Just Us Humans Doing What We Do Best (polished)

In this blog I will be discussing the documentary The Eleventh Hour, which brings together over fifty of some of our worlds greatest thinkers and scientists to discuss the damage the human race is causing to our planet. It covers issues such as deforestation, killing of sea life and pollution of water, mass extinction of species and of course global warming cause by greenhouse gasses. It also questions if it is too late to go save ourselves from the horrid mess we have made, and gives us a couple of potential solutions. The documentary also explains that as a system, the earth is reacting in the same way an ill organism would. Humans expel too much CO2 into the environment and simultaneously kill too many trees to rejuvenate the CO2 released by factories, burning oil, fossil fuels, etc. We have also whipped out complete species by overfishing and excreting waste into the ocean creating oceanic dead zones. One of the speakers in the documentary named James Woolsey, a former Director of Central Intelligence explains, “ Humans have not figured out how to change their ways ". In other words, the human race needs to change a lot of things about the way we effect the environment, because our fate is in our hands. This quote helped me see a connection our class discussion about Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations because if the world could see what happens behind the curtains of the meat factories they would definitely demand change, just as they would if they saw the damage we really cause to our environment.

You can do anything with an English major (polished)

This blog is dedicated to an event I attended in called “You can do anything with an English major”. This event was organized by a number of English professors of LaGuardia Community College to help students comprehend and acknowledge the power of being an English major. While enjoying the delicious sugary, salty, and fatty snacks offered the students and I listened to a couple of interesting and successful individuals who specialized in a wide range of fields such as Business, Computer Science, Law, and even Game Design which had all started out as English majors. They explained that being an English major prepares you for many different areas because it teaches certain aspects which are very useful for the future, such as presenting yourself, understanding of what others are trying to say, and explain to people what you feel should be accomplished. Majoring in English can also help one prepare for future degrees because it helps someone get used to large amounts of reading and teaches them to break it down into key points. The speakers also brought up the fact that as an English major, you also learn about many different types of arenas, ideas, events, and questions in class because the objective is not to learn material, it is to learn how to learn and conduct material to others. English 101 has already taught me a lot about self-development and although I am not majoring in English I am very interested in what I will learn in my future English courses.

The End of Overeating (polished)

In this blog I will discuss the connections between a reading from The End of Overeating by David A. Kessler and previous information we have discussed about in our English 101 class. The reading describes how the three ingredients of salt, fat, and sugar (which are found at excessive amounts in almost everything we eat today) create a chemical reaction in our brain, which is very similar to some dangerously addictive illegal drugs. He uses very interesting examples about war veterans which have gone through tragedies not being able to resist a pack of M&Ms. Kessler’s research along with other sources have proven that our body has a very hard time resisting food which contain salt, sugar and fat. Fast food restaurants contain a large amount of these ingredients in there almost everything they serve, which is the main reason why many people who suffer from obesity and health issues still have trouble resisting the famous burger with a side of fries and a shake. Kessler also states that in the past couple of decades, the average levels of obesity have risen at a tremendous amount compare to what it has in the past, which is where I found an interesting connection between the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation systems and The End of Overeating because obesity has struck hardest the same time as the CAFO system has taken over most of the farms in the country. The birth of CAFOs was the birth to cheap and unhealthy fast food being sold to millions of Americans every day. This situation has been discussed often in our English 101 class and has been touched on many aspects such as business, ethics, health, and more. 

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