Reflection on Blog

When I first came into 308J, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. When I heard that we had to do these blog writings about various stories, critiques of fellow classmates, and our feelings, I was very intimidated. I almost felt as if I were out of my league. Being in from the Russ College of Engineering, I never really had the opportunities to express myself through writing. My last true writing class was my freshman year in Eng. 151 and since then I’ve just crunched numbers all day long; this class really came as a curve ball to me.

I think one can tell by first couple of posts, I didn’t quite grasp the idea of free writing. My posts were very structured and definitely fit the word count Dr. R. proposed within a couple of words. I was so worried about hitting that set number of words our blog was suppose to contain, that I truly was limiting my free writing. By the time we had to read “Cradle to Cradle” by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, I finally started to seize the idea. I soon found out that if I just start writing and don’t worry about the word count, everything falls into place. I was able to express myself more fully and analyze readings more in depth. Along with grasping the idea of free writing, my grammar and sentence structure greatly improved. Maybe the best example of this improvement can be seen from my personal essay to my persuasive paper on dams. I was able to notice better sentences in my persuasive paper and plus it was easier to write from already having the experience from writing the personal essay.

The most important tool I will carry with me from the blog posts are the rhetorical concepts of pathos, ethos, and logos. I have to admit, I was somewhat ignorant about writings before this class. When I would read something, I never gave much thought to what audience an author might be trying to reach or what emotions the author might be trying to bring to the forefront from the reader. I realized authors write with much more meaning and purpose than I ever gave them credit for. That is why in the future I hope to somehow incorporate the ideas behind pathos, ethos, and logos to better capture my audience and be better apt to get my points across.

Another benefit about the blog posts was everyone’s ability to see one another’s posts and have the ability to critique them. I enjoyed reading all the different ideas about the particular writings. I found it to be the most beneficiary to be able to study the writing styles of other students. It was also astonishing to come across all the different ideas that stemmed from the same literature. I found numerous times where someone else’s blog would hit on a point I hadn’t even thought of. At times, it caused me to question the stance I took on the subject and allowed me to sometimes see the reading in a different light. The critiquing aspect also paid dividends. This allowed me to present more professional looking blogs due to my fellow classmates picking up on errors that I had missed. I hope I was able to help the students in my class as much as they were able to help me.

Lastly, I hope that over time more and more people are able to come across this particular enviroblog. More so, I hope people are able to read my personal essay and comment about their personal experiences with the environment or read my persuasion paper and perhaps argue their own points about dams. But most importantly, I hope people are able to come across my report on local sustainability and the Village Bakery so that they become more informed about what it truly means to eat locally.

After posting my first couple of blogs, I really questioned the purpose of the whole idea. It almost felt to me as if it were busy work. But now looking back, I see that I couldn’t have been more wrong. I see that they were exercises to improve our free writing and that they allowed us to express our true feelings much more vividly. As a result, my grammar improved, my ideas were clearer, and I was able to learn about the ideas behind free writing first hand from my fellow classmates. And because of all this, I feel I leave 308J a better writer and a better person.

English Bonus: "The Human Footprint of Earth"

Dr. Lonnie Thompson of The Ohio State University presented his speech “The Human Footprint of Earth” to Ohio University on the evening of March 9th, 2009. His presentation was based on his studies of ice core drillings in the past 30 years from some of the highest altitudes in the world. His research proves the world has recently seen some of its most intense warming over the past 800,000 years. Therefore, Dr Lonnie Thompson’s objective was to inform his audience of the factual evidence he and his team has discovered about global warming.

I found Dr. Lonnie Thompson’s studies on Earth’s climate history to be very factual and informative. As a paleoclimatologist, Dr. Thompson spoke of the temperatures around the world and how they are currently rising. His studies have led him to over 50 expeditions that involved destinations such as Tibet, Peru, The Andes, The Himalayas, Antarctica, Alaska, and Mt. Kilimanjaro. He stated that out of the past 12 years, 11 have been the highest recorded temperatures the world has ever seen. Temperatures are warming not only higher in the day and summer, but in the winter and night as well. Temperatures across the different oceans have even seen warmer temperatures. His research also proves a parallel warming of temperatures over both land and ocean. Over the last 50 years, the Antarctica peninsula has warmed over two and a half degrees Celsius. Some glaciers have even thinned by as much as 40 meters in height and are now flowing 3 to 8 times faster because of the melting underlying ice. Thompson even showed a pictures of Mt. Kilimanjaro in which it has been discovered that 85% of the ice has disappeared from the top of the Mountain.

Dr. Lonnie Thompson’s research is all based on ice core readings that he recovers from all over the world. According to Thompson, much work is needed to get all the drilling equipment up to the high altitudes. But, the use of yaks has allowed for the easy transport of the ice cores from down atop the mountains. This was the case when his crew drilled in Tibet. The ice cores were then flown to China after being transported by the yaks and then onto Chicago where they were placed in a freezer truck and drove to The Ohio State University. While doing their research, Dr. Thompson’s crew came across 5000 year old plants. Carbon dating was used to determine their age, but that was not the big deal. It was that these plants have been frozen solid for over 5000 years and they were perfectly intact. This meant that a big snow storm had hit the area which buried the plants. But since then, they have gone undisturbed which means temperatures have not been this warm for at least 5000 years. The same was said to be true about “Otzi”, the 5000 year old man discovered that had been shot in the back by an arrow. The area in which he died had not been that warm for at least 5000 years because he was perfectly intact and not eroded.

To end his speech, Dr. Thompson stated that society has three major options. The first being prevention. This means reducing green house gases and further developing our geo-engineering. The second was adaptation. This involves changing agriculture, the way we eat, and possibly building more dams. The last major option society has is to suffer and to keep suffering. To wrap the speech up, Dr. Thompson wanted to leave the audience with three major facts that he believes are indisputable. They were that the 20th Century has been the warmest the world has seen in 2000 years, that 2-3 billion people will be affected by global melting, and the world has seen its highest emissions of carbon in the past couple of years.

I personally enjoyed Dr. Thompson’s speech on global melting. I believe this was due to Dr. Thompson’s ability to back his speech up with diagrams and pictures. One can show an audience a slide show presentation full of data and graphs that proves his/ her point, but pictures add that extra dimension that allows the audience to see real life instances. It was also enjoyable to hear his stories as a world traveler and his research from ice cores. I was unaware of the research into ice cores and how much they can actually tell about earth’s climatic history. All in all, it was a great presentation and I was glad that I went.

English Group

1) http://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoonview.asp?start=1&search=main&catref=sea0195&MA_Artist=&MA_Category=&ANDkeyword=dams&ORkeyword=&TITLEkeyword=&NEGATIVEkeyword=

2) http://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoonview.asp?start=1&search=main&catref=amc0237&MA_Artist=&MA_Category=&ANDkeyword=dams&ORkeyword=&TITLEkeyword=&NEGATIVEkeyword=

3) http://www.cartoonstock.com/cartoonview.asp?start=2&search=main&catref=jlv0054&MA_Artist=&MA_Category=&ANDkeyword=dams&ORkeyword=&TITLEkeyword=&NEGATIVEkeyword=

Since I done my persuasive argument on the effects of dams, I thought it would be a good idea to maybe stay with the same topic, though I am not committed to limiting myself to only this. With the first cartoon, a business man is only thinking of himself; (no matter how bad the idea is) while at the same time his friend is dying of thirst. The second cartoon I think speaks out on how ridiculous some constructed dams really are. While I know this is a complete exaggeration of how bad a dam can be built, sometimes you have to wonder how much thought really goes into the placement and usefulness of particular dams. As far as the last cartoon, one can take it as being funny in the sense that the beaver is probably amazed at the tremendous size of the dam. However, one can take it as how is the beaver supposed to construct a home when you have a dam that size blocking all the twigs down river? It would be nearly impossible for the beaver to live around such a large dam. I found all these cartoons to be somewhat funny, but understand the point they are trying to get across in a comical manner.

Local Sustainability: Village Bakery

Village Bakery: Local Sustainability

Chase Wells

English 308

Dr. Rouzie

Before this project, I paid little attention to local sustainability and to the people, places, and efforts it took to maintain a strong community. I had always been the type of person to run through a “drive thru” when I was in a hurry and hungry or go to an Applebee’s when I wanted to go to a sit down restaurant, which I think is normal when compared to our society. However, when asked to interview Bob O’Neil and Christine Hughes of the Village Bakery located in Athens, Ohio, I soon realized my choices of food not only affect me, but the people in my community. Bob and Christine showed me that by eating healthier and locally, I can only help myself, the people around my community, and even the small farmers from all over the world.

As one steps into the Village Bakery, the first thing they see it the mission statement of Bob and Christine. It reads, “Our goal is to sustain our community and provide exceptional dining by using local organic ingredients. We serve delicious fair trade organic coffee and bake with organic dairy, flour and sugar. Besides a unique variety of freshly baked hand crafted loaves, we offer flaky quiches, both sweet and savory pastries, breakfast pizza and tasty soups, salads and sandwiches for lunch. We create delicious cookies, brownies, tarts and cakes for dessert.” Bob and Christine stated that they want people to be familiar with local foods because they are healthier and you know where they come from. Local foods are ethically made and they allow for one to make a greater connection with the community they live in. Additionally, Bob and Christine said the Village Bakery provides uniqueness to the city of Athens. They asked the question, “How can one distinguish between cities if all they ever have is a McDonald’s and an Applebee’s?” They want Athens to be known for their great food and local farmers and not their chain restaurants.

The Village Bakery advocates for the idea/culture of “slow food.” For Bob and Christine, slow food is a reaction against fast food and the ideas behind it. For one, slow food does not promote corn fed cattle and large slaughter houses. It supports ethically grown food that provides diversity. In this case, being diverse means a decrease in the chance of disease spoiling an entire food source. In European countries, slow food is a culture, not just an idea. Families actually grow their own produce and take the time as a family to eat it. Unfortunately right now for the U.S., it is just an idea. However, thanks to the efforts of Bob and Christine, Athens, Ohio and the surrounding communities are producing a variety of local foods from local farmers and increasing the awareness of slow food.

When researching the Village Bakery before the interview, I found that Bob and Christine were very water conscious. Water conscious is the idea of providing water through the means of a tap instead of a bottle. This cuts down on the chances of the water being polluted and contaminated. The idea of water conscious allows the customer to ensure that their water is healthy while at the same time protecting our valuable water resources. They provide their customers with complimentary water from their tap to ensure the well being of their consumers.

When asked about the relationship Bob and Christine share with local farmers, they both stated passionately that the Village Bakery survives off the local farmers and the local farmers survive off the Village Bakery. Furthermore, they believe in Fair Trade. Products such as sugar, coffee, and chocolate have to be imported from all over the world from such countries as Paraguay. To ensure that those local farmers from all over the world are getting the proper compensation for their work, the Village Bakery only buys Fair Trade products.

One of the last few questions asked was whether or not the Village Bakery has plans on expansion. Christine and Bob simply replied, “We want there to be an expansion on the idea of the Village Bakery, not on the building itself.” They both stated that through their trials and tribulations in order to make the Village Bakery a success, they have learned enough to share their input with anybody that is interested in opening up their own “village bakery.” The only expanding Bob and Christine want to do it to be able to grow more of their own lettuce instead of sometimes having to buy from Kroger.

To end the interview, Bob and Christine both consider themselves business people and more importantly activist. They both stated, “The Village Bakery is self-sufficient through the variety of local foods we sell to the surrounding communities, which means we do run a business.” They are passionate about their work and are eager to share that passion with anyone who is interested. Christine said that she has heard Bob state numerous of times, “We don’t want our audience to feel guilt, we just want them to be more aware and intelligent.” From the interview, I believe this and I know they are adamant about not looking down on the people that don’t buy locally, but rather want to raise awareness to those who have not been around the idea of local foods and what it means to eat locally.

Question Appendix

-What is the mission of the Village Bakery?

-How has the Village Bakery incorporated the idea of “slow food” and how is it influencing the local community?

-Can you elaborate more on the importance of being a “fair trade” business and what satisfaction comes from this?

-I found on the website that the Village Bakery is water conscious in which you do not sell bottled water. -How have your customers reacted to this…are they in favor of being water conscious?

-What inspired the Village Bakery to be passionate about local sustainability and can you site a specific example of a person/farmer that has showed tremendous gratitude for what the Bakery has accomplished

-What is your biggest marketing tool in order to inform people of the unique business you run here at the Village Bakery?

-Are there any plans for expansion in the future to incorporate more local foods to help out even more farmers?

-Has the Village Bakery noticed any financial/environmental impacts due to the suffering economy?

-What product/produce do you feel has the most sales and why do you think this is?

-What is the furthest imported product the Village Bakery sells and how did you come into contact?

-Which product/produce is the hardest to come by and why is this?

Sources

-Hughes, Christine. Personal Interview. 25. February. 2009

-O’Neil, Bob. Personal Interview. 25. February. 2009

-Athens Farmers Market. 23. February. 2009.

http://www.athensfarmersmarket.org/

-Della Zona and Village Bakery. 22. February. 2009.

http://www.dellazona.com/villagebakery/villagebakery/about.aspx

-Slow Food. 23. February. 2009.

http://www.slowfood.com/

-The Local Harvest. 23. February.2009

http://www.localharvest.org/

-Village Bakery. 22. February. 2009.

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze1px5k/vbcafe/