Monday, September 30, 2019

Assignment Essay Essay

Sustainable tourism is being able to the deliver positive environmental, social, and economical results with thought to the needs of the visitors, host community and surroundings. Sustainability as defined in the Brundtland commission report it states as â€Å"meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future generations to meet their needs†. For example, the small business are starting to practices sustainability principles by changing to renewable energy sources, reducing use of paper and recycling more. As a result, the concept of sustainability addresses the aspects of â€Å"triple bottom line† meaning the balance of societies, economy and the environment are described by (Bonevac, 2010). According to the World Tourism Organization, â€Å"sustainable tourism means meeting the needs of the present tourist and host regions while protecting and enhancing the opportunity for the future†. Instead of just being a product, sustainable tourism is a philosophy that underpins all tourism actions (Owens, Is there a Meaningful Definition of Sustainability? , 2003). To all tourism development and management, it is a fundamental concept instead of being an add-on factor. The foremost aim of sustainable tourism is to maintain the economic and social return of tourism development while reducing or justifying the unattractive impacts on the natural, historic, cultural or social environment (Governemnt, 2009). The stated objectives attained by matching the needs of tourists with those of the destination. Sustainable tourism is an industry, which challenges to make a little impact on the environment and the local culture, though helping to produce income, employment and the preservation of local ecology. Hence, responsible tourism is both cost-effectively and culturally responsive, meaning have minimum impact on the environment and culture of the host community (Group, 2007). Scotland Tourism Organization has defined sustainable tourism as â€Å"tourism committed to generating a low impact on the surrounding environment and community by acting responsibly while generating income and employment for the local economy and aiding social cohesion† (Organisation v. s. , 2013). Scotland Sustainable tourism aspires to guarantee that economic development in terms of encouraging experience for each one involved local community, Tourism Companies and visitors. In practice, sustainable tourism means greener transport, given that transport is innermost to tourism; however it also put pressure on our natural resources and contributes to our worldwide environment impacts. Procedures like cheering visitors to utilize communal transport, and advance in cleaner forms of transport will assist in this area (Organisation v. . , 2013). Regular and environmental strains a more even stretch of visitors lessens pressures on the natural and built environment and on communities, and capitalizes on the financial payback. Scotland Tourism Organization modifies its advertising drive to persuade a stretch of visitors throughout the year and around state (Organisation v. s. , 2013). For example, â€Å"surprise yourself†. There is necessary to work with the public, private and independent sectors to determine the environmental and social impacts of tourism. These guarantees that tourism expansion carries a encouraging experience for home people, tourism companies and the tourist themselves (Organisation v. s. , 2013). Green accommodation is one in that all room offers lessens their misuse, energy and water use. The green Tourism Business Scheme persuades businesses to trim down their environmental impacts. The scheme is one of the largest of its land in Europe with over 800 Scottish members (Organisation v. s. , 2013). However, any tourism industry can take advantage from flattering more sustainable through safeguarding the very features on which tourism depends; taking a sustainable move to tourism expansion is the only way to guarantee long-term tourism expansion in the South Pacific (Organisation v. s. , 2013). The success of tourism in any country depends on taking care of the environmental or social impacts of tourism development. The visitors benefit from sustainable move to tourism throughout from enhanced relates with local communities, a tall value tourism experiences and a natural and fabricated environment. Thus, by fetching a sustainable tourism destination will provide the South Pacific Tourism Businesses a cutthroat frame by producing community assistance for tourism; attaining value savings and designing innovative marketing prospect. As the tourism industry develop in as many regions and countries, it generates noteworthy impact on the consumption pattern, natural resources, pollution and social systems (Organisation v. s. , 2013). For the industry to survive as a whole it is vital to understand and interpret the need sustainable and responsible planning and management. To begin with, education and collaborative partnership are approaches that can assist destinations attain more sustainable tourism. The whole idea of sustainability based on the association through environmental, ecologically and socially responsible tourism. Partnerships with local communities through rural community gathering before and during development are needed in order to let alone the frequent divergence between conservation initiatives and traditional resources users (Billington, Carter, & Kayamba, 2008). The departments from the government can collaborate with the resource owners to develops and negotiate over the investment on proposal (English National Park Authorities Association, 2009). For example, the Chumbe Island Coral Park is a good example of collaborate partnership, which was developed to sustain the natural beauty and attractions of the island (English National Park Authorities Association, 2009). Chumbe Island is located in the Indian Ocean channel of the coast of the semi autonomous region of Zanzibar (English National Park Authorities Association, 2009). The person responsible for the project on the natural park at Chumbe Island was (David, 2011). During her work life, (David, 2011) experience the need for the conservation and sustaining of the natural flora and fauna. (David, 2011) developed an innovative approach to protect marine conservation combined with tourism development through the sustainable and multilevel partnership approach to promote successful marine park management, awareness of marine conservation and sustainable tourism management. David, 2011) Develop a small marine park that would help consume a unspoiled coral reef, offer environmental education for both the locals and the foreign visitors and generate management fund through authentic ecotourism. Thus, the need for the park at Chumbe Island arose due to improper aid and the government in the country noted conservation programs. Hence, the collaborative partnership arose to sustain the nature conservation of Tanzania for the future (English National Park Authori ties Association, 2009). Secondly, the partnership approach deals with the local communities because they are the essential people who are the resource owners (Governemnt, 2009). Engaging the local community in the environmental education on sustainability through workshops and seminars will increase their concerns for the global issues such as climate change (Clark, 2013). In addition, collaboration with NGO has to hold workshops with the angler’s, to engage them in sustainable fishing practices and conservation of the resources (David, 2011). Thus, the young and the old generation in the area is to be informed about sustainable fishing practices, laws and regulation regarding fishing practices and marine conservation area and the benefits of marine protected areas (Ki-Hoon & Ball, 2003). All this environmental awareness, education and training initiative with the community are to provide skill development on sustainable tourism (Group, 2007). The scale of growth of the tourism industry In the South Pacific is rapidly and that the environmental and social, economic impacts of it cannot be overlooked (Azam & Sarker, 2011). This has caused the Pacific Region to find ways in which the industries could be made more sustainable. The industry is more sustainable through minimizing resource use and waste production (Othman, 2004). For the sustainability of tourism, water is the major issue for concern. For example, a tourist in a hotels uses on standard one third of more water per day than a local inhabitant uses and put severe restriction on local supply (Othman, 2004). Activities such as golf course, artificial snow ski’ resorts are in demand of water. For small and medium sized business, sustainability thought of an expensive and difficult idea (Billington, Carter, & Kayamba, 2008). Most of the dominating tourism industries in the South Pacific have not actively engaged in government activities that encourages that adoption of sustainability practices (David, 2011). There are a number of barriers identified by the researchers that hinds implementing sustainability practices in South Pacific tourism businesses including the financial crisis for implementation, the labor insecurity of being certified, lack of government and industry support the technical nature of information forums. Hence are a number of actions businesses could undertake to improve environmental performance (Azam & Sarker, 2011). Activities’ relating to efficient resources use and waste management includes minimizing energy consumption, for example using open ventilation instead of air-conditioning and heaters encouraging the use of renewable sources and improved technology also Getting involved in accreditation programs (Owens, Is there a Meaningful Definition of Sustainability? 2003). There is a need to promote and facilitate the reduction, reuse and recycling of materials and water quality including the efficient treatment of sewerage, avoiding discharge into marine and rivers (Organisation, 2005). For example, in Australia the Australian formula 1 ING grand Prix Corporation, which works with environmental packaging and waste recycling partner to minimize the impact of the race on the environment? Billington, Carter, & Kayamba, 2008) Thus, by minimizing waste use, energy use and waste production, businesses can reduce their impact on the environment and achieve cost savings (Ki-Hoon & Ball, 2003). Furthermore, the conserving and giving value to natural and cultural heritage is of critical importance’s, in order to enhance the quality of life of local communities through tourism, and connect the people in is scheduling and management (Organisation, 2005). The growing awareness’s and generating direct and indirect support for conservation is the key role played by the tourism industry (Group, 2007). The generation of economic propensity for the tourism industry is to provide with quality natural and cultural heritage (Azam & Sarker, 2011). This would ensure the long-term competitiveness, viability and the prosperity of tourism enterprises and destinations and the quality of life of local communities and to the visitor experience by providing a safe, satisfying and fulfilling experience to the visitors available to all without discrimination by gender, race, religion, disability or in other ways (Organisation, 2005). Areas that are of importance to tourism natural and cultural includes the natural landscapes quality and variety, man-made cultural landscapes, heritage and historic sites, the flora and fauna diversity, local uniqueness such as art, crafts, cuisine, language events and festivals (Organisation, 2005). Thus, to address these issues listed above relevant action like being more prepared to use the tourism argument as to fund the prevention of nature and culture and to prevent damaging change (Clark, 2013). Also strengthening the relationship between protected area and local tourism interest, within the context of a sustainable tourism strategy and action plan would lead the South Pacific to be more sustainable (Organisation v. s. , 2013). Sustainable development is holistic in nature; therefore, it requires management of policies and coordination of action between sectors (Othman, 2004). To control the impact of tourism initiated by environmental or developmental strategies and policies legislation and regulations are necessary (Governemnt, 2009). Appropriate strategies or sets of policies for specific aspects of tourism were developed. For example, in Bulgaria the separate strategy for ecotourism, which reflects the sustainability principles? (Bonevac, 2010) This initiative can also be taken by the local Ministry of Environment of Tourism to integrate the strategy in terms of regulations (David, 2011). In coordinating and ensuring success of this specific sub-sector, such regulations and legislations can be very helpful. This can be very helpful in demonstrating processes and formulating policies that could be modified more widely in tourism (Ki-Hoon & Ball, 2003). Strategy and policies must be developed and implemented at both local and national level in order to achieve effective result. Most countries in the South Pacific are in the process of decentralizing their political and administrative structures so local decision-making is the vital aspect toward sustainability development (English National Park Authorities Association, 2009). An integrated approach to the development and management of tourism is within local destinations, is recognized as the most successful direction to sustainable tourism (Governemnt, 2009). Thus, it is vital for the national and local strategies to be corresponding but these two variable in tourism strategies vary in terms of national tourism strategies relates to the national tourism vision of the overall position and direction (Organisation v. s. , 2013). While local tourism strategies relates to the holistic of the local destinations in areas such as local objectives and priorities, local resource opportunity and constraints and many more (David, 2011). Hence, the identifying of policies and instruments to create the enabling environment for sustainable tourism is more of national strategy while the determining of what happens on ground is more of local strategies (Governemnt, 2009). Both the national and local tourism strategies are required for sustainable tourism to embrace the principles of sustainable development and both strategies are reliable and commonly reinforcing (Othman, 2004). Finally, the command control instrument allows government to exert strict control over certain aspects of development and operation, backed by legislation (Organisation, 2005). Legislation, regulation and licensing are the interdependent tools that can be used to strengthen sustainability by setting out requirements that are compulsory and enforceable and which lead to sanctions and penalties if they not met (Billington, Carter, & Kayamba, 2008). The process of checking and signaling compliance with regulations or otherwise identified obligatory standards; assigning permission to operate is called licensing (Organisation, 2005). To control aspects of business development and operations and to influence people’s behavior government are in a position to apply laws, regulations and penalties. These legislation and regulations must be applied when the governments believes that it is necessary to do so (Governemnt, 2009). Thus, for regulations to be successful, it has to be relevant, clear, practicable in terms of compliance and capable of being enforced. In order the tourism industry to be more sustainable the laws and legislations should enable and support the sustainability of tourism and give authority to act (Billington, Carter, & Kayamba, 2008). It should also seek to raise sustainability performance above such standards through other means, which would also stimulate personal commitment towards continual improvement. For example, in the government of Fiji builds up a (EIA) environmental Impact Assessment regulation, which stated that for any company or hotel with an EIA reports in Fiji, has to provide the Fiji Government with an EIA report of the development to progress (Turnbull, 2003). There are a number of areas in which laws and regulations can be implemented to attain more sustainable tourism industry and that includes operation, management and development which are controlled by this legislation to protect the environment, communities, culture and heritage, visitor experience and the business as a whole (Turnbull, 2003). The purpose of government intervention in the sector as law provides a vehicle for underpinning sustainability. These legislations can also provide the basis for enabling the control and licensing of activities specific to the tourism sector and for the undertaking to certain action to support tourism development (Organisation v. s. , 2013). To conclude, sustainable tourism is all about forecasting of long-term, working together examining on results and adaptive to change and the most effective thing is communication to put across the message of sustainable tourism. It is the duty of the private, public and independent sector to acquire leadership role in tackle the challenge of this sector. The degree at which the tourism industry is increasing in the South Pacific forecasts that the environmental and social impacts of tourism cannot be disregarded. Traditionally, a number of sustainable tourism activities has been carried out and is supported by the national Tourism Organization of the South Pacific countries. However, there are a number of challenges that still stay alive and need attention in order to be more sustainable tourism industry, like climate change. In order to tackle these challenges and grip future sustainable opportunities in a harmonized manner, research and development done in these South Pacific countries to handle these issues through sustainable tourism strategy plan. The tourism strategies plans would assist the tourism industry to change unenthusiastic community discernment of the industry and achieve economic benefits through sustainable practices. It believed that it would egg on business to hold sustainable tourism practices in order to meet consumers demand and to improve business performance. Sustainable tourism should be broadcasted and celebrated amongst tourists, host communities and the participants in the industry move the industry toward sustainability. Nevertheless, the commitment to change and improve must be authentic and supported on well-established procedures and actions that is to be achieved.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Prospects of Democracy

Unfortunately, these moronic, ungrateful, stone-age Jerk-offs either refuse that generous gift out of arrogance or are too stupid to put it together correctly (It's not like It's an Kea dresser, folks). Is the developing world hopeless, or are the efforts of developed countries? Has democracy simply run its course among those who are capable of handling It? What developed countries could democracy work or not work In? Regardless of the answer to those questions, which I will address, the people of any given nation have to want democracy. The U.S has been a leader in trying to sit on the chest of developing countries trying to spoon-feed this lattice medication to them, but even when it goes in their mouth, the spit it back out the moment they stand back up. For the sake of humor though, I'll juxtapose the U. S as a successful democracy against that of other countries in its history for the first part of my essay. The second of potential and current democracies in the modern world, an d last, whether and how much democracy I believe there will be in the next 20 to 25 years and solutions to achieve it.Get ready to hop on the Magic School Bus not to the Prehistoric era or inside a human body, but†¦ To the land of democracy? Sorry, Ms. Frizzle got sent to rehab by some marc who found LSI under the driver's seat. Suffice to say this ride won't be as fun as past â€Å"adventures†, but I'm going to give It a damned good try. Now let's take a trip back to 1783 in the great land we've just come to know as the united States of America. For the first time, it appears as though democracy truly has a shot.The British actually surrendered to the American revolutionaries and those who remained in opposition exiled themselves! Talk about a clean break! As most now in modern times, this is not the usual case in revolutions. Even the supposedly peace-loving and wimpy French were chopping off heads in the name of democracy. There's always the Greeks right? Sadly, the e steemed Athenian democracy met its ends through the violence and civil war it had allowed to fester throughout it's reign.However, America Is deferent – not simply due to apple pale and barbecue – but like most great achievements, due to impeccable timing. Had what's now known as the united States been colonized centuries prior when Europe was still trudging through the Feudal Ages, democracy would almost certainly falter, especially In an emerging nation. And regardless of the ascribed poverty of our country's childhood, most of the influence, and at worst, they were of a middle-merchant class.In addition, they were also working with an Eden of resources and real estate. As the Proof. Said and I paraphrase, â€Å"they would have to be pretty stupid to mess this up. † Furthermore, this was post-renaissance and ideas like democracy and morally-rich thought had been being nurtured for a good portion of time. And one of the more important aspect was that while the colonists were poor, they had an entire ocean to separate their ‘oppressors'!. Back to the point of comparing the U. S with other countries past and present, the U.S has not yet proven either its ability to wield democracy successfully nor whether democracy is even a successful form of government. â€Å"Hell to the no, wiener-brain†, I can already hear you shouting, but I implore your to consider this quote from Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, â€Å"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dict atorship. † This was said in 1787 and while is hasn't come to fruition in the United States, it has certainly done so in many other upstart democracies. Hearkening upon my early statement about the U. S. ‘s success, I pose two questions to gauge the democracy's success. What is the best kind of democracy? The U.S has a representative democracy hat is actually more akin to a republic (the latter being an especially deft blow to its potential claim of success). How can a government's ability to conquer an entire form of policy be Judged on one particular? How much time must pass before a democracy is to be deemed a success or not? The U. S is going on 250 years, not much greater than Greece (in more strict democratic terms), well beneath the Roman Republic which peaked around 500 years, and vastly short of the longest-living globally successful civilizations in history.For the sake of argument however, let us assume that the U. S is indeed all that ND a bag of Chests (why would you choose plain chips when there are so many better options? ) and that it will survive until Jesus flies down and raptures all of its citizens up to heaven for being so loyal (except the gays and Democrats). Despite all of its political prowess and embodiment of benevolence, America cannot be a role model to most countries because its situation differs far too much from other countries.Two countries may have the same recipe for chocolate chip cookies, but if the U. S has butter and Ghana only has butter-substitute spread, guess what – you're not goanna end up with chocolate chip cookies. To start, as I said in the previous paragraph, America had what few countries have had or will ever have: a blank canvass and the brushes to paint onto it. When the pilgrims escaped the despotic rule of the English, despite their difference, they shared far more in common.As the American Revolution was waged and goals were made in the aftermath, common interest on the macro level was still abundant. In contrast, â€Å"The countries of the bottom billion are, for the most part, the opposite of America. Rapidly put together in nation†¦. The now-successful states were built through a painfully slow and circuitous recess of formation that turned them into nations with which their citizens identified. This enabled them to undertake the collective action that is vital for the provision of public goods.Most modern states were once ethnically diverse. The boundaries of a modern state generally emerged not out of deepening bonds forged out of a primordial ethnic solidarity but as the solution to the central security issue of what size of territory was best suited to the creation of a monopoly over the means of violence† (Collier, 2009). This lends a crucial similarity to the U. S and developing countries: violence. Not even a century into its lifespan, the United States was already destroying itself – not quite the idyllic picture modern citizens paint for it.Even the political process that had brought the U. S to that point relied on conflict: â€Å"The evolution of the modern state was, on this analysis, violence driven. Step by step, the predatory ruler of the mint-state had evolved into the desperate-to-please, service-promising, modern vote- seeking politician. † (Collier, 2009). Throughout the 19th century the U. S political system potentially gave a voice and ammunition to any self-centered megalomaniac ho may have planned to use the system to satisfy his and his friends' appetite for profit.The electoral process of the early U. S was rife with corruption with politicians bribing for vote and boxing out undesirables from the polling booths (e. G. Blacks, anyone who disagrees). This is hardly the system most would want to see implemented in developing countries even if the eventual outcome is a successful system like the U. S enjoys now. Kenya is currently considered by many to be the most successful democracy about developing nations. Sadly, this is like saying it is the prettiest turn in the toilet.Lash out if you will, but I say this to emphatically point out that Kenya is a part of a larger failing system and its successes are simply not great enough to warrant any sort of complacency. And when the U. S is considered hypothetically as a marker one needs to consider its current ten percent unemployment level and major election corruption as recent as 2000 in the Bush/Gore presidential race (or perhaps 2008 if one feels the need to consider the black panther incident to be on the same scale), it is quickly realized that the bar needs to be raised for all, not simply developing worlds.In order for democracy to truly take root in developing nations first-world intervention cannot be reduced to the parental platitude of â€Å"do as I say, not as I do†. Nations such as Kenya or Zambia are not stupid or naive children and don't want to be ordered to follow democratic dictations when their a dministrators renege on their promises and police themselves as they see fit (lending yet more credence to the 01†² Spider-man adage, â€Å"with great power comes great responsibility'). However, a nation such as Kenya is in role of leadership itself amidst the other African developing democracies and is thus expected to up its ante as well.Unfortunately the lack of democracy almost always brings with it the lack of accountability in the public and media arena too. Kenya was no exception given that â€Å"The structure of the Kenya media system appears to result in many media outlets turning in to direct political instruments in election campaigns, during which politicians use ethnicity to win votes. † (Hollander, 2010). How can the public make sound political choices when one, information from the television or literature?The situation doesn't look to be improving for developing countries elsewhere on the globe either. Further north – but not too distant in Afric a – another prime democratic hopeful Morocco shares its breather's woes. â€Å"Morocco has the longest record of multi-party elections – 1963 on. Yet whenever the king risked losing, the king dissolved the assembly and changed the rules. † and â€Å"Most of these countries have held elections at least occasionally, but all too often these have been fake elections orchestrated by the government in favor of one party. † (Étagà ¨re, 2003).This paints a rather bleak picture for democracy in developing countries given that Kenya is supposed to be a hallmark of hope: if they cannot achieve it, who can? It appears that a trend, rather a disease, has a Dearth Evader death-grip on the societies' political ambitions. Democracy is often spoken of the most ideal and viable alternative to warfare as the combatants can fight within the arena of politics rather than the battlefield, however most hopeful leaders have taken that maxim to the extreme. Rather than shou lder the burden of leadership for the greater good of Justice and their people's welfare, â€Å"†¦ N actual practice , in many developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, the process of democracy is marked by bitter animosity and quarrel between the efferent political parties , giving an impression as if these countries are in constant turmoil all the time with one group trying to defeat another group to seize power. † (Sir Lankan Guardian, 2010). In turn, these elections become mere contests where politicians become intoxicated in the thrill of the fight and seek only to serve their or their family's needs in a twisted marriage of their own ego. Each political group in its anxiety to defeat the other often even go to the extent of maintaining thugs and rowdies in their groups to indulge in violence, settle scores with the opponents, indulge in malpractices in election including bribing the voters etc. Due to this approach, the law and order machinery virtual ly collapses. † (Sir Lankan Guardian, 2010) While this is true for many politicians in any country, it's especially devastating to a country like Sir Lankan, who don't even have a sound enough political system or successful economical infrastructure to absorb the shock of those mistakes.This kind of arrogance leads to a destitution where the populace is virtually selling itself into slavery to the government. The governments of developing countries or hat Paul Collier calls pejoratively â€Å"the bottom billion† are blind to the tremendous cost of their foolish attempt to shield themselves from cooperation with their neighbors. â€Å"The paradox is that despite having the most to gain from pooling their sovereignty, the societies of the bottom billion have pooled it the least. † (Collier, 2009).Many of these countries operate under a facade of democracy and subject their citizens to authoritarian rule such as despotism that â€Å"†¦ May take the form of a à ¢â‚¬Å"beggars' democracy,† where people talk at will, in groups even, but can never expect to change anything. † (Kaplan, 1996). In Latin America, one author tells how the authoritarian regimes had become so severe they should actually be viewed as a benchmark for necessary studies on democracy that scholars often ignore: â€Å"These lessons†¦ Were learned through the bitter experiences of democratic breakdown and repressive, bureaucratic-authoritarian rule (p. 2), a claim that echoes throughout the ramifications of the violence that birthed almost every major nation in the world that I spoke of earlier, and the cause of the violence itself: ethnic identity. The idea that ethnicity is both the cause of nationalistic violence and the obstacle tanning in the way of a successful democracy is something certainly doesn't sit well with most and may end up actually inciting violence! As I stated before, America had the advantage of being forced to deal with diversity wher eas most nations have a firmly rooted cultural society, complete with enemies and collective taboos.America's economy was also firmly tied to its cultural identity which is important because â€Å"When the pace of expansion gets sufficiently far ahead of the process of building a common identity, the resulting superstars face overwhelming problems in trying to establish a common identity. Instead of becoming nations, by default they become empires. † (Collier, 2009). A common identity was forged through the â€Å"state† part of the United States where the states could pursue their own interest to some degree, but were ultimately held up the to law and standard of a central government.Even China – commonly viewed as purely an authoritarian government – has only been successful politically and economically when they unified under the emperor Kin Shih Hunting and more recently under the communist party. This illustrates a very basic and click principle of â €Å"two are stronger than one†, but is one many developing entries refuse to accept due largely to self-serving interests. This conundrum is likely most prevalent in the Middle-East and Africa where basically the same cultural wars have been waged since ancient times.Given the relatively most economically severe nature of the latter coupled with the proportionally greatest amount of aid sent there, the stakes are the highest. â€Å"The evidence from recent surveys of attitudes across nine African countries by Aftermarket is not encouraging. It is found that if people are educated they are more likely to identify themselves through their ethnicity. â€Å"So development, with the attendant education, Jobs, and electoral competition, is increasing the salience of ethnic diversity rather than erasing it. † (Collier, 2009).So despite overall improvement of these developing countries, democracy still faces a disturbingly poor outlook. Despite any inclination so far to the c ontrary, capitalism is still necessary for a country to facilitate democracy regardless of any ethnic ties that will remain. It will lift the economic tide of the given country, and more importantly give collective identity through the society's pursuit of better financial welfare. As it stands, African evolving countries are far from self-sufficient let alone ripe for producing democracy. The resulting reduced need to tax has been reinforced by aid: in the typical country of the bottom billion the government gets around a third of its expenditure needs met by aid†¦ The current Uganda president Missives has deviated from his previous tyrannical leaders in that he realizes that in order to have a strong army one must must have a strong economy. † (Collier, 2009). Coupled with American's instant society, capitalism raised the income of the average citizen throughout the country's history and prevented any one entity from ruling the entry or forcing its hand political (with a few exceptions of course).When the economy is healthy enough to support a widespread computer access in developing countries,†The use of Sits (Information and Communication Technologies) can lead to accountability' in democratic elections. (Modern Democracy, 2010). However, neoclassical capitalism will not suit the country seeking democracy, especially given their ethnic circumstances; regulation is necessary to ensure that the market doesn't become corrupt or unstable as is the case with so many African countries (and notably the United States in the recent financial crisis).As for the argument that regulation stifles innovation, Stilling cited former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Blocker, who said: ‘it's hard to find any evidence from anybody who's not in the industry that can show any clear link between the so-called financial innovations and increased productivity in our economy. ‘†(CNN, 2010). Here the relationship between ethnic identity and capitalis m becomes even more important: the population of a developing country must not think simply for themselves, but for what they believe is the betterment of their country as a whole given that â€Å"†¦ Racket is not one individual; Robinson Crusoe does not make for much of an economy. † (Smith, 2010). So given capitalism and ethnic identity, we now have two strong ingredients for the recipe of democracy, but how do we make developing countries go by the recipe? Any tactful parent knows the best kind of method to get your kid to do what you want is through incentives or misleading rather than direct positive punishment. In this line of thinking I propose two solutions – one that I've up with myself and one I am borrowing from one of my sources.The first is a leader of a leader or group of adders coming together using the old adage of â€Å"an enemy of my enemy is my friend† in that larger groups paint each other as the devil and consolidate their political sov ereignty in Africa into two to three larger states. The leader(s) hopefully will understand this strategy is merely for political purposes and in turn practice enough restraint to prevent the whole from barring all contact with each other. The would eliminate much of the ethnic conflict by saying â€Å"look how much we have in common given that these people don't truly understand our collective struggles. This is no bout at least a mite idealistic as managing ethnic conflicts that have lasted for centuries through a one of the biggest escapades of charm the world has ever known would be a task not suited for the current political leaders of developing countries. The second strategy is one the author Paul Collier suggests is positive reinforcement in the form of international military intervention – not the kind that's most thought of though. In developing countries governments, especially newly formed ones, the first thing they fear is military upheaval or coups De teat so w hat is it that they'd want most – the prevention of them.Basically what he proposes is that the international community lay out a list of rules for democracy that a given country has to follow and in return they will protect them from any sort of military coup. To support his theory, Collier goes through a test â€Å"game tree† where all the possible scenarios that could occur in response to this proposal would all end up in at least one or some the countries agreeing to this proposal. The latter would take place because nobody wants to be the only ones on the chopping block by themselves.Furthermore, Collier suggests that â€Å"coups need to be harnessed, not eliminated† (Collier, 2009). The international community can then guide countries into democracies through protection and support of viable leaders who want to see the process through. Requires meticulous manipulation and time, while the latter basically is forcing democracy through non-democratic means. U nfortunately, response to this criticism comes down to saying, Mimi got a better idea? † Within a time frame of 20-25 years, I believe democracy is certainly achievable – through means such as the ones I suggest or variations of it otherwise.Following the end of the Cold War, the developed worlds made almost all the mistakes possible in the handling of evolving countries: they either intervened too much militarily or not enough (Rwanda). Another strategy, bridled with or instead of the former, would be centered around ramping up the amount of aid that developing countries are so heavily reliant on in exchange for a structured system on how it is spent. Further-along democracies such as Thailand or India could benefit from these programs as well.Plus, as these maturing democracies develop, they will be given more say and weight when dealing with international matters – a kind of recognition they likely feel is long overdue. Much of the Western world needs to stop treating these countries like they are simply children (or at least don't let them think that you are). The Democracy that Americans enjoy is an exception, not the standard. Many of the protections economic standards that Westerners employ need to be disbanded to support global financial growth and in turn, a more healthy domestic economy.Compassion and self-interest need not be enemies, however, helping developing countries make the feasible transition to democracy requires a genuine altruism that's not often seen in political endeavors. Being that I'm no economic or political expert, I almost feel that writing this paper is pointless outside of a grade because managing this subject successfully is something that requires an entire career, but in a message that needs to be transmitted to the entire developed world: we need to start somewhere.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Dsdsa

Letter of Recommendation It is with great pleasure that I write this letter of recommendation for Mr.. Rah Kumar as he has an indisputable potential and motivation for graduate studies. I have known Mr.. Rah Kumar since 2008. During his coursework in department of electronic and telecommunication engineering and Management I had the opportunity to closely interact with him in the semesters that I have taught him. This has convinced me that he is very genuine in pursuit of his academic excellence. His Final year Project on Room light Controller and Wireless Camera Security System as a talk among the staff members.While discussing the concepts of his project work he has been very impressive. He has shown excellent capability to understand technical papers, implement those ideas and work indefatigably on the modules undertaken thus far. Academically he is an intelligent and hardworking student, which is clearly reflected in the excellent marks that he has consistently achieved. He was m y student for the His performance in these courses has been courses superior,impressing me with his commitment to learn and think innovative.Rah has always been an all-rounder be it Academically or Co-curricular activities and has always excelled in them. Rah is a student of high moral and ethical standards. I am sure he will put forth all his effort into any task that he confronts. By providing him a postgraduate program in your college you will not only give him an opportunity for career growth but also help his achievements to culminate. I recommend him for postgraduate studies and deserving financial assistance. I feel that his academic proficiency and potential for research make him one of the truly outstanding candidates I have come across.

Friday, September 27, 2019

The Effects of Overfishing on Oceans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Effects of Overfishing on Oceans - Essay Example Integrated approach in coastal and ocean resources management must be applied. The tranquility of the sea was at late 1967 and was unhurriedly being disrupted by technological interventions, accelerating and multiplying uses, and a dynamic rivalry which poised to cross the threshold of man's precious seabed (United Nations, 1998). At that time, both dangers and promises were upheld while the dangers were abundant: nuclear submarines charting or documenting deep waters which were never before explored. Supertankers ferrying oil starting Middle East to European going to other ports, then, they pass along congested straits and leaving at the rear tracking of oil spills. These resulted to the rising tensions between nations greater than conflicting claims to ocean regions and resources. Levenson in 1996 stated that ( p 100, par 2), marine resources are severely affected by a broad range of natural as well as human perturbations, such as pollutants from human effluents. Wastes can take place directly in marine waters, although it can also indirectly be transported to the sea by rivers. Several studies can support that pollutants have originated from human activities and have resulted in an extensive diversity of impacts on water quality, marine organisms and sediment quality. Moreover, poisons or toxic chemicals introduced in coastal waters would jeopardize marine life. A toxic chemical (Seger, 2006) is a substance which can cause death or unfavorable sublethal effects in marine organisms exposed to it at certain level of concentration above a critical threshold. Many substances which are considered toxic at high levels may inhibit the life and growth of marine organisms. Anthropogenic inputs of deadly substances can be absorbs safely in the oceans but the quantity introduced does not source concentrations to go beyond the threshold at which sub lethal toxicity exists.All the more, sub lethal or lethal toxicity entry concentrations are difficult to establish because they vary among substances, among species, and with other factors, like the physical stresses, synergistic as well as antagonistic ef fects of further chemical constituents. Usually, it is the marine organisms which bioaccumulate the majority of toxic essences. Bioaccumulation occurs if and when, the concentration in the organism is elevated compare to the environmental concentration; however, the concentrations are in equilibrium. On the other hand, biomagnification takes place when the organism preserves all the toxic substance from food or environment that they have been exposed to and does not remove any of the substance. Lethal substances to marine life include carcinogens, mutagens, and teratogens and can product lethal or sublethal effects. Similarly, Joint Ocean Commission Initiative ( 2009, par 2-6) reiterated that, decline of fish products will produce impacts on fishing communities and this in turn, poses a dramatic threat to people's significant cultural heritage, source of food, income, and

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Greenwich Construction Ltd Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Greenwich Construction Ltd - Assignment Example Company are reviewing the types of ICT devices they should provide to their employees to enable them to maximize their effectiveness when working away from their office. Some of the devices which can be useful for the company are;Laptop: This is the basic miniature version of a desktop computer. It helps in carrying the office along and also makes working at home a lot more comfortable. With the help of networking, officials can remain in constant touch through instant messaging and emails. Laptop or Notebook (as some people prefer to call it) is generally smaller than a briefcase, which can be easily transported and conveniently used in temporary spaces such as on airplanes, in libraries, temporary offices, and at meetings. A laptop typically weighs about 5 pounds and is 3 inches or less in thickness. Companies like Greenwich Construction Ltd. can even order for bulk supplies with special requests to laptop manufacturers for adding some more company specific features on all the lapt ops. This way it gives a unique identity to the laptops. Of course it will depend on the number of laptops that are being procured. Laptop computers generally cost more than desktop computers with the same capabilities because they are more difficult to design and manufacture. A laptop can effectively be turned into a desktop computer with a 'docking station', a hardware frame that supplies connections for peripheral input/output devices such as a printer or a larger monitor. Palmtops: In its consistent urge to make gadgets smaller, the computer itself was reduced from a huge ENIAC to the small PC and then to laptop. Now we are in the age of palmtops. A palmtop is also called a Personnel Digital Assistant (PDA), a Smart Phone, or Pocket PC. It was during the late eighties that we heard about PDA. But after some initial hiccup, it has now firmly established itself in the communication world. PDA is a handheld digital organizer. In fact Personal Digital Assistant is a term for any small mobile hand held device that provides computing and information storage retrieval capabilities for personal or business use. It was in the year 1993 when its first variant 'Newton' appeared from the stable of Apple Computers Ltd. But the price tag of $700 for a complicated and not very useful product (at that time) proved to be too prohibitive for the product to become popular. It was in the year 1996 when US Robotics brought out its Pilot series with newer features that PDA s started becoming a sought after device. Calendar, notepad and address books, mobile phone with GSM technique are now common features on a PDA. Therefore now the user can; Write a memo while on the move, Use the calendar , Use it as a Personal Information Manager Jot down notes on the LCD screen from the heights of an airplane, Talk to the boss, Combine computing, telephone/fax, and networking features Send an email to other colleagues. Surf the net for useful information about the construction business or to know the latest trend the real estate market. Chat with the networked group, passing on information/ instructions to subordinates and colleagues. Transfer urgent files on the net. Can sign the important files using digital signatures with appropriate notings. Take photographs of some eye-catching building architecture for future reference To top it all the device prices are consistently coming down day by day. The range starts from as little as $150. Much like a traditional computer, PDAs consist of a display screen (the screen is usually a touch screen, and it is called a LCD display), a processor, memory, and an operating system. There is a wide range of operating systems that PDAs run on, one of the most popular being the Palm OS. Microsoft also has PDA operating system called Windows CE. While the PalmPilot is widely known because of its influence on the market, there's a wide range of PDAs for today's consumer to choose from. What is most amazing about a PDA is its low power consumption

Research report assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Research report assignment - Essay Example xpect and accept that power is distributed unequally† (Hofstede) as exemplified in Japan manifests the recognition of inequality in power structure that reverberates in the business applications. As explicitly disclosed, â€Å"some foreigners experience Japan as extremely hierarchical because of their business experience of painstakingly slow decision making process: all the decisions must be confirmed by each hierarchical layer and finally by the top management in Tokyo† (Hofstede par. 4). Therefore, in Japan, decision-making is expected to be based on more group consensus and structural hierarchical levels are observed prior to the approval of the man on the top of the organizational structure. The dimension of individualism is construed as the â€Å"the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members† (Hofstede par. 5). It was thereby acknowledged that Japanese culture is more collectivists than individualists. In the scale that compares U.S. dimensions of culture with that of Japan, it was clearly apparent that the U.S. manifests predominance in individualism, with a score of 91 as compared to Japan’s 46. As such, the following characteristics were noted to manifest collectivism: U.S.’s 62. This is indicative of a society and culture that is â€Å"driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the winner / best in field – a value system that starts in school and continues throughout organizational behavior† (Hofstede par. 7). Likewise, according to DHerbais, et al., â€Å"the (almost) complete absence of expressed emotion, feelings and spontaneity during interactions dominates Japanese organizations. Respect for elders in Japanese Japan scored extremely high in uncertainty avoidance (92), indicating their aversion for uncertainty. Accordingly, it is reported that it takes a lot of time for Japanese to undertake new projects due to the need to be certain of all aspects and facets that influence them. As

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

The death penalty is not a deterrent Research Paper - 1

The death penalty is not a deterrent - Research Paper Example Pillsbury argued that it is the violence of our crimes that is the problem and not the number of crimes. And in dealing with the American homicide problem, we need to approach it squarely with all the help we can muster from social scientists, lawyers, police officers, community leader and activists, even novelists and movie makers. Each of these people provides a different perspective on what makes people commit crime, and each provides a different solution in dealing with the criminal who committed the crime. (Pillsbury 3) A police officer who apprehended the criminal may want conviction and incarceration. The psychiatrist may ask for psychiatric treatment, while a social reformer may ask that the offender be given family support which he/she lacked when the crime was committed. Each professional or actor in the justice system may want a different approach. But this will hold only for as long as each respects the other. The criminal, after a psychiatric treatment, may find himself a promoter of social reform, but not capital punishment. This paper will provide an answer to the question whether the criminal deserves punishment and not the death penalty. Is capital punishment a deterrent to a convict’s commission of another crime? Or is it a deterrent for others to commit a crime? Literature Review Proponents of the death penalty provide four fundamental rationales in imposing it: ‘deterrence, instrumental perspective, retribution, and incapacitation’ (Lambert and Clarke, qtd. in Elechi, Lambert and Ventura 110). Proponents argue that people can be stopped from committing crimes by imposing severe sanctions and executing criminals deters others who planned to commit crimes from doing so. Proponents also advocate that the death penalty is an ‘effective deterrent than life imprisonment’ (Elechi et al 110). Retribution is vengeance (Mitchell 480). Statistics about homicide rates in conjunction with execution rates Since 1999 the mu rder rate has remained unchanged despite the decline of death sentences, executions, and the size of death row. (â€Å"Death Penalty Information Center† para. 1) In the so-called execution capital of the nation, Texas, executions go up the same thing with homicide. For example in Bexar, San Antonio, with a population of about 1.4 million, the murder rate is 14.91, executions registered at 18 and executions per 1,000 murders are 4.3; in El Paso, a population of .7 million, the murder rate is 6.60, execution 1; in Tarrant (Ft. Worth), population of 1.5, murder rate is 12.78, executions 22, and executions per 1,000 are 6.5; in Dallas, a population of 2.2 million, the murder rate is 19.33, executions 26, and executions per 1000 murders are 3.1. The hiatus in executions during 1972 to 1976 was brought about by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Furman v. Georgia, which states that capital punishment in America was cruel and unusual punishment. (â€Å"Mortal Justice: The Demogra phy of the Death Penalty† 40) Statistics about homicide rates in conjunction with life imprisonment States, which do not have the death penalty and only have life imprisonment, have reported lower murder rates. In 2010, the murder rate in death penalty states was 5.00, while the murder rate in non-death penalty states was 4.01 or a difference of 25%. In other words, death penalty or life imprisonment has no deterrence on violent crimes like murder. The murder rate is calculated by dividing the total

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Answers the question Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Answers the question - Coursework Example All but Kelvin follows him) (Minutes later) (Kelvin opens his car and as he ignites his car, a brown slender woman comes towards him and he stops the engine for a moment) LADY: Hello Kelvin? Do you mind giving me a ride to town? (Kelvin perplexed this beautiful woman knows his name but still happy that he may have got a woman to move around with since he loved having sex with many women) Kelvin. No! No! No! Not at all, I...I will be honoured to give such a pretty lady like u a ride (He opens his car door and goes ahead to hug the woman as he opens for her the passenger’s seat). Lady: My name is Risper from the school of medicine Kelvin: what a lovely name! Am Kelvin from faculty of arts and I live with my parents in Beverly Hills, My father is a branch director of one of the leading technology firms in Silicon valley and my mother is the medical superintendent in the district hospital. Lady: (impressed by what Kelvin had told her) I come from California and I stay in the colle ge’s halls of residence (she pauses a little and looks at Kelvin). Kelvin, can I trust you to keep a secret? Kelvin: (with a heavy American accent) Of course you can dear, am all ears. Lady: I am actually not a student at the college, I run away from home a year ago when I felt I could not handle the pressure from my parents. They always insisted that I should join college to study medicine despite my efforts to convince them I did not like that idea and I was more comfortable being an artist Kelvin: did they really have to do that? Look at what they have done, caused pain and suffering to such an innocent beautiful woman as you (He pulls the car by the roadside) tell me more Lady: I have been living with my cousin in her room for the past one year and she is the one who has been feeding me, I... i... (She starts crying and Kelvin moves closer to her and allows her to lean on his bosom) I have nowhere to go and I cannot go back home now. (Torn on what to do, Kelvin decides to take her to his friend’s house who was a devout Christian and who had been trying to bring Kelvin to church) The character cannot not be said to have strong moral and sexual standards as he loved having sex with different women especially those from college, he would lure them with money and promise of a flashy lifestyle for them to give in to his advances. He was driven by his desire to become a businessperson who was respected all over the country and it was the main reason he came to college, however, the reluctance of his parents to introduce him to the prominent people as he would have wanted always frustrated him. His extroverted nature and his intelligent mind always made him a leader among his peers and endeared him to many of his age mates Kelvin was born in Beverly Hills’ in California by James Studd and wife Sylvia Clinton and was brought up in the same neighbourhood. As a child, he was nicknamed ‘Bullfighter’ as he was a bully in school and he loved teasing other pupils who seemed weaker than he did. As he was growing up, he was adored and loved by his parents as he was the only son and the lastborn in the family, and although his parents loved him, he spent very little time with them and he seemed to be more amused by his play station than his family. Efforts by his parents to create a strong relationship with him bore no

Monday, September 23, 2019

Non-Destructive Testing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Non-Destructive Testing - Essay Example NDT is popular because of its harmless and unfaltering association with the final product to check its quality. As we acknowledge, all materials are imperfect, but this is only of concern if the imperfections adversely affect intermediate processing or use of the finished product. In order to detect imperfections, some form of testing is necessary that will not have a detrimental effect on the materials/components.NDT encompasses all the test methods that, when applied to a component, do not impair its subsequent utilization (Colangelo, p 44) If the testing does not destroy or damage the material in any way it is known as Non - Destructive Testing (NDT). NDT is crucial in characterizing final products into "zero defect" and "potentially flawed" parts, this characterization is fast and easy. Hence, the quality control is easy itself. For instance, let us take an example of a steel plant which makes "railroads". There is a specific dimensional requirement of every piece and also there is some maximum tolerance level for cracks and porosity holes in those pieces. Using NDT (laser and X-Ray techniques, we can determine the dimensions and flaws inside the rails in a very short period of time). A number of techniques are used in NDT; each is generally dependent on a different energy system. Techniques range from ordinary macroscopic examination with white light to the complex procedure of neutron radiography, each method having an area in which it yields optimum performance (Colangelo, p44) though it can often be used successfully on marginal situations when the need arises. In present case we will discuss TWO vastly used NDT methods: 1. Magnetic Particle Inspection (MPI) 2. Ultrasonic Testing MPI Magnetic Particle Inspection offers a means for the detection of surface and slightly subsurface discontinuities in ferromagnetic materials (Colangelo, p 48). MPI is not applicable to non-ferromagnetic materials thus many structural metals like austenitic stainless steel, aluminum magnesium, copper and titanium are excluded from this inspection. Only ferromagnetic materials are inspected through this method. Magnetic particle inspection (MPI) is a widely used nondestructive inspection method for aerospace applications essentially limited to experiment-based approaches (Betz 1997). The analysis of MPI properties that affect sensitivity and reliability contributes not only reductions in inspection design cost and time but also improvement of analysis of experimental data. Choosing a particle medium, consider the application. For convenience, select dry particles when inspecting large components such as forgings. Wet-particle inspection, often requiring a tank complete with stirring and pumping machinery, works well for production-line Magnetic Testing inspection. This approach is especially useful when the operator must examine large numbers of small, similarly sized components. When portability is important, particularly for field

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Charles Dickens and Curleys Wife Essay Example for Free

Charles Dickens and Curleys Wife Essay A comparison of Nancy from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and Curleys Wife from Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. In the two books both characters can be compared with each other but in many ways they are different in looks, language and personality, but the reasons for which the authors created them is much the same. I believe that Steinbeck created Curleys wife, so that the reader feels sorry for her because most of the other characters in the book try to stay clear of her and do not get to know her, and in a sense, judge her by the way she dresses. On the other hand Steinbeck is trying to express to the reader that looks do not count for everything. The main reason for Curleys wifes creation in my personal opinion is because all of the characters in the book are misfits for example; Lennie is not clever and acts like a child when he is with George by the riverbank and threatens to leave because George becomes annoyed with him. Also Crooks the Negro is crippled and cannot walk very well, but in his own way he is special and well educated. In the same way Dickens creates Nancy as the type of character that the reader feels sorry for but at the same time accuse her for the mistakes she has made, such as running away from Bill Sikes but returning to him because she loves him and cannot bring herself to leave. As the book progresses the reader begins to gain more respect for Nancy but I believe that there is a reason for Nancys death, which is brought about by Oliver and this, is that doing the right thing does not always mean that it is not dangerous to yourself. The two characters have different opinions on their partners and are not treated in the same way, but neither of them is happy with her life. Curleys wife is unhappy with her life and this is most likely because Curly is over possessive of her and all he ever talks about is fighting which makes her a little scared of what he may do to her if he is in a mood. She is always flirting with other men on the ranch like when she is alone with Lennie she says, What you got there sonny boy. We are also given the impression that she is a tart by the way Steinbeck describes what she wears, She wore her bright cotton dress and the mules with red ostrich feathers. Her face was made up and the little sausage curls were all in place. Curleys wife married Curley to get back at her mother after her dreams had been broken because the letter, which she had been promised from Hollywood never, arrived. On the other hand the only reason Curley married her was for his reputation and we know that he is vein due to the way he keeps one hand in a glove in order to keep it soft for her. Curley is also worried about what she may be up to when he is absent and therefore is always snooping around after her, which makes his wife feel trapped. Nancy in much the same way is not loved either but she does really care about Bill Sikes. Unlike Curleys wife, Nancy is assaulted by Bill on many different occasions and is eventually killed by him. The main difference between the two characters is that Sikes is not overprotective of Nancy in the same way Curley is and will let her go out as long as he knows where she is going, the reason for this is that Sikes knows that Nancy is loyal to him. When Nancy meets up with Rose and helps to save Oliver she also offers Nancy a new start but the offer is declined because Nancy does not want to leave Bill Sikes and she says, The main contrast between the two characters is that Nancy loves Bill, but Curleys wife does not love her husband but she cannot leave him because she lives on the ranch and has no other place to stay. The characters partners opinions compare because neither of them really care for their lover. Sikes treats Nancy like a punch bag and she is scared of Curley because he has hit many other people and she is suspense waiting to see if he will lash out at her. In Of Mice and Men Curleys wife is known to some of the other characters such as Crooks, George and Candy as a tart or a bitch and a good example of this is when she walks into the bunkhouse and George says, Jesus what a tramp, so thats what Curly picked for a wife. As George is saying this Lennie is admiringly staring at her saying Shes purty in response to Georges insult. Most of the men on the ranch try to stay clear of her and George warns Lennie about her too, Listen to me you crazy bastard, dont you even take a look at that bitch. I dont care what she says and what she does. I seen em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jailbait worse than her. You leave her be. Lennie refuses not to listen and ends up not taking any real notice of what George has says to him. Oliver respects Nancy, like Lennie is fond of Curleys wife and both of them seem to have child like qualities that judge the characters for who they are and not how they dress or look. In the same way as Curleys wife is despised by the ranch workers, Nancy is looked down on by the upper class people of the nineteenth century. The main reason the upper class residents do not respect Nancy is because she is a prostitute and in the time of Dickens this occupation was the lowest of the low for a woman. When Nancy goes to visit Rose, who is the adopted daughter of the women whose house Oliver broke in to, she is looked down on by the servants and thrown out of the hotel because of the way she looks. Come! said the man taking her to the door, None of this, take yourself off. The servants are not the only characters that look down on Nancy, Fagin and Sikes treat her badly and Dickens describes Sikes as using Nancy as his punch bag. Bill Sikes persists this behaviour even though Nancy looks after him when she is ill and says that she would even walk around the jail if he was arrested, just to be with him, but Sikes replies that she would be useless to him unless she brought a file to help him escape. On the whole I feel that neither of the character are loved and they are judged by the way they look, not by the people they really are inside. Each of the characters is special to one person, in Curleys wifes case Lennie and in Nancys, Oliver. I feel that the biggest difference between the two books is the language and the reason for this difference is the time at which they were written. In John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men the language is simple but strong, the reason Steinbecks characters speak in this way is because thats the way 1930s Americans would have spoken, for example, when George, Crooks and Slim are talking about Lennie, George says, If that crazy bastard foolin around too much, jus kick him out, Slim. There is also a large amount of slang used between the characters, like when George and Curly are talking and George replies, He was gunna put some tar on a split roof.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Analysis of Free Trade and Free Trade Agreements

Analysis of Free Trade and Free Trade Agreements Introduction In 1776 Adam Smith published â€Å"The Wealth of Nations†, in which he introduced the proposition that free trade among nations improves overall economic welfare. The concept of free trade has since become a generally accepted principle. A considerable number of economists assume that free trade is beneficial for countries involved in and raises overall economic welfare. Free trade, generally explained as the elimination of tariffs, quotas, or other governmental restrictions on international trade. This allows each nation to specialize in the production of goods that it can produce relatively cheaper and more efficient than other countries, which eventually results in higher real income. In spite of free trades benefits, it sometimes hurts the domestic industry, because the removal of tariffs makes it difficult for domestic firms to compete with the cheaper imports of that good coming from partners. Free trade agreements among countries are set up multilaterally, bilaterally or regionally. Multilateral agreement involves a number of countries, which is currently promoted by World Trade Organization (WTO) that also permits implementation of bilateral (involves two countries) and regional (involves two or more countries in a region) arrangements. WTO website reports that 462 bilateral and regional trade agreements are in force up to February 2010. In this report, the theory of free trade agreements is analyzed on the basis of economics along with their practice in real life taking into account the examples of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the European Union (EU). Furthermore, given empirical evidence related to free trade agreements provides a clear picture of the pattern of those agreements. Economic Integration Free trade agreement (FTA) is a negotiated treaty among a designated group of countries that have accepted to eliminate trade barriers between them. As a consequence, member countries allow one another preferential consideration in trade. In order, this results in closer economic integration between nations. Economic integration is materialized under several associations. First of those is free trade areas (FTAs), under which tariffs and non-tariff barriers on trade have been eliminated between members, nevertheless, each country preserves its private trade policies outside the region. The second preferential trade institution is customs union, in which countries create free trade among members and keep hold ofcommon tariffs and other policies outside the organization. Common markets, the third type of preferential trade, is a further step of customs union, which not only promotes elimination of tariffs and non-tariff barriers with common tariffs for non-members, but also free moveme nt of capital and labour across internal borders within the market. The last form of arrangement in terms of preferential treatment is economic union, in which countries go further beyond by bringing together their economies with setting up a common currency, in order a unified monetary policy, at the same time as other economic institutions. The most essential example of such a group of member countries is the European Union, which initially started as a customs union and eventually reached to an economic union.According to Cooper (2005), majority of recent FTAs comprise rules oneconomic activities along with trade in goods, including foreign investment, intellectualproperty rights protection, treatment of labor and environment, and trade in services.The dimension and complexity of the FTA will predominantly demonstrate the size and difficulty ofthe economic relations. Economics of Free Trade Free trade agreements are believed to bring economic growth to member countries with respect to the volume of trade. According to Trentmann (1998:226), â€Å"thedoctrine of free trade, that provides unrestricted commodity exchange between places is the best way to advance their mutual prosperity†. To explain the benefits of free trade, economists use David Ricardos theory of comparative advantage and basic tariff or quota analysis. In 1817 Ricardo presented the concept of comparative advantage, which is regarded as one of the most significant laws of economics. It refers to, for a country,producing a good or a service at a lower cost compared to another good within an economy. Therefore, the comparative advantage ability of a nation contributes to trade with its partner. Even if a country has an absolute disadvantage in producing any good than the other nation, there is still a foundation for joint beneficial trade. According to the theory, bearing in mind two goods, the first nation should specialize in production and exportation of the good, in which it has smaller absolute disadvantage and importationof the item in which its absolute disadvantage is greater.As a result, specialization among nations, allows them to allocate their scarce resources to the production of the certain goods and services, in which that country has a comparative advantage. Since free trade grants specialization among countries, this expands worldwide output level. The welfare of specialization with economies of scale, which is the fall in costs because of output increases, makes the global production possibility frontier to enlarge. This displays the fact that under free trade the quantity of produced goods and services is higher than the previous level, which leads to international economic prosperity. Another method of describing the advantage of free trade is using a basic tariff analysis. A tariff is a tax on imports, which simply raises the price collected by domestic producers of that good. Figure 1 shows the benefit of free trade with the example of tariff assumption. The above graph illustrates the imposition of an import tariff on a made-up good. Previous to tariff, Pworld is the price of the good in the world market. However, the levied tax on the good increases the domestic price from Pworld to Ptariff. As a consequence of higher prices, the domestic production grows from Qs1 to Qs2 at the same time domestic consumption shrinks from Qc1 to Qc2. The increase in price due to introduced tariff has significant effects on the welfare of the society. This ultimately leads to a decrease in consumer surplus with the new border of Ptariff level, a rise in producer surplus up to Ptariff level, and additional revenue for the government (the blue area). Nevertheless, the consumer loss is considerably more than the profits of producers and the government together. The size of societal loss is shown by the two triangles. Hence, imposition of tariff makes society worse off, vice versa; free trade would provide a net gain for society. The similar analysis of export tariffs, import and export quotas all generate practically very same results. This makes consumers occasionally better off and producers worse off or sometimes consumers worse off and producers better off, yet establishing trade barriers create a net loss to trading countries as the amount of losers from trade limitations is greater than winners from those restrictions. Landsburg (2004), based on empirical evidence, states that free trade also produces winners and losers; nonetheless, the volume of gains from free trade is bigger than the losses. Hence, being under free trade positively affects nations economic welfare. Economic impact of free trade Formation of free trade agreements throughout the world raises notions about their impact on member countries and nonmembers. The issue has been discussed by economists and separated them into those who are strongly against the free trade and find it economically inefficient, and those who are in favour of it and believe that it creates freer trade. To build their analysis on the impact of the free trade, economists use the theories of trade creation and trade diversion. Jacob Viner first introduced these theories in 1950, whose work later has been mostly applied for free trade agreements. The concept of trade creation is based on the assumption that a member country substitute domestic production of a good with imports of that good from another member, since launch of free trade makes it more profitable to import rather than produce domestically. This is also described as a shift from a higher cost domestic zone to a lower cost partner source. Trade creation with an example of a European Union (EU) member. A member country should import from a EU partner, which charges a lower price thanks to termination of tariffs and this leads to a rise in consumer surplus. The creation of trade contributes to economic welfare within the member countries as resources are utilized more efficiently. Trade diversion is implemented when a member country shifts its import of a good from an efficient nonmember to a less efficient partner in view of the fact that elimination of tariffs among the members and imposition of tariffs on imports from nonmembers make it more affordable to do so. It is a shift from lower cost international territory to a higher cost regional partner source. The graph of trade diversion again using the example of EU. In view of the fact that, EU is a customs union, it has a common external tariff on products coming from nonmember countries. This raises the price of imports from the rest of the world, which at the same time brings inefficiency by reducing consumer surplus. Consequently, costs are higher for a EU country if it formerly had entry for a lower cost producer. The graph also shows the deadweight losses as a result of trade diversion. Trade diversion is meant to lower economic welfare as a less efficient producer now uses resources rather than an efficient one. In general, creation of free trade agreements are subject to both trade creation and trade diversion. When countries are forming a freer trade among themselves, with respect to pattern of the agreement, they could be economically and financially deteriorated. This would be a result if diversion of trade exceeds its creation according to Lipsey and Lancasters (1956) general theory of the second best principle. Therefore, forming a FTA does not always improve efficiency or bring prosperity, but sometimes moving to it may reduce the national welfare of the nations involved. Empirical Evidence Foundation of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947, significantly affected expansion of world trade by reducing tariff barriers on manufactured goods. Over the years, average tariffs have fallen from around 40 percent to about 5 percent currently. GATT became World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995 and now involves worlds 153 countries. Although WTOs success on world trade, it still has the problem of maintaining and extending liberalism in the global trading system. Multilateral negations, which include many trading partners, over trade liberalization move very slowly. Besides this, it has not had a great success in liberalizing trade in agriculture, textile, or apparel industries. For this reason, rather than multilateral negotiations, bilateral or regional trade agreements has become a preference for a number of countries. Source:http://www.unescap.org/tid/projects/rtaap_overview.pdf The rapid increase in the regional trade agreements from the 1950s hitherto. It is indicated that around 450 RTAs have been notified to the WTO, of which almost 250 are currently in force. Source: http://www.unescap.org/tid/projects/rtaap_overview.pdf Source: http://www.unescap.org/tid/projects/rtaap_overview.pdf In its early years, implementation of a free trade agreement was subject to free trade of only goods, however, currently trade agreements involves trade in services as well. According to the UNESCAP (2009), out of current 246, 171 RTAs cover trade in goods, 61 trade in services and 15 are accessions to existing RTAs. Besides this, 70% of RTAs being reached an agreement but not yet in force, provides free movement of services on trade. Source: http://www.unescap.org/tid/projects/rtaap_overview.pdf The above chart displays that the majority of trade agreements with 82% are free trade areas, whereas only 11% of those account for customs union and the remaining part belongs to partial scope. Slow progress on the multilateral agenda has led to many countries to attain more efficient negotiations for the deeper regional integration.One of these agreements is North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). NAFTA NAFTA is a trilateral free trade treaty that came into force in January 1994 involving three countries-United States, Canada, and Mexico. The fundamental object of the agreement was to put an end to the huge majority of trade barriers among the members. The formation of NAFTA led to the instant removal of tariffs on US-Mexico business transactions, whereas nearly all US-Canada trade was already tax-free. According to Hufbauer and Schott (2005), NAFTA was created to boost economic growth by stimulating competition in domestic markets and promoting investment through national and international sources. They also state that this has worked and consequently has brought efficiency and productivity to North American Firms. Currently, they can benefit from economies of scale in production and intra-industry specialization. NAFTA at a Glance NAFTA Partners Canada U.S. Mexico Combined Population (2008 est.) 33.3 million 304.1 million 106.7 million 444.1 million Languages English and French English Spanish GDP (2008) 1,501 billion 14,441 billion 1,087 billion 17.0 trillion Trade with NAFTA 570.8 billion 919.9 billion 393.5 billion 946.1 billion Inward FDI (2008) 240.0 billion 229.8 billion 156.0 billion _1 Jobs created (1993-2008) 4.3 25.1 9.3 39.7 Employment Level, 2008 17.1 145.4 43.2 205.7 Source: http://www.naftanow.org/facts/default_en.asp Establishment of NAFTA has contributed significantly to the trade relations between Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Although, economists disagree whether the growth is a direct outcome of the agreement, the expansion is proved by the facts from the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). USTR (2008) reports that trade within the members more than tripled between 1993 and 2008, from $297 billion to $946.1 billion. Besides this, business investment in the United States has risen by 117 percent between the same years, as compared to a 45 percent rise in the fourteen years prior. Trade with NAFTA members, currently, makes up more than 80 percent of Canadian and Mexican trade, and more than a third of U.S. trade. NAFTA has allowed North American businesses to have a better entry to sources including materials, technology, investment and human capital accessible within the partners. This brings competitiveness to the businesses in the North America as a consequence of trade liberalization. In order, trade liberalization makes an important role in promoting economic growth. Since NAFTA came into force, the economy of member countries has more than doubled in size. As it is shown in the Figure 4, in 2008, the combined gross domestic product (GDP) for partners exceeded US$17 trillion, up from US$7.6 trillion in 1993. Both Mexico and Canada have experienced economic growth since the formation of NAFTA. Being a member of this institution caused a rapid increase in trade with the United States for these economies. Thanks to trade liberalization, a substantial reduction in prices for Mexico and Canadas consumers occurred as a result of tariff removals along with bringing up efficiency in business relations.In case of United States, NAFA countries became top two largest export markets in 2008. USTR (2009) reports that the value of U.S. exports to NAFTA was $412.4 billion in 2008, up 7.2 % ($27.6 billion) from 2007, and up 190% from 1993 (the year before NAFTA). The top export categories (2-digit HS) in 2008 were: Machinery ($63.5 billion), Vehicles (parts) ($59.5 billion), Electrical Machinery ($49.2 billion) and Mineral Fuel and Oil ($27.9 billion), and Plastic ($22.3 billion) (USTR. 2009). U.S. exports to NAFTA evaluated 32.0% of total U.S. exports in 2008, down slightly from 32.2% in 1994. Whereas U.S. imports from NAFTA accounted for 26.4% of overall U.S. imports in 2008, down from 26.9% in 1994. NAFTA countries Canada ($339.5 billion) and Mexico (215.9 billion) are totaled the largest and third largest importers for U.S. respectively in 2008. U.S. goods imports from NAFTA accounted for $554.4 billion in 2008, up 5.2% ($27.7 billion) from 2007, and up 268% from 1993 (USTR, 2009). The five largest categories in 2008 were Mineral Fuel and Oil (crude oil) ($157.8 billion), Vehicles ($79.7 billion), Electrical Machinery ($63.5 billion), Machinery ($46.5 billion), and Special Other (returns) ($14.3 billion). It is very obvious that NAFTA has become very successful in soaring trade between its member nations. Yet, it is not very clear to understand whether the increase is really contributed to world trade or whether the increase actually symbolizes trade diversion. Just like any other free trade area, NAFTA members are subject to hold their own external tariff for third countries. This behavior of FTAs features Rules of Origin (ROO) concept. Its intention is to prevent trade deflection, i.e. goods or services accessing the member country with the lowest tariff for the object of trans-shipment. Although a product, coming from a member, has an access of free entry, if it contains material or processing from a third country it is then necessary to set which such inputs are permitted (Augier). A quite number of negative effects are attributed to ROO in economic literature. It could be said that these rules are protectionist and leads to negative economic welfare.Krueger (1997) states that eve n where the purpose of ROO is not protectionist, they provide a great amount of cost for producers and administrators. NAFTA possesses restrictive rules of origin procedure as well.Hufbauer and Schott (2005:23) comment that in a few industries, most notably textiles and apparel where yarn forward rules of origin were imposed specifically to make US textile firms the preferred suppliers for Mexican apparel manufacturers, NAFTA has indeed fostered trade diversion†.The rules of origin have possibly brought about trade diversion for certain industries under NAFTA. European Union European Union (EU) is the worlds largest trading bloc. The Treaty of Rome established the foundation of the EU in 1958. This treaty created a supranational institution called European Economic Community (EEC) between six countries (France, Western Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg). The primary purpose of the EEC was to create a customs union and an incomplete common market. Customs Union has entailed free trade between members with the protection of the union against the rest of the world. Merging markets brought up rapid progress in the 1960s and early 1970s. The following objective was to implement an economic union by setting up common policies. In 1993, the Maastricht Treaty implemented the single market and the European Union was formally established. Currently, the EU involves 27 countries with over 500 million population. The advantages from free trade predicted by theory encouraged the founders of EU to adopt removal of barriers on trade. In the 1970s and 1980s the new partners both those, which joined in 1972 (the UK, Ireland and Denmark) and those, which joined in the 1980s (Spain, Portugal, and Greece) eliminated all tariffs and quotas in intra-EU trade. After the completion of the customs union, the EU has picked a common external tariff (CET) in their relation with the rest of the world. The CET principle applies generally to all manufactured products. Until recently it did not apply to agricultural products market, which is protected by the EU. Nonetheless, being under a customs union has had a favorable influence on the EU members so that trade among member states overweighs the trade with the third countries. Between 1958 and 1972, the trade among the six original EU members had increased by nine times, whereas goods trade with the third countries grew by three times (Molle, 2006). This was attributed to the trade creation effect of the EU. In 1993, the completion of single market provided removal of all trade barriers and free movement of goods, services, capital and people within the EU. It is believed that the single market actually benefits the union with reducing the business costs along with stimulating competition and increasing efficiency for the advantage of consumers. BIS reports that in 2006 the EUs GDP was 2.2% higher than it would have been in the absence of the Single Market, which benefited consumers by an average increase of â‚ ¬518 per capita. Furthermore, an extra 2.75 million jobs have been created as a result of the single market across Europe. Molle (2006) states that in the period 1960-2000 intra-EU trade has expanded by almost 7 per cent annually, which is considerably in excess of GDP growth. The main factors of this growth were the EU integration and ongoing liberalization of world trade. After the enlargement of Austria, Finland, and Sweden in 1995, original members trade with the three new partners increased significantly, indicating an effect of integration. In 2004 and 2007, EU experienced its biggest enlargement by the join of 12 Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs). This resulted in changes in the EUs trade pattern because enlargement made the new partners as a part of intra-EU trade, which used to be considered as an extra-EU commerce. As a result, EUs internal trade accounted for nearly two thirds of the EUs total foreign trade, summing approximately â‚ ¬4.9 trillion in 2006 (Panorama of European Union Trade). David (2009) based on his research, states that the enlargement led to a net trade creation caused by notable gross trade between the EU and CEECS. Although exports from older 15 members to new eastern European members surpass their imports, this in general increases liberalized trade between partners and creates overall positive impact. Free Trade Area vs Customs Union Both of these two major forms of economic integration have a distinctive behavior that has notable implications. For an FTA, with every single country possessing its own external tariff, the ROO is the typical feature. In terms of a CU, the distinguishable factor is the common external tariff (CET), which is related to third countries. When a common external tariff is the case, imports into the unions area meet the same tariff in each member country; therefore there is no incentive for trans-shipment of imports among members. Mirus and Rylska statethat the once CET established, it remains non-negotiable, although this may result in increase in non-tariff barriers, common commercial and trade policies would limit such attempts. The administrative simplicity in a CET makes it easy to implement, promoting efficiency and competition as a result of lowered input costs. Taking into account FTAs ROO feature, Krueger (1995) has revealed that an FTA does not cause more net trade creation than a CU for the same partners. Besides this, an FTA will not be economically more successful than a CU for the same members, if the CET is placed below the level of the high cost country. In this situation, trade is created when the high cost nation lowers production because of tariff cuts, in contrast an FTA would maintain the tariff and creates less trade. Considering the protectionist (trade-diversion) effect of ROO, this accounts for more trade creation and less trade diversion for a CU. Bearing in mind the borders and separate customs operation under an FTA, a CU resembles a larger single market, in which the power of interest groups compared to an FTA is significantly low and scale economics along with competition effects are importantly greater. Furthermore, a fairly large CU will have a remarkable influence on the prices of globally traded products, compellin g non-member countries to undertake the existed prices inside the CU. As a result, non-members will export to the CU at prices that contains CET and transport costs, granting an aspect of monopsony power to the CU. This effect is not that clear for an FTA with similar partners. Hence, the welfare-enhancing benefit of a CU is greater than those of an FTA. Conclusion This report provides analysis of free trade and free trade agreements with their economic implications including economic integration, comparative advantage, trade creation and trade diversion effects. Moreover, the practical impacts of NAFTA, the worlds largest free trade area, alongside the European Union, which is the worlds biggest customs union, are surveyed. The results reveal that formation of both of these institutions has enormously increased the dimensions of trade among members. In addition, a rise in investment, competition and closer economic integration has contributed economic welfare of the countries involved. Welfare enhancing characteristic of free trade as a consequence of elimination of trade barriers stimulate nations to implement free trade agreementsacross the world. This was primarily undertaken by GATT/WTO, however, inefficiency and inadequacy of this institution in trade liberalization required countries to move towards the bilateral and regional trade agree ments preferred to multilateral trade negotiations. Under regional trade agreements, Bhagwati (1992) states that trade diversion is more likely to prevail trade creation in most cases. Besides this, the dominant view among mainstream economists is that regionalism is disadvantageous for the multilateral trading system because they bear discriminatory features in their nature. In contrast, Krugman favors regional agreements and states that contemporary trade barriers are much more complicated to agree on multilateral level, whereas, negotiating in regional forums is really easy to cope with. Moreover, he does not find regional trade agreements to have any kind of negative effect on multilateral structure. Recent studies demonstrate that,under regional and bilateral trade agreements, trade diversion effects are limited and a significant amount of trade creation effects dominate under those treaties (Urata and Okabe, 2007).Both the cases of NAFTA and the European Union show that the tr ade creation effects prevail, as a result, this generates economic welfare.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Operant Conditioning Essay -- B.F. Skinner Behavior Papers

Operant Conditioning Overview: The theory of B.F. Skinner is based upon the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of an individual's response to events (stimuli) that occur in the environment. A response produces a consequence such as defining a word, hitting a ball, or solving a math problem. When a particular Stimulus-Response (S-R) pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the individual is conditioned to respond. The distinctive characteristic of operant conditioning relative to previous forms of behaviorism (e.g., Thorndike, Hull) is that the organism can emit responses instead of only eliciting response due to an external stimulus. Reinforcement is the key element in Skinner's S-R theory. A reinforcer is anything that strengthens the desired response. It could be verbal praise, a good grade or a feeling of increased accomplishment or satisfaction. The theory also covers negative reinforcers -- any stimulus that results in the increased frequency of a response when it is withdrawn (different from adversive stimuli -- punishment -- which result in reduced responses). A great deal of attention was given to schedules of reinforcement (e.g. interval versus ratio) and their effects on establishing and maintaining behavior. One of the distinctive aspects of Skinner's theory is that it attempted to provide behavioral explanations for a broad range of cognitive phenomena. For example, Skinner explained drive (motivation) in terms of deprivation and reinforcement schedules. Skinner (1957) tried to account for verbal learning and language within the operant conditioning paradigm, although this effort was strongly rejected by linguists and psycholinguists. Skinner (1971) de... ... as well as teaching and instructional progress. Consider the suggestions of this theory for the development of programmed instruction: 1. Practice should take the form of question-answer frames that expose the student to the subject in steady steps. 2. Guarantee the learner makes a response for every frame and also receives immediate advice. 3. Arrange the difficulty of the questions so the response is always correct and that's why there is a positive back up. 4. Ensure that a good presentation in the lesson is paired with secondary support such a verbal praise, rewards, and good grades. Behavior that is positively supported will reoccur; constant support particularly effective. Information should be presented in small amounts so that responses can be reinforced. Reinforcements will simplify across the same ‘stimulus generalization’ giving secondary conditioning.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

This Life Time Has 42048000 Minutes :: essays research papers

Listen up soldiers, we have a crisis on our hands. A silent army has been built up over hundreds of years and is the most deadly enemy we have ever had to face. This enemy you people have known since the day you were brought into this world. You are face to face with this enemy every day, unknowing that every step you take, every move you make, and every decision you face is contributing somehow to this army’s strength. In case you haven’t noticed yet, ladies and gentlemen, this enemy is ourselves. Slowly and surely we are destroying animals, ourselves and most importantly the only planet we have, Earth. You have probably all heard this speech a thousand times before, and well if this has to be the 1001 before we get off our lazy, self-destructing asses and do something to fix it, so be it! I admit I’m no better than the rest of you at the simple things in everyday life that are destroying this planet, but the whole issue pisses me off. Our whole existence revolves around money, and our personal benefit. We have forgotten how to do things for others, how to help the planet and, in turn, how to benefit the species. The fact is simple people, we’re killing ourselves. Many, however, don’t notice it. They believe what they’re doing is either beneficial, or that they are too small to do anything about it. Well most of them are right, most of us fall under some sort of higher power, which means that the root of the problems are mainly the governments. Don’t think that this is leading into one of those x-filesy, conspiracy theory type lectures, however if you’d like to call it that, I wont be one to judge. I do believe the governments know how to prevent and stop much of the problems in our world today. For example, it’s a widely known fact that we have the technology to use water instead of gas for cars, but the government wont allow production because they get money off gas, and to them it’s more important than a clean environment, more important than contaminating the water, or killing off animals because of the pollution even when the money they ge t from the gas ends up being put back into trying to control these problems anyway. And who was the guy who thought that burning fossil fuels would be a good source of energy anyway?