Why Should Anyone Care?

 1. Single-use plastics are all around us and they shouldn’t be. In any grocery store you can find bags and packages made of flimsy, unrecyclable plastics that end up in landfills, forests, oceans, and other places they do not belong. These plastics slowly break down and turn into microplastics which pose great threats to our health and our planet.

Skeptic: You don’t think you could ever really do anything about it, do you? 

Me: Of course I do, and with the help of others I know we could convince lawmakers and corporations to change (or make them).

Skeptic: How would you even go about doing that?

Me: Well, every bit helps. I would start by limiting my own consumption of plastic products even more, then I would be vocal about my choice and help educate others.

Skeptic: Why would they listen to you?

Me: They might not have much of a reason to, but I know I can make a compelling enough argument that some people will listen. A few people is all that is needed to start a movement and begin change.

2. The core reason Pollan encourages his readers to change things in their everyday lives is to “heal the split between what we think and what we do” as he wrote when quoting Wendell Berry. When we heal this split by changing some small part of our own lives others will be inspired to enact change as well and this will hopefully turn into a snowball effect. This snowball will eventually reach politicians who Pollan says will not enact change until we do. Then we will fully prove the idea that one person’s actions do not matter. If everyone sat at home waiting for politicians our society would get nowhere.

3. Specialization is convenient and promotes a sense of community, however, it is driven by fossil fuels and quick, unsustainable solutions. Specialization allows people to distance themselves from problems and offers a comfortable way to attain everything we want without having to do it ourselves. Putting ourselves in specific categories is what has gotten our world to this point and what creates professionals who continue to help our world progress. However, the saying is “ A Jack of all trades is master of none, though oftentimes better than master of one.” A politician who also grows their own produce is far better than one who orders takeout and stays late at their office. A mother who has a job outside of the home sets an example for her children and helps provide for them in more than just one way. Specialization may allow people to become good at what they do, but why are they limited to only one category? If we all changed one habit for a more environmentally conscious one or took up a new hobby that helped our community in some way the world would probably have many happier, more understanding people in it.

4. Pollan uses many relatable anecdotes and engaging language to help the reader understand his point and persuade them. I would like to use his strategy of appealing to the reader presenting a common mindset and refuting the claims that others make. The way he refers back to several ideas or phrases previously used in his essay helped create a more cohesive, persuasive paper. When I review my rough draft I think I will refer back to the structure of this essay for some inspiration.

Part Two:

This is somewhat similar to Pollan’s idea, but I’ve been wanting to share this for a while and this idea has been knocking around in my head since maybe two years ago. 

Without a suitable environment, none of us, or the organisms we rely on, would be here. This is a fact that almost every person knows, but sometimes people forget just how close we are to being in extreme danger due to climate change. The earth is currently experiencing a sixth mass extinction driven by human actions. “Currently, the species extinction rate is estimated between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than natural extinction rates—the rate of species extinctions that would occur if we humans were not around”(World Wildlife Fund). Many climate scientists have been predicting when climate change will become irreversible, and mass extinction inevitable, and the estimates seem to be getting sadder with every study. As Pollan said in his essay, it is easy for the average person to feel hopeless and insignificant in the face of global warming, but there are countless ways that we can limit global emissions.

Every organism contributes to our wellbeing and we contribute to theirs. When we destroy forests and deplete soil by farming important organisms lose their homes and the list of threatened and endangered species grows.

Last year my father and I turned a dead patch of grass in our yard into a thriving tallgrass prairie. This is a small action, but I have seen a dramatic increase in biodiversity in our yard. Insects I have never seen before have begun to call our yard home and the animals in our neighborhood appreciate the extra habitat. This has inspired me to encourage my community to participate in environmental restoration as well. To do this I would create an organization that makes Native Plant Care Packages that contain seeds suited for the area a person lives in along with care instructions. After receiving the packages people would attend seminars in their communities on the importance of bringing native plants back to urban settings and further steps we can take to care for our world. These meetings or seminars would also include guidance on how to care for and spot issues in their growing habitats. 

 Minnesota has countless diverse natural regions, but expansive housing developments, corporate offices, and fast-food chains have infiltrated these environments and damaged them. One way to ensure exponential restoration and preservation is to foster a love for our environment in regular people like me. When people are interested in something they want to take care of it, it’s instinct. So, instilling a love for nature in as many people as possible will cause change, even if it is slow at the beginning. Growing native prairies provides habitat for native wildlife, and enriches our soil. Every place on earth has been impacted by climate change. Whether an environment suffers from solid erosion due to important flora missing on shores, or rising temperatures killing important species in a habitat, nowhere is an exception to climate change.

I aim to help preserve and repair our world so future generations have an environment to enjoy and be fascinated with.