Both texts highlight the impact of online gifting groups on local communities, though they present differing perspectives on their effects. Text 1 emphasizes the potential risks associated with these groups, including personal safety issues and negative implications for secondhand stores. Conversely, Text 2 suggests that these groups foster community cohesion by reducing waste and supporting local charities while mitigating the risks through established rules. Together, they indicate that while there are valid concerns about safety and the economic impact on traditional stores, the overall trends point toward positive community engagement and resource redistribution, suggesting that the benefits may outweigh the drawbacks.
Text 1: Online spaces that allow people in local communities to gift unneeded items to one another are growing in popularity—but how do they impact our communities? Supporters of these groups explain that the lack of a middleman in this type of giving helps cut down on monetary and time costs for everyone. With just a few clicks and a quick handoff, community members can find what they need or get rid of what they don’t need—all for free. Critics of these systems explain that this kind of convenience comes with risks. One risk is personal safety, as participants might share their home addresses with strangers in order to exchange items. Additionally, the owner of a secondhand store pointed out that the rise of these groups has hurt their business and could eventually constrain their ability to serve community members who are not comfortable or knowledgeable about online groups. Regardless of the mixed impact, these groups have arrived and continue to grow in use and popularity nationwide.
Text 2: Online “spend nothing” exchange groups are a worthy addition to the community effort to cut waste and improve quality of life. Data from a recent study in the area shows a significant decrease in the number of emergency financial assistance requests to local charities since the groups were created. Although critics have concerns about the safety of participants, the harm they fear is only hypothetical; there have yet to be any actual problematic incidents linked to the group. Most groups even have rules designed to protect their members. Others have suggested these groups will harm local secondhand stores, but many of the participants are guided to such stores by group members when they post searching for items no one has on hand to gift. One might even argue that these groups help secondhand stores by spreading the word about their locations and the types of things they are likely to sell. Overall, this trend enriches the local community and helps get things that might otherwise be destined for the dump into the hands of people who can give them new life.
Question
Use the two texts to answer the question.
In 3–5 sentences, make an inference based on the two texts. Include an explanation about how the two articles work together to support your inference.
11 answers
make it look like AI did not do it
The two texts provide different takes on the influence of online gifting groups on communities. Text 1 raises concerns about safety and the potential negative effects on local secondhand stores, suggesting that the convenience of these exchanges might come at a cost. In contrast, Text 2 argues that these groups can actually strengthen community ties by cutting down waste and supporting local charities, noting that any safety risks are largely hypothetical. Together, they paint a picture of a complex situation: while there are issues to consider, the overall benefits for the community and environment seem to be significant.
use this
Sentence Frames:
Based on the two articles, online spaces that allow local communities to gift unneeded items are ______ (helpful/beneficial/bad/harmful).
A quote from the first article that proves this is “Quote.”
A quote from the second article that supports my statement is “Quote.”
In conclusion, online spaces _____ (are ultimately good/do more harm than good).
Sentence Frames:
Based on the two articles, online spaces that allow local communities to gift unneeded items are ______ (helpful/beneficial/bad/harmful).
A quote from the first article that proves this is “Quote.”
A quote from the second article that supports my statement is “Quote.”
In conclusion, online spaces _____ (are ultimately good/do more harm than good).
Based on the two articles, online spaces that allow local communities to gift unneeded items are beneficial. A quote from the first article that proves this is, “Critics of these systems explain that this kind of convenience comes with risks.” A quote from the second article that supports my statement is, “Overall, this trend enriches the local community and helps get things that might otherwise be destined for the dump into the hands of people who can give them new life.” In conclusion, online spaces are ultimately good.
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Consider the cheese stick. It is not a beautiful food. It also isn't particularly healthy. Cheese sticks are about as commonplace as snack food gets.
Yet in the packaged version that ends up in so many kids' lunch boxes, each cylinder of mozzarella or cheddar is individually wrapped, like a high-end truffle. And, every day, thousands of those little pieces of plastic wrap are thrown in the trash.
But that may not be the case for long.
Two researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have developed a film made from a milk protein. The film can be eaten with the cheese. Which means that it may not be too long before we have a wrapper we can eat. It also could be healthy. Edible plastic exists, but it's largely made of starch, not protein.
"The benefit," says Peggy Tomasula, one of the lead researchers, "is that it can be consumed with the food so it gets rid of one layer of packaging, like with individually wrapped cheese sticks. It also gives you the opportunity to add vitamins or minerals or ways to block light damage to the food. And, you can add flavors. If you wanted to add a strawberry flavor to something, you can embed that in the film."
The key component in the innovative packaging is casein, a group of milk proteins with high nutritional value. Tomasula has been researching casein since 2000, and actually created a new version of the protein using carbon dioxide. She noticed that it wasn't very soluble in water, and that made her believe it might be used to make a film coating that could extend the shelf life of dairy foods.
Tomasula kept exploring the potential of this research and when another scientist, Laetitia Bonnaillie, joined the USDA team, Tomasula asked her to see if dry milk could be used to produce the film. That would also allow them to make use of surplus milk powder during times when dairy farms are producing too much milk. Bonnaillie also focused on refining the product by making it less sensitive to moisture and improving the process by which the film was made so it could be more uniform and commercial.
At the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, they announced the results of their efforts. It is edible, biodegradable packaging. The casein film could either come in sheets, not unlike plastic wrap, or be sprayed on as a coating. And, it's been found to be significantly more effective at blocking oxygen than ordinary plastic wrap, so it can protect food from spoiling for a much longer period of time.
There would be some limitations, at least initially.
“This would mostly be for dairy products or foods that would likely be used with dairy, like cereal," says Tomasula. "We wouldn't put this on fruits and vegetables in a market. You couldn't do that because of milk allergies. There would have to be labeling to let people know it's milk protein.”
Also, this wouldn't mean that all packaging would be eliminated for cheese and other dairy products. They would still need to be covered in some way, in a box or packet to keep the food from getting dirty or exposed to too much moisture. But dispensing with the individual wrapping around each food item could mean a lot less plastic would end up in landfills. By some estimates, it can take as long as 1,000 years for plastic to degrade. And, unfortunately, less than a third of the plastic Americans throw away actually gets recycled.
The idea, said Bonnaillie, is to create different versions of the casein film. One might be very soluble, making it better suited for a product you dissolve in water. Another could be considerably less soluble so it would be more resistant to moisture and work better as protective packaging.
"We are trying things with the extremes," she says. "We've just started exploring applications. There are many more things we can do."
Say so long to sugar?
For instance, instead of tearing open a paper container to make instant coffee or soup, you could just drop a casein packet of the ingredients into water where everything would dissolve. Plus, extra protein would be added.
But food companies might actually prefer a spray version of the product. "That way they could store a mixture of the particular milk proteins in water, and then make the coatings and spray them on when they're processing the food," says Tomasula.
One possibility would be to spray the protein film on cereal, which generally is coated with sugar to keep it crunchy. "It could be fat-free, a healthier way to replace a process that's now largely done with sugar," says Bonnaillie.
Tomasula adds: "We're hoping that for something like meal replacement bars we can make the edible wrapping taste like chocolate. We could combine the ingredients together and provide a little more nutrition."
Tomasula and Bonnaillie say they've already been working with some companies, and believe their edible packaging could be on the market within three years.
Another good sign: Since their announcement in August, they've been contacted by what they describe as "two major companies."
In 3–5 sentences, analyze how the author used rhetoric to advance their point of view. Include a statement explaining the author’s purpose.
make it look like it was human written as good as last time
Yet in the packaged version that ends up in so many kids' lunch boxes, each cylinder of mozzarella or cheddar is individually wrapped, like a high-end truffle. And, every day, thousands of those little pieces of plastic wrap are thrown in the trash.
But that may not be the case for long.
Two researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have developed a film made from a milk protein. The film can be eaten with the cheese. Which means that it may not be too long before we have a wrapper we can eat. It also could be healthy. Edible plastic exists, but it's largely made of starch, not protein.
"The benefit," says Peggy Tomasula, one of the lead researchers, "is that it can be consumed with the food so it gets rid of one layer of packaging, like with individually wrapped cheese sticks. It also gives you the opportunity to add vitamins or minerals or ways to block light damage to the food. And, you can add flavors. If you wanted to add a strawberry flavor to something, you can embed that in the film."
The key component in the innovative packaging is casein, a group of milk proteins with high nutritional value. Tomasula has been researching casein since 2000, and actually created a new version of the protein using carbon dioxide. She noticed that it wasn't very soluble in water, and that made her believe it might be used to make a film coating that could extend the shelf life of dairy foods.
Tomasula kept exploring the potential of this research and when another scientist, Laetitia Bonnaillie, joined the USDA team, Tomasula asked her to see if dry milk could be used to produce the film. That would also allow them to make use of surplus milk powder during times when dairy farms are producing too much milk. Bonnaillie also focused on refining the product by making it less sensitive to moisture and improving the process by which the film was made so it could be more uniform and commercial.
At the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, they announced the results of their efforts. It is edible, biodegradable packaging. The casein film could either come in sheets, not unlike plastic wrap, or be sprayed on as a coating. And, it's been found to be significantly more effective at blocking oxygen than ordinary plastic wrap, so it can protect food from spoiling for a much longer period of time.
There would be some limitations, at least initially.
“This would mostly be for dairy products or foods that would likely be used with dairy, like cereal," says Tomasula. "We wouldn't put this on fruits and vegetables in a market. You couldn't do that because of milk allergies. There would have to be labeling to let people know it's milk protein.”
Also, this wouldn't mean that all packaging would be eliminated for cheese and other dairy products. They would still need to be covered in some way, in a box or packet to keep the food from getting dirty or exposed to too much moisture. But dispensing with the individual wrapping around each food item could mean a lot less plastic would end up in landfills. By some estimates, it can take as long as 1,000 years for plastic to degrade. And, unfortunately, less than a third of the plastic Americans throw away actually gets recycled.
The idea, said Bonnaillie, is to create different versions of the casein film. One might be very soluble, making it better suited for a product you dissolve in water. Another could be considerably less soluble so it would be more resistant to moisture and work better as protective packaging.
"We are trying things with the extremes," she says. "We've just started exploring applications. There are many more things we can do."
Say so long to sugar?
For instance, instead of tearing open a paper container to make instant coffee or soup, you could just drop a casein packet of the ingredients into water where everything would dissolve. Plus, extra protein would be added.
But food companies might actually prefer a spray version of the product. "That way they could store a mixture of the particular milk proteins in water, and then make the coatings and spray them on when they're processing the food," says Tomasula.
One possibility would be to spray the protein film on cereal, which generally is coated with sugar to keep it crunchy. "It could be fat-free, a healthier way to replace a process that's now largely done with sugar," says Bonnaillie.
Tomasula adds: "We're hoping that for something like meal replacement bars we can make the edible wrapping taste like chocolate. We could combine the ingredients together and provide a little more nutrition."
Tomasula and Bonnaillie say they've already been working with some companies, and believe their edible packaging could be on the market within three years.
Another good sign: Since their announcement in August, they've been contacted by what they describe as "two major companies."
In 3–5 sentences, analyze how the author used rhetoric to advance their point of view. Include a statement explaining the author’s purpose.
make it look like it was human written as good as last time
The author uses rhetorical techniques, such as vivid imagery and expert quotes, to highlight the innovative potential of the edible milk protein film. By juxtaposing the commonplace cheese stick with the idea of an elegant, edible wrapper, the author evokes a sense of excitement and possibility around an otherwise mundane item. Expert opinions from researchers like Peggy Tomasula lend credibility to the claims, emphasizing the environmental benefits and nutritional improvements of the new packaging. The author’s purpose is to inform readers about this groundbreaking development in food packaging while encouraging a shift toward more sustainable practices in the food industry.
make it look like it was human written please
The author effectively uses vivid imagery and expert quotes to create excitement around the innovative edible film made from milk protein. By comparing something as ordinary as a cheese stick to an elegant truffle wrapped in this new packaging, the author captures the reader's attention and sparks curiosity about its potential. The insights from researchers like Peggy Tomasula add weight to the argument, emphasizing how this development could reduce waste and enhance nutrition in our food. Overall, the author aims to inform readers about this promising advancement in food packaging and inspire interest in more sustainable solutions for everyday products.