Final Exploration

In "The Idea of a Local Economy" I thought it was kind of confusing. At some points I didn't understand what he was talking about and it was hard to follow. I have to agree with this in the first paragraph where there are problems with pollution and loss of wilderness. The corporations are hurting our world and our nature, "The 'environmental crisis' has happened because the human household or economy is in conflict at almost every point with the household of nature". The finances of a corporation are huge and they affect a lot of what we do.
The Nobel Peace Prize speech that I read was "The Revolution of Spirit" which was given by Aung San Suu Kyi sons because she was on house arrest. I felt bad because she couldn't accept her speech, like she wasn't aloud to because she was on house arrest. I don't fully understand why she was on house arrest because I didn't see anywhere of her doing anything wrong, but I believe her sons gave a good speech. When they first start talking the say how their mother would say this and say that but then they went into what they thought. I think the speech was well presented and presented Burma and everyone who is living their well. "It only remains for me to thank you all...but it is our hope for the future that we celebrate today." This was the last paragraph of the speech, I thought it was inspiring and a good way to end the speech. It just shows how wounded and hurt Burma is and how many people wish to see it heal.

Final Exploration

After reading The Prescense of Fear by Wendell Berry, I had one lingering idea in my head and that was if a local economy gives up its ability to be subsistence farmers and using their time to produce goods for another economy.  To me this is crazy to think that a logical person could do this.  But for many it seems the only option to survive day to day. This does not happen alot in the United Sates, more frequently in empoverished nations. "They (Ogowe villagers) gave up their local means of subsistence, and imposed the false standard of a foreign demand" (Berry 32).  To me a logical thought would be if I am a poor farmer, I would produce for myself and my family, then export any unneeded surplus to another nation much like Schweitzer discussed.  Why produce for another nation when your own family cannot produce for itself?

I read The Revolution of Spirit by Ms. Kyi's Son.  This essay held alot of weight as I read for one big reason, the person who the Nobel Prize was awarded to was under house arrest and her son was accepting it in her abscense.  This just seemed crazy to me, this peaceful woman was a prisoner in her own home not even being able to see her husband berfore he died, just because she stood up peacefully for the nation she loved.  At the begining of the speech her son speaks of the tragic events that happen in their beloved country of Burma.  "the hope of Burma, dying of malaria in the jungles to which they have fled; that of the Buddhist monks, beaten and dishonored" (Bloom 596). This struck me as awful and disgusting, these monks are signs of peace and non-violence.  The idea that someone could do harm against these men is unthinkable and wrong.  Anyone who can rationalize these actions is unstable and needs to be put in a mental institution.  I understand Miss Kyi has been relaeased from her house arrest and I can not wait to see what she can do for the future of Burma. 

final exploration

     "The Idea of a Local Economy" was very eye-opening, in my opinion. Wendell Berry connects our economy and our values as humans to our "environmental crisis" and that continuing with our current ways is not going to work out in the end. My favorite part is when he discusses how people may look around and realize that our world needs to change. Some of these people will change their daily lives to help the environment as soon as they realize the world is in danger. What Wendell Berry warns of is people who see that the world needs help and they change their values, but their practices stay the same. For example, some people who see how animals are slaughtered to make our food become vegetarians. Others, will say to people that animal slaughtering is wrong, as they're in line at McDonald's. In the words of Wendell Berry, "People will think they have made a sufficient change if they have altered their 'values,' or had a 'change of heart.'"
      I also read the Nobel speech given by Al Gore. He was very concerned with our contributions to polluting the atmosphere. "Today, we dumped another 70 million tons of global warming pollution into the thin shell of atmosphere surrounding our planet, as if it were an open sewer." This statement is very alarming. 70 tons a day is a lot of pollution. most people probably can't even imagine how much that really is. It's just a number, so people ignore it. "The earth has a fever." I thought that this line was very clever. In a way, the earth really does have a fever. Temperatures are rising and the weather is getting worse. The temperatures are the fever and the weather is the symptoms, like a runny nose or sore throat. Al Gore has a very important point, but people are too inconvenienced by the solution. People are unwilling to change their lives, even in small ways, to help the environment. Riding a bike for twenty minutes is too time consuming when you can drive in five minutes. Something truly scary is going to have to happen before the masses change their lifestyles.

Last Exploration

The Idea of a Local Economy had many different ideas that I thought were very interseting. The idea was basically that we should stop supporting huge corporations and try to support our local smaller businesses in our own community. Big corporations are not concerned with people, their only concern is making a bunch of money. Whereas, smaller business in our communities are there to help the common good of the community and by supporting these businesses it helps the community thrive. Berry states in the article that " without prosperous local economies, the people have no power and the land no voice."

The Nobel Peace Prize speech that I read was by  Kofi Annan and his speech was called The United Nations in the 21st Century.  Kofi Annan spent his entire career in the United Nations and he felt that it was very important to achieve worldwide peace. In the beginning of his speech Annan notes that even though the charter for the United Nations begins with "we the peoples" that is not entirely true. Sometimes the interest of an individual must be sacraficed for the "common good" of the state or nation. A very important quote in his speech is " peace must be sought, above all, because it is the condition for every member of the human family to live a life of dignity and security. The speech basically wants to remind all people that we need to be tolerant of one another and not single out one specific person or group. All be are equal and all people deserve equal respect. He says, "We can love what we are, without hating what- and who- we are not." I think that is a very important concept that more people need to understand and adapt into their own lives.

Last Exploration

I thought that, The Idea of a Local Economy, was very interesting. After reading this I have been thinking a lot and I agree with him on many of his ideas. I really got the sense that Wendell Berry really did not like the idea of corporations. He says, "A corporation, essentially, is a pile of money to which a number of persons have sold their moral allegiance." I thought that this quote was important because it shows that Berry believes that corporations are stealing peoples lives. He says that  corporations are controlling everything and are taking advantage of the people that are working for them. I agree with him. I believe that corporations are too big and don't care about their employees. They are strictly focused on making money and nothing else.

The Nobel Peace prize speech that I chose to read was, Inner Peace and Human Rights. This speech was about Dalai Lama and his fight for the right of the Tibetan people. They are being suppressed by the Chinese government and have no rights. My favorite line from this speech is, "Inner peace is the key: if you have inner peace, the external problems do not affect your deep sense of peace and tranquility." I thought that this was such a great line because he goes on to say that although his people are being treated terribly they still have there inner peace and that is what is helping them carry on. I believe that if more people would get involved with this issue the Tibetan people would be free again and wouldn't be controlled by the Chinese.

Last Exploration

The Idea of a Local Enomy by Wendell Berry was very good, it actually reminded me a lot of my last years Government class. It shared a lot of the same ideas we talked and learned about. I agree with the writer when he says the "environmental crisis is prety well established as a fact of our age." I agree with him because over the past twenty to thirty years we have done nothing but destroy the landand I'm pretty sure there wont be enough usable land left if we keep going at the pace we are at. His thoughts were very insightful and brought up old topics that I onced learned about so i enjoyed reading it. The Noble Peace Prize article I read was by Kofi Annan who won the prize in 2001 along with the United Nations. In his speech he talks about we need to care for the individuals because they are the ones the shape who we are. In his speech he says "In this new century, we must start from the understanding that peace belongs not only to states or peoples, but to each and every member of those communities." What this means to me is we shouldn't just give power to the nation or even the states as a whole but to the individuals because they are the ones that hold the power. Without these individuals we would be powerless as a whole grroup. I certainly agree with Mr. Kofi Annan because the individuals are often thrown to the side and ignored. Instead of ignoring them we need to come together and give the individuals the power that way everyone will support their rights and work together.   

Last Exploration prompt for English 1110

Please write a response to "The Idea of a Local Economy" and the one Nobel Prize speech that you choose to read.  Tackle the most important ideas or emoitions that these writings bring up.  Share your own input, experiences and reactions in relationship to these texts. Communicate with your classmates effectively and let us know your ideas.

• Use one direct quote from each essay in your response.



This is helpful to remember.  Keep an open mind, and I still believe if you seek, ye shall find.

• Write comments to three other writers in the class, and let's make sure everyone gets some feedback and response.

  

  Mr. Berry is a poet, farmer and activist from Kentucky.

One of our Nobel Prize winners: Ms. Kyi from Myanmar.