Lets Talk about Trash!

In the article Talking Trash, by Andy Rooney he focuses on the problems associated with large numbers of trash all around the world. He gives us a play by play description of just how much trash is thrown away each and every day. We never consider when we go to a grocery store that the majority of our items are in containers and cartons and bags, and when we arrive to the checkout line all we do is place them in more bags and cartons. Rooney highlights the amount of materials that we as human discard and comes to the conclusion that we more than likely discard 25 percent of the items that we purchase. Rooney emphasizes his concern with turning our world into one massive dump if nothing is done to prevent the amount of trash we throw away. At the end of his article he reminds us that if we don't do anything to stop all of our wastes, "The Earth could end up as one huge, uninhabitable dump."

One of the reasons I chose this article to write about is my history with working in a grocery store. I worked at my neighborhood Jewel-Osco for 2 years and witnessed just the amount of waste that Rooney is talking about. For starters, all the groceries are delivered to us in boxes or cartons as they are unloaded from the truck. Then after we take these items from the truck, we take the individual cartons and bags from these boxes and put them out there for customers to purchase. Once the customer has chosen their groceries, they can then bring them to the checkout where we will bag most of their groceries. Depending on the item we may use two plastic bags, or two paper bags, or mix and match. However, often times when the consumer gets home, half of the materials used to transport the items from place to place are discarded of. Since I was in the third grade I have been informed of the problems with the amount of trash we have here on earth. I have learned about its effects on the ozone layer, and what will happen when we run out of places to throw away our trash. Although there is a recycling program in most places around the world, the truth is most people ignore these programs and simply continue to throw all of their items away. For instance, I have been living in the dorms at Iowa State University for the past nine months, and watch people constantly throw away items such as bottles and empty boxes. One of the worst displays I have seen of waste was the day after move in. There were TONS of boxes in the dumpsters that people had used to carry up all of their items. Truth is most people don't need to use boxes and cartons and plastics bags to move all of their stuff, but they choose to anyway and wind up wasting a lot of material. I see everyday that their is an abundance of trash in the trash cans and every so often wonder where all of it goes. I wonder what will actually happen when all the dumps are full, and am concerned that people will begin to take action when it is too late. I believe if we begin to conserve now and are more conscience of programs such as recycling we can eliminate the problems associated with trash. Although we are not feeling the effect of being wasteful consumers, I want to avoid the day that comes when we have nothing left to do with our "trash."

What's Globish?

In the article, If You Can't Master English, Try Globish, they author focuses on a newer language that can be interpreted by most people all over the world. In the article, author Mary Blume focuses on the advantages of having an additional language and not simply English, or French, or Spanish. This new language is comprised of only 1500 words making it easier for people all across the world to understand and learn in an efficient manner. This language lacks certain description words such as "niece" or nephew, because like the article states you can simply say, "the son of my brother." By doing this it eliminates the option of having a large amount of words to chose from and this way people can have basic communication between one another. Instead of learning a complicated individual language this new language makes it so people from all over the world can still communicate. Although this language lacks certain grammatical structure, it was simply created as a new communication tool.

My reaction to this article is that it overall seems like a good idea. I myself have spent the last 5 years trying to learn the Spanish language and still find myself lost at certain points and lacking the ability to describe certain things. In addition to that I feel that its hard for people to all across the world to learn all 6800 languages that exist. Most of them are not only complicated, but harder to learn because they are all based around different cultures and ways of speaking. By using this new language, called globish, people from the smallest African Tribes can communicate with people in France or Russia. I believe every language is unique and hold certain value, and would never agree that everyone leaves their own language and adapts to a new one. However, I do believe that it is beneficial for a person to be able to communicate with ANY person that they run across. Globish appears to not have been created simply to wipe out other languages, but as a way to eliminate a language barrier that exists between people all over the world. It takes years to master one language and it would be impossible to master all 6800. This is why if there is one globally excepted language such as globish every one's voice and opinion can be heard. However, I must say that I myself have never heard of globish before this article, and am interested in how people are going to attempt to convince people to try this new language. It seems like it would be a good idea, however most people lack the interest of learning a new language. So in my opinion it seems to be a good idea, but there will be some loop holes to fight through.

AIDS has a woman's face

In today’s world AIDS is starting to affect more and more people especially in the African countries. After reading “In Africa, AIDS Has a Woman’s Face,” I learned that one of the main people affected by AIDS over there is the women. Although its a problem for the entire continent, the author believed we should be more focused on helping out the women of Africa before we try to help the entire population. They believe the first step in fixing the AIDS epidemic is by reducing the number on women affected by AIDS.

One of the reasons I choose this story is because I have always had an interest in the AIDS epidemic and just how much it truly affects the people. I believe that people know that AIDS doesn’t simply affect people, but is wiping out mass numbers of Africans every year. However, even though we know all of these facts nothing has changed in the sense of making a better and brighter future for Africans it would appear. One of the topics that has always touched me is infants and children orphaned but the epidemic. In the states, there is no such thing as a child living alone running the household or a 14 year old in charge of all of their siblings. We have things like the foster care system and adoption and things like that simply don’t happen. Therefore every time I think about a child living alone and fending for themselves a sense of sadness comes over me. There is no way a child can usually go on living a healthy and proper life with out guidance from an authority figure. I believe the majority of things we learn come from our parents or guardians. And then when you think about the children who are fortunate enough to have an older sibling to care for them, someone still essentially suffers. I can’t imagine being pulled out of grade school and basically being expected to live the life that most people don’t hit for at least ten or fifteen years. With all this in mind my heart always goes out to the children and families placed in these situations.

The Globalization of Eating Disorders

In the article, the Globalization of Eating Disorders, by Susan Bordo, she highlights the common misconceptions that are associated with eating disorders. We learn that Eating disorders are not only common to one certain ethnic group or gender but to people all around the world. Thanks to western civilization, the common person would like to have a small and slender body. However, the truth is the majority of us just aren't born with one. In some cultures, being thin is seen as being sick, but for most people in the United States, if you are overweight you are the one who is considered unhealthy and un attractive. Bordo shows us that having an eating disorder is a serious thing, and it is unfortunately becoming more and more common. It has almost reached a point of acceptance which Bordo disagrees with. The thesis of her argument states, "Eating and body image problems are now not only crossing racial and class lines, but gender lines. They have also become a global phenomenon."

As far back as I can remember what I see in the media has always been known as something that is popular or something that everyday people should be striving to imitate. However, until reading this article I was never quite sure of the impact that the media might actually have on the average person. Not only do people want to look like what they see on television or in the latest magazine, they wish they could be just like that person. No matter what the environment around you or your authority figures may say can change the way America has portrayed the way people should look. People of all ages, genders, and nationalities see disgust when they look in the mirror and their physique doesn't match the one on the cover of their magazine. This being said I was shocked by how we as Americans allow editors of magazines and television show producers to tell us that how we look is either acceptable or not. I believe that we as people should have the knowledge to know that everyone looks different and embodies different beauties within.

This being said the paragraph about the counter argument was very powerful in the fact that it provided a sense of comfort in accepting how you look in that specific group of people. They believe that the body there are born with is a gift and should be loved by not only yourself, but also those around you. I wish that I in fact lived in a society that spread this message to its people instead of the constant thought that something needs to change.