Pros And Cons Of The Locavore Movement

The industiral food chain costs each and everyone of us: in the government spending, in pollution, in global warming, and in our health” (Pollan 275). This explains that the costs of the industrial food chain may seem cheeper but it is still expensive and the hunter-gatherer food chain is better than that, because it doesn’t cause that much harm to the environment. “…So I kept it simple. I went around the table and spoke of each persons contribution to my foragingeducation and to this meal… I talked about hunting with Richard in Sonoma durining that first failed outing.

In Maryruth Belsey Priebe’s article “Benefits of Being a Locavore” she expresses the benefits to buying local produce. Priebe catches her readers in her opening statement discussing the benefits of becoming a locavore with “Supported by environmentalists and average households, locally grown food is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint while enjoying tastier, healthier food at a lower cost” (Priebe). A locavore is a word used to describe someone who purchases food locally in order to try to reduce their carbon footprint. Priebe’s makes sure that she shares some of the concerns with the long-distance food miles before delving in to the benefits of becoming a locavore like the experience involved in purchasing locally, having healthier

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, is a book about American dietary traditions, and the food quandary American’s encounter in today’s society. Pollan presents various philosophical points to entice his readers to question their current eating habits. Further, Pollan attempts to help readers determine the resolution to the long-standing question: “What will I fix for dinner?” by exploring the diverse food routes available to modern-day man and by dissecting those paths to reveal the best for well-being, solidity, and sustainability. Pollan initiates the book by examining the dilemma of the omnivore, a beast with infinite options for eating.

Culturally, people are fighting against statistics such as, “40 percent of Americans watch television during meals— viewing food as fuel rather than sustenance, discarding family recipes and foodways, and denying that eating has social and political dimensions.” (Pollan, FMR, ¶34), and are trying to make dining an experience rather than a primal necessity. Throughout this chapter, local farmer’s markets are continually used as an example of an open inviting atmosphere where the public can meet those that have harvested the ingredients essential for that night’s dinner. Instead of checking out of a grocery store with a monotone beep in the background with each new item added to their cart, conversations are buzzing in the background of a farmer’s market, “people have ten times as many conversations at the farmers’ market than they do in the supermarket” (Pollan, FMR, ¶24). Farmer’s markets also go hand in hand with the other standpoints behind the food movement that encourage people to eat fresher local foods and promote sustainable farming

Is eating meat a detrimental threat to the environment? This debate over meat’s involvement in the global warming crisis was what inspired Nicolette Hahn Niman to write, “The Carnivore’s Dilemma.” Niman hoped writing, “The Carnivore’s Dilemma,” would cause her audience to understand that eating meat, raised on traditional farms, was a superior alternative to vegetarianism. Niman supported her claim by explaining how industrialized farms and vegetarians produce more of the three greenhouse gases that caused global warming, than that produced by traditional farms. Niman’s article fell short of being effective due to flaws in her supporting evidence and conclusion.

Locavores are misinformed idealist who believe in changing the world by eating locally. They believe by eating locally, they are improving their carbon footprint, help the local economy, and creating a more nutritional diet. However, locavores are ignorant of many situations such as many people’s lives depend on trade and that many places are not suitable for farming. Even though a locavore’s heart is heading in the right direction, but their efforts are misguided.

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

In the article, “Is It Possible to be a Conscientious Meat Eater”, the authors argue that processed meat can greatly affect the many things in our everyday life. Sunaura and Alexander’s argument is significantly unreliable because of the certain professions both authors yield. As stated in the article “Sunaura is an artist, writer, and activist in Oakland.” “Alexander’s profession is studying philosophy, and ethics in Athens, Georgia.” This shows that neither of them are qualified to argue in the subject of conscientious meat eaters.

Relevance between Food and Humans with Rhetorical Analysis In the modern industrial society, being aware of what the food we eat come from is an essential step of preventing the “national eating disorder”. In Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, he identifies the humans as omnivores who eat almost everything, which has been developed into a dominant part of mainstream unhealthiness, gradually causing the severe eating disorder consequences among people. Pollan offers his opinion that throughout the process of the natural history of foods, deciding “what should we have for dinner” can stir the anxiety for people based on considering foods’ quality, taste, price, nutrition, and so on.

Many locavores believe that transportation greatly contributes to higher greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, Source D clearly shows that for red meat, nearly 90% of the greenhouse gas emissions per year come from production, not transportation. As such, local communities must also determine not only where their food comes from, but how to produce and manufacture that food to have the least environmental impact. Otherwise, the locavore movement contributes effects that are just as detrimentally to the environment as any other form of production would produce. Likewise, individuals and restaurants must also be held accountable in a community in order to have a positive impact.

More cheaper and “efficient” products mean more money coming their way. As people are getting more greedy with their income, the people who can not afford the better choice of a healthier diet are getting unhealthy. “More sweeteners, salt, and trans fat. Cheaper meat, more animal fat”, Saletan expressed. As a server at a ramen restaurant, I fully understand how this works.

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

From the very first sentence in The Locavore’s Dilemma he states how he feels about this idea, “There is a growing trend, or at least a growing noise in favor of eating locally produced food” (Pelletier). Right from the start he calls it a noise, making it pretty clear how he feels about this subject. He also points out that as of right now if we only ate within a 100 mile radius we wouldn't eat what we do now. Fresh fruit only comes from south of us, farther than 100 miles. A very important point he makes that is very easy to relate to here is farming.

Few people have ever thought of food as more than just a source of energy, a fount of nutrients, or a delight to our taste buds. The only parts of our body involved in the work of eating are our mouth and digestive system-or so we think. But that’s only a fraction of the whole picture. The book The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan reveals the evolution, science, and thinking behind the simple action of eating. In this book, Pollan argues that a long time ago, humans were able to solve the dilemma they had about what to eat, but now, at a time when we think we’re so much more advanced, this dilemma has not only been made harder, but we’ve become even less healthy, and forgotten the point of eating, especially in America.

As diets and health become more and more of a public concern in America. Two authors weigh in on their opinions on how the American public should handle the problem of obesity as well as their solutions to the overwhelming issue. In one article, “Against Meat,” published on the New York Times website in 2009, points out that the solution to obesity should be vegetarianism. Johnathan Foer who is a vegetarian, claims that his diet and way of living is his the way of improving health in the American public. Foer’s article provides a sense of humor as well as personal stories to attempt to persuade his audience for the ethical treatment of animals along with his personal solution for his own health and the health of his family.