The movie Miss Representation made me think about many different things. After watching the video, my head started swimming thinking about things like how women are viewed in the media, in politics, in entertainment, and overall in general. There are several factors that I believe may contribute to this and they involve young people, both male and female. Lack of parental involvement at home, lack of religion, lack of manners and morals being taught both at home and at school, and maybe event the fact the parents are getting younger and younger. Let's face it, it is difficult to instill morals in a child, if you are a child yourself. We have taken religion out of schools and politics and it has all but disappeared from the home as well.
Young people are not being taught to have self respect much less respect for others. I am extremely thankful not to have had a daughter. I have no idea how I would have been able to deal with raising a daughter in this disrespectful world. I have a six year old son and I am trying my very best to instill morals, manners, values, and a good religious foundation in him. This world has so much negative and maybe if we can start with the kids are young, we might be able to make things different. After all, the children are the future.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Janet Dodd
ENC 1102
Kelly Warren
March 18, 2013
Food
Waste in America
We have
all had our mothers tell us at some point, “you need to eat all of your food;
there are starving children in Africa.”
The truth is not only is there starving children in Africa, but all over
the world. There are people starving
every day right here in the United States. America is a wasteful society. Food waste is
one of the biggest and most urgent problems in our world today. There are many
things that could be done to work towards solving or at the very least, minimizing
this situation. Things like food waste
recycling, lowering our food standards to avoid waste, food donations, and just
limiting our food purchases and consumption could reduce the waste produced by
a great degree. If we do not get control of this problem, the waste will take
over.
According
to the Food Recovery Network website, “1 in 6 Americans or more than 49 million
people, don’t know where their next meal is coming from. 1 in 4 American children
are in this category.” Most of us have
never had to worry about where our next meal would come from. Turn on any news
show and nine times out of ten you will see some type of reporting about
obesity in America. It has been instilled upon us since we were old enough to
understand that we should not waste food. However with bigger meal portions and
the option of “upsizing or super-sizing” your meal at restaurants, it is no
wonder why we have such a problem in this country with food waste regardless of
what we were told growing up. Dana Gunders, a scientist with the Natural
Resources Defense Council’s food and agriculture program said, “As a county,
we’re essentially tossing every other piece of food that crosses our path, that
is money and precious resources down the drain.” The NRDC’s report stated that, “Americans
discard 40 percent of the food supply every year.” How is this possible? Where is our country heading?
Who will step up and work towards a solution? We could start by doing the basic things; eat less, and we will in turn waste less.
Who will step up and work towards a solution? We could start by doing the basic things; eat less, and we will in turn waste less.
Where is
the food waste coming from? We can
follow the path that food takes from growth to consumption to track the waste. According to an article from the Washington
Post.Com called “How the U.S. Manages to Waste $165 Billion in Food Each Year” it starts with farming, post-harvesting and
packing, processing and distribution and then continues to retail and grocery
stores, food service restaurants and households, then finally at disposal….
Food crops can go
Dodd
2
unharvested for a variety of reasons, insufficient
demand for the product, insufficient workers for the field, and food safety
scares by the FDA.
Once the
crops are harvested, they are sorted to ensure they meet minimum
standards. Then the problem turns to
processing and distributing. Food must
be stored in proper containers and proper temperatures to be sent out for
distribution. Otherwise, it must be discarded.
“If there’s a culprit here, it’s our high aesthetic standards for food.”
(The Washington Post-Plumer 2012).
There are
alternatives to wasting tons of food, we must be open to implementing the
possible solutions. One way is to cut
back on our food purchases and consumption. “Just a 15 percent reduction in
losses in the U.S. food supply would save enough to feed 25 million Americans
annually.”(Huffington Post) Another solution is food donation. The Food Recovery Network is a program that
has been established in many colleges and universities where student volunteers
take the left-over food from the dining hall after closing and take it to
nearby shelters and food banks where it is then distributed to people in need.
“Recovering just 15% of wasted food would be enough to feed 25 million
people.”(Food Recovery Network). Per the
Food Recovery Network website, they only have chapters in 7 college campuses.
75% of American colleges don’t have a food recovery program(Food Recovery
Network). The best solution is food
waste recycling. However, implementing a food waste recycling program can be a
bit costly, but well worth the cost. When food waste is recycled, it can be
turned into compost that could be then sold back to farmers. “An average
single-family household throws away about 45 pounds of food scraps and
food-soiled paper every month-around 25% of total trashed materials!”(Sierra
Club). The food waste that can be recycled to be later turned into compost can
consist of: food scraps, food-soiled paper products, milk and juice cartons,
egg cartons(paper not styrofoam), boxes from frozen and refrigerated foods,
waxed paper and paper containers, coffee filters and tea bags and other
compostable items (full vacuum cleaner bags, dryer lint, tissues, cotton balls,
floral trimmings, and household plants).
By recycling the food waste, we could greatly reduce the amount of waste
produced and reduce the amount of debris going into our landfills daily.
With all
the good that can be done with these options, why wouldn’t everyone just do
it? There is a cost associated with
every change, not only monetarily, but also, time and personnel. Why shouldn’t all grocery and retail stores
donate their, “near expiration date” food to shelters and food banks instead of
tossing it in the dumpster? It has to be
packed up, delivered and stored. What
would stop the average American to not purchase food in the store and wait until
it gets near expiration and then simply ask for it? No purchase involved and no profit made. The store would lose money. The recycling program is the same. A place would need to be set aside to develop
the compost, people and trucks to pick up the road-side containers, thereby
increasing tax dollars spent in the community. No matter what the cost
associated, isn’t doing the right thing and saving our environment worth it?
Dodd
3
There are millions of starving people in the
United States and yet we still waste thousands of pounds of food every
day. Why can’t the food waste be
donated? Why can’t we set up curb side food
waste recycling programs? We could do any number of things to help our country
other than waste food. The next time that you go shopping, think about the
amount of food that is wasted and thrown out and ask yourself, what can I do to
help reduce food waste and in turn help ourselves and our country?
Dodd
4
Works Cited
“Food Waste: Americans Throw Away Nearly Half Their Food, $165 Billion
Annually, Study Says”,
www. Huffington Post.com, August 21,
2012; accessed March 11, 2013: Web, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/21/food-waste-americans-throw-away-food-study_n_1819340.html
Brad Plumer; “How the U.S. Manages to Waste $165 Billion in Food Each
Year”,
www.washingtonpost .com, Updated August
22, 2012; accessed March 11, 2012: Web, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/08/22/how-food-actually-gets-wasted-in-the-united-states/
Scott Learn; “Portland Ready to Test Recycling Residents’ Kitchen
Scraps; Oregon Live. Com;
February 03, 2010,
updated October 29, 2011; accessed March 12, 2012; Web; http://blog.oregonlive.com/environment_impact/print.html?entry=/2010/02/portland_ready
to_test_collect.html
“Curbside Food Waste Collection – A Growing Trend”, Sierra Club Green Home; accessed March 12,
2013; Web; http://www.sierraclubgreenhome.com/go-green/curbside-food-waste-collection-a-
growing-trend/
Grzeskowiak, By Jennifer. "ON THE CUTTING EDGE." Waste Age. 01 Mar. 2005 eLibrary. Web. 11
Mar.
2013
http://www.foodrecoverynetwork.org/about-us/our-work/;
Accessed March 12, 2013; Web
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Journal 5-"Dive!"
I have thought about the video that we watched and wondered if I could or would ever do that. Many thoughts have crossed my mind. What would it take for me to jump into a dumpster and dig? I have a six year son and I am pretty sure that as a mother, I would do whatever would be necessary to provide for my son. I have a pretty good job right now and make a decent salary, however there has been a time when I was unemployed and had an extremely limited income. I have been able to provide for my child on both incomes, although I am unsure how. I also started thinking about trying what they did in the video, by calling various stores and asking about them donating the food at the close of business, before going in the dumpster. But from the store's perspective, what would keep people from not shopping at the store and just coming in at the close of business and getting their food. There would be no need to shop in the strore. Just thinking.......
Sunday, March 3, 2013
The American Dream-Fear
Janet
Dodd Dodd
1
Professor Kelly Warren
ENC 1102
February 25, 2013
Fear
In his first inaugural speech, Franklin D.
Roosevelt said, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself!” These immortal
words effectively describe my life until now. My entire life has been about
fear in some fashion. Fear can inhibit an individual from trying new
experiences, to hide or hold back emotions, and effectively obtaining life
goals or following or even discovering their dream. Fear can paralyze the strongest
of men, but if overcome or harnessed; it can take you anywhere in life that you
would like to go.
There are times when fear can be a great
resource. It can remind us of things that could be potentially harmful. Fear can even be good for you sometimes and even help you
stay healthy. Fear of getting too close to a campfire may save you from a bad
burn ( “Being Afraid” ). We have
the innate “fight or flight” defense mechanism built into our genetic
makeup. This allows us to react to a
possible harmful situation. As important as this, fear is still something that
is needed to be overcome.
I grew up in a house with three brothers
and no sisters. Needless to say, fear was not an option back then. If my older
brother even smelled fear, he would pounce on me or my younger brother like a
cat on a mouse. Being the only girl in the family, I was of course fragile in
my mother’s eyes. If she could have only seen how far from the truth that was,
maybe my life would have
Dodd
2
taken
a different turn. My constant struggle was the desire to try new things, have
new experiences, while being told, “no, you can’t because you are a girl.” Not
being able to go camping with my friends unless in was in my own back yard and
not being allowed to drive my own car at night away from the house by myself
are just couple of examples of my mother’s “girl paranoia.” Needless to say, I grew up to be fearful of
the unknown with the words, “you never know what might happen,” always and
forever looming over my head. The words, “can’t,
shouldn’t,
don’t” and “because you are a girl” became staples in my vocabulary; always hindering
me.
Fears create defense attitude that
undercuts risk taking, individual initiative, creativity, and involvement in
almost any wide-scale change imitative (Breaking 10). Stepping outside of your
comfort zone is difficult in itself, however when met with discouragement and
dissuasion makes it near impossible. There is always the possibility of
something bad happening, but there is also the possibility of something
wonderful happening. It is the uncertainty that we should embrace. Fear is
normal…it only becomes a problems when we refuse to take steps to beat it (“Women’s
Health Magazine Online”). Women’s Health Magazine printed an online article in
the April/May 2005 issue stating that to conquer your fears you must fight back
using four basic strategies; visualization, use words, diversion,
acknowledge. You must first picture
yourself overcoming your fear to proceed to conquering it. Then, avoid words with negative connotations,
such as “I can’t,” or “I’m afraid.” Next, allow yourself to think of less
intimidating ideas. For example, instead
of focusing on an entire crowd when publically speaking, focus on only one
person or use imagery to alter the setting. Finally, acknowledge your
fear. Face it head on.
Dodd
3
Having experiences, whether good or bad,
is another a part of life. Different
events do not have to have to define who we are, however how we handle the
event can make a substantial difference in our lives. In 2005, I was afforded
the opportunity to visit Uraguay with a friend to visit her husband’s
family. The country is very poor and
families live together in small houses, therefore there was insufficient room
for me to stay in the family house. I
was able to stay in a small hotel about 10 minutes away from the home by
myself. Armed with only two years of
high school Spanish and words picked up from my Spanish speaking friends, I was
only able to communicate fluently to ask the question, “Donde esta’ la
biblioteca?” (Where is the library?). An amazing thing happens when you are
completely submersed in a different culture; you tend to adapt to your
environment. Looking back on that time, I
was able to step outside my comfort zone of and enjoy an entirely new
experience in another country.
Since that part of my life, I have conquered
many fears and had many life changing experiences. I have changed my career path three separate
times until finally deciding on what I would like to do with the rest of my
life. I have gone back to college to
obtain the knowledge and degrees necessary to become a nurse, while conquering
the biggest challenge of all; being a single mother. To eliminate the fears associated with being
a parent, I have turned my life over to God.
There is no way better to overcome your fears, than that. Turn whatever fears you have over to God and
you will be rewarded. Fear is just a
word.
Dodd
4
Works
Cited
Breaking the cycle of fear. Physician
Executive. 33.4 (July-August 2007) p6.
“Conquer Your Fears - Learn to Battle What Makes You Afraid Using
These Fear-Fighting Tips.” Women’s Health
Magazine, April/May 2005. Last updated January 4, 2012. Web. 26 Feb 2013. http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/freedom-from-fear
“Being Afraid.” Kids Health from Nemours, date reviewed January 2011 by D’Arcy
Lyness PhD. Web 02 Mar 2013. http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/emotion/afraid.html#
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)