#3 semi stuck
I feel like I am stuck in the mud of social injustice. I feel like I am drowning in social issues. There are so many things that I think are important enough to become their own project. On one hand you have environmental issues, which impact the entire world’s future and especially the future of our generation, we will be directly dealing with the consequences of climate change and I think we should prepare. On the other hand I care very deeply about animal rights. I am thinking about researching puppy mills, animal experimentation, or treatment of animals in factory farms. These issues are the ones that I get the most angry about when I read about them. I think that is an important factor in choosing my topic. I know that I want to be passionate about my topic. I have been around animals my whole life and will soon be volunteering at the humane society in St. Albans. I think through this I would be able to get access to some good resources or information. It infuriates me that people continue to buy puppies from puppy mills when there are thousands of homeless animals that deserve a loving home. It is a vicious cycle. Even though thousands of dogs sit in shelters, people continue to choose dogs from puppy mills, dogs in shelters die waiting for a home. I did some research and found out that in June of 2017 Governor Scott passed a bill to cut the cage size of dogs in puppy mills by 50% to 75%. The dogs are treated as machines and are forced to crank out puppies without any thought for their wellbeing. This issue is being influenced by our own politicians. It is estimated that over 2 million puppies from puppy mills are sold in America every year. 2.7 million cats and dogs are euthanized because there isn’t enough room in shelters. This is a conflict caused by the lack of information about the cruelty in puppy mills. Some questions I would like to find the answer to about puppy mills are:
- What are the exact conditions of the mills?
- Are puppy mills really more affordable?
- How do puppy mills affect the health of the dogs?
- How many mills are there?
- Do these exist all over the world?
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The questions you’re asking are a good place to start. I’m interested in hearing about your ideas for solutions, specifically solutions that high schoolers can work on. I think this work will be really interesting, and I’m excited to see what you end up doing.
Hi Shannon,
You have some really important and provoking questions in your blog post that make me really think about what you’re saying. I can see that you are very passionate about all of your topics, and that makes your writing really engaging and interesting.
I can understand where you’re coming from and why the puppy mill issue is so pressing as my family had an experience with a puppy mill a few years ago. We had a friend who had a dog from the same breeder, and we liked the dog and so decided to get a dog from the same place. We didn’t know that the dog breeder was a puppy mill until later, when our dog started having mental problems. My mom contacted the breeder after we realized our dog had aggression issues, and she didn’t understand why he was so different. She said her dogs were “well bred”, but refused to tell anyone in future about having malbred dogs. Having seen how much overbreeding dogs is both debilitating and sad, I really feel that this is an area that we could definitely use change in.
I really enjoyed reading your blog post. You have some really great ideas, and I can’t wait to see where your passion leads you!
Great job! Aidan
Hi Shannon,
You present a lot of topics and potential stories. While you do your mind-mapping, think about what that you see around you that really gets to you. Think smaller, more specific. Thinking too globally can be mind-boggling. I like your instinct about the humane society… perhaps that is where to focus a bit, to visit, to talk about what THEY see are the biggest issues. Is it puppy farms? Or are there other issues that really need to be brought to the surface to produce change?
Let me know how I can help.
gg