Katherine Spriggs What's Eating America Summary

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We were asked to read two articles one was “On Buying Local” by Katherine Spriggs and the other was “What’s Eating America” by Michael Pollan. In the article “On Buying Local,” Spriggs showed a great use of logos when she stated that it was better for us to buy locally because it was better for the environment. Spriggs gives us several reasons why we should give up “a little bit of convenience” in favor of helping the environment. Farmers wouldn’t have to lose their farms to larger farms, smaller farms could be more sustainable by using natural and local resources, and there would be fewer emissions. This idea has been meeting with some opposition people worry of economic damage, but Spriggs has shown the argument and counterarguments with the proof of how the argument is flawed. Spriggs showed a good use of pathos when …show more content…

The article shows our use of science to make nitrogen. We later go on to read of how explosives are changed into a chemical fertilizer and sprayed onto crops. Pollan then introduces us to a chemists named Fritz Harber who did good and bad things through the use of science. By the end of the article, Pollan tells us it is better to depend on Mother Nature (Who can still produce nitrogen naturally, though slower) than it is to rely on science. The Article “On Buying Local” has the strongest rhetoric due to the fact that it has more to do with more current events. In “What’s Eating America”, it talks more about what happened in the past. Examples: it talks about the explosives plant making chemical fertilizer in 1947, the 1950’s corn yield, and it also talks about Fritz Harber developing a gas for Hitler. “On Buying Local” it affects all the world young and old and the same could and can be said for the other story as well. The Rhetorical situation is, we need to reduce our carbon footprint. Rely less on synthetic nitrogen and fix global

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