly every resource for help is involved with the “game”.

This summer, I chose to read A Thousand Pieces of You, a science fiction novel by Claudia Gray. The book is full of interesting ideas and unexpected twists, but there is one moment in particular that stands out to me most, as both a game changer, and a good life lesson.

They say history repeats itself and perhaps in some ways it does; however, in terms of environmental history, the sources and implications of the pollution humans create is ever-changing. For the past two centuries, humans have created a plethora of issues such as increased climate change, rising sea levels, soil degradation, and loss of biodiversity. Two major ways in which humans have altered the natural environment is by means of atmospheric and plastic pollution. This paper will serve as a response to two articles, one of which encapsulates the impact of air pollution, and the other the impact of plastic pollution. These two articles allow for a comparison of the pollution problems, relative to the century they were most prevalent in, and

In her book, “Strangers in their Own Land,” Arlie Hochschild, who is a liberal, attempts to escape from her bubble on the west side of the nation in order climb the “Empathy Wall” and understand the reasoning behind the most right wing, conservative members of the Tea Party. To get the best understanding of their motives, Hochschild traveled to the heart of the Tea in rural parts of southern Louisiana, like Sulphur, where the population is filled with white, badly educated, blue collar American citizens.

A Raisin in the sun by Lorraine Hansberry there are three major female characters represent three different spectrums of their lives. A Raisin in the Sun a number of social issues are both explicitly and subtly exemplified through out the characters experiences and relationships. First, Hansberry introduce Beneatha who is twenty year old college student with dreams of becoming a doctor in her life. Second, the author mention Ruth as a soft character in the story that wants to become wealthy and have a happy family. Lastly, Mama is the strong motivating character in the play, who dream of a big house . Therefore, In a Raisin in the sun these three main characters live in the same house with all different dreams.

Everyday the world slowly gets a better chanced of surviving a critical epidemic. But everyday the world slightly diminishes and begins to crumble because of the way people have been treating the earth for years. Through many years the world has started to become a terrible place to live whether the cause be from pollution or a foreign matter. People pollute this planet every second of the day and it has become a big problem in the eyes of many. In Maggie Smith’s “Good Bones” and Matthew Olzmann’s “Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years From Now” ,which both feature first person narrators, express that if we keep the world clean and safe the world will be a better place

In the text “Earth Day” We take a look at Earth day by the numbers. The author Claudia Atticot stated “The recycling rate has increased from less than 10% in 1980 to over 34% in 2011. This could partially be due to one special day in April where everyone comes together and helps make The Earth a better place. This day is called Earth day.