Thinking About Buying Local

1. The first thing that made me think her topic was important, was the number of sources she had. To completely defend and fairly present the opposing side, she had over ten sources, meaning that this is an idea that many people have an input on and that as an unbiased viewer, that I should get involved.
2. The first counter argument she put into her paper was that buying locally could have a negative environmental impact, but since it is less efficient to grow foods in areas that don't grow the foods well. She answered this argument by saying that you don't have to buy everything from local farmers, but "as much as possible from local farmers." (page 97) Later she answers the argument that bigger farms are more efficient, by pointing out they had their facts wrong. She clarifies that the bigger farms are more efficient in one crop per acre, while small farms are more efficient in multiple per acre. (page 97) Then comes the argument that buying food from third world countries is better for the environment. She says in response that only a little bit of the American diet is exported, and if we exploited the third world they would industrialize and we would have a problem all over again. (page 97-98) She notes that while the global economy is hurt by buying local, many local economies benefit, and we shouldn't be condoning sweatshops. (page 98)
3. When Spriggs mentions the negative impact on the global economy, I don't think her persuasion is very effective in this section. While it is true that we should try to minimize sweatshops, that was her only piece of evidence that persuaded me very much, and that was more of an emotional claim than one based on logic. She appeals to the readers point of view, knows what she's talking about, we understand that the topic matters, but at the end of the day this point did not have very good evidence, and that made it a weak argument.
4. The pictures give a good contrast to how things are normally done compared to how our food could be grown in the future and more of how it was in the past, showing the changes that would need to occur to get to where she wants.