Project 5

Destructive Food

Ever look at your dinner plate while eating and wonder, where did this food come from? That’s the million-dollar question that food production companies do not want answered. In the American food civilization there has always been factory farming, but in the past few decades, it has expanded into a nasty, vicious business of treating animals like they’re already dead, and feeding them chemicals. Factory farming today is more unsafe than ever. People need to know the truth behind factory farming and how it can harm them because food companies in the United States are producing foods that are harmful through the use of these systems, where people don’t know what exactly it consists of and how we get our food from that method. Factory farming systems in the U.S. are destructive to the people, animals, and our environment because of the way they are slaughtering our meat in unsanitary and unsafe methods which cause sickness, obesity and pollution. The food industries need to add more awareness like the use of menu labels and promoting more organic foods around our grocery stores to prevent sickness and have more safety with what we are eating everyday.

Factory Farming is the production of our food like milk, meat, and eggs through the use of industrial methods. This occurs at a high stocking density where a farm operates as a factory along with the poor conditions. Around the 1940s, large companies got into the factory farming business by hiring farmers to work for them. This started because it was a way of getting the production of food done faster. Factory farming in today’s society is something that has really gotten out of hand and needs to be addressed in changing the way meat is produced. Large food producing companies like Tyson practically own and control their farmers. The farmers don’t even own the animals, the companies do. In 2002, hog farmers filed a suit against Tyson Foods for saying they would “eliminate 200 positions at its live swine operations in hopes of strengthening the long-term viability of the rest of its company” (Henry). The companies get to decide what they are producing, how much of it is being processed, what they are feeding the animals, and the type of method used to get it done. The problem with these large food corporations is that the meats we are eating are being produced in the wrong way through this unnatural system of slaughtering. Watching the Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary movie Food, Inc., a difficult scene was seeing the cows tied up by their legs while they were still alive, and go through the factory line getting knocked all into the walls helplessly.

Meats being produced incorrectly are really harmful to the people that eventually buy and eat these foods. On the farms where the meats are being processed, cows are living in unsanitary places, like living in their own manure. They are biologically designed to eat grass, but they are getting fed corn because it causes them to get fat quicker, which causes more production and it gets to the consumer faster. Cows living in unsanitary conditions cause sickness and diseases that eventually can get to us, the consumers. Mad Cow Disease for example had an outbreak in the United States in December of 2003 from a Holstein cow in Washington State (Abramson). This disease causes the spinal cord and brain in the human body to not work right, having the neurological systems to be effected. This outbreak in the United States caught the eye of a lot of Americans and posed the question of why this happened. In addition to people getting deathly sick from the food, other effects like obesity in our country is a major problem that this process is causing. Food Inc’s website states that “One-third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese” (Food Inc). According to an article from CNN, Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity looked at “12 popular restaurant chains, and out of more than 3,000 kids meal combinations, found only that 12 met the nutritional guidelines for preschool-aged kids” (Sloane). If these are the numbers at this age for kids, the future looks far worse for them if they continue on this path. However some kids can’t help this because the food they are eating is “high calorie, sugar laden processed foods” (Food Inc). Food processors need to change their methods, or there will be much more harmful consequences. With obesity come major health risks like diabetes, high blood pressure, and fatty liver disease. One might think that food companies in our country might respond to this. For the most part, the big businesses have not done much. There have however, been some little changes that smaller companies have done to try and address this problem, such as introducing organic foods.

With these factory farms effecting people, it is also effecting our environment and animals. Going back to cows living in their own manure, this shouldn’t be happening. Cows should be living in pastures and have a certain livestock ratio. However, these factory farms just fit them all into a tiny building. The cows living so close together living in their own filth may create the question of where does all this manure go? Well, it goes untreated into creeks, waterways, and rivers. This can simply happen because “its agriculture, the rules are different” (Suddath). There have been some cases where this has become a major problem in our ecosystem. Suddath tells a story of a man, Rick Dove, who noticed that “fish were dying in really weird ways” (Suddath), in North Carolina’s Neuse River. Rick saw that “fish were developing round red circles on their flanks, and they would just start swimming into little circles and die” (Suddath). Wanting to know more of why this was all of a sudden happening, Rick found enormous pig farms in a factory farming setting where the waste was basically flowing right into the river. This waste that’s flowing right into our environment is polluting our waters, and killing the animals at the same time. This is a small factor that goes into the climate change occurring on our planet. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, hog, chicken, and cattle waste has polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and has contaminated groundwater in 17 states. This is just one major factory farm issue of many that needs to be addressed and changed. Aside from the animals causing an environmental disturbance, the industrial way our food gets produced is a cause to the climate change on our planet. According to the Cool Foods Campaign, “tractors, irrigation pumps, lighting, and other types of machinery that are used on industrial farms contribute to a significant amount of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.” Along with the tractors contributing to our food, the food has to eventually get to the stores. According to the Food Inc. website, the average food product travels about 1,500 miles to get to the local grocery store. That accounts for 30,800 tons of green house gas emissions every year. These factory farms are just going to keep destructing our planet if nothing gets done to try and solve this problem. Not only are the animals causing it, but also the machines and transportation used to produce our food are.

Although it is apparent that factory farming is harmful there are some benefits towards factory farming. Many people view it as an opportunity for employment. The factory farms provide many different types of jobs for people in need of work. Also, many people and families struggle just getting food, and the production of these meats that go to the fast food restaurants like McDonalds are cheaper and faster. It’s much cheaper for them than getting a naturally grown piece of meat. In a journal article about factory farming Nierenberg states that “People in the Philippines eat relatively little meat, but their consumption in past years is growing” (Nierenberg). She also mentions that the average consumption of meat has grown from 21 kilograms of meat per year to about 30 per year. While these are some good benefits to less developed countries and families with less money, it still doesn’t account for the fact that people are getting sick from this method.

Adding more awareness to where our food comes from, for example, menu labels and organic food promotion has certainly grown in the past couple years. However, it needs to continue to grow and promote more of an understanding for the consumers. The food world has definitely tried to promote more an awareness of our food and have healthier options. This plays into trying to reduce the high obesity rebates in the United States. Restaurants and fast food places have recently started to put menu labeling of the calories and nutritional information on their menus. A couple of the food places that have started to do this are Chipotle, McDonald’s, Wendys, Starbucks, and Subway. These nutritional facts on the menus and boards of food places will definitely sway people’s opinions on what they are ordering. There have already been studies where this is true. The Los Angeles Time states that a study done on parents, “received [McDonald’s] menus with calorie information ordered an average of 102 fewer calories for their children than a control group not given that information” (Stein). Now that the menu labels are visible, they will certainly influence what people are going to order because they can see the real facts behind what they are eat and ordering. With food industries promoting menu labeling for better healthy meals, other food companies have started to go into providing organic food for buyers and consumers. Organic foods are a way of eating more safe and healthier foods. Organic foods are grown naturally without any help from pesticides or other chemicals that help grow food. It is exactly the opposite of what our factory farms are doing and producing. Grocery stores such as Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods have always carried organic foods with healthier options. Lately, there have been more organic food brands that have been embraced by our traditional grocery stores. If the whole organic rage doesn’t appeal, organic health experts in the movie Food Inc. suggest going to the local farmers market and picking up food. Foods at local markets are grown locally and are treated better than most food available at the grocery store.

The factory farming systems we have in the United States are damaging to our people animals, and environment, and will remain dangerous if the way they are slaughtering our meat continues. The unsafe and dirty places that our food is being produced will cause sickness, obesity, and pollution if nothing gets changed. Food industries around us are trying to improve our safety this with the use of menu labels and organic foods. Next time a friend is at a grocery store or looking at their dinner plate ask them if they know where their food came from. Food is important, make it something safe.

Works Cited

Abramson, Michael B. Mad Cow Disease: An approach to its Containment. 2004. 3

Journal of Health Care & Law Policy. Web. 13 Nov. 2010.

Suddath, Claire. “The Problem with Factory Farms.” www.time.com 23 April 2010

Web. 13 Nov. 2010

Nierenberg, Danielle. “Factoring Farming in the Developing World.” May/June 2003.

Web. 13. Nov. 2010

Sloane, Matt “Fast Food marketing up, food still unhealthy.” CNN Health. 8 November

2010. Web. 13 Nov. 2010.

Henry, John. Mooty, Kyle. “Hog famers file suit against Tyson Foods.” Arkansas

Business. 16 September 2002. Web. 13 Nov. 2010.

Stein, Jeannine. “Does menu labeling affect diners?” Los Angeles Times. 22

February 2010. Web. 13 Nov. 2010.

Project 4

Project 4 Essay

Always hearing about global warming in school and on the news regarding how it affects our planet, I never fully understood it. All I knew was that it was bad for our planet and things need to be done to improve it. After watching Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth, I definitely felt like I understood the whole meaning of global warming and what it’s really doing to our planet. During Al Gore’s film, he gets his point across in a very clear-cut way through a variety for rhetorical strategies like appealing to the audiences’ emotions, his logic and creditability. After watching this, I would definitely argue for the value of his film in trying to help stop global warming.

Al Gore’s overall argument in this film is to stop the spread of climate change on our planet. Gore does this through a very detailed slide show, which helps us get a better understanding of his message. He shows his audience what climate change is going to do to our planet in many visual examples, which help catch the attention of many viewers. Throughout the film, he brings up many problems that have started to occur and will take place in our planet’s future if this problem does not get addressed. Two issues that stood out to me that seem really important in the film was the issue on how different parts of the planet’s temperatures have changed dramatically for a more negative effect. The other issue was the effect that climate change is going on our animals.

One of Gore’s main points in his presentation is how the planet’s temperatures keep increasing because of the amount of Co2 our air. The more carbon dioxide there is, the more temperatures will rise. Gore mentions about how our carbon dioxide is already way too high and it will be even higher in less than 50 years. Researching about the carbon dioxide in our air, I found many defenses on this temperature change. In the environmental article "World Breaks Temperature Records," in 2007, two years after Gore’s movie, there were finds that the globe’s average temperature “combined land and sea surface temperature for December to February was the highest since records began in 1880” (Guardian). Two years later after his film, Gore’s assertions were correct, making his argument more logical and true. Another source I found was an article from the New York Times talking about specific weather changes that have recently occurred. The article mentioned how in the winter of 2009-2010, “freezing weather in Florida were seized by climate change,” and in the summer “heat waves and droughts occurred” (Subhankar). With the cold weather in Florida, it affects the crop growing to be slower and more damaging. Gore mentions how droughts have recently occurred in Darfur because of the lack of rain. Just in this past year we have seen odd changes in the weather. I even witnessed a weather change, which was very unusual in my area. Last winter, a large series of snowstorms came through the Washington, D.C. area that was shown nation wide. That winter, there were record-breaking snowfalls, and cold temperatures. These severe storms led to a lot of school closings, damage to buildings, homes, and roads. Seeing this research supports Gore’s point in being successful with his findings. Because of the temperature changes, Gore points out how oceans have been getting warmer, which causes more storms, hurricanes, and tornados. He brings up many examples that have been happening in the past couple of years to make his points in the film valuable. He mentions how recently the floods of Mumbai India were causing a lot of damage. Lots of people lost their homes and many had to walk long distances to get to places. Another example Gore used which really appealed to the audience was the event of hurricane Katrina. Using this example as a result of global warming would really catch the attention of Gore’s audience. It was a devastating destructive incident that caught the eyes of our whole country, and affected so many people in different ways. Him connecting Katrina to global warming catches the emotions of viewers. That example likely connects to the audience in some way, making his argument valid.

The other issue Gore brought up in his film was the effect that global warming is having on our animals. Gore discusses about how glaciers keep melting away everyday because of the sudden rise of the temperatures. Glaciers do normally melt a little each day, but it’s becoming faster. Because of this melting, it affects the polar bears. The bears rely on the ice and they need it to be able to survive. If these polar bears start dying, they will soon become endangered. It has already been seen that the polar bears are thinner and less healthy than in years past. Al Gore talking about how animals will suffer, it gets his audience’s attention. There are bound to be people in his audience who have an interest in animals, or cares about them. Since who would ever really want animals to suffer? I know it got my attention. Exploring Gore’s statement about the animals I found that he was correct with his facts. In an article titled "How Global Warming is Changing the Wild Kingdom," it mentions many other animals that are going suffer from the climate change. According to the article, “Many fish species are moving northward in search of cooler waters” (Than). This can affect a species’ ecosystem in that “the timing of natural events like flowering, migration, and egg-laying can shift” (Than). The disruption of the ecosystem can change behaviors, which can be a threat to the species’ survival. In another article, The New York Times states that because of the higher temperatures “coral reefs are under severe stress that scientists fear widespread die-offs, endangering not only the richest ecosystems in the ocean but also fisheries that feed millions of people” (Gillis). Not only does the coral reefs effect the ecosystems, but it can effect us too.

Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth definitely fulfills the intended message about stopping global warming. He gives the right logic, while appealing to the audience’s emotions at the same time. Researching his issues and then comparing them to what he says gives him even more creditability. His arguments were accurate with adequate evidence and viewpoints. Gore touches to the audience in some way or another during his film with his use of appealing to the emotions of his viewers. Overall Al Gore’s film definitely serves as a logical and valuable piece of information that people need to act on in this world of climate change.

Works Cited

Baneriee, Subhankar. “Global Warming.” www.nytimes.com. Associated Press, 6

Oct. 2010. Web. 24 Oct. 2010.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html

Than, Ker. “How Global Warming is Changing the Wild Kingdom.” Life Science. 21

June 2005. Web. 24 Oct. 2010.

http://www.livescience.com/environment/050621_warming_changes.html

Guardian.co.uk. World Breaks Temperature Records. 16 March 2007. Web. 24 Oct.

2010. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/mar/16/weather.climatechange

Gillis, Justin. “Extreme Heat Bleaches Coral, and Threat is Seen.” www.nytimes.com. 20

September 2010. Web. 24 Oct. 2010.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/science/earth/21coral.html?ref=globalwarming

An Inconvenient Truth Formal Response

After watching Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth for the second time, I felt like I understood it better this time around. In this documentary, Al Gore gives a lecture about our climate in jeopardy through a very detailed slide show. Gore starts out by describing what global warming is. As Gore goes through this slide show he gives many examples of how global warming is affecting our us and our planet. He also shows what is going to be happening to the planet in years to come if this issue does not come to an end. By the end of Gore’s film he closes with talking about how people need to start acting instead of watching our planet be destroyed. That people need to take action immediately to bring the carbon emission down.

The film’s overall argument is to stop the pollution on our planet. He explains this in two ways. One being a very complicated way scientists would see it and the other way was a cartoon picture explaining it, which was more understandable. Throughout the film, Gore gives examples of what global warming will do to our planet. He uses specific examples on Earth that have already been affected. He talks about how the ocean temperatures have been getting warmer which creates more storms and hurricanes.

Gore also tells the audience personal experiences that some how fit in with what he is trying to put across to his viewers. One of the first examples he used was his son getting hit by a car. His son was hospitalized for a very long period of time, not knowing if he would survive. Finally, his son started breathing on his own and made it through. This is what made Gore want to be involved in the whole global warming act. His son he loved so much almost died, and he couldn’t let other people feel the same way if their loved ones started getting sick and dying just because of what the Earth is doing. I thought this was very effective in appealing to the emotions of the readers. Listening to this story, it makes the audience feel really remorseful about what happened which eventually flows into wanting to fix our planet so no one has to go through something like that.

Overall, I thought Al Gore as himself being the speaker gave him a lot of creditability throughout his lecture. Most people know who he is because of his background as a politician and him almost being the President of the United States. This makes the audience aware that he is definitely well educated and knows what he is talking about. He even had clips about his run for presidency during his lecture. Which he then turned into how he would take his work into a new direction to the environment. Throughout his slide show he had citations of where all of his information had come from. I also responded to him well because of his good voice and tone throughout the whole presentation. He had a very informational tone as well as a tone for a level of concern about our planet, and that this situation is really important to address. As a whole, Al Gore really gets his point across using the different rhetorical strategies of logos, pathos and ethos.

Project 2

Project 2

Throughout the advertising world there are millions of commercials, posters, and billboards that try and use rhetorical strategy to persuade. Walking around somewhere like a college campus, there are always flyers and posters everywhere for students to read. When going on our class walking tour of the Ohio University campus, the Baker Center stood out as a place where I could make a great promotional piece for students on campus.

When college students read something like a brochure or flyer it usually has a message of telling the reader to go to an event or place. The makers of the brochure or flyer try to have something that would appeal to college students. I chose to make an informational brochure about the Baker Center. My audience target for this brochure is college students. I chose college students as my audience for a Baker Center brochure because the Center is mainly for the students with tons of resources available, and they should be able to take advantage of that. The Baker Center is a building that is central on campus where students use the escalators to get from the lower and upper parts of campus. I stuck to this genre as the brochure being informational by just giving the hard facts. Throughout my brochure I try to use rhetorical strategies to try and keep the reader interested.

The brochure that I created for the Baker Center has one column of history about the “old” Baker Center that used to be located on the North Green of campus. It says in the brochure what was consisted in the building like a game room, dining room, and administrative offices. The rest of the brochure focuses on the “new” Baker Center and it’s amenities. This includes student services that Baker offers, entertainment and leisure, and the different dining services that are located in the building. I also put pictures next to these amenities because this type of information in the brochure would appeal to students more that this is a “cool” place to hang out. I did not put any information about things that might sound too educational because this would disinterest the audience. Most students in college don’t want to hear about more educational opportunities because they already know what they want to do. They likely wouldn’t pay attention to any brochures or flyers talking about those opportunities. Other strategies I used to try and appeal my readers is by comparing the two different Baker Centers and appealing to their logic, credibility and their emotions.

Comparing the information about the old Baker Center versus the new one was important to appeal my audience. I put the history about the old Baker Center so students could see how different and similar they are. Both Centers have some sort of fun game room. There’s billiards in the new one, and an 8 lane-bowling room in the old one. They both have a place to eat; however the new Baker Center has more options. By comparing and contrasting these two in the brochure, students can see differences visually in the pictures too. There’s more of an updated, high-tech version to the new Baker than the old one. Students are drawn to more new places than the old ones. The Baker building seems more modern and clean. For example, if you put two iPods in front of a student, where one is the newest version and the other made a couple years ago, the student would more likely pick the latest version. Looking at the brochure there’s color on the side where the new Baker is, and black and white on the side were the old one is. The color in the brochure is of the font and pictures, so it stands out to the audience. They would be drawn looking more at the new side. When making the brochure I definitely appealed to students’ logic by giving the correct facts about the Baker Center. The facts are bulleted under each category so it’s not confusing. I also tried to address the audience’s creditability. When first making the brochure I had originally made the font really fun to have it stand out, but when finished making it, I decided it didn’t need to have that font. I realized I should put a more simple, sophisticated font. This is because the fun font would have appealed to more of a younger crowd. Finally, I really appealed to the readers’ emotions in that I’m a college student myself, so I can relate to the brochure too. Since I’m a student, when making this I put things in there that I would want to see that other students would most likely want to see too. Like leaving out information about educational opportunities. I wouldn’t want to read a brochure about that. So I tried to use the majority opinions of what other students think.

The rhetorical strategies used in my brochure capture the reader really well. I used many different ways to try and get catch the attention of a college student. In making this brochure you really have to aim towards one group of audience. It’s really hard persuading a variety of different types of readers. Those people in the advertising promoting their product or commercial really have to aim towards a specific group of people to get good results.

Introducing Place

Introducing Place

Throughout the world there are countless homes and places to live. Some people are fortunate enough to live someplace nice, and others are not so lucky and live in a very rough area. When investigating Miranda Richardson’s hometown of Dublin, Ohio, there were many positive aspects about the homes, people, schools, and surroundings of the community, as well as a couple areas that need improvement too.

Most of the people and families living in Dublin are employed with good jobs and are considered to be the upper middle class. With the wealthy society, comes a very low crime rate. The neighborhood of Miranda Richardson called Dublinshire is a pretty traditional setup with a public pool, elementary school, and a park where kids can play. Her home is on a court, contains 3 levels, and has a big backyard. This is a pretty common home one would compare to the great “American Dream.” It has everything from having successful jobs to schools. Dublin’s school system is in Franklin County, which is well knowledgeable with well-educated teachers and is ranked very high in the state of Ohio. Dublin is always caring about the community and is constantly renovating and taking care of its schools. The sports programs at Miranda’s high school are very good. They are known for having many state championships in football, volleyball, and soccer. Her public school, which is named Dublin Coffman High School, contains about 1,800 students with a 440 student graduating class. With all these people in the schools and the community, the diversity is fairly small. The population is mainly white, with a small African American, Asian, and Indian population. This was surprising because in the community where I live the diversity is off the charts. The religion in Dublin is also very one sided with it mainly being Catholic. However, Dublin is known for it’s Irish name and heritage, where they host an Irish fest every August with bands, food, and dancing.

Dublin is one of the main suburbs outside the city of Columbus, the capital of Ohio. Columbus is considered downtown where a lot of jobs are and where the Ohio State University campus is located. The Ohio State stadium and the Hunnington Park Baseball Stadium are also present downtown. As for professional sports, football star Brady Quinn gets a lot of fans from playing at Notre Dame and is currently on the NFL team for the Denver Broncos. What makes him special for Dublin is he went to Miranda’s Coffman high school. Having a celebrity that went to someone’s school is very cool. For myself, I can relate in saying that the band OAR went to my high school. As for the NFL, the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals’ fans are split. There are many hot spots around Dublin people love to go to. A mall right by the Dublin community called Eastern Town Center is a great place that has a variety of stores, restaurants, and a movie theatre. Cedar Point amusement park is also a place near Dublin that is nationally known where people love to go. Which I can personally say is a lot of fun. There are also beaches as close as 3 hours by car called the Put-in-Bay in Sanduskey Northern Ohio.

With all these great aspects of the city of Dublin, there are some flaws that Miranda’s community needs to address. There is a lot of construction mostly on the roads. There is not much traffic in Dublin, however there is a lot of traffic when heading toward Columbus. When it comes to some of the people of Dublin they are very competitive. Because of the rich communities, people try to compete with one another of who is wealthier, which means a lot of snobbery in people and stereotypes.

Overall, Dublin would be a place Miranda would return to. If she didn’t move back there she would definitely like to move to a place very similar to it. When analyzing the town of Dublin, I saw a glimpse of my own hometown in the description. I always thought that my hometown was unique and had it’s own ways, but when comparing Dublin to my hometown, things seemed pretty similar. I realized that there are a lot of other places that are comparable to where I grew up, and then there are those that are completely different as well. Driving from my hometown of Maryland to Ohio, we went through these little communities that opposite to mine have nothing. It’s like going into a completely different world with different walls. It’s so different the way homes are built and their surroundings. This huge world has so many communities that no one knows what’s out there, and people are only used to their own little niche.

A place I have a connection with

Many people have particular places they go to when they are stressed, upset, or even happy. Whatever makes them feel comfortable that particular place has a connection with them. A place where I have a special connection with is my beach house. I have gone there every summer since I was one year old. The house is shared with my family, my cousins, and my grandparents. We all usually stay there at different times in the summer. There are those times though when we would all stay at the same time being smashed together in one house. When i was younger we would do this a lot but as years went by it would scatter out of who went. I would call it a very family orientated place. I have many memories of being with my relatives and just hanging out. Just going there makes it feel like a second home and it's a very comforting feeling to have. This place really sticks out to me because my grandfather died when I was really young so I don't remember much about him, but I do have memories where we were in the beach house, more than I do at my regular home. A few years ago my grandma decided she was going to sell the beach house and it became such a big deal and we all begged her not to sell, so she ended up not selling it because it's a place we all love to go to and could never give it up.

About Me

My name is Amy Rubin, I'm a freshman at Ohio University. My major is undecided at the moment, and I am taking 4 classes. I live in Ryors on West Green with a random roommate. I am from Maryland, where I live close to Washington D.C. I have 2 brothers, one is my twin bother which I am one minute older than him. Both brothers go to the University of Arizona. In high school I played Varsity Field Hockey. I also love the Washington Redskins and Capitals.