An unforgettable visit to Dubai Essay

As I sat in the car waiting impatiently to reach there, I though about my all-time dream coming true, visiting the modern wonder, Dubai. Since the United Arab Emirates were formed in 1971, Dubai has always been the most resourceful, united and modern of all. It has been very famous for a lot of tourist attractions like Burj Al Arab and Emirates towers. Additionally, the highest tower in the world, Dubai tower is currently being built and an above-ground metro is being designed for safe, fast transport around the city and its neighbouring Emirates. As I entered the city, many thoughts about where to go and what to do swarmed past my mind. First, I went to the hotel I am staying in and checked in. Around me was a new world, places to discover, scenery to see and buildings to watch. The city was completely modern and the skyscrapers gave it an even more modern look. But, according to the previous Sheikh’s point of view it is not buildings which build up a city but instead: knowledge, education and awareness is what matters most. After I left my room, I headed to Al Mamzar park and beach, these place were so natural and although they were surrounded by traffic and pollution, I could easily notice the smell of nature around me. After that I went to the biggest mall in the middle east, Emirates mall. In this gigantic trading centre, I bought many souvenirs and traditional, hand-made goods. One of the most things I liked about shopping in Dubai is that it is completely tax-free. As for food, Dubai provides foods from over two hundred countries worldwide with professionally made dishes by international trademarks. Anyway, I chose to eat tradional Arabic food which I felt was the best I had tasted since years. After visiting Aquaparks, skyscrapers, ancient remains, museums and malls, I realised how lucky I was to be in this wonderful place. â€Å"The blend of tradition and science.† The only problem I experienced in Dubai is that it’s  a little over-crowded. One of the most important thing I noticed about Dubai and not in other countries is Safety. As I wandered along the busy roads, I noticed that a police car flew past me almost every two minutes. I am really happy to fulfill my dream to visit Dubai and the U.A.E and I personally recommend you to visit this city and experience modern life along with a blend of culture and tradition.

Critical analyse of the external and internal environments Essay

From the long run, the economy will only be developed better than before, as long there are no large scales of wars. If the economy in the world is developing in a steady and healthy way, the demand for the cars will be larger and larger. The fact that the number of Japanese cars assembled in North American will soon reach 2 million per year will lead to the oversupply, so it is likely to threaten the price structure of the U.S. auto market and in the meantime, it will bring about negative impact on the revenue of the automotive businesses in the U.S. market. 3.3 Social factors As long as the customers have a certain level of buying power, there will be a large number of car buyers. After the World War II, nearly all countries in the world were making every effort to recover from the war. The war was destructive to all the countries that had participated in the war. In some developing countries, people even had to worry about whether they had to suffer from hunger, let alone buying car to make their life easier. However, as the recovery of economy, people begin to think about the houses and cars to improve the quality of their life(Ravichandran et al., 2005). In the meantime, the social concept is also changing. Men were the trend of the drivers, but more and more women are independent and have good economic conditions, so the demand for cars is also increasing. The changing social trend has enabled Ford to produce various types of cars in order to meet the different demands from different groups. 3.4 Technological factors The advent of the Internet has simplified customers’ life, and the advent of cars have make customers’ life more convenient. However, Ford does not cease to make innovation in terms of technology. For instance, most modern cars have been equipped with intelligent systems such as Global Positioning System (GPS) which enables the customers not to get lost no matter where they go. The intelligent system will be able to provide the car owners with alternative lines according to the actual situation of the road. If there are traffic jams, the system will remind the car owners to choose another alternative. In addition to the intelligent system which will benefit for the car owners, the design of the cars will also be more human oriented. The innovation of technology will bring convenience to customers, so the design and the function of the cars in Ford will ! enable the customers to have better experience of driving. Therefore, more and more customers who can afford cars wil l choose to buy a car. 4. Internal environments of Ford The analysis of internal environment can find out the absolute strengths and weaknesses. If the enterprise sticks to its past successful strategies, they will fail in the new competitiveness for not updating its strategies(Leidner et al., 2011). Every enterprise has its strengths and weaknesses, and the internal strengths and weakness and the external opportunities and threats will be the foundation for enterprise to formulate strategies. This section will use SWOT analysis to explain Ford’s internal environment. 4.1 Strengths Ford has long history and its brand has been well-known to the whole world,  and this strength has enabled Ford to make brand marketing. As long as the brand has been known to the customers, the customer will buy the product due to the brand effect. Then, there is effective customer management system which will enable Ford to target the existing and potential customers more accurately. On the other hand, there is diversified management system that can attract real talents to Ford to make wise decisions. There are many job opportunities that are offered by Ford, and the policies on human resource management are flexible. 4.2 Weaknesses It has reported that the quality of the products has not met the standards in recent years, so many of the cars have to be recalled back to the factory. This incident has indicated that the quality check system has problems, and this may cause public relation crisis. On the other hand, to compare Ford with its competitors, Ford has not introduced sophisticated technology such as robot in the process of manufacturing the products. The third weakness is that the cars that have been produced in Ford have not reached 27.5 miles per gallon fuel efficiency standard(Peppard and Ward, 2004). 4.3 Opportunities As Ford is a multinational company, the international market has been developed due to the market expansion. In such case, the product will not only be sold in the native country  but also in foreign countries. In the meantime, Ford has developed its e-business system on the internet, so the international market is able to enlarge and the market share of Ford is also likely to increase. Then, the low cost of cars does not mean low quality, so the cars will be cost-effective, which will attract more customers to buy them, and thus increase the sales(Peppard and Ward, 2004). 4.4 Threats The major threats come from the competitors of Ford, especially the Japanese cars, for the Japanese manufactures are trying to open the market of luxurious cars in the United States. In the meantime, the exchange rate of Japanese yen and the U.S. dollar is ever  changing and not steady. In addition to Japanese cars, the new entrants to the U.S. will also come from China and India(Leidner et al., 2011). Another threat is that the government has been more involved in the regulations and policies on cars. Although there are concessions made by the government, the  concessions may be taken back by the government. 5. Strategies for Ford in the next five years The analysis of SWOT for Ford will be helpful for the decision makers to make the strategies for the future. When the key external and internal factors have been effectively matched together, it will help Ford to be more competitive than its competitors. It is suggest that the decision makers can implement SO strategy. This strategy will enable Ford to take full advantages of its internal strengths and external opportunities(King, 2002). Effective brand marketing and good customer management system, as well as human resource management system will enable the company to develop its e-businesses in the international market. If the famous brand has affordable price for customers, the sales and market share will increase to a certain extent. As long as the market share and sales has successfully increased, the company can rank at the first or second in the same industry. Another plausible strategy is WO strategy which will make use of the external opportunities to make up for the weaknesses. However, the weaknesses can sometimes become obstacles for seizing the opportunities, so if the company should try to overcome ! the weaknesses and turn them to strengths. For instance, if the demand for the cars which have equipped with intelligent system is large, but the factory has not acquired the technology o f equipping the system, so Ford can cooperate with the companies which have this technology. In such case, both companies will benefit from this business. On the other hand, if the company does not want to cooperate with other companies, the employees who have the knowledge of such technology should be employed to the company with high salary in order to assure the technology innovation. 6. Conclusion In conclusion, this report has conducted a close study of the external and internal environments for Ford Motor Company. The political environment has proved that the government has both positive and negative impacts on Ford, and the economic and social factors have turned out more and more people can afford a car, especially the independent women. The technology factors have also contributed to the increasing market share and sales of Ford for its convenience and comfort and affordances. Then the report has made a SWOT analysis of Ford’s internal environment, and it has suggested two plausible strategies for Ford in the next five years. One is SO strategy and the other one is WO strategy, which will enable Ford to realize its stra tegic objectives in the automotive  industry.

Capital Allocation Competency on Business

This study has highlighted the marketing behaviour of Wesfarmers Limited. In this connection, this study has highlighted stakeholder’s perceptions regarding the performance of the organisation. In addition, this study has provided the reputation, mission and corporate service responsibility of Wesfarmers. On the other hand, in this study the annual ranking of Wesfarmers would be mentioned. This study has also identified the stakeholders of the organisation. The business objectives of Wesfarmers would be discussed in this connection.   In this section, Wesfarmers Limited is a renowned Australian conglomerate and the head quarter is in Western Australia. Wesfarmers is famous for its retailing business. In addition, Wesfarmers is also famous for the production of chemicals, fertilisers, coal mining and other safety products. As opined by Ohata & Kumar (2012), it can be mentioned that Wesfarmers has earned highest revenue in the year of 2015 within the industry. Wesfarmers has earned AUS$ 62.7 billion revenue. Moreover, it can be added that Wesfarmers overtook it’s rival Woolworths Limited. The number of employees in this organisation is approximately 205000 and therefore, it can be identified that Wesfarmers is the largest private organisation of Australia. On the other hand, it can be mentioned that the number of shareholders of Wesfarmers are approximately 530,000. Wesfarmers cooperative limited was developed in the year of 1914 as a cooperative organisation. In the year of 1919, more than 65 cooperative org anisations were treated as the agents of Westralian farmers association. On the other hand, it can be stated that after becoming a renowned public organisation, Wesfarmers has aimed to acquire other businesses. In this context, Wesfarmers has acquired Coles group, departmental stores, Kmart automobile organisations, chemical, energy and the fertilisers companies. In the words of Arrfelt et al., (2015), the objectives of Wesfarmers can be discussed briefly in the following: This study also highlights the mission statement of Wesfarmers. In this connection, Haar & White (2013) opined that Wesfarmers aimed to deliver a satisfactory return to the organisational shareholders. Moreover, it can be stated that Wesfarmers has aimed to develop and maintain a disciplined business culture. Furthermore, it can be mentioned that Wesfarmers has focused on four core values such as openness, integrity, boldness and accountability, with refer to the appendix 1. As per the concept of integrity, Wesfarmers tried to do right thing, whereas the openness mission is helpful to work together as one team. The boldness mission highlighted that Wesfarmers always aimed to improve their business performance to earn more revenue compared to it’s competitors.   The accountability factor aimed to the cost structure of the organisation. Mehta & Gupta (2014) added that Wesfarmers aimed to follow end to end relationship with the stakeholders and aimed to manage each of the phase of partner’s work wear cycle. Wesfarmers group has also aimed to the entire systems and processes to meet the organisational passion for the business. According to Benn, Dunphy & Griffiths (2014), it can be mentioned that Wesfarmers is at thirteenth position as per the ranking of corporate reputation index of 2015. The shares of Wesfarmers Limited are higher by 1%. On the contrary, Jia et al., (2014) argued that over the last 12 months the performance of Wesfarmers is not at all impressive along with the gaining of the share price by 3.6%, compared to the 8.1% gain in the index. As per the review, it can be added that the retail market offer the investors of the organisation a steadier growth profile. Therefore, it can be opined that the return on earnings from the business has increased. As a result, the overall profitability of the organisation would be increased (Wesfarmers.com.au). As per the statement of Kim, Lee & Prideaux (2014), it can be stated that Wesfarmers used to listen and understand the necessity and requirements of the stakeholders in order to make the business of the organisation successful. This stud has identified the employees, consumers, shareholders, suppliers, media, government and the non government organisations as the stakeholders of the company. As per the recent study, it can be noticed that Wesfarmers has employed 220000 people in the year of 2016. Cosby (2014) mentioned that the employees of Wesfarmers seek to be a part of the decision making procedure and provide their valuable review, which would be helpful for the business restructuring. The organisation has also aimed to receive feedback from the employees to improve the performance of the organisation. In this connection, the whistle blower process is benefitted to receive the reviews of the subordinates annually (Ellinger et al., 2012). Wesfarmers always tried to communicate with it’s consumers in order to identify the satisfaction of them. In this connection, the organisation has tried to contact with them through emails, letters, telephones and also trough official websites. After collecting the information and consumers’ feedback, the management supervise the feedback of the consumers based on the collected information. The main issue, which the shareholders of Wesfarmers increased, is connected with the balance sheet and the industrial competitiveness. This would be helpful to operate the dividend policy and portfolio management. Wesfarmers aimed to maintain a long term relation with the suppliers. In this context, Shen et al., (2013) cited that the long term business sustainability would be improved. Wesfarmers is able to return the investment of the suppliers from the business. With refer to the appendix 2, the seven dimensions of corporate culture figure depicted that corporate competency is helpful to analyse the connection between the corporate communication strategy, organisational stakeholders’ position and the performance of the organisation. In the point of Killingsworth & Flynn (2016), it can be mentioned that although there are some small inconsistencies within the model, these minor shortcomings would be reflected in case of the application of seven dimensions of corporate personality scale. On the other hand, it can be added that this corporate connection can be discussed with the help of seven following dimensions, which are benefitted to achieve the mission and the vision statement of an organisation. As per the concept of agreeableness, it can be mentioned that agreeableness is depending upon four dimensions such as social justice, sustainability, and openness and employee engagement. Wesfarmers has aimed to maintain the open arm business culture and follow the corporate social responsibility to improve the business performance and also increase the satisfaction level of the consumers. In this context, Ohata & Kumar (2012) opined that the Wesfarmers also looking for the product innovation in order to improve the performance of the organisation. In addition, the organisation has planned to implement strategic plans to achieve the objectives of the organisation. Core competencies are helpful to develop the organisational strategic management. Strategic development would in turn help Wesfarmers to set the business goals. In addition, it can be mentioned that knowledge would provide the managers of the organisation relevant information. This information is required to recognise the opportunities within the business environment. In the words of Haar & White (2013), this dimension is able to control the inward looking, aggressive and the arrogant corporate personality of Wesfarmers. In this purpose, the managers of Wesfarmers need to monitor the performance of the employees significantly. With the help of this dimension, Wesfarmers would be able to overcome the challenging situation in the business. As opined by Mehta & Gupta (2014), it can be mentioned that the management of an organisation can maintain a stronger relationship with the external stakeholders. This dimension of corporate characteristics refers that Wesfarmers only recruited the efficient and skilled employees. Moreover, it can be added that the employees, who have experiences in this field get the opportunity to recruit. The performance of the skilled employees would in turn increase the overall productivity of the organisation. In order to develop the corporate communication strategies of Wesfarmers, this study has mentioned some relevant approaches. It is necessary to achieve the organisation’s goal to meet the business objectives. According to Benn, Dunphy & Griffiths (2014), these corporation strategies can increase the reputation of the organisation. In this purpose, Wesfarmers could improve the relationship with the stakeholders. The stakeholders also will willing to maintain a long term relationship with the organisation. Moreover, the corporate competencies are aimed to implement product innovation strategy in order to improve the business strategy. Therefore, it can be inferred that core competencies of the business would be increased. In addition, Cosby (2014) mentioned that it is necessary to develop the trust of the stakeholders. This is also important to make a business successful. On the other hand, it can be mentioned that Wesfarmers requires to improve the brand image and the brand valuation. This would increase the consumer purchase intentions and consumer loyalty. The consumers also would like to purchase goods from the organisation. Therefore, it can be inferred that the revenue earning by the organisation would be increased. This would in turn increase the profitability statement of the organisation. The business by the organisation would be expanded in the global market. On the other hand, Killingsworth & Flynn (2016) cited that based on the SWOT analysis, the strength and weakness of the organisation would be identified. This would in turn help the organisation to improve the performance by identifying the shortcomings in their performance. Therefore, these approaches can significantly improve the performance of Wesfarmers. After analysing the overall study, it can be recommended that seven dimension of competency is required to implement within the organisation. This can effectively increase the performance of an organisation. Moreover, it can be stated that the organisation also requires to follow corporate social responsibility program to achieve the business objectives. The performance of the organisation would be successful. This study has highlighted the importance of corporate communication. In this context, this study has described the background of the organisation. In addition, this study has mentioned the position of Wesfarmers as per the RepTrak review. This highlights the financial performance of the organisation. On the other hand, this study is important to identify the stakeholders of the organisation and how they reflect the business of the company. The mission and the vision statement of Wesfarmers has described in this connection. In this study, the importance of seven dimensions of corporate competency has discussed which has enhanced the essence of the study. Arrfelt, M., Wiseman, R. M., McNamara, G., & Hult, G. T. M. (2015). Examining a key corporate role: The influence of capital allocation competency on business unit performance.  Strategic Management Journal,  36(7), 1017-1034. Benn, S., Dunphy, D., & Griffiths, A. (2014).  Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge. Buniamin, S., Johari, N. H., Rahman, N. R. A., & Rauf, F. H. A. (2012). Board diversity and discretionary accruals of the Top 100 Malaysia corporate governance (MCG) index company.  African Journal of Business Management,  6(29), 8496. Cosby, D. M. (2014). Sustainability Program Leadership for Human Resource Development Professionals: A Competency Model.  Journal of Organizational Culture, Communication and Conflict,  18(2), 79. Ellinger, A., Shin, H., Magnus Northington, W., Adams, F. G., Hofman, D., & O'Marah, K. (2012). The influence of supply chain management competency on customer satisfaction and shareholder value.  Supply Chain Management: An International Journal,  17(3), 249-262. Haar, J. M., & White, B. J. (2013). Corporate entrepreneurship and information technology towards employee retention: a study of New Zealand firms.  Human Resource Management Journal,  23(1), 109-125. Home. (2016).  Wesfarmers.com.au. Retrieved 19 December 2016, from https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/ Hsu, C. C., Tan, K. C., Jayaram, J., & Laosirihongthong, T. (2014). Corporate entrepreneurship, operations core competency and innovation in emerging economies.  International Journal of Production Research,  52(18), 5467-5483. Jia, J., Wang, G., Zhao, X. N., & Yu, X. (2014). Exploring the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and corporate performance: The role of competency of executives in entrepreneurial-oriented corporations.  Nankai Business Review International,  5(3), 326-344. Killingsworth, C., & Flynn, T. (2016). Assessing the CPRS Pathways to the Profession competency framework: Perspectives on corporate communication leadership competencies and credentials.  Corporate Communications: An International Journal,  21(2), 177-194. Kim, S. S., Lee, J., & Prideaux, B. (2014). Effect of celebrity endorsement on tourists’ perception of corporate image, corporate credibility and corporate loyalty.  International Journal of Hospitality Management,  37, 131-145. Lawson, R. A., Blocher, E. J., Brewer, P. C., Cokins, G., Sorensen, J. E., Stout, D. E., ... & Wouters, M. J. (2013). Focusing accounting curricula on students' long-run careers: Recommendations for an integrated competency-based framework for accounting education.  Issues in Accounting Education,  29(2), 295-317. Mehta, C., & Gupta, P. (2014). Corporate entrepreneurship: a study on entrepreneurial personality of employees.  Global Journal of Finance and Management,  6(4), 305-312. Ohata, M., & Kumar, A. (2012). Big data: a boon to business intelligence.  Financial Executive,  28(7), 63-65. Shen, C. H., Chou, C. M., Hsiao, H. C., & Lee, Y. J. (2013). Analysis of Core Competency Required for the Managerial Work Force of Small and Medium Enterprises in Taiwan.  Journal of Software Engineering and Applications,  6(03), 111.

Prestigious Fast Food Restaurant -Burger King Research Paper

Prestigious Fast Food Restaurant -Burger King - Research Paper Example Moreover, Burger King encourages and lets users customize the exclusive flame-broiled burgers with choices and so many options to their liking. This makes a healthy and strong relationship between Burger King and the user. The fast food also has the benefit of offering different items and the customer benefits by having several burger options. Burger King has expanded their menu but still, they have remained true to their unique and original flame-broiled burgers. This flame-broiled gives them benefit over other fast food chains. Burger King is providing with one of the best customer service, menu selection, cleanliness, and healthy choices. If the atmosphere of a dining area is interesting, more people will want to eat there. That is one of the major reasons that draw in more customers to Burger King. By mid-2009, Burger King was not in any of the following countries: Pakistan, India, Nigeria, South Africa and France. But now they are expanding their more and have some branches in t hese countries as well. In looking for new countries to enter, Burger King needs to find more countries to expand that is suitable ideally. They should go for the countries with higher populations and preferably youth and concentrations of urban activity. Local diets containing high feasting of beef would be inspiring and encouraging because their signature products are made of beef. In addition, areas which are safe, sustain the politically stable business environment and have available capital are ideal. Burger King Restaurants are mainly known for the type of food they serve, which is typical fast food consisting of chicken sandwiches and hamburger. Side dishes contain the standard French fries, but they also have healthier options such as apple fries. Children attending birthday parties at Burger King get cardboard crowns to wear on their heads. Burger King is an international company with a franchise location throughout the world. There are locations in each of the 50 states in the United States, and in 69 other countries. The total number of locations worldwide is 11,200 with over 11 million guests visiting Burger King on a daily basis, according to Burger King's website. Burger King competes with all types of food retailers on the basis of prices, food qualities, convenience and customer services. 1.1 Competitive Advantage Burger King has been in direct competition with burger giant McDonald's since Burger King's inception in the 1950's. It is at present the number two burger chain in the world behind McDonald's. Other direct competitors of Burger King are Yum and Wendy's In order to attract new customers and to remain competitive, Burger King is continuing its market expansion strategy. Adopting a competitive strategy in an organization will convey value to your consumers and the community. Burger King is competing in the dynamic food retail industry. Customers have a variety of choices of food. Differences that Burger King attempt are obvious, by real izing the need of their customers, and the drive for a reasonable burger with a large amount of meeting. Burger King is functioning to take advantage of the market shares and increase the revenue across countries. In addition, the fast food industry is still the leading food retail sector in the United States and this attracts lots of local and regional companies to join the industry.  Ã‚  

Effective Leaders Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Effective Leaders - Essay Example To lead, you require some qualities such as strength of mind, the eagerness to determine, defy the class quo, proceed for what you accepted as true, hazard, negative responses, rise up against power, and modify. To make my opinion more clear and effective I would describe the difference between Managerial work and leadership. Managerial work is a division of leadership abilities. It is often heard that people try to divide them that they are leaders, but not managers. But the people who use to say this are usually incorrect while it appears to attracting the supporters which formulates it hard to judge them as victorious leaders. A leader is somebody who does things perfectly and who knows where to go. Where as managerial work is how to do things perfectly and how they really get there. A student of a college or school who makes a group of friends together to go to picnic, so he is acting not just as a leader, but as well as a manager. Someone who wants to be a leader, but does not want to do with managerial work is a self-indulgent. Leadership and managerial work always collaborate in order give an efficient result. Straightforwardly, managerial work is the procedure of describing and calculating the success. A leader is the one who places the idea, describes victory, and verifies the capacity of success will be extra efficient than the similar leader who wishes to place the idea but declines to accept any effort in the managerial area. Therefore, effective leader is a person who controls and makes an impact on people. Every person owns leadership potential. Effective Leadership is not restricted to group decision-making or high flier. Effective Leadership can, and frequently does, 'appear from inside. Every person of your Land concern group is a helper. Helpers are not essential to do something. They are stimulated to accomplish things. Motivation can appear firstly from the wish to improve the surroundings or make better farm production, however it requires be continuously revitalization, and communicating. That is where effective leadership enters. To be an effective leader one should have make up hisher mind and set tasks, it will assist to decide what the followers desire to get. It might be up to the Leader to begin this procedure, but it is much simple to guide a group when a leader suggests where the group wishes to move. To make the leadership more effective leaders have to observe their group members. The most excellent technique to do this is by starting discussions and after that paying attention to the group. By listening, Leader will observe regarding their benefit and find out ways so that they can be more concerned in the group. They should converse evidently and normally. Explain their group aims and ethics, and keep distributing their ideas with their workers. Effective Leaders always engage workers in arranging goals. They give many advices on how can they move toward the tasks. Leaders have to give their workers few responsibilities and authority and guide them. Effective Leaders have to be liable on their selves. Establish a consultative board or managerial team to support them to make better planned decisions and the team could give them opinion on their own work. Effective leaders should be honest with their work and expand faith to their workers. That will help leaders to be dependable and make the company stronger. To be an effective

Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Finance - Essay Example Because currency exchange rates fluctuate on a daily (minute-to-minute) basis, clean and easy apples-to-apples comparisons of U.S. dollars to Euros or Yen may not be possible, especially with systems that deal with data on an intraday basis. Tracking the profitability of products in varying markets will fall short of expectations unless data stores and currency tables that contain detailed exchange rates and valuation dates are properly integrated into the general warehouse or operational data store. Many currencies will be tracked against other currencies - the simplest being home currency versus the single currency of the trade/deal/transaction - using parallel fields for each denomination in the appropriate warehouse tables. Thus, if a transaction took place in Japan (in Yen), multiple fields that represent the event would have both U.S. dollars and Yen denominations that communicate up-to-date or restated exchange rates. The business firm must also be aware that the location of t he transaction does not always unequivocally define the currency of the transaction. Many financial events such as currency swaps and spots will fall into this category, making it more laborious to correctly portray the financial picture of the business. Unexpected changes in the values of foreign currencies can affect the profitability of doing business internationally by unexpectedly changing the home currency value of future foreign currency-denominated cash inflows and outflows. This implies that organizations will need to consider implementing foreign exchange â€Å"hedging† strategies to mitigate the adverse consequences of unexpected and profit-reducing exchange rate changes. Suffice it to say that organizations may wish to seek the assistance of available expertise in the banking or brokerage communities to design and implement a foreign

Eating habit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Eating habit - Essay Example Another advantage of writing down what you eat is that you can also monitor your calorie intake. As a person wanting to maintain a healthy lifestyle and stick to a normal weight, I find this very helpful. Based on the content of the food journal, it is easy to pinpoint how one can examine his eating patterns as well as modify them in order to pursue a healthier lifestyle. Being aware of others' eating habits will allow me to recommend which food to avoid and which food to increase intake of. According to recent scientific studies, there might be a link between genetics and eating habits but in only a small number of people. The assertion that there might be this "fat genes" which makes people obese is not really applicable to everyone. I believe that in the nature and nurture debate, eating habit and lifestyle is still highly dependent on nurture. A person's eating habit is usually acquired from the parents. Food preference specifically is a thing of what parents give their children to eat. Studies show that the taste of mom's breast milk is dependent on what she eats. Thus, even in the early years, environmental factors weigh in considerably. As a person grows old, he often acquires the eating habit of his parents.

General Overview of Organized Crime Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

General Overview of Organized Crime - Term Paper Example Knowing its structure and operation could spell the difference between life and death both for those who are meant to put them down and to those who may be their unfortunate targets or victims. Proactively defending against them, or courageously advocating and fighting against them require a broad understanding of their inner workings. Websters-online-dictionary defines organized crime as "underworld organization". It further defines underworld as "criminal class". These definitions presupposed a definite group of people within but underneath the class structure of society who are formed into organizations engaged in unlawful activities. A more detailed and definite definition of organized crime, however, has become problematic because of their variety and diversity (Lampe). Lampe collected over 100 definitions one among is that by Albanese which attempted to summarize three decades of literature into the following definition: "Organized crime is a continuing criminal enterprise that rationally works to profit from illicit activities; its continuing existence is maintained through the use of force, threats, monopoly control, and/or the corruption of public officials." (Lampe, Albanese, 2000: 411). An overview of organized crime and its structure as a worldwide phenomenon can be gleaned from a paper on the Russian organized crime around the world presented by Margaret E. Beare. She cited the three-legged tripod depiction of organized crime by the Canadian police as "being like a three-legged tripod" consisting of "the bureaucracy including politicians and security officials, underground business persons, and the professional criminals". And the merging of these three into one entity makes them a formidable enemy of the law.  Ã‚   The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, however, reports the more flexible and diversified structure of organized crime groups.  

Article summary Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Summary - Article Example Researchers are working on those questions and hypotheses because there are only few studies that have demonstrated broad transfer from training to performance on untrained cognitive abilities, training paradigms lacked pedagogical foundation and was difficult to apply in non-laboratory setting or long-term behavioral change, link between music and language is unspecified, and lack of sufficient testing to support the evidences (Moreno, et al., 1-2). In testing the hypotheses, various techniques were used such as: using short, intense series of training sessions measuring intelligence with two subtests from the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence–Third Edition; measuring executive function using a go/no-go task that records behavioral performance and event-related potentials (ERPs); and review of previous studies showing increase in amplitude of P2 after music training (Moreno, et al., 2). Children aged 4-6 years old were test in the study. There are 71 childr en recruited but due to drop-out reasons, WPPSI-III data were available for 64 children, 32 (18 girls and 14 boys) who received visual-art training and 32 (20 girls and 12 boys) who received music training (Moreno, et al., 2). In addition, 16 participants were not included in the study because of uneasiness with the procedure and noise in the ERP signal. Therefore, the final sample size is 48 participants, with 24 participants in each training group. Moreno et al. found out that: there was no difference on visual-art training and music training on intelligence measures in the pretest session; significant improvement in intelligence scores marked by improvement only on verbal test were noted only on the music group after training; from pretest to posttest, more than 90% of the children in the music program improved their verbal score; music group outperformed the visual-art group at posttest; group performance has not been mainly affected but revealed significant effect of session on ly in the music group; N2/P3 complex groups have no significant differences but P2 component showed significant differences between groups; after training, the music group showed significantly larger peak amplitudes in the no-go trials whereas the visual-art group did not; and researchers found a significant positive correlation among music group only (4-5). Implications of the study are relevant to the education sector as evidence showed that WPPSI Verbal IQ is highly predictive of academic achievement plan and that there is a strong relationship between IQ evaluated at age 5 and in later life. In addition, computerized tutorials would make it easier for educational environments to implement training (Moreno, et al., 7). The study of Moreno et al. addressed neuroeducation and neurorehabilitation using computerized technologies. Context The findings of the study interest me because of the significant

Pollution Effects and Counter Measures Essay Example for Free

Pollution Effects and Counter Measures Essay The impact of human activity on our environment cannot be denied. Many aspects of today’s environmental problems are only now coming to light as scientists explore the causes and effects of human impact on the world around us. Today’s generation has seen both unwarranted skepticism and exaggeration on both sides of the debate on how close we are to an environmental catastrophe. Although, as Frederick Buell wrote, as of today our world â€Å"has not ended; eco-apocalypse hasnt happened. Yet people today also accept the fact that they live in the shadow of environmental problems so severe that they constitute a crisis† (xii). While it is easier to understand the problems we face today by classifying human activity and its consequences into neatly defined, cause-and-effect relationships, it is important to realize that all of these causes and effects interact in a complex web to bring about an environmental crisis. That said, pollution is one of the most widespread results of human activity, encompassing a broad range of substances with pervasive effects. The effect of pollutants on our environment is one of the most widely publicized factors contributing to its degradation. And deservedly so; pollutants are diverse, and pollution takes many forms, but the effect of unchecked pollution is rapid, extensive, and often dramatic in its visual manifestations. Finally, in many cases pollution defies geographical and political boundaries, making it an international concern, and controlling it will require the involvement of citizens and organizations from all levels of society. Pollution involves the introduction of pollutants into the environment, and it is commonly organized into major categories – air, soil, and water – based on which component of the environment is affected. Other forms of pollution are classified based on the nature of the pollutant, and these include radiation pollution, biological pollution, and noise pollution. Scientists have developed many ways of gauging the level of pollution, or of a specific pollutant within the environment, but when one considers the direct impact of pollution on human health, it is exposure that matters more than the concentration of pollutants. In the environmental pathway, exposure to a certain concentration of a pollutant is what determines the actual dose of the pollutant in the exposed individual, and this is what leads to possible health consequences (Akbar et al., 62). In many cases, pollution is an occupational hazard, posing the greatest danger to people who suffer the most exposure as part of their daily lives. With some pollutants, however, the effects are indirect, not affecting an individual’s health, but impacting a society’s resources and economy in subtle ways. Even with the increased environmental awareness in modern society, it is surprising how many people still see nothing wrong simply because they are not directly affected by pollution. The purpose of this research is to give an overview of the different classes of pollution, how they affect society on different levels, and some of the measures that can help to prevent or reduce its spread. When one thinks of air pollution, perhaps the first image that comes to mind is that of a smog-filled skyline of a major city, through which a hazy sun barely shines. However, exposure to the outdoor smog in a polluted city is not the main source of pollutant dosage. Most of the actual human exposure to air pollution occurs indoors, simply because that is where most people spend most of their time (Akbar et al., 61). Just as the health risks of polluted water can be minimized by treatment, the risks posed by polluted air (namely, cardiovascular and respiratory disease) can be lessened by using proper filters within homes and offices. While it is possible to keep the indoor air quality under control, improving atmospheric air quality will require a collective effort on a much larger scale. Major sources of worldwide pollutant emissions are industrial operations, power plants, road vehicles, forest fires, and the incineration of refuse. Vehicular emissions are not only limited to exhaust, but also include emissions from the wear of tires and brakes and the road surface itself, which makes it difficult to come up with an accurate estimate of total vehicular emissions. Many of these sources of emissions are similarly difficult to quantify, but the overall statistics show that air pollution trends are higher in developing countries, and above the national average in megacities (Akbar et al., 36). This reflects a general trend of better environmental awareness, and environment protection programs that have been implemented for a longer time in well-developed, industrialized countries. For some pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide – a product of the combustion of fossil fuels – the global trend shows a decrease, but for other emissions there is no such evidence (Akbar et al., 49). Clearly, although industrialized countries like America have been consciously reducing some emissions for a longer time than other countries in the developing world, there is much that still needs to be done on an international level. Former United States Vice President Al Gore sums up the nature of the problem regarding the public attitude: †¦Our continued dependence of imported oil†¦is connected to the same pattern that leads us to put 70 million tons of global warming pollution into the earths atmosphere every 24 hours around the world, as if it was an open sewer. And pretending that that doesnt have consequence, when theres signs to tell us it definitely does†¦that’s really the essence of this problem. But because its so pervasive, in order to change it, we really have to have a sea change in public opinion in this country and around the world before the politicians and the government leaders in every nation will have the courage to do what really is necessary. (Interview with Al Gore, 2007) The second major category of pollution is soil pollution. The composition of soil is an important factor in an ecosystem, affecting what types of vegetation are able to take root and survive, and by extension, what species of animals will thrive in the area. Soil also retains water, and pollution of the soil often spreads to ground water tables. When soil is contaminated by pollutants – usually in the form of heavy metals that disrupt the balance and composition of the soil – it is often harder to detect, and difficult to determine the extent of the pollution. Such contamination typically results from direct deposition of pollutants into the soil. Landfills and waste heaps contain pollutants which gradually leach into the soil, and some of the particles in polluted air fall to the ground, where water runoff and seepage can spread the pollutants and lodge them into the soil. Operations in the mining industry, when improperly managed, can cause long-term damage to the soil, and to the environment as a whole. Jared Diamond cites Montana as a case study of the damage that the mining industry can do to the environment, saying it has â€Å"about 20,000 abandoned mines, some of them recent but many of them a century or more old, that will be leaking acid and†¦toxic metals essentially forever† (36). In most cases, these mines have no surviving owners, or the owners are financially unable to reclaim their property and manage its wastes. The relationship between the soil and the rest of the environment is complex, and much remains to be understood before a standard set of indicators and benchmarks can be used to monitor the quality of all soils. While these subtle relationships and interactions are being actively studied by scientists, land management can be improved and better implemented to lessen the impact of activities such as agriculture and mining, by regulating waste disposal and promoting sustainable agricultural practices. As an example, many farmers practice plowing their fields close to the edge of rivers or streams, and letting their livestock graze at the edge. This practice actually contributes to the erosion of riverbanks and diffusion of agricultural wastes into water. Careful management of land and soil resources can prevent soil erosion, which in turn will lessen the deposition of silt in freshwater areas that may be important habitats or breeding sites for species like salmon. (Environment Agency). Public pressure is necessary for the government to pass laws that will enforce mining companies to take charge of cleaning up their mines; the main responsibility lies with the American public, to be more active and vocal in protecting the environment (Diamond, 38). Water’s properties as a solvent are familiar to everyone, thus it should not be surprising that water is particularly vulnerable to contamination. The flow of bodies of water, as well as water runoff from precipitation, can disperse a high volume of pollutants over the course of a year. Water’s cycle in the environment has unique implications for the spread of pollution, and the various pollutants and contaminants of water comprise the third major category of pollution. Bodies of water can be polluted by point sources, such as sewage treatment plants, or they may be polluted through diffusion. Diffuse pollution can come from misconnected drains in households, leaching of surface wastes into groundwater, or runoff of toxic substances that have been deposited on land. Inland precipitation (in the form of rain) creates water runoff, which drains into larger bodies of water, carrying with it some deposited pollutants from the atmosphere and many untreated wastes that have been improperly disposed of. Oil from roadways and motor vehicles, excess agricultural fertilizer, and assorted litter from the land, can be washed into rivers and out to sea, where the scale of dispersal makes it very difficult to treat the pollution. In fact, the volume of pollution deposited by water from runoff can exceed that of an oil spill. In Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest, for example, each year from 2000 to 2006 roughly 22,580 metric tons of oil and petroleum products are deposited by runoff, compared to less than 1,000 metric tons from direct oil spills (Dodge). The deterioration of water quality leads to obvious consequences for human consumption. Freshwater with excessive levels of certain pollutants becomes unsafe to drink, and seawater can lose its ability to sustain biodiversity, negatively impacting the fishing industry. Agricultural runoff contains nitrates and phosphates, which are important nutrients for many organisms, but in excessive concentrations in bodies of water they lead to explosions in the population of certain microorganisms (a phenomenon sometimes known as â€Å"algal blooms†). This leads to an overall decrease in dissolved oxygen content in the water, which harms other species, mainly fish, by disrupting spawning and breeding patterns, and can lead to massive deaths in certain species when oxygen levels are depleted (Environment Agency). Thermal pollution of water can occur when a large volume of water is used for cooling purposes in processes that release large amounts of heat. Electrical stations use water for this purpose, and subsequently release it into the environment. This water is considerably warmer than the rest of the water in the environment, and brings a corresponding rise in temperature to the entire body of water where it is released. This again reduces the capacity of water to hold dissolved oxygen, with the same effects described above (Lourenco and Neves). With most point sources of water pollution under regulation, the biggest source of water pollution is diffusion. If the source of pollution cannot be pinpointed, the processes that create or contribute to diffuse pollution have to be more strictly managed. Since 2003, European legislation has created a Water Framework Directive (WFD) to actively assess the standards of water usage with chemical, biological, and physical tests. The WFD monitors all bodies of water (including ground water reserves and artificial reservoirs) with the ultimate goal of reducing water pollution in the United Kingdom and all EU member states by 2015. The United Kingdom’s Environment Agency summarizes some of its recommendations: Key policy issues, such as the control of diffuse water pollution, land-use planning, the designation of heavily modified water bodies and the role of wetlands†¦must be addressed by relevant authorities. Particular emphasis should be placed on the diverse sources of diffuse pollution†¦These include discharges from agriculture and also from other land-uses such as urban developments, transport infrastructure and abandoned mineral workings. Those who manage the land may have to do things in a different way to ensure that they do not cause water pollution. (1) Some forms of pollution are not classified by the sphere of the environment that they contaminate, but by their nature and properties. Our planet is constantly bathed in radiation originating from outer space, and there are trace amounts of radioactivity scattered throughout the earth’s crust. These do not constitute radioactive pollution; typically, this form of pollution originates from nuclear power processing, or from equipment used in nuclear medicine and radiography, although nuclear fallout from bombs and disasters, such as the 1986 Chernobyl incident, is perhaps the most striking example of nuclear pollution. In the case of Chernobyl, flawed design of the nuclear reactor, combined with personnel errors, led to an explosion which released around 5% of the reactor’s core of radioactive material into the atmosphere. The wind carried fallout composed mainly of the radioisotopes iodine-131, cesium-134, and cesium 137, from the reactor across the former Soviet Union. Among the most heavily affected countries were Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. The radioactive pollution’s immediate effect resulted in the death of 30 people, injury to over a hundred other individuals, and the immediate evacuation and relocation of over 200,000 affected citizens. One of the most studied long term effects of the disaster is a significant increase in the number of cases of thyroid cancer among generations of exposed individuals, due to the accumulation of radioactive iodine-131 in the thyroid gland (International Atomic Energy Agency). It should be noted that Chernobyl was a rare nuclear disaster that is not representative of the more common forms of radiation pollution; rather, it serves as an example of the potential scale and duration of pollution’s ill effects. Much more commonly encountered are the radiation-related risks in the medical field, where exposure to X-rays and radiotherapy practices can lead to an increased risk of developing certain cancers among some groups of patients. However, for the most part, properly observed medical standards will ensure that the risk of developing cancer from medical radiation is low – an estimated 0.05% per rem of radiation. The amount of exposure depends on the medical procedures involved, and although the increase in the risk of cancer induction is small (from zero to one percent), there is no threshold of radiation exposure below which it is absolutely risk-free. Thus, all procedures involving radiation exposure should be decided on the basis of risk versus benefit to the patient (Classic). Homo sapiens is the only species that has succeeded in domesticating other species, and with the spread of human civilization, we have carried our pets (and pests) to new lands. Introduced species constitute a form of biological pollution – when a non-native species establishes itself in an ecosystem, displacing certain native species that play a vital role in that ecosystem, and possibly causing economic damage, they are considered invasive. In ecology, the â€Å"rule of tens† states that one in every ten introduced species becomes invasive (Boudouresque and Verlaque, 1). The most significant direct consequence of biological invasion is the extinction of native species that are not adapted to compete with invaders. Such is the case with the Nile perch (Lates niloticus), a popular commercial fish species that was introduced to Lake Victoria in East Africa around the year 1962. The Nile perch disrupted the lake’s ecosystem by predatory activity, feeding on many native fish species, and spreading parasites which it carries in its gills. An estimated 300 fish species native to Lake Victoria were driven to extinction by the 1980s (Blake). While the Nile perch and some other invasive species have at least had some marginal economic benefit (a boost to the commercial fishing industry and local employment), in many cases the effect of biological invasion has been a complete economic disaster. Australia’s plague of introduced European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) has not only threatened native animals as the rabbits outcompete them for food and shelter; the rabbits have threatened the ecosystem itself by decimating vegetation, causing the soil (arid and fragile over much of Australia) to erode. This in turn has greatly reduced the available land for sheep and cattle grazing – two of Australia’s major industries. Efforts to reduce rabbit populations have only increased the economic cost of the rabbit invasion, as Australians have tried to use poison, traps, dynamite, and expensive biological control agents in the form of diseases such as myxomatosis and the calicivirus (Diamond, 392). Managing an invasion is very difficult once the invasive species has become established. As noted by Oregon State University biologist John Chapman, â€Å"Unlike other contaminants in the world, introduced species dont have a half-life, they can spread from a single point source, and they have a potentially infinite life span† (qtd. in Reiber). An introduced species becomes established when conditions in the new environment are favorable, and it has little to no competition, and natural predators are lacking. Too often, strategies devised to control populations of invasive species backfire – the myxomatosis disease used to exterminate rabbits in Australia did succeed in bringing down the rabbit population by 90%, but the survivors then developed a resistance to the disease (Diamond, 392). Biological or chemical control agents used to eradicate invasive species often are detrimental to native species as well. In most cases, the safest way to remove invasive species from the environment is manually, which can be highly labor intensive and needs to be organized at the local or community level. Increased sound levels in our surroundings can constitute a form of noise pollution. While some people would classify certain genres or styles of music as noise, the most common form of noise pollution comes from transportation and industrial activity. Extreme levels of noise pollution can lead to a deterioration and eventual impairment of the auditory function in humans and other organisms. Noise pollution also affects individuals in other ways that may be less easy to measure or quantify; increasing levels of stress and annoyance, for example, or disruption of normal sleeping routines. States such as Maryland have implemented some form noise control; in Maryland, the Noise Control Program was passed into legislation in 1970, to provide technical assistance and enforcement regarding noise related issues across the state. It has been de-funded since July 2005, as the duty of regulating noise-related issues has been passed down to local government. There are many other forms of pollution that do not fit neatly into this broad classification, and to fully understand the effect of every pollutant would often require time-consuming research into various case studies. The interaction between different types of pollution often contributes to a complex effect acting on a larger scale, such as global warming, which is a phenomenon created by the interaction between the increased levels of various gases (known collectively as greenhouse gases). Pollution affects us on a global scale, but it can be reduced or remediated by efforts at the local and personal level. The easiest way to start contributing to the effort to reduce pollution is to minimize one’s own pollution of the environment. It is this diffuse type of pollution which is much more difficult to catch and trace. Individual citizens not disposing of their wastes properly, or households with misconnected drains, all have a small effect on pollution levels, and collectively this adds up to a large increase in pollution if unchecked or unreported. This is the pollution whose source is often unnoticed, and it is up to each individual to eliminate himself or herself as a source of this anonymous, unaccountable pollution. Many nonprofit organizations and agencies concerned with the welfare of our environment are engaged in activities to counter pollution and its effects. Participating in local community clean-up events can help to not only reduce the level of pollution in a community, but also heightens the awareness of people regarding pollution issues, especially if the organizers have invited an environmental expert to deliver a talk about problems relevant to the community. Recycling gadgets instead of throwing them away is a solution that helps both the consumers and the manufacturing industries. Sony Electronics, Inc. has a recycling program that accepts old or non-working Sony branded products free of charge, and even products of other companies for a small fee (On a higher level, government environmental agencies monitor the major point sources of pollution such as wastes disposed by large factories and industrial companies. With pollution’s far-reaching consequences, nations must help each other to remediate the worst polluted areas. An estimated 1 billion people are affected by pollution issues, and a majority of those people are in the developing world, where a general lack of awareness and local regulation of pollution has reduced the overall life expectancy and quality of life (Hanrahan et al., 2). With minimal financial investment, a number of remediation measures can be carried out in some of the worst polluted areas in the developing world. These measures will help save lives, particularly of children, at an estimated cost of only one to fifty US dollars per person each year. However, implementing such measures often takes a back seat to the basic needs of education and primary health services that local governments often must prioritize (Hanrahan et al., 2-4). This is why it is important to have international intervention and cooperation, not apathy and the selfish attitude summed up by ‘it’s someone else’s problem, let them take care of it’. In dealing with pollution it is important to keep in mind that many of the sources contributing to pollution are industries upon which modern society is dependent. Mining and agriculture are two examples of ancient activities that have helped men to develop their civilizations. Mining enabled us to build better shelters and construct the tools and implements that we use in everyday tasks. Agriculture and the potential to store surplus food has taken us from the lifestyle of hunter-gatherers and brought humans together in the first settlements, which eventually grew into cities and states. Pollution is a byproduct of these activities, and the effort to reduce or prevent pollution is not trying to destroy major industries or cease the production and development of new technology. It is an effort to make the producers and consumers responsible for the regulation of wastes created by these activities, and their proper management and disposal. We live in an age of awareness, and thanks to our awakening and gradual realization of how we affect the world around us, today’s environmental crisis has increasingly become a fact of life in the modern world. Modern governments should no longer be intent on debating the validity of environmental concerns, but focused on finding and implementing solutions. The root of these problems – human degradation of the environment and exploitation of its resources – has been at work ever since the dawn of the civilized age. The environmental crisis of the present, on both the global and local levels, is not a burden that we have borne for only a few generations; it is a result of centuries, even millennia, of human exploitation of available resources without the guidance of modern environmental science, accelerated by the industrialization brought about by developing technology, and abetted by attitudes and sensibilities that have developed in ignorance of how we impact our surroundings. The inertia of these outdated attitudes and accelerating industrial processes is huge and cannot be so easily stopped; it may take decades to realize the full extent of the damage we have done to the environment in every aspect, and perhaps longer to reverse the trend. But for many of us, the fundamental error in thinking has, at least, been corrected. Environmental problems elsewhere in the world are no longer just someone else’s concern. With modern globalization, what we do in our part of the world affects everyone else, and if we continue to act and think with that in mind, the environmental problems facing all of society will be managed by society as a whole. Works Cited â€Å"A slow-moving oil spill.† Ed. John Dodge. 01 December 2007. The Olympian. 04 December 2007 http://news.tradingcharts.com/futures/5/7/101611775.html Akbar, S. et al. World Health Organization. Air Quality Guidelines Global Update 2005. Germany: Druckpartner Moser, 2005. Boudouresque CF, Verlaque M. Biological pollution in the Mediterranean Sea: invasive versus introduced macrophytes. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2002 January; 44(1):32-8. Buell, Frederick. From Apocalypse to Way of Life: Four Decades of Environmental Crisis in the U.S. New York: Routledge, 2003. Diamond, Jared. Collapse. New York: Penguin Books, 2005. Environment Agency, 2003. The Water Framework Directive – not only a question of quality. Bristol: Environment Agency. Environment Agency, 2004. Soil, the hidden resource. Bristol: Environment Agency. Environment Agency, 2007. The unseen threat to water quality. Bristol: Environment Agency. Hanrahan, D. et al. Blacksmith Institute. Cost Effectiveness and Health Impact of Remediation of Highly Polluted Sites in the Developing World. 2007. International Atomic Energy Agency. Chernobyl’s Legacy: Health, Environmental and Socio-economic Impacts and Recommendations to the Governments of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Austria: IAEA, 2006. â€Å"Interview of Al Gore.† Larry King Live. CNN. 05 July 2007.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Invasion Biology Introduced Species Summary Project.† Ed. Jennifer Blake. 10 January 2005. Columbia University. 02 December 2007 http://www.columbia.edu/itc/cerc/danoff-burg/invasion_bio/inv_spp_summ/Lates_niloticus.htm John, E. M. et al. Medical radiation exposure and breast cancer risk: findings from the Breast Cancer Family Registry. International Journal of Cancer: 2007 July; 121(2):386-94. â€Å"Link Between Climate Change and Biological Pollution could Harm Northwest.† Ed. Derek Reiber. 02 July 2001. Sightline Institute. 02 December 2007 http://www.tidepool.org/derek/invasives.html â€Å"Noise Pollution Control.† 2007. Maryland Department of the Environment. 05 December 2007 http://www.mde.state.md.us Path: Programs; Multimedia Programs; Noise Pollution Control. â€Å"Pollution and its effect to the environment: Interview with Ricky Clancy of Sony Electronics Blog.† 27 September 2007. 05 December 2007. http://bdpollution.blogspot.com/2007/09/interview-with-ricky-clancy-of-sony.html â€Å"Risk/Benefit of Medical Radiation Exposures.† Ed. Kelly Classic. 04 December 2007. Health Physics Society. 04 December 2007 http://hps.org Path: HPS Publications; Articles. â€Å"Thermal Pollution.† Ed. Silvia Lourenco and Rute Neves. 05 December 1996. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 04 December 2007 http://www.rpi.edu/dept/chem-eng/Biotech-Environ/Environmental/THERMAL/tte1.htm United States Environmental Protection Agency. Noise: A Health Problem. Washington, 1978

Arguments For and Against Global Warming

Arguments For and Against Global Warming Have you noticed that the summers have been getting hotter and the winters have become increasingly colder? Or have you perceived the climate changes but failed to comprehend why these changes were happening? Many people either did not think about that too closely or even know about the changes until they viewed Al Gores documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. This documentary changed societys mentality on the ongoing dispute about the legitimacy of global warming and many have come to believe that this crisis is the truth about what is currently occurring today. From this documentary to the many statistical research studies, there have been many ongoing debates on whether this controversial idea is correct at all. I had no idea what global warming was prior to viewing this documentary in my environmental science class. Now I believe global warming more than ever. Based on the data from the ongoing research, global warming is indeed, a valid growing disaster Global warming is essentially the average increasing temperature in the atmosphere as a result of greenhouse gases. These gases absorb and store heat in the earths atmosphere. The gases mostly consist of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and water. These gases cause the greenhouse effect in which vapors insulate the surface of the earth to keep the Earth warm. Due to human activity, there is a large amount of carbon dioxide gathering in the atmosphere absorbing a lot of the heat coming from the sun. The atmosphere is supposed to emit most of the heat, but the atmosphere absorbs all the warmth which causes an increase in the amount of greenhouse gases. I am sure that many people, including myself not too long ago, do not realize what greenhouse gases are and how we are contributing to global warming. Before doing some research on my own, I did not know that human activities like driving cars led to a buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Statistics from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has shown that human made gases such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide have been the leading causes in temperature increases since the middle of the twentieth century. The IPCC has also shown statistics that global average surface temperature and the global average sea level have been steadily increasing while the northern hemisphere snow cover has been decreasing. On the contrary, there are people who decline to believe that global warming is true no matter how many studies occur or the data from statistics. Based on my knowledge, scientific experiments that can be replicated with similar results are correct most of the time. If similar results are reached every time, then there should be no doubt regarding the conclusion. The average temperature has intensified by 1 degree Fahrenheit since the industrial evolution. This may not sound so bad because, after all, it is only one degree Fahrenheit right? Wrong, observations have shown that for every little temperature increase, a large amount of snow will not fall. This correlation shows how serious small changes in climate can be and the problem is only getting worse. There have been two occasions in the previous decade in which we have had the hottest average temperature recorded. In addition, Mt. Kilimanjaro has been losing snow rapidly along with many National Parks that feature glaciers as their main landform. There are other places that are facing the same results like the icecaps in Greenland which are melting at an astonishing pace. Melting ice falls into the ocean which raises the sea level. Research shows that the sea level will rise to approximate 23 inches within the next decade. The problems right now may seem minor, but they will escalate to disastrous levels if human activity does not change. I see the problem of people thinking they are just one person and do not contribute that much at all towards greater problems. For example, lets say there are a million people who drive cars that know carbon dioxide from the cars cause global warming. Now imagine if every person had the thought that they are only one person and not really influencing global warming; now the situation does not consist of one person, but a million persons. This is one of the main reasons why scientists have predicted that global warming will only get worse. There are various reasons as to why people in todays society have come to accept or reject the idea of global warming. Some of the critics say that the entire crisis is a hoax like Y2K and global freezing. Others may think that global warming was influenced by environmentalists who want to mentally push people into traps in which donations would be sent. Also, the other argument is that the whole global warming idea is a scheme by liberals who want to give power to big government and further regulation. On the opposing side, people say statistics have proven that global warming does exist. To add on to that, there is mentioning of the melting of polar ice caps which will lead to the extinction of polar bear. However, this side uses more statistics to support their argument compared to the critics going against the existence of global warming. I personally think that people are against the idea of global warming for attention and because of their dislike for the Republican Party. This comes with another counterargument that says that global warming data is manipulated and inflated to get the publics attention that there really is a problem with the earth. False, there have been cases where scientists have fixed up statistics to cause a small problem to escalate into a larger problem. One example I found while researching articles online is the case where hacked emails from a scientist in the UK seemingly show that the global warming data was indeed changed. In spite of this case, the data was proven to not be exaggerated when viewed as a whole. The accusation that the data was false came from viewing certain pieces of information and not viewing everything available. In my opinion, this could have been a scheme pulled by nonbelievers in order to strengthen their argument against global warming. Just because there have a few cases of data exaggeration, this does not falsify all other data that has been collected over the years by various scientists. All the data collected over the years have been confirmed as valid and people who still decline to believe in global warming should give credit where credit is due; facts are facts and stat istics are statistics. Critics cannot brush away what is true just because they want to or hope to believe that their side of the debate is true. There are some people who say that global warming is a natural process and is bound to happen as long as humans are inhibiting the earth. To me, this viewpoint is basically saying that all inhabitants of earth are going to be wiped out in a matter of time. Some examples I see today are people saying that using oil is necessary to survive in this world, but the problem is that we are overusing oil. The human population has to realize that there is not an unlimited supply of ozone and small changes will make a difference in the outcome. I disagree strongly with this viewpoint because this kind of attitude is probably what caused global warming to become worse. I believe that global warming is more of a scientific aspect of earth and human factors such as ethics and morals, these aspects should not play a part in debating that the crisis is false. I mean, human beliefs do not change the average temperature of the earths surface, so why then should the beliefs be incorporated into the argument? An example that can relate to this is the saying that all men are created equal. People can believe what they want to believe and they might not want to accept that everyone is equal. However, the fact is that everyone on this planet is a human being, no matter their home country, language, culture, and skin color. Beliefs and science should not be mixed when debating global warming. I say that just because someones belief goes against a scientifically confirmed fact does not mean that belief should be taken into account. According to CNN, a U.S. survey consisting of approximately 3,000 scientists in January 2009, results show that a majority of the scientists agreed that global warming is real. Earth scientists surveyed acknowledged that the average global temperature has been rising for the past 200 years and that human activity is to blame. So the increase has a direct correlation with the increase in human activity over time. The survey consisted of multiple questions, but only two were of importance: Have mean global temperatures risen compared to pre-1800s levels, and has human activity been a significant factor in changing mean global temperatures? The results were that around 90 percent of the scientists said that the first question was true and around 82 percent agreed with the second. Some people like Peter Doran, associated professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, say that the more you know about the field of climate science, the more youre lik ely to believe in global warming and humankinds contribution to it. Some scientists predict that there are 4 years left before a global average temperature rise of 2C or more. This would be catastrophic since every little increase affects the earth greatly. The sea level will increase a lot and more glaciers will melt. Based on the articles I have read in the past, polar bears will be wiped out soon as they are currently struggling for their survival today. As long as there are nonbelievers and people who refuse to understand that they make a difference, time will run out before our eyes to fix a problem that we humans have started. Even though global warming has been going on for some time now, there are still ways to improve the situation of climate change if we act fast. The first step could be putting gas powered vehicles behind us and move onto electric powered vehicles. This will be expensive and time consuming, but if the climate were to improve, then people can really make a difference. Perhaps we can decrease the amount of oil, coal, and natural gases being burned and look for an alternate source of energy that is more eco-friendly. Deforestation plays a big role since trees absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen in return. Planting trees here and there will contribute to the efforts in relieving global warming. There are many differences in how to solve climate change problems and all of them require dedication and effort in order for us to see results. Global warming is an ongoing controversial subject and some people want to believe that the crisis is false, but the truth is that global warming has enough facts and statistics to support the validity. From documentaries to data to surveys, they all agree with global warming really occurring. Whether or not the critics agree, the truth has been spoken and personal values should not affect something that has been scientifically proven. Yes, exaggeration has been used in some cases, but there is more than enough evidence to confirm the truth. On the contrary, personal values such as ethics and morals have not put up any sort of concrete evidence or statistical data. There is still plenty of time for people to improve the climate and every little step will pay off in the end. Therefore, people have to learn to accept that the truth is the truth and whether or not they agree will not affect the outcome global warming is existent.