Sunday, April 25, 2010

Text Production for Junk Food (Argumentative) #2

As the name suggests, junk food is something edible but non-nutritious and non-beneficial to health (Smith 2005). According to Health Foundation (2005), approximately 50% of the most popular snack foods ranging from biscuits to flavoured yogurt have low nutritional values. The addiction towards junk food can be evidenced by the fact that more than half of the contemporary Australian schoolchildren have their meals in school where abundance of junk food is available (Tran 2005). Junk food manages to gain loyalty among buyers and sellers as it is highly flavoured and can be easily accessed and brings supernormal profits. Nonetheless, it is indispensable to ban the sale of junk food in school canteens for several reasons.

First of all, the high-kilojoule-content junk food triggers childhood obesity. Most junk food contains high proportion of flavour and fat to enhance its taste (Smith 2005). Besides partaking junk food in school canteens, children have the tendency to consume it at home too. This is revealed by the chart published by Australian Nutrition Journal (2004) whereby most of the 12-14-year-old children in 2003 have more intakes of fat and sugar than recommended. Fresh fruit and vegetables were neglected badly. It is the overconsumption of food with high contents of fat and sugar that causes obesity among the children. They even speculate its consumption as safe since it is allowed in school and thus, indulging themselves in it. Consequently, it leads to unfavourable weight gain.

Furthermore, other health problems can also be originated from the frequent consumption of junk food. Based on the information given by The Food Show (2005), junk food reduces the intake of nutritious food by the schoolchildren. Consequently, their health development, growth and learning potential are adversely affected as all of these require a balanced diet. Research study also proved that reduction of junk food helped in improving the children’s daily conduct. Their behaviour can be deviated due to the chemical additives contents in the unhealthy food. Hence, by banning the sale of junk food in school canteens, the disciplinary problems among the schoolchildren can be overcome.

Last but not least, prohibition of junk food sale in school canteens can minimise the litter problem in the school vicinity too. Junk food is packaged and the schoolchildren tend to throw the packages indiscriminately. Litter is a bad habit as it not only causes hazard to the people nearby but also degrades the image of the citizens in the eyes of the outsiders (Smith 2005). Moreover, litter also reduces the effort spent in maintenance projects by the school groundsmen as cleaning requires much effort. Hence, stopping junk food sale can assist in improving the school hygiene and facilities, beneficial to all school occupants.

In a nutshell, the sale of junk food should be forbidden in school canteens by virtue of several factors, namely the degradation of schoolchildren’s health and environmental damage. School News (2005) showed that canteen profits were directly proportional to the sale of junk food. Therefore, it is understandable that the sale can hardly be stamped out completely due to the high profits offered in a short span of time. For the sake of our future generations, it is important to educate the children about the detrimental effects of junk food by both parents and school teachers so that the knowledge can act as a deterrent.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Text Production (Argumentative) Draft Version

Question: Should the sale of junk food in school canteens be banned?

As the name suggests, junk food is something edible but non-nutritious and non-beneficial to health (Smith 2005). According to Health Foundation (2005), approximately 50% of the most popular snack foods ranging from biscuits to flavoured yogurt have low nutritional values. The addiction towards junk food can be evidenced by the fact that more than half of the contemporary Australian schoolchildren have their meals in school where abundance of junk food is available (Tran 2005). Junk food manages to gain loyalty among buyers and sellers as it is highly flavoured and can be easily accessed and brings supernormal profits. Nonetheless, it is indispensable to ban the sale of junk food in school canteens for several reasons.

First of all, the high-kilojoule-content junk food triggers childhood obesity. Most junk food contains high proportion of flavour and fat to enhance its taste (Smith 2005). Besides partaking junk food in school canteens, children have the tendency to consume it at home too. This is revealed by the chart published by Australian Nutrition Journal (2004) whereby most of the 12-14-year-old children in 2003 have more intakes of fat and sugar than recommended. Fresh fruit and vegetables were neglected badly. It is the consumption of food with high contents of fat and sugar that causes obesity among the children. Junk food does fulfill the features and thus, it leads to unfavourable weight gain.

Furthermore, other health problems can also be originated from the frequent consumption of junk food. Based on the information given by The Food Show (2005), junk food reduces the intake of nutritious food by the schoolchildren. Consequently, their health development, growth and learning potential are adversely affected as all of these require a balanced diet. Research study also proved that reduction of junk food helped in improving the children’s daily conduct. Their behaviour can be deviated due to the chemical additives content in the unhealthy food. Hence, by banning the sale of junk food in school canteens, the disciplinary problems among the schoolchildren can be overcome.

Last but not least, prohibition of junk food sale in school canteens can minimise the litter problem in the school vicinity too. Junk food is packaged and the schoolchildren tend to throw the packages indiscriminately. Litter is a bad habit as it not only causes hazard to the people nearby but also degrades the image of the citizens in the eyes of the outsiders (Smith 2005). Hence, by stopping junk food sale can assist in improving school hygiene.

In a nutshell, the sale of junk food should be forbidden in school canteens as its consumption affects the health of the schoolchildren and damages the environment. School News (2005) showed that canteen profits were directly proportional to the sale of junk food. Therefore, it is understandable that the sale can hardly be stamped out completely due to the high profits offered in a short span of time.

Final version of Text Production Essay

Natural greenhouse effect supports life on Earth as greenhouse gases trap sunrays and reradiate them back to provide the planet warmth. Nonetheless, human activities have increased their concentration drastically, trapping more heat from sunrays and global warming ensued. Since Ice Age, global temperature has risen by 5°C whereby around 84% is contributed by recent decades. Scientists claim that higher temperature will alter world climate. Food for thought, traditional climate change warms up or cools down the whole planet while the modern one has similar but irregular effects. This makes the living on Earth struggled. Thus, the potential complications of global warming should be clarified and arrested immediately.

The potential effects of global warming in terms of climate change include the extinction of flora and fauna. It happens as climate change is capable of triggering glacial accumulation in some areas while reduction in elsewhere. It warms the Polar Regions faster too. According to Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA), Arctic has lost approximately eight percent of its sea ice over the last three decades and will become denuded in summer by 2100. Its disappearance can jeopardize the polar creatures and migratory birds flying there for reproduction purpose. Coral reefs which serve as the base of ecosystems will be destroyed by increasing temperature of the oceans. The extinction of 30-40% of global species due to climate change has been foreshadowed.

More unprecedented and severe disasters can also be resulted from global warming. Climate change alters the rainfall of a region (Woodford 2006). More rainfall can be observed in the areas having wet weather and located high above the sea level. However, it is not the frequency that increases but the magnitude (Riebeek 2007). Furthermore, the frequency and severity of disasters such as El-NiƱo, storms and heat waves have also increased (Woodford 2006). This is evidenced by the reports conducted by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) over half of the past century whereby there were more frequent heat waves and intense rain. The reports also revealed that there were more cyclone and drought-stricken places since 1970s (Riebeek 2007).

Moreover, global warming can also affect the peoples’ welfares. Climate change induces erratic weather. When there is more rainfall in some places, there are longer-lasting droughts (Woodford 2006) assaulting other places. This scenario will further limit the source of nutrients. Global warming shifts the growing season too. Earlier spring forces migratory species to prey their food earlier. Meanwhile, shorter-lasting winter is unable to eradicate bugs from overrunning an ecosystem. Besides that, vectors can reach greater range of places due to climate change (Riebeek 2007) as more places become warmer. It is estimated that two third of the world population have the risk of being infected by malaria by next century.

To tackle the impacts of climate change, emissions of greenhouse gases should be reduced. Consumers should purchase energy-efficient appliances and request for more proportion of household electricity to be generated from renewable energy. Usage of self-transport should be reduced. While driving own vehicles, ‘drive with better fuel economy in mind’ (Woodford 2006). On the other hand, Nzone Tonight’s Climate Change – has it been cancelled? U-Tube video suggests the world to compromise with climate change and accept it like any other natural disasters as the former is also part of the nature. According to the video, the needy should be given assistance at the same time.

In conclusion, each individual has the obligation in arresting climate change caused by global warming as it is human contributing to the problem as stated in the film An Inconvenient Truth – a global warning (2007) directed by Davis Guggenheim. Based on the film, the warnings of the disaster must be acknowledged and given appropriate reactions. When the controversy regarding the seriousness of global warming is ongoing, the problem is worsening too. The Stern Report urges for instant investment in overcoming climate change as the longer it takes to defeat the problem, the higher the cost will be (Woodford 2006).