essay 2 to 3 pages

Format: 2-3 typed pages, double-spaced, 12 point, Times New Roman font with 1-inch margins all 

around. 

Writing Task: Write a preface introducing your portfolio and consider addressing some or all of the 

following issues in your preface (these are suggestions, not requirements): 

 discuss your development as a writer over the course of the semester 

 explain the significance of the issues addressed in your work 

 explain what revisions you made to your papers and why 

 discuss what you see as the strengths and weaknesses of your writing, as reflected in your 

portfolio.

Audience: Assume that your readers are members of one or more of the following groups who might 

read your portfolio: 

 other members of this class 

 college professors and administrators 

 potential employers, readers interested in the issues you are addressing.

 your friends and family 

Goals: 

 your preface should read as a cohesive whole, not as a collection of unrelated points about your 

portfolio—this is a paper, after all, and the conventions for writing papers still hold 

 the preface is your opportunity to reflect on and discuss your work; it should not read as an 

evaluation of the course or of me 

 Support your points with specific references to or examples from the work in your portfolio. 

 

The work you will be discussing in the preface essay is attached.

 

The Trash Vortex

We have very beautiful beaches and oceans around the world, which are contaminated with waste. These beaches and oceans are essential to the circle of life and should be taken care of, instead of the unfortunate tragedy we are witnessing nowadays. People go to the beach and have a good time, but when they leave they don’t throw their trash in the designated areas. They throw the trash on the beach, eventually, it will destroy the beautiful view, and more importantly, pollute the environment. Afterwards, it’s impossible to collect all the trash and dispose it properly, as some of it is blown away deep in the ocean by the wind. Then the currents and wind gather the trash in one place, forming a huge dumpster in the ocean called The Trash Vortex. The Trash Vortex is a remote patch in the North Pacific Ocean, hundreds of miles away from human life. This area has other names like: “The Asian Trash Trail” or “The Eastern Garbage Patch”. In this remote patch, the garbage of human life is collecting in a spinning current so large that it resists precise measurement. Some may measure this patch as the size of Texas, but it’s very challenging to actually measure the patch as the size of it might change, and hoping it gets smaller. Although the trash vortex is remote, it can cause damages to the environment, it can kill marine life, and it can compromise human health.

The trash vortex can cause damages to the environment that cannot be fixed. This place is filled with more plastic than a landfill. Plastic is made out of harmful chemicals. These chemicals are toxic and they can harm the environment. Also in an article by Hoshaw, Lindsey, she wrote “PCBs, DDT and other toxic chemicals cannot dissolve in water, but the plastic absorbs them like a sponge”. Fortunately, there are a few organizations that aim for clean and healthy oceans and want to fight the problem of waste on beaches and oceans. I found an organization called “Greenpeace”. They are one of the organizations that aim for clean and healthy environment. They want to change the damages of our planet. In their words, “Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice. It needs solutions. It needs change. It needs action”. In their website, I discovered many facts about the waste on beaches and oceans. I found that waste on beaches, and oceans cause damage to the environment and that it will compromise the health of humans and marine life. It also threatens tourism and costs a lot for a removal. But the shocking fact is, around one hundred million tones of plastic are produced each year of which about ten percent ends up in the sea. And about twenty percent of this is from ships and the rest from land.

The trash vortex can kill marine life because of the trash and plastic in it. Plastic can be very harmful for marine life, which eventually will kill them. Sea turtles often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, which is their favorite food. According to Greenpeace organization, “It has been estimated that over a million sea-birds and one hundred thousand marine mammals and sea turtles are killed each year by ingestion of plastics or entanglement”. Sea birds and other marine mammals in this area have been found dead; their stomachs are filled with many different sizes of plastic items. This problem can also disturb marine food webs in the North Pacific. As tiny plastics and other waste collect on the surface of the ocean, they block the sunlight from reaching the algae and plankton below. Algae and plankton are the most common autotrophs in the marine food web. The autotrophs are organisms that can produce their own nutrients from sunlight, oxygen, and carbon. If algae and plankton communities are threatened, animals such as fish that feed on algae and plankton will have less food. And if fish starts to die, there will be less food for species like tuna and sharks.

The trash vortex can compromise human health because the fish in that area can digest harmful toxins. Later, the fish can swim to any nearby coast such as Hawaii and California, and can be caught by fishermen. This can fish can be later sold to the public and eaten by humans, which eventually will cause health problems. Additionally, if a plastic bottle is thrown in the ocean, the plastic bottle could possibly travel across the oceans, as they are all connected, and it could be anywhere else around the world. Now imagine ten millions of plastic is thrown in the ocean and some of it are in small fragment shape that can easily be digested by one of our main sources of food. As a result, the toxins of the plastics entered the food chain, and it’s threatening human health.

The trash vortex is remote from any coast, which makes it free from any country to take the blame. And because of that, no country is willing to provide funding to clean it. But the problem is, cleaning it is not easy. According to National Geography “Many pieces of debris are the same size as small sea animals, so nets designed to scoop up trash would catch these creatures as well. Even if we could design nets that would just catch garbage, the size of the oceans makes this job too time-consuming to consider. And no one can reach trash that has sunk to the ocean floor”. However, organizations are informing the public of the effects of waste on oceans, so that people would stop throwing their waste in oceans, and that will reduce the amount of waste thrown every year. Hopefully, factories stop wasting too to prevent the increase of trash in oceans.

Works Cited

“The Trash Vortex.” Greenpeace International. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex/

Evers, Jeannie. “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” National Geographic Education. Ed. Kara West. National Geographic Education Programs, n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2013.

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/?ar_a=1

Hoshaw, Lindsey. “A Vortex of Trash, Afloat and Growing.” International New York Times [Paris] 11 Nov. 2009: n. pag. CSUN Library. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.

http://libproxy.csun.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.csun.edu/docview/319010856?accountid=7285

Stuff And Its Madness

Buying stuff is what we do every day. We buy an uncountable amount of stuff in our lifetime and we barely need them all. Take a time and look through the stuff you have, and think why did you buy them in the first place. You probably bought them because they’re new, or you felt like you need them, or you really do need them. In the essay called “Stuff Is Not Salvation” by Anna Quindlen, is about the addiction of consumption that is out of control and certify as a sickness. She talks about the stuff we buy daily and how that will effect us, also why we buy this stuff. Quindlen said, “stuff does not bring salvation” (

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60). It’s obvious; we don’t need so much stuff. Eventually, we throw everything we bought last year because it’s old and we want the new big thing in the market. Also advertisement plays a big roll in this situation, by compelling the consumer into needing the product that is sold. In this essay, I will briefly summarize Quindlen’s essay, analyze it, and give my opinion.

Quindlen started her essay with a story about a worker at Wal-Mart in New York. The worker was crushed to death by shoppers. Later, there were reports that some people were out of control kept shopping even after announcements to clear the store. Those days, economy was down and industries are facing bankruptcy. But the more important problem is the addiction of consumption that is out of control and certify as a sickness. Now the country is filled with people that have the habits of a child. They desire anything they see and the result is a growing business in a storage facility, filled with junk. Then Quindlen states “stuff does not bring salvation” (160). The happiest families she knows aren’t the ones with a huge house or a big garage space. The stuff they have has meanings. Having less means the appreciation of possessions more to the families Quindlen talks about in her essay.

Every year we buy a lot of stuff, whether we need them or not. In a book called “Confronting Consumption” edited by Thomas Princen, Michael Maniates, and Ken Conca, the authors states that consumption growth is expanding faster than population growth, the authors said, “And while global population growth still remains a huge issue in many regions of the world–––both rich and poor–––per-capita growth in consumption is, for many resources, expanding eight to twelve times faster than population growth” (4). Marketing has become an essential part for Americans. Every where you go, you’ll see advertisements for a new product in the market, whether you were driving, taking the train or the bus, they’ll make sure you’ll see the advertisements. Companies introduce their product in a way that makes people must have it. After a few months, they introduce a newer version of the product, which makes the consumer throw the old one and buy the new one. In a book called “Why People Buy Things They Don’t Need” by Pamela N. Danziger, she said, “Consumers buy things to satisfy a concrete, distinctly felt need. Many consumer marketers go little further than this––––uncover the need, target it in advertising, and voila, products get sold” (1). That’s how companies make money by throwing at us every once in a while a new product, and we buy it without questioning ourselves whether we need this product or not. That’s what Quindlen argues about, do we really need all the stuff we buy? My answer to her question is no, we don’t need everything we buy; we buy them because we felt that we need them or they’re new and what we have is old.

On the other hand, some people have stuff that has meaning to them. They are attached to what they possess and they appreciate everything they have. Those people care about more important things; college, rent, and medication are more important than cheap electronics and toys. But still, most Americans these days care about buying a new phone and they must have it because the phone they have is old. Companies executives may have lost some millions back in

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008, but the sad truth is, we lost money too. We bought what they were selling and we didn’t need it.

I agree with Quindlen that consumption has become an addiction. I agree with her because the story she wrote in the beginning of her essay, about the worker at Wal-Mart, convinced me and made me believe that people would do anything for buying discounted electronics and toys. This is a problem that people must accept that they have, and should fix it as soon as possible. This story gave Quindlen’s essay a great hook, it what drove me to read the entire essay. I think this story would make any reader surprised by what could happen in a black Friday.

To sum up, Quindlen argument is more about the meaning of the stuff we have. The mother of the household that she knows said, “I can give you a story about every item, really” (161). In Quindlen words, “what they have has meaning. And meaning, real meaning, is what we are always trying to possess” (161). So what we are looking for in the stuff we have is meaning, and by having meanings to our possessions, we appreciate them more and care about them. I think that Quindlen’s essay is a wake up call for the people who buy stuff that they don’t need. My opinion is that people should think hard before buying something in the market, and never believes television advertising; it will make you want the product they’re selling so much. I suggest that everyone should check their stuff and see what you really need and what you don’t. If you find something you don’t need, don’t throw it away, donate it or give it to someone who might need it.

Work Cited

Danziger, Pamela N. Why People Buy Things They Don’t Need. Ithaca, NY: Paramount Market Pub., 2002. Print.

Princen, Thomas, Michael Maniates, and Ken Conca, eds. Confronting Consumption. 1st ed. N.p.: MIT, n.d. Print.

Quindlen, Anna. “Stuff Is Not Salvation.” Newsweek 22 Dec. 2008: n. pag. Print.

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