Group Project Ideas

The first cartoon mentions all three different alternative energy forms in a humorous way. It isn’t really clear if it is for using these other energy forms or not, but either way it is entertaining.

The second cartoon shows how solar power could be used to power all sorts of things. There are solar panels on the dog house, the car, the house and even the man’s hat!

I was considering doing something with alternative forms of energy. I would like to explore nuclear power, solar power and wind power or possibly just one of these. Mostly I want to talk about reducing our dependence on coal and focusing on getting our energy from other sources. I mostly want to focus on the positives of these forms of energy. Since I am an electrical engineer I guess I find energy entertaining.

Merry Family Winery

Merry Family Winery is a family-owned and family-operated business located in Gallipolis, Ohio. It is owned by husband and wife, Tim and Lisa Merry. They first decided that they wanted to start a winery around 2002 and planted their first grape vines in 2003. After allowing the vines to mature for 3 years they were able to harvest their first batch of grapes in 2006. They finally began selling their wine in winter of 2007, almost 4 years after they began. When they first opened for business, they only had a few different wines, but now they have 18 different wines and are in the process of making 2 more. Most of their wines are named after family members. They don’t technically employ anyone other than themselves, but a lot of their friends and family volunteer their time to help out especially around harvest time. Tim said, “Thank goodness for friends and family or we never would have been able to do it all”.

Tim and Lisa decided to start their winery because as Tim put it, “I was tired of working for the man.” He also said that it was a hobby of theirs to travel around to different wineries trying the many different wines. They also thought it would be great if the people in this area had a local organic choice when it came to wine. Tim said that he didn’t like that a lot of the wine we consume is transported across the country from places like California. He felt that it would be better for the consumer as well as the environment if he could provide wine to the people in the area. He also said that most wineries use a lot of pesticides and fertilizers to grow their grapes and he didn’t like that. He said that the grapes he grows are never sprayed with pesticide and are never fertilized. He wanted to provide a safe product that was not only good for the consumer, but the environment as well. This mentality is even present in their mission statement which says, “Our mission is to provide a product that is produced from mostly organic means in order to be as healthy for the consumer as it is for the environment”. He said that by growing the grapes the way that he does, the soil is not harmed and no harmful chemicals are introduced into the environment the way that they are in other wineries. He said that he talked to other owners and looked into what it took to start a winery and decided to give it a try. Since Lisa had a good job, they don’t have any children and they weren’t going to have to take out any loans to do it, Tim said that they weren’t really afraid to take the risk of starting a business.

Tim says that the business is thriving despite the poor economy. He said, “Even when times are bad, people still want to have a small amount of luxury and lucky for us that luxury must be wine!” Tim said that he hopes for the next 8 years to double his production. He said that they hope to expand the business to a bigger building in the near future. Their main goal for now though is to consistently produce a product that the people love. They are very grateful for all of the customers who continue to come back and patronize their business.

Tim said that his business is very environmentally friendly. He said that they hand pick all of the grapes which is good for the environment. He also said that instead of using fertilizer to make the grapes grow, they just pick some of the leaves off of the vines so that the sun can penetrate through the canopy. Using the natural sunlight, it makes the grapes taste better and they are better for the consumer. He also said that many of the “ingredients” used for producing the wine are bought locally. They get their glass bottles from Akron Ohio. The labels for the bottles are made by Midget Press in Gallipolis. The concord, Niagara and Catawba grapes are all grown at the winery. He also said that they are in the process of making an apple wine in which the apples came from an apple orchard in Jackson Ohio. Tim said that he always tries to buy everything he can locally because it helps not only the local business, but it is also good for the environment because the products don’t have to travel as far. Tim also said that his wine bottles are recyclable and that some of their customers have come up with some unique ways of recycling the bottles. He said that one lady melts the glass and makes plates out of the bottles. Lisa also said that another lady uses them to make lamps.

Tim and Lisa sell most of the wine they produce at the winery. However, they also distribute to a few local businesses. Tim said, “It is good for us to be able to get our name out there to a greater audience, and it brings in more revenue for the other business”. Some of the distributers include Pizza Plus, Courtside and Holiday Inn in Gallipolis. Bunn’s Party Barn in Meigs County also carries their wine. Lucky Dog in Athens is another distributer that carries almost all of their varieties of wine.

Merry Family Winery does more than just sell wine though. They also hold a variety of events. In the summer they offer steak dinners every Saturday. Tim said that the beef they use comes from local producers. They also hold small intimate weddings and bridal showers there, as well as 21st birthday parties. Lisa said that they also like to have a few different wine and food pairing events each year to help people know what wine goes best with different types of food. They also have a Valentine’s Day dinner each year on Valentine’s Day. She said that they also give tours of the vineyard by appointment. She said that is one of the things that gives the winery such charm. “People really love it when they can actually see exactly where and how the grapes are grown”, said Lisa.



Interview questions:

Why did you decide to start the winery?

When did you start the winery?

Do you have a mission statement?

What are your goals for the winery?

What exactly is the process for making wine?

Do you use any pesticides or fertilizers?

Where do all of the “ingredients” come from?

What need is being fulfilled by this?

Who is benefitting from you doing this?

Where did you get the funding to do this?

What role does the public play in this?

How many types of wines do you offer?

What kinds of events do you hold here?

Where do you sell your wine?

Do you recycle the wine bottles?

How many employees do you have?



Works Cited

Merry, Tim and Lisa Merry. Personal interview. 28 Feb. 2009.

Growing the Green Economy

I thought that the show, “Growing the Green Economy” was an informative and interesting show. The only thing I didn’t particularly like was that it was a solid hour with no commercials! The show had some information in that I already knew, but it also had a lot of information on stuff that I didn’t know that much about. For instance, Chicago is one of the greenest cities in the US. I never knew that they were so “green”. They have come up with something called the Chicago Climate Exchange. It is designed to help reduce carbon emissions. Basically, companies get credits for the amount of carbon they are allowed to emit. If one company is under on their emissions then they can sell some of their credits to another company that is emitting too much. Some large participating companies include Ford and American Electric Power. A lot of money is going into building green companies right now and that is exactly what we and Earth need to happen. The program also said that recycling is a $238 billion business that employs many employees. I knew a lot of people recycled, but I never knew that there were that much. It makes happy, though, to know that many people are concerned about the environment and are trying to help.

A major theme of the program was that we need to invest more money and time in “cleantech”. It is estimated that clean tech will be a $226.5 billion business by 2020. We need to use more wind and solar energy and less fossil fuels to generate electricity. The Solar Electric Light Fund is actually using the sun to bring power to countries and places where there was never power before. As a result children are getting better educations simply because they can now study when the sun goes down and the teachers can now use computers to help them teach. One fuel that many feel we need to use in our vehicles is ethanol. Although the program pointed out that ethanol made from corn is not that great of an idea. It takes a lot of land and it is increasing corn prices, neither of which are good.


The program stated a few facts that I never knew and could hardly believe. For instance, an energy star home uses 30% less energy than a normal home. That shows that there is room for a lot of improvement. There is a lot more we can do to be more efficient in our everyday lives. I also couldn’t believe that there is enough fresh water on our planet for everyone and yet there are countries without clean water simply because it is so unevenly distributed. We desperately need to do something about that.

I really enjoyed the part of the program about organic foods. Personally, I like to try to buy organic food and my family actually grows a lot of the food that we consume at home, both of which are extremely good for the environment. I liked that they said the organic industry increased 16% in 2005 and I’m sure it is still climbing. It is sad though that a lot of the organic food we purchase is shipped long distances, which is quite the problem. If more people could get involved in trying to buy organic then maybe there would be more local people and businesses doing it.

Pollan

This was an interesting (and sometimes disturbing) reading. It seemed a bit long, but it didn’t take me that long to get through it because it seemed to keep my attention and made me want to read on. The first thing that stood out to me was how the meat industry is so secretive about what exactly happens on the kill floor. Mostly this is because people will probably stop eating as much meat and I agree with them. I love meat, but if I knew more about what goes on, I would probably stop eating it as much. This secretiveness was also present in the film “King Corn” when they weren’t allowed to see how they make corn syrup. I also thought it was interesting that he said we may someday see eating meat as barbaric as owning slaves or treating women as inferior. I can’t believe this will be true, but I guess we shall see. Sort of on the same note, I thought it was interesting that Pollan suggested it may be possible that someday we will view speciesism as evil as racism. I also can’t believe this could be true.

I particularly liked the quote from Ben Franklin in which he said that “the advantage of being a reasonable creature is that you can find a reason for everything you do.” I thought it was a funny way of putting it and yet it made a lot of sense. I agreed with Pollan when he was talking about “marginal cases” and said that we make them part of our moral community because “we have all been and probably will be marginal cases ourselves.” This makes sense to me and I would say that is probably a big reason why we do that. Pollan says that one reason we eat meat is because it is more convenient and I would completely agree with this statement. I personally eat meat a lot because it is just easier than trying to make something else. I also would say that there might be more vegetarians if it were easier to be one.

Later in the piece Pollan mentions beef cattle eating a diet that makes them sick. This was also mentioned in the film. They said in the film that cattle are fed so much corn for so many days that they have to be slaughtered or else they will get sick. This to me is very sad. Toward the end of the piece, I thought it was interesting when Pollan was talking about how difficult it would be to build a sustainable agriculture without animals. By talking about this he made the case that eating animals may sometimes be the most ethical thing to do. I didn’t expect to read that in this piece. I also didn’t expect to see the part about Jeremy Bentham saying that “the death they suffer in our hands may be speedier and less painful than the one which would await them in the inevitable course of nature. “ I expected this piece to be preaching to me about how I should never eat meat again and it didn’t really do that. I guess that is why I didn’t mind reading it.

Nanotechnology Revised

Bridget Merry
Dr. A. Rouzie
English 308J
10 February 2009
Nanotechnology
Imagine. You wake up one morning and roll out of bed. You walk over to the window and open the blinds. You can tell by the haziness that it is going to be another hot and humid day. You walk to the closet and pick out a thin shirt with tiny antennas all over it to help keep you cool. You don’t notice the antennas though because they are 80,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair (“US Experts”). You walk outside to go to work and get into your hybrid car. The car is also covered in these tiny antennas. In fact, the car has been charging up all night due to these antennas. You turn on the car and the engine starts. You plug in your cell phone and it starts charging with the heat being generated by the engine which has a tiny layer of these antennas as well. You finally make it to the office and you walk in. You notice that the temperature is cool and you don’t feel the heat and humidity that you felt outside even though there is no air conditioner. This is because the walls are also covered in these antennas that are being used to cool the room. You turn on the lights and you start up the computer on your desk. All of the electricity that is being consumed is coming from the antenna covered roof tiles that are on top of your building.

The previous story may seem a little farfetched, but according to Steven Novack, a physicist at the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls, Idaho, it could be in the near future (“Nanoantenna”). They have created in the lab, flexible sheets of plastic with nanoscale antennas made of silicon substrate that can do all of the previous mentioned things. The antennas on the sheets, which only cost about $1 per square foot, pick up heat that is radiated from the Earth (even at night) as infrared light (“Nanoantenna”). The antennas are not like normal solar cells in that they function by using the wave properties of light. They are also more efficient than traditional solar cells. Normal solar cells are approximately 12% to 20% efficient while the antennas are about 50% efficient (“Nanoantenna”). These antennas could someday be used to generate not only electricity, but could also be used as a cooling system. Just as the antennas absorb infrared light from the Earth, they can also absorb heat from our bodies and rooms (“Nanoantenna”).

What exactly is nanotechnology (or nanotech) anyway? According to Mark Myers and Andrew Gurwood, nanotechnology is defined as “the engineering and manufacturing on the nanometer scale”. What exactly is a nanometer? A nanometer is defined as one-billionth of a meter. Since most people can’t imagine a size that small it helps to give a comparison. The article “Nanotechnology” gives a good comparison and says “comparing a nanometer to a meter is like comparing a marble to the size of the Earth”. According to Brad Kenney nanotechnology is expected to reach $2.6 trillion in services and products in the next 6 years. It sounds like that weird word “nanotechnology” could in the near future become a little more common.
Despite this proposed benefit and many others, many scientists and environmentalists as well as numerous other people feel that nanotechnology is harmful to people and the environment and as a result are calling it “nanopollution” (“Implications”). Nanopollution is defined as the “waste generated by nanodevices or during the manufacturing of nanomaterials”. “Free” particles can be released into the air during the production of materials or as a byproduct (“Implications”). According to the article “Implications of Nanotechnology”, the small size of the particles means that they could float in the air unnoticeable. They could then get into the water supply and soil as well as penetrate the cells of both plants and animals causing harmful effects that aren’t even known yet. The small size of the particles often causes them to behave differently than larger versions of the particles. For instance, carbon nanotubes are not the same as regular carbon (“US Experts”). Some feel that these particles could also function as a means of transportation for other harmful substances (“Implications”).

Even when the particles aren’t “free”, but part of a manufactured good they still can propose a problem. One example would be that silver particles are being woven into fabric to serve as odor neutralizers and being put on bandages to make them resist bacteria (Johnson). According to Johnson, it has been discovered that these particles can leach out of the fabric during washing and end up in the water supply. The Environmental Protection Agency has already begun trying to regulate the use of silver particles in products (“US Experts”). They are requiring that all manufactures using silver nanoparticles provide evidence that their products aren’t harmful to the environment. However, it has already been proved that silver (in a larger form) is harmful to aquatic life so it is probably going to be a difficult task to prove it is safe. (“US Experts”). It has also been shown that silver nanoparticles may destroy the bacteria needed to break down the organic material at water treatment plants (“Nanotechnology”). Another example of a harmful manufactured good would be “buckyballs”, also known as carbon-60, which are nano sized particles that are used for coatings and other materials. It has been found that these particles can penetrate the cells of animals making them toxic to all organisms (“Nanotechnology Risks”). According to “Nanotechnology Risks: How Buckyballs Hurt Cells” it is believed that the particles get into a cell and change the way that it functions. A recently published study has found that carbon nanotubes are as harmful as asbestos if enough of it is inhaled (“Nanotechnology”).

An especially large concern right now to environmentalists and others is how these goods made of nanoparticles will be disposed of. It is unclear how these particles will break down in the environment once the product is thrown away as waste (“Implications”). It is difficult to know if the particles can be removed from the soil, water and air once they are deposited there. Currently, we do not have filters that are fine enough to remove particles that small (“Implications”).

Despite the proposed harmful effects of nanotech many feel that there are more benefits than risks. In the pharmaceutical industry, for instance, drug makers are looking into nano-engineered drug reformulations (Kenney 32). These reformulations would not only benefit the companies producing the drugs, but the patients taking the drugs as well. For instance, according to Kenney, over time cancer drugs stop working because the cancer patients become immune to the drugs. After a drug reformulation the drug would start working in the patient’s body again (32). Nanotech is also being used to find ways in which to give medication to patients so that it targets the affected area only; practically eliminating the risk of side effects (Myers). They are also using nanotech to develop contact lenses that are resistant to bacteria and fungus (Myers).

Nanotech is not only changing the pharmaceutical world, but the manufacturing world as well. A company in Akron Ohio named Ecology Coatings has been putting nanomaterials in their paint to create products with an extremely long shelf life of several years or so (Kenney 32). In fact the biggest market for nanotech right now is in the development of coatings of different sorts. A few examples include window treatments that reduce ultraviolet ray penetration and paint that resists mildew in high moisture areas (Kenney 32). Nanotech is also being used to develop “clean tech” products as well. For instance, nanoengineered lithium ion batteries are now being used in General Motors’ hybrid vehicles (Kenney 34). Many companies are also developing nanoparticles that can be used to refine heavy crude oil into crude that burns cleaner (Kenney 35). Researchers at the University of Arkansas have recently made nano wires that can be woven into fabric to make it resistant to fire (Myers).

Given the above, it would appear that nanotechnology has many proposed benefits, but like many other things it may have some risks as well. It is definitely necessary to do further investigation into what exactly these risks are and how they are going to affect the environment. The first step we need to take is to fund better programs that can explore and test the risks of nanotechnology. It is clear that we can see some of the benefits right now, but what kinds of problems will we see in the future if we don’t act now? That is unclear as of now. Until further research is done to assess the implications of nanotech, it needs to be regulated. Agencies need to be put together and brought in to help determine what regulations are needed. The second thing we need to do is find ways in which to dispose of nanoparticle waste. It is alarming that we have created this waste and don’t know how to get rid of it. At this stage though, until we do further research, it would appear that the benefits are outweighing the risks.

Work Cited
“Implications of Nanotechnology.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 5 Jan. 2009.
1 Feb. 2009 .
Johnson, Colin R. “Nanoparticles leaching into environment.” EE Times. 10 Apr. 2008.
1 Feb. 2009
.
Kenney, Brad. “NANOTECH: The Next American Revolution?” Industry Week/IW
256.10 (2007) : 30-35.
Myers, Mark D., Andrew S. Gurwood. “Is Nanotechnology The Next Frontier In Eye
Care?” Review of Optometry 143.8 (2006) : 62-72.
“Nanoantenna Sheets Harvest Energy.” Science Friday. National Public Radio. New
York. 22 Aug. 2008.
“Nanotechnology.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 2 Feb. 2009. 2 Feb. 2009
.
“Nanotechnology Risks: How Buckyballs Hurt Cells.” Science Daily. 27 May 2008.
9 Feb. 2009. 080527091910.htm>.
“US Experts Call For Tighter Controls on Nanotechnology.” Space Mart. 28 Nov. 2006.
9 Feb. 2009. Controls_On_Nanotechnology_999.html>.

Paraphrase

Source: This kind of waste may be very dangerous because of its size. It can float in the air and might easily penetrate animal and plant cells causing unknown effects.

Original: These particles could penetrate both plants’ and animals’ cells. These particles could then accumulate in the plants and animals as well as in the water supply and soil causing unknown harmful effects.

Revised: The small size of the particles means that they could float in the air unnoticeable. They could then get into the water supply and soil as well as penetrate the cells of both plants and animals causing harmful effects that aren’t even known yet.

Nanotech rough draft

Nanotechnology
Imagine. You wake up one morning and roll out of bed. You walk over to the window and open the blinds. You can tell by the haziness that it is going to be another hot and humid day. You walk to the closet and pick out a thin shirt with tiny antennas all over it to help keep you cool. You don’t notice the antennas though because they are smaller than the width of a human hair. You walk outside to go to work and get into your hybrid car. The car is also covered in these tiny antennas. In fact, the car has been charging up all night due to these antennas. You turn on the car and the engine starts. You plug in your cell phone and it starts charging with the heat being generated by the engine which has a tiny layer of these antennas as well. You finally make it to the office and you walk in. You notice that the temperature is cool and you don’t feel the heat and humidity that you felt outside even thought there is no air conditioner. This is because the walls are also covered in these antennas that are cooling the room. You turn on the lights and you start up the computer on your desk. All of the electricity that is being consumed is coming from the antenna covered roof tiles that are on top of your building.
The previous story may seem a little farfetched, but according to Steven Novack, a physicist at the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls, Idaho says it could be in the near future (“Nanoantenna”). They have created in the lab, flexible sheets of plastic with nanoscale antennas made of silicon substrate that can do all of the previous mentioned things. The antennas on the sheets, which only cost about $1 per square foot, pick up heat that is radiated from the Earth (even at night) as infrared light (“Nanoantenna”). The antennas are not like normal solar cells in that they function by using the wave properties of light. They are also more efficient than traditional solar cells. Normal solar cells are approximately 12% to 20% efficient while the antennas are about 50% efficient (“Nanoantenna”). These antennas could someday be used to generate not only electricity, but could also be used as a cooling system. Just as the antennas absorb infrared light from the Earth, they can also absorb heat from our bodies and rooms (“Nanoantenna”).
What exactly is nanotechnology (or nanotech) anyway? Nanotechnology is defined as the engineering and manufacturing done at the nanometer scale. What exactly is a nanometer? A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter (Myers). To put that in perspective, comparing a nanometer to a meter is like comparing a marble to the size of the Earth (“Nanotechnology”). According to Brad Kenney nanotechnology is an “emerging technology that will top $2.6 trillion in new products and services by 2015.” It sounds like that weird word “nanotechnology” could in the near future become a little more common.
Despite this proposed benefit and many others, many scientists and environmentalists as well as numerous other people feel that nanotechnology is harmful to people and the environment and are calling it “nanopollution” (“Implications”). Nanopollution is defined as the waste generated by nanodevices or during the manufacturing of nanomaterials. “Free” particles can be released into the air and water during the production of materials or as a byproduct (“Implications”). These particles could penetrate both plants’ and animals’ cells. These particles could then accumulate in the plants and animals as well as in the water supply and soil causing unknown harmful effects. Some feel that these particles could also function as a means of transportation for other harmful substances (“Implications”).
Even when the particles aren’t “free”, but part of a manufactured good they still can propose a problem. One example would be that silver particles are being woven into fabric to serve as odor neutralizers and being put on bandages to make them resist bacteria. However, it has been discovered that these particles can leach out of the fabric during washing and end up in the water supply. An especially large concern right now is how these goods made of nanoparticles will be disposed of. It is unclear how these particles will break down in the environment once the product is thrown away as waste. It is difficult to know if the particles can be removed from the soil, water and air once they are deposited there. Currently, we do not have filters that are fine enough to remove particles that small.
Despite the proposed harmful effects of nanotech many feel that there are more benefits than risks. In the pharmaceutical industry, for instance, drug makers are looking into nano-engineered drug reformulations (Kenney 32). These reformulations would not only benefit the companies producing the drugs, but the patients taking the drugs as well. For instance, over time cancer drugs stop working because the cancer patients become immune to the drugs. After a drug reformulation the drug would start working in the patient’s body again (Kenney 32). Nanotech is also being used to find ways in which to administer medication to patients in a way that targets the affected area only and virtually eliminates the risk of side effects (Myers). They are also working to develop contact lenses that are resistant to bacteria and fungus (Myers).
Nanotech is not only changing the pharmaceutical world, but the manufacturing world as well. A company in Akron Ohio named Ecology Coatings has been putting nanomaterials in their paint to create products with an extremely long shelf life of several years or so (Kenney 32). In fact the biggest market for nanotech right now is in the development of coatings of different sorts. A few examples include window treatments that reduce ultraviolet ray penetration and paint that resists mildew in high moisture areas (Kenney 32). Nanotech is being used to develop “clean tech” products as well. For instance, nanoengineered lithium ion batteries are now being used in General Motors’ hybrid vehicles (Kenney 34). Many companies are also developing nanoparticles that can be used to refine heavy crude oil into cleaner-burning crude (Kenney 35). Researchers at the University of Arkansas have made nano wires that can be used to make fabric resistant to fire (Myers).
Given the above, it would appear that nanotechnology has many proposed benefits, but like many other things it may have some risks as well. It is definitely necessary to do further investigation into what exactly these risks are and how they are going to affect the environment. However, at this stage I would have to say that the benefits are outweighing the risks.

Effective/Ineffective Argumentation/Rhetoric

Effective argumentation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tAtIkcPg00&feature=related

In this video, many credible sources are used. Bob Sussman an environmental lawyer from the Center for American Progress talks about carbon sequestration and why he believes it is a good thing. Then, a man by the name of David Novack who made a documentary about the coal industry discusses why he believes it is not feasible. Finally, George Monbiot, an author and environmentalist, talks about why he believes it isn’t a solution either. Both state that it isn’t possible with the amount of carbon dioxide we are producing at the coal power plants. I liked that both sides were viewed; it wasn’t biased in any one direction. The piece not only had ethos, but logos and pathos as well. The images that were shown in the video were useful in getting the viewer connected with what the narrator was speaking about. They viewer could actually see the amount of emissions being released into the air. Evidence was also presented by all parties to show why they believed the way that they do. Sussman explained what it was and why he liked the idea of putting the carbon dioxide in the ground. Then, Novack and Monbiot explained why they believe we don’t have the means to do it. Novack says that we have never tried to do it on the scale that we are looking at. He says the technology will still take at least 30 years to develop and it will cost a lot. He says the money needs to go into developing other ways of producing energy. Monbiot agrees that the technology is not where it should be to be effective in reducing the carbon dioxide emissions today and that we need to use other methods to produce our energy.

http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200701/coal.asp

This article employs all three of the rhetorical strategies, logos, ethos and pathos. The article is published by the Sierra Club, an environmental organization in the United States, which I would describe as a credible source. Much data and evidence is presented in this article. It talked about how coal produces half of the United States’ energy. It also says that coal power produces 36% of our nation’s carbon dioxide emissions. Then, the article goes on to explain different kinds of power plants such as pulverized-coal power plants and IGCC power plants. Next, the article talks about possible solutions such as capturing the carbon dioxide and storing it underground and implementing a carbon tax. The article makes it sound as if there is something we can do about our situation which makes the reader feel a little more at ease. It makes you aware that we need to do something about our situation and gives a few suggestions.

Ineffective Argumentation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-unITMdFw4

In this video, a girl is trying to argue why coal is clean and why we should use it. She is only there to pass out t-shirts and buttons to people and obviously has no credibility. She even says that she just started the job, but this doesn’t prevent her from trying to defend why we should use coal. She provides facts, but it is hard to say if anything she says is correct so I wouldn’t say that logos is present either. The only emotion I felt after watching this was laughter because she is completely out of her element and needs to keep her mouth shut if she is clueless about the issue.

http://thecoalhole.org/the-five-best-arguments-for-coal-and-why-theyre-still-really-really-bad/

I felt that this article was sort of funny to read. The author was comical in his writing; however I don’t know if I believe what he wrote. It came from a source that I am not familiar with and I’m not sure if the guy ever says who he is so I have a hard time believing what he says or trusting what he says. He has a few statistics, but overall I don’t feel it is enough to be convincing. It seems as though there is more emphasis on saying something funny than saying something useful. For instance, in the last myth he talks about carbon sequestration, but turns it into a story about a bridesmaid coming to wedding. This piece of writing overall didn’t really appeal to me as a reader.

Cradle to Cradle

In chapter 3 of the book “Cradle to Cradle” by William McDonough and Michael Braungart the concepts of rhetoric, pathos, ethos and logos were present although they didn’t seem to be in your face. You sort of had to read and contemplate on what was being said to recognize them.
There was a lot of talk about exactly what should be done to improve the quality of our planet. It wasn’t just an accusatory piece saying “you better fix this planet or we are all going to die” or something of that sort. Instead, it was more about the steps we need to take to make our world better. This appealed to me as a reader. I don’t want to feel like I’m being attacked for not being as environmentally friendly as maybe I could be. Rather I want to be told exactly what steps I should take to do better. I believe that there were a lot of good points in this piece and I think we all could do a better job of protecting our environment. I think that the audience most likely reading this book are the kind of people that want to be more environmentally friendly and I feel this piece would appeal to them.
The writers never really talked about the credentials they had on the subject, but I still felt like they were credible. They seemed to know a lot about the subject and had a lot of good ideas that actually seem feasible. They talked about the concept of putting grass and soil on the rooftops. As pointed out in the piece, this is already happening and has been happening for a long time in a lot of places. The way that this book was written (or at least this chapter) was extremely easy to read and understand. I felt that I could identify with the writers simply because I knew what they were talking about. I feel that I could actually have a conversation with them just by the way they write.
Chapter 3 was not full of a lot of facts and statistics, but I still feel that the concept of logos was present. They weren’t throwing a lot of data in your face, but they did have a lot of material that would appeal to good reason. As stated before they had many good ideas for how we can do better as a society. They talked about ways in which we could incorporate nature into even the industrial part of society and include it in factory design. They talked about how we could use plastics to make books and other reading material instead of using paper. This to me sounds like a great idea, especially because we have already created so much plastic. We could use this plastic for a greater good. They actually used a lot of stories about things that they have already done in different places to be more environmentally friendly. Instead of having stories about things they have only heard about, instead they used personal stories to present the evidence that it is possible to do most of the things they discussed.

Monbiot

In George Monbiot’s “Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning” the rhetorical strategies of Faigley and Selzer are present.

Pathos (emotions) is evident everywhere. Monbiot constantly talks about how bad off the planet as a whole will be if we don’t act now. He gives several examples of events that will occur if we continue to live the way we do. He talks about how droughts and famine will occur. He talks about how much the water level will rise even with a small increase in temperature. All of this has a great effect on the audiences’ emotions. He makes it very clear what disastrous things will happen even in our lifetime. This, I’m sure, greatly saddens and maybe angers many of the readers. When we hear about the bad things that could happen not only to our children, but to us as well it has a greater affect on us.

Ethos is also evident in the piece. Monbiot never comes out and says that he is an extremely credible source, but he mentions many people, magazines and articles that are credible. He gives examples of several articles and quotes magazines such as Science and Nature which greatly add to the credibility of the information and numbers he is giving. He is not just giving his uneducated opinion in this piece; he is giving his opinion after doing great amounts of research. He also gives the opinions of other people that are highly educated in the subject.

Logos is probably the most evident in the piece. Monbiot is constantly giving facts and statistics throughout the piece. He hardly gets through a paragraph without giving some sort of evidence that these horrible things are happening. He says things like “the temperature is expected to rise between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees”. He says that we currently have a carbon concentration of 440 ppm. These sorts of facts and data litter the entire work.

Beauty (revision)

Nature. Can’t live with it, can’t live without it. Well…sort of. The truth is we really can’t live without nature. However, it is possible for us to learn to live with nature. Sometimes I think we just choose not to do it. This may not be because we are just bad people and don’t give a darn about the rest of the world. Most of us want to be one with nature, but this world we have come to create for ourselves makes it extremely difficult to do just that.

It is so easy to just say that we want the best for nature, but realistically it is so incredibly hard to keep nature’s best interest at heart all of the time. We have created a world in which we rely on cars and airplanes and machinery and construction equipment and etc., and etc., and etc. The list goes on forever. Technology has become so advanced and we have become almost completely dependent on fossil fuels and all sorts of things that are polluting and ruining the environment. I completely agree that maybe nature’s best interest should come first sometimes, but exactly where this fine line between us and nature is drawn, I’m not so sure.

I grew up in a small town. Actually you can’t even really call it a town; it is more of a village. My house is way out in the country. We don’t really have next door neighbors, we have next door trees. So, I have always been around nature and have learned to respect it and see its beauty. In fact I feel that one of my main reasons for protecting nature is simply to preserve its beauty and innocence. I couldn’t imagine living in a big city without the fresh air to breathe or the green grass under my feet.

I come from a family that also respects nature. They don’t litter. They don’t hunt. They recycle. My mom even gets trees in the mail from the Arbor Day Foundation to plant around our house. However, being that we live far from everything, it is necessary for us to drive just about anywhere we need to go. So, it seems that there has to be a trade off. We want to respect nature, but in order for us to live our lives we sometimes have to put our own interests first.

My family and I recently took a trip out West. I got to witness firsthand the natural beauty of the Rocky Mountains and the Grand Tetons. I got to smell the fresh, clean, pure air. I got to see the magnificent trees and furry cute animals in Yellowstone. I visited the Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska and saw so much beautiful scenery that it was almost hard to digest it all. I experienced all of this and it gave me an appreciation for nature far beyond what I had before taking the trip. It almost gave me a sense of peace just being there and looking at all of it. It was not only beautiful to look at, but it was refreshing to see such raw beauty untouched or harmed by humans. The people there seemed to respect the land and lived with nature not against it.

There are oh so many things that people in this world are doing that are so cruel to the environment. Some of it is to benefit mankind, but some of it doesn’t seem to benefit anything or anyone. The latter one troubles me greatly. I can’t stand it when I see a piece of litter alongside the road. Pure carelessness. I can’t stand it when trees are chopped down for no reason. Pure recklessness. I can’t stand it to see innocent animals being shot for sport. Pure insanity. It is all so wrong. I can’t believe it is even happening. I know you have to weigh the pros and cons when trying to make a decision, but I really don’t see any pros for behavior like this. These sorts of things have to stop or we really are going to destroy everything.

Nature is such a beautiful and magnificent thing. It is hard to believe that anyone would want to harm it just to benefit his or herself. Unfortunately, this is exactly what we are doing. We have created something that has gotten so out of control that it is nearly impossible to stop now. As impossible as it seems, though, that is exactly what we need to do. Try to stop it. We need to invest more time and money in trying to find ways to have less of an impact on the environment. We need to try to develop ways in which we can live side by side with nature. We need to find ways in which we benefit as well as nature. Sadly, until we can do this, I have to agree that sometimes our own interests must come before nature’s whether we like it or not.

I think at the end of the day we need to remember that nature doesn’t need us as much as we need nature. Nature was here long before we were and the only thing it really needs from us is to try not to destroy everything. Nature essentially is what keeps us alive. If it weren’t for the trees and plants absorbing our carbon dioxide and producing oxygen for us to breathe, well, we would have died years and years ago. Nature is so much bigger than we are and we really need to do our best to save and preserve it.

Beauty

Nature. Can’t live with it, can’t live without it. Well…sort of. The truth is we really can’t live without nature. Nature essentially is what keeps us alive. If it weren’t for the trees and plants absorbing our carbon dioxide and producing oxygen for us to breathe, well, we would have died years and years ago. However, it is possible for us to learn to live with nature. Sometimes I think we just choose not to do it. And this may not be because we are just bad people and don’t give a darn about the rest of the world. Most of us want to be one with nature, but this world we have come to create for ourselves makes it extremely difficult.

It is so easy to just say that we want the best for nature, but realistically it is so incredibly hard to keep nature’s best interest at heart all of the time. We have created a world in which we rely on cars and airplanes and machinery, and construction equipment and etc., and etc., and etc. The list goes on forever. Technology has become so advanced and we have become completely dependent on fossil fuels and all sorts of things that are polluting the environment. If we really wanted to start putting nature’s best interest above our own all of the time we would really have to go back to the way we were living over a hundred years ago. I seriously doubt if there are many people that could do this. I know I couldn’t do this. So the truth of the matter is that sometimes we just have to put ourselves first if we want to continue living like this. Having said this, though, I completely agree that maybe nature’s best interest should come first sometimes, but exactly where this fine line between us and nature is drawn, I’m not so sure.

I grew up in a small town. Actually you can’t even really call it a town; it is more of a village. My house is way out in the country. We don’t really have next door neighbors, we have next door trees. So, I have always been around nature and have learned to respect it and see its beauty. In fact I feel that my biggest reason for protecting nature is simply to preserve its beauty. I couldn’t imagine living in a big city without the fresh air to breathe or the green grass under my feet. I come from a family that also respects nature. They don’t litter. They don’t hunt. They recycle. My mom even gets trees in the mail from the Arbor Day Foundation to plant around our house. However, being that we live far from everything, it is necessary for us to drive just about anywhere we need to go. So, it seems that there has to be a trade off. We want to respect nature, but in order for us to live our lives we sometimes have to put our own interests first.

I think most of my feelings towards nature stem from its beauty. My family and I recently took a trip out West. I got to witness firsthand the natural beauty of the Rocky Mountains and the Grand Tetons. I got to see the trees and animals in Yellowstone. I visited the Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska and saw so much beautiful scenery that it was almost hard to digest it all. I experienced all of this and it gave me an appreciation for nature far beyond what I had had before taking the trip. It almost gave me a sense of peace just looking at all of it.

Now just because I appreciate and respect nature, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I believe it is all up to us to stop global warming and take full responsibility for what is happening all around us. I believe that the Earth goes through natural cycles. Cycles that it has been going through long before we were around. It has experienced Ice Ages and obviously it warmed up on its own or we wouldn’t be here right now. I do admit that it is possible that we have maybe caused this process to speed up slightly by releasing toxins into the air. At the same time though I also believe that the Earth is heating up on its own anyway. It might not be all our fault. I don’t know, maybe I’m just telling myself this so I can sleep at night…who knows…

Williams Rhetorical Strategies

In Yellowstone: The Erotics of Place Terry Tempest Williams seems to use a lot of repetition. For instance, he talks about the steam, the water, the geysers, the animals and many other aspects of Yellowstone. Then, at the end of the piece he repeats the exact same paragraph describing it all again. Later in the piece he also writes the phrase “Pansexual. Of Pan.” many times when talking about the landscape. Also the phrase “Echo System” is used a lot when describing Yellowstone and its ecosystem. He also seems to use a lot of short sentences in his writing, probably to create emphasis. He writes, “Steam rising. Water boiling…Smoke clearing. Eyes staring.” Most of the sentences in the first paragraph (and last for that matter) are only two word sentences. He also uses this elsewhere such as when he writes, “Loving the land. Honoring its mysteries.” Or later he writes, “Rituals. Ceremonies. Engaging with the land.” In this piece he also likes to list many things to give several examples I suppose. For instance, he writes, “A landscape that loves bison, bear, elk, deer, moose…” He then includes several other animals as well. Then, in the paragraph following he lists several kinds of trees that are found there. Finally, in the next paragraph he lists the different mountains and rivers that are there. He uses this toward the end as well when he is describing us indoors. He writes, “scheming, talking, telephoning…” He also likes to personify the land and nature in the piece of literature. He writes, “We call its name-and the land calls back.” It is as if to say the land is actually talking to us.

In Winter Solstice at the Moab Slough Williams is describing being there and then flashes back to the last time when he was there. He also seems to talk a lot about birds and how they fit in to the whole process. He talks about two great blue herons who are flying overhead and then goes on to talk about a red-tailed hawk that is set free in the flashback. He then comes back to the herons when he returns from the flashback. He also keeps with the theme of loving nature and how nature will take care of us. He talks about how we should care for nature and love nature and how this in return will teach us to love one another.

In the final piece Erosion he talks about a farmer named Kinji Kurumada. He describes his love for the land and how his knowledge and love led to his bountiful harvests year after year. It says that he had an “intimacy with the land.” This theme seemed to be prominent in all of the pieces.

There is a place I know, a place that I have known for practically my entire life. It isn’t a secret place, in fact many people know about it, but it is very special to me. I call this place my backyard. In the summertime I especially like to retreat to this place and just escape to my own little paradise. With its lush green grass and large oak tree, it gives me a sense of calmness and I can’t imagine being anywhere else. It is so peaceful to just grab a book and sit in the shade of that magnificent tree. The stress just seems to melt away and I could stay there for hours. I always look forward to that mid August day when I can pick a plump ripened peach from one of the peach trees in the back corner. Those sweet juicy peaches take me to another world, a world in which I never want to leave. And when those scorching hot summer days arrive I have no fear because I know that the cool crisp sparkling water in the swimming pool will refresh and rejuvenate me. I always look forward to and enjoy spending a lazy day in my big green and white striped hammock soaking up the sunshine and feeling the warm breeze in my hair. I just close my eyes and a pleasant feeling of tranquility overwhelms my body. It makes me sad to think that I won’t always be able to go to this place when I’m older, but for now I am just going to enjoy the time I have.