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 with a logical appeal using facts and statistics. Despite these efforts, the essay is missing an explicit statement of the author’s argument, and the infographics used throughout the essay 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. This is why I believe that “Apples …show more content…
Not before long, I realized that the essay did not present any opinions to digest in the first place. After several re-reads I came to my own conclusion that the author wants readers to buy local foods in favor of non-local foods. This indicates another major mistake that Ironside is committing in this piece. Her lack of a clear argument is causing the audience to spend more time thinking about what the argument itself is, defeating the purpose of a visual essay. A crucial flaw in the logic of “Apples to Oranges” came to my attention after I started writing this analysis. Ironside’s essay did not make any sense from the beginning, because it was literally comparing apples and oranges. The author clearly intended this as a play on the idiom, but this ill-considered decision takes away any logical significance of the argument. Apples and oranges are two different fruits with drastically different inputs such as labor and nutrients, and they grow in drastically different climates. Comparing the transportation distance, inputs and environmental impact of these two distinct fruits is simply trivial and does little to support to the argument that consumers should purchase local produce. If Ironside had compared a locally grown apple to a non-local apple, it would have served as a more coherent backing for her claim. Some readers may consider that Ironside is using oranges as a figurehead for non-local, industrially grown, exotic produce that is leaving a negative impact on our environment. That is difficult to acknowledge, seeing that there is no rational discussion constructed on that idea anywhere in the essay. The essay merely spews facts and statistics at the audience and fails to connect these points and accumulate them into an argument. The audience is left to do the heavy lifting, and an aggravated reader becomes a doubting
“Eating Green” will attract the general population more than Vidal’s article because it uses personal and evidential examples, multiple types of appeals, and offers a better understanding through her choice of using persuasion in her writing style.
On the topic of environmental impacts due to “industrial farming”, Bill McKibben and Blake Hurst share completely different perspectives. McKibben believes that industrial farming has simply left an unexcusable bad impact on the environment, saying that it is unethical and that the meat we eat is potentially killing our environment and us as well. McKibben states that “we should simply stop eating factory-farmed meat, and the effects on climate change would be one of the many benefits.” (page 201). McKibben addresses that the techno fixes brought in industrial farming are simply not enough to help our environment.
As Americans become more health conscious, their consumption of fruits and vegetables is increased at astronomical levels. Since migrant farm workers are responsible for picking the majority of these products, the eating habits of Americans perpetuate the very farm labor market conditions that many people would like to put an end to. Therefore, whether knowingly or not, Americans are exploiting these Migrant workers who are paid less then minimum wage, have no power to bargain with their employers, and have inadequate and unacceptable living accommodations. In New England, the harvest of blueberries and apples are crucial to the economy, and are in abundant supply. Those who pick these fruits travel across the country, and often across international boarders to fill agricultural jobs that U.S. citizens are not willing to take. Both blueberries and apples are extremely difficult crops to harvest, and require extensive manual labor. Migrant workers are willing to fill these physically exhausting positions because of economic hardships, and the lack of jobs in their own countries.
...led an average of 1,518 miles (about 2,400 kilometers). By contrast, locally sourced food traveled an average of just 44.6 miles (72 kilometers) to Iowa markets. (DeWeerdt)” This is not only bad for the environment with all the food being transported all around the world causing pollution, it also does not support the local growing gardeners. When people buy locally grown produce it helps the community out because of the taxes made from the produce they buy.
“There’s no better place to buy fruits and vegetables than at a farmers’ market. Period,” according to Mark Bittman (2014, p.1). This quote from the article “Farmers’ Market Values”, by Mark Bittman, is a strong statement that shows how he truly feels about farmers’ markets. The author is clearly stating that when a buyer wants produce that is fresh, delicious, and just plain good to eat, they need to go to a market. Throughout the article, he reiterates many times the importance of farmers’ markets. They are an oasis in the middle of New York City that allows buyers to purchase the freshness that they are looking for as if they lived in the country. Bittman writes the article in a way that makes the reader want to go out and buy from markets,
McWilliams claims that buying locally grown food is not actually better for the planet and states his claim in the title of the essay; “The Locavore Myth: Why Buying from Nearby Farmers Won’t Save the Planet”. Although McWilliams presents the opposing viewpoint first, he should also state his main claim in the first paragraph so the reader will understand what the author’s position is, even if the reader did not read the title. Jumping directly into his grounds for the claim without stating the claim may leave the reader confused.
One point Berry makes about people’s ignorance is that they do not recognize their connection to the agricultural cycle. He appeals to the reader’s sense of logic when he describes the process food goes through to reach the consumer, and how eating ends it (3). He uses their sense of reason to persuade them as he continues to point out how oblivious eaters are by saying that “food is pretty much an abstract idea” to them even though they should realize it does not magically appear in the local store (4). Berry mentions that not only do they ignore how it gets to the store, but also the location and type of farms their food comes from (4). He says ...
Whether it is growing their own garden or going to a nearby farmerś market, eating and buying locally is superior for the consumer and the environment. When food is naturally grown, it is better for the environment."Almost everything the farm uses is grown on the farm. Almost all of the energy used to make the food comes from the sun. there are no pesticides, no artificial fertilizer, no pollution, and no extra waste. Everything is recycled" (Pollan 148/150). On Joel Salatin's farm, a local farm in Swoope, Virginia, they doesn't use as many chemicals, fertilizers, or pesticides as a standard industrial food systems. They mostly use natural fertilizers. For example, Joel has a rotation; every day, he moves his cows and chickens to a new pasture (Pollan 147-148). This way, the soil will be more fertile, and it will be in better, not worse, shape. "...My snack could have traveled 8,000 miles to get to my mouth... it takes a lot of energy for food to travel so far" (Vogel 6). For an Industrial food product to travel about 8,000 miles with pesticides and chemicals in it, it makes the pollution in the air worse. The more energy that we use, and the more pollution we create, the worse our future will be because trucks carrying meat and fruit from other cities and countries are worsening our environment by polluting it.Michael Pollan interviewed a few people that shop at Joel Salatin’s farm and one lady said “I drive 150 miles one way in order to
Berry does not hesitate in using harsh words and metaphors like “the hamburger she is eating came from a steer who spent much of his life standing deep in his own excrement in a feedlot”(Berry 10). This provokes the readers to feeling horrible about industrial eating. He uses our pride while pointing to the lies of the make-up of industrial foods. He plays on human self-preservation when writing about chemicals in plants and animals which is out of the consumer’s control. He tries to spark a curiosity and enthusiasm, describing his own passion of farming, animal husbandry, horticulture, and gardening.
The claim that things are “worse off now than when I started” causes an emotional stir in readers (122). He then compares himself to conservationist saying he is “like all other conservationist” in that way. Berry uses words like “battle” to describe the conflict between conservationist and industrialism to evoke emotion (122). He further appeals to emotions saying that because they have not quit they are not hopeless. His hope is to start a “revolt of local small producers and local consumers against the global industrialism of the corporation. (122)” Berry clearly tells readers he believes that such a revolt is possible. In fact, he claims the revolt is already in progress. As the economy grows, so do the “abuses” from industrial agriculture (123). He says the revolt is happening because an “intelligent” consumer should be able to see that it is becoming harder to hide such things (123). Using diction like abuse is more than likely to cause an outcry. Automatically people associate the word abuse with a bad thing. No one correlates abuse to a good thing. Even a skeptical reader will likely feel some type emotion towards the emotive language describing the wrongdoings of the industrial economy. Berry uses words to his convenience when detailing why the revolt is
The world in which the human race lives in relies heavily on factory farming to provide food to over seven billion people. This method of food production is deemed normal and efficient in today’s society, yet has minute advantages. If we took the time to learn the conditions and technicalities of how factory farming actually operates, we would discover that the overall effects to the environment and human health are detrimental. Realistically, people are not going to stop consuming animal products, so instead, people should be conscious of how their food is being produced so that they may be informed in order to make changes in their dietary habits to better their own well being, as well as that of the environment’s.
Mr. Clark’s presentation was split up into two different sections. The first section focused on different types of food (grains, fish, meat, etc.) and used life cycle assessments to see each type’s environmental impact. His research found that meat (mostly beef) had the highest acidification potential, eutrophication potential, land use, and greenhouse gas emission. With these results, Mike showed that consuming grains and plant based food has a lower environmental impact. The second section looked at the different types of food production (i.e.: organic vs. nonorganic) and their environmental impact. Mike compared organic vs. nonorganic, extensive vs. nonextensive beef, and trawling vs. nontrawling fisheries. In organic vs. nonorganic, he found that organic requires more land and has higher acidification and eutrophication potential. Extensive beef
Most of Goodall's books focus on her progressing studies, however, in Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating, she discusses another issue focusing on human consumption. Goodall begins her book by touching on the roots of early agriculture, including national dishes from many different cultures and traditions. Then, she dives into modern agribusiness, a new lifestyle where commonsense farming has become more and more rare, especially in the United States. She discusses how mass consumption has developed from the idea of a monoculture, where farmers plant acres of the same crop. This creates a problem because if that one crop fails to grow, then the farmer has no other crop to rely on for profit, causing the farmer to use chemical pesticides. Insects developing resistance towards these pesticides led to the idea of genetically modifying crops so that they develop their own "natural" pesticide. Nonetheless, all of these techniques are poisoning our foods and our environment. The issue is rapidly destroying all farms mainly because GMO's spread easily through pollination and are difficult to kill.
Trends of moving toward supporting local food producers have increased over the years. People are looking for quality over quantity. “With the explosion of interest in local food, consumers now have more choices of products, labels, and ways to shop, so, many people are left wondering where to start” (Table, 2009). Buying locally supports sustainable food system, beyond just methods of food production and helps to increase food from farm to plate. Supporting locally drastically helps with the reduction of emissions and the negative effect that food traveling has on our environment.
Have you ever considered what is in the food you are feeding your children? Most foods that are bought at the neighborhood grocery stores are considered global foods which are packed with additives and chemicals making them far less nutritious than local produce from the community farmer‘s market. After much research, I have concluded that it is better to buy produce which is grown locally rather than produce which is sourced globally (from other countries). I think this is important because most people, like myself, buy global foods and do not realize how much better local foods are for the local economy, the global environment, and our personal nutrition. Nutrition is vital to the healthy of everyone especially children, so with the purchase of local fresh produce, it can ease the worry in parents of what children as well as ourselves are ingesting.