Summary Of The Locavore Myth By Stephen Toulmin

Pollan, however, believes that animal welfare should be espoused by allowing animals to live free-range and follow their natural instincts. Pollan and Hurst are also concerned with protecting the environment, but disagree on what the best avenue of protection is. Pollan believes that the environment would be better protected if animals were put back on farms and raised organically (370). Hurst believes that industrial farming practitioners are sufficient in their efforts to protect the environment because they are conscious of the effects industrial farming has on the environment, and they take steps to reduce the harm it could have on the environment, such as monitoring nitrogen levels. The authors, despite their differing views on the best way to accomplish their beliefs, successfully convey their

Thread 1: In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan describes what the omnivore’s dilemma actually is. He begins his book as a naturalist in a supermarket trying to decide “what to eat?”. This question is harder to answer without asking where the food originates. Knowing where food comes from is very difficult, unless it is locally grown or clearly states it on the package. Processed food is more complicated to understand where it comes from.

I read an interesting book that left me thinking of the way I shop and I don’t mean the way I shop at clothing stores I mean the way I shop for groceries, it also left me thinking of the food that I’ve been eating and even the food that I order when I go to fast food restaurants. This book is “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” it pictures the reality in the food business, but in a different funny way to understand it better. The book even makes you think of how important food is in life and it can also make you see a new way of looking at the food that’s on your plate. Pollan’s point, the author for this book tries to make us think and realize of what we’re doing with our food, how we get it, and even if we save money with our way of buying it.

The author's use of a compare/contrast structure and the appeal to ethos to support her claim was effective. However, her use of the hasty generalization and “Red Herring” fallacies caused the audience to doubt her claim, that meat from traditional farms was better for the environment, had sufficient evidence to

The argument in an article has a strong effect depending on the language and style the author is using to persuade the audience. In “Sprawl Is Harmful to Wildlife” Jutka Terris argues that urban sprawl is affecting wildlife. Loss of habitat is occurring while people move to the suburbs. Terris must know how to approach towards the audience; it has to be in a manner that will make them believe her argument is correct. Terris argues these statements because she wants to reach out to an audience that agrees to the same problem.

This lecture is trying to shape what people are going to eat and where they are going to get their food from. Mark clarified that, “we need to start acting”, (Mark Bitman 2007, transcript 8:35). on the overproduction and consumption of meat and junk food. It is proven that the more plants we eat the longer we will live. This information is backing up his idea and showing that it is logical making him more trustworthy.

As we go through The Jungle, Omnivore’s Dilemma, and Food, Inc., it becomes apparent that all of these publishings target ethos to appeal to their audience. Upton Sinclair uses ethos during the time when he describes workers washing their hands in the water used for the sausage (Sinclair 143). This is bias because it compels the reader into acknowledging that the things going into food is not right, however it does not show any good qualities in the meatpacking industry. Therefore, this affects the reader’s value system because when they were informed of the monstrosities going on within the food industries, it changes their trust towards the industry. Another example of this is Michael Pollan’s bias __ the food industry when he states that

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

Issac, "Skeletons in the Closet", by Clara Spotted Elk, is an effective essay due to Elk's usage of emotionally packed words and phrases. Her passionate stance on the topic as well as her personal experience on the issue. The rhetorical questions, as well as her strong vocabulary help the audience clearly understand her opinion and reasoning. Readers feel personally connected to the issue and, as a result, feel more connected to the topic. Elk also provides her audience with in-depth background information that gives readers a full understanding on the topic.

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.

In Blake Hurst’s “The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against the Agri-Intellectuals,” he opposes the accusations made by tofu-eating, recycled-toilet-paper-using, self-starving Michael Pollan and his followers. Throughout “The Omnivore’s Delusion…,” Hurst mentions how methods of farming have evolved to match demands of produce. The author states that “Only ‘Industrial farming’ can possibly meet the demands of an increasing population and increased demand for food as a result of growing incomes” (Hurst 4). This quote essentially means that “Industrial Farming” is the most efficient way to farm for today’s population level. A second point that is made by Hurst is that changes made by today’s farming are necessary.

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

On a differing take on the solution, “Escape from the Western Diet” by Michael Pollan provides the complete change of our diet and way of life based around cooking and eating meals. however creates a more powerful and logical argument against the “Western Diet” in his article, He uses a combination of his credibility from his publications on health and foods, evidence against the practices of the medical community, along with his solution to the issue of obesity to create an article that draws in audience’s emotions and rationale. Pollan’s strongest points in his article was the use of credibility and his ability to bring logic and reason to most of his points against medical society and the publics solution to obesity. Pollan comes in with a stronger

The visual essay “Apples to Oranges” by Claire Ironside presents the reader with a series of infographics displaying the environmental impact of industrially farmed, non-local produce. The author attempts to approach the audience using primarily facts and statistics. Despite these efforts, the essay lacks an explicit statement of the author’s argument, while the infographics used are ambiguous and misleading. The obscure images, lack of logical connections and absence of an explicit claim leave the reader more confused than persuaded. These problems require the reader to infer most of the information and context, which is contradictory to the purpose of a visual medium.

Veganism is a foolproof method to provide the answers the Earth needs, especially as the world’s population continues its inefficient and environmentally damaging methods of energy usage. People tend to focus on the political sides of climate change, however, the biggest problem the world faces in energy consumption is not transportation emissions but is how we go about out food systems and daily food choices. Evidence has surfaced about how daily food choices impact the climate severely. According to an assessment by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the livestock sector of global greenhouse gases surpassed that of transportation.