A Persuasive Argument: Kathrine Spriggs, On Buying Local According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011 Consumer Expenditure Survey, each year millions of Americans visit grocery stores, spending an average that adds up to over eight-thousand dollars buying food to feed themselves and their families (“$8,315”). However, how many of these Americans stop to think about where this food came from, how it was produced, or the impact that this food has on our environment? On Buying Local is a persuasive essay written by Kathrine Spriggs that explores some of these questions and addresses many points of interest regarding the ideas and benefits of buying locally produced food from small farms. When it comes to the topic of buying local, many people
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Spriggs tends to lean heavily on the claim that buying local is healthier for the environment, and even states that smaller, local farms are less damaging due to the fact that most do not rely heavily on modern fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides the way that large monoculture farms do. However, Spriggs fails to bring to light the effects that these production methods can have on our health. For example, large scale farms are notorious for their bigger, better, faster way of producing a product. According to the Factory Farm Map's web article “How Factory Farms Impact You”, this type of farming has the potential to lead to the overuse of antibiotics in meat production animals as well as the overuse of pesticides with GMO (Genetically Modified) crops, of which both have been documented to induce multiple health problems in the people who consume them. Additionally, with the overcrowding issues that large scale farms present, the spread of diseases that cause food borne illnesses such as Salmonella and E.Coli, are a greater risk not only to protein products but also vegetables such as spinach, which are exposed to the animal's waste via fertilization or runoff from “manure lagoons”. Furthermore, because these immense monoculture farms produce a substantial amounts of food which are consumed by a vast number of people across the US, there is the potential for a …show more content…
While there are room for improvements in her writing, Spriggs authoritative tone, logical rebuttals, and appropriately addressed counter arguments prove to make her essay an effective piece for persuading those who may have not followed her same belief system. Furthermore, with the organization of her writing, it's easy for readers to follow her argument from beginning to end, summarizing information and discovering a clear point as to what she wants her audience to think and do. Although some people may still have doubts on the benefits of buying local after reading Spriggs essay, the current push in America towards a greener, more sustainable way of living will eventually prevail. Consequently, this will cause the current way of large-scale monoculture farming to fall out of favor to the healthier, more sustainable way of local
Spriggs tends to lean heavily on the claim that buying local is healthier for the environment, and even states that smaller, local farms are less damaging due to the fact that most do not rely heavily on modern fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides the way that large monoculture farms do. However, Spriggs fails to bring to light the effects that these production methods can have on our health. For example, large scale farms are notorious for their bigger, better, faster way of producing a product. According to the Factory Farm Map's web article “How Factory Farms Impact You”, this type of farming has the potential to lead to the overuse of antibiotics in meat production animals as well as the overuse of pesticides with GMO (Genetically Modified) crops, of which both have been documented to induce multiple health problems in the people who consume them. Additionally, with the overcrowding issues that large scale farms present, the spread of diseases that cause food borne illnesses such as Salmonella and E.Coli, are a greater risk not only to protein products but also vegetables such as spinach, which are exposed to the animal's waste via fertilization or runoff from “manure lagoons”. Furthermore, because these immense monoculture farms produce a substantial amounts of food which are consumed by a vast number of people across the US, there is the potential for a …show more content…
While there are room for improvements in her writing, Spriggs authoritative tone, logical rebuttals, and appropriately addressed counter arguments prove to make her essay an effective piece for persuading those who may have not followed her same belief system. Furthermore, with the organization of her writing, it's easy for readers to follow her argument from beginning to end, summarizing information and discovering a clear point as to what she wants her audience to think and do. Although some people may still have doubts on the benefits of buying local after reading Spriggs essay, the current push in America towards a greener, more sustainable way of living will eventually prevail. Consequently, this will cause the current way of large-scale monoculture farming to fall out of favor to the healthier, more sustainable way of local