Silent Spring Chapter 5: Cycle is the Word

Cycles. Six letters, two syllables, one word. Yet, this word is a significant one, as I believe it is the most important word in chapter five of Silent Spring. This word, although small sums up Carson’s argument in chapter five fully and clearly.

In chapter five, Carson goes into the complexity of the soil and its different relationships. Low and behold, these relationships happen to be in cycles. For example, there is the relationship between the soil and the earthworms. The earthworms feed on the enriched soil, they aerate it by digging holes and bring the good soil to the top, help nitrate it for smaller organisms, and their excrement helps enrich the soil again.  Every organism therefore has its place and purpose. Thanks to DDT and other insecticides, these perfect, cyclical relationships have been disrupted or broken. Studies have shown that “BHC, aldrin, lindane, heptachlor and DDD all prevented nitrogen-fixing bacteria from forming the necessary root nodules on leguminous plants”. (pg 57) Cycles could not be more important in this chapter because they are the clock that nature runs on, as Carson shows. Even her structure in this chapter was a cycle. She goes from writing about how the soil is the basis of life and is constantly changing, to the small bacterial organisms that effect the soil , then the larger ones like earthworms and how the insecticides are affecting them and then  to the human race and how we are being affected by the soil’s destruction. Carson even gives a great example of how a company that makes baby foods got into financial woes because they refused to use food from pesticide treated land and couldn’t find any. Instead of coming back to the beginning of the cycle with the soil being left alone,  Carson shows what it is like when the soil is destroyed, showing the plight of Hops growers in Idaho , where Heptachlor destroyed their soil and therefore their crops. By structuring her chapter like this, Carson shows the effects of this broken soil cycle.

The circle of life, it’s a path unwinding. (Thank you Lion King!) That’s exactly what Carson stylistically shows in her writing in chapter five. A perfect example of this is when she says “The soil exists in state of constant change, taking part in cycles that have no beginning and no end” pg 53). In doing that she creates almost a visual of this cycle and something that people can understand and relate to. Its almost as if she has a reverence for the cycle, even pointing out that  pointing out the soil supports the earths “living green mantle” and that’s because its constantly changing. She remains with this tone throughout the chapter. So in chapter five… cycles.. they’re important.

Proposal

According to Kids In Need Foundation.org, 14.8 million students are below the poverty line and are in need of school supplies. On average, teachers spend $500-$1,000  of their own money per year to purchase supplies for their students and classrooms. We know that McDonalds has continually been providing to 31,000 schools across America.  Many kids, in the schools you sponsor,  are being rewarded for their various good acts by your food . In order to improve what you have already done, we suggest that you use that money for providing notebooks and other supplies needed by the schools and students in place of the food.

On the contrary, it might make sense in some ways for McDonald’s not to change their current ways of giving back to the community. That’s because the company has already given back so much.  The Passport to  Play program is already in 31,000 schools nationwide. It is true that kids need food  and adequate nutrition to perform well in school and in sports and many of the areas you provide for are impoverished  and children may not get the food they need. BY giving them food vouchers as rewards McDonald’s is providing a great service to them and their neighborhoods. However, school supplies are necessary for children to thrive and do their work in school. Without notebooks, pens, pencils and such it’s impossible to retain any knowledge from school.

As shown by the previous statistics, kids and schools are increasingly in need of school supplies. It’s well known that McDonalds does a lot to contribute to the learning of students everywhere; notebooks and other school supplies are essential to student learning. By having notebooks, pencils and pens, folders, etc. they can absorb all of their information that they receive from their teachers on a daily basis. They can  have artistic supplies for when they are doing a project,  and multipurpose paper for when they need to print an current event out for their history class.

We suggest that McDonald’s creates their own line of school supplies; basic notebooks, pens, pencils, etc. to give out as a rewards for good student acts. They can incorporate themselves into these supplies by placing their logo, the famous golden arches, on each thing. This supply idea already coincides with McDonalds relentless  wish for a better education, for students. In my school, Brien McMahon in Norwalk, CT, we tend to have a problem with our supply of paper every year. Suddenly all the paper is used up and teachers are forced to bring in their own supply of paper for themselves or print out their  hundreds of sheets at their own home,. The teachers typically opt to do neither, and end up using the flip sides of previous printed pages to print out their  things for class. Or they can only print out a small amount of papers and have their students share. This causes stress for the teacher along with the students, especially the students who rely on the school printers for printing out their assignments.  When schools move smoothly, learning for students do as well; the availability of school supplies enables this smoothness. The students that work hard to earn these cool and new supplies, should be given the requirements to continue their learning.
By supporting schools, McDonalds desires to improve the education and  bring in more and new customers. Many comments from parents suggest that by majority, most parents are against the advertising of McDonalds in schools. Imagine if parents saw their children receiving new supplies provided by McDonalds, in support of their child’s achievements. This could definitely play a huge factor in swaying the opinions of parents about McDonalds being involved with schools across America. Along with their sway of opinion, comes the acceptance of McDonald’s foods. The chances of parents being willing to bring their children to McDonalds for a meal would rise if they were happy with the providing of the new school supplies. This school supplies benefitting students, would ultimately benefit the corporation of McDonalds as well.
We believe that rewards for students accomplishments are extremely important. They are proof that when one works hard, their hard work pays off. They are used to encourage students to continue to work to make high achievements in school. Although a voucher for a free cheeseburger from McDonalds is enticing for the average American teen, it is not something that will benefit their learning nor their future, which is something that  holds importance for McDonalds. Providing school supplies in place of the regular hamburger award will get what McDonald’s real desire is to all those that oppose of it, it’s desire to help the children in need.