Final Portfolio

By Steven Jensen

To instructor Stephenson, and others interested.

This semester has definitely challenged me in ways I did not know I
even needed to be challenged. I have never been a fan of critical
reading, and writing. But I cannot say that I regret this class because it
did open my eyes to research and how it can help my mental capacity
and development throughout the rest of school, and life.
First off I would like to state the target Audiences in each of my
revised pieces. The first being my narrative I wrote at the beginning of
the semester in unit 1. My intended audience would have to be anyone
that has experienced a death or hardship in their lives. Anyone reading
this narrative may find it dark, and may find it sad. This is not my main
focus, while writing I saw the narrative as something of comfort.
Though, it is a said story and it did happen, I like to think of it as just
another memory, and something that everyone might be able to relate
to.
My next assignment focused on a rhetorical analysis of a article, named the
Reign of Recycling. For this article I think I would be addressing an audience
that would be reading the journalists columns which are held in the New
York times. Other audiences might include those that may be affected by any
chance of stopping the use of plastics, and how it could hurt their business.
The hardest part about picking out an audience is knowing that there are
multiple, so I would also like to pick out another audience and that audience
would be anyone that would be interested in finding out the other end of the
spectrum and seeing how others view the idea of recycling.

My third revised piece is the Annotated bibliography and the View point
analysis. This whole research project opened my eyes to a lot of thing going
on in the world and I was extremely happy that I chose to continue down the
road of recycling but now focus on the issue of how plastic is affecting the
world we live in today. My target audience would be environmental activists,
not only activists but maybe those who are not educated or have not done
research to understand exactly what is happening in our world through the
use of plastic, and its waste.
Its easy to sit here and tell you the things in which I learned in this
class, by saying oh I learned how to do an annotated bibliography, or how to
capture and audience through my own personal narrative. But I think the
main thing that I have learned and what I am extremely happy that I got the
opportunity to take this class and learn, would have to be the research. I had
never considered myself a smart person and still to this day I dont. But now I
know exactly how I am to become knowledgeable, and informed. Doing the
research and being shown how to do that research along the way is probably
my all time favorite thing that I learned this semester in English 1010.
To those of you who may not know, I have never been a very strong
writer, and I dont think I am still to this day. But I have definitely become
more confident and able to understand the uses in which writing can be
used. I plan on taking this farther in order to be able to teach my family,
friends, and peers along the way. The written word goes a very long way, and
I think it is becoming more and more important to have the skill, in my life.
 Bad Call, Bitter Cold
Steven Jensen
(Narrative)
It is three in the morning November 19th 2011, Ugh, what is that sound? I think to
myself trying to chase away the dark and what is happening in my dreams. I look at
my phone, Byron calling my phone reads, which explains the vibration sound that
seems to tear at my skull. Hello? I tried to squeeze out of my groggy, barely
awakened voice while answering the phone.
Alec, Court is dead is all that Byron says. What? Wait what? Am I so tired I
cannot make out a word he is saying? Why is he crying? It was extremely hard to
tell what Byron was saying at all behind the sniffles and heaving breaths. Courtney
is dead, Im sorry! Byron repeats. This time I am stunned, I known exactly what he
is saying. He then starts to explain what had happened as best he can. Th-they
were driving back from the New Found Glory concert, a-and they got in a wreck!
Byron explains over the phone. My heart is racing just imagining what had gone on
in the wreck. How can reply, I have nothing to say. The biggest lump is now forming
in my throat and I do not think I can handle talking. But I manage to spit out the
words Ill be there Sunday, Im so sorry Byron In reply.
Andy, my roommate, had been woken up comes walking in. I manage to tell him
what had happened before the tears begin to flow like rivers down my face, and my
hands are burrowed in my head. We sat there in silence until I call Shaylee the girl I
am seeing and told her what had happened earlier that night. The silence on the
phone is eerie after I end. Well leave for Utah tomorrow, she says right before we
hang up.
Courtney cant be dead all the good times weve had are flooding my head.
Shes my best friend!, What is Byron going to do?, How am I going to get to the
funeral!?, Im all the way in Colorado. All of these thoughts racing into my head
and I cannot handle it, finally I fall asleep.
***
Its 9:00am the morning after, Shaylee and I are on the road. My eyes are heavy and
I assume the same for Shaylee. It is cold and snow is all around us while we drive. I
dont know what it is about winter but it seems to hit my bones yearly, and now
more than ever I feel dread. Shaylee and I havent been able to hold much of a
conversation, at least nothing more than a Im sorry, or Need to stop for a
second?. For 9 hours this is our hell. Weve made it to Brigham City, with no light in
the sky.
 ***
Four days have gone by since that call and Im sitting at the casket, staring down at
Courtney. Shes beautiful, her make up done just how she would have it, her blonde
hair swooped over to the side with a beret perfectly resting on the side of her head,
guiding the rest of her hair back. Tears still flood my eyes and there is nothing I can
say and nothing I can do. I love you Courtney I say before I take my leave.
Im a wreck, everyone is a wreck, but I cannot believe how strong Byron is being.
Here I and it seems half of my friends are wasted away, and Byron has still got it
together, greeting people and shaking their hands, standing tall and smiling when
he can. Strong man, I know it will be hard. Thats the love of his life. I think to
myself before my memory fades to a drunken black out.
***

Were standing outside in the brisk cold, everyone dressed appropriately. This
morning is bitter, and you can read it on everyones face. Sunken in eyes from
everybodys lack of sleep, peer into each others with empathy for how the other
felt. Though not everyone is in black, it feels dark all around us. Courtneys casket
lays just feet away waiting to be placed in the ground. Sniffles and cries are heard,
as the service takes off. I cant hear a word anyone is saying through my own
saddened thoughts. Ive lost one of my very best friends. I think to myself as they
lower Courtney into the ground.
Rhetorical Analysis on
The Reign of Recycling

Steven Jensen
John Tierney, a writer for the New York Times Magazine, graduated from the
University of Yale. John has written works such as The Big City, and has been
known for writing on very controversial world topics such as, the internet, recycling,
rent control, and political advertising. Tierney prides himself on his conservative,
criticism of topics such as environmentalism, and emissions on carbon dioxide.
Tierney is well educated and well known for his works, though some who have
reviewed Tierney, have an outlook of him as influential but misinformed.
John wrote the article, The Reign of Recycling, published on Oct. 3, 2015. This
article focuses on the economic role that recycling has on our world we live in today.
The article also examines the pros, and cons, of our current abilities to recycle and
gives some detail as to why it is also not as safe for the environment as we might
be lead to believe. Tierney does a great job of capturing a specific audience, and
does seem to convey his argument to his readers. In this article, Tierney, challenges
questions very similar to, should we continue to recycle, or are we damned if we
do, damned if we dont?
Reading this article, it is easy to see that Tierney speaks to an audience that may be
aimed toward people living in New York specifically, but also those looking at
recycling as a bad economic decision. A perfect example of this is when he says, As
a business, recycling is on the wrong side of two long-term global economic trend.
For centuries, the real cost of labor has been increasing while the real cost of raw
materials has been declining. As a labor-intensive activity, recycling is an
increasingly expensive way to produce materials that are less and less valuable. In
this paragraph, Tierney catches the attention by using ethics based on economics,
and does a very good job of making sure his intended audience sees that recycling
is not economically beneficial.
Confronting another side to the issue, Tierney brings to the table logically sound
arguments to ensure his audience that by recycling we are creating more of a
carbon foot print, than if we were to simply not recycle. In the article, Tierney states
Prices for recyclable materials have plummeted because of lower oil prices and
reduce 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, comparable to removing the
emissions of 39 million cars. In this statement alone he sets the stage for the
beginning of a hard argument, which does sound legitimate and holds his audience
captive, by giving a heart wrenching reality. Which also incorporates the use of
ethos, ensuring that people that have certain ethics about their own carbon
footprint on the world, feel a bit discouraged.
Continuing his argument, Tierney stays close to the economic side again stating
that, In New York City, the net cost of recycling a ton of trash is now $300 more
than it would cost to bury the trash instead. He goes on to explain that this adds
up to millions of extra dollars per year, and saying, That money could buy far more
valuable benefits, including more significant reduction in greenhouse emissions.. In
this case Tierney not only uses ethos towards the economic values, but also those
looking to reduce greenhouse emissions. This is a great way to either pull in
uneducated readers to make themselves feel insecure about their current position
on the matter, or build economic enthusiasts egos.
In another statement, Tierney gives us some perspective stating, to offset the
greenhouse impact of one passengers round-trip flight between New York and
London, youd have to recycle roughly 40,000 plastic bottles, assuming you fly
coach Noting that if you sit business, or first class that number could be closer to
100,000 plastic bottles. This is a huge statement and can truly catch the attention
of any person assuming they can just throw their plastic in a bin and it magically
saves the world.
Although Tierney does a great job at capturing the economists values, and holds
truths to his arguments. Tierney does not offer any other solution besides burying
our trash, which does nothing for the other side of his audience. Tierney quotes
David P. Steiner, the chief executive officer of Waste Management, who says, If you
believe recycling is good for the planet and that we need to do more of it, then
theres a crisis to confront, trying to turn garbage into gold cost a lot more than
expected. We need to ask ourselves: What is the goal here? This is a great use of
ethos for those looking for a way to recycle.
Tierney may do a great job at capturing his intended audience, others who may
read this may find it lacking in evidence, and may ask for more proof. What Tierney
does lack for sure, is any offer for suggestion of fixing the issue at hand. To readers
that do not focus on the economic downturn in which recycling may create, this
article may just be a cynical outlook on why recycling is a waste of money.
 Research Question- What impact are plastics on the environment?

The production and use of plastic is harming the world and its inhabitants in a variety of
different ways. We can see many of them today with events such as, beached whales being found
dead with plastic in their stomachs, and bodies of birds decaying who have died eating the plastic
in our ocean, assuming that the plastic was a type of food. Our biggest resource of life on this
planet is flooded with tons of plastic, floating around with no hope for its degradation for
thousands of years. Our landfills are full of plastic waste that continues to build up and have
nowhere to go except for holes in the ground where it contaminates the soils around which it
lays. And our streets are lined with plastic bottles, straws and other objects in which we cannot
find a decent place to use them after our single momentary use.
My original question was, Why should we ban the use of plastic? In researching this
question, I have found it very difficult to find too many articles in which this is discussed. I have
found articles in which certain areas of the world are banning them, but did not give me the
information as to why we should ban plastic. So I decided to do some research on the harm in
which the use and production of plastic are harming the environment to support my question and
come up with the conclusion that, yes, it would be in the worlds best interest if we were to ban
all use of plastics used in short term applications. Though I found that there are options to use
biodegradable/bioplastics, they do not have enough evidence backing up the full biodegradability
as some may have already thought of in the past. There are plenty of options for application of
biodegradable products that are not created to be a plastic. What I would like to know is
information on changing our day to day life, and using renewable resources, and how to
minimize our use.
During my research I may also add that I am not concerned about how stopping the use
of plastic and other synthetic materials may harm the world of economics. I do not believe that
cost should have any role in saving the world from our destructive properties. I found that even
the better articles that held an opinion closely related to mine, still brought up an economic issue,
this causes me a bit of unhappiness and hope to find more information that is related to my
original statement. In saying this I understand that the stakeholders would be any business in
which they use plastic, such as grocery outlets, toy manufactures, the auto industry, and really
just about any business that may use plastic for any kind of need. But the true stakeholders in the
use of plastic, and the ban of using plastic is us, the future generations, the world as we would
like to live in someday, free from pollution.

Maqueda, Manuel. &quot;The Bioplastic Labyrinth.&quot;<i> Earth Island Journal</i>,

2010, pp. 18<i>, SIRS Issues Researcher</i>, <a
href="https://sks.sirs.com.libprox1.slcc.edu"
target="_blank">https://sks.sirs.com.libprox1.slcc.edu</a>.
Maqueda speaks of a very interesting point about the use of bioplastics in the article The
Bioplastic Labyrinth. Maqueda talks about the use of bioplastics and how they are not all
necessarily the great biodegradable products that we all may think. In the article he states that
even though some bioplastics are not oil based, they are still polymers and are still a danger to
the health of our world. He does state that there is a better solution to our problem with plastics
by saying that we should be using recyclable materials such as paper, metal, or glass in
replacement of our use of plastics.
Though I like the idea that Maqueda states, while reading this article I noticed that there was an
issue of pricing being brought up. In my opinion we should never have to bring economics into
the safety and health of our planet. Though I understand that it may cost companies and even
consumers money to rid our use of plastics and move to a sustainable/recyclable way of life, it is
the right thing to do, and what we ought to be doing.

***
Harvey, Chelsea. &quot;Michigan Bans Laws that Ban Or Regulate Plastic Bags in
its..&quot;<i> Washington Post</i>, 01 Jan, 2017, pp. A.6<i>, SIRS Issues Researcher</i>,
<a href="https://sks.sirs.com.libprox1.slcc.edu"
target="_blank">https://sks.sirs.com.libprox1.slcc.edu</a>.
Harvey discusses a ban on the ban of plastic bags in the article Michigan Bans Laws that Ban or
Regulate Plastic Bags. This is a very brief article from the Washington post that shows our
government officials passing bills to help out companies. Its very quick to explain that they are
doing this so that companies are not having to be responsible for charging for the use of plastic
bags when customers are buying products from them. This article also states that Michigan is not
the only state in which this is a bill, Idaho, Arizona, and Missouri all have similar laws in place.
The article also covers a few states and countries that have started a ban on the use of plastic
bags such as, Austin, Seattle, and Chicago, which may be a ban or a tax on the use of a plastic
bags.
This is a very short article but it gives a lot of outlook on the importance to certain areas in the
world about the use of plastic. I like this article because it is informative, yet it still lacks a lot of
information as to why the ban has been put in place, and what we can do as individuals to help in
the changing process to a ban on bags.
***

Works Cited
Eriksen, Marcus, et al. "Plastic Pollution in the World's Oceans: More Than 5 Trillion
Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea." Plos ONE, vol. 9, no. 12, Dec.
2014, pp. 1-15. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0111913.

Plastic Pollution in the Worlds Oceans is a very difficult read for most people including
myself. This article refers to the amount of microplastics, and macroplastics that are in the sea as
of 2014. The information they give is incredibly extensive and tells just how far plastic reaches
in the world. In this article the finds and authors state that they estimate that at least 5.25 trillion
plastic particles weighing 268,940 tons are currently floating at sea.
This article makes me extremely upset because of the information, not because the authors did a
bad job. Though I already knew that, through the use of things such as washing machines, which
we all use send these tiny particles of plastic into the environment yet there are just tiny particles
that cannot be seen by the naked eye. This causes an insane problem because we are not able to
clean up our Oceans as extensively as we would like to. This article is very informative and a
must read for anyone that is interested in getting involved in the clean-up of this world.
***
Biodegradable and compostable alternatives to conventional plastics
J. H. Song, R. J. Murphy, R. Narayan, G. B. H. Davies
Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2009 364 2127-2139; DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0289. Published 14 June
2009

In this article Biodegradable and compostable alternatives to conventional plastics, the authors
give a very good view of the position on biodegradable products and the waste produced and the
waste management tools. Throughout the article they give an understanding of how
biodegradable products can harm the environment in a similar way that conventional plastics can
if not treated correctly, and also give good insight to the use of recycled or incinerated
conventional plastics. Also they add a timeline based on how the products break down overtime.
The amount of toxic chemicals, such as methane, that are released through the process of
breaking down, is also a crucial topic in this article.
This article gave me a very outstanding, new understanding of what biodegradable alternatives
can do good for our world and can also not do good for our world. It also gave me a new
understanding of how we can extract energy from the plastics that we currently have laying
around in landfills around the world. Though I still see a common interest throughout all of these
articles of being economically friendly or not. I personally do not believe that we as a
responsible and rational race, should not be thinking in terms of economics when it comes to the
environment. I chose this article to show that there are alternatives to the current use and
production of plastics and to help give a good understanding of why we as a world should no
longer be using and producing such wasteful products.
***

Works Cited
Krueger, Martin, et al. "Prospects for Microbiological Solutions to Environmental
Pollution with Plastics." Applied Microbiology & Biotechnology, vol. 99, no. 21, Nov. 2015,
pp. 8857-8874. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s00253-015-6879-4.

Prospects for Microbiological Solutions to the Environmental Pollution with Plastics, goes
over the degradation process and possibilities of degradation. The article also aims at the
overlooking factor of the impact on the environment, and speaks of the amount of waste
produced annually and of current standing impact. It covers such things as micro/macro particles
of plastic, in tons, floating around in the Oceans. Also covering the amount in which it is being
dumped into the sea. Based on the findings this article has, the author concluded that plastic
pollution is increasing too fast for its possible degradation. The author still states, that still the
production is expected to increase, even after the knowledge of its effects on the environment.
I chose to use this article in my research because it goes over so many different problems in
which our plastic is creating on the world. Due to the use of citing various articles, this article
seems to be credible as it give valuable information backing up the original statements. This
article gives the environmental issues a very scientific breakdown of plastics components and the
possible outcomes in which plastic could have whether at the bottom of the ocean or buried deep
within the ground.
Works Cited
Palliser, Janna. "Banning the Bottle." Science Scope, vol. 34, no. 2, 01 Oct. 2010, p. 8.
EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ904749&site=ehost-live.

Banning the Bottle is a very short outlook on one particular plastic that is being used. The
main message in this article is what environment impact plastic bottles are having on our
environment. Not only is that covered but even the harm it does to a town, stating that a factory
may do good for local job opportunities, but also does not pay as much as similar production
work. The article also states that the cost of this plant will affect the locals in the town where
this is based because of the use of the roads the trucks will be needing, will make for taxes to
rise, as the city inhabitants must pay for those roads when damaged and over used. For people
that care about the water sheds in which they have around, this article states that production
companies will pull water from those areas interrupting the natural habitat.
This article is short though very informative. Using credible sources herself, Pallisers article
does seem to be credible itself. I like that she looked out on many aspects, showing an
environmental impact, and also a economical impact as well. Though she does seem to have a
biased opinion, she shows that stakeholders of plastic bottles would be the local residents of a
plastic bottle company.
 View Point Synthesis

Steven Jensen

What impact does plastic have on the environment? The environment deals with a lot of
chaos naturally, but what has happened to our world since we started producing and using
plastic? Plastic or polymers are very useful products that derive from oils, and most of the plastic
produced is a bi-product of the crude oil that we use on a constant basis at this time in history. As
of recently I was informed of exactly what these plastics were and how their chemical make-up
could or could not biodegrade. Finding out that there is not a very good time line of the
disintegration process. We will continue to produce plastic and waste it and our waste will still
remain for up to a millennium in a landfill. (Krueger, Martin, et al. "Prospects for
Microbiological Solutions to Environmental Pollution with Plastics.")
The question of what impact plastic is having on our environment is pretty broad though,
I would like to touch on some of the main points I have found. First, the state in which our
oceans are in due to the micro and macro polymers that we continuously dump into the oceans
exceeds 250,000 tones of plastic floating around in the ocean. (Eriksen, Marcus, et al. "Plastic
Pollution in the World's Oceans). The amount of polymers estimated to be more that 5 trillion
pieces floating out and about. This is a big issue because marine animals around the world are
being found dead with their stomachs filled with plastics that have been mistaken for food. Not
only are marine animals suffering, but bird around the world are also mistaking these pieces as
food.
 Now Im sure that to most this not the most upsetting, or unsettling thing they have ever
heard. But if we are too look at the food chain and what is happening we see a gigantic ripple
effect starting to form. If this continues certain animals will be forced into extinction and farther
down the road this could lead to the extinction of the human species.
I also wanted to focus on the idea that people would want to ban the use of polymers,
such as plastic bottles and see what opinions they must have. Companies do not seem to be in
favor of finding other alternatives, and some say that if we are to ban the use of plastic bags it
will hurt the economy. (Harvey, Chelsea. Michigan Bans Laws that Ban Or Regulate Plastic
Bags). The idea that we are putting money before the health of the Earth is simply silly, and
reading over certain articles definitely gives you an idea of a companys personal interest first.
Focusing on the economic issues based around plastics should not be a deciding factor of the real
problem at stake here.
Now another view point is the use of alternative plastics, or otherwise known as, bio-
plastics. As the name bioplastic sounds it is very deceiving, little research has been done on such
items and all though they might break down at a faster rate, the degradation of such products still
cause harm in the environment releasing carbons into the air and those carbons being trapped in
the Earths atmosphere. (Harvey, Chelsea.;Michigan Bans Laws that Ban Or Regulate Plastic
Bags)
All of these articles are very good outlooks as to what plastic is doing to our planet and
how it is hurting the future of our planet. By asking this question I was able to do research on a
problem that I would love to help solve. Based on the evidence given in these articles, it would
be hard for any sensible person to not agree that the use of polymers/plastics is how we should
continue. This is a very detrimental product to the environment a