18 May HOLISTIC ASSESSMENT OF CRITICAL THINKING ESSAY
Essay Directions:
Read the passages below and write an essay that addresses the following:
- What is the position in each passage?
- What evidence or reasons are given in support of each position?
- Which position is more convincing and why?
Do no additional research on the topics other than using a dictionary.
Your essay should be formatted as follows: Two Pages/500 word minimum; Double-spaced; 12 pt font.
Essays will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- IDEAS–focus on topic; effective support; explains & discusses main points
- ORGANIZATION–underlying plan to guide reader; progresses logically
- WORDING / DICTION–clear, straight-forward, lacks wordiness & inappropriate expressions
- SENTENCES–clear & well constructed; avoids fragments & run-ons; variety in structure & length
- GRAMMAR–reflects standard written English; spelling & punctuation do not interfere with meaning
- MEETS OBJECTIVE–follows written assignment directions
The Controversy: Does buying green products improve the environment?
Passage 1. Con: from “Buying Green Products Is an Inadequate Environmental Remedy” by Monica Hesse
“When wannabe environmentalists try to change purchasing habits without also altering their consumer mind-set, something gets lost in translation.”
Buying green is a sign that people recognize the need to protect the environment, claims Monica Hesse in the following viewpoint. However, she argues, consuming green products is not the solution. Consumption will not solve the nation’s environmental challenges, Hesse explains. To be truly green means to buy less, not green, she maintains. Replacing products thought to be environmentally unsound increases consumption, which in turn increases environmental problems, she reasons.
In satiric fashion, she admonishes the green consumer:
“Congregation of the Church of the Holy Organic, let us buy.”
“Let us buy Anna Sova Luxury Organics Turkish towels, 900 grams per square meter, $58 apiece. Let us buy the eco-friendly 600-thread-count bed sheets, milled in Switzerland with U.S. cotton, $570 for queen-size.”
“Let us purge our closets of those sinful synthetics, purify ourselves in the flame of the soy candle at the altar of the immaculate Earth Weave rug, and let us buy, buy, buy until we are whipped into a beatific froth of free-range fulfillment.”
“And let us never consider the other organic option—not buying—because the new green consumer wants to consume, to be more celadon than emerald, in the right color family but muted, without all the hand-me-down baby clothes and out-of-date carpet.”
Passage 2. Pro: from “Buying Green Products Will Improve the Environment” by Jenny Shank
“There’s a certain thrill, that you get to go out and replace everything,” says Leslie Garrett, author of “The Virtuous Consumer,” a green shopping guide. “New bamboo T-shirts, new hemp curtains.”
Garrett describes the conflicting feelings she and her husband experienced when trying to decide whether to toss an old living room sofa: “Our dog had chewed on it—there were only so many positions we could put it in” without the teeth marks showing. But it still fulfilled its basic role as a sofa: “We could still sit on it without falling through.”
They could still make do. They could still, in this recession-wary economy, where everyone tries to cut back, subscribe to the crazy notion that conservation was about … conserving. Says Garrett, “The greenest products are the ones you don’t buy.”
There are exceptions. “Certain environmental issues trump other issues,” Garrett says. “Preserving fossil fuels is more critical than landfill issues.” If your furnace or fridge is functioning but inefficient, you can replace it guilt-free.
Ultimately, Garrett and her husband did buy a new sofa (from Ikea—Garrett appreciated the company’s ban on carcinogens). But they made the purchase only after finding another home for their old couch—a college student on Craigslist was happy to take it off their hands.
The sofa example is what Josh Dorfman, host of the Seattle radio show “The Lazy Environmentalist,” considers to be a best-case scenario for the modern consumer. “Buying stuff is intrinsically wrapped up in our identities,” Dorfman says. “You can’t change that behavior. It’s better to say, ‘You’re a crazy shopaholic. You’re not going to stop being a crazy shopaholic. But if you’re going to buy 50 pairs of jeans, buy them from this better place.'”
Then again, his show is called “The Lazy Environmentalist.”
Source Citations
Hesse, Monica. “Buying Green Products Is an Inadequate Environmental Remedy.” The Environment, edited by Louise I. Gerdes, Greenhaven Press, 2009. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context
Shank, Jenny. “Buying Green Products Will Improve the Environment.” The Environment, edited by Louise I. Gerdes, Greenhaven Press, 2009. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context
Our website has a team of professional writers who can help you write any of your homework. They will write your papers from scratch. We also have a team of editors just to make sure all papers are of HIGH QUALITY & PLAGIARISM FREE. To make an Order you only need to click Ask A Question and we will direct you to our Order Page at WriteDemy. Then fill Our Order Form with all your assignment instructions. Select your deadline and pay for your paper. You will get it few hours before your set deadline.
Fill in all the assignment paper details that are required in the order form with the standard information being the page count, deadline, academic level and type of paper. It is advisable to have this information at hand so that you can quickly fill in the necessary information needed in the form for the essay writer to be immediately assigned to your writing project. Make payment for the custom essay order to enable us to assign a suitable writer to your order. Payments are made through Paypal on a secured billing page. Finally, sit back and relax.
About Writedemy
We are a professional paper writing website. If you have searched a question and bumped into our website just know you are in the right place to get help in your coursework. We offer HIGH QUALITY & PLAGIARISM FREE Papers.
How It Works
To make an Order you only need to click on “Order Now” and we will direct you to our Order Page. Fill Our Order Form with all your assignment instructions. Select your deadline and pay for your paper. You will get it few hours before your set deadline.
Are there Discounts?
All new clients are eligible for 20% off in their first Order. Our payment method is safe and secure.