Globalization of the Local

Interesting word choice and mostly accurate description of the American system: "the juggernaut of globalization as Americanization could, in just a few decades, wipe out the cultural, ecological, and zoological diversity that took millions of years of human, plan, and animal evolution to produce."

"There is no minimizing the dangers posed to the environment by the flattening of the world."

--I find this quote very interesting because a friend of mine, who is a biology major, argues that we will eventually build something that will have the ability to undo all of the damage we are causing to the environment. She believes there is no way to positively change our lifestyles enough to create lasting recovery and thinks we should all bank on the advancement of technology to build something that will clean the earth up quick and easy........her view may be far-fetched, but I believe the author and my friend have a point when it comes to the irreversible nature of the damage.

Is there really anything we humans can do to change the pollution and damage we are causing on the earth? We can talk about it. We can also talk about how not enough people are talking about it. Time isn't stopping, years are passing, and things are only getting worse.

The author has a point in his "Globalization of the Local" argument. Uploading does make nearly all things possible as so many people worldwide have the tools to create and upload their own content. Anything anyone shares now has the potential to reach people on every continent. Although Americanization via globalization is still very powerful, uploading is a force that won't be stopped. Citizens everywhere are curious and creative and exploring and surfing the web; the flow of information will only expand.

"Globalization now belongs to everyone who can figure out how to take advantage of its opportunities and minimize its dislocations."

waste and energy

Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill
This paper did a great job identifying the "inefficiencies in the U.S. food system from the farm to the fork to the landfill." By doing this, it is apparent that this is a problem that must be address at every level of the food supply chain in order to gain lasting results. Although the paper did not go into much detail and research, it raised some viable and reasonable solutions that could help the problem.

"Doing so will ultimately require a suite of coordinated solutions, including changes in supply-chain operation, enhanced market incentives, increased public awareness and adjustments in consumer behavior."

Americans Waste $130 Billion a Year on Energy

"There’s a vast lack of knowledge, even in business, about how and where energy is consumed."

I think this is the biggest problem. As a country, we are disconnected and uninformed about how things actually work. From expiration dates on food to energy consummation, most people simply do not know what is happening on the base level.

As the article stated, the best thing we could do is create more readily available information and resources for our citizens. At the end of the day, it is a personal lifestyle choice. I believe if we inform citizens from a younger age they will have a better view of how our actions impact our world and earth.

Top 10 Energy Pigs in the Plug
Basically what I got from this article is that we love using energy and sometimes we aren't even aware that we are doing so. Almost every aspect of life as we know it revolves around using energy and to us it is merely plugging in a charger or device into an outlet.

Growing up, my father always unplugged the microwave and televisions between usage and taught my sisters and I to do it also. It is a habit for me now. My sister and I unplug the microwave after each use and use a surge protector for everything in the living room which is turned off/unplugged when it's not in use. While this is normal to me, I understand it isn't convenient for our fast pace lives, but I do think we could all be more mindful about our actions and roles on earth!

Food: Love/Hate Relationship

We live in the fast food nation that Eric Schlosser writes about so it is interesting to read about the very things we have deemed as "life" since we were conscious. Most of Schlosser's points I find to be true and find myself to be the victim of.

Intro

"Americans spend more money on fast food then on higher education, presonal computers, computer software, or new cars...movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music - combined."

If this statement is true, it alone explains (maybe subconciously) the way of life for most Americans. Like I always say, I believe the downfalls of this nation cannot be pinned to one failure but are all of the failing and temporarily fit systems working together, everyday, in each of our lives. Although fast food is not singularly to blame for the poor education most Americans receive today, I think it indeed plays a part. More money is spent on fast food than on college, computers, books, newspapers...and all of these things are pertinent for a student to have the sufficient foundation and resources and successfully learn to apply their knowledge to the world around them.

The American Way: McTeachers and Coke Dudes

Initally, I was reading about the school/education advertisments thinking, "Wow, that's horrible. That's crazy.....". Then I realized, I was a victim of these advertisements! I have always felt that the intended effect of ads didn't work on me; I could watch a commercial or see a banner and see right through whatever it was trying to sell me.

The Pizza Hut Book It! Program was active in my elementary and middle school. I even remember going to get a few free personal pan pizzas, actually. I didn't realize it was advertising then (and it didn't necessarily work because I have never bought a pizza from Pizza Hut) and I don't think it made me read more/more efficiently than I already was, but I definitely didn't turn down a free pizza!

Also, the "special lunch days" the readings referred to were active at my middle school. I believe it was on Tuesdays and Thursdays; the cafeteria would serve Pizza Hut and Subway and they would often run out of pizza before some even got the chance to get a slice because who wouldn't want pizza instead of (who knows what's in) school lunch?

Meat and Potatoes: Food Product Design

"You'll find "natural flavor" and "artificial flavor" in just about every list of ingredients. The similarities between these two broad categories of flavor are far more significant than their differences.

I found the facts of food additives, both scent and taste, to be extremely disturbing. This is not even something that I haven't heard before, but the disconnect between the food and the consumer is so huge that hearing it had no lasting effect on me.

Today, all-natural and organic mean little to nothing. Products with both of these labels have been watered down by the almost always unheard of change of USDA regulations and most of these products still contain the food additives that are in all other products.

Afterword: The Meaning of Mad Cow

What I already knew and confirmed while reading Fast Food Nation was reconfirmed by this foreword: The FDA's regulations simply do not look out for our best interest and care little about true nutrition and health. Their "approval" basically means nothing and the fact that "what the FDA had failed to achieve -- after nearly five years of industry consultation and halfhearted regulation -- the McDonald's Corporation accomplished in a matter of weeks" says a lot about who and what leads our world.

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In high school, I was a vegetarian for about two years after a bad Chili's boneless buffalo wing experience (that topped off crazy-woman research and realizations about our nation's food). This was until I tried to give blood and my iron level was less than half of what was required. Mind you, this was AFTER I spent a couple months eating "leafy greens", beans, and other foods that were said to surely boost my iron levels. Today, I still don't eat much meat, I still get my favorite vegetarian dishes if I eat at a restaurant, and I absolutely do not eat "fast-food." I use that term very loosely because some of the same companies and same methods that distribute potatoes, chicken and beef to McDonalds also supply America's favorite chain restaurants. All this to say that reading Fast Food Nation has not only made me not want to eat meat but eat very little to nothing....

I have a love/hate relationship with food. I love it so much, but I probably hate it even more. I have always been really interested and aware of the food I eat, but reading about it again always reignites my hate and disgust for a lot of today's food.

Soul Food Nation or Just Plain Food Nation?

Soul Food Nation questioned and explored many of the food, nutrition and health issues African Americans continue to face today. The accounts telling the historical births to these issues were pertinent because I believe many people make negative judgments and assumptions on “soul food” and the way it is prepared but don’t fully understand the roots of these food items. Knowing how these foods were introduced to this group of people and how they were grown and made in the past gives us an entirely new perspective.

A girl in the documentary made a very valid point: her people are not concerned with the problems of the future but focused on the meal that is present. This is the mindset that most Americans have today; we find ourselves giving into restaurants and innutritious foods everyday with intentions of eating better in the future. Although many people may see the problems with our food, they find it very difficult to give things up or very expensive to buy better options. In a way, I think we are all addicted to some of the empty meals and sweets we grew up on, but the price burden some people carry is an entirely different issue.

Many would agree that the mass production of food is needed in order to feed all of our citizens, but I strongly believe that if this production was rethought and refocused we could have a much healthier and more nutritious America. Every level involved in this production, from the farmers and buyers to cooks and consumers, would have to work together, but first, the problem must be addressed. With a nation consumed and busied by the systems of education, work etc, will we ever stop and think long enough about the foods we use to “fuel” us day to day to fully address and change the issue? We are filling our bodies with low-grade gas and already seeing the negative effects of it killing our family members, neighbors and friends.

One point that especially resonated with me was the mention of food deserts all over the nation. Although the documentary focused on the devastation that black communities face in these places, these food deserts affect a much wider range of people. This could be said about the entire documentary; although soul food might be having a negative effect on African Americans, unhealthy food overall is having a negative effect on every American, whether these effects are visibly seen or not.

China - Response

Through watching "Mardi Gras Made in China" and "China Blue", I realized how words and stories can sometimes have no impact on an individual, even if they are go against our standards of how we define life. Majority of people have most likely heard about the negative side of Wal-Mart's convenient and low-prices business, but those spoken words and stories don't hold much value in our hearts after the conversations are over. At least they didn't for me. I was always aware of it, another not-so-good thing that America is partaking in, enjoying, and completely disconnected from, but it took seeing the conditions of the Chinese compounds and hearing the stories of the workers to actually connect and personalize the issue.

These documentaries also allowed me to see just how huge the disconnect between manufacturers and buyers really is. In the end "China Blue", Jasmine writes a letter to whoever will purchase the jeans that are about to be shipped out of the country, and in it, she says something that stirred many emotions inside of me and made me see this gap. She says something along the lines of "I hope you like the jeans me and my friends made...she sewed on the pockets, Orchid put on the zipper and I clipped all of the thread off at the end." I have never gotten a new pair of jeans and even thought about the lives of the people who put them together.

Supply chains in America are probably necessary for the kind of demand our people now know, love, and expect, but I think Wal-Mart's recognition of expecting leeway in place of providing the many needs for a low-price says a lot. They understand what they are doing, but also know they are doing the best supply-chaining around. With that said, one reading points out that "Wal-Mart doesn't make anything" and I think this ties in with the unawareness or disconnect from the harm that is actually being done.

I understand that America has a different standard of life than most other countries, but for a nation that wants to spread its ways to the rest of the world, it is constantly implementing the suppressing lifestyles further. Obviously, there are issues in all of our systems that are working with and against each other everyday, and most people find themselves only talking about it....

The media's response to 9/11

Ignoring the lessons of 9/11
I believe Jensen's point on America's blindness due to power is pretty accurate. Whether or not the media supported or reinstated the war, I think there is a lesson to be learned from the invasion of Iraq and the "War on Terror", yet America's pride barely even allows citizens the ability to accurately assess the current failures of our country.

Also, it's important to note the possibility that it was not only the media and government alone who aided in the War on Terror, but America's entire system as a whole. Suppose there is a student who is not familiar with foreign and international policies, nor the detailed nature of the middle east and the taliban. By watching the news alone or listening to a speech shortly following 9/11, this student would immediately suppose that the attacks were done by terrorists from Iraq & Afghanistan and be on board with the plan to go to war. I believe the national failure of judgement preceding the invasion of Iraq was a result of not only the administration and the media, but also the education system and the nature of America's perception of life and power in regards to the rest of the world (we're right, they're wrong...no matter what.)


Documentary: Buying the War
I liked this documentary for revealing the rash actions of the media following 9/11. It not only told us but showed well-known journalists admitting to these mistakes. It accurately explores the connections between what the government was declaring and what the media was releasing. It also questions and challenges journalists to reevaluate their roles in the world. Are journalists now lost reinforcing the ideas of the government and reflecting them as the publics general opinion without even realizing they are doing so? Have journalist lost their sense of bias and revealing the truth?

Framing the War on Terror

The media's use of the label "War on Terror" highlights their inability to understand the depths of knowledge needed for the public to understand the true meaning of this term. It also shows their inability to truly connect with the public mind.

Also, the reification of the administration's claims as true without hard, concrete evidence shows the ability of the media to make mere ideas tangible and real in the public's mind.

I believe Reese and Lewis' assessment of journalist's role was pretty accurate, not only in terms of 9/11 coverage, but majority of media coverage as a whole.

The World is Flat

Although this article might be a little outdated, some of the points still hold a lot of truth. I believe that America is a good thing that has created a lot of bad things. This article highlights the decline of American students interested in and pursuing science and engineering degrees; it also highlights America's culture which is now geared towards having fun, watching television, and making money. Many Americans want a job that they can enjoy; they want to be creative, but not in a science or engineering sense, they want to be creative in their own sense, have fun, and make money at the same time. America gave their citizens the freedom to define themselves how they please, although it is somewhat limited to the culture that surrounds them, so America also has to deal with the fact that its students are not defining themselves with science and engineering careers (although the future success of the country is up to the citizens.)

This also brings up the crisis in the education system. It could be said that the nation is now aware that it's education system is lacking, but how much can change in a country that doesn't know how to embrace change? The Texas standardized test change from TAKS to STAAR stirred up so much controversy amongst the education agency, teachers, parents and students. I wrote an article on this topic in the midst of the decision-making, and most of the parents were concerned because the test was going to be tougher than the TAKS and and they feared their child would not pass. Although changes in testing and curriculum need to be accompanied by changing teaching method, these controversies over small changes are only foreshadowing the anger that will come with a national change, if one is made.

In the article, Eric Stern touches on students' disinterest in sciences and maths. From my own education experience, an almost daily phrase I heard in middle and high school, in regard to math and science classes, was "I am never going to use this in real life." I'm not sure what we all thought "real life" was, but it certainly didn't include any consideration of science and engineering careers.

Smart Power, Chinese Style

"It is odd: America is one of the most open societies in the world, yet when it comes to listening to the rest of the world or understanding the views of others, America instead resembles a closed society."

On our own land, we still struggle with understanding other cultures and accepting them into our lives and our invented realms of the "American world." On a global scale, then, I think it is only fitting that we still have trouble listening and understanding the rest of the world.

One thing I found very interesting was China's rendition of the word "crisis", the combination of the Chinese characters for "danger" and "opportunity", while the English definition doesn't hint at the positivity of opportunity in these moments. The Chinese interpretation may also explain why "each time a new problem surfaces, China looks for the advantage in it, assuming that it must adapt to the world, not shape the world as it wishes."

Although Mahbubabi's criticism of America's faulty geopolitical and decision-making competence was accurate in many ways, I believe we make some decisions that proud citizens agree with and think are very necessary.

Anti-Americanism Down in Europe, but a Values Gap Persists

I found the data from this article very useful, and I believe it gives us an accurate picture of the persistent differences and cultural status between America and Europe.

The data revealing a shift in American opinions from 2007 was interesting, especially the decline of American's view of their own cultural superiority. This could be a sign of Americans becoming more aware and knowledgeable of other cultures and the true status of their own.

Richard Wike's analysis of younger Americans is evidence of a changing nation. As he said, "if these trends continue and expand to other topics, the transatlantic values gap could someday vanish," but he foresees for now that the divide will persist.

A change in Europe's anti-American views from the Bush-era and a comparison of our contrasting views is noteworthy and important in analyzing world views, but I wonder how important people think this gap is and why.

The Rest of the West?

In this essay, Kishore Mahbubani's main goal was to send out a message of hope to the Third World, that they too can become first-class citizens, and give them motivation to prepare for the time when the West will take a rest. To illustrate this hope, Mahbubani gives us a detailed process of change that he believes will happen in the 21st century.

I especially liked his image of the West spinning several layers of influence around the globe and how he highlights the inability of most Western minds to see these layers because they have spent most of their lives above these layers. This is a privilege (because most of us don't know sufferering although our "suffering" seems to be real enough) but also a disadvantage (our ignorance to suffering makes it more difficult for us to be efficiently affected by the world around us.)

Although major economical, political, and demographic change will take time, I believe our interdependence will lead to some big changes whether we are fully equipped or not.

The West and the Rest

The West and the Rest highlighted and challenged, in depth, four key realities of the Western world and how we think about the rest of the world. The West faces serious dangers and "it cannot afford to turn its back on the Third World because the Cold War is over." A new strategy is needed, but it will take willingness to sacrifice and suffer on the Western side.

Through the history of western countries, it is clear that when times get tough, for example, an ally is unable to transform themselves at short notice to comply with our standards, we abandon without much guilt. This is also apparent in the past withdraws from Third World societies. Why are we so unwilling to hurt ourselves for the good of people we claim to care about?

I believe the answer lies in Kishore Mahbubani's realization of the nature of the Western strategy to democratize the rest of the world (and promote human rights at only the peak of a disaster). Economic development must come before we try to implement full-scale democracy. Also, we must realize that Third World progress is determined and has to be founded on "good government" and not mere democracy. The answer also lies in our leader's ability to inform the citizens of this reality.

Mahbubani highlights the painful changes and sacrifices Western societies leaders must explain when announcing the seriousness of the problems that are already on their way to our front doors. I agree and believe this is especially difficult because of our willingness to accept freedoms and liberties and quickness to deny and harshly criticize anything less than our standards of "good" that we think we deserve.

Even if some of the points made in the paper are up for debate and discussion, I don't think many would argue that there are some serious issues being buried that will undeniably show up again. Although the public can raise awareness on the severity of the long-term problems the West faces, it is up to the leaders to take control and stop implementing short-term plans and shutting the door behind them. We have been warned that our guns are pointed the wrong way; the question is: will we reassess the realities of our problems too late?