How Should We Respond to Global Warming? Essay -- Climate Change, Gree

How Should We Respond to Global Warming? Â   A few days ago, while basking in the warmth of winter, a friend asked me about Global Warming and what exactly the problems were with a rise in temperature. He seemed to have no problem with a 75 degree day in the middle of March and wanted to know what all the fuss is about. I tried to answer his question by concisely summing up the evidence for global warming and the potential hazards of an increase in global temperature–surprisingly, I could not think of a decent response. You see, I didn’t quite know how to respond to my friend’s forthright inquiry about the state of the Earth’s weather systems, because I really don’t have a clue what is happening or is going to happen. By studying the concepts of global climate, I have been introduced to a conundrum of interacting variables that appear impossible to decipher. So, after stammering out a few potential threats: sea-level change, drought, floods, loss of biomass, and heatstroke, I plunged back into science books and journals vowing to prepare myself for the next time someone posed a similar question (I am still looking for Klutz’s The Idiots Guide to: Global Warming--let me know if you have a copy). Unfortunately, further research revealed more questions and variables to puzzle over and a much more confounding dilemma than I had anticipated. Initially, I hoped to find specific information which answered the questions of global climate variations and mankind’s influence upon climate systems. Yet, in digesting several different views, variables, data, satellite data, and proxy data, I only found that my discombobulation had lots of company. It seems nobody definitively knows, or can agree on, where long-run climate change is head... ...tm 9. IPCC, Summary. 10. Bluemle, John P. "Global Warming: A Geological Perspective." The Professional Geologist 37 (2000): 3-6. 11. American Petroleum Institute, Global Climate The Big Picture, Online. API. 11 Nov. 1999. Available: www.api.org/globalclimate/thescience.htm. 12. Vogel, "Warming Begun?" 33. 13. Vogel, "Warming Begun?" 34. 14. Bluemle, "Geological Perspective" 4. 15. Houghton, John. Global Warming The Complete Briefing. (London: Cambridge UP, 1997) 56. 16. Bluemle, "Geological Perspective" 5. 17. Mann, Michael E.,Raymond S. Bradley & Malcolm K. Hughes. "Northern Hemisphere Temperatures of the Last Six Centuries." Nature. 392. NOAA Online. Available: www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/globalwarming/references.html. 18. Mann, Bradley & Malcolm, "Northern Temperatures." 19. Vogel, "Warming Begun?" 34. 20. American Petroleum Institute, The Big Picture.

Externalities of Smoking

In the paper I’m going to discuss the externalities of second-hand smoke. Externalities refer to all costs or benefits of a market activity borne by a third party. It’s also the difference between the social and private costs (benefits) of a market activity. When economic agents are not directly involved, negative externalities can exist, such as pollution. Second-hand smoke is a health hazard at any level (Essentials Of economics, Bradley R. Schiller). It’s to be said that smoking bans are the only way to protect nonsmokers.Although many states and hundreds of cities have passed smoke-free laws, more than 126 million Americans ages 3 and older continue to be exposed to secondhand smoke. Nearly 50,000 nonsmokers die from the secondhand smoke each year. Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their risk of heart disease and cancer. Brief exposure to smoke, damages cells, beginning a process that can lead to cancer, and increase the risk of blood clots (USA today: June 28, 2006).Secondhand smoke kills 46,000 adult nonsmokers from heart disease, 3,000 nonsmokers from lung cancer, and 430 newborns from sudden infant death syndrome. In children it causes 790,000 ear infections, 200,000 episodes of asthma, at least 24,000 low birth weight or preterm deliveries. When non-smokers are exposed to secondhand smoke it’s called involuntary smoking or passive smoking. Regardless if you’re smoking or not, if you’re around someone who is smoking you’re taking in nicotine and other toxic chemicals just like smokers do.The workplace is a major source of secondhand smoke exposure for adults (USA today: June 28, 2006). Secondhand smoke meets the standard to be classified as a potential cancer-causing agent by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (cancer. org). Separating smokers from non-smokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating the building cannot prevent exposure if people still smoke inside t he building. Most people can be exposed in public places such as restaurants, shopping centers, public transportation, schools, and daycare centers.Some businesses seem to be afraid to ban smoking, but there is no proof that going smoke-free is bad for business. Public places where children go are a special area of concern (cancer. org). Making your home smoke free is healthier for your family. Secondhand smoke imposes significant costs on nonsmokers and society, according to a recent society of Actuaries study that concluded the annual cost of excess medical care, mortality and morbidity from secondhand smoke exposure in the U. S is approximately $ 10 billion(18 Aug 2005).The study also found that medicals costs for caring for people exposed to secondhand smoke have reached more than $2. 5 billion (medicalnewstoday. com). All the money you spend on cigarettes is just going to the company that makes them. So you’re giving this company all this money to just smoke a cigarette. On average most people pay about close to seven dollars for a box of cigarettes. Not only is this harmful to you, but its as harmful to the people around you. When you smoke in front of someone their inhaling all the chemicals that are carried In that one cigarette.So in conclusion this affects the economy so much, because people who don’t even smoke have to pay for all types of medicals bills. Just from getting secondhand smoke from others. I myself don’t think they should banned smoking. But there should be sections in public places which are meant for smokers. Some people can’t just stop smoking no matter what they do. So at the same time we have to respect their needs. And their needs are nicotine. Sources ?Cancer. org ?Medicalnewstoday. com ?USA today: June 28, 2006 ?Essentials of economics (Bradley R. Schiller)

My Ideal Partner Life

An ideal husband would be a person who is an ideal companion. Does it appear that I am running around in circles? I hope it does not. Through the traditional role of a husband is different from that of a wife,the qualities of a person are not sex-oriented,they are person-oriented. What do I want in the person I marry? My list may be a long one but it is sound in its priorities. I want the man I choose as a husband to be generous,to have a sense of humor and to be trusting and trustworthly. I would like to build our relationship on affection and respect and on complete frankness. A tall order? Let me explain myself. Affection and respect put together are the essence of love. They are more durable than the euphoria of romantic love linked to physical attraction. It is true that beauty contributes a great deal towards life’s pleasantness,but unreflecting,unthinking beauty has nothing to recommend itself. Respect in relationship is very importand,and note I mean respect ,note awe or fear or any other feeling but respect which includes self-respect and can be stretched a long way to cover the crevices or feelings. I would like my future husband to be frank with me and to discuss financial,emotional and other problems with me. for if there is any ground on which I cannot thread, or any occasion when I find the door closed against me,or any time when whispered conversation take place,or papers and letters are kept away,or I look askance and don’t get a reply, then there a lies the beginning distrust and rift. A marriage is a companionship,it extends into old age and can mature into a relationship where words need not be exchanged and still complete understanding my exist. It is a relationship which cannot be built on lies or half-truths. When I use the word ‘frank’ I do not only mean emotional friendship through they too are included. Is it not more grateful that my friends of the days when I was not yet married be known to my husband than that I spring a surprise on him or leave him to work his imagination in different directions? Similarly I would like to know about my husband’s friends-men and women. Frankness should extend to all money matters. I should know (and so should be) what our economics position is. A marriage is the basic of family,it grows and matures and strengthens over the years. It cannot do so when the partner concerned pull in different directions. A home is aplace where on feels there should be uneasiness,no appearances to maintain, where one should feel free to express onself and one’s own true self. This is possible if there is some basic enerosity in the members of the family for generosity backs up the desire to understand,to be less critical and more forgiving in one’s approach. Don’t you know that a grim man is stern and unforgiving? There are numerous little problems which can be laughed away. At times this capacity to take things lightly,to see the funny side of an otherwise grim situation may cement a relationship much more than anything else. Laughter keeps one young. It is the best medicine. So let’s live and laugh togethe r.

Personality And The Nature Vs Nurture Debate. essays

Personality And The Nature Vs Nurture Debate. essays Psychology is a scientific analysis of state of mind and behaviour. These studies have been taking place for over the last hundred years, the nature versus nurture debate is something that many psychologists have been unable to agree on for quite some time. A person in favour of the nature theory would believe that the genetic build up of someone is what determines his or her personality. A person in favour of the nurture theory would believe that the environment is what determines his or her personality. Skinner was a behaviourist and is probably best known for his writing on operant conditioning. He believed that most behaviour was a product of what he named ABC. This stands for Antecedents, behaviour, and Consequences. Antecedents are thought of as stimuli e.g. if someone is working in a factory and hears the sound of a bell they may leave their work area for their lunch, the bell is the stimuli (antecedents) to go for lunch. Behaviour is our actions, what we are doing. Working on the factory line or taking notes from the supervisor are both parts of behaviour linked to a day at work. Consequences are the outcome of the behaviour. Getting promoted at work, a pay rise, a good reference or even just a pat on the back from the boss are all consequences of good behaviour in the place of work. According to Skinner, we learn consequences of good behaviour by reinforcement. There are two kinds of reinforcement, positive and negative, e.g. if a child was at school and the teacher was to ask a question (stimuli) and the child was to answer (behaviour) the question correctly, then hopefully the teacher would praise (consequence) the child for doing so, this would be positive reinforcement and the child is likely to repeat this behaviour. However, if the child did not answer the question correctly and the teacher criticised the child for it, then this would be considered negative reinforcement and it would be un...

A Quest of Realization essays

A Quest of Realization essays In the movie The Seventh Seal, Bergman portrays his main character, Antonius Block as a wanderer. Antonius journeys his way thorough the movie in search for an answer. He goes on a quest to find if God really does exist and if He does, why hasnt He shown himself and make some clear evidence of it. Antonius soon realizes that the answer he was looking for is a big disappointment in the end. It is not until Death is literally knocking at his front door does Antonius come to the conclusion that God will not help him conquer death, and man dies when he does because he does with no questions asked. Throughout the course of the movie, new experiences and knowledge cause Antonius to come to his ultimate conclusion that there is no God or hope; only pain and heartbreak. As Antonius and his squire Jon journey the land, they come across a girl named Tyan who helps the knight fins some truth to his quest to believe that there is no God. While Antonius, Jon and the others travel the land, they find a girl who has been accused for started the plague and befriending the devil himself. The consequence for this action; death by being burned at the stake. Thinking that perhaps this girl could help him out, Antonius takes the advantage of asking her some questions so perhaps she could help him find the knowledge which he is in search for. When he asks her if the accusations are true, she replies that yes, she truly has seen the devil and she has also slept with the devil and has the devil within her. Tyan then tells Antonius that he too is capable of seeing the devil. All he has to do is look deep into her eyes. When Antonius looks into her eyes, he does not see the devil. The only thing that he saw inside her was terror and fear. As Tyan is at the stake, she, along with Antonius himself, realize that after life, there is nothing. The emptiness in Tyans eyes said it all. Antonius realized this and felt more lost than he di...

The History of Samurai in Japan

The History of Samurai in Japan Samurai were a class of highly skilled warriors that arose in Japan after the Taika reforms of A.D. 646, which included land redistribution and heavy new taxes meant to support an elaborate Chinese-style empire. The reforms forced many small farmers to sell their land and work as tenant farmers. Over time, a few large landholders amassed power and wealth, creating a feudal system similar to that of  medieval Europe. To defend their riches, Japanese feudal lords hired the first samurai warriors, or bushi. Early Feudal Era Some samurai were relatives of the landowners they protected, while others were simply hired swords. The samurai code emphasized loyalty to ones master- even over family loyalty. History shows that the most loyal samurai were usually family members or financial dependents of their lords. During the 900s, the weak emperors of the Heian Era lost control of rural Japan and the country was torn apart by revolt. The emperors power was soon restricted to the capital, and across the country, the warrior class moved in to fill the power vacuum. After years of fighting, the samurai established a military government known as the shogunate. By the early 1100s, the warriors had both military and political power over much of Japan. The weak imperial line received a fatal blow to its power in 1156 when Emperor Toba died without a clear successor. His sons, Sutoku and Go-Shirakawa, fought for control in a civil war known as the Hogen Rebellion of 1156. In the end, both would-be emperors lost and the imperial office lost all its remaining power. During the civil war, the Minamoto and Taira samurai clans rose to prominence. They fought one another during the Heiji Rebellion of 1160. After their victory, the Taira established the first samurai-led government and the defeated Minamoto were banished from the capital of Kyoto. Kamakura and Early Muromachi (Ashikaga) Periods The two clans fought once more in the Genpei War of 1180 to 1185, which ended in victory for the Minamoto. Following their victory, Minamoto no Yoritomo established the Kamakura Shogunate, retaining the emperor as a figurehead. The Minamoto clan ruled much of Japan until 1333. In 1268, an external threat appeared. Kublai Khan, the Mongol ruler of Yuan China, demanded tribute from Japan, and when Kyoto refused to comply the Mongols invaded. Fortunately for Japan, a typhoon destroyed the Mongols 600 ships, and a second invasion fleet in 1281 met the same fate. Despite such incredible help from nature, the Mongol attacks cost the Kamakura dearly. Unable to offer land or riches to the samurai leaders who rallied to Japans defense, the weakened shogun faced a challenge from Emperor Go-Daigo in 1318. After being exiled in 1331, the emperor returned and overthrew the shogunate in 1333. The Kemmu Restoration of imperial power lasted only three years. In 1336, the Ashikaga shogunate under Ashikaga Takauji reasserted samurai rule, though this new shogunate was weaker than that of the Kamakura. Regional constables called daimyo developed considerable power and meddled with the shogunates line of succession. Later Muromachi Period and Restoration of Order By 1460, the daimyos  were ignoring orders from the shogun and backing different successors to the imperial throne. When the shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, resigned in 1464, a dispute between backers of his younger brother and his son ignited even more intense fighting among the daimyo. In 1467, this squabbling erupted into the decade-long Onin War, in which thousands died and Kyoto was burned to the ground. The war led directly to Japans Warring States Period, or  Sengoku. Between 1467 and 1573, various daimyos led their clans in a fight for national dominance, and nearly all of the provinces were engulfed in the fighting. The Warring States Period drew to a close in 1568 when the warlord Oda Nobunaga defeated three powerful daimyos, marched into Kyoto, and had his preferred leader, Yoshiaki, installed as shogun. Nobunaga spent the next 14 years subduing other rival daimyos and quelling rebellions by fractious Buddhist monks. His grand Azuchi Castle, constructed between 1576 and 1579, became of symbol of Japanese reunification. In 1582, Nobunaga was assassinated by one of his generals, Akechi Mitsuhide. Hideyoshi, another general, finished the unification and ruled as kampaku,  or regent, invading  Korea in 1592 and 1597. The Tokugawa Shogunate of the Edo Period Hideyoshi exiled the large Tokugawa clan from the area around Kyoto to the Kanto region in eastern Japan. By 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu had conquered the neighboring daimyo from his castle stronghold at Edo, which would one day become Tokyo. Ieyasus son, Hidetada, became shogun of the unified country in 1605, ushering in about 250 years of relative peace and stability for Japan. The strong Tokugawa shoguns domesticated the samurai, forcing them to either serve their lords in the cities or give up their swords and farm. This transformed the warriors into a class of cultured bureaucrats. The Meiji Restoration and the End of the Samurai In 1868, the Meiji Restoration signaled the beginning of the end for the samurai. The Meiji system of constitutional monarchy included such democratic reforms as term limits for public officials and popular balloting. With public support, the Meiji Emperor did away with the samurai, reduced the power of the daimyo, and changed the capitals name from Edo to Tokyo. The new government created a conscripted army in 1873. Some of the officers were drawn from the ranks of former samurai, but more of the warriors found work as police officers. In 1877, angry ex-samurai revolted against the Meiji in the Satsuma Rebellion, but they later lost the Battle of Shiroyama, bringing the era of the samurai to an end. Culture and Weapons of the Samurai The culture of the samurai was grounded in the concept of bushido, or the way of the warrior, whose central tenets are honor and freedom from fear of death. A samurai was legally entitled to cut down any commoner who failed to honor him- or her- properly. The warrior was believed to be imbued with bushido spirit. He or she was expected to fight fearlessly and die honorably rather than surrender in defeat. Out of this disregard for death came the Japanese tradition of seppuku, in which defeated warriors- and disgraced government officials- would commit suicide with honor by disemboweling themselves with a short sword. Early samurai were archers, fighting on foot or horseback with extremely long bows (yumi), and used swords mainly for finishing off wounded enemies. After the Mongol invasions of 1272 and 1281, the samurai began to make greater use of swords, poles topped by curved blades called naginata, and spears. Samurai warriors wore two swords, the katana, and the wakizashi, which were banned from use by non-samurai in the late 16th century.

Assessment of the child with complex needs Essay

Assessment of the child with complex needs - Essay Example Overall I feel that despite the set of abilities which the pupil demonstrates, she needs a holistic communication system that aims at making use of all the senses to support her communication, understanding and education. In addition to the diagnoses, reports dated 11.11.2010, 9.9.12.2010, 10.3.2011 by a multi-agency team based at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children indicate that Pupil Z’s abnormalities in development impact on her motor development, and her visual and cognitive processing that support communication and learning. For example, the cerebral palsy affects her ability to control her body, head and eye movement, and this further impacts her learning and cognitive development. Due to the complexity of her needs she now attends a special school which caters for children with sensory impairments and learning difficulties. Aiming to determine the Pupil Z’s functional vision available for communication and education, led me to a review of literature and con cepts relating to assessment of learners who present significant difficulties for researchers. Addressing the issue of the heterogeneity of deaf-blind / multi-sensory impaired population was essential in selecting an assessment approach to assess functional vision for my pupil (Robson 1993 & 2002). ... There is literature relating directly to assessing vision for learners with multiply disabilities based on systematic investigation. However, I have chosen ‘Vision for Doing’ model designed by Stuart Aitken and Marianna Buultjens (1992) as this approach allows me to assess Pupil Z’s functional vision in the context of multiple disabilities. The strengths and limitations of this particular assessment model have been evaluated below. I observed Pupil Z over three weeks participating in group and one-to-one activities with different people. I noted time of the day; places (classroom, sensory room) and positioning (wheelchair, standing frame) to learn about how she uses her vision for learning. I felt that observations of Pupil Z during routine activities / tasks would be the most effective method of collecting data as it would give me first hand evidence of Pupil Z’s visual abilities. I also felt that well established routine activities will motivate her to us e her vision and try to communicate her responses more. SECTION 3 OBSERVING THE PUPIL Z Pupil Z likes / dislikes Activities: Likes / dislikes Number of observers: 1 Positioning: Pupil Z was observed in a quiet, distraction-free area as well as the busy classroom at a time of the day when she was alert and displaying neutral and communicative behaviors. She was positioned in her wheelchair / stander, 19.7 inch from the screen. Listening / watching to a story / song on the plasma screen: â€Å"We are going on a bear hunt† â€Å"Incy Wincy spider† Observations: During three weeks of observation of Pupil Z despite showing pockets of abilities, she was not consistent in her responses to these activates. We have observed mixed responses to both activities,