Vast Wasteland Summary

The book, American Wasteland: How American Throw Away Nearly Half of Its Food, written by Jonathan Bloom, deeply describes the situation of food waste in America. The author, Bloom, starts off the book by mentioning that each day America squanders enough food tone fill up the Rose Bowl, the football stadium in Pasadena, California (xi). Bloom even brings out a specific number to prove that how much food were wasted in the United States, which is 160 billion pounds annually (xii). From that description and figure, we can see that food waste problem is really serious today.

“Television has changed the American child from an irresistable force to an immovable object.” (Peter). There was a time when all children wanted to do was to run, play, explore, and be adventurous. As time evolved, children have found more interest in television. Statistics show that a child spends 900 hours per year in school,and they spend 1,200 hours per year watching television. When asked to choose between watching T.V. and spending time with their families fifty-four percent of four to six year olds voted they would prefer to watch television. Television has changed the mindset of children over the years it has been proven that the more programs they watch, the more harmful it is to their brain development. T.V.

In the article “TV’s Negative Influence on Kids Reaffirmed” by Jeffrey M. McCall, he addresses the issue of how TV has a negative influence on children. McCall states that young children and toddler’s cognitive ability do not develop as well when they have a television in the background while they are playing and interacting. McCall also argues that TV has a very influential role in the teenage pregnancy rate and how early teens become sexually active. To further prove his point, McCall proclaims that children and teens that are exposed to large amounts of television and video games become socially awkward and have issues interacting in society. McCall also says that the networks are rating their own programs carelessly, which is leading to shows that should be restricted by a V-chip being watched by children, rendering the restricting system null and void.

The question must be asked, when did food waste become an issue? Jonathan Bloom writer of, Jonathan Bloom’s American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It) explored this question. Bloom’s book, discussed in Stacy Slate’s article “Who's To Blame for All We Waste? We Are. A Review of American Wasteland,” describes how our change in respect for food happened over many centuries. In the 1700s people were just starting to make settlements, so their goal was to live as simply as they could. They only grew food that was needed. In the 1900s, the Great Depression and World War II resulted in non-existent food waste. Waste was considered unpatriotic. By the end of World War II, food was cheaper because

The average American child watches 20 hours of television per week, that is 5,000 hours before first grade. Most children between the ages of 3-6 years old can even turn on the television and start a DVD by themselves. I am guilty of allowing my children more TV time then they should have, but I guess that is because I enjoy watching it myself. There are many hidden messages in children’s shows that I was oblivious to until now. For instance, in the show “Rugrats” Charlotte Pickles, Angelica’s mom never had time for her, always on the phone and working. Ethnic stereotyping is another message sent in Speedy Gonzalez’s cousin Slow Poke Rodriguez which is lazy, slow, and dim witted. Morality is also affected by these shows. Most every little boy

Television can affect learning and school performance if it exceeds the time kids need for their crucial for healthy physical and mental development. Most of children's free time, especially during the early development years, should be spent in activities such as playing, reading, exploring nature, learning about music or participating in sports. Research has shown that children's exposure to television during the preschool years is predictive of academic outcomes during adolescence. The most notable lesson about this

Lastly, reality television programs are detrimental to society because they humiliate many of the characters. This is detrimental to the characters because of obvious reasons such as suicide. The effects of this on society are even greater. Many people watch shows such as American Idol because they find it humorous when some of the characters have awful singing abilities, and therefore humiliate themselves. In my opinion, this makes many viewers bullies inside. If an individual watches the misfortune of others to make them feel better about themself, they are a bully. Therefore, reality television indirectly causes people to be bullies. Studies show that if a person has negative thoughts as a result of watching people humiliated on television; they may begin to

On May 9, 1961 Newton Minow gave a speech known as “Television and the Public Interest” to the convention of the National Association of Broadcasters. He gave this speech after being appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commision to inform broadcasters that television is in need of higher quality programming for the public interest.

Technology throughout the past 30-40 years has become more advanced and accessible than ever. The television specifically has developed extremely since its beginning. What started off as a single camera caption, has developed into a full fledge worldwide availability. Within the United States, the TV is a normal everyday object common in households, hotels, schools, and even restaurants. There are approximately 118.4 million household in the United States that own a television set ( The Number of TV Households in the United States from season 2000-2001 to season 2016-2017 (in millions)).However, the increased amount of time spent watching TV has had a tremendous impact on people, especially kids. The differences in generations throughout the development of the TV has led to many questions, all revolving around whether or not the televisions has had a good or negative impact pertaining to children. Time spent watching television affects the brain, ability to learn, and skill levels in different areas (source. In the book “Last Child in The Woods,” Richard Louv discusses how children in the 1940’s would watch out the window at the scenery and have conversations, while children now sit and watch a movie on a flip-down video screen without knowledge to the outside world (Louv 16-17).

Although TV is not always a good thing, america would be a way different place without it without TV life would be so different. 1 reason that TV is so important is it brings entertainment to people all across the world another reason that TV is good it has a good economy affect on america. TV has been making people smile and bringing them entertainment for over 96 years, and 8 months. There are many channels. Some are only news channels. Some are only for sports. Some others for films, cartoons or songs. There are also many programs and film for children. In the text it says “Variety shows such as Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the Town provided a mix of comedy, opera, popular song, dance, acrobatics, and juggling. Quiz shows attracted large audiences,

Reality TV shows can be beneficial to people in the fact that people can learn several new things in a different fashion. “There’s nothing wrong with pure entertainment.” (Sadie Gennis paragraph 8) It allows everyone this safe haven where people can watch whatever thing that they really enjoy without having to stress about anything else. It is a healthy escape from the real world. Why give up something or change it when it creates a safe environment fit for everyone to enjoy.

T. S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland” depicts a definitive landscape of desolation, reflecting the damaged psyche of humanity after World War I. Relationships between men and women have been reduced to meaningless social rituals, in which sex has replaced love and physical interaction has replaced genuine emotional connection. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” goes a step further in depicting these relationships: the speaker reveals a deep sexual frustration along with an awareness of morality, in which he is conscious of his inability to develop a connection with women yet cannot break free from his silence to ask “an overwhelming question” (line 10). “The Wasteland” and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” together illustrate that

In the late nineteenth century, the television (TV) became one of the greatest innovations that was established by numerous individuals, so that the makers could advance technology through visual and audio communication. This would allow citizens to acquire information from economics and politics, which would benefit citizens by staying informed about specific topics. However, the media and entertainment industries would eventually expand their ideas for new channel stations, so that the industries could appeal to a new target audience. This new target audience would emerge as children between the ages of 3-18, due to the creation of new animations that would entertain and educate children. Considering that children would have the opportunity to see the world through multiple aspects by cartoons and movies. However, as children kept watching the TV on a daily basis, parents started to notice that their child’s behavior would change for the worst. These types of behaviors were called undesirable behaviors, which were objectionable by other parents and children, since undesirable behaviors tend to initiate physiological and psychological harm to oneself or to others. For instance, undesirable behaviors would cause the child to misbehave in school or lead the child to gain an enormous amount of weight that results in health problems. Therefore, children between the ages of 3-18 who watch an excessive amount of TV will exhibit an increase of undesirable behaviors that will

“In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.” (Andy Warhol). This quote is highly characteristic of popular culture in society. What Mr.Warhol was saying is simply that no matter how popular something becomes it tends to lose its appeal, eventually being replaced by the “next big thing” in an ongoing cycle that never ends. When thought of in this way it’s quite easy to see how popular culture, and television especially, has become thought of by some as nothing more than a simple act of entertainment for absolutely no purpose except to please the masses. Although a good amount of television in today’s society is just for one’s own enjoyment, television is both valuable and beneficial to society. Television is valuable and beneficial to American society, because it has influenced the creation of inventions, it has created opportunity, and it has taught valuable life lessons to society.

Many kids who watch too much TV also have problems at school with attention because of so much drama that they watch. Many teenagers enter drugs at such a young age, because they see the wrong things on television but do not see the consequences of those actions. Many adults also suffer from obesity and loss of family members because they don’t spend quality time with them. Many adults also have an early death, because they watch too much TV and they don’t have time for taking care of themselves or their