Media literacy assignment #10

Toxic Sludge is good for you:

Chapter 8-

1. “We weren't planning to write about ‘toxic sludge’ per se. We were trying to reach so-called ‘Generation X’ readers with a ‘Generation X’ title -- a cynical, exaggerate parody of deceptive public relations.” I found it entertaining that, in this book about media literacy, the author chose to describe why the title was chosen. The title is catchy, easy to remember, and satirical, all of which are attractive to our generation of media skeptics.

2. The German politician Otto von Bismarck once said that ‘those who love sausage and the law should never watch either being made’.” I just love this quote. It is simple and very much to the point. This quote basically describes what I’ve learned so far at UVM in just one sentence. I also feel that media literacy in general targets this phenomena. People tend to like what they like, and continue to blindly consume it, oftentimes intentionally avoiding information about how the product was produced. This can’t continue.

3. It is interesting that the toxic sludge has been renamed to “biosolids”, which sounds completely opposite, and gives a positive connotation to what, in reality, is toxic by-product.

4. It is interesting how much of an effect the economy has on the environment over time. In the reading, it said that in the 1970s water pollution was a big issue for the public, and steps were taken to improve the health of watersheds, etc. In the 1980s, politicians sought to reduce federal spending, and thus money was cut from Clean Water Act type programs. By the 1990s, funding for keeping water supplies safe and clean had been eliminated. Water is the most essential substance for all of life on Earth, every person uses water every day for many purposes. It seems as though water purification should be the number one priority for any government or group of people. How is it not a priority at all?

5. I was completely blow away by the list of chemicals, bacteria, and heavy metals known to be in what is now called “biosolids”. These substances are known to be poisonous, carcinogenic, and obviously just not good for any life form to ingest.

My question is: How is it legal that people are exposed to so many deadly substances without our knowledge or consent?

Chapter 9-

1. First of all, the opening quote of chapter nine is really frightening. This Vice Chairman of a public relations firm basically says that corporations need not be afraid of the environmental movement because big companies have so much money that environmentalist don’t stand a chance.

2. Monsanto spent a lot of money to publish and distribute a book, The Desolate Year, in response to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. Monsanto’s book suggests that stopping the use of pesticides would create a mass outbreak of insects that would essentially take over our country. This is absolute bullshit, and I am not sure how anyone in their right mind could believe such a theory. There are places around the world which refrain from heavy use of chemical inputs to agriculture, and they get along fine (probably with lower cancer rates). This leaves me wondering how long Monsanto has been around.

3. Greenwashing has gone completely rampant just in the past couple of years. People mindlessly believe what is written on packages and advertisements about some products being better for the environment. There is certainly not enough public awareness of the fact that consumption in general is a huge environmental problem. I was talking about this issue with a friend the other day, and she said she believes that people are becoming “satiated” by consuming goods that they are told are ecologically sound. They may be so put off by all that they have been told they’re doing wrong that buying, for example, a T-shirt that says “Green is the new black” will sooth them.

4. The section “Good Cop/Bad Cop” was helpful in that it illustrates how PR will create a dichotomy among people involved in the environmental movement. The media certainly portrays some activists as being too radical, and therefore not justified in their concerns. Like with any other issue, the corporate-owned mainstream media seeks to convince the public that there is nothing that the public can or should do to improve society. They do this because if more people began to care about social and environmental issues, big businesses would be investigated, regulated, and boycotted.

5. It is a shame that corporations are trying to improve their image, but not their policies, just by funding things like environmental organizations, and events like Earth Day. On the other hand, though, they are contributing by giving lots of money that the movement wouldn’t otherwise have access to.

My question is: Is George Bush part of a Wise Use group? It seems like many of the eleventh-hour bills he signed (removing the Polar Bear from the Endangered Species Act, for example) were similar the examples given on page 141.