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HAM on so many levels! Coming from all different backgrounds and fields of study, we gather here to discuss our varying views on anything and everything.
hVo
Hello out there! I am a 2nd year at UW-Madison and still in love with Bucky. I am majoring in Political Science, earning a certificate in Global Cultures, and something else.......I just don't know what the heck it is going to be yet. Well, alrighty then, back to the homework!
AK
I'm in my 4th year at madison, majoring in philosophy. I work at a movie theatre... and I love movies. I also enjoy football, food, animals, scripted television, and campfires.
mfg
i am currently a senior at the UW. majoring in art history with a certificate in material culture.from milwaukee.i work at a men's clothing store.i am fascinated by the visual and material world.
7 comments:
While I have always been interested in eco-friendly initiatives I have never felt that they had made their way to my community yet. From your presentation in class I know that this is no longer true and that is why I am very interested in your project. Coming from someone who is in the School of Business here at UW-Madison the balance between profit and being eco-friendly is something I would like to know more about. I love the fact that your project focuses on businesses on State Street, businesses that are readily accessible to all of us. This will make your project relevant to your audience since the knowledge gained from your project will allow members of your audience the ability to make choices as to where they spend their money on the basis of which businesses are eco-friendly.
Another aspect of your project that I thought was well thought out is placing the businesses into categories. By putting so much detail into your project it allows your audience to see which businesses on State Street are on the cutting edge in terms of eco-friendliness and those that are making an honest attempt but still lagging behind. There is not nearly enough information presented to consumers that shows the consequences of where they choose to spend their money and it seems to me that your project will do a good job of making consumers feel good about the where they choose to spend their money if they follow the suggestions that you will present in your project. Something I would like to see in your project that also addresses the consequences of uninformed consumer spending would be to highlight some classic examples of companies that abused the environment for the sake of making a few extra dollars. By introducing such examples your audience would realize that their choices do matter and that supporting companies that are not eco-friendly is most likely not in their best interests.
I remember in your presentation that you talked about eco-friendly containers and that was something I found to be a compelling piece of your project. By making a simple switch to eco-friendly containers restaurants could help alleviate the ever-growing strain that is being placed on landfills. I would suggest that your group clearly define what an eco-friendly container is and the names of some companies that produce such a product. Also a price comparison between eco-friendly containers vs. non eco-friendly containers would also be helpful to dispel the notion that exists out there that being green is more costly than being dirty.
Finally I would like to see your group include statistics on the possible benefits that would result if more businesses on State Street adopted an eco-friendly approach. A lot of times short-term business decisions come down to what makes the bottom line of the company look best. In order to combat this shortsighted approach data concerning the long-term benefits of being eco-friendly is needed. This would help show, not only your audience but other businesses as well, that while being eco-friendly may negatively affect the bottom line of a business today the future benefits of being eco-friendly are advantageous towards staying competitive in a globalized economy.
There is no doubt in my mind that your project will be useful and effective. While many of us here at the UW are interested in protecting our world and supporting local growers, it is unrealistic to think that everyone will ask local restaurants whether they have eco-friendly practices, and further, if the response is no, it would be very difficult for these same people to abruptly walk out of a place because the restaurant’s practices do not coincide with these customers’ ideals.
Your pamphlet could become a new restaurant guide for many. In many cases, people may specifically choose restaurants that have made the guide; however, even if people do not directly make their restaurant decisions based on the guide, they may make final decisions based upon it. For example, if a couple friends were planning on going to dinner, they may have a decision narrowed down to three and then utilize the guide in order to make the final decision on where to have dinner that night.
I wonder if there is a common area that you could put your pamphlets besides in the actual restaurants in order to make sure that they really get into circulation. One possibility could be handing out the pamphlets to people in library mall. Also, if there ia a possibility of having an internet version of the pamphlet, people could stumble upon it if they did a search for restaurants with eco-friendly practices in Madison.
The other thing that I would suggest to include within your pamphlet would be an icon for delivery. That way people would know where they could order from a continue giving their business to eco-friendly businesses from the convenience of their own home. Overall, this is a great idea with room for development.
Even thought I didn’t get the chance to see your presentation I love this topic. I never really cared about being environmentally conscious in the past, even though the topic has become increasingly important. I have never thought to ask restaurants where they get their food from. I would love to support local farmers and eating organically. I think this project is extremely important; especially for people like me who want to become environmentally conscious but are not. Even some of my closed friends who are; don’t understand what they are eating.
Since we all live in Madison supporting local farmers for the economy and getting the freshest food should be top priorities for everyone. I think the University of Wisconsin students—including myself—need to be better educated on the topic. If we knew where to shop and eat before hand; instead of going into the restaurant and leaving it would be more effective.
I love the idea of Fair Trade. It is so important to give back the community; I would rather support restaurants that practice this. The more word gets around the more students will be willing to choose restaurants who do this. Students are willing to learn and put into practice healthier, more environmentally friendly techniques.
The idea of a pamphlet is great. You could pass those out to students in dorms as well as apartment buildings. As long as it is compact and easy to understand students will be very willing to use it. You could work along side restaurants that fit the criteria and since you are promoting them, they could hand out the pamphlets to their customers.
I have never actively sought out any place that is fair trade or green, but your project interests me. This is a very important topic, and I like how you are taking the approach of not asking people to make massive changes in their lives, just to make small changes in their way of thinking. In addition to publishing the most eco-friendly restaurants, are you going to do anything to try to change the non-eco-friendly restaurants? Maybe try to inspire a campaign where people don't go to restaurants that add to global warming in a significant way, or perhaps just try to inspire people to write to individual business owners and tell them how important this is.
In addition to the environmental benefits created by going eco-friendly, I would be pleased if you guys would include information on the economic benefits of making such a switch as well. There's money in going green these days, and I think it would be interesting to see what sort of improvements even small business owners can make, because all anyone is focusing on are the giant, multinational manufacturers. But how is this going to directly affect us Madisonians?
I once thought fair trade was an organization that took jobs away from U.S. citizens because we went overseas for our products. How ignorant and oblivious I was about this issue. I soon discovered the real meaning behind fair trade from Blackhawk church where they serve only fair trade coffee from Ancora. So, I knew what fair trade was before HAMradio's presentation and was also interested in supporting it more on my own time, in which case I am in complete agreement and support of the research and cause HAMradio is putting into their project.
The presentation itself was very informative yet I felt it could have been dull to listeners with a less interested view point than myself. The handout however presented the focus of the project in much greater clarity. The three main points were manageably described and presented in the handout with easily read sub-points. One thing that I felt could have been addressed in the handout was the mission statement, or rhetorical purpose of the project. Though I knew what it was, it would be beneficial to have the purpose in the written form. This would establish the rhetorical stance each group member has on the particular issue.
This call to action for eco-friendly motives is positive and creates a strong support from a pathetic stance. The development of your individual thoughts on such ethics I believe would further the interest of the audience and gain even more support for the project. One way HAMradio does this already is researching locally. The questions on the back on the handout provide a good guideline for the direction the research is headed. I would be interested to see the results for those surveys. This will create a very relative argument as Madison and the campus students seem to be very "green" but what will be interesting is if the results of this project will persuade students and locals to stop investing their money into stores and restaurants that may been discovered as poorly environmentally aware.
The effects of this project could be very influential to the businesses that are questioned. Possibly think to record any changes these businesses might make due to the issue brought to their attention. The impacts could be great if these places were unaware of such choices.
If indeed this project brought awareness to the local businesses, there would be reactions globally with who is supporting their products. What an investment this research could be if unfair good producers are cut off because more businesses turn their support to fair trade which would create positive impact on those workers.
As the eco-friendly containers are concerned, the businesses could be opposed to using these productss because they may be more expensive at the time until they find better ways to mass produce the items. Comparitively, if there is no drawback to using these containers, what sort of reasoning would businesses have for not using them? It seems unethical and unquestionable for the eco-friendly
I think this project will be very interesting to a substantial part of the Madison community. Although I have always wanted to get involved in environmental groups, I have had very limited time. This project gives people another way to be environmentally aware which is something that you can never have enough of. I think the audiences that are involved in working to preserve the environment will provide a lot of support for this project as well and could help it reach people who are not living near campus. The environment is a very relevant topic and is something that almost everyone (except maybe a few crazies) should be concerned about.
In addition, your project would assist local businesses which is another issue that people are concerned about. Many local businesses are being pushed out of communities where larger, more cooperate businesses are taking over.
The genre you chose is a good one although many people are tired of getting handouts on State Street and often just toss them into the next garbage can they see. I think your group should consider methods of distribution that are less intrusive that thrusting brochures in peoples' faces (I'm not saying that was your plan, I actually can't remember if that's what you said you were going to do but I think you should avoid that method). It may be better to leave a stack of them in the Union or in some of the restaurants you're recommending. That way, people who are interested will pick them up and be less likely to waste them. Good luck and I can't wait for my eco-map!
As a student majoring in Nutrition here at UW I am required to take many food science classes that deal with the very topic that you are researching. In my food science 437 class I just completed an entire project focusing on food services going green and action steps they can take to achieve this. I found your topic very interesting and very relevant to the current trends in America. It is very important to preserve the environment and informational projects such as yours will help this cause. Especially in a college environment such as state street it is definitely important to express to the campus community which restaurants comply with eco-friendly ideas.
From prior research I have done I know that it is important to provide a common terminology, definitions and explanations within your pamphlet. Surprisingly not everyone knows what the terms fair trade, organic, eco-friendly and local exactly entail. Also, explaining the importance of this to the readers will increase the success of the pamphlet. This will not only inform the readers why they should choose these specific restaurants but also why it is beneficial to our environment.
Your project will be extremely useful to many people who are trying to live a green lifestyle and will most likely be a success because of the popular trend you have incorporated into it.
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