Why the government should create policies that make buying locally Research Paper

Why the government should create policies that make buying locally more appealing to us in the United States - Research Paper Example Lester Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute states, â€Å"The prospect of peaking oil production has direct consequences for world food security, as modern agriculture depends heavily on the use of fossil fuels.† Modern agriculture depends heavily on fossil fuels to operate the heavy machinery necessary to take the worlds supply of food from a beginning, on the farm, to its end, in the hands of the consumer. Brown points out many aspects in his article to support the fact that the rising cost of fossil energy is driving the American economy back into its local communities. Every product produced that ends up in the hands of the consumer is directly effected by the use of fossil fuels. Past decades of inexpensive oil has created this dependency which in turn has given rise to the way our society lives. There is virtually no limit to the distance that food can travel to the consumer. Many of the products that we consume daily travel from China, an emerging country, als o, have seen a growing dependency on fossil fuels. In their effort to become more capitalistic, backward agricultural methods have been replaced with modern machinery dependent on oil. Dependency on oil not only creates higher cost in food; it also creates a constant flow of filthy air back into the environment. Therefore, with these notable factors, should the government make policies that drive the consumer back toward the local economy? It’s a question of individual initiative in most instances, but most of us look to the government for guidance just as a child looks to its parents. Should the government be involved at all in the daily lives of the consumer? Policy is not treated in the same fashion, as are laws. Policies put forth to a society as a whole give suggestions and positive influences that are more readily accepted by the majority. A policy is a more tactful way of achieving an end result without the rigors of law. Consider our food safety! Where do our foods or iginate? What are the safety factors involved in transporting foods from such long distances? What are the positive factors of focusing more on local grown foods? The Food and Water Watch states, â€Å"Our current food system is broken, and it didn’t happen by accident.† The Fair Farm Bill works to bring positive aspects, changes, and upgrades when needed. It also promotes the local food movement, pointing out that locally grown foods are more accessible, healthful, tasty, and help local communities prosper. As local communities prosper, it brings the economic living standards back to an acceptable quality of life. The current food system consists of large monopolies formed primarily to sustain themselves economically due to rising cost of fuels and other expenses. Farmers have been forced to merge with others into large conglomerates, which have not been a positive factor for the consumer in producing quality, healthy, and fresh foods. Foods that are produced in other countries do not have the same health standards supported by the policies of the United States. The merger era also destabilized pricing. Pricing in any industry normally fluctuates by supply and demand. Large conglomerates monopolize the market creating their own pricing structures, but questionable inferior quality foods. Smaller local food entities focus more on quality vs. quantity. Competition is what drives any capitalistic society to improve on what now exists. In order for local small business to exist, there must be a breakdown of the large conglomerates. A competitive atmosphere fuels more business, better quality, and lower pricing; which will be passed to the local communities giving easy access

Paradise Now Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Paradise Now - Movie Review Example The movie is basically about terrorists who choose to blow themselves up for a cause or in other words who execute the suicide bombings. The director has tried his level best to explain situations which turn people into terrorists, when a person has no other option but to give up his life to prove a point such a situation is the most desperate one and only in such a situation a person becomes a terrorist. It would be very unfair to say that the director is sympathetic to murderers and is approving suicide missions through this movie, he has tried his best to bring out the root cause of why people turn to terrorism, and if we are to stop terrorism we have to understand it's root cause and we have to understand the feelings of the people who have no other option but to blow themselves up to send a message to people who do a lot of injustice to them. The movie has very interesting characters, like Khaled, Said, Suha and Jamal. Khaled and Jamal are childhood friends and share a good chem istry. They live in a town called Nablus. The most interesting character of the movie is without a doubt Said; he remains very serious and focused in the whole movie. Both Said and Khaled had no concrete work to do, so they engaged themselves in a garage and took care of the cars. This film turned many a head by being the first Palestinian film to be nominated for the Academy award in the category of the best foreign film. The film shows why people turn to terrorism, what are the various factors involved in transforming the people and making them do the unimaginable. Jamal meets Said to prepare him and his childhood friend Khaled to carry out suicide attacks in Tel Aviv, Israel. He said "We decided to answer the assassination of Abu Hazem and Um Jaber's son who died in the bombings." (Paradise now 2005). He motivates Said by saying "If you fear death, you are already dead." (Paradise now 2005). Said had a good enough motive to carry out the suicide attacks, his father was a collaborator and worked for the Israelis, he was executed by them. He quotes "I was born in a refugee camp, life here is like imprisonment. The crimes of the occupation are countless; the worst crime of all is to exploit people's weaknesses and to turn them into collaborators" (Paradise now 2005). He firmly believed that his father was a very good man but he was made weak by being a collaborator by the Israelis. He wanted to send a loud and a clear message to the Israelis by giving up his life. Both he and Khaled prepared themselves for executing the task. Suha another import ant character in the movie gets to know about all this, she convinces Khaled to back out of this mission and he convinces his friend Said to do the same. Said plays a trick on Khaled, khaled returns to his handlers but Said goes on with the plan. With an explosive belt hanging on his body, he decides to get into a bus and blow the whole bus up but he restricts himself on seeing a kid in the bus. "If there is no security for us, there will be none for them either. There power does not help them" (Paradise now 2005). Said said these lines and these lines are a good enough indication of what exactly was going on in his mind. He had a motive of revenge, which is very dangerous and a very