Presentation comments

Education and the Proliferation of New (Old) Concepts: Agrarianism, the Commons, No-Growth Economics, and the Maximum Wage

The ecoeducation article by Paul Theobald and Hibajene Shandomo talks about idea that the way we approach schooling directly affects our economic standing. The idea is that children need to be taught a certain way from an early age so that when they grow up and are in control of what happens they will make the right decisions. The idea of limiting certain things in order to help society as a whole is also discussed. Such as limiting how much money any one person is allow to make or how much they are allow to own. In theory this would allow everyone to have a good life as opposed to certain people being extremely wealthy while others are stuck in poverty. All these ideas are pulled together by the idea that problems could be solved by improving our education system so that the adults of tomorrow will have the knowledge to be able to close the gap between the upper and lower class.

Indigenous Resistance and Racist Schooling on the Boarders of Empires

Indigenous Resistance and Racist Schooling on the Boarders of Empires by Michael Marker tells about the struggles that the indigenous people faced while trying to preserve their traditions in the late 1800s. During this time it was typical for parts of families to be located in Canada and others in America and these people didn’t really fit in in either place. Because of this their children were made to go to private schools, these schools were attributed with taking their culture away from. When it was realized that these schools were unfair the children were allowed to go to regular schools but once there were treated so poorly that they often chose to go back to the private schools. I think that it is wrong that these people were expected to shed their way of life to fit in with what others thought were right and I think it is great that they fought back the way that they did.

The Meatrix

It is crazy to think that the food industries are allowed to use images of family farms when in reality the animals are raised in huge factory farms that are nothing like a small family farm. Even if you don’t care about the poor quality of life that the animals have it is impossible to ignore the fact that the way they are raised results in health hazards to people. Everything from the antibiotics that the animals are given to keep them alive to the way that slaughter houses are ran creates a risk that could adversely affect the health of anyone who eats the meat. It is unreasonable to think that the traditional small family farms would be able to produce enough food to feed the entire population there is no reason why things should be done the way that they are now. The animals have a poor quality of life and in turn a poor quality of food is produced. I think that it is the consumers responsibility to not support companies that use the methods described in the videos and they will be forced to change the way they treat the animals.

http://www.themeatrix.com/ 

Food and Sustainability Issues

When buying food from a typical store it is likely that you don’t know exactly where it came from, it is also likely that if you did know then you would not want to buy it. One way the people of Jacksonville North Carolina solve this problem is by buying food from a local farmers market. The food is grown and harvested locally so it is fresher and healthier than many foods found in a typical store. Aside from benefitting themselves the people who chose to shop at the farmers market are supporting their local economy and not the huge food industries that are supplying us with less sufficient food.

Chapter 6

In chapter 6 Biotechnology: Building Consensus for Progress the portable rhetorical lesson is balanced arguments. The main focus is creating a balanced argument, it is important to have a balanced argument so that your entire audience is willing to listen and cooperate in order to come to a solution. In order to have a balance argument it is important to use a moderate tone, present evidence that everyone respects and understands, and provide practical solutions. These techniques are modeled in the chapter by readings about biotechnology. The reading describes different uses of biotechnology and the research that has taken place. It is obvious that there is a problem with food supply and something has to be done so that people don’t starve. But it is questionable if biotechnology is the best solution since in the long run it could have negative affect on people’s health. 

Fracking

Before reading “Feds Link Water Contamination to Fracking for the First Time”, an article on the Scientific American website, I wasn’t really even aware of fracking. After reading this article I think that is it ridiculous how much the fracking companies are allowed to get away with. If there is even a small chance that fracking is to blame for the water pollution I think that they should be more than willing to do what they can to help prevent it. From the results of the study I think it is completely reasonable to say that fracking is playing a part in the pollution of the water. While gas is generally considered a necessity we do not need it to live, water however is essential to life and anything that puts our water supply at risk should not be tolerated; especially when there are alternative ways to get the gas and even alternatives to gas. I do not necessarily think that fracking should be immediately put to a stop before it is confirmed that it is the cause of the pollution. I do think that the fracking companies should look for alternative methods to get their job done and at the very least strict guidelines should be set for them to follow.