Wednesday, September 14, 2011

"Why Bother?" Summary

"Why Bother?" is an article written by Michael Pollan an environmentalist journalist that argues the point of why individuals should bother to make changes in the way they live, to help climate change. It was published in New York Times Magazine. Pollan gives a very distinct list of reason why actual bothering would really just be a waste of time and space. However as one reads deeper into the article you will see his reasons of how "bothering can actually help. His biggest factor is gardening. "...growing even a little of your own food...instead of begetting a new set of problems-the way "solutions like ethanol and nuclear power inevitably do- actually beget other solutions."(94) Gardening presents more solutions than problems as the other "solutions" would have us to think. What we should realize, according to Pollan, is that us bothering to make a change in our own lives can in fact help to create other changes. Pollan called it "viral social change"(94)

Pollan, Michael. "Why Bother" New York Times Magazine 20 Apr. 2008: 19+. Rpt. in The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing. John D. Ramage, John C. Bean, and June Johnson. 6th ed. New York: Pearson, 2012. 88-94. Print.

No comments:

Post a Comment