Motivating on Eating Disorders

This eating disorder advertisement is promoting a pro-recovery forum for those who are dealing with this issue in the past or present. I feel as if this internet style of reflection will be therapeutic for adolescent girls or mature women. Together, this will be an effective way to decrease the cases of eating disorders and to advocate awareness for the cause.

The action is to show how the individual dealing with the eating disorder sees themselves in the mirror. This is a good example of how psychologically the mind of a deteriorating patient has been effected. Not only is it physically challenging, but also eating disorders are mentally tiring.

This message is effective because it is direction in its presentation and it leaves the viewer with an image that will impact them. It is persuasive that this internet forum will be essential in healing and informing the public about the severity of eating disorders. Also, it shows that this disorder directly effects teenagers. I would further advertise this on both television and billboards. Likewise, this should be for men and women since the two experience the sickness.

Food and Water Watch Campaign; Against Factory Farming

The industry of factory farming causes a tremendous damage to our environment. The toxic chemicals that are emitted into the air and water puts the lives of many animals and humans at risk. There is no need for this large amount of chemicals to be emitted from these companies but industry owners are only concerned with gaining maximum profits and not the damage it creates along the way.

A specific group that is taking action on this issue is the Food and Water Watch group. This group is a non-profit organization that advocates for safe and healthy food and drinking water. They are a public interest organization that remains independent of corporate and government influence. This group is funded fully through their members, individual donors, and foundation grants. It’s membership; individual donors and foundations are interested in carrying out a progressive agenda for clean water and food in the United Sates support this organization. They promote the practices that will result in sustainable and secure food systems that provide healthy food for consumers and an economically viable situation for the population. They also advocate for public control of water resources, strong conservation measures, and tough regulation of toxic emissions.

This organization counts on civilian support because they take no corporate or government money. The group has victories in their campaign that they are proud of such as working with local organizations in dozens of cities to maintain public control of municipal water systems. They have also raised awareness nationwide about the environmental, health and equity problem of factory farming. The organization asks citizens to join the Food and Water Watch Campaign and/or make a tax-deductible donation. They also offer many volunteer opportunities that are available for all to participate in as a group.

I believe that this organization has a strong foundation and good intentions in making the environment healthier and reducing the effects of factory farming. However, if I were to modify this organization in any way, I would suggest that this organization hold events that promote community togetherness and acting on the problem as a whole. This way, people would be inclined to join to campaign if there was a way to have fun while doing something extremely beneficial for the environment. The Food and Water Watch group encourage you to join their campaign and be part of a Historic Consumer Movement. Their promise is to keep you informed about important actions you can take to protect your access to clean, safe, affordable food and water.

Dependence On Foreign Energy

The social problem that I presented in my speech was the United States dependence on foreign energy. This is a social problem that you may think does not involve many people and that no one is really taking individual action against. However, you are wrong. People all over the country are through with the U.S.’s dependence on foreign energy like oil. One way that individuals have and can take action is by purchasing energy saving clean cars like hybrids. Others are reducing their driving and using bicycles and forms of public transportation. Those who are concerned with the country’s dependence on foreign energy like oil are changing the way car companies especially, but also other major companies think about new clean energy sources. Although not everyone who wants to take action against this problem can afford to buy a new clean hybrid car, they can still participate by riding bicycles and using public transportation. One may not think that these actions are effective or useful, but they are. Car companies are already getting the message to switch to energy proficient cars and invest in advanced innovation. This action will continue to be effective and will continue to spread to companies all over the country. These actions are very persuasive due to the fact that these actions not only save you money at the pump, but are also shown to work. Those looking to take part in action against the United States dependence on foreign energy can visit the website below for more information.

http://www.einow.org/take-action

Dick Cheney on Same-Sex Marriage

A surprising celebrity advocate for gay marriage is former Republican vice president Dick Cheney. Cheney supports a state by state legalization of gay marriage.  Cheney has said that in a country that advocates freedom as one of its main values that it should mean freedom for everyone. Cheney has spoken at press conferences about his support for state legalization of same-sex marriage.  I don’t think his efforts are extremely effective. Although he is speaking his views which contradict with his political ideology he is not taking much action to fix the problem. The use of freedom for everyone is an effective persuasive strategy but it does not mean much unless action is taken. The way I would modify Dick Cheney’s efforts in order to make them more effective would be to take action. A call to action for the states does not do much. If I were Cheney I would travel state to state encouraging legislators to take action in their meetings. Showing people you care by traveling to them and pushing them to do something is more effective than just talking about it.

How to prevent trade imbalance of Rare Earth Elements

Since China reduce the export production, each government start to think their way without importing Rare Earth Elements from china. Individually, each government supports that people try to recycle their electronic goods which contain rare earth elements. Some people call this urban mining. It raises the efficiency of using natural resources. According to Natural Institute for material Science in japan, they investigate to extract the natural resources from electronic goods which stop to use. Especially, there are 400g of Rare Earth Elements in cell-phone which people stop to use. So, they can recycle this Rare Earth Elements to other areas such as rechargeable batteries, new cell phone, and much more. Also, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization try to investigate electronic car without using Rare Earth Elements. As I said in the speech, Rare Earth Elements are essential to produce electronic cars. To reduce dependence of Rare Earth Elements, people and government keep investigating about Rare Earth Elements. These efforts will increase the conformity against Chinese government’s export reduction and help to develop new technology.

People Against Verdicts

Many widely publicized trails have be subject to protest, the Casey Anthony Trial was no exception. Several groups surrounded the jail she was being held in, awaiting her release after the trial to protest the outcome of her trial and call her a baby killer. Although they may not be the most pleasant of people, they are speaking out against at trial that they are not a part of in an attempt to get the verdict reversed. These attempts are not very effective because the courts can not try a person for the same crime twice, yet there are constantly new people joining the group to protest due to the growing media circuses. It would be more effective for them to protest before a trial to try and affect the verdict.

The R-Word

Discrimination toward those with disabilities is a very common issue, whether people realize they are doing it or not. Many folks may not consciously discriminate against these people; most of the time it is human nature to speak to/about people with disabilities differently than the rest of the population.

Glee star Jane Lynch has recently taken it upon herself to speak out about discrimination about people with disabilities. Although her character on Glee can be crude and sometimes insensitive, in real life Jane is very caring and very sensitive to words such as "retard" and any other kind of discrimination involving those with disabilities. She has started to produce PSA's about this issue talking about why it is so important not to discriminate and how to stop it. She gives alternative ways to speak to and treat those with disabilities in hopes that everyone will then follow her example.

Jane's efforts are effective to a certain extent. Since she is a celebrity, she kind of has more of an influence on the general public and what they think about certain circumstances. I think, though, that if she was to go out and physically do something to spread more awareness, it would be more effective than her just making Public Service Announcements. However, this is definitely a good start toward ending this discrimination!

No Phone Zone

“I pledge to make my car a No Phone Zone. Beginning right now, I will do my part to help put an end to distracted driving by not texting or using my phone while I am driving. I will ask other drivers I know to do the same. I pledge to make a difference.”

Sign Oprah Winfrey’s No Phone Zone Pledge against distracted driving! Oprah took the issue of distracted driving to heart after airing an episode about a young girl who was killed by a driver on his cell phone. Texting is a huge distraction to drivers while on the road. The distraction of texting while driving is equivalent to the distraction of driving with a blood alcohol content level of .08!

Oprah created the No Phone Zone campaign in hopes to ban texting while driving in the US. In reference to the campaign, Oprah said, "My biggest hope for the No Phone Zone campaign is that it becomes mandatory that no one uses their phone in the car or texts while driving—just as seat belts are mandatory, just as driving while drunk is considered absolutely taboo, I'm hoping that this becomes not just law, but second nature for all of us." Watch her message here!

The individual action that Oprah took against distracted driving was beneficial to the issue. Since Oprah’s actions, people have been informed of the dangers of texting while driving. She has influenced over 200,000 people to sign the No Phone Zone Pledge, along with 60 celebrities to both sign and speak on behalf of the issue. Along with the pledge, Oprah and the state of Illinois have recognized April 30^th as National “No Phone Zone Day.” Oprah’s website includes a page dedicated to the No Phone Zone Pledge. On the website, you can find information and personal stories on the issue. A helpful part of the website is a map of the US where you can click on a state and see if it has a phone ban. If your state does not have a ban, there is a link to contact your state governor and tell him what you think!

Oprah Winfrey is a great influence on the issue of distracted driving. Her importance and fame has brought America’s attention to the problem. Sign the pledge today!

Awareness of Ritalin

Lawrence T. Smith is an individual trying to get his voice heard by every parent out there. His article can be found on RitalinDeath.com or here. He was once a parent of Matthew Smith, who died when he was 14 years old due to long term Ritalin use. Matthew was accused of having A.D.H.D by his School's social worker. Lawrence and his wife did not know too much about the disorder or the drugs given to "treat" it. When they went to the recommended doctor, the doctor said he was certainly not the first kid from his school to be diagnosed by this social worker. The drugs given to Matthew were explained to his parents as mild and safe drugs. After Matthew's death, Lawrence later found out the reality of A.D.H.D. and the dangers of Ritalin use. This all is explained in the article from the link.
I think this article is extremely effective at persuading people to realize the dangers of Ritalin. It comes from first hand experience and is so personal that the reader can't help but listen to the point trying to be made. Every parent and future parent wants the best and healthy life for their child and knowing the facts from this article could greatly affect their decisions if the problem of A.D.H.D. ever came up with them.
The efforts of this single person has the potential to affect many lives. Sharing his personal story with the readers is a great example of someone who wants to make a difference. Even though his story is a very tragic one, it is definitely able to positively affect other families' similar stories.

Marcellus Shale

There is currently a group, which is located in State College, that has started a protest against the Marcellus Shale. The group is campaigning for the State College Environmental Bill of Rights and Natural Gas Drilling Ban. In order to get this act passed, they have held fundraisers to get people to sign petitions to be sent to the government. The group has been trying to educate the local community about the effects the drilling has on the communities as well.

Anti-Smoking Programs

In Hawaii, some citizens were recently involved in a protest against a new bill that the senate was considering passing. The bill would redirect funds that are currently used to sponsor various tobacco use prevention programs. If this bill were to be passed, the state would lose the majority of its funding for tobacco education programs. In order to raise awareness for how crucial it is for the senate to reject this bill, several citizens staged a protest along a major road in Hawaii. The protesters made several signs and even designed t-shirts which displayed phrases such as "take action now." Their methods were very effective because their protest was very big and a creative way for them to stand up for what they believed. It would be difficult to modify their efforts in order to make them more effective since they did such a good job. However, one thing that I may have done differently would be to stage the protest at several different locations rather than just one.

Watch a short clip of this protest thanks to YouTube.

Gay Rights

There are many people that are taking individual action on gay rights. Not specifically to my topic of gay adoption but it relates in many ways. As I was talking in my speech I spoke about how there are many Christian adoption agencies that won’t allow gay and lesbians to adopt. Well as I was doing some research I found an article on a gay rights protest in front of a Catholic church.

The activist group is called the Gay Liberation Network. They decided to protest at the Holy Name Cathedral. There was nearly 100 men and women who had gathered outside of the cathedral in the morning and were protesting gay rights, expecially gay marriage, but basically any oppostion to gays, lesbians, and bi-sexuals. The protesters waved rainbow flags and shouted, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, homophobia has got to go!" and, "Holy Name, holy shame!"

I think the effectiveness of this is not high at all. The Catholic church has morals it has followed for years that go more than 100 years back. Just because a group of people are protesting outside their church, the people of the Catholic faith are not going to change their morals because of this. I think the persuasive effort of this was very strong because they had a lot of people and were showing how much they cared with tons of banners and slogans, but this still doesn’t mean that this group of people will change their mind. I think they could have changed their way of protesting by informing these people that diversity means acceptance and isn’t that what the Catholic faith teaches. I think the protesters should understand their morals and try to show them a different way of looking at homosexuals, and for them to understand that it is not their choice to be gay, they were born that way. Maybe slogans like that would be better rather than slogans like Hey, hey, ho, ho, homophobia has got to go!" and, "Holy Name, holy shame!" Holy shame is just hurtful in my opinion.

Preventing Steroid Use

In my problem-solution speech, I addressed the problem of performance enhancing drugs, such as steroids, and how to prevent it. After doing some research, individuals and groups in Texas are trying to gather more qualified professionals about steroids to their communities and schools to present educational workshops for their children and other students on steroid use. Also, for different nights, such as parent nights, sports nights and etc are a good time that the parents are trying to provide information on steroids and the symptoms of steroids and how they can realize if their child or another is abusing this drug.

This is open for anyone that feels the need to participate in bringing professionals to their communities to talk about steroids and to help them expand their knowledge and teach them about steroid use. This is very helpful in understanding what steroids can do to you and how you can learn the symptoms of steroids. Its very beneficial.

This is a very effective way for parents to get involved with their children's lives and to understand what they may be doing to their bodies. It helps show that they care about their children and how they get involved with their lives and actually try to point them in the right direction. It's also effect because with professional speakers and people that have taken steroids coming to their communities and telling people about their experiences helps embrace the minds of the audience and help them understand how serious it was and what they went through abusing this drug.

Food Safety

In my problem-solution speech, I addressed the issue of food safety and that the FDA is not properly inspecting all of the food being sold in the US. This is a problem as it causes bacterial outbreaks that result in food borne illness. The mother of a boy that unfortunately was infected with e. coli during an outbreak and died as a result, Nancy Donley, has been personally advocating this problem. Shortly after her son's death, she wrote a letter to congressman at that time Dick Durbin addressing the problem. Durbin felt that her message was strong and decided to take matters into his own hands and has been working on the passage of a new food safety bill for the past 17 years. Other than getting government involvement and awareness, Donley wants to address this problem to all citizens in America. She even promoted her message on an CBS news special in this video. To get public awareness, she has created an organization in order to spread the word to everyone about the problems we are having with food safety. This organization that she created is called Safe Tables Our Priority(STOP). Through her personal advocation and through STOP she has assisted the passage and legislation of a new food safety bill. This was the first food safety bill to be passed in over 70 years.

I believe that Nancy Donley and the STOP organization have both done a very effective job in spreading their word around. Since Donley has personal experience with the tragic effects of food borne illness, she can easily influence others to relate with her and realize the severity of this problem. Donley's efforts were very persuasive and she succeeded in making a difference in food safety in the US.

Harder Driving Test

I did my problem - solution speech on easily getting a drivers license and how it causes problems. My proposed plan was to make revisions to the permit test, drivers education, the road test, and re-testing. There has been individual advancements on the problem of bad driving and people not properly using their license.  While researching advancements towards safer driving, I came across a facebook

 group that was created to raise awareness of dangerous driving.  The name of the group is "People for the Movement Towards Safer Driving - Scioto County".  The creator, Lauren Dever, made this group for her specific county.  That was a good start and now there 

are hundreds of members in her group.  She says in the description "One bad accident is too many.. It seems now more than ever,unsafe and wreckless driving is brutally and fatally surfacing in our county. It is unacceptable".  This group promotes safer driving and encourages its members to discuss the problems of unsafe driving.  On the "wall" of the group, there were discussions about the problems of bad driving just like in my speech.  The many kids who have joined said that the group is cool and raises awareness in their county.  This is a good start to have people realize the problems of dangerous driving.  Awareness is the first step and the trend could spread to other parts of the state or country and eventually promote reforms to the license itself.  The only thing that I would say they could do better is to spread the word to other places!  With more people and groups like this, the issue could be world known.

Against Animal Cruelty

Many activist groups, such as PETA, are fighting against animal experimentation, but for the right reasons. PETA or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is considered the largest animal activist group worldwide. According to PETA.org, the group focuses on, factory farms, clothing trade, in labs, and in entertainment industry, which are the four areas where animals suffer the most. The group is involved in public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns. PETA uses petitions, and public protest in an act to try and stop animal cruelty. One recent campaign that has been produced by PETA is PETA’s ABC or animal birth control campaign. The reason behind this campaign is that there are too many animals born each day that cannot properly be sheltered and adopted by families, leaving shelters to put down over 4 million cats and dogs each year. PETA has made effort, through this campaign, to stop this from happening. Members of PETA are involved and are taking initiatives to prevent animals from over breeding. PETA does a very good job at protecting many innocent animals from cruelty and abuse. In many animal-testing cases where animals are mistreated, PETA has been able to raise enough awareness to shut down these laboratories. The messages that PETA presents are short, sweet and to the point. They fight through public protests until the job has been done. If it means the animals will benefit, PETA is not afraid to go above and beyond to point out the uncomfortable truth, which they do so often. Because they are for a good cause, people want to join, knowing the good reputation this activist group has and what it has done in the past for the animals.

Teacher Union Protests

When governor Tom Corbett proposed his new budget cuts, and state education was announced to be losing funding, this instantly angered teachers throughout the state of Pennsylvania. Teachers and even students from many state universities who are also taking a financial hit held rallies against these drastic budget cuts. The union that protested represented 6,000 faculty members and coaches at public universities. Individuals even stepped up and spoke at these protests. Pennsylvania State Education Association's President Jim Testerman stated, "We must remember that students only get one chance at a quality education. Pennsylvanians must not permit this recession to rob our children of the opportunity public education provides to prepare them for a better future." In addition to that, American Federation of Teacher's President Ted Kirsch spoke out by saying, "Pennsylvania’s teachers understand that our budget crisis requires new fiscal strategies—but necessary sacrifices should be shared sacrifices... The energy corporations that are exploiting the rich Marcellus Shale natural gas deposits pay no taxes for the drilling that is producing huge profits." This type of action that is being taken place is volunteer efforts and public protesting. It is volunteer efforts because these people are volunteering their own time to get their point across and by doing so they are using public protests. However, I don't find these protests to be very effective because the teacher union have received raises every year since the recession hit in 2008. "The governor had cited an increase in the average salaries of public employees from $39,037 to $45,105 over the last six years, while salaries of private sector employees remained steady at $32,239." Anyway, my mom told me that the salary only went into effect towards the poorer school districts. Finally I would modify their efforts by having the teachers offer up an alternative. Instead of cutting their salary, they should draw the money elsewhere, maybe like Marcellus Shale and tax payers or road work that's done all throughout Pennsylvania.

Source

School Budgets

In my problem-solution speech, I addressed the problem of how failed school budgets and lack of state aid can affect students and the community in which they live. With the lack of school funds parents are forced to pay out of pocket so that their child can participate in after school activities, this should be stopped.

A way that some are trying to rectify this problem is by trying to convince others to change their votes "for" the budget. Many PTOparents are using this as an opportunity to spread the word that the budget NEEDS to be passed and are educating these voters along with the board of education on the effects of a failed budget.

In addition to the parents taking action, the students are as well. Many rallies have taken place since the failed budget as well as the state's cuts. The students are truly outraged especially since their teachers have to be fired. They have started many groups on facebook in addition to writing letters to the principle and superintendent about why these teachers should keep their jobs. This display shows voters why it is important to vote "yes" for the budget and help make the learning environment better as well as keep a few teacher's jobs.

Defeating Anorexia Athletica

In my problem-solution speech, I addressed the problem of anorexia athletica and how it affects athletes in multiple sports. Because the main issue is lack of awareness, there are hardly any organizations dedicated to solely decreasing the number of athletes developing anorexia athletica. One woman, named Marion MacLean, wrote a book titled Defeating Anorexia Athletica—One Woman’s Journey through Exercise Addiction and Beyond. It is a true story, taking readers through her life-threatening battle with the disease. It demonstrates the complexities of the fixation with physical perfection as well as other eating disorders. Her aim in writing this book was to raise awareness of anorexia athletica, because it is an unexplored topic, with little to no research done on it. I feel that this book has mixed effects. To those who read it, I’m sure it has an impact on them; however, in today’s society, many people do not have time to sit down and read a book. If more people were informed of the existence of this book, the message may be more effective.

A more widely known campaign to stop eating disorders is linked with the show Make it or Break It. One of the main characters, Kaylie, develops an eating disorder after she had been told by her coach that she could not perform a skill because she was not small enough. Josie Loren, the actress who plays Kaylie, appears in commercials that air on ABC family, which lets the viewers know that eating disorders are a serious matter. I feel that this is a more effective way to raise awareness of eating disorders because there is a great number of teenagers, who are at risk for developing these diseases, who watch these television shows. The only thing I would change about this campaign is that it does not specifically raise awareness for anorexia athletica. It is more focused on informing others on how to receive treatment, which is beneficial, but how can people be treated for a disease that they do not even know exists?

Car-Free Day!

In my policy-solution speech, I addressed the issue of public transportation and how it wasn’t being advertised enough. After doing some research, I found that there is an event that occurs on September 22 in Washington D.C and 1,500 cities and in 40 different countries. This event is called car-free day. Citizens are taking pledges to ride their bikes, trains, buses, or any other form of public transportation rather than driving their cars on that day. It is supposed to promote the use of public transportation and get cars off of the road. They stated that they feel it will be better for traffic congestion, better for the environment, and a lesser demand for gasoline.

This opportunity is open for anyone to involve in as long as you just sign a pledge. Participators range from students to senior citizens. All they need to do is go car-free for that day! This could be considered a group and individual action because the individual has to take initiative to participate in the activity as a whole.

I definitely think this is an effective method of “advertising” public transportation. It also shows that people care about making the change; saving the environment, lowering the demand of gasoline, and reducing traffic congestion. The only thing I would change is to try to make this more known about in places in the U.S. other than Washington D.C. It seems like a really great way to promote public transportation so they should share their idea! It will be persuasive to the audience because not only will other people see these acts, but government officials will as well and they will notice the people acting out and possibly take these actions into account when they view the bill coming that’s asking for a 30% decrease in public transportation funding.

Childhood Obesity

To solve the challenge of childhood obesity, Michelle Obama launched an initiative called Let's Move! so that children today will grow up to be healthier. This campaign seeks to give parents helpful information that support healthy choices, to provide healthier foods in schools, and to ensure that all families have access to healthy food that is affordable. Most importantly, they also seek to help children become more physically active. Although this is a huge, national campaign, it encourages everyone to be involved in reducing childhood obesity. For example, on www.letsmove.gov, they teach people how to take action; parents should get on the right track to eat well and to stay fit, schools should add healthy guidelines to the daily schedules, communities should empower families to make healthy decisions, elected officials should take action in cities and towns, kids should have fun being active and eating healthy, and health care providers should support and educate their patients in living healthier. These tasks get almost everyone in the community involved and the campaign persuades that any person could volunteer and could make a difference in reducing childhood obesity.

The service efforts are extraordinary and are already effective after only a few months of being in progress. Although this campaign has been huge in solving this issue, they could enforce a policy in schools to teach children at a young age about how to keep healthy as well. Let's Move! is very influential, especially for the families that cannot afford to have healthier foods in their houses. The first lady has succeeded in making children in America healthier and, as a result, should make sure the public knows how they have improved this issue through the use of statistics and how child obesity will continue improving.