ipl-logo

Katherine Spriggs What's Eating America Summary

520 Words3 Pages

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

Show More
Related
1571 Words | 7 Pages

Throughout the essay Dillard gives us many interesting facts and opinions regarding nature, she also shows us why she is capable of writing about these topics. Dillard tells us “I was in a Laboratory, using a very expensive microscope” (paragraph 7). Dillard uses this sentence to show us that she is getting her information from a precise instrument. The word “laboratory” and the phrase “expensive Microscope” tells us that what she is seeing is not a mistake, but the result of high-level technology. She also effectively shows that she has experience in such an environment therefore she is a credible informer of science.

Read More
845 Words | 4 Pages

Pollan’s powerful essay ends with a paragraph that reads almost as a plea to farmers to consider changing their habits and reducing their dependence on these types of fertilizers which are so

Read More
495 Words | 2 Pages

Discuss the role cheap fossil fuel plays in determining the way American farmers grow corn. Explain why Pollan might characterize the availability of cheap corn as a “plague”. The cheap fossil fuels are killing the economy, killing the chances for corn. Pollan characterizes the availability of cheap corn as a plague because a plague is an infectious disease that harms a lot of people.

Read More
941 Words | 4 Pages

Due to McWilliams’ strong claim, evidence, warrant, backing, and rebuttal to counter arguments, his argument is therefore an effective one, according to the Toulmin method. The most important and key components, that are vital to an argument, are the argument’s claim, qualifiers, as well as the evidence the author uses to support their argument. If there were no claim, then the author has no firm stance or basis for their argument, because they would have nothing to defend or persuade their readers of. The claim James E. McWilliams makes in the article “The Locavore movement: Why Buying from Nearby Farmers Won’t Save the Planet” is that since there are so many factors that are attributed to the destruction of the earth and the waste of tons of energy ,that the locavore movement is not quite saving the planet simply by focusing

Read More
850 Words | 4 Pages

I’m not thinking the way I used I think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading.” (Carr 557). This is an effective use of pathos because it draws the reader to question whether or not their way of thinking is changing as well. Carr is trying to create this connection, so the audience feels exactly what he is feeling and is successful at doing so.

Read More
776 Words | 4 Pages

The author of American Wasteland, Jonathan Bloom, uses many techniques to steer readers in his direction. Bloom talks about a big issue concerning American in 2010 and is still an issue today in 2016, six years after he wrote this book. As a result of broad research, the main issue today is expiration dates and how state regulations and laws promote food waste (Linnekin). As other books, articles, and documentaries explain this issue they use evidence, positive and negative connotations, and bias to connect with a general audience or supporters.

Read More
1546 Words | 7 Pages

At what point are we going to take responsibility and protect the Earth instead of allowing it to be destroyed? The Earth can only handle a so much growth before it reaches its max sustainability. In each text, sustainability refers to how much growth the Earth can maintain without being destroyed. Wendell Berry, Jared Diamond, and Bill McKibben all use rhetoric to appeal to their audience using ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is an appeal to the audience’s ethics.

Read More
795 Words | 4 Pages

She goes paragraph by paragraph comparing the different worlds of food production, proving her point that not all meat is created equal. She goes through each of the three greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides, which are a result of food production. She provides you a comparison of how each method impacts the environment in terms of greenhouse emissions and the level of extremity respectively. “Niman claims that industrial farming produces markedly more carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides than traditional farming and ranching” (173). She manages to keep the reader involved by keeping each comparison short and to the point.

Read More
731 Words | 3 Pages

David Foster Wallace really captures the use of pathos in his essay Consider

Read More
2089 Words | 9 Pages

Rachele Liba Professor Whitehead POSC 100 22 July 2016 Placing a Price on a Green Nation Having lived a nomadic lifestyle across the United States, I have had the opportunity to witness the wonders of our flourishing society and the everyday turmoils that we face. Rigorous innovation has helped Americans fulfill countless dreams, however with every gift there is a usually a price-tag or opportunity cost. Now in the midst of the general presidential election, platforms that represent our beliefs can undergo much needed reform to address the opportunity costs that were surpassed in the process of success. Among the various problems found in our society, a key movement that has raised necessary controversy has to do with environmental policy.

Read More
732 Words | 3 Pages

Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals is a book about persuasion. Foer seeks to convince his readers to take any step in reducing what he believes is the injustice of harming animals. To achieve this, Foer employs many persuasion techniques and often changes his approach when he targets specific groups. His strategies include establishing himself as an ethical authority and appealing to his readers’ emotions, morals, and reason.

Read More
950 Words | 4 Pages

Three examples of Gary Paulsen’s use of pathos are the following. One example is “All I know for a mammy is the one that raised me, old Delie, and she be the one who raises all the young. Breeders don’t get to keep their own babies…”(16). Another example, “Then the master he whipped her his own self with a rawhide whip cut from an old gin belt used on the cotton gin. Sometimes he doesn’t whip and makes a field hand do it and stands back with pistol in his belt and smiles.

Read More
443 Words | 2 Pages

Afterwards he uses pathos in an effective way is when he brings back a parent’s feelings toward their children. This is

Read More
1304 Words | 6 Pages

A strong suggestion Pollan encourages, to his readers, is gardening. Gardening soothes the soul, produces more local produce, and reduces ones ' carbon footprint according to Pollan. Throughout the article, Pollan shows he understands that to make a differnece about climate change it may be difficult and a long process but is possible. By adding humor, specific diction, and concessions Pollan can make his argument in why we, as a society, should bother to do something about climate change. In the article "Why Bother?", Michael Pollan discusses the issues of climate change and why individuals should do something about it.

Read More
765 Words | 4 Pages

The definition of pathos is the quality or power in an actual life experience or in literature, music, speech, or other forms of expression, of evoking a feeling of pity, or of sympathetic and kindly sorrow or compassion. In other words, it is a way that authors and/or writers get to the audience’s emotions. Spurlock uses pathos by affecting the emotions of his audience with children. The beginning of the documentary shows kids singing and dancing. That automatically affects people’s emotions.

Read More

More about Katherine Spriggs What's Eating America Summary

Related Topics

Open Document