"China Puts Up Green Wall to US Trash" by Peter Ford is a text about how China is cutting down on the trash it receives. The main idea is that the US will have to be creative, doing new or different things, to get rid of trash if less of it goes to China. One example of this is when the author quotes Jeff Powell, publisher of the Resource Recycling magazine saying "The new Chinese policy... will force US recyclers[sic] either to sort recyclables more carefully, or to recycle more materials in the US, or both." This means that because the US cannot give so much trash to China, it will have to do new and/or different things to get rid of its waste. Another example in the text is when the author quotes Micheal Schipper, a scrap trader with International Alloys saying "We are going to find ourselves forced to be much more innovative". The author then says that he means being innovative with our waste. Schipper goes on to say "We will have to find ways of processing that material here in a much more cost-effective way." Because we cannot give as much trash to China, a lot of the work will be done in the US, so it will have to be done, effectively, and cheaply. A final example is when the author talks about what has been done so far. He explains that people are being more careful, and trying to find the best way to solve the issue. This means that people in the US are looking for new ways to solve this issue.
In the text, the author makes the reader think about how bad the conditions are in China- both for people handling the garbage and just citizens in larger cities. The author makes readers feel bad for them, but a bit happy because this will end up not only helping China, but the US as well. To do this, the author uses some craft. One example of this is using facts that look really bad. For example, the author says "Chances are it [Your Garbage] ends up in China- like 75 percent of Aluminum Scrap that are the United States exports. Or 60 percent of its scrap paper exports. Or 50 percent of its plastic." This shows that we give a lot of trash to China, and it also seems really bad- which it is- but also makes it so it is probably more than the reader expected. A second craft move is quoting experts. This makes the text seem very authoritative, and definitely not having false information. One quote is "Also in 2011, the US exported 23 million tons of scrap... two-thirds of it went to China, according to figures from the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries in Washington." Here, it cites and expert source, so that the reader believes the facts stated beforehand. This gives credibility to the facts, and makes the text sound more authoritative.
When I read this, I felt that the US relied to heavily on China for its export of garbage- but we can change this and become more independent after this "Green Wall" was put up. I also think that we could cut down on having so much waste in the first place with better recycling.
This post is outstanding! There are many interesting ideas that you implemented in your analysis. You are able to elaborate on and uncover strong quotes while making powerful points. For instance, I like how you use the quote about the Chinese policy and then translate it into a beginner's language while contributing to your understanding of the text. Another impressive move that you implemented was utilizing transitions words to passage through your ideas. Adding on to that, I like how you took advantage of paragraphs to separate your parts one, two, and three. Overall, I would say this is an ideal blog post. Good job!
ReplyDeleteYour blog post was well outstandingly well written. Your blog post is nearly perfect. But no blog post is absolutely perfect. You could have had some more evidence and details to make your statements more clear. But other that than that your blog post was one of the best i have read so far.
ReplyDelete