Knotweed Thesis

Genre: The book “Milkweed” by Jerry Spinelli is a realistic fiction story. I know the book is realistic fiction because it tells the story of a boy that lived in a time when the Jews were mistreated by the German Nazis in the 1940s during World World II. The story takes place in Warsaw (the Ghetto), Poland, and is about real life tragedies that happened during World War II.

McKibben attempts to sway the reader through comparisons of the rain forest to important values even though we are not sure about the validity of these comparisons. The state only has to clear 1% of the rain forest, which spreads out into “a honeycomb of roads, corridors, and steam pipes,” says Russell Ruderman, a part of the Big Island Rainforest Action Group. Ruderman says that “the plants aren’t used to foreign competition,” but we are not told that he has the qualifications to make these statements. He compares this “honeycomb” to weeds, a negative connotation, which pervade the heart of the forest. Then McKibben compares that to the negative effect on nine or ten sticks of butter on veins and arteries. This pathos appeals to the reader because health is very important. But there is really no way of truly knowing that one of these circumstances is as destructive as the other because they are extremely different. Also, the 1% of the “honeycomb” that is invading the forest is much smaller compared to the excess butter to the 1% of veins and arteries. Since it is too complex to question whether the comparison is valid, McKibben convinces the audience to accept that clearing 1% of the forest is harmful.

Paragraph IV: In section three (paragraph four) Bogard uses powerful emotional language concerning other parts of the world and their species. Bogard helps you to visualize why land and sea animals need darkness. He emotionally draws us close to natural pest control by nocturnal animals and how they save “American” farmers billions of dollars. The destruction term “bulldozer of the night” mentally brings you outside and helps readers to understand, without darkness, Earth’s ecology would “collapse”.

What happens to a person who has no identity at a time when identity can be one’s last hope – their salvation or a mark for death. In his novel Milkweed, Jerry Spinelli invites readers to experience the Holocaust through the eye of a young boy who misunderstands everything except the love of family and the different forms it can take. Misha, an orphan boy is taken in by a young group of Jewish thieves. He is simple minded of his own identity because Misha adopts the identity of the people around him in his life, first as a gypsy, then as a Jew when he follows his friend’s family into the ghetto. Readers are forced to focus on the simple acts of caring that takes place in a time of suffering because Misha is unable to understand what is really going on around him. Hope and selfless acts of love still exists during a time of havoc in the Warsaw ghetto, is shown through the innocent eyes of Misha. By using techniques such as dramatic irony, revealing characters’ emotion, and a unique choice of a narrator, Spinelli successfully makes his readers to feel empathy.

(To the right is a photograph of knotweed stems growing.) The Japanese Knotweed can take over the home of many native species because it is able to survive in varying environmental conditions, such as high temperatures, dry soil, salt, wetlands, roadsides, and any disturbed area. Japanese Knotweed is not only an invasive species to vegetation, but also to humans because they can cause structural damage to the roadways and block signs, guardrails, and walkways. The knotweed is so dense that it prevents groundcovers and mosses to grow beneath the canopy of the knotweed, which leaves riverbanks and roadsides near water susceptible to erosion. Knotweed only becomes more problematic as it grows because its roots become longer, allowing for re-sprouting from the rhizome fragments. According to Massachusetts’ Department of Transportation and the Friends of Arlington’s Great Meadows, the “successful efforts to control knotweed include: sustaining long-term management, staying within the limits of the resources available by focusing on small areas, and finally to incorporate restoration.” There are different ways to try and control knotweed, but Massachusetts’ DOT has found through

If I had lived during the Holocaust, the hardships would include lack of shelter, starvation, and survival. To start, people struggled to find a safe shelter. The book Milkweed is about a boy who has to change the locations of his shelter to be able to survive. I know that during this time period a lot of people who were jewish were taken to concentration camps were they were forced to work and were treated harshly. Because of this people had to change the location of their shelter to escape getting caught. Additionally, people also had to face the struggles of starvation. Since hitler and his nazis were killing off a lot of people, the people who owned food stores could no longer sell food. This meant that people couldn’t get the same amount

Rachel Carson is a noted biologist who studies biology, a branch of science addressing living organisms, yet she has written a book called Silent Spring to speak about the harmful effects of pesticides on nature. Carson doesn’t write about birds’ genetic and physical makeup, the role of them in the animal food chain, or even how to identify their unbelievable bird songs, yet strongly attests the fight for a well developed environment containing birds, humans, and insects is just and necessary. To Carson, the war for a natural environment is instantly essential for holding on to her true love for the study of biology. Thus Carson claims that whether it be a direct hit towards birds or an indirect hit towards humans and wildlife, farmers need to understand the effects and abandon the usage of pesticides in order to save the environment by appealing to officials, farmers, and Americans in her 1962 book, Silent Spring. She positions her defense by using rhetorical devices such as rhetorical questioning to establish logos, juxtaposing ideas, and using connotative and denotative diction.

The 7th graders took a nature hike and observed the nature around the Portage River. There, a nature expert talked about invasive species, seed distribution, and plants. When the water rises the seed pods come off of plants and float on the water, the seeds then are carried to new places. The 7th graders talked about how the monarchs are declining because of the lack of milkweed. They also talked about plants like goldenrod and poison ivy. Around the Portage River there are habitats like prairies, forests, and floodplains. Plants in the riparian zone help to filter the water before it goes into the river.

What do you think the author’s thesis, or main argument is, and why? Be sure to put his thesis in your own words.

to switch by making regulations more strict as well as a greater number of them

One topic that Crosby discusses is the survival and spread of "weeds." I found it interesting that pretty much no matter where you go in the world; one common factor is weeds. I believe this is because as Crosby points out, "weeds" is not a scientific term. (Crosby, 2004, p.28) I believe that if we took the trouble to classify the different types of weeds, that we would find some indigenous to certain areas; but since we have not, weeds are a universal

To be clear, the intent of this essay is not to argue for or against the content; instead, we are analyzing what the article does in terms of the following:

Imagine you are driving down the road through a beautiful forest full of big tall mature trees. You round a turn and then out of the driver side window you see no more trees. All the tree are gone as far as you can see. What is the first thing that comes to your mind? “This is horrible! Why has someone one done this?” if that is what you said then you are going to find out benefits as to why someone has decided to clearcut their property. If you would have said “wow that looks like a nice harvest” then you have been educated on the beneficial purposes of a clearcut. A clearcut is the removal of all the overstory trees within a site, leaving no trees. Clearcutting is the most controversial timber harvesting

milkweed within its body and by eating the leaf in a circle it stops the thick liquid inside from coming out and overwhelming it.

called “weeds” and why they should not be destroyed by chemicals. Carson tells of a way that