Jonathan Bloom's Message on His Book "American Wasteland"
Book: American Wasteland
by Jonathan Bloom
Chapter 3 & 4 (pg 41-90)
Step 1: Read the following chapters from American Wasteland.
Chapter 3: “The Disgrace of Plenty: The Coexistence of Hunger & Food Waste”
Chapter 4: “A Culture of Waste: Our Fall from Thrift & Our Imminent Return”
Step 2: Pick three (3) phrases to reflect upon
You will notice that the author, Jonathan Bloom has used the following phrases to get his message across to the readers.
Food insecurity
Redistribution
Guerrilla giving
Cultural shift
Culture of waste
Culture of thrift
Focusing on any three (3) of the phrases above, reflect how the author uses the phrases to discuss/argue his message. Is he successful in getting his message across? Is he not?
Show that you have reflected extensively on the minimum three (3) issues. Opinions and ideas are thoughtful, comprehensive, creative, and/or insightful.
Step 3: support your opinion and ideas
Using the book American Wasteland and/or other sources, provide depth to the phrases by providing specific examples, multiple point of view, analogies, quotes from various sources, comparison, lists of ideas, etc.
elaborate on the meaning of each phrase as explained by the author Jonathan Bloom
reflect on why that phrase appealed to you
connect it with your understanding and your personal experiences
minimum three (3) in-text citations within analysis
length: minimum 500 words – maximum 900 words
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American Wasteland(chapter 3&4)
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Food Wasteland by Jonathan Bloom
People have a tendency to become selfish by focusing only on themselves while others are suffering. This trend has been evident in cases where while some are suffering over lack of common needs, such as shelter and food, others are building mansions that they end up not using and wasting food. Jonathan Bloom castigates this trend by explains why the Americans should rethink food wastage. He states that it is foolish to have up to 40 percent of the food supply going to waste whereas 15 percent of the country’s households are food insecure. It is quite shameful that there is wastage and hunger in a country that is quite prosperous. Bloom uses some key terms to elaborate his point. These include food insecurity, redistribution, and the culture of waste.
The author terms the concept of food insecurity in the country as morally callous, since 40% of the food produced in the country goes to waste, whereas 15% of the families suffer from food insecurity (Bloom). Food insecurity is a state in which households cannot provide sufficient food for their families. Johnathan is right in his assertion that in every society, there will be at least a given number of people going without food. People experience various types of challenges that they have to choose between handling those challenges and purchasing food. For example, while eating is important, taking children to school is equally important. Therefore, many people are forced to choose between taking children to school and buying food and in several cases, they opt to pay fees to secure the future of their children, while surviving on very little that remains. Therefore, a significant number of the Americans have ended up relying on the Feeding America program for their survival.
While people are going hungry and depending on the state for survival, there still exists the culture of waste. According to Bloom, 40% of the country’s agricultural produces goes uneaten. Food waste does not only relate to wasting agricultural produce, but also other resources that are involved in the production of the farm produce. For example, wastage of energy, water, fertilizer, and other materials that facilitate this production and distribution amounts to food waste. There are several factors that also contribute to food wastage in the country. For example, food being cheaper in the United States and yet people in certain regions of the country are dying from hunger should not be regarded as a normal incident. Instead, people need to que...