Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Outline to Invasvie Species Argument Essay

I. Introduction
The controlling methods for invasive species all over the world is debated among society in many cases. With every invasive animal, there is only one of three ways in which people may go about solving the issue. Chemical, mechanical, and biological control are options for the destruction of invasive animals, however the question remains, which way is best and what is the overall effect of the method? Without argument, the chemical method is indeed the best way to control the invasive animals and the dramatic impact they have on the certain area.

II. Body
a.Talk about the different control methods in depth. Talk about the advantages and disadvantages of chemical control, mechanical control, and biological control then express the reason for the chemical method is the best way for solution.

b. Give examples of different invasive species and the debate that is currently going on within the solution method we are trying to reach.
1.Invasive cane toads in Australia. Give background. The club and freezing method against the use of carbon dioxide. Argue for the chemical side of carbon dioxide.
2.Invasive fox in Australia. Give background info. The mechanical method of physically removing them versus the chemical method of the use of poison bait. Argue for the side of poison bait also known as feralmone.
3. Invasive rabbit in Australia. Give background info. Trapping and shooting as apposed to RHD method. Argue for the chemical method of RHD.
4. Invasive Python in Florida. Give background info. Using the political strategy over using chemical strategy.

III. Conclusion
Go over arguments and Restate thesis statement.



Bibliography

1- Associated Press. How To Kill Cane Toads? Aussies Not Sure. msnbc. 2010.

2- Butler, Tina. Cane toads increasingly a problem in Australia
Overstaying Their Welcome: Cane Toads in Australia. Mongabay.com. 2005.

3- Gutierrez,Marcella. The Most Traveled Cane Toads. 2009. Web-based
(http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2009/gutierre_marc/index.htm)

4- Invasive Animals CRC. "Rabbits."
http://www.invasiveanimals.com/invasive-animals/rabbits/index.html

5- Lapidge, Bourne, Braysher, and Sarre (2004-present) feral.org.au [Online]. Web-based
(http://www.feral.org.au/content/general/about.cfm)

6- Morgan’s Miscellaneous Stock. RHD Sometimes Called VHD.

7- Natrual Heritage Trust. European Wild Rabbit.
Australian Government: Department of the Environment and Heritage.

8- Writers,Staff. Rabbits Fighting Back Against RHD. Terra Daily. May 11th, 2009

9- Blogs/80beats. How to Kill Florida's Invasive, Occasionally Killer Pythons?
2009. floridas-invasive-occasionally-killer-pythons/

10- Ecological Societyod America. Fact Sheet Invasive Species. Washington, D.C.
2006.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Food, Inc. Part 3 183-218

There were many different strategies that I picked up on while reading this weeks assignment. In the section of, "What happened to food" on page 184. the author engages in this section by relaying his argument in a form of a question first. It makes the reader actually think about what the paragraph is later going to argue about. For example, we can look on page 185 in the beginning of the third paragraph. It states, "How can we be sure that food produced on local farms without centralized inspection and processing is really safe to eat?" After reading this I immediately started to think about why I believe that the food I buy from our grocery stores is safe to eat. I guess its just that unspoken trust we have with people that handle our food. We tend to think that if it is not safe to eat then it would not be for sale at the grocery store. This could be wrong in a bunch of aspects. As I engaged in this topic for a while I noticed how effective this strategy was.

The next effective strategy that I picked up on was on the section entitled, "Questions for a farmer", on page 197. This whole section consisted of the author suggesting questions we should be asking in order to know if the food we eat is actually safe for us to consume. The author took a different approach for this one. Instead of the usual essay form, the author engages in a different tactic to gather the readers attention to his main points. He actually highlights and lists the questions out and numbering them so the reader can automatically see and think about the question. After highlighting the question he then elaborates on it and go further into the details. He also enhances the structure of his section by seperating the list of questions into different categories which allows the reader to go specifically to the section they would have the most interest in.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Reasurched Argument: Invasive Species

My paper was on Invasive Species that was taking over Australia. Its kind of hard for me to decide how to go about the argument part for this essay but i think i found the right approach. The big debate that is going on with the different types of invasive species is the fact that there are many ways to deal with the problem but which way should they go about it. In the case of the cane toads, there are two ways in which they can be controlled. One way consists of the method of clubbing and freezing the toads and the other is using carbon dioxide to kill the toads. I believe that clubbing and freezing the toads to death is more painful and gruesome than to just exposing them to a chemical that will automatically kill them without the toads feeling a thing. The only problem with the method of using carbon dioxide is that there are findings in which some cane toads have actually woke up from it. I also think that using carbon dioxide will allow us to kill a wide range of cane toads as opposed to clubbing and freezing that consist of actually finding the toads and committing these grusome acts. The Cane Toad Killing Committee argues that clubbing and freezing practices physical harm to the toads and thus makes it more painful than using carbon dioxide.

The issue that is argued with the foxes is within the debate to use feralmone in bait or to just rely on the method of trapping and shooting. On this debate I will have to argue on the side of using feralmone in the fox bate although it attracts wild dogs as well. That would have to be a small sacrifice in order for us to control the foxes more effectively. The art of trapping and shooting the foxes does not do a whole lot of damage to the fox population as you would have to physically look fro the foxes and spot them out. What about the foxes who don't come out in the open? With the method of poison bate, the IA CRC expects the damages of Australia done by foxes decrease by 10%.

When it comes to the Rabbits, the debate is fairly simple when describing the issue on controlling them. Our current method for controlling them is RHD which is a disease that is currently spreading throughout the rabbit population. The problem with this controlling method is that it is currently spreading to areas of the world where it is not needed. In order to save their domestic stock, Europe and China give their rabbits a vaccine to protect them against RHD. It is also recorded that RHD may not act as a spreading disease as they hope. I argue and urge for another method to be found to be created as trapping and shooting still holds little to no effect on the rabbit population. A method that will only focus on Australia and not other parts of the world.

Food, Inc. Part 2.

In this weeks reading assignments, i found many different point in the book that caught my attention. As I started to read I began to intake a lot of information that I had no clue about. One point was the fact that congress mandated the creation of a multi billion dollar network of distilleries that burns food to make motor fuel. At first i thought it was okay and didn't see the harm in it until I read further where he continued to say that there is a global shortage of food an no shortage in motor fuel. This made me wonder a little on why Congress choose to make motor oil out of food, corn to be specific, when we use corn for almost everything. It is our number one crop and Congress uses it to make motor fuel.

The next section that really caught my attention was the one entitled, "Why Bother?" During this whole book I have been asking myself this question. Why would I bother changing my life when I knew that i would not make much of a difference? The author makes a good point when he states that if he was to do everything right to help the environment, economy, and food, there is always that other person that is his evil twin. That kid on the other side of the country that just received his first car is not thinking of ways he could make his economy better. So I guess it continues to balance itself out.

Michael Pollan makes a statement on page 172 that I am having trouble agreeing with. He noted that in order for us to solve the problem we have to change ourselves and not wait for technology and law. I can argue that waiting for technology and law is the best way to make a drastic change being that technology and law changed us in the first place. Its been around for so long that we need technology in our everyday life and most of us don't worry about how our food and environment is effected. America is fast pace and I do not see America slowing down and take the time to take our environment and food into consideration.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Fast Food Nation: Food Inc.

The film "Fast Food Nation" is a very informative film that educates the viewer on exactly what we eat and where our food actually comes from. There are many different parts in the movie that stand out but the part that caught my attention the most was the part on the chicken. This part of the film touched me emotionally because of the way the film makers presented the issue.

The way the chickens are treated in the film I found very disturbing. In the factory where chickens were being kept was very crowded in a way that it was hard for people to walk in there without stepping on one. One image that really stood out to me was when they were talking about how they would inject different substances to increase the size in the chicken so they could create more meat in one chicken. They noted that most of the time chickens can’t handle the extra weight as their bodies was not made for it so they take steps and just fall over. They should an overly weighted chicken walking then falling over as soon as the chicken took a few steps. Seeing that image made me feel sad and depressed on what they were doing to the chicken just so corporation can increase their income.

One very important aspect that I got from the film and the book was the fact that when the film makers and the author tried to actually collect information and footage from companies and their factories, they were denied many times over and over again. On page 8 of Food Inc, the author states, "None of the major meatpacking companies allowed me to visit their facilities." I feel like all these companies that reject film makers and authors into their facilities do indeed have something to hide from the public. If they were doing things right as far as the treatment of animals and the quality the factory is in then they would not have a problem with showing the public how they obtain the food they make. It’s always the head of the corporation that does not want these secrets shown to the public because it could be bad for their business. It’s a shame to think that corporations think about money more that the well being of their consumers. This is probably one of the biggest issues our society has to deal with.