Emily Le (Dung Le)
English 101
Prof. Bee Faxon
Mar 13, 2014
Word count:
The Influence of Individual Work
If one day, each individual can make an impact on the environment and save another life, would we as a community be able to change the world through this little work? What can we do as an individual? While as individuals it might seem like we have no impact on the environment or any issue involved all over the world, by influencing and working with others, we can have a great impact from Individualisms.
Michael Pollan has given us many ideas and helpful points in his essay “Why Bother”, but the stunning viewpoint I am interested in is how individual work can influence the whole world. “Going personally green is a bet, nothing more or less, though it's one we probably all should make, even if the odds of it paying off aren’t great. Sometimes you have to act as if acting will make a difference, even when you can’t prove that it will” (Pollan 3). This quote helps illustrate my idea that individual work is important because a community consists of many individuals. In my experience, individual work can break the slow process of community work since us as individuals will be able to control our actions much better than an entire group. Sometimes, a large group requires specialists, and the way a group functions cause the harm to environment. In an addition, individuals can reap the benefits of their own work. For example, Michael Pollan does advice “a great many things happen when you plant a vegetable garden, some of them directly related to climate change, others indirect but related nevertheless….What else? Well you will probably notice that you’re getting a pretty good workout there in your garden, burning calories without hav...
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...acted many people's desires to live a better life. Moreover, they inspired each other. They have received for themselves is many loves from people, experiences that they can never gain from college. Through media and social network, numerous people are aware of the poverty in Guatemala, and donations for the people there increase every day. I think it’s the most important accomplishment for them. “They have so little but they give us so much,” said Chris Temple (Living on One). Therefore, we are able to speak and change the world to the way we want it to be. Individual work is worth so much more than we can imagine.
Work Cited
Living on One Dollar. Dir. Ingrasci, Zach, Sean Leonard, Chris Temple. Creative Visions. 2013.
Pollan, Michael. “Why Bother?” The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times.com. April 20,
2008. Web. Accessed February 12, 2014.
What those student did actually changed the policy and made it easier for families to afford college without heavy loans. This showed others that activists can make a difference, something she presses on in this
Renaud and Kyle Balda. USA Today. Gannett Co. Inc, 02 Mar. 2012. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.
From the articles I found on the Internet it has been proven that you went to a private institution, and that your family wasn't as poor as to the point of starvation.You make these linkages explicit: "My personal experience is the reality of a whole people". It is a call to people of good will all over the world to help the noble but powerless indigenous peoples of Guatemala and other Third World countries to gain their rightful inheritance.
Cesar Chavez, one man who dramatically changed the world, said, “From the depth of need to despair, people can work together, can organize themselves to solve their own problems, and fill their own needs with dignity and strength” (ufw.org). This quote means several things. We can’t all make a difference on our own, so we need to work together, as a whole. This also means that we can organize our own problems to figure them out. It also says that we can fill our own wishes with quality and power.
New York Times. The New York Times Company, 23 Jan. 2010. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
Rpt. in Current Issues and Enduring Questions. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s , 2011. 571-574. Print.
One would have to be a fool to believe that men and women have always been or even are equal. Only in the past century have women been allowed to vote and 50 years since women of color could vote. Even today, women and men are held to different standards. Betty Friedan (1921-2006) was a feminist that was not only an author, but also, the first president of an organization known as the National Organization for Women. She is well-known for her work "The Feminine Manifesto", and she is the author of the article "The Importance of Work". Betty Friedan was a feminist during the height of the women's rights movement, so it is not surprising in the least that her article hit on women's rights. "The Importance
The greatness of Diablo Valley College is there ability to support and understand the practicality of peoples lives. Growing up in poverty to undocumented parents presents challenges. For this reason, since I was around 7 years old I would help my mother and father work in any way I could. I still remember going to, what seemed to me at the time, as gigantic houses with my mother wondering why the kids there didn’t have to help their mother’s clean houses like me. The idea of socioeconomically privileged cultures ultimately became a topic I learned at a young age and became something that motivates me to succeed still today.
As cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead once said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.” In an excerpt from an essay published in the New York Times Magazine, American public intellectual Michael Pollan reveals his goal to convince the ordinary of citizens America that they are capable of saving the world from climate change and to answer the unappeasable question of “Why bother?”. This inquiry stems from the belief that one person is not capable of making a difference in relation to the larger spectrum of Americans who continue to emit a large amount of C02, increasing the effects of climate change, and destroying the environment. Through the exploration of behavior change, and other personal alternatives aimed to reduce America 's carbon footprint, Pollan aspires to have
Plomin, R & Asbury, K. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, July 2005; vol. 600, 1:pp.86-98.
Overall, humans impact the global environment in multitudinous ways whether positive or negative. While creating issues such as overpopulation, pollution, biomagnification, and deforestation they also intrude into many other factors such as environmental, social, political, and economic. Problems caused by society itself are leading up to solutions to fix these environmental problems and may also just benefit the world as a whole.
Opinionator. NY Times. 15 March 2012. Web. 29 April 2014.
I believe one person can make a difference. One person can speak out, one person can stand up for what they believe in, one person can take action and one person can change the lives of others. I believe with all my heart in the power of individual people to make the world a better place.
“Small acts when multiplied by millions can transform the world” (Common Dreams). This quote by Howard Zinn can be interpreted by implying that as long as everyone tries within their reach to help every situation that they can, then the world shall be a better place. This means that small measures may not seem to be making a huge difference but when those actions are multiplied by or totaled to the actions being performed by all; then a huge and significant impac...
Many people assume that the environment is not in danger. They believe that as technology advances, we do not need to worry about renewing natural resources, recycling, and finding new ways to produce energy. They state that one person in the world does not make a large difference. In reality, each individual's contribution greatly affects our environment. Our natural resources are slowly disappearing, and we must work together to save them and the Earth from ruin.