Last Exploration

Wendell Berry, the author of "The Idea of a Local Economy" essay, discusses the benefits of a local economy.  His major argument is about corporation and he "[doesn't] mean to say, of course, that all corporate executives and stockholders are bad people. [He] is only saying that all of them are very seriously implicated in a bad economy" (Berry 22). He argues that though corporations work well, they destroy a lot of the local or small business. He says that the government looks at big corporations and small businesses in a similar way, and that it is not a correct way to look at them. He proposes that a localized economy would lessen the difficulty that small businesses have when competing against multimillion dollar corporations and would also prevent workers being paid less in some areas where they are willing to work for less.

Al Gore's address to "A Planetary Emergency" has a significant impact on readers. In 2007, Al Gore warned people about the dangers that humans were posing to the environment. He talks about the environment as if "the Earth has a fever, and the fever is rising".... (EC 577). He also went on to say that the ice caps in the north would not make it more than 22 years and that it would greatly impact the Earth. Though his advice and warnings were initially ignored, people began to care as a group and actually have an impact to try an improve the situation.Recycling and other efforts can help the environment a little however, until the people see direct consequences of the harmful effects on the environment, the people will not be motivated enough to change. Gore addresses that the two countries producing the most waste are China and the US. He mentions that "both countries should stop using the others behavior as an excuse for stalemate and instead develop an agenda for mutual survival in a shared global environment" (EC 578). To sum it up, Al Gore says that if we don't fix our habits soon, the earth will suffer greatly.