Reaction; The Limits of Locavorism

Definition of the word “locavorism”

              The idea to consume foods produced near the place you live.

 

 

Reaction:

 

              It is said that eating local foods is good thing for protecting environment, being healthy, and tasting better. Locavorists insist on reducing food miles, which is very important idea in locavorism. In their point of view, we need less fuel for transportation by doing that and we can reduce the amount of greenhouse gas. In addition, they say that local foods are fresher and tastes better and it is reasonable for consumers.

              However, is it really true? Can we completely believe that? Probably not. Actually, the emission of greenhouse gas will be less than transported foods’ emission, but, as stated in the thesis, transportation contributes less than 11 percent to the overall carbon cost of an average food item. I was surprised to see this level. Besides, local foods are often more expensive than the foods produced in foreign countries such as China. Thus, the idea of locavorism is not necessarily perfect.

Is Imprisonment an Necessary System for Dealing with All Criminal Acts?

              In my point of view, imprisonment is not necessarily needed for every crime. Actually, imprisonment can make the prisoners obedience and more suitable for society. Besides, in prisons, they have some job trainings, which restrain their committing again. However, there are some criminals who put themselves in prison on purpose because they can stay there eating enough food without any payment. In addition, the amount of money to run prisons are limited. Therefore, it should be only felony criminals who have to get into prisons.

Reaction: ICU as a Hybrid University

In the lecture, Dr. Paul called ICU “a hybrid university.” When I heard this expression, I was so impressed because ICU is actually a hybrid of American and Japanese universities in terms of its style. Dr. Paul mentioned both of the differences and the similarities between American universities and Japanese universities. What I interested in were the differences. Generally, American universities are easy to enter and difficult to graduate from. University students in the United States have to study very hard to achieve their learning. I think this is the ideal style of university. In most Japanese universities, students study much less hard than American students. They tend to believe that graduation is more important than studying at university and this makes them passive. However, in ICU, students are required to study a lot and to think critically like American students and this is why ICU is differ from other universities in Japan. As a university which is established in Tokyo by American people, ICU provides great education with a good balance of universities of the U.S. and Japan. I really like the idea of this lecture and am proud of having started learning here!

 

Never too old to learn

This proverb means that everyone can learn new things at any ages. Elderly people may be able to learn more actively than young people, if they eager to get new ideas.

 

Here is my original story on “never too old to learn.”

 

My 78-year-old grandmother has a hobby which she has enjoyed for about 20 years; calligraphy. She did not learned it in her childhood or when she was young. But she had long been wanted to make her handwritings neater. In her 50’s, after all the children became independent of her, she finally started to take some lessons of calligraphy. She practiced it hard while enjoying what she really wanted to do, and later she got some prizes appreciating her works! However, on the other hand, I wasn’t a good leaner of calligraphy. When I was an elementary school student I took the calligraphy class too, but my skills didn’t improve very much because I didn’t like it. Thus, every person can try and learn new things without any consideration of age; if they have the will to learn.

What is a Perfect Vacation?

To enjoy a vacation perfectly, you should remind two points; the length and the degree of relaxing. Vacation is an effective way to refresh and get away from the busy, plain daily life. It should not be too long or short and will be better being a couple of weeks. A good vacation is likely to include both sightseeing and relaxation and you ought not to set so many events in your schedules of the vacation. You will enjoy the days more doing only what you really want to do. In addition, people in a perfect vacation should be feeling calm and comfortable. To make it more perfect one, turn off your cell phones and laptops so that you would not be annoyed by e-mails from your offices or schools.