Last Exploration Natalee Christman

I really enjoyed “The Ideal of a Local Economy” by Wendell Berry. One aspect of the writing I enjoyed was when he referenced the fact that our way of life has become like leisure. In a quote from the reading he says “we have an environmental crisis because we have consented to an economy in which by eating, drinking, working, resting, traveling, and enjoying we are destroying the natural, the god given world” (Berry,14). I found this quote to be the most influential because he is calling our culture out as a whole. He is saying that the lifestyle we are living we are destroying our environment and even the natural world. I agree with what Jessica had to say about Berry’s stance on humans. Berry pretty much is saying is that humans do not rely on themselves anymore. They rely on other people and large corporations for basic necessities for life. I really did enjoy the Wendell Berry because it brought to light how the American culture is not self sufficient and we rely on only a couple companies for necessities. 

An aspect of culture that we do not recognize is the drug problem that this nation is facing a a whole. I know that recently I watched a special on 60 minutes that was over the heroin problem in Ohio. The episode took place in suburbs around Columbus. I think that this is an issue that we need to talk more about because it is not a drug that only a certain group of people use. In this episode most of the people using were teenagers who lived in well off suburbs. I found this intriguing because when I think of people who are drug abusers I think of people who are impoverished. This was scary to me because I began to think that friends or people I know could be using. It also amazes me the number of people who wanted the marijuana bill to pass, but I am glad it did not. I feel that marijuana is not as dangerous as heroin, but may increase the chances of somebody doing heroin. Before I watched this special I knew that heroin was a drug, but what I did not realize that for a lot of users heroin was not the first drug they had done. Many of them admitted to using cocaine and prescription pills. Overall I think that this is an issue that needs to be discussed in our culture more because it is killing America’s youth. Here is a link to the 60 minute special http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/heroin-in-the-heartland/