Buying Local Organic Foods and the Environment Essay Example

Buying Local Organic Foods and the Environment Essay Example Buying Local Organic Foods and the Environment Paper Buying Local Organic Foods and the Environment Paper Does Buying Local Organic Grown Foods Help the Environment? Does Buying Local Organic Grown Foods Help the Environment? Buying locally grown organic foods helps us have a cleaner and healthier environment. Getting local organic foods rather than conventional foods reduces the carbon footprint that conventional foods bring about. This means that your food travels a lot less distance than other foods would. It has been said, that on average, a fresh food item travels about 1,500 miles just to get to our plate. That is just one item; imagine how many miles it takes for a whole plate of food. When we buy these foods we support local organic farmers; this means that we support local businesses. Over time this greatly benefits our environment, especially since a majority of local organic farmers don’t use harmful pesticides. Today’s pesticides have been designed to kill living organisms; this is why the persistent ones can be very harmful to the environment and our health. These pesticides can even contaminate our food, air, and water. In addition, synthetic fertilizers require large amounts of fossil fuel to produce. They can even contribute to air quality, such as acid rain when pesticides evaporate, and soil degradation. Local organic grown foods typically have a lot less or even no pesticides compared to conventional foods. As a last resort, organic farmers may apply certain botanical or other non-synthetic pesticides, such as rotenone and pyrethrins which are both from plants (Parnes). This leads to many great influences to the environment, such as without the use of harmful pesticides, plants are able to reach their full potential and have a higher natural nutrient level. Some people even find that organic foods have a higher potential of tasting much better and lasting longer than conventional foods. The most important foods to buy organic have been termed, The Dirty Dozen. The Dirty Dozen consists of fruits and vegetables that are more fragile and more prone to bugs and rotting, therefore they require more pesticides when grown commercially. When they are grown and bought organically, they are a lot cleaner and healthier. The Dirty Dozen are comprised of apples, celery, strawberries, peaches, spinach, sweet bell peppers, potatoes, blueberries, ettuce, cherries, and kale and collard greens (Shapley). Since most of these foods are seasonal here in Minnesota, we have to get them from somewhere else. In addition, seasonal food tastes better when you haven’t had it during the offseason. Now of course that may be an opinion but think about it, are strawberries just as good in the winter as they are in the summer? Do we still buy a lot of sweet corn in the winter? There really aren’t a lot of people that buy these foods during the winter because they just aren’t as good then. If we were to treat the least preferable offseason foods like this, we could reduce our neediness on them and therefore we can reduce the amount of gas that it would take to get the food here. This would lead to a reduction in carbon emissions and in effect we would lessen our carbon footprint. Also, without pesticides the soil and nearby bodies of water are much healthier. The runoffs of the farms are cleaner and the ground water is a great deal healthier without the use of pesticides. When pesticides run off into a little stream, that stream may run into a river, which would then run into a bigger body of water such as a lake or ocean. This may not seem so bad since it’s just a little bit in a big system of water, but if it is happening all over and multiple times then there’s a big problem. By supporting local organic growers and reducing our dependency on commercial growers, we can reduce the amount of pesticides that get into our water systems. This concludes that there would be fewer pollutants in the water and soil, which would amount to a healthier environment. Most local organic farms take much better care of their land than commercial farmers do. In a commercial farm, soil degradation happens a lot, this is because industrial farms disregard the need for balance. They will often use the land continuously or as many times as they can before the soil has enough time to recuperate. With this happening and the use of pesticides, erosion is a great deal more likely to happen at commercial farms. Another worthy reason to buy local organic foods is that most of these farmers are better to their animals than commercial farmers are to theirs. They tend to treat their animals as animals and not just another moneymaking machine. The animals aren’t in a cramped space like commercial animals are, they get to roam more often and have a healthier life-schedule. Take cows for an example: their life schedule would include a specific time when they eat, certain times they are outside or inside, and when they are to be milked for the day. Local organic farmers are less likely to give their cows growth hormones or other enhancers. One of the main reasons is because when a cow is fed enhancers and or growth hormones the cow doesn’t live as long. Cows tend to live to be seven years old, but with enhancers they live to only about five years. It has been proven that seven-year cows produce the same amount of milk as five-year cows that have been given enhancers and or hormones. A large number of local organic farmers also feed their animals better, healthier food so that the animals can grow up to be healthier. However, commercial farmers almost always give their animals a great deal of antibiotics. When animals are given large amounts of various antibiotics, this leads to the development of dangerous antibiotic-resistant infections. Local organic farmers tend to rely more on natural measures to maintain their animal’s health. Having naturally healthy animals leads to healthier produce and a healthier environment. When we support local organic farms, they are able to thrive and keep more green spaces closer to home. In many areas, they help stop the spread of urban sprawl (Watson). Buying their food helps lessen our dependence on gas, since the food tends to travel less to get to the store or a nearby roadside stand. With buying these local organic foods and reducing our need on conventional foods we would decrease our dependence on gas, soil degradation, and the amount of pesticides in our water, soil, and air. Buying locally organic grown foods may not be in everyone’s budget, but every little bit helps. If a person were to buy at least one of these food items regularly, over time that would help out the environment since you are helping local people out and you are promoting a healthier environment. By going to a local organic farmers market or to a local store that sells these foods, you are reducing the amount of gas that would be needed to get that food to your area. If food is grown locally, it does not need to be shipped as far. But, why are local organic grown foods so expensive you ask? According to Robin Brett Parnes, the organic food supply is limited as compared to demand; production costs for organic foods are usually higher because of greater labor input and because farmers don’t produce enough of a single product to lower the overall cost. Also, there’s a range of other factors that aren’t captured in the price of conventional food such as higher standards for animal welfare and environmental enhancement and protection (Parnes). When talking about the environment these higher prices are worth it, especially at this time when we need to start improving our environment. With all of this in mind, buying local organically grown food would help the environment even if you can afford just one item, because every little bit helps. : How Does Eating Locally Grown Food Help the Environment?. About. com Environmental Issues. N. p. ,. d. Web. http://environment. about. com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/locally_grown. htm. Parnes, Robin Brett. How Organic Food Works . HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks, Inc, n. d. Web. 1 Oct 2011. http://science. howstuffworks. com/environmental/green-science/organic-food6. tm. Shapley, Dan. The New Dirty Dozen: 12 Foods to Eat Organic. The Daily Green. N. p. , n. d. Web. thedailygreen. com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods#fbIndex1. Watson, Molly . Eight Reasons to Eat Local Foods. About. com Local Foods. N. p. , n. d. Web. http://localfoods. about. com/od/finduselocalfoods/tp/5-Reasons-to-Eat-Local-Foods. htm. What is Local. Sustainable Table serving up healty food choices. N. p. , January 2009. Web. sustainabletable. org /issues/eatlocal/.

A College Essay Coachs Take on the College Admissions Scandal

A College Essay Coachs Take on the College Admissions Scandal The college admissions scandal that has been all over the news has inspired me to break my recent blogging silence. The greed and lack of integrity exhibited by employees of top universities disturb me greatly. Since I am a Yale graduate, I have received a couple of apologetic letters from President Salovey; I hope that the school’s promise to be more vigilant in its admissions process holds true. Since I am a college admissions essay coach, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by the media. Both USA Today and Rob Hart of WBBM talked to me about ethics in college admissions. Here are the article and radio clip for your reading and listening pleasure: USA Today:  Do all students cheat on their college applications? No, consultants say, but there are plenty of problems. I get calls from people who want me to write essays for them, and I won’t do that, said Brenda Bernstein, who runs The Essay Expert. This student is being judged on their own ability. But there are services that do that. And some sell academic essays as well. WBBM Newsradio Show: Essay Coach Talks Best Practices For College Applications The Dual Life of a Resume Writer and College Essay Coach What strikes me, in particular, is that many people conflate the ethics of writing a professional’s resume with the ethics of writing a student’s college essay. I keep explaining to reporters and others why they are not the same. One of my resume writer colleagues posted this comment about the college admissions scandal to my Facebook page: Just to be devils advocate here, I dont see the difference between writing essays with information students have given about THEIR story and writing a resume for someone who tells you his / her story about his / her career. We dont put on the bottom of their resumes that it was written by us. Most executives have their executive assistants write their letters for them. Is that cheating by the executive (we have all seen where an executive calls his assistant into the office to take a memo)? Like I said, just playing devils advocate.  :-) My response: There is no assumption or requirement that resumes be written by the job applicant. In fact, many hiring managers say they *prefer* a professionally written resume. Theres also no rule that a student cant get some coaching and editing help on their essay. English teachers and guidance counselors have been doing this for years. Whats important to me is that the essay is truthful, at the level the student is capable of writing, and in the students voice. What I would add to the above is that there is most definitely a rule that students must write their own application essays. Admissions committees judge them for the quality of their writing and how they express themselves, because they are going to be required to use those skills in their college careers. By contrast, an executive wont be expected to write a good resume as part of his or her job. Moving Toward Truth Integrity My job as a college essay coach is to help a student tell the truth – not the version of the truth they think an admissions committee wants to hear. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked an applicant, â€Å"Is that really true?† and gotten the response, â€Å"Well not completely. But it seems like that’s what I should have gotten out of it.† Again and again, I point the writer to the truth, which is always more interesting than the picture perfect story they thought they should tell. As a resume writer, too, my job is to tell the truth. The facts speak louder than any flowery language we could write to make something sound better than it is. We stick with the facts. The cheating uncovered in the recent college admissions scandal goes far beyond helping students think through the best way to tell their story. It goes way past the level of supporting an executive by presenting her accomplishments powerfully in writing. I hope the world recognizes this difference. More important, I fervently wish that parents, college admissions advisors, university administrators and sports coaches choose to act with integrity as they shepherd young adults into what could be the most important four years of their lives.

Metonymy

Metonymy Metonymy Metonymy By Maeve Maddox Metonymy [meh-TAHN-uh-mee] is a figure of speech that substitutes a word or phrase that stands for an object, action, institution or the like for the object itself. For example, in the phrase â€Å"surf and turf†- in the context of restaurant fare- surf is a metonymy for seafood and turf is a metonymy for beef. In a different context, the word turf is a common metonymy for the institution of thoroughbred horseracing: One of the  most famous jockeys  in the  history  of the  turf  a century ago was Sam Chipney, who was â€Å"jockey for life† to the Prince of Wales, at a salary of $1,000, and retired from the turf with his royal master in 1791. Home and Country, Volume 9, Monthly Illustrator Publishing Company, 1894. Here are some more examples of metonymy from various sources: Tories were American colonists who  remained loyal to the Crown during the American Revolutionary War. Crown = â€Å"the British government.† Suits  stars Gabriel Macht as Harvey Specter and Patrick J. Adams  as Mike Ross- lawyers at a high-powered New York law firm.  (Suits is the title of a television series.) Suit = an authority figure such as a lawyer or FBI agent. Ready for another cup? cup = a cup or mug filled with coffee The pen is mightier than the sword. pen = written form of persuasion sword = military action Friends, Romans, countrymen: Lend me your ears. ears = attention Lamb and potatoes: a dish fit for a king dish = a meal France, less favoured on the whole as to matters spiritual than her sister of the shield and trident, rolled with exceeding smoothness down hill, making paper money and spending it. This quotation from A Tale of Two Cities contains more than one layer of figurative language. France = the people of France. France is also being personified as a woman with a sister. sister of the shield and trident = Britannia, ergo, Britain. A common symbol of the nation of Britain is the image of Britannia- a seated woman holding a shield and trident. The shield she holds represents military might, and the trident represents sea power. The trident is associated with the sea because it was the emblem of Poseidon, the god of the sea in Greek mythology. Reading fluency requires background knowledge that enables readers to interpret the use of metonymy and other figurative language. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Words for Facial ExpressionsGrammar Quiz #21: Restrictive and Nonrestrictive ClausesTestimony vs. Testimonial

A full case study analysis of Facebook Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

A full case study analysis of Facebook - Essay Example The website has made itself available in more than 70 vernacular languages and massive expansion was achieved as most of the users were outside the U.S.A. and Canada. In 2012, the company made its first public offering and has ambitious plans for the future. Political: Government actions can have significant negative impact on the profitability of facebook’s future expansion. For instance, the Chinese government has banned the website from China and the governments of multiple nations like Germany has raised a concern that collecting user information by the company is a breach of security. Economic: Facebook has been able to maintain strong growth even during the period of recession and its revenue has increased significantly from $731 million in 2010 to $1,584 million in 2012 (Rothaermel and Taylor, 2014). Additionally the rising level of internet penetration in developing countries is contributing to its active users regularly. Social: Social tastes and preferences of consumers regarding the usage of social media are changing drastically which is largely visible from the rising popularity of other social websites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. In the U.K. particularly it has been noted that facebook had lost around 2 million users mainly belonging in the teenage group. Technological: As of now, Facebook does not have the technological expertise of Google which is in a better position to generate revenues from the online advertisement market. Google+, another social networking site is technologically more advanced than Facebook (Rothaermel and Taylor, 2014). Threat from buyers: Customers for facebook are the advertisers who pay the company to post their ads on the website. Current estimates of facebook show that $7.64 billion is expected to be earned from the advertising revenues even by charging higher price to them (Rothaermel and Taylor, 2014). This implies that the current customer

Research Findings, Statistical Analysis and interpretation for Essay - 2

Research Findings, Statistical Analysis and interpretation for Etisalat Telecom Corporation - Essay Example Next is the presentation of results of reliability analysis are presented for all the items used in the questionnaire and for each item used in the questionnaire. The third section presents the results of correlation analysis using graphs where the performance data is graphically presented on their associations. The last section presents the results of hypotheses tests using one-sample t-tests. Table 1 shows the age distribution of the respondents. As shown, the results show that 34% of the respondents were aged 21-25 years, 11% were aged 26-30 years, 13% were aged 31-35 years, 16% were aged 36-40 years, and 28% were aged 41 years or above. Thus most of the respondents were aged 21-25 and above 40 years. These results are also presented in Figure 1. The graphical presentation of ratio analysis is provided in Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5. As shown there has been a decline in performance of Etisat in all the ratios. It can be noted that since 2006, the gross profit margin, pre (ITDA) profit margin, operating profit margin, and net profit margin has been falling to the lowest in 2012. Figure 2 shows that the gross profit margin was 79.21% and declined to 75.94 in 2007, 68.63% in 2008, 68% in 2009, 67.25% in 2010, 64.2% in 2011 and in 2012. This clearly shows a decline in the gross profit margin for Etisalat Company. Figure 3 show that pre (ITDA) profit margin was highest in 2006 at 76.82% and lowest in 2012 at 61.65% having declined over the period of analysis. Figure 4 also shows a decline in operating profit margin as it was the highest in 2006 at 68.25% and lowest in 2012 at 51.69% having also declined over the years. Figure 5 shows that the net profit margin was highest in 2006 at 35.97% and lowest in 2012 at 26.92%. This shows a decline of operating profit margin over the period of analysis. Table 2 shows the descriptive results for all the 30 items used in the study. As shown, the results are

Article review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Article review - Essay Example Students with different forms of disabilities present similar characteristics on the factors explored. According to the findings of the article, children with special needs have lesser and poorer social relations as compared to those with no special needs. The option of regular education for students with special needs is in this case beneficial. In essence, these students can interrelate with those without special needs to enhance positive social interrelations. However, it does not automatically mean a fruitful social interaction, since it always depends on how naturally social a person is, and the way they settle into their class setting. The information from the article is applicable in a class setting. From the article, I learned that it is necessary to instruct students with special needs in an inclusive classroom and provide opportunities for social interactions. They should not be secluded and taught or treated differently. There are increased social opportunities for special needs students in an inclusive class setting, but there is always a need to understand the individual characteristics of each student so that negative outcomes from introverts, such as loneliness, do not

IBook Neurology Clerkship Thesis Project (Introduction)

IBook Neurology Clerkship Project (Introduction) - Thesis Example There is a lot of sensitivity within the healthcare industry where clinicians deal with matters of life and death and thus students in the medical schools and other related fields should be well equipped with both theoretical and practical knowledge that will be achieved through this project. The project will utilize the iPad through its iBook software to deliver instruction to students. Since all students in the clerkship are provided iPads, the iPads will also insure that students get 24-hour access to comprehensive learning tools and student support services. As a learning tool inside and outside of the classroom, the iBook will blend the theories of problem-based learning in interactive-simulated style to help these medical students practice their critical thinking while fostering intrinsic motivation to learn and collaborate with others. Not only will the iBook aid students with their own learning, but it will also give instructors a way to measure the progress of their students by gathering data about their student’s advancement through iBook simulations and iBook assessment exams. Overall, the project will help all medical students in the Neurology clerkship to better succeed in the program and become better critically thinking medical professionals in the process. Medical students, at the University of California Irvine, must complete numerous clerkships as they complete their medical training. The Neurology Clerkship is one of the last that students must complete. In an effort to increase student success rates, UC Irvine has provided all medical students with iPads. The iPads introduce students with a transformative mode of learning by connecting students with the same advancements in seen in the medical profession in the classroom. Even though iPads provide both students and instructors with the technological tools necessary for success, not all programs