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ACTIvITy 3
Independent Practice
In 2007, the New Oxford American Dictionary named “locavore” the word of the year, indicating its growing social relevance in America. Not surprisingly, though, not everyone supported the “locavore movement.” The following text is an excerpt from the book Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly by Texas State University professor James E. McWilliams.
First Reading: First Impressions
Read the passage silently to yourself. As you read, think about the meanings of the underlined words. Look at the definitions in the right margin, and also use your knowledge of the words and context clues to help you make meaning of the text.
From The Locavore by James E. McWilliams Myth”
1 Buy local, shrink the distance food travels, save the planet. The locavore movement has captured a lot of fans. To their credit, they are highlighting the problems with industrialized food. But a lot of them are making a big mistake. By focusing on transportation, they overlook other energy-hogging factors in food production.
2 Take lamb. A 2006 academic study (funded by the New Zealand government) discovered that it made more environmental sense for a Londoner to buy lamb shipped from New Zealand than to buy lamb raised in the U.K. This finding is counterintuitive— if you’re only counting food miles. But New Zealand lamb is raised on pastures with a small carbon footprint, whereas most English lamb is produced under intensive factory- like conditions with a big carbon footprint. This disparity overwhelms domestic lamb’s advantage in transportation energy.
counterintuitive: going against expectations
carbon footprint: the amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an individual product, person, organization, or event.
disparity: a great difference
argument
Close Reading Workshop 2 • Close Reading of Argumentative Nonfiction Texts 23
“On My Mind:
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