Why Bother? Response Essay

Pollan uses a serious tone in the article to persuade the audience. The subject of the article is climate change and he keeps a serious tone throughout the entire article. He keeps the serious tone because he does not want people to overlook this problem because it is such a phenomenon. He also uses a sarcastic tone in a few sentences. He uses the sarcastic tone because he wants the audience to look at it and think about it on their own perspectives. In the article, Pollan explains about how he could turn his life around and use less resources. Pollan then says, “what would be the point when I know full well that halfway around the world there lives my evil twin, some carbon-footprint doppelgänger in Shanghai or Chongqing who has just bought his first car that is eager to swallow every bite of meat I forswear and who is positively itching to replace every last pound of CO2 I am struggling no longer to emit.” On the flipside, someone on the other side of the world will be doing the exact opposite. Therefore, he is saying this in a sarcastic tone because he wants people to realize that it will take more than one person to solve

The conflict of this story discusses the battle between Mrs. Mallard's conscience and how she should feel about her husband’s death. A normal person would feel grief for a loved one's death, but in "The Story of an Hour", Mrs. Mallard been paralyzed and does not know how to feel about it. This has been because she’s been imprisoned by her husband. When he died in a train accident she was free of him. The "joy that kills" at the end of the short story may refer to that. The elixir of life symbolizes the very essence of what life is. At first her sister and her friend didn’t knew how to tell her, because of her heart condition. When the news of the death of her husband reach her, she starts to see

I grew up in an “urban area” on the East side of Chicago. I would say that peer pressure is pretty much on every corner. I attended the neighborhood high school which was predominately black. Unfortunately, majority of my high school classmates did drugs such as marijuana, pills, (ecstasy, molly, Xanax) drank alcohol, engaged in sexual activities and created their own forms of “lean” which is a drink made from promethazine and codeine. Most students ditched class or just didn’t show up at all. I feel as though my high school had a mix of “hallway hangers” and “brothers” except all of the same race end economic backgrounds. The peer pressure was and still is really high in my neighborhood, but I’ve seen for myself the dangers and consequences that came from engaging in those acts, which made me want to take a different route and not “experiment” or be a part of “the in crowd”.

Change should be seen as a challenge and embraced with enthusiasm (Marquis & Huston, 2012). In my professional and personal life, I view and respond to change as a way to make improvements to existing regulations and circumstances. I embark upon the quest with determination to succeed at whatever task is presented to me. Life without change can become unchallenging and stagnant (Marquis & Huston, 2012). As society and technology advance, you must incorporate the necessary transformations that arise with it.

As a Salem Freshman, I was required to take a “Signature” Salem class; a class that was “signature” to Salem and Salem alone. These classes were chosen based on a survey given to students before they get their schedules and all of them are rather “worldly”. At the time, I was unaware that the this “Sign” Classes were fully graded and fleshed out classes. I simply chose a class that sounded incredibly interesting without thinking about how well I would actually perform in that field. I chose a class that offered to challenge the way I think about others and how they think; a class that could help me understand people more by showing me how they come to believe things. Despite my initial confusion and eventual grade, I admit that I don’t regret taking the class because what I learned in that classroom was something I don’t believe I would have ever experienced otherwise.

In the article “Why Bother” by Michael Pollan, the author addresses the issue of climate change and what we as individuals can do. Pollan starts by making the primary assertion that it is up to each individual to change their habits of mind to curtail the current climate crisis. He believes that by the simple act of gardening it will severely help the situation at hand. During the course of Pollan’s article he gives many examples of what he believes we are doing wrong and how we can change. Through the use of many different rhetorical strategies he is able to support his case very effectively. Pollan clearly states the situation and purpose of his article, along with minor and major claims to support his ideas.

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.

Mckibben once again articulates his repetitive view that, “it’s a moral question, finally, if you think we owe any debt to the future.” (748). In many circumstances it is believed that if it had been done to us, we would dislike the generation that did it, just as how we will one day be disliked. The solution given in the essay on how to handle these environmental issues is to start a moral campaign. In other words, “… turn it into a political issue, just as bus boycotts began to make public the issue of race, forcing the system to respond. “ (748). As a part of the overall populist causing these issues, Mckibben understands that the hardest part about starting this moral campaign is identifying a villain to overcome. Briefly

Americans, as a whole, do not care about the environment anymore. When we watch the news or simply talk about our day, there are always more pressing topics that come up. However, as a nation, the threat of a failing environment seems to be forgotten because the effects are not as obvious as other threats. Bill McKibben’s “Waste Not, Want Not” discusses how much time, money, resources, and people America has actually wasted and how little effort has been made to try to change. McKibben causes readers to think it is too late to save the environment from our wastefulness because we put our efforts into systems that do not help the environment, spend more money and resources than necessary, and refuse to acknowledge how much were wasting.

Most of the time people get so caught up talking about making a difference, rather than focusing in taking action to solve the problem. In the essay “Why Bother” by Pollan, the writer describes people’s attitudes regarding climate change and he offers possible solutions if people just try to help. The idea of “why bother” refers to people’s expectations when it comes to making a difference, like driving less, but these individuals believe that one person doesn't have such power in solving a problem. However, Pollan then says, “If you do bother you will set an example to other people” pg. 317. With this said, Pollan not only bring out a solution but also hope.

Michael Pollan has recognized that there is an issue in today’s society, and that issue is climate change. Within the article of,” Why Bother”, by Michael Pollan, he talks about an effect that society itself may have inflicted upon themselves. But looking at the actual reasoning behind why the climate is changing is baffling. In the text of “Why Bother”, Michal Pollen talks about climate change is on us, yet before reading the text, I assumed that maybe climate change was just destiny, and continues to happen because it’s due. Yet now I believe that we as a people, have actually caused climate change to progress quicker than as planned. Pollan explains that we as a people have to be active in the change we want to see. I can say I concur and

In his article "Making the Grade," Kurt Wiesenfeld presents a problem regarding the ethical value of grades in modern society. A physics professor, Wiesenfeld opens the article by making the "rookie error" of being in his "office the day after final grades were posted." (paragraph 1) Several students then attempt to influence him to change their grades for the class. What concerns Wiesenfeld is that many of his more recent students consider a grade to be a negotiable commodity rather than accept the grade as an accurate representation of efforts and performance and how much they learned. The author indicates that part of this

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)

People need to understand that the environment is everybody’s responsibility. We need to take accountability for providing a green future for future generations. We must act before its too late. We must sacrifice, compromise, and be willing to

During week one, my initial definition of learning was listening to an instruction, studying and then rehearsing that information in my mind, or categorizing it in a way so I could remember most of what was taught in the course. The class has opened a new dimension for me in the learning process; from understanding how I process information to deciphering which learning processes I use in intentional learning or metacognition. Understanding my learning patterns form dynamic learning relationship is a key element to my view of how and why I process the learning experience, even relating it to every day life.