ipl-logo

Why Bother By Michael Pollan Analysis

1084 Words5 Pages

Penned by Michael Pollan in 2008 Why Bother was written in response to Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. This essay covers what many Americans were thinking at this time, why bother? If we changed every aspect of our lives in order to save the Earth, would it really fix or undo anything? In his essay, Pollan relies heavily on Ethos and Kairos to fulfil his argument being that with one easy life change it could cause a chain reaction that influences other behaviors resulting in a reduction of our individual carbon footprints. This easy life change that Pollan proposes is gardening. Gardening is an activity many Americans already partake in. However, Pollan digs deeper and illustrates the positive outcomes of this simple task. To support his argument he proposes if we grow a small portion of our own food we will rely on the shopping centers less. We won’t be driving to the stores as often, so that is less fuel emission in the air. If we are out in the yard gardening we won’t be using the electricity inside the house, which saves energy. If we are busy working up a sweat in the garden we will …show more content…

Pollan states “The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum…” meaning that saving the earth does not need to be an all or nothing effort. That statement is very rich in Ethos. Ethically we can understand we can do a little bit each day even if logically it seems like a lost cause. During the course of his essay, Pollan discusses an imaginary evil twin he has who will continue all the bad habits Pollan swears to drop. This metaphor feeds into the title ‘why bother’. Even if we were to fix all of our harmful behaviors there will still be another person who does twice the damage. Pollan counters this train of thought with his own spin on changing the light

Show More
Related
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

Explain why Pollan has a problem with the way the American government subsidizes farms, particularly those that grow corn. Pollan does not agree with how the government is just paying off the farmers and not helping the situation of subsidies and falling prices. Pollan does not like how the farmers are treated different from any other food processors or exporters in the food business. The farmers are the ones that are taking the beating with the bad economy and instead of fixing it; the government just pays them off. 4.

Read More
622 Words | 3 Pages

Pollan discusses how corn impacts America. He continues on to talk about McDonalds and how corn, whether that be corn syrup or corn oil and how this has affected the growing rate of obesity in the

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
943 Words | 4 Pages

Al Gore Jr. was the forty-fifth vice president of the U.S. and is well-known for his environmental advocacy work and his famous writings on environmental issues (Weisser 101). In his article “Climate of Denial”, he describes how the world is very uneducated on the environmental issues of today. Through his article, he uses ethos, pathos, and logos to make his point. He also clearly expresses his purpose, the conflict, and his audience. Despite these proficient skills, if we unveil the true Al Gore, we will witness a man driven for greed, wealth, and power.

Read More
795 Words | 4 Pages

The article was written in response to the statement farming and food production is leading to climate change. Niman, being a rancher who raises cattle, goats, and turkeys, effectively frames the situation logically by providing credible statistics and examples to help the reader better understand the impacts of different methods of food production. She does this by providing specific information regarding the greenhouse gases involved, being carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides. Niman, the rhetor, has written this article to try and inform the readers about the differences between traditional style and industrial style methods of food production. She has directed the article towards those concerned about the carbon footprint, we as individuals, are leaving

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
1313 Words | 6 Pages

Once the environment is perceived as an equal part of an individual’s community, the human ethical spirit will respect the environment, cherish its benefits and beauty, and be obligated to preserve it. If future generations are taught to create harmony between the three pillars of society: economic, social, and environmental, further damage to the environment can be

Read More
614 Words | 3 Pages

He argues that we should treat our land with care and respect as we now treat one another, for we will be ushering a new era of change the is all for the better. The second half of the essay begins with "The Ecological Conscience". Starting off by stating “Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land” and going on to describe how our fight for land is improving it is moving far too slow. This transforms into the

Read More
686 Words | 3 Pages

In our life, lots of people were trying to get all perfect, but eventually make it was worse. Dimmesdale elucidate the consequence of the hidden

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
1650 Words | 7 Pages

In a western society that continuous to renounce communalism and embrace individualism, it is easily noticed that the problems faced by few are ignored by the many. This ignorance, intentional or not, is allowing communal problems to accelerate the pace. However, the issue at hand is one that affects you whether or not you are aware of it; if you are an American, or in any western society for that matter. It affects nearly twenty percent of the under eighteen population in the United States and costs taxpayers on average 14 billion dollars per year. As a Parent, it can tack $19,000 onto the total of raising each child.

Read More
1808 Words | 8 Pages

It is here contradictions emerged how best to prevent future environmental harms. Progressive-era conservationists concerned with protecting the nation’s public lands, in contrast, New Deal reformers advocated agricultural reform but focused on privately owned lands (Dunaway, 2005; Jacoby, 2001). They looked to past civilizations to better understand how to avoid ecological ruin such as flood control, soil erosion, and farming techniques. Even today, politicians and many in society are

Read More
1657 Words | 7 Pages

By understanding nature, he can understand a human’s true and rightful intentions. An important observation made by Sharon Levy is “Steinbeck was saying that we need to see the complex interconnections in nature” (10). By this she means, every person, animal, and plant is connected. There is the aspect of the circle of life and everything is renewed eventually. Steinbeck’s novel Cannery Row exemplifies the studies of global warming and coastal pollution along the coast of California.

Read More
1023 Words | 5 Pages

Therefore, we need to think about tomorrow with respect to every action that we take in the environment and in this case we can say that sustainable development requires slower population growth. With this in mind, we need to be educated through our cultures about the impact we caused to the environment as we continue to reproduce.   The challenge of environmental ethics has led to the attempt to apply traditional ethical theories, including consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics, to support contemporary environmental concerns; the preservation of biodiversity as an ethical goal; the broader concerns of some thinkers with wilderness, the built environment and the politics of poverty; the ethics of sustainability and climate change, and some directions for possible future developments of the discipline [ CITATION And15 \l 1033 ]. With this multi-dimensional approach one can see that it is more of a cultural issue to think of it from its origin.

Read More

More about Why Bother By Michael Pollan Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document