Why Should Anyone Care?
Pollan’s essay is as much about the problem of problem-solving as it is a proposal for dealing with climate change. What do we do with the feeling that as individuals there is little we can do to influence really big issues such as homelessness, hunger, war, or climate change? Who wants to be just a drop in the bucket? Explore this dilemma by having a conversation in writing with an imaginary companion on a big issue you care about. First explain in writing what problem you think needs to be solved and why. (You might want to write about your potential research topic, if you want.) And then respond to your companion’s first question: You don’t think you could ever really do anything about it, do you? Carry on the conversation with your skeptical companion as long as you can.
My issue is that women are underrepresented in professional sports and I am having a fake conversation with a man who doesn't like women's sports. And they are saying that they don't deserve equality because less people watch them.
You see, as much as I disagree with you, I understand where you are coming from. I think that when you think of sport you think of mens sports first. But why is that? Maybe if we were not only shown mens sports growing up there would be more of a desire for people to want to watch women's sports, and that's why I think that equality within the sports is so important. If both are not equally represented it is not a fair fight from the beginning, make it fair and let's see what views look like because the amount of people who watch womens sports has gone up so much in the past two years. Why are they getting paid less than half of what the men are paid and why is their equipment and resources nearly non existent and trashy? If you see how talented these women are and open your mind you would understand and agree that their potential is being wasted because of how poorly they are being treated.
Test your understanding of Pollan’s argument. After reading “Why Bother?” Compose a fast paragraph that summarizes how Pollan answers his own question: Why bother? What is the core reason and what are other compelling reasons?
His core reason is that small things can make a difference and can influence those around you as well as bring people together. He talks about how the small things may not make a huge environmental impact but it may counteract what others may be doing and not add even more. It matters because the smallest things that we do like eating beef is adding carbon emissions into the air and most people don't even realize.
Use both the “believing game” and “doubting game” to evaluate this claim from Wendell Berry and from Pollan: “the deep problem standing behind all of the other problems of industrial civilization is ‘specialization,’…the disease of the modern character." What will help us become healthier as a society?
I think our society has become so involved in other people's lives and things around us that we are not involved in. I think that as a society if everyone just minded their business, spoke out on the things they care about and become less judgmental of others we would grow and become way healthier. It would also demand a lot more respect from others and to others which unfortunately we as a whole society are not very good at. We choose to be in other people's business and have opinions about everything, even if we are not educated on the topic.
Take a look at the Persuasive Research Proposal Assignment. What can we learn from Pollan's essay about our own upcoming assignment? (Note that there is no first person allowed in our essay, which must be fully objective.) Will you make sure to clearly define the problem and provide essential details about how your solution will address the problem you are writing about?
He was very blunt with his facts and just stated everything how it is. There was little to no true feeling about the topic. It was unbiased and just stated that the things that we are doing are affecting these things.By clearly stating the problem that you are researching, it is harder for there to be pushed back on it and you can just state the facts and go from there without having a bias voice behind the research. I will make sure that I see and research both sides of the argument of what I am researching and factually state both sides.
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