Blog Deep Dive—Why Should Anyone Care?
1.
Me: A problem that I want to be solved is the legalization and distribution of marijuana. Ever since it became legal, marijuana has infested the streets of Minneapolis and St Paul, and it's clear that people are using it who weren't intended to. Although the drug was made legal for those with chronic pain and other health issues, people are only using it to get high.
Companion: You don’t think you could ever really do anything about it, do you?
Me: Why couldn't I? Sure, there's nothing that I physically could do. It's not like I could collect all the marijuana from people who shouldn't have it. What I can do though, is propose an idea to tighten the guidelines around the drug and its recreational use.
Companion: And how would you do that?
Me: I'll do it how anyone does it nowadays, complaining on social media. Hopefully, other people out there share the same mentality that I do about the legalization of marijuana. If not, I can go around spreading the word about the negatives of making the drug legal.
Companion: What about the people who use the drug for their chronic pain? It's not like you can just take it away from them.
Me: Those people deserve every right to use the drug, but people who don't have this pain are using it in excess. The twin cities reek of marijuana, even though it's supposed to be illegal to smoke in public. In the more sketchy parts of town, you walk by schools where people are smoking marijuana outside. If you are a kid and are around it all the time, you are going to have health problems growing up. I'm not saying we need to take it away, but the laws on public usage and the amount used need to be enforced. The main problem that they have is that they make this drug legal with nobody to oversee it. Although there is a government-run organization created now, they are miles behind the legalization.
Companion: But if so many people are using the drug, isn't it bringing more money into the economy? People have their own choices about what they want to do with their lives.
Me: Sure, the drug does bring some money into the economy. However, most of the deals to purchase marijuana are done under the radar, as prices are cheaper on the streets than they are from an actual doctor. This also increased the risk of dying, as products gotten from the streets could be laced with another drug that could be fatal. Although people have their own choices, they are also harming others through smoking. They've essentially lost their soul, and are lifeless entities who live on the streets once they get addicted. Kids shouldn't need to be around these people, but in most cases, these people are parents. Addiction is a real problem, and other people shouldn't be brought down by other people who get addicted to the drug.
2. According to Pollan, the main reason that we should bother is because we can make a change. The world is changing quickly when it comes to climate change, and it's time for us to make a change. Although on a personal level, we can't make much of a change, as a global community, we can help slow the effects. While there are some people out there who destroy what others try to build, personal satisfaction is always in play. The feeling you get when successfully growing a garden or transitioning to solar power is unmatched. Knowing that you are making a difference in the world feels good. Along with this, there are many other benefits to trying to save the world. For instance, if you grow a garden, it forces you to get outside more. The more we are in the sun, the more we are happy. This also caused interaction with people around you, as having a garden is a conversation starter. In the end, we can't make a difference on our own, but if we come together, we can improve the climate. Even if you don't think you can make a change, trying and failing will result in much more happiness than not doing anything.
3. The believing game would agree with Pollan that specialization only hurts humans in the end. We sacrificed creativity and individuality to become better economically. We essentially sold our souls to make more money, which only hurt us in the long run. People don't care about helping the environment, because there isn't any thought that a singular person could save it. It's expected that someone else will do something or make a law to change it, but they never will. It's like the bystander effect, everyone expects someone else to make the first move. The doubting game would disagree with Pollan and say that specialization helped humans develop to where they are today. Without specialization, it's clear that humans wouldn't be as advanced as they currently are. Specialization has allowed once-hard tasks to become extremely easy, and it's created jobs, which everyone benefits from. Due to our specialization, humans will now be able to slow the spread of global warming with more advanced technology. Looking at the two points of view, I definitely side with with believing game. Specialization had only hurt human development as a whole, in trade for better technology. As a society, it would be healthier to be more creative and individualistic.
4. I think the main thing that can be learned from this essay for our future essay is the importance of finding a topic you are passionate about. Pollan clearly knows a lot about climate change and wants to see a change in the world. The reason for writing the essay should be to spread the word about a change that needs to be made. For readers to believe your essay, you need to be personally intrigued by the topic. They won't seek any change if you find it boring too. Also, it's important that your readers don't get bored while reading, and they should be able to understand the severity of your problem by the time they are done reading.
Part 2:
The most unfair disease in life is one that humans can cure, but we choose not to. We are so caught up in our own lives that we don't realize that people around the world are starving to death. Any normal person could help prevent this, but we chose not to. Why? Because it doesn't affect us. However, I think that it's every person's right to have access to food. It's a basic necessity needed to live, and we are denying it to those who can't get any.
Now you may be wondering, how does this problem even start? The world has a vast amount of resources many of which humans can consume. Although this statement is correct, it doesn't account for the places that have limited resources. Let us take smaller island nations for example. These islands have extremely limited resources, so as the population grows, food sources diminish. This means that these countries have to then import food, which can be expensive, leading to only the rich being able to eat. Along with this, some countries live in regions where edible vegetation can't grow. Desert communities that lack water also lack food. They have to rely on a few crops to feed their families, and if the crops don't grow, they get hungry. Another problem is famine. Certain areas of the world rely on a single crop to feed their communities and trade with others. If there is a drought that year and the crop can't grow, mass amounts of people will starve. The last problem is social disconnect. In underdeveloped countries, communication can be hard. This means that people only focus on themselves and their surrounding communities which leads to many problems, a lack of food being one of them. Rather than having a set group of farmers do the work for everyone, everyone needs to be a farmer to get food.
The graphic above depicts the places that are most harmed by global hunger. As you can tell, these tend to be more underdeveloped areas of the world that lack basic communication and are frequently to famine. Along with this, the graph points out the percent of people who are food-insecure, or otherwise lacking the amount of food needed to survive. These numbers put into perspective the number of places globally that need help and show that a change is needed.
Now you might be wondering, how am I supposed to make a change? There are so many things that any given person can do to help reduce world hunger. First off is a simple one, volunteer for a food packing company such as Feed My Starving Children. There are opportunities to volunteer for this agency nearly every day, and each session can end with you feeding hundreds of kids for a year. Your choices aren't just limited to this single organization either. There are hundreds out there who all want to help reduce world hunger. Along with volunteering your time, you could also donate money. These organizations run strictly on donated funds, so if you have the money but not the time, then this is a viable option. There are also charities around the world designed to feed those who are starving, so again, your options aren't limited. Another thing everyone could do daily is to reduce food waste. Globally, we throw out one trillion pounds of food a year. According to the World Food Program USA, "Wasted food requires energy, land, water, and labor to produce, store, harvest, transport, package and sell. When we toss out the food, we're throwing away precious resources that could have been used to feed hungry people." This process is something that anybody could implement into their normal lives. By simply throwing away less food, we can help those in need. Why should we waste nearly a third of the total food produced in a year when that number could solve world hunger in itself? In the end, it's important to realize that there are things we all could be doing. Solving world hunger isn't limited to those with money or time, but rather any normal person who wants to make the world a better place.
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