The Omnivore's Argumentative Analysis

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Over the past century we have seen not only our population skyrocket, but also our technological capacity increase exponentially. My worldview, primarily eco-centric, is focused on the incredible potential of technology to create sustainable harmony between humanity and the earth. We have gotten to a point in our evolution where it will be impossible to revert to our pre-industrial state. Our resources are limited and should not be wasted, this traces back to the fundamental property of the universe: energy and matter cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be converted between forms. So much matter is wasted and converted into a state in which it is impossible to recover it, and instead of draining the earth we should be focusing on developing inexhaustible …show more content…
Our success depends on interacting the earth for the benefit of both humanity and nature, as all life has intrinsic value, and we are responsible to the earth from which we came.
In order to produce the mass quantities of food required to feed the United States—a nation of 321 million people—the focus is not on environmental care but on efficiency of food production. This is wrong. Machinery has overpowered the current state of agriculture, and in the case of the meat industry especially we have seen technology’s potential to harm rather than help. While already a vegetarian, reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma allowed me to reexamine and thus reinforce my rationale for those choices: I have been a vegetarian since birth, so often times that choice is a passive one. There is a surplus of healthy options available for me without much active effort on my part, as a good portion of my family, immediate and extended, is vegetarian. In the modern age, the claim that humans need meat for optimal survival is unsubstantiated; in fact, a conscious vegetarian diet has been shown to have health benefits as well as environmental benefits.

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