Sustainability in the Hotel Industry Assignment

Sustainability in the Hotel Industry - Assignment Example The hotel industry forms an integral part of the tourism industry and if it is not managed properly could cause detrimental to the natural and social environment. Thus to reduce the impact, hotels are adopting the â€Å"go green† initiative. Until recently the hotel industry has been unaware of the environmental damage that it posed to the environment due to its operations and services. However the last two decades have bought about tremendous change and created awareness among the public and in the development of â€Å"green consumerism†. Therefore to achieve greater environmental responsibility, hotel industries are implementing the relevant strategies and tools. The hoteliers are aware that it is essential to protect the environment where it does its business and are crucial towards the development and performance of the industry. According to reports by Bohdanowicz et al. there exist a huge number of examples which shows the development of pro-ecological initiatives .1 With continuous growth in environmental degradation, society has become aware of the needs for adopting more effective measure towards protection of the environment. Sustainable development has therefore become vital priority as well challenge in the competitive environment. The sustainability issue should be addressed at all the levels ranging from the policy makers, industry, academia, and the general public and other stakeholders. The global tourism industry is expected to grow at a rate of 2.8% in 2012 and will represent 9% of the global GDP. The hotel and tourism industry is expected to contribute about $10 trillion to the growth of global economy by 2022 and generate... To conclude it can be said that Holiday Inn has implemented the going green strategies and has performed well in implementing the practices and this is evident as the hotel is a certified green lodging hotel and has also received awards for environmental sustainability. Holiday inn has taken into consideration the recycling process and conservation of consumption and waste. However, it is still important to keep inventing the going green process and sustain in the industry and achieve a competitive advantage. Some of the recommendation includes as follows,   Installation of the green roof will help to mitigate the effect of heat island and also helps to reduce the amount of energy to be required to heat or cool the rooms. Apart from providing environmental benefits, the green roof of the hotel will serve as a commitment of commitment towards sustainability and will provide the guest with a connection with nature. Secondly, the hotel can provide environmentally friendly transportati on for the guest. The transportation will provide fuel efficient and environmentally friendly environment to travel to the desired place by the guest. The low emission and eco-friendly bus would reduce vehicle emission, lighter traffic and a convenient way to travel for the guests. Thirdly, the hotel can install high-efficiency plumbing fixtures along with water reduction by implementing much more efficient fixtures, appliances and water landscaping outside the hotels to preserve water and reuse it.

Husserls Phenomenology Essay Example for Free

Husserls Phenomenology Essay Why is phenomenology such an important branch of philosophical thought in terms of understanding media and its social, political, and technological impact? Phenomenology is the philosophical thought that focuses on the structure of subjective human consciousness. This philosophical movement was founded by Edmund Husserl who â€Å"wants to describe our experiences as they are given from a first person perspective† (Zahavi, 2003, p. 13). Husserl describes the conception of reality in 3 parts. Firstly there’s the world and its external beings, this being the world around us made up of other things and other people. Secondly we have ourselves, and thirdly we have our subjective consciousness, the way we perceive the world around us. Husserl divides phenomenology into two parts, the noesis and the noema, the noesis being the part of an experience which explains the activity, be it an emotion, perception, judgement, or imagination. The second part is the noema, which is the way we perceive the experience, our own meaning of it, the way we conceive it. This study can be differentiated from Kant’s method of analysis which focuses on reality consisting of objects and events as they are understood by subjective human consciousness. The two main divisions of Kantian phenomenology are the noumena and the phenomena. The noumena are things independent of the mind; an object or event that exists without the use of human senses, while the phenomena are any observable occurrences. Kant theorises that what we experience through our senses questions what roles we play in terms of truth and reality. Both Kant’s and Husserl’s interpretation of phenomenology are important branches of philosophical thought when understanding media and it’s social, political, and technological impact. The political impact that media has is stretched further than the democracy of governments. The politics that media focuses on can vary from contestants on a television show to the Presidential debates of the United States. When we watch any form of politics on an edited television show, all we’re seeing is what’s presented to us; the phenomena, we experience what is given to us. It is only by our senses that we’re able to perceive what’s happening on the show. This relates to Kant’s method of analysis which states that what we experience through our senses allows us to question truth and reality. Only what we see on television enables us to question this. What is edited out or what happens back stage is the noumena, it’s not perceivable by our senses and therefore according to Kant we’re unable to comprehend it. The X Factor relies heavily on humiliation in its audition process to get viewers. Many of the advertisements for the X Factor auditions show hopeful contestants being booed or laughed at on stage by the audience. Spin off shows called â€Å"The X Factor: Best and Worst Auditions† are created purely for our entertainment. Although it may seem that the media is using a contestant’s pain for their own gain, it is argued that â€Å"by now, those appearing on reality TV should have acquired a basic understanding of its textual codes and mode of production, and should therefore be prepared for any possible outcomes†(Watts, 2011, p. 36). When schadenfreude, â€Å"enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others† (Merriam-Webster), is shown on television, the audience is faced with an ethical dilemma. They have to decide based on the phenomena around them what is right or wrong. It is up to the individual audience member to decide whether they feel the contestant is able to understand the codes of reality TV and whether the humiliation is acceptable or not. One contestant on the 2012 X Factor auditions, Zoe Alexander, was highlighted in the media due to her vulgar outburst on stage after the judges slammed her down for singing a song by an artist (Pink) for whom she had previously been a tribute act for. After saying she wanted to move away from being a tribute act and focus on her own career, she went on to sing a song by the artist Pink. According to what was shown on television, the contestant made a bad choice and was ridiculed on stage for it. She was jeered at and this resulted in her swearing at the judges and throwing her microphone on the ground. The audience were left with feelings of embarrassment for her; from what was presented to them the audience could only see her outburst. The political division of the show was between this contestant and the X Factor, and the audience had clearly picked a side. After the audition had been aired on television it soon came out that the contestant had been told to sing a Pink song by the X Factor production team prior to her audition. In interviews after the show Alexander stated â€Å"When the judges rejected me I realised I had been manipulated by the X Factor for the previous six weeks. They lured me in, coaxed me and even chose my song all with the intention of setting me up for a fall. †(Daily Mirror). It was only after the audience had become aware of the back stage antics that they were able to switch their political viewpoint to that of the contestant. The impact that media has on politics is shown through the way the media is able to influence the minds of audiences by only showing certain parts of the story. Parts of the show were edited out in order to create a political imbalance between the show and contestant. After the contestant told her side of the story, the audience realised that â€Å"There is now good reason to believe that there is a surprisingly vast range of ways the scene around you could have been visibly different from the way it actually is†(Noe, 2006, p. 191). The noumena, which was not something the audience could understand, was what was edited out of the show, as we could not sense it, it was independent of our minds. According to Kant, as soon as we become aware of it, it becomes a part of our phenomena and is now an observable occurrence. By understanding phenomenology it’s clear that it is an important part of the political impact that media has. Kant’s thoughts on phenomenology relate much to Platonism. The allegory of the cave is a metaphor to describe that what we believe to be reality may not be complete, and that illumination is needed for us to see the truth. Plato explains that the freed prisoner â€Å"wouldn’t be able to see a single one of the things he was now told were real† (Plato, 2006, p. 280). Plato gives us four levels of knowledge: shadows, objects, ideas, and forms, â€Å"in the first place, shadows, and in the second place, reflections† (Plato, 2006, p. 244) The first two levels are within with the realm of sense, shadows are things we have interaction with but no knowledge of, and objects are able to be perceived with knowledge but they still rely on senses to be seen. The next two levels eradicate senses and rely on intelligence. Ideas and forms are reflections of the lower levels and are seen as the ‘intelligible world’. In a similar way, Kant theorises that reality exists on many levels, with the phenomena being what we can sense, and the noumena being what we cannot sense, independent of the mind. Both Plato and Kant agree that knowledge is primarily reliant on sense but does not have to rely on sense alone, and that reality exists on a series of levels. The concept of realism has made huge advancements in technology over the last decade. With great progression in technology, media such as video games and cinema have transformed immensely in terms of how real they appear to their targeted audiences. New technology such as 3D cinema and D-Box enables audiences to be transported even further into the world of the film by creating a false sense of reality. By wearing 3D glasses and sitting in a stimulation chair, the cinema is able to allow the audience to be absorbed into the world of the film even further than ever before. These technological advances exhibit the power phenomenology has to intensify the experiences of watching a film or playing a game. Certain media are created to illuminate our phenomena by their transmission and the form that certain media take, â€Å"What we know of the world  (including cinematic representation) has to do with our experience of phenomena, that is, the way things appear to us. †(Casebier, 2009, p. 4) According to Husserl, knowledge â€Å"remains within experience† (Husserl, 2012, p. ), so all we know of cinema and videos games is merely a recreation of what we already know from our experiences. However it isn’t just cinema that does this, advancements in technology have enabled other media to do the same; 3D televisions and mobile phones are created for the same reason, to create a fabricated reality, a place where people can have all of the fun without any of the responsibility. Video games are created with a goal to make an interactive world which can be perceived similar to real life but without the consequences that comes with reality. Racing games are made with cars that look and sound more realistic to appeal to audiences, stimulation controllers to enable you to feel like you’re actually driving a car, but when you crash your car you’re able to start another race, when in reality there would be serious consequences. However, the question of truth and reality regarding technology can be argued against. Plato states that the representation of reality is not as clear as we may think it is. Plato states that â€Å"the quickest way is to take a mirror and turn it round in all directions, before long you will create suns and stars and earth† (Plato, 2006, p. 70). When he is told that this will only create reflections and not reality, Plato states that an artist would do the same with a paintbrush. This allegory shows that what’s real and what’s true is hard to determine because everything is a representation of the ultimate reality. Therefore the images created in technology such as video games and cinema can be seen as a construction or representation of an ultimate reality, what we perceive as real life experiences. As Husserl states â€Å"Natural knowledge begins with experience† (Husserl, 2012, p. ), it is from our experiences of real life that we’re able to even comprehend the constructed reality that is shown in media such as video games and cinema. However, being too involved in these types of simulated realities can be dangerous, they can distort our minds by making us confused between the difference of what’s true and what’s real. What is acceptable in a simulated video game such as Grand Theft Auto, such as beating people up, shooting people, stealing cars, woul d not be acceptable in real life. A distinction is needed in the mind between what is real and what is true. These experiences show the importance that phenomenology has in terms of understanding the impact media has on technology. Husserl states that human experiences are subjective, and this is true especially when referring to photography and the social impacts that certain media have on the world. Photographs are a special type of image, one that holds a subjective experience personal to the people who are in them and the people who took them. â€Å"It is not merely the likeness which is precious in such cases – but the association and the sense of nearness involved in the thing. (Sontag, 2001, p. 183) Instagram is a social networking app which allows users to upload pictures onto a database which is viewable by ‘followers’. Similar to social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter, users can follow each other and comment on pictures that are uploaded. With the invention of such social applications personal photographs no longer serve as just memories or subjec tive images, they also serve as a way to exhibit your experiences to your social circle: your friends and family. The way we communicate and share with each other has been changed. No longer do photographs have to be developed and stuck in an album for everyone to see them, now you can upload a picture onto Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any similar social networking sites and it can be viewed by hundreds of people from your social circle at the same time. By sharing our experiences socially we’re able to project our experiences into the minds of others; â€Å"We behold the living experiences of others through the perception of their bodily behaviour† (Tymieniecka, 1983, p. 300). Even though pictures that are ploaded onto social networking sites are able to be sensed by others in terms of being able to see them, they will be not be aware of the meaning behind the pictures. The noumena of the pictures will be the meaning behind them; the memories and emotions that are attached with the image will not be visible to everyone who looks at it, only the people who have previous knowledge of the image will be able to have a deeper understanding of what it’s about. No matter how much you look at a photograph it will have different memories and connotations for each person who views it. The way we communicate with each other has changed in many others way than just photography. The impact media has on society is seen through the change in our communication with each other with tools such as Whatsapp and Skype. With the use of just a mobile phone you’re able to communicate with other people in so many different ways; We’re no longer limited to just calling or texting each other, now we’re able to video call, send pictures, on Facebook people are able to send each other virtual animals to each other; media has impacted the way we communicate so much so that the levels of communication are unlimited. Through doing so we’re expanding our experience of communicating with each other and therefore according to Husserl we’re expanding our knowledge of each other. The level of impact media has on communication is clear because through new methods of communication comes more information we have of each other. Phenomenology is important for understanding media and its impact on many aspects such as politics, society, and technology. Both Kant’s and Husserl’s analysis of phenomenology are vital branches of philosophical thought when thinking about the influence that media has. Through politics, media is able to hide certain aspects of the truth in order to manipulate the minds of the public. Kant’s theory of the phenomena and noumena is shown here as what the audience perceive as the truth is merely a part of it; the parts that are kept out are the noumena. What’s not perceivable by our immediate senses becomes independent of the mind. When it comes to technology, the impact that media has refers mainly to realism. The question of what is true and what is real comes into place. Media such as video games and cinema are able to create other worlds of reality in which people are absorbed into. Husserl states that it is through experience that knowledge is made, so media takes the experience that we have in the real world and build upon to create realities that are more idealistic to live in; Worlds in which people are free to do as they choose without any consequence. The only consequence of this is if people become so involved in these created worlds that they’re unable to distinguish between reality and constructed reality in the form of games or cinema. Through social issues it’s clear that phenomenology is an important issue in terms of how much of an impact media has. Social network sites enable people to share their experiences with their friends and family. Photographs no longer have to be shown to others in a physical album, now they’re visible all over the world. Husserl tells us that it is through others being and their bodily behaviour that we’re able to understand them. Therefore it’s clear that the impact that media has on society is the change of how we communicate with each other. By having new ways of talking to other people, there’s also new ways of understanding each other. Phenomenology shows that with a wider experience of communication, we’re gaining knowledge of whom and what we communicate with. Kant and Husserl both have different methods of analysis according to phenomenology, but ultimately they’re both concerned with the way the world appears to us and our subjective understanding of the world around us.

The Language of MIT :: Numbers School Education Communication Essays

The Language of MIT "I have 18.02 due at 4:00 P. M. on 11/14/00 in 16-135. Then I have to go to 8.01 in 26-100 at 5:00 P. M. and get at least a 65 on Exam 3. Do you remember the Athena cluster combination? Oh, yeah, it's 43169*." To an average person, this jargon sounds like a computer code or a series of misunderstandings. However, every MIT student has probably said and heard something like this to describe his or her schedule in a small part of the day. Numbers are the language at MIT, and they specify all sorts of places, classes, work, time, and even the students themselves. This powerful yet simple system of communication has completely engulfed this school and made organization much easier because of the clarity of numbers and the obscurity of language. Even before I considered applying to MIT, I thought of this school as a center of mathematics and science. Of course the name suggests this fact, but not until I visited the campus during the summer before my senior year of high school did I realize the truth of that statement. My visit began with directions to "Lobby 7" where I would meet with a tour guide. Coming from a high school where all the buildings were named and clearly labeled outside, I expected a giant number seven on the front edifice of a building to designate it from the others, but I had no such luck. Instead, I scanned the map of the campus several times before finding Building 7 on Massachusetts Avenue. I did not find this designation for the building anywhere outside until I went in and saw one of the doors inside surrounding the massive lobby. When my tour began, the guide led us through a myriad of identical halls and corridors until we finally went outside. She began to describe the numbering system across campus and explained that many of the buildings we walked through were distinguished on the outside only by numbers on the doors, which I had not understood quite yet. Then she listed some of the required freshman courses including multiple semesters of Calculus and the three main natural sciences. Following the tour was an information session for prospective students and their parents to ask questions about the admissions process.

Introduction for a Chemistry Essay

The average University student has many tasks to accomplish and much studying to do while combating the onslaught of sleep. Students at the University of the West Indies Mona are no different and recommended amongst themselves a highly rated and popular health supplement â€Å"Yeast-Vite† [8]. Yeast-Vite is a health supplement pill which helps people fight fatigue and improve alertness. The active ingredients in Yeast-Vite are caffeine, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3. The other ingredients are: dried yeast, lactose, powdered cloves, colouring E124, E104, E132, colloidal anhydrous silica, maize starch, and microcrystalline cellulose. [1] Yeast-Vite is a good energy supplier when taken according to the directions. The Manufacturer recommends taking 12 pills in a day [1] to eliminate fatigue and improve concentration. The â€Å"alert† effect can be attributed to Caffeine, a major compound that has been proven to stimulate the central nervous system, heart, muscles, and blood pressure control centres [2]. Each pill contains 50mg of Caffeine according to the label created by the manufacturer. The following structure represents that of caffeine. Though effective, research has shown that the intake of more than 300mg of Caffeine on a daily basis is harmful to the body. Symptoms such as caffeinism, insomnia, irritability, palpitations, Nervous symptoms, upset stomach etc. are experienced and consuming more than 500mg may cause death.[3] Theoretically, the recommended dosage of Yeast-Vite tablets daily can create such harm, since the suggested daily dosage of up to 12 tablets[1] adds up to 600mg –if caffeine content of 50mg per tablet holds true. A problem exists. The recommended daily dosage of Yeast-Vite contained too much caffeine for the human body. It was hypothesized that the caffeine concentration in Yeast-Vite pills could cause negative health effects and that the manufacturer’s idea of the caffeine content may be inaccurate. Three analytical chemistry students decided to test the hypothesis, and over a four week period, conducted the determination of the caffeine content of Yeast-Vite pills using High Performance Liquid Chromatography. The researchers expected the actual caffeine content of pills to be 10mg more/less than 50mg of caffeine and also that Vitamins B1, B2 and B3 could cause significant interference. The analysis was conducted entirely as a group by dissolving pills in water, preparing calibration standards, and determining the concentration of caffeine in the pills via external calibration and standard addition (single spike). High performance liquid chromatography was chosen as the analytical method because caffeine did not fit the criteria for analysis by Gas Chromatography and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy i.e. caffeine’s volatility was negligible and it had no metal ions.

East Coast Yachts key Essay

1. Calculate all of the ratios listed in the industry table for East Coast Yachts Current ratio=CA/CL= 14,651,000/19,539,000=0.75 Quick Ratio=(CA-Inventory)/CL=(14651000-6136000)/19539000=0.44 Total assert turnover=Sales / Total Assets=167310000/108615000=1.54 Inventory turnover=Cost of Goods Sold / Inventory=117910000/6136000=19.22 Receivable turnover=Sales / Accounts Receivable=167310000/5473000=30.57 Debt ratio(TA-TE)/TA=(108615000-55341000)/108615000=0.49 Debt-equity ratio=TD/TE=33735000/55341000=0.61 Equity multiplier=TA/TE=108615000/55341000=1.96 Interest coverage=23496000/300900=7.96 Profit margin=Net Income / Sales=12562200/167310000=0.07 Return on asserts=Net Income / Total Assets=12562200/108615000=0.12 Return on equity=Net Income / Total Equity=12562200/55341000=0.23 2. Compare the performance of East Coast Yachts to the industry as a whole. For each ratio, comment on why it might be viewed as positive or negative relative to the industry. Suppose you create an inventory ratio calculated as inventory divided by current liabilities. How do you interpret this ratio? How does East Coast Yachts compare to the industry average? Current ratio is negative because CA smaller than CL Quick Ratio is positive because the ratio is bigger than the industry upper quartile ratio. Total assert turnover is positive the ratio because the ratio is bigger than the industry upper quartile ratio. Inventory turnover is positive because it is higher than the industry average. It represents that the company has a high sales based on its inventory. Receivable turnover is positive because it shows that the company can collect the sales faster. Debt ratio is positive because it shows that the company has a lower debt risk than the industry average. Debt-equity ratio is positive because it shows that the company is less aggressive using debt which means the company has relatively lower debt risk. Equity multiplier is negative because it shows that the company has a lower accounting return. Interest coverage= Profit margin is about the same with the industry average. Return on assets is positive because the profit per dollar of assets is higher than the industry average. Return on equity is positive because it shows that the company has better shareholder’s fare. Inventory Ratio= CL /Inventory =19539000/6136000=3.18 Inventory is negative It is still smaller than industry lower quartile It represents that the company has a low sales based on its inventory. 3. Calculate the sustainable growth rate of East Coast Yachts. Calculate external funds needed (EFN) and prepare pro forma income statements and balance sheets assuming growth at precisely this rate. Recalculate the ratios in the previous question. What do you observe? ROE=ni/te=125622000/55341000=0.23 B=re/ni=5024800/12562200=0.4 Sustainable Growth rate=ROE*b/1-roe*b=0.23*0.4/1-0.23*0.40=0.099 EFN= TA-(TL+E)=108615000*1.099-ï ¼Ë†19539000*1.099+3373500+55341000*1.1099ï ¼â€°=3166002 All Current ratio=CA/CL= 14,651,000*1.09/19,539,000*1.09=0.75 QuickRatio=(CA-Inventory)/CL=(14651000*1.09-6136000*1.09)/19539000*1.09=0.44 Total assert turnover=Sales / Total Assets=167310000*1.09/108615000*1.09=1.54 Inventory turnover=Cost of Goods Sold / Inventory=117910000*1.09/6136000*1.09=19.22 Receivable turnover=Sales / Accounts Receivable=167310000*1.09/5473000*1.09=30.57 Debt ratio(TA-TE)/TA=(108615000-55341000*1.09)/108615000*1.09=0.49 Debt-equity ratio=TD/TE=33735000*1.09/55341000*1.09=0.61 Equity multiplier=TA/TE=108615000*1.09/55341000*1.09=1.96 Interest coverage=23496000*1.09/300900*1.09=8.93 Profit margin=Net Income / Sales=12562200*1.09/167310000*1.09=0.07 Return on asserts=Net Income / Total Assets=12562200*1.09/108615000*1.09=0.12 Return on equity=Net Income / Total Equity=12562200*1.09/55341000*1.09=0.23 Only interest coverage changed. 4As a practical matter, East Coast Yachts is unlikely to be willing to raise external equity capital, in part because the owners don’t want to dilute their existing ownership and control positions. However, East Coast Yachts is planning for a growth rate of 20 percent next year. What are your conclusions and recommendations about the feasibility of East Coast’s expansion plans? EFN= TA-(TL+E)=108615000*1.2-ï ¼Ë†19539000*1.2+3373500+55341000*1.2ï ¼â€°=8753040 5. Most assets can be increased as a percentage of sales. For instance, cash can be increased by any amount. However, fixed assets often must be increased in specific amounts because it is impossible, as a practical matter, to buy part of a new plant or machine. In this case a company has a â€Å"staircase† or â€Å"lumpy† fixed cost structure. Assume that East Coast Yachts is currently producing at 100 percent Of capacity. As a result, to expand production, the company must set up an entirely new line at a cost of $30 million. Calculate the new EFN with this assumption. What does this imply about capacity utilization for East Coast Yachts next year? Depreciation percentage= $5,460,000 / $93,964,000= .0581 Pro forma depreciation=0.581*123964000=7203221 EFN= TA-(TL+E)=108615000*1.2+3000000 -ï ¼Ë†19539000*1.2+3373500+55341000*1.2=23004405 The fixed assets have increased faster than sales, so the capacity utilization for next year will decrease.

Liquid Definition in Chemistry

Liquid Definition in Chemistry Liquid Definition AÂ  liquid is one of the states of matter. The particles in a liquid are free to flow, so while a liquid has a definite volume, it does not have a definite shape. Liquids consist of atoms or molecules that are connected by intermolecular bonds. Examples of Liquids At room temperature, examples of liquids include water, mercury, vegetable oil, ethanol. Mercury is the only metallic element that is a liquid at room temperature, although francium, cesium, gallium, and rubidium liquefy at slightly elevated temperatures. Aside from mercury, the only liquid element at room temperature is bromine. The most abundant liquid on Earth is water. Properties of Liquids While the chemical composition of liquids may be very different from each other, the state of matter is characterized by certain properties: Liquids are nearly incompressible fluids. In other words, even under pressure, their value only decreases slightly.The density of a liquid is affected by pressure, but generally, the change in density is small. The density of a liquid sample is fairly constant throughout. The density of a liquid is higher than that of its gas and usually lower than that of its solid form.Liquids, like gases, take the shape of their container. However, a liquid cannot disperse to fill a container (which is a property of a gas).Liquids have surface tension, which leads to wetting.Although liquids are common on Earth, this state of matter is relatively rare in the universe because liquids only exist over a narrow temperature and pressure range. Most matter consists of gases and plasma.Particles in a liquid have greater freedom of movement than in a solid.When two liquids are placed into the same container, they may either mix (be miscible) or not (be immiscible). Examples of two miscible liquids are wat er and ethanol. Oil and water are immiscible liquids.

Continental Drift Essays

Continental Drift Essays Continental Drift Paper Continental Drift Paper First proposed by Alfred Wegener the meteorologist, the theory of continental drift supports the belief that the Earths continents once were a single land mass. This land mass, which was named Pangaea, broke up, and its various parts drifted away from one another.  Centuries ago, trips around the world from travellers showed out lines from every continent around the world. Later on, early mapmakers wondered why these continents fit together so well. Early geologist thought at first that the continents had started off in their places they laid in the present day. However, a meteorologist constructed a theory that would change the way people would look at the world. The Theory of Continental Drift is a theory that proves that the continents were once joined together making only one single landmass. This theory was proposed by a meteorologist by the name of Alfred Wegener. His theory states that the continents were once one and have drifted apart. Wegener named this land mass â€Å"Pangaea†, which translates â€Å"All Lands† Then he gathered evidence from around the world from landforms, fossils, and climate. He then gathered his evidence and put it in a book titled â€Å"The Origin of Continents and Oceans† which was published in 1915. But Wegener’s theory was rejected because he could not provide evidence on the force that moved the continents. The Earth has a magnetic field that causes a compass needle to always point toward the North magnetic pole, currently located near the rotation pole. The Earths magnetic field is what would be expected if there were a large bar magnet located at the centre of the Earth. The magnetic field is composed of lines of force. Initial studies of the how the position of the Earths magnetic pole varied with time were conducted in Europe. These studies showed that the magnetic pole had apparently moved through time. When similar measurements were made on rocks of various ages in North America, however, a different path of the magnetic pole was found. This either suggested that (1) the Earth has had more than one magnetic pole at various times in the past (not likely), or (2) that the different continents have moved relative to each other over time. Studies of ancient pole positions for other continents confirmed the latter hypothesis, and seemed to confirm the theory of Continental Drift. Exploration of the seafloor had been in progress at a slow but gradually accelerating pace during the nineteenth century and the first four decades of this century. There was a rapid increase in geological and geophysical exploration of the seafloor after the Second World War. Hess suggested in 1958 that seafloor too may be in motion and, in fact, it may be carrying the continents with it. It turns out that the theory of continental drift provides a simple and consistent explanation for these paleomagnetic results. Hess’s idea explained neatly why the drifting continents did not leave any scars on the seafloor. It also shifted the spotlight from the mechanism of continental drift that had bothered Wegener greatly. In time, Hess’s geopoetry became known as the seafloor spreading hypothesis. A fossil is any evidence of ancient life. In the beginning of the 20th Century, fossil evidence was also found to support continental drift. Identical fossilized plant and animal species have been found in many different places, on different continents. It seems hard to believe that such similar organisms would exist so far away from each other, or that they could have swam from one continent to another. It is more likely that these life forms once lived all together on a single continent, as shown in the following image. An example of this would be that in places like South America and Africa the same animal fossils have been found which could only have happened if they were originally joined. Palaeoclimatology is the study of changes in climate taken on the scale of the entire history of Earth. Parts of all the continents in the Southern Hemisphere were covered by glaciers in their geological past. Glaciers grind and smooth the rocks across which they move, and leave grooves where rocks that were caught in the ice grated over the bottom rocks. When the ancient scour marks on the continents in the Southern Hemisphere are studied, it appears as if the ancient glaciers were formed in the oceans and moved towards the land. But no glacier we know of functions in this way. Glaciers usually form in high-lying regions and then move slowly downwards in the direction of the oceans. However, if we could move the continents back to recreate Gondwana, all ancient glacier parts would fit neatly into one another without being separated by oceans.

African-American History Timeline 1930 to 1939

African-American History Timeline 1930 to 1939 Despite enduring the Great Depression and Jim Crow laws, throughout the decade of 1930, African-Americans continued to make great strides in the areas of sports, education, visual artistry and music. 1930 One of the first art galleries to feature African-American art is opened at Howard University. Founded by James V. Herring, the Howard University Gallery of Art is the first of its kind in the United States to have its artistic vision directed by African-Americans.The Black Muslim Movement is established in Detroit by Wallace Fard Muhammad. Within four years, Elijah Muhammad takes control of the religious movement, moving its headquarters to Chicago. 1931 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) hires Walter White as its executive secretary. With White in this role, the organization develops new strategies for ending racial discrimination.In March, nine African-American young men are accused of raping two white women. Their case begins on April 6 and they are quickly convicted of the crimes. However, the case of the Scottsboro Boys soon receives national attention and will help pave the way for the civil rights movement.Symphony composer William Grant Still becomes the first African-American to have his music performed by a major orchestra. 1932 A 40-year study begins in Tuskegee, Ala. testing the impact of syphilis on 400 African-American men. The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment is established through the U.S. Public Health Service. The men are never told they have the disease nor are they offered any treatment.Thomas Dorsey, known as the father of African-American gospel music. Dorsey writes Take My Hand, Precious Lord.Leon H. Washington publishes Sentinel in Los Angeles.Sculptor Augusta Savage opens the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts. Based out of New York City, it is considered the largest art center in the United States. 1933 James Weldon Johnson publishes his autobiography, Along This Way. Johnsons autobiography is the first person narrative by an African-American to be reviewed by the New York Times. Historian Carter G. Woodson publishes Mis-education of the Negro. 1934 W.E.B. Du Bois resigns from the NAACP.Zora Neale Hurston publishes her first novel, Jonahs Gourd Vine. 1935 The Southern Tenant Farmers Union is established by the Socialist Party to assist southern sharecroppers to fight for better wages and working conditions.Pianist Count Basie establishes Count Basie and His Orchestra, which will become one of the biggest bands of the Swing Era.The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Norris v. Alabama case that a defendant must have the right to a trial by jury by his/her peers. This ruling overturns the Scottsboro Boys early conviction.Mary McLeod Bethune establishes the National Council of Negro Womencalling more than 20 leaders of national womens organizations together. 1936 Bethune is appointed Director of the Division of Negro Affairs for the National Youth Administration. Bethune is the first African-American woman to receive a presidential appointment and is the highest-ranking African-American official in Theodore Roosevelts administration.Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics. His achievement defies Adolf Hitlers plan to use the Olympics to show the world Aryan Supremacy.The first medical textbook to be written by an African-American is entitled Syphilis and Its Treatment. The author is Dr. William Augustus Hinton.The first African-American federal judge is appointed by Roosevelt. William H. Hastie is appointed to the federal bench in the U.S. Virgin Islands. 1937 The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids signs a collective bargaining agreement with the Pullman Company.Joe Louis wins the heavyweight championship against James J. Braddock.The Negro Dance Group is founded by Katherine Dunham.Zora Neale Hurston publishes the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. 1938 The work of Jacob Lawrence debuts in an exhibition at the Harlem YMCA.Crystal Bird Fauset becomes the first African-American woman elected to a state legislature. She is chosen to serve in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. 1939 Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial in front of 75,000 people on Easter Sunday.The Black Actors Guild is founded by Bill Bojangles Robinson.Jane M. Bolin is appointed to the domestic relations court of New York City. This appointment makes her the first African-American woman judge in the United States.

Gender identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gender identity - Essay Example These stereotype environmental effects also evolve with time as the trends in recent decades have seen changes in gender behaviors and roles. Today, there is an expectation that women will show a more feminist and assertive side, while can now show a more compassionate and softer feminine side (Blakemore et al 23). Rather than reinforcing the aspect of nurture, however, this shows that one should not try too hard to nurture a child to conform to the environment. Therefore, nature must be more important in gender identity development because the child is born with a pre-determined identity. Modern research and science have contended that gender identity is not a choice made consciously. Rather, it is a result of factors in one’s biological make up, such as the difference in size of specific brain areas, genetics, and hormone levels. There is evidence suggesting that genetics plays a critical role in sexual identity. Sexual identity is wired into infant’s brains as they d evelop because of these genetic factors. For example, there are various genes involved in brain development that are active during sexual organ development. Infants and young toddlers show typical differences in gender identity (Blakemore et al 24), which suggests that gender is the first and most important player in gender identity development. Youngsters will normally start identifying with their gender before they reach mid-childhood (Blakemore et al 32). Their awareness of being a girl or boy starts in the initial year of their life by the tenth month of their lives, especially as they become mildly aware of their genitals. By the time children are two years of age, they begin to realize the physical differences between girls and boys, while it is possible for them to call themselves a girl or boy by the time they are three, acquiring a better and stronger concept of the self-concept. The gender identity of the child is already established and stable by the time they are four ye ars of age (Blakemore et al 32). By this time, it is possible to say that they know that they will always be girls or boys. It is also possible for anyone to observe a behavior and classify it as being â€Å"girlish† or â€Å"boyish†. For example, without being nurtured, boys prefer playing with toy guns and truck-cars, prefer science and math, are more active physically and more aggressive, and possess better hand-eye coordination and spatial reasoning (Blakemore et al 33). Girls, on the other hand, prefer cooperative play and dolls, have better motor skills, learn to talk and read earlier, and possess more empathy and emotions. Most of these things are inborn and innate without any need to teach them. This shows that nature has an important role in shaping gender identity. Even when parents choose to treat their children in a gender-neutral manner, the results are always according to nature (Blakemore et al 33). For example, a parent who insists on her young girls pl aying with trucks will find that her daughters refer to the trucks as mommy trucks that are on the way to pick their children from baby-care. On the other hand, a boy given a truck will fill it action heroes, while racing it all over the playing area and making noises of squealing tires. This is most certainly due to nature, which pre-determines the gender identity

Climate Change Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Climate Change - Research Paper Example Extreme temperature is not suitable for sustaining life forms on earth. If the temperature rises beyond certain limits, survival of humans and animals on this earth would be difficult. It should be noted that there is equilibrium, with respect to the quantity of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Trees and plants absorb carbon dioxide from atmosphere for photosynthesis and they liberate oxygen when the process is over. On the other hand, human and animals breathe oxygen and liberates carbon dioxide. Thus, the atmospheric content of oxygen and carbon dioxide follows a ratio all the time. However, when atmospheric temperature increases, survival of trees and plants would be difficult and thereby the ratio of oxygen with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will be spoiled. In other words, the content of carbon dioxide increases whereas that of oxygen decreases in the atmosphere because of atmospheric temperature rise. Such a situation is not suitable either for humans or all othe r living things. â€Å"Deforestation is an important factor in global climate change. It is estimated that more than 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide are released to the atmosphere due to deforestation, mainly the cutting and burning of forests, every year† (Deforestation). ... In many villages women are hit the hardest by natural disasters. They often cannot swim, have fewer assets to turn to for alternative livelihoods when crops are destroyed, and have fewer employment opportunities away from the home. The perception of many villagers and local leaders is that the climate is already changing. The main problems were typhoons, unpredictable weather, and the threat of salt water intrusion from sea level rise and other factors (A report for Oxfam, 2008, p. 3-4). Floods, tsunamis, earthquake, hurricanes etc are some of the weather calamities caused by climate change problems. All these natural disasters can cause immense damage to human life and properties. The frequency of occurrence of these kinds of natural disasters has been increased a lot in the recent past. Many people believe that climate change problems are the major reasons behind it. The occurrence of unexpected weather calamities is causing huge damage to the life environment and agriculture. Huma n activities are causing huge damages to the environment. Heavy industrialization and increased automobile use result in increased use of fossil fuels. Increased use of fossil fuels causes big problems to the environment since fossil fuels have the ability to release toxic greenhouse gases to the atmosphere at the time of its burning. Land, water and air are getting polluted as time goes on because of unregulated industrialization and automobile use. Moreover, greenhouse gases have the ability to destroy the ozone layer at the top of the earth which is shielding us from the intrusion of harmful radiations from sun and outer universe. â€Å"Scientists believe that Global Warming will lead to a weaker Ozone

Ancient Art Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ancient Art - Research Paper Example explanation on the manner by which the works of art fit into the context of the time period, as created between 30,000 BCE- 500 CE to be classified as Ancient Art. A research from the three official websites of the (1) The Metropolitan Museum of Art; (2) The Louvre Museum; and (3) The Smithsonian Institution Freer Gallery and Sackler Gallery, generated several suggestions of ancient art. However, given the specified time frame, two works of art fall within the category. One was the Terracotta amphora (jar) from The Metropolitan Museum of Art as it was disclosed to have been created within 490 BC. The other work of art was the Attic Red-Figure Amphora, which was classified as an aryballos, allegedly a perfume container, or a very small jar, which was created within the 500 to 490 BC time frame. These two works of ancient art have similarities in terms of the form, both are receptacles or jars. The Terracotta amphora (jar) was reportedly made from terracotta as the medium; while the Attic Red-Figure Aryballos was made from clay. These works of art were both created within the same time frame, about 490B.C. and shows the red figure as the images within these receptacles. The Terracotta amphora jar had the following dimensions H. 16 5/16 in. or 41.50 cm; while the Attic Red-Figure Aryballos was noted to be smaller with the following dimensions, to wit: H. 8.8 cm; or 8.6 cm. Both background colors were predominantly black to enhance the color red figures. Both the Terracotta amphora jar and the Attic Red-Figure Aryballos were was noted to be from the Ancient Greek culture. Both are also representational objects, where the former was noted to be apparently used for decorative purposes; while the latter was a perfume container, which was reportedly hanged in the wrists of athletes (Attic Red-Figure Aryballos). It was described in the first art work that the image was supposed to represent the â€Å"a musician in a long, slim garment accompanies himself on the kithara, a

Assault, Battery, and Crimes against Persons Term Paper

Assault, Battery, and Crimes against Persons - Term Paper Example There is no assault if the act does not produce a true fear of harm that is reasonable in the victim. The general rule of battery occurs when someone offensively touches another person and the touching does not necessarily have to inflict harm. The elements of battery are that an act with intent to cause harmful or offensive contact to the victim (Gardner & Anderson, 2012). The most important aspect that differentiates between assault and battery is the amount of contact. In assault cases, there is no physical harm to the victim, just threat from criminal to victim but in battery cases, there must be some physical contact between the criminal and victim. A person, who receives punishment for battery, is essentially guilty of assault as well but on the other hand; the assault crime has no charges of battery. Also, the purpose of assault is to threaten the victim while the purpose of battery is to cause to the victim actual physical harm (Molan, 2009). Both acts of assault and battery can be either be a criminal act or subject one to civil liability. Another similarity is found under common law where both acts are both Intentional torts. In both cases there are common defense to an assault or battery charge in all jurisdictions, these defenses are mutual consent where both parties agree to the situation, meaning that there was not a one-sided attack and the other defense is self-defense, defense of others, or defense of property. These are the most common defenses (Molan, 2009). The man’s actions should be considered as both an assault and battery because there were elements of both crimes in his actions. The attacker strikes (A) and rips her clothes this constitutes battery because there is actual physical contact that causes harm to the victim. Assault occurs when the attacker jumps from the alley and cause apprehension of harmful and offensive contact

Transition in Adolescent Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Transition in Adolescent Development - Essay Example Many researchers have undoubtedly identified the decisive role of parents in moulding the character of their children during this transitional period. When a child is moving from primary to secondary, this is quite sure that he/she is subjected to various kinds of transitions that may affect him/her all through the life time. Therefore, regarding the parents and the teachers, they should be very vigilant and attentive in observing the transitions occurring to the children, and as such, the study of transition in adolescent development and schooling deserves greater significance. In order to examine adolescence in media, the paper seeks to gather material from Karen Thomas’ online article entitled: 12-14 Year-Olds: Transition in Adolescent Development & Schooling, published on Dec 1, 2010. The article selected for the study clearly evaluates certain aspects concerning the parental role in assuring healthy lifestyles to children. When analysing the article selected for the study , one can see that the writer was actually focusing on the transitions of the children aged in between 12-14; kids moving from primary to secondary school. Though the article was actually aimed at parents of this age group, anyone would get valuable details regarding this topic. The author has arranged this topic under various headings to help support his study.

Assault, Battery, and Crimes against Persons Term Paper

Assault, Battery, and Crimes against Persons - Term Paper Example There is no assault if the act does not produce a true fear of harm that is reasonable in the victim. The general rule of battery occurs when someone offensively touches another person and the touching does not necessarily have to inflict harm. The elements of battery are that an act with intent to cause harmful or offensive contact to the victim (Gardner & Anderson, 2012). The most important aspect that differentiates between assault and battery is the amount of contact. In assault cases, there is no physical harm to the victim, just threat from criminal to victim but in battery cases, there must be some physical contact between the criminal and victim. A person, who receives punishment for battery, is essentially guilty of assault as well but on the other hand; the assault crime has no charges of battery. Also, the purpose of assault is to threaten the victim while the purpose of battery is to cause to the victim actual physical harm (Molan, 2009). Both acts of assault and battery can be either be a criminal act or subject one to civil liability. Another similarity is found under common law where both acts are both Intentional torts. In both cases there are common defense to an assault or battery charge in all jurisdictions, these defenses are mutual consent where both parties agree to the situation, meaning that there was not a one-sided attack and the other defense is self-defense, defense of others, or defense of property. These are the most common defenses (Molan, 2009). The man’s actions should be considered as both an assault and battery because there were elements of both crimes in his actions. The attacker strikes (A) and rips her clothes this constitutes battery because there is actual physical contact that causes harm to the victim. Assault occurs when the attacker jumps from the alley and cause apprehension of harmful and offensive contact

Business Analysis of Wal-Mart Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business Analysis of Wal-Mart - Research Paper Example Currently, Wal-Mart has about 4,573 stores worldwide along with 730,000 associates that are evident in the form of their presence in fourteen countries (Vatalyst, 2012). In Canada, Brazil, Argentina and United Kingdom, Wal-Mart has wholly owned operations while it has several joint ventures in China along with some majority owned subsidiaries. In many international stores, Wal-Mart operates under various banners with one aim that is to provide best quality products at low prices so that customers can save money and live a better life as well. The primary idea behind the establishment of Wal-Mart was to provide high quality branded products at low prices. In order to have low prices, the company ensures that the cost is kept to a minimum level with the help of excellence in warehousing as it has developed cordial relations with its suppliers and advancements in information technology have helped the store to ensure that inventory level is properly maintained (Piercy, Cravens & Lane, 2 010). Economic trends influencing business Wal-Mart has been severely impacted by economic recession and increase in costs of transportation and utilities. The second quarter forecast of corporation reported that the share prices are lower and profits also reduced considerably as compared to first quarter profits (Cheng, 2012). Lately, shares of Wal-Mart went down to $56.74 which meant it reduced by 2.2%. Other costs that have impacted Wal-Mart’s sales are increase in commodities and fuel cost; as a result product placement and transportation became one of the major areas of concern for the store. The number of economic worries for consumers has increased significantly i.e. from gasoline prices that have reached highest prices to housing and credit markets that have declined radically. Such economic downturns have affected the spending power of budget conscious consumers who prefer to shop from Wal-Mart rather than do bargaining for their shopping. Since economic recession ha s impacted lives of USA consumers’, they are now shifting to Wal-Mart for shopping at low prices (Cheng, 2009). In order to cut down its cost, Wal-Mart has controlled its promotional activities as it needs to maintain certain profit level so that it can survive in such financial distressful situations. Wal-Mart still uses its tagline â€Å"Save Money. Live Better† and in order to reinforce this image it has expanded into generic drug prescription program. Currently, store is offering 90 days supplies of about 350 medications for $10 and also $4 over-the-counter drugs so it can expand its sales of pharmaceutical products and even bolster its store traffic. Strategies and Tactics used by Wal-Mart for addressing the changes Since Wal-Mart wants to reach more customers and observing that industries are getting global, Wal-Mart launched its website in 2010. It consolidated all its E-commerce activities worldwide into one Global E-commerce Division (Parker, 2012). The primar y objectives of this Division comprise of developing and executing a global strategy for E-commerce; provide acceleration for global growth of online channel and creation of technological platforms and applications for every market of Wal-Mart. In order to address the global changes that are taking place, Wal-Mart has revised its business strategies to incorporate these alterations in the market and ensure that they are aligned with organization’s main goal of providing superior quality products at low prices.

Pe pep on swimming Essay Example for Free

Pe pep on swimming Essay have chosen the activity swimming because I am very interested in it. I have been doing it since early primary school and have continued onto now the end of secondary school. I think that it is the sport I no most about and I am most interested in doing. I swim in school and also out, I have progressed through out the years in my level of performance and I believe completing a personal exercise programme will improve my performance in all areas even more to a higher level. I have swam with people at higher standards than myself and also lower. I have been swimming for 12 years and it has developed to become one of my favourite physical activities. This has included watching England swim and participating with high level people my self. I personally enjoy this sport so much because of the techniques needed. It is a very exciting activity and does need a lot of taking part. Your body has to be thinking in different ways and working at high standards. I like the involvement that is expected from you in training sessions and the exciting in races and competitions. It is an individual activity and you must focus on you and only. I dont just like to swim I also take part by swimming very frequently. I previously swam for the school team and have also took part in outside of school teams. I would also like to now proceed further into swimming and sign on to a local team. This will hopefully help me to become a stronger swimmer as I will be around others with a lot of skill and devotion. I have training once or twice a week and competition come up quite often. My most preferred lane when racing is the outside left lane To be successful in Swimming   A swimmer needs to have the following qualities and components of fitness as with out these they wont be able to play up to the standards of the other competators and this is essential to win.Another one of my strong components would be agility. I believe coming out strong in half of my tests is a good because then I can focus on the other three and hopefully improve my performance in swimming. I have pointed out my weak areas and they are speed endurance and especially strength. I think strength is my main area that I need to work on. Even though the other components relate into swimming more this area still needs improving on to make my swimming standards higher.  I have decided I am going to use the school fitness suite at least three times a week for five weeks. This is as well as doing my usually training and sports. I am going to start of by building up my body on a cardiovascular machine. This would be a bike, a treadmill, a steeper machine, or a cross trainer. I will start on the first day by completing 10 minutes on a medium speed and then push my self to the faster level my body will take me for the last two minutes. I will then go onto another cardio vascular machine mentioned above different machine to what I started on and complete 10 minutes on a medium speed and also in the remaining two minutes push my body to the limit.  As I am working on me strength I am going to focus on the weight machines in my arms. The more power I can build up in my arms the stronger my strokes will become. I am going to start at around 20 reps per machine. I am going to begin my weight work out by using an arm weight machine then changing to my legs then finishing once again on an arm. This is making me work more on arm machines which will hopefully lead to an improvement in my weak area. I will then end each session by warming my body down once again on a cardiovascular machine. One of which I listed earlier. I will start by working on a steady speed for 10 minutes and then pushing the speed to the highest my can take for five minutes. I will go up a km each 40 seconds until my body reaches the limit.  Each time I go into the fitness suite I am going to build on my goal. On my first session the work out plan will be what I have explained above. Then the following I will add more reps and more machines. This is to push my body gradually to the limit. This will also help on my endurance because I am pushing my body more and more each time making myself work harder and for longer periods of time. Training Programme.  The following is what I did in the fitness suite for five weeks. As I went in three times I week I completed the same work out in the same week. As I went in to the next week I then pushed my self harder. This was so I wasnt building up my body to fast and to prevent injury.

Organization resource management

Organization resource management ‘The organization resource management may be defined as the composition of people and tools in any organisation for the attainment of the organisational goals. The organisation resource management in star bucks company has achieved greater heights by planning, organising and controlling the resources available within the organisation to achieve its goals. Starbucks is one of the best known and fastest growing companies in the world. Set up in 1971, in Seattle, the company grew slowly initially, but expanded rapidly in the late 1980s and the 1990s. By the early 2000s, the number of outlets reached to about 3000 from 9000 outlets . It was widely believed that the companys success and rapid growth could be attributed largely to its committed and motivated workforce. This ensured that employees remained motivated, and Starbucks had a relatively low employee turnover However, in the early 2000s, the company faced the challenge of finding and retaining the right number and kind of employees to man its future growth. In January 2005, when Starbucks Coffee Company (Starbucks) was placed second among large companies in the Fortune Best Companies to Work For survey Despite the fact that employees, especially those on the frontline, are critical to the success of retail businesses, most companies do not have a strong relationship with their employees, and consequently suffer from a high rate of employee turnover (In the early 2000s, employee turnover in the retail industry was around 200 percent). In this scenario, Starbucks stood out for its employee-friendly policies and supportive work culture. The company was especially noted for the extension of its benefits program to part-time workers something that not many other companies offered. As a result, Starbucks employees were among the most productive in the industry and the company had a relatively low employee turnover. However, by the early 2000s, three possible problems had to be considered would the company be able to support its staff with the same level of benefits in the future, given the large increase in the number of employees; would the company be able to retain employees if it made any move to lower its human resource costs by cutting down on benefits; and would Starbucks be able to maintain its small company culture, an important element in its past growth. Starbucks realized early on that motivated and committed human resources were the key to the success of a retail business. Therefore the company took great care in selecting the right kind of people and made an effort to retain them. Starbucks recruitment motto was To have the right people hiring the right people. Starbucks hired people for qualities like adaptability, dependability and the ability to work in a team. The company often stated the qualities that it looked for in employees upfront in its job postings, which allowed prospective employees to self-select themselves to a certain extent. Having selected the right kind of people, Starbucks invested in training them in the skills they would require to perform their jobs efficiently. Starbucks was one of the few retail companies to invest considerably in employee training and provide comprehensive training to all classes of employees, including part-timers Analysts said that Starbucks biggest challenge in the early 2000s would be to ensure that the companys image as a positive employer survived its rapid expansion program, and to find the right kind of people in the right numbers to support these expansion plans. Considering the rate at which the company was expanding, analysts wondered whether Starbucks would be able to retain its spirit even when it doubled or tripled its size. By the early 2000s, the company began to show signs that its generous policies and high human resource costs were reflecting on its financial strength. Although the company did not reveal the amount it spent on employees, it said that it spent more on them than it did on advertising, which stood at $68.3 million in fiscal 2004. That the company was finding its human resource costs burdensome was reflected in the fact that it effected an increase of 11 cents on its beverage prices in mid-2004. Analysts wondered whether the companys cost problems could be met by a price increase, as customers already paid a premium for Starbucks beverages. On the other hand, it would not be easy for the company to cut down on benefits, as it could result in a major morale problem within the company. A strategic HR plan lays out the steps that an organization will take to ensure that it has the right number of employees with the right skills in the right places at the right times. HR managers begin by analyzing the companys mission, objectives, and strategies. Starbucks objectives, for example, include the desire to â€Å"develop enthusiastically satisfied customers† as well as to foster an environment in which employees treat both customers and each other with respect. Thus, the firms HR managers look for people who are â€Å"adaptable, self-motivated, passionate, creative team members Job Analysis To develop an HR plan, HR managers must obviously be knowledgeable about the jobs that the organization needs performed. They organize information about a given job by performing a job analysis job analysis Identification of the tasks, responsibilities, and skills of a job, as well as the knowledge and abilities needed to perform it. to identify the tasks, responsibilities, and skills that it entails, as well as the knowledge and abilities needed to perform it. Managers also use the information collected for the job analysis to prepare two documents: †¢A job description job description Outline of the duties and responsibilities of a position., which lists the duties and responsibilities of a position †¢A job specificationjob specificationDetailed list of the qualifications needed to perform a job, including required skills, knowledge, and abilities., which lists the qualifications—skills, knowledge, and abilities—needed to perform the job Training Regular training to the stuff was the most important key to the success of the company the employees were on a regular knowledge of the latest equipments used in the company. The company spends loads of sum on training of employees. This Mkes the employees more efficient and effective in their tasks. Advantages of training Staff become more competent at their jobs Staff become moer flexible Staff motivation increases Increased productivity Changes become easier to introduce Fewer accidents The organisations image improves eg when dealing with customers Reduced waste Disadvantages of training Once fully trained, staff may leave for better paid jobs Financial cost of training may be high Work time is lost when staff are being trained Quality of training must be high for it to have a positive effect

Solutions to Sustain Freshwater Essay -- Water Scarcity Environment

Would it be possible for humans to live without water? The answer is no because fifty percent of water is inside human bodies. In other words, water supports human lives, so every person is supposed to drink at least two litres of water everyday because it predominantly prevents them from being dehydrated. In terms of being the priceless resource, water is used in many fields such as agriculture, industry, business and so on. All preliminary products are comprised of water. Due to the abundance of water, most people seem not to be concerned about the way they consume this crucial resource. For example, in some countries, there are no dirty water treatment systems practising, and everyone can use water as much as they can as the price of water is cheap, too. However, in some countries, they lack water to access regularly and need to do trade with others in exchange for water. Also, Rogers (2008) notes, â€Å"that the problem is well-known makes it no less disturbing: today one out of six people, more than a billion, suffer inadequate access to safe freshwater† (As in New Delhi, para.3). There is no limit of the use of freshwater between one country to another, and it depends on the place people live. Even though there is a lot of freshwater available on the earth, we, people, should be worried about the proper water consumption. In order to thwart the water crisis from occurring one day, we should reverse our trend of using water by desalinating seawater, recycling waste water and reducing the unnecessary demand of water. The first solution to deal with the problem of water scarcity is to desalinate seawater. Getting freshwater from the sea is taken into account because seawater is much more than freshwater in reality. As Villiers (19... ...hwater is vital for humans to survive, but they should be more concerned about the problems of water scarcity that can happen in the future. Everyone should start to adapt these solutions such as desalinating seawater, recycling waste water and reducing water demands in order to maximize the fact that there is still the abundance of freshwater to use in a long time. Works Cited Reimold, R. J. (1998). Watershed Management: Practice, Policies, and Coordination. NY: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company. Rogers, P. (2008, August). Facing the Freshwater Crisis. Retrieved November 19, 2009, from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=facing-the-freshwater-crisis&page=5 Thomson, S. A. (1999). Water Use, Management, and Planning in the United States. Toronto: ACADEMIC PRESS. Valliers, M. D. (1999). Water. San Diego: Stoddart Publishing Co. Limited.

Hector Hugh Munro †Tea Analysis Essay

The text under analysis is written by Hector Hugh Munro, better known by the pen name Saki, was a British writer, whose witty and sometimes macabre[] stories satirized Edwardian [] society and culture. He is considered to be a master of the short story and is often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. In this story we learn about a young man James Cushat-Prinkly. He decides to marry and his relatives approve this idea. They find marriageable girl named Joan Sebastable. However, he marries another girl, whose name is Rhoda Ellam. The text is written in 3rd person narration. There are both types of sentences – simple and composite. Composite are used to show that the story is about people from high society. And shorts are used when the main character`s thoughts are described. The main character in this story is James Cushat-Prinkly. He is described indirectly as we know what kind of person he is through his behavior and through his thoughts. He does things as a person of his society should do. So, he thinks that he should marry but he is not so interested in it. We can see his point at it here: â€Å"James Cushat-Prinkly was a young man who had always had a settled conviction that one of these days he would marry; up to the age of thirty-four he had done nothing to justify that conviction.† He liked women but â€Å"without singling out†. His lack of initiative shows us that he doesn`t really want to marry. His relatives really worry for this situation: â€Å"His lack of initiative in this matter aroused a certain amount of impatience among the sentimentally-minded women-folk of his home circle†. His mother, sisters and others are presented as a collective body that is not satisfied by this state. The author calls James`s delay dilatory approach which is a very subtle irony. â€Å"Married state† is one more interesting thing. Munro calls marriage as â€Å"married state† using periphrasis to show that it was very delicate business for all of them. It is said that all his sisters and aunts regarded his approac h â€Å"with a disapproval that was far from being inarticulate†. This is a litotes that creates an understatement. It identify them as people from high society that`s why bookish words are used. The following part of the sentence: â€Å"His most innocent flirtations were watched with the straining eagerness† proves us that even his sisters were much more interested in his marriage. The author describes his sisters with the help of words: â€Å"walk-beseeching dog-eyes†. He compares women with dogs who are very loyal and love their masters very much. With the help of metaphor Munro  displays women`s position in the society. â€Å"Decent-souled† is an epithet that is employed to describe a noble person from high society. The author uses periphrasis again by calling James mortal. It creates the atmosphere of the high society again. The whole phrase â€Å"pleading of several pairs of walk-beseeching dog-eyes† is a good example of periphrasis. The choice of words shows social order and conviction of people of that time. â €Å"Enamoured of some nice marriageable girl† is one more periphrasis for marriage. This word is avoided through the whole story as the characters really afraid to call it so. In this part of sentence: â€Å"When his Uncle Jules departed this life† departed his life is an euphemism. The characters avoid even saying the word â€Å"marriage† so they don`t pronounce such words like â€Å"dead† or â€Å"death†. They avoid them too. â€Å"Comfortable little legacy† is an epithet depicting us that he got rather good heritage but they talk about it in a modest way. â€Å"Discovering someone to share it with him† – it is one more periphrasis for marriage. Also here we see reasoning of marriage – if someone has money why not to marry? In the next sentence we come across morphological repetition: â€Å"The process of discovery was carried† to accentuate again avoiding the word â€Å"marriage†. We can notice that he plays passive role in this situation: â€Å"The process of discovery was carried on more by the force of suggestion and the weight of public opinion than by any initiative of his own†. He just goes with the streams. â€Å"The weight of public opinion† which is a metonymy shows again th at he hasn`t got any initiative. â€Å"A clear working majority† is a periphrasis too that shows us that even he is grown up he still can`t take the decisions. After the future wife for James was chosen, marriage is started to be called so – â€Å"to whom he might propose marriage†. It means that there are no excuses for avoiding it as the choice is already taken. James is really afraid of ordinary way of life. We can see it here: â€Å"the prescribed stages of congratulations, present-receiving, Norwegian or Mediterranean hotels, and eventual domesticity.† It is the chronological order for life stages and he doesn`t like it at all. â€Å"It was necessary however to ask the lady what she thought about the matter† – through irony the author shows us that the question of marriage for James was like some business and also it seemed to him to be the solved problem. â€Å"Individual effort† which is a metonymy accentuate one more time on his lack of initiative. It says tha t now he has to do  something. â€Å"As the thing was going to be done he was glad to feel that he was going to get it settled and off his mind that afternoon.† Again we come across periphrasis. Now thing means proposal. However, later he calls it by its name because submits it – â€Å"Proposing marriage, even to a nice girl like Joan, was a rather irksome business†. He calls marriage and proposing it irksome business so he has some business-like attitude to it. The usage of the word â€Å"preliminary† proves his attitude as it refers to the business semantic field. Also while he was going to his future wife he thinks not about proposal – â€Å"He wondered what Minorca was really like as a place to stop in; in his mind’s eye it was an island in perpetual half-mourning, with black or white Minorca hens running all over it.† It one more time shows that he is not interested in proposal at all. While he was thinking about that island â€Å"His Mediterranean musings were interrupted by the sound of a clock striking the half-hour.† His thoughts are called musings. The choice of bookish word is explained by his belonging to high society. We see the next very short sentence: â€Å"Half past four†. It is a detachment, elliptical sentence to show that the time for proposal is coming. That moment he felt unhappy: â€Å"A frown of dissatisfaction settled on his face.† It proves one more time how much he is not interested in that marriage. He imagines ho he would come to her place. Even now he doesn`t imagine the girl he thinks about place: â€Å"He would arrive at the Sebastable mansion just at the hour of afternoon tea†. He compares her voice with sound of cups: â€Å"her voice would tinkle pleasantly†. The word tinkle is used only when we are talking about things but not people. Here it is used to show that all this tea ceremony was senseless for James. He is mad because of that typical for such occasions questions like: â€Å"Is it one lump? I forgot. You do take milk, don’t you? Would you like some more hot water, if it’s too strong?†The next paragraph opens with gradation: â€Å"Cushat-Prinkly had read of such things in scores of novels, and hundreds of actual experiences had told him that they were true to life.† It is kind of hopelessness. â€Å"solemn afternoon hour† which is epithet makes the same effect. He calls question of women little. However, for him those questions are senseless. He would prefer women sitting on divan. Divan – is Turkish borrowing. For him if is some kind of symbol of freedom from these ceremonies. â€Å"Now, as he passed through a tangle of small streets that led indirectly to the elegant Mayfair terrace for  which he was bound, a horror at the idea of confronting Joan Sebastable at her tea-table seized on him†. In this sentence we can see that he doesn`t see distinct aim – â€Å"tangle of small streets†. It is a metaphor. Also he thinks about place not about the woman whom he is going to meet there. We see it when he pay attention to it – elegant Mayfair. The ceremony scares him so much: â€Å"a horror at the idea of confronting Joan Sebastable at her tea-table seized on him†. The horror is metonymy here. However he got deliverance and he comes to Rhoda, to his remote cousin. He looks at her only from the business-like side. She doesn`t ask him a lot of questions about his tea and he pays attention on that contrast between her and other women: â€Å"She made no other allusion to food, but talked amusingly and made her visitor talk amusingly too.† The repetition of the word â€Å"amusingly† accentuate this contrast. â€Å"Cushat-Prinkly found that he was enjoying an excellent tea without having to answer as many questions about it as a Minister for Agriculture might be called on to reply to during an outbreak of cattle plague†. He compares these questions with questions to a Minister. So simile here show that he doesn`t want to answer them. Finally, he marries Rhoda. And we see that everything ends with tea ceremony again – There was a pleasant tinkling note in her voice as she handed him a cup. â€Å"You like it weaker than that, don’t you? Shall I put some more hot water to it? No?† Climax in this story can be observed in the part when his sisters accept his cho ice. The message of the story is in the desire of James to lead another life not ordinary one. It makes us think about life itself, about the definition of happiness. It is some kind of image of happiness in society but the author makes us think that maybe we shouldn`t be the same as other. The story made me smiling and sad at the same moment. Smiling as it finishes a little bit ironically. He finally gets right that situation that he was afraid of. However, it also makes me sad as I begin to think about things that are told to make us happy but actually don`t. All the people are different and everyone need to find something suiting especially to him or to her.

Double Consciousness and Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay

Zora Neale Hurston novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God is a very important piece of literature written in the late 30’s which told the story of a woman and her struggle and quest as a black person, a woman and most importantly, a human being with unique goals and desires. The story followed an ambitious woman and her quest for self-realization and self-discovery together with her experiences as wives and partners of numerous men. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, a black thinker who lived in almost the same era as Zora Neale Hurston, the author of the novel had introduced an important theoretical model and concept that will be useful for the analysis and interpretation of any reader of Their Eyes Watching God’s. Du Bois’ concept on double consciousness became a very important perspective and lenses in seeing Hurston work. In this paper, we are going to argue that in the majority of the novel, Du Bois theory on double consciousness dictated much of the affairs and events in the novel of Hurston. Influenced by this particular framework, the novel became a very important derivative of this Du Bois’ particular idea that encroached not only on his original conception of double consciousness but also its development and occurrence on numerous areas and topics that diversified from its original idea. The Novel The novel started with the controversial return of Janie in the town she formerly hailed with her former husband. She was confident and at the same time aloof for many of the town people that saw her. Different gossips had spread with her return, mostly negative and against her experiences and characters. At the same time, these accusations are untrue. The only person who talked to her was her old friend in the name of Pheoby Watson. With her conversation with Pheoby, the story of Janie and her struggle and quest was told and revealed (Hurston 8-9). Reading the story, one cannot oversee the kind of language or voice wherein the story was written. The kind of language that was used gave a very unique distinction with the story. The novel was enveloped with an active voice that gave much life reading it. In short, the novel or the story was told rather than being written. The use of a colorful and trendy black language is widespread in the whole story. The statement like, â€Å"Dat’s what Ah say ‘bout dese ole women runnin’ after young boys† is common on the entirety of the novel (Hurston 5). In many cases and speeches, the use of proper English both in writing and speech was disregarded. This kind of telling the story had tried to mirror the black culture that it is trying to tell. The entire novel is a recollection of the events in the life of Janie. Set in the past, she tried to refresh the memories and experiences of her former affairs and relationships to different men that managed to transform her to what she is at present. Her affairs that mostly end in a tragedy had managed to mold Janie to a kind of person that is strong and firmly grounded inside. Her story of numerous conflicts with herself and the men that she related, together with the environment and the other people around her had managed to release her from the dilemma of having two consciousness circling her thoughts and actions in the past. Double Consciousness Du Bois double consciousness is explained as being caught up in two worlds. More particularly described as the dilemma of the Black people living in a white world in the western culture, the blacks were forced by the society in general to have a dream and aspiration in accordance to the white’s vision. This is happening at the same time with his vision to retain his blackness, the vision and goals that were enveloped on being a black (McWhorther 1, 14). However, this specific kind of interpreting double consciousness can be expounded to more general terms. As what is done in Hurston’s novel, this theory on double consciousness was no longer exclusive on a black person quest for identity in a white men’s world. Rather, the theory had shown that double consciousness can also manifest in one’s quest for the realization of his sex and gender. More importantly, double consciousness was used for a person’s quest for the discovery of his or her humanity. Janie, the central character in the novel had shown the numerous issues that are revolving on her character. First is the double consciousness that arose out of her grandmother’s pragmatism. Her marriage for Logan in the earlier part of the novel was largely based on her grandmother’s idea on what the basis of the marriage should be. For her grandmother, the most important criterion that she must consider in choosing her husband is the security that the man can gave to him. This means both economic and physical security. It is important to note that this idea is made possible by her grandmother’s experience of discrimination and oppression (Hubert 20-21). On the other hand, this kind of idea of pragmatic marriage conflicted with Janie’s desire for a marriage that is based on love, commitment, adventures and passion. Though she followed her grandmother’s request at first, she soon followed this innate and suppressed dream of hers by leaving her first husband in the name of Logan (Hurston 30). Another notable part of the story that discussed Janie’s quest against double consciousness is her relationship with Jody. Jody, a man who was obsessed with his power tried to isolate and suppressed Janie’s innate passion in relating to people. As stated, â€Å"He’s uh whirlwind among breezes . . . he’s de wind and we’se de grass. We bend whichever way he blows† (Hurston 60). These statements only describe how domineering Jody was not only to his wife but also to his people. With her relationship with Jody, much of Janie’s attitudes, desires and wants were pushed into background because of his power domineering husband (Hurston 59-60). The situation in Janie holding a speech in the town meeting is a good example of Jody’s domination. The town requested for the wife of the mayor to make some speeches. However, Jody prevented her wife to make a speech, saying it is inappropriate for a woman to do such things. Janie did not react loudly on her husband’s action (Hubert 29-30). However, emotions piled inside her which will explode and shall make her not to love her husband in the near future. Again, this is another case of the double consciousness that happened with Janie. Jody wanted to suppress almost all of her association in the rest of the population. However, deep inside Janie, she has a desire to live and associate with the population, no matter what her husband think of them. The falling ill of Jody and his death also posed a double consciousness in the case of Janie. With the death of the mayor, the rest of the town expected the widow to mourn and grieve for a period of time. However for Janie, she did not felt to grieve or mourn for the death of her husband. Deep inside her, she felt she was freed from the chains that her husband chained on him. For her, it is not the time for sadness but rather a moment for celebration Nevertheless, she still repressed these positive emotions on public and tried to be perceived to be mourning (Hurston 105-106). Again, this is a conflict of what the society expected to be her action and what she want to do for and by herself. Clearly, this is another notable instance of double consciousness that the novel had shown to us. Conclusion Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel that corresponded much of the idea of Du Bois in relation to double consciousness. However, Hurston writing had managed to expound the usual definition of Dubois on double consciousness. Rather than being stacked on a black person’s journey of self-realization and self-discovery in the land of the whites, Hurston had provided us a more diverse use of Du Bois’ theory. She tried to teach us that in many cases, there is a conflict between what the society, the environment and the people around and ourselves. The societies where we belong continuously provide expectations and limitation to each one of us. However, in many cases, what we want to aspire and what we want to do does not correspond what the society expect from us. From here, a conflict develops which later became a dilemma that we have to figure out to solve. The concept of double consciousness is a very important concept that we must all ponder and figure out. Every one of us that is caught in the web of these dilemmas is hold back in the pursuit of our dreams and happiness. Unless we managed to break free from the issues and dilemma that double consciousness had bear to us and act on our own desires and intentions, we cannot really realize and actualize ourselves towards our real happiness. Works Cited Hubert, Christopher. Zora Neale Hurston’s Their eyes were watching God. Research & Education Association. 2001. Web. Accessed 16 May 2010. Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Lippincott Company. Philadelphia. 1937. Print. Accessed 16 May 2010. McWhorter, John. Double Consciousness in Black America. CATO Policy Report Vol. XXV No. 2. March April 2003. Print. Accessed 16 May 2010.

Positive Effects Can Come From a Lower Birth Rate Essay

In the not-so-distant past, there was a world wide effort to create zero population growth. The environmental uproar in the 1970s had scientists convinced that with 4 billion or so people on that planet, Earth had reached her carrying capacity. The basic premises was that there wasn’t enough room for all the people being born and that there definitely would not be enough room when we reached 2050 and a project population of 11 billion (Cohen, 1). Though the global warming predicts had not begun yet, there were huge concerns that the planet could not produce enough food for 11 billion people and that we would be consuming resources at such an alarming rate that world would die from too many people. Flash forward thirty years and now, industrialized countries across the world are expressing concern that they may have been too hasty in their condemnation of population growth. In fact, many are downright worried about their population declines or very slow population growth. They express concern that the economy will collapse as the burden of the elderly is too great for the younger generation to support and care for. Labor leaders claim there will not be enough people to do the work that needs done and others decry the trend as the true end of the British Empire and the dominance of Western Civilization as those are the countries with declining birth rates. The simple truth is that a low birth rate can be a positive choice for the industrialized world, if considered in the right light. This paper will look at some of the factors contributing to the declining population and the effects that are likely because of a population decline. To understand how this situation developed, it is interesting to review the last 900 years of human sexuality. In his essay â€Å"Two Successive Motivations for the Declining Birth Rate in the West†, Phillippe Aries argues that since the Middle Ages, the shift in societal norms had lead to the declining birth rate. The Church enticed people to a moral stance against pre-marital sex and as the economy evolved from largely agrarian to industrial and even retail based, the large family was no longer an economic necessity (646).   In an agrarian society, children were a source of cheap labor and a financial boon to their parents. The cost of feeding and clothing them was more than made up for by their assistance in earning the family sustenance. But as societies moved away from the farm, children became an expense. Indeed, Aries writes, the trend to significantly smaller families began in the Middle Ages and continued unabated until the Baby Boom after the end of World War II (647). The trend toward smaller families was also a sign of planning and forethought. It was assumed that a smaller family could even be considered a measure of self-control and â€Å"The fewer the children, the more care and attention that could be devoted to each† (Aries, 647) As society became more mobile and people were no longer trapper in the social class that they were born in, people chose smaller families with the idea that they could provide more opportunities for that smaller family and their children would have greater economic opportunity that they did (648). In addition, in the mid-1970s concerns about overpopulation ran rampant. By the mid 1990s, they were in crisis mode.   In Science magazine in 1995, JE Cohen wrote, â€Å"Earth’s capacity to support people is determined both by natural constraints and by human choices concerning economics, environment, culture (including values and politics), and demography. Human carrying capacity is therefore dynamic and uncertain.†Ã‚   (341). Though scientists argued about what that carrying capacity might be, they warned rabidly that if the exponential population growth were not stopped the capacity would be reached in our children’s lifetime if not our own. Further complicating things was an environmental movement   that claimed deforestation to turn the land into agricultural production as causing soil erosion and pollution faster than we could imagine. If the world growth continued unabated, the population would reach that carrying capacity much sooner because the Earth would be too polluted to sustain life. Even now, in An Inconvenient Truth Nobel Prize winner Al Gore points out that trees cut down to provide grazing land for cattle are contributing to global warming because the living trees would have cut carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Though Gore does not make the leap, it is there to behold. Too many people means more land devoted to food production which means fewer trees and faster global warming. With all that in place, it is no wonder then that people chose to have smaller families or no families at all. And that is where the new scientific debate and political nightmare began. The United Nations reports that 75 percent of the industrialized nations of the world have reached zero population growth including the United States and most of Western Europe. The population of Britain is still growing at a very slow rate, largely due to immigration, but in Germany and Japan the total population has begun to decline. This has thrown social scientists into a tizzy. They complain that there will not be enough workers to take all the jobs that are needed; they claim the workers will no longer be able to meet the tax demands of their nations; and they claim that a declining number of young people will mean that there is no one around to care for the Baby Boomers as they get older.   Not surprisingly, many of these doom and gloom predictions are written by Baby Boomers. Instead, it might be nice to focus on the positive benefits of population control. A smaller population will mean simple things, like less congestion on the highways and fewer people in the one open checkout line at the grocery store. But those are the incidental effects of a lower population growth. The key benefits of a smaller population are: better access to education, less pollution and therefore less global warming, and more job opportunities. For a decade or so, Americans have been decrying overcrowding in the school systems as a factor in school performance.   In 2003, CNN reported that overcrowding was causing a boom in the temporary classroom business and states across the nation were taking steps to reduce overcrowding (CNN, 1).   With a declining birth rate in the industrialized nations, fewer children will need to be educated and the student to teacher ratio will decrease. That will lead to more individualized attention for each student and better learning opportunities. In addition, as those children get older, instead of being able to raise prices and keep students from going to college, colleges and universities will be forced to compete for students. The reality is that smaller class size throughout the educational process will mean that all students are getting a better education, not just the ones who can afford private school or the ones lucky enough to be talented an attract a teacher’s interest. Furthermore, as the population seeking a college degree decreases second-class universities with questionable accreditation will be driven out of business and the top academic talent will mass in good schools providing good educations. As simple as it sounds, another advantage of a smaller population will be less pollution. Gore’s movie and other studies of global warming indicate that one of the significant contributors to greenhouse gases are personal vehicles. If there are fewer people, there will by simple logic be fewer cars and fewer cars mean that fewer greenhouse gases are emitted. And, fewer people means less need for food, so some farmland could be returned to forest or converted from vast corporate farms to sustainable small farms which produce healthier food and fewer pollutants. The rain forest of the Amazon River Basin could be left as rain forest with no need for more cattle to feed the world’s desire for beef consumption and the demand for electricity would fall as there were fewer people using it. As the demand for electricity falls, older, fossil fuel burning electric plants could be shut down or replaced with newer, cleaner burning generation facilities. The ultimate proof of the effect that the population has on the environment can be observed today in India. â€Å"Environmental pollution is one of the serious problems faced by the people in the country. Rapid population growth, industrialization and urbanization in country are adversely affecting the environment. (Nagdeve, 2).   India has polluted its sacred rivers and begun poisoning itself, creating a severe lack of potable water because of its overpopulation.   Many of the pollution problems come quite simply from human excrement. There are insufficient sewage facilities and the sewage contaminants the ground water, leading to environmental collapse. With 1.1 billion people, India is the second most populous nation in the world and is being destroyed by its high birth rate (Nagdeve, 33). In China, the world’s largest population has become the primary source of greenhouse gases and is polluting the world at an alarming rate. Though they have instituted some population control measures, the population is so large now that until some of it dies off or moves to other areas, overcrowding and pollution, as well as poor access to resources will continue to be their plight. By far the most concerning aspect of the low-birth rate to most the industrialization nations is the impact it is likely to have on the economy. Naysayers claim the smaller populace will be unable to meet the needs of the elderly population, will be unable to meet the tax burden placed on them by their parents and grandparents and will not be able to meet the employment needs of the country.   The arguments are complicated and may have a grain of truth in them, but are not the forgone conclusion that they are assumed to be. First, there is the issue of meeting the needs of the elderly populace. This is in many ways a self-serving argument of the Baby Boom generation the reality is that in the United States, a third of the workforce is now over the age of 55. â€Å"Because of an aging population and declining growth of the labor force, human resource policies are changing. Companies are offering incentives to keep older workers working past retirement age. Older workers can sometimes replace the lack of younger employees. Opportunities like flextime, part-time, temp work, job sharing, and extended vacations are becoming more common for employees of all ages. Businesses are learning that people of all shapes, sizes, ages, colors, and backgrounds can be good workers† (Johnson, 1) Many of the Baby Boomers are living to ripe old ages and will need long term care, but it also means they are staying in the workforce longer.   And, they are better able to care for themselves than any previous generation of retirees. In addition, society has seen this short-term boom in the elderly population coming and ahs planned for it. Retirement communities and apartment complexes make care for the elderly much easier than in previous generations. Since they are all located in one area instead of being spread out in various private homes, the number of people needed to care for the elderly is greatly reduced. Second, there is the question of the tax burden, again a selfish notion of the elderly that the younger generation should have to support their Social Security needs even though it is an unrealistic expectation.   Unfortunately, instead of working as Franklin Roosevelt had planned and being a supplement to a personal retirement plan, Social Security has become the only retirement plan for many Americans and the government has continued to bail out failed retirement plan after failed retirement plan, usually due to poor fiscal planning or malfeasance on the part of those overseeing the plan. The simple reality is that the elderly cannot continue to rely on the government to meet all their needs and it is likely that in choosing to have fewer children they chose not to have the financial support of a younger generation. Aries argued that they shouldn’t need the financial support family or the government because of their decision not to have a large family.   He argued that with the money people saved by not having a family, they should be able to pay for help when they reach retirement age (Aries, 629). While this inability to deal with the tax burden is a valid concern, it can also be viewed as a great opportunity. Many people complain that the current government system is messed up and the tax plan unfair, but no one seems to be able to do anything about it.   Though a collapse of the economic structure is an extreme way to bring about change, it is a valid way and one that may have to be considered in the near future. Finally, the argument against low-birth rates is that the there will be insufficient people to work the jobs that need doing. This is perhaps the weakest argument of all. Do we really need a Starbucks on every corner and a McDonald’s two doors down?   The reality is that the economic market will correct itself.   Fewer people available to do the jobs will mean that high school and college students are able to find part-time work again and it will mean that the unemployment rate will drop. Regardless of the opportunity, there will always be some degree of unemployment either voluntary or temporary, but with greater opportunities available, more people will have better economic opportunities. Yes, some low-paying jobs may go unfilled. If that happens, the need will equate to the job growth. Like the tax issue, it will probably mean a restructuring of societal values. If more people are need in the medical field to care for the elderly and society places a higher value on that then serving coffee or flipping burgers, society will adjust to the loss of mass market coffee and fast food. After all, less than fifty years ago, fast food was barely thought of. Fast food and poor paying retail jobs were not always a vital part of the American economy and if there is a labor shortage, they might be gone again. If there is a shortage of labor, society will adjust and fill the positions that it most needs. Some economists have argued that with a smaller labor force, economies could collapse as the total productivity level of a nation is decreased, but historical analysis shows us that this too may be a made up fear and an irrational prediction. In an essay regarding the impact low birth rates will have on the economy, William H. Reid, writing for the Journal on Extension said that history shows that our most productive times in history were when the population was smaller. For example, he said, right after the Black Plague productivity in Europe skyrocketed (Reid, 1). The idea behind the increase was that people had something to work for and out of necessity worked hard to get it. He further argued that while overall productivity might be down, wages will be up as employers compete for qualified staff. That will mean that the economy will be booming. The simple truth is that zero population growth was a good idea twenty years ago and that has not changed.   The great majority of opposition to it in Europe and North America is in fact a form of xenophobia, a fear that if other parts of the world outbreed the locals, the local way of life will be destroyed. If analysts were honest and admitted to this fear, there might be more action taken on it. By hiding their fears in other â€Å"concerns†, they miss a chance for honest discourse on the effect that a huge Indian and Chinese population will have on the world. They miss the opportunity to take real action to address the overpopulation concerns of India.   Allowing more people to emigrate from overcrowded areas to less crowded areas will cut down on the demands on the resources of individual nations and improve the quality of life around the globe. However, so many areas are insular and afraid to share their land or way of life with anyone of a different culture. If the industrialized countries were at least willing to admit that, there arguments might have more standing in the world’s eyes. The reasons why the birth rate in the industrialized world is dropping are numerous and debatable.   Aries suggested that another reason why the birth rate is declining is that people no longer see a way to make the world a better place for their descendants. Whether it is a fear of nuclear annihilation or global warming, many people are concerned that the world will not be a great place for the next generation and have decided against having children (469). Others have decided to keep the money for their own happiness instead of spending it on a child and some simply wait longer than they meant to and find they unable to have children. Whatever the reasons for the declining birth rate, it is a fact of life in Europe and North America. Those nations can simply decide how to live with the consequences or, as they have in parts of Europe, take extreme action to reverse the course. In Japan and Germany where the population is already beginning to decline, the smaller population had coincided with an economic growth period. Whether this is simply coincidental is hard to tell at this point, but history seems to tell us that the chances are good that a deckling birth rate does not spell doom and gloom and the end of the world. Instead, it will like lead to a period of greater education for the average person, a cleaner environment and a booming economy. It may also lead to revolutionary thinking as the countries that have always had plenty of people to do their menial tasks have to consider other alternatives, such as an open border with Mexico so that there are more workers, or allowing a mass immigration from India, to relieve overcrowding there. Whatever the solution, it will require scientific and political minds meeting together and honestly discussing the wants and fears of Europe and North America and their desire to change them. In the end, the best consequence of a declining birth rate might be a further globalization of the world. Areas in the Far East and the Indian subcontinent with population problems will need to find more space and Europe and North America will have to find more workers. If the struggle be worked through and the prejudices and fears overcome, then the best thing that could come from a lower birth rate would be an international melting pot with everyone working together for a better planet, better economy and a better life. WORKS CITED Aries, Phillippe.†Two Successive Motivations for the Declining Birth Rate in the West† Population and Development Review > Vol. 6, No. 4 (Dec., 1980), pp. 645-650   November 20, 2007. Cohen, JE â€Å"Population growth and earth’s human carrying capacity† Science Vol.269, Issue 5222, Summer, 1995, p. 341-46. â€Å"Ending overcrowding in California Schools†Ã‚   Policylink < http://www.policylink.org/Research/SchoolOvercrowding/> November 20, 2007. Johnson, Kelly. â€Å"The Effects of a Declining Birth Rate on the Labor Force† < http://cber.cba.ua.edu/rbriefs/ab_jan98.html> November 20, 2007. Martin, Steve P. â€Å"Diverging Fertility among U.S. Women Who Delay Childbearing Past Age 30† Demography , Vol. 37, No. 4 (Nov., 2000), pp. 523-533 November 20,2007. Nagdeve,   Dewaram. â€Å"Environment and Health in India†Ã‚   presented to Asian Context at Bangkok, Thailand, June 10, 2002. < http://www.iussp.org/Bangkok2002/S09Nagdeve.pdf> November 20, 2007. â€Å"Overcrowding Fuel Boom† CNN.com < http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/06/02/classsize.portables.ap/index.html> November 20, 2007. Reid, Walter H. â€Å"Will Declining Birt Rates creates a Crisis?† Journal of Extension (Summer 1988), Vol. 26, No. 2 , November 20, 2007.