Green washing

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/15/nyregion/15bags.html

http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/media-room/press-releases/

http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=2012968&contentId=7064912

1. The

the expense of potentially more serious concerns. In other words, when marketing hides a

trade-off between environmental issues.

environmentally-preferable just because it comes from a sustainably-harvested forest.

Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off occurs when one environmental issue is emphasized atPaper, for example, is not necessarily

2. The

evidence or third-party certification.

claim various percentages of post-consumer recycled content without providing any

supporting details.

Sin of No Proof happens when environmental assertions are not backed up byOne common example is facial tissue products that

3. The

meaningless.

formaldehyde are all naturally occurring, and poisonous. ‘All natural’ isn’t necessarily

‘green’.

Sin of Vagueness occurs when a marketing claim is so lacking in specifics as to be‘All-natural’ is an example of this Sin. Arsenic, uranium, mercury, and

4.

certification-like image to mislead consumers into thinking that a product has been through a

legitimate green certification process.

The (new) Sin of Worshiping False Labels is when marketers create a false suggestion orOne example of this Sin is a paper towel product

2

whose packaging has a certification-like image that makes the bold claim that the product

‘fights global warming.’

5. The

emphasized. One example is the claim that a product is

by law.

Sin of Irrelevance arises when an environmental issue unrelated to the product is‘CFC-free’, since CFCs are banned

6. The

feel ‘green’ about a product category that is itself lacking in environmental benefits.

cigarettes are an example of this Sin.

Sin of Lesser of Two Evils occurs when an environmental claim makes consumersOrganic

7. The

is products falsely claiming to be Energy Star certified.Sin of Fibbing is when environmental claims are outright false. One common example

involentarily laughing and crying

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/a-pill-to-control-laughing-and-weeping/

apparently there is a condition where you can cry and laugh involentarily. things like strokes and certain diseases cause it and the article said that its common but rarely heard of. its called pseudobulbar affect. and now they have a new drug that can fix it! its actually a combination of 2 already existing drugs. the article goes into how the disease is not known to alot of doctors and that there might not be a big enough market for the drug. but what interests me most is that there are people who actually laugh when they don't want to, or cry when they arn't sad. its almost hard to believe since both of those things take quite a bit of force to do. i wonder what it feels like to do that. it would be so odd to do those things without any emotion or reason for doing so

Deer breaks into college

http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/20101105/NEWS01/101105008/1052/COMMUNITIES02/Deer-s-rampage-leaves-Denison-University-building-a-mess

visit the link to check out the pictures!

a deer broke into 2'x2' window in the student center. when breaking through the window the deer had cut itself badly leaving a trail of blood in the hallway and snack bar area.the article said that there was blood all over the walls and furnature.

       "A local bowhunter who was contacted by Granville police shot the deer with an arrow throughan exterior window after the glass was removed, Pegher said. “It died within a few minutes,” he said."

they closed the snack area until the blood was cleaned up and the place was disinfected. the deer meat was donated to a local family, delicious!

ideas for paper #3...

What I noticed in the book was a how independant the women were in 1984, how they worked and had a high up role in the society. This is an odd thing to put in a book writtin in the late 40's because I'm pretty sure back then women were just starting to enter the work and it was highly contreversal because women were supposed to stay at home. which got me thinking, to the author is women high up in the work force an aspect of a distopian world?! Everything else was backward about that society. So what i want to do is see if other early distopian literature has the same sort of idea of womens role in their books. this might be hard to do though so the topic of my paper might change.

Mrs Parson's children

The scene in the book where winston goes over to Mrs. Parsons house to fix her sink and the kids come up to winston and scream at him stands out to me alot about what kind of society the book is set in. In the scene the children yell at winston for being a thought criminal and a traitor and lept around him like "tiger cubs" and when the mom mentions the hanging that the kids didn't get to see the kids start screaming about that. To me it seems like while the adults are timid and nervous the chilren are much more loud and violent in the way they obey the rules of big brother and society. i think its because the adults sort of passively accept that they need to obey the rules of the society the children are active believers and followers to the big brothers ideals. they seem to be taught at a very young age to try and rat out adults that they think are acting against the rules and i think they try to do this at a young age because by the time they are adults this will all be drilled into their brain so much that no one will question athority and be very subserviant to whatever the higher powers want them to do.

1984 thoughts

three themes that stand out to me in the book so far are rationing, paranoia, lies and all of these themes kind of mix together to create the overall theme of control.

in the discussion we had on monday i had mentioned how i felt there might be a correlation between 1984 and the great gatsby and i feel like no one quite understood what i meant by the reference. so to clear things up i wanted to explain my thoughts better with my blog! so the great gatsby isn't at all similar to the book 1984 HOWEVER there is a part in the great gatsby that talking about eyes on a billboard that look down onto (i think) the junk yard, and it was supposed to symbolize the eyes of god watching everyone. i thought while reading 1984 how it would be interesting if the books were written around the same time because both the authors seem to have a certain fear over all seeing powers. but they sadly were written about 20 years apart so my idea wasn't correct.

while reading i questioned how if they are constantly changing history and news and facts to support the government how do people not catch on and remember that on one day the paper said this but on another the paper said something different. Winston is aware of the lies but i think he is supposed to be due to the job he has in the story. but what about other people? do the proles ever realize the government is constantly changing and making up lies about things? my theory is that since there are thought police maybe the people who do not complacently accept the facts that are being published and told are vaporized because of their disoedience

Say no to GMO? or say yes..... hmmm

For those unaware of what GMO stands for it means Genetically Modified Organisms. And alot of our food today is genetically modified ranging from corn all the way to meat. I am not very well versed in the subject, however my hippie friend loves to discuss the problems with GMO. So this upcoming paper is a tribute to her.

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/27/would-gmo-apples-by-another-name-taste-sweeter/?scp=2&sq=gmo&st=Search

The article above discusses how changing the description of genetically engineered food might ease peoples minds about consuming GMO products. They also discuss some of the benefits of GMO which I found refreshing since most articles talk about GMO as if were a blasphemous sin. Here are some of the benefits they mentioned:

1) genetically modifying the fruit would "reduce the need for antifungal sprays and allow consumers to purchase more locally grown fruit" (Thats good for the economy and local commerce)

2) adding genes to the fruit would prevent growers from having to spray the fruit, therefor reducing enviornmental impact

3)" apples grown in the Midwest are prone to a disease known as apple scab, and that by introducing a scab-resistant gene into the apples, scab could be prevented." (better looking and tasting fruit)

The articles below are also related to GMO and i have added them mostly for myself so i can publically bookmark them so they wont be lost. But you are welcome to look and decide for yourself whether to say yes or no to GMO
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/03/business/worldbusiness/03rice.html?ref=genetically_modified_food

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/09/22/genetically-modified-food-fishy-or-a-taste-of-the-future/?iref=allsearch

Free version of 1984 online

http://www.george-orwell.org/1984/0.html

If you haven't purchased the book yet do not fear! I have found an online version of the book, however it doesnt have the forward so you might want to borrow the book from a friend to read that.

Carrot Vending Machines!!!!

In Mason where I live the high school has added a new type of vending machine filled only with carrots. Not only that but my old school also got press about their baby carrots vending machine!!! This is definitely a local win. Check out the link below to watch the short news video about it....

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/school-installs-carrot-vending-machine-22013111

There are apparently different types of packages to choose from but they all contain baby carrots, they are also all 50 cents each and 100% of the money goes back to my school (but they are donating it to charity).

What i would like to know is how long these carrots are expected to keep. To my knowledge and personal experience vegetables only last a week maximum and most of the time when you purchase a package like that there are usually some already turned veggies. I dont want to sound pessimistic but this really doesn't sound like a good idea. My personal opinion is that it will take longer to empty that vending machine as opposed to others that are around my high school due to the fact that carrots are not as appetizing to children in comparison to Snickers or Ruffles. And if the carrots are in the machines longer the kids who do end up buying the carrots will probably end up buying a bag of rotton vegatables! that is not worth 50 cents. But as long as they replace the rotton packages with fresh ones though i think this is a possibly effective and certainly interesting approach for getting kids to eat better.

What do you think?

Catfish (the movie)

http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/movies/17catfish.html?8dpc

Above is a link to an article about the new social networking movie, this movie focuses on the consequenses of what facebook, myspace, and foursquare can do to us. Although the review for the movie was mixed between fascination and dissapointment, I think it sounds like a movie well worth watching.

I think that there is merit in anything that makes you step back and reflect upon the things you do in your life. And it would only be fitting since people seem to have a sort of 'second life' sometimes over the internet that there would be a movie posing questions and bringing up thought about how this affects us.

The reviews did say that the kids making the movie had something that could have been poetic and artistic turned it into something to show off their friends crazy antics. This, however, does not detour me from wanting to see it. Decide for yourself!

about the past couple days in class...

The word 'Rhetoric' was used almost the whole two days we were in class, and i have no idea what this word even means! And i bet that I'm not the only one who doesn't know so here's the online definition : speech or writing that communicates its point persuasively. There are alot of definitions but this one fits into the context of last class period.

My opinions about the first class are that America loves stirring up controversy for the sake of venting anger that they can’t channel anywhere else. I am really confused as to why people are upset about a Mosque being built in New York City, I’m aware that it is close to the ground zero site and any sort of religious building would be disrespectful but this shouldn’t be a problem because it’s not on the site! What are people worried about? Are people worried that this would be a place for hidden terrorists in America to congregate, because in actuality it would be one of the worst places for them to be. Americans would already have a close eye on the Mosque and it would be a dumb place to be if you were up to no good because people are already skeptical. It would just be a place for people to go and worship their lord. If they are upset about location i would ask them why. New York is a very crowded city, and the last time I was there it didn’t seem like there was a lot of open real estate for people to pick from. There wasn’t hardly any more room for another hot dog selling street cart! I’m sure that the people who are paying to build the Mosque didn’t ask themselves “Hmmmmmm I wonder what would piss Americans off the most?” while it is admittedly a little ironic that it is being built nearby the world trade center it wasn’t done on purpose.

The second day what stuck with me most is the world clouds. When i am writing anything it is most important to me that i use an expansive and a good variety of vocabulary. I found it very odd that in the Presidents speaches there were alot of repeated words, some more than others, but to use the same vocabulary to me sends a message. In my opinion thereason for use of repeated words is probably for dramatic affect and persuasion for the viewers to buy into the message. For them it seems the more the word is used the bigger impact it has in the speach.

Those are all of my thoughts....

ps rhetoric is the study of how to build an argument, this has been updated at a later date than the above content

Fat momas make fat children???

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/07brody.html?_r=1&ref=health

the link above is to an article that discusses new found evidence that expectant mothers who eat too much during pregnancy can lead to "bigger-than-average babies who are prenatally programmed to become overweight children". It speaks of how most women gain more than the recomended weight during pregnancy which is bad for the babies metabolic rate as well as women who start out overweight and become pregnant also negatively affect the babies birthweight and metabolic rate.

 I read this and thought about my younger sister. I was told when my mom had me she stuck to a well balanced diet and no caffine. however when my younger sister came around she didn't eat well at all. In fact in her third trimester while pregnant with Amy (my sister) she was as wide as she was tall (5 feet tall and 5 feet around!) now im not trying to dis my mom she's a hot skinny old lady now, but i think my mom coulda used this article while pregnant with Amy. She has always been a little bit bigger than me, not by much, but still I find this interesting. Could it be that my sister was just predispositioned from birth to be slightly bigger? It might be, but I'm skeptical. Anyways I found the article interesting and slightly relivent to my life so check it out!

Creeping Advertisements

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/technology/30adstalk.html?ref=internet

I have posted a link to the article that I am writing a response to. The article talks about "retargeting" which is when web sites that people have been on go on to put custom web advertisements on the other sites they browse. It also descibes how detailed and precise it is to give the consumer a personal, and hopefully more effective online advertisment. What I took from this however is the disturbing feeling of a virtual big brother looming over my head. As I write this blog post right now, perhaps, some one is watching my activity.
 I have been well informed about the dangers of posting too much information on sites like this and others like facebook or myspace, because you never know who could stumble upon your page. But this takes stalking to a new level where companies track my behavior and spits it back out in my face. The article Retargeting Ads Follow Surfers to Other Sites mentions how google takes what you have looked at through their sites and use "behavioral targeting" to judge what kind of person you are and what would interest you in advertisements. What is even more disturbing is the fact that this isn't new technology. Cookies on your computer is whats giving people a window to your online life! Companies have had this information about people for a while, it's just recently that it has been put to use. I don't know much about computers but i have a desire to research how one could possibly take these cookies off a computer.
People online beware. you may think you're alone on your computer but there is someone watching, and they want to sell you things.

About Me (because its fun to be ostentatious!)

Like I said in the blog before my name is Jordan. I live in Mason Ohio which for people who don't know thats close to Cincinnati. Im probably never going home because i live four hours away from Kent and i don't have a car, or a license. I'm a fan of camping, rock climbing, listening to good music, drawing & painting, and looking at clouds. I'm a pretty nervous person so I think it will be a challenge to make new friends here. Apparently everyone who went to the high schools around here all decided to go to kent, which is less than fabulous for someone who literally doesn't know a single person up here. Anyways, I'm majoring in Fine Arts here and i hope to pick up some sort of business minor along the way. I like to eat food sometimes so if you want a friend we can go waste our flash cash together! I think thats enough info for now i suppose.

Hey college writing 1!

I'm Jordan and this is for my class, I am trying to figure out how to make this blog account since I've never done anything like this before.