What role has human activity played in causing climate change Essay

What role has human activity played in causing climate change - Essay Example Fossil fuels burnt to achieve humanistic objectives raise the extent of such greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons. Besides, rapid deforestation has also contributed to the 30% increase in the extent of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the last two centuries which is even expected to double in amount by the end of 21st century should the current practices continue. (Hamburg et al, 1997). Methane, second to carbon dioxide in amount in the atmosphere is generated from rice cultivation and decaying landfills. Human agricultural and industrial activities have drastically increased the amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which has led to an increase in temperature and ozone depletion. Studies have been conducted on various levels to estimate the human contribution to the change in climate and scientists are of the view that had humans not been involved in the game, Earth’s surface temperature would not ha ve even risen by 0.5C where it is actually foreseen to rise by 3.5C till 2100 since 1991. (Hamburg et al, 1997). Research suggests that humans are chiefly responsible for changes in climate. Hamburg, SP, Harris, N, Jaeger, J, Karl, TR, McFarland, M, Mitchell, JFB, Oppenheimer, M, Santer, BD, Schneider, S, Trenberth, KE and Wigley, TML 1997. â€Å"Common Questions about Climate Change†. United Nations Environment Programme - World Meteorological Organization, viewed 5 September, 2010,

Assign5G Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Assign5G - Assignment Example This view is quite controversial and is known as "Snowball Earth." Summarize what this theory is and what is some of the evidence for and against this hypothesis. The Snowball Earth is a theory that posits the Earth could have entirely frozen about 650 million years ago. This could be explained to have resulted from events of very weak sun output and low CO2 output. The major evidence that show the possibility of such a situation happening is the existence of organisms that can survive such conditions today. Additionally, the drop stone that are found at the bottom of sea beds all over the world could be as a result of the ice age. However, there is evidence that suggests otherwise on occurrence of an ice age (Lallanilla, 2013). This includes the chemical weathering activities and complex photosynthesized organisms dating back to same period of ice age. 5. Do some research on the warming in the arctic and the thawing of Arctic permafrost which releases Methane as part of the thawing process. Discuss whether or not you think we are now heading towards a climate

A Report in Soil Science: Soil Water Budget

A Report in Soil Science: Soil Water Budget SOIL WATER BUDGET INTRODUCTION Soil is the most crucial factors for life on Earth. Soil is linked to everything around us and performs many important roles in sustaining life on Earth. One of those is for providing the basis for food and biomass production. However, this role is being affected by the degradation of soil. Hence, an understanding of soil is needed for finding an optimal measure for soil management. As a matter of facts, numerous factors are needed for the soil formation. Water is one of the most important constituents in any soil. Without water, soil formation would not be possible. Moreover, water availability in soil is a significant factor that affecting the crop growth. However, in many area crops, soil water is not properly managed which will lead to a poor yield. Therefore, an understanding of the hydrological cycle is essential for the effective management of soil water. Especially, in the hydrological cycle, the water budget is used as an approach to reflect the relationship between the input and output of water through a region. In particular, the balance between precipitation and evapotranspiration potential will help us to directly compare the water supply and the natural demand for water as well as to determine the time when there is much rain and when there is not enough. Studying soil water budget makes it possible to determine if there is a water shortage that can reduce yields or if there is excessive water application that can result in water logging or leaching of nitrates below the root zone. Moreover, it can build knowledge of the soil and water storage and supplying capacity of each irrigated. II. WATER BUDGET Water budgets are used for accounting the inputs, outputs, and changes in the amount of water by breaking the hydrological cycle down into components. Basic components of water budgets are precipitation (rainfall), evapotranspiration (the upward flux of water from the land surface to the atmosphere, a combination of evaporation from the soil and transpiration by plants), surface-water (such as streams and lakes) and groundwater flow (aquifers) into and out of the watershed, change in surface-water and groundwater storage, change in snow and ice storage, and human withdrawals and inter-basin transfers. The water budget affects how much water is stored in a system. And the stored water is calculated by the following formula: Stored Water = (Rain + Irr.) (Runoff + ET + Drainage) Where Irr is abbreviated for irrigated water, ET is abbreviated for evapotranspiration. For instance, in wet seasons, precipitation is greater than evapotranspiration, it means (Rain + Irr.) > (Runoff + ET + Drainage), which creates a water surplus. Ground stores fill with water, which results in increased surface runoff, higher discharge and higher river levels. This means there is a positive water balance. Contrastly, in drier seasons, evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation ((Rain + Irr.) . As plants absorb, water ground stores are depleted. There is a water deficit at the end of a dry season. The storage ability depends on depth and texture of the soil. Drainage and runoff only happen when the bucket is full. III. THE IMPORTANCE OF WATER BUDGET They provide scientific measurements and estimates of the amount of water in each component and calculate the movement of water among the different components – the flux or flow of water. The result is a budget that is a hydrologic record comparable to deposits, withdrawals, and changes in the balance of a checking account.   Soil water budget is the balance of water in the soil; this is the net result of the combined effects of precipitation (P) and potential evapotranspiration (PE). . The storage ability of the water budget is greatly influenced by the depth and the texture of the soil. The drainage and runoff of water in the soil occur when the budget is full and they are considered as recoverable losses while evaporation and transpiration are considered as non-recoverable losses. Water budget can be used to help manage water supply and predict where there may be water shortages. Likewise, it is also used in irrigation, runoff assessment, flood control and pollution control. Further it is used in the design of subsurface drainage systems which may be horizontal (i.e. using pipes, tile drains or ditches) or vertical (drainage by wells). To estimate the drainage requirement, the use of a hydrogeological water balance and a groundwater model may be instrumental. Why need soil water budget: – Optimize water use – Determine irrigation needs Increased soil moisture will result in: higher yields, through maximised rainfall utilization recharge of groundwater and thus securing the water level in wells and the continuity of river and stream flows reduced risk of yield losses due to drought A sound irrigation scheduling program can help an operator: prevent economic yield losses due to moisture stress. maximize efficiency of production inputs. minimize leaching potential of nitrates and other agrichemicals below the rooting zone. conserve the water resource and maximize its beneficial use. This publication describes some best soil moisture management strategies and monitoring techniques that an irrigating farmer should consider in managing irrigation water and soil moisture for optimum crop production and least possible degradation of ground water quality. Understanding the process of soil-water budget, By calculating the Stored water in the soil, With the use of a soil water balance or budget, daily evapotranspiration (ET) amounts are withdrawn from storage (or the balance of plant available water) in the soil profile. Rainfall or irrigation amounts are added to soil water storage. Should the water balance calculations project soil water to drop below some minimum level, irrigation is indicated. Weather forecasts enable prediction of ET rates and projection of soil water balance to indicate whether irrigation is needed in the near future. Likewise, it is also used in irrigation, runoff assessment, flood control and pollution control. Further it is used in the design of subsurface drainage systems which may be horizontal (i.e. using pipes, tile drains or ditches) or vertical (drainage by wells). To estimate the drainage requirement, the use of a hydrogeological water balance and a groundwater model may be instrumental. In the complete view of the panorama of the earth, all organisms live on or beneath the soil. Therefore, the systems of flows that are happening on Earth have consequences on nature. Mainly, the soil biota is greatly affected by the movement of water in the soil. Soil water affects both the temperature and its aeration activities so it affects the movement and predation of microorganisms in the soil. When the soil pores are so much filled with water, the organisms tend to be disoriented for the sudden change in their environment as well as for the lack of air. The oxygen needed by the organisms depletes that later on leads to anaerobic condition which is hardly a good condition for soil biota. Moreover, if the soil is very dry, plants takes too much energy in order to remove water from the small pores that is why the plants inhabiting the area tend to suffer from difficulty to extract sufficient amount of water through the roots—this phenomenon is called as the permanent wilti ng point—the condition which plant hardly recover. In addition, irrigated soils contain significant amount of salt which develops osmotic pressure that slows down the uptake of water by the plants that doesn’t help them for good growth. Thus, significant increase in slow growth might also mean the slow production of food for all organisms in the ecosystem. IV SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION The following are the summary of the main points of the report: Soil water budget, is a balance in a net result of hydrological cycle in nature in which the inputs, output Larger pores conduct water more rapidly in saturated soils than smaller pores while in unsaturated soil condition, smaller pores conduct water movement more rapidly. Coarse over Fine– Water build up over fine soil because water moves faster through coarse soil. Fine over Coarse– Water movement will temporarily stop until fine soil is nearly saturated. There’s always flow in every system and those flows are very much necessary even the tiny little bits of details of it. Once subjected to changes, could lead to negative flaws. BIBLIOGRAPHY SAI Platform. (2010, June). Water Conservation Technical Briefs—The Importance of Soil to Water Use. From http://www.saiplatform.org/uploads/Modules/Library/SAI%20Technical%20Brief%205%20%20The%20Importance%20of%20Soil%20to%20Water%20Use.pdf Irrigation Management—Chapter 3, Soil Water. From http://croptechnology.unl.edu/pages/informationmodule.php?idinformationmodule=1130447123topicorder=3maxto=13minto=1 Food and Agriculture Organization. Physical Factors Affecting Soil Organisms. From http://www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/thematic-sitemap/theme/spi/soil-biodiversity/soil-organisms/physical-factors-affecting-soil-organisms/en/

Its Time to Reform the Endangered Species Act Essay -- Argumentative

It's Time to Reform the Endangered Species Act In 1973, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act. The Act was passed in response to findings by Congress that growth and development were responsible for the extinction of species of fish, wildlife and plants. This Act was to provide programs to protect species identified as either endangered or threatened. It also mandated Federal agencies and departments to protect endangered and threatened species in their own operations, as well as work with State and local agencies to further promote conservation and protection of identified species. By the definition of the Endangered Species Act, a species covered by the legislation is either classified â€Å"Endangered† if threatened with extinction, or â€Å"Threatened† if in a state of decline that might place it on the endangered list. As of 23 March 2003, 1262 species of plants and animals were listed as endangered or threatened by the Endangered Species Act, with thirty-three species proposed for listing. To date, twenty-six species have been removed from the list, either due to recovery or the discovery of new information about their status, while seven were removed due to becoming extinct. THIRTY YEARS LATER: NEW LOOKS AT THE SUCCESS OF THE ACT There are concerns about the Endangered Species Act upon business, industry, and property owners, as well as Wildlife groups, about the effectiveness of the Act in protecting and restoring listed species. A report from the Ecological Society of America entitled â€Å"Strengthening the Use of Science in Achieving the Goals of the Endangered Species Act†, calls upon the Federal government to adopt a more-proactive approach in species preservation. They note that by the time a species... ... important. But anything worth doing is worth doing right. The Act should be reformed in a manner which will increase cooperation by all interested parties, and in doing so, help us reach the ultimate objective of the Endangered Species Act. SOURCES: Ecological Society of America, The. â€Å"Strengthening the Use of Science in Achieving the Goals of the Endangered Species Act† http://www.esa.org/publications/esarpt.htm National Endangered Species Act Reform Coalition http://www.nesarc.org/ National Wildlife Institute. â€Å"Conservation Under the Endangered Species Act: A Promise Broken† http://www.nwi.org/SpecialStudies/ESAstudy.html U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. â€Å"Endangered Species Information† U.S. Fish http://endangered.fws.gov/wildlife.html U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. â€Å"The Endangered Species Act of 1973† http://endangered.few.gov/esa.html It's Time to Reform the Endangered Species Act Essay -- Argumentative It's Time to Reform the Endangered Species Act In 1973, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act. The Act was passed in response to findings by Congress that growth and development were responsible for the extinction of species of fish, wildlife and plants. This Act was to provide programs to protect species identified as either endangered or threatened. It also mandated Federal agencies and departments to protect endangered and threatened species in their own operations, as well as work with State and local agencies to further promote conservation and protection of identified species. By the definition of the Endangered Species Act, a species covered by the legislation is either classified â€Å"Endangered† if threatened with extinction, or â€Å"Threatened† if in a state of decline that might place it on the endangered list. As of 23 March 2003, 1262 species of plants and animals were listed as endangered or threatened by the Endangered Species Act, with thirty-three species proposed for listing. To date, twenty-six species have been removed from the list, either due to recovery or the discovery of new information about their status, while seven were removed due to becoming extinct. THIRTY YEARS LATER: NEW LOOKS AT THE SUCCESS OF THE ACT There are concerns about the Endangered Species Act upon business, industry, and property owners, as well as Wildlife groups, about the effectiveness of the Act in protecting and restoring listed species. A report from the Ecological Society of America entitled â€Å"Strengthening the Use of Science in Achieving the Goals of the Endangered Species Act†, calls upon the Federal government to adopt a more-proactive approach in species preservation. They note that by the time a species... ... important. But anything worth doing is worth doing right. The Act should be reformed in a manner which will increase cooperation by all interested parties, and in doing so, help us reach the ultimate objective of the Endangered Species Act. SOURCES: Ecological Society of America, The. â€Å"Strengthening the Use of Science in Achieving the Goals of the Endangered Species Act† http://www.esa.org/publications/esarpt.htm National Endangered Species Act Reform Coalition http://www.nesarc.org/ National Wildlife Institute. â€Å"Conservation Under the Endangered Species Act: A Promise Broken† http://www.nwi.org/SpecialStudies/ESAstudy.html U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. â€Å"Endangered Species Information† U.S. Fish http://endangered.fws.gov/wildlife.html U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. â€Å"The Endangered Species Act of 1973† http://endangered.few.gov/esa.html

Social Policy and Its Application to Social Services Provision

Private problems become public issues when an individual’s problem/problems spill out into the community for example youth homelessness. Youth homelessness is greater than you might think in May 2008 it was thought that there were over 75000 youths at risk of becoming homeless, mostly due to the breakdown of the family or the introduction of a step family, 65% of these young people experienced violence as their family broke down and 20% experienced sexual abuse. The really sad thing about the number of youths at risk of homelessness is, in order to be detected as at risk something extreme has to happen e. g. the young homeless person was arrested for causing a disturbance or ends up in hospital after a violent incident. Mostly when families breakdown we as a community know nothing about it (their family problems are kept private) this becomes a public issue which may require the creation of a â€Å"policy for dealing with social issues†, when we see young people sleeping rough or the crime rate increases as the homeless person steals to feed them self. Over the years there has been significant research and development of policies which are aimed at combating homelessness among the 16-25 year olds and in 2002 the homelessness Act was endorsed by the Scottish parliament after it was highlighted that the numbers of homeless people sleeping rough in our cities, could affect the tourist trade, which in turn would affect our economy, this act extended the definition of priority need to include new groups of vulnerable people including youths. This Homeless act means that young people are no longer turned away from hostels; in fact there are hostels that are just for young people (these hostels help protect the young people on the streets from abuse i. e. prostitution) This homeless act also made local authorities develop homeless strategies e. g. the housing and support team that we have in West Lothian. Due to new policy the numbers of young people sleeping on the streets is few, and the ease of access to information/services means homeless people have hope and can access services before they actually become homeless, which in turn combats drug/alcohol abuse (which also relieves pressure off the NHS) and crime statics. 2. Social policies come about due to various influences. Nationwide statics are gathered for various reasons and as a result these figures/statics can and do bring around change in policy or even the implementation of new olicies e. g. it was found that the number of people binge drinking and requiring hospital treatment was on the rise, so the government created a policy that it was illegal to have happy hours in bar’s and it was illegal for shops to have two for one offers on alcohol. Another way the government is influenced to change or create policy is through pressure groups. Pressure groups don’t have to be official bodies or organisations like â⠂¬Å"fathers for justice†, they can be a group of people who are concerned about an issue in their community e. . a group of concerned parents petitioning the government about the lack of services for teenagers in their area (youth club) due to the planned closure of the community centre. Social policies can also come about if there is a threat to society e. g. terrorism, after 9/11 the pass port policy changed, before 9/11 children were able to travel on their parents passport, after 9/11 the policy changed and now everyone needs a passport regardless of age. Before 9/11 we could travel within our own country (Glasgow-London) without a passport now we can’t. Policies have also changed after public outcry. After the abduction, rape and murder of a child in England by a convicted paedophile, who had been housed in the area on his release from prison. The policy that gave these people anonymity was reviewed and changed, so that anyone who is concerned about an adult, who is working with children, can ask the police if they are a risk. 3. The mixed economy of care came about due to the governments of the 1980s being concerned that the place for the care of people should be provided from within their communities and that the â€Å"sense of community† would be lost as people stopped â€Å"looking after their own†. People would stop contributing charitably to the community and the people in it ( popping in on a neighbour to give her a break from her ill husband or running to the shop for an older person as well as fund raising and legacies), as it would become taken for granted that the state would provide everything i. e. ousing and Health Care as well as meals on wheels and respite, as a result, people would not feel like it was their job to help themselves, their community or their neighbours, that it was the states job, and so the fear was the sense of community would be lost to dependency on the state. The mixed economy of care means that different services collaborate/works together in order to provid e a service for an individual which not only meets their needs, but makes sure that the care being provided doesn’t over lap i. e. one care plan is made for the individual and all the required services work within this plan. Our government as it is now (2009) has picked up where the 1980/90s left off (they carried on where the last government left off instead of returning to state provided care) and is working towards a â€Å"mixed economy of care†, it has identified 4 sectors of care provision i. e. statutory, private, voluntary and informal. The statutory sector is care what is provided by the state for example benefits, cars for the disabled and access to health care e. g. occupational health (home adaptations). The private sector offers care as part of a business for example private nursing care, respite and private pensions. The voluntary/charity sector provide care that is funded through fundraising and donations and offers things like lunch clubs (help the aged), meals on wheels (WRVS) and hospital transport (red cross). The final sector, the informal sector comes by way of care provided by a non professional/specialist; this could be family, the community (neighbours) or friends who give up their time to look after their community and the people in it. The informal sector saves the government and NHS millions of pounds every year as their contribution relieves the need for official respite services and health care and it’s free. The Community Care Act 1990 came about as in order to fulfil the recommendations /objectives that the white paper (1989) Caring for People had identified (the enabling of older people to live independently for as long as possible in their own home, practical support for carers, guidelines for quality individual needs assessments and accountability for service providers and the quality of care they provide) new legislation was needed, thus the community care act (1990) was passed. Nowadays we see people living and working in our community who, not so many years ago, would have lived their lives in institutions or sanatoriums without any human rights or even choice, but now with implementation of individual/ person centred care plans/assessments, designed with the individuals needs, rights, circumstance and abilities in mind, as well as making access to different care services more easily available e. g. upported accommodation/residential nursing care, benefits, disabled employment (Remploy), occupational therapy, day care and befriending, not only are the individuals needs being met, the human rights of these individuals are being recognised. The individuals who were once locked away from the rest of society without any rights, choices or quality of life are now (with a little help from the care in the community act) living, working (Remploy) and contributing in and to communities (Volunteering in a charity shop). 4. Funding for different care services comes from various sources for example the services that are state/government services e. g. benefits, NHS departments (occupational therapy) and pensions are funded mostly through income tax, VAT, and national insurance, but not all of these services are completely free for example an older person who requires residential care will have to contribute financially if they have enough of an income or assets to cover the cost, they will also receive little or no help financially if they have a private pension i. e. they will have to pay for glasses and prescriptions. Funding for the local authority care services is much the same as central government funding comes firstly from the annual government grants as detailed in the 2009, amendment of the local government finance act 1992 Scotland order. Funding also comes from council tax income, business rates, licensing (alcohol) and recycling. While all this income generates wealth it does not mean everything is free and individuals will still contribute via user charges. Voluntary/charitable organisations also contribute to care services through fund raising and free care service i. . volunteers. There is also the Scottish post code lottery which has funded community projects as has the national lottery. Legacies also contribute to the financing of a service. 5. European commission was established in 1954 and has members from every country in Europe (two from the UK) its job is to form policy and legislation that protects the individuals’ human rights. They give the country an amount of time t o comply adequately to any new policy/legislation, before the country is taken to the human rights court e. g. he Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment, in employment and occupation. The minimum standard (directive) as stated by the EC included the protection of equal rights. The regulations (which must be implemented immediately) for this act included equal employment opportunities (promotion). Sometimes new legislations/policies cost money to implement and it falls to the local authority to decide how best to do this, finding the money often results in other services suffering through smaller grants e. . the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources (â€Å"Renewables Directive†) the local authorities are obligated to implement these directives within a set time frame. The local authorities have to find the money, this is usually through council tax and money they make through council busin ess e. g. Neighbourhood Recycling, this in turn affects the care service and volunteer services by reducing the budget or funding they receive and possibly a rise in taxes and rates. The guide lines that come from the EC are a bit like expectations for example the government/EC expects local planners, architects and developers to take into account crime prevention when designing streets for example, this is to provide a safe and secure environment (your human right to live in a safe/secure environment) The duty to make this happen falls on local authority that, for example would have street/security lighting and the installation of CCTV as a condition of the planning application or they could create a local policy that says new housing schemes will only receive planning approval if there is security lighting fitted as standard.

Is God Responsible for Evil in the World? Essay

For thousands of years already the adepts of the three world’s most widespread monotheistic religions, which are Christianity, Islam and Judaism, have been arguing for whether their deity is responsible for all the evil that happens in our world. Numerous books were written on this issue, and lots of disputes took place worldwide, but the answer hadn’t been found that would satisfy both the followers of those religions and their opponents. The believers deny the assumption that their omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient God is also the creator of evil, while atheists use it as the main argument in proving the ridiculousness of religious beliefs. Lots of philosophers, politicians and theologians have devoted their works to the research of this issue. Moojan Moman in his book The Phenomenon of Religion writes: â€Å"the presence of evil and suffering in the world has even been argued by some philosophers from Epicurus (341-270bce) to David Hume (1711-76ce) to cast doubt on the existence of God. Other more modern writers such as Freud and Marx sought to show that religion’s explanations of the presence of evil and suffering were based on delusion†[1]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The adepts of monotheistic religions reject this hypothesis because it conflicts with their statement that the God loves all of his creations. In the notion of most people it’s impossible to love someone deeply, and, in the same time, to make him or her suffer. Thus, the explanation of the existence of evil in the world for the common believers is that the deity granted free will and a right to choose to all of his creations, and if people choose to commit wrong and evil deeds, it’s not his fault. But here a question arises which’s why the omnipotent deity does nothing to stop the doings that hurt the creatures he loves so much.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Other religious leaders explain that all the evil in the world happens because God wants to temp his adepts, or to give them a chance to become stronger through the trials he sends them. But if we look at this question from that viewpoint, therefore the kind nature of the deity would again be questioned, as a â€Å"loving father†, as the believers sometimes call their worshipped deity, wouldn’t have made his beloved children suffer to prove their faithfulness and devotion to him, or to help them develop some of the positive moral qualities and values. It’s obvious that a loving and caring ‘parent’ would’ve given his children careful guidance to make them better. The Christians and Jewish also prefer to omit the fact that the superior creature, their God presumably is, wouldn’t have behaved himself as a capricious child, demanding Abraham’s son Isaac to be sacrificed to him in order to prove Abraham’s devotion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Christians disagree with the statement that God, who’s a creator of all life in the Earth, is also the one who’s ultimately responsible for the evil that takes place in the world, even though numerous verses from the Bible, their sacred text give the evidence to support this claim, like the ones given below: Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? (Amos 3:6)[2] I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live. And I polluted them in their own gifts†¦( Ezekiel 20:25,26)[3] Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you. (Jeremiah 18:11)[4], and, finally: I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things. ( Isaiah 45:7)[5] Thus it’s obvious that it’s the deity the Christians worship who created the evil that exists in the world, and it’s clearly written in their sacred text. Unfortunately, this fact doesn’t fit into the concept of kind and forgiving God the Christian theologians and church leaders have been creating throughout the ages, that’s why the theologians try to interpret this verses as the mistakes done by the numerous translators of the Bible, arguing over the meanings of the initial world that is translated as ‘evil’ in most of the existing copies of Bible worldwide. The Muslim’s have a viewpoint on the purpose of the human’s existence on this earth different from the one the Christians and Jewish hold, which dictates the differences in their understandings of God. For Muslims this world is a kind of a test center, the place where all the actions and thoughts of every man are evaluated by the superior creature, and the humans are rewarded or punished depending of their balance of their things and right doings. For them the God is not a merciful and loving father, but a strict and demanding judge who knows about every their action and thought. Regardless of the differences in interpreting the sense of life by the Muslims, Christians and Jewish, Muslims also prove that their deity isn’t the one responsible for the wrongdoings in the world. They prove that the God had granted his creations with the right to choose between the evil and good, and, moreover, it’s the sole purpose of their life on the earth. He is capable of stopping all the wrongdoings, but he doesn’t do it, as he needs them to later judge the people who committed them. Nadir Aqeel, the author of the Frequently asked questions regarding Determinism and Free Will, the article found on the Understanding Islam Website, draws the analogy with the examination hall, where the God is the supervisor. Passing near the student, the supervisor sees the student writes down an incorrect question. It’s obvious that the supervisor shouldn’t correct the mistake, as this will defeat the very purpose of the examination.[6]   But, in the same time the Quoran says that nothing happens without the Allah’s permission in this world, thus he permits all the evil to exist in the world. In the law system of most countries the non-acting while knowing that a crime takes place is punished, and the person who didn’t do anything to prevent the wrongdoing is considered to be guilty partially for the crime that took place. The adepts of Islam may, of course, say, that we shouldn’t judge the superior creature with our laws, but it’s obvious that the human laws are the only ones we have, it’s our only instrument we can use to evaluate the rightness or wrongness of any deed. The basic difference between the Christianity and Judaism is that Christians believe that the human being is born in a state of sin, while the Jews believe the child is born pure, and it’s a matter of choice for whether to dirty yourself with the wrong actions and doings or to stay pure and in harmony with the surrounding world. Different branches of Judaism, the same as of Christianity or Islam, have different views on God and his role in the existence of evil and sin on our planet. For example, Reconstructionist Jews, as Emanuel S. Goldsmith states in his article Kaplan’s Contemporary Religious Relevance: A Review of Reconstructionist Philosophy and Theology, that: â€Å"God is the Energy enabling us to conquer fear and despair, alienation and loneliness. God is what infuses our lives with confidence, courage and meaningfulness. God is life with a capital â€Å"L† and goodness with a capital â€Å"G.†[7] The other Jews personalize God, but they also believe he is not the one responsible for the wrongdoings and evil that exists in the world. They state God had given his creations free will, and it’s the matter of their choice whether to dirty themselves with the wrongdoings, or to stay clean in the eyes of God, be in harmony with the surrounding world, and make the Messianic Era closer, as the Jews believe Messiah will come to the world when it’ll become perfect. The Holocaust has provoked and still arouses numerous discussions about the origins of sin and evil, and about the reasons of their appearance. Some Jews believe, that Holocaust was provoked by the sins of the Jewish nation, thus admitting that, in their opinion, god had chosen to punish his chosen nation by murdering from six to seven millions of them by the arms of Nazi. Of course, most Jewish do not share this viewpoint, as they do not want to see claim their God is a mass murderer. As we’ve seen, neither of the researched monotheistic religion supports the viewpoint that God is responsible for the evil in the world. The Jewish, Christians and Muslims hold the belief that evil and wrongdoings is the result of the right to choose, the God had granted to his creations. They also prove that God sends people sufferings and hardships to help them become stronger and better. Most of the believers also choose to ignore the fact that if the God created everything, our world, the whole universe, it’s logical that evil is also a product of his creation. Some adepts may contradict to it saying, that this is Lucifer who created evil, but most religious leaders claim that   God is the only one who’s got power to create anything as formidable. But, using elementary logic we can see, that if the God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, he: Knows when and where an evil deed will take or takes place Doesn’t do anything to prevent it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thus, according to the law system used by the most countries in the world, he’s guilty of non-acting, of allowing the crime to take place, regardless of the fact that it often hearts the innocent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The researched monotheistic religions choose to ignore this fact, or try to invent numerous explanations for it, because it contradicts to their conception of the righteous and kind deity, that holds the humanity as his beloved children. Works Cited Mooman, M. The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach. Oneworld Publications, 1999 The Bible. New International Version. International Bible Society, 1984 Aqeel, N. t Frequently asked questions regarding Determinism and Free Will. Understanding Islam Website, 2004. Retrieved from URL Goldsmith, E. Kaplan’s Contemporary Religious Relevance: A Review of Reconstructionist Philosophy and Theology. Reconstructionism Today, 2001 P.S: If you have any questions or corrections please contact me immediately Luck      [1] Mooman, M. The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach. Oneworld Publications, 1999 [2] The Bible. New International Version. International Bible Society, 1984 [3] Same [4] Same [5] Same [6] Aqeel, N. t Frequently asked questions regarding Determinism and Free Will. Understanding Islam Website, 2004 [7] Goldsmith, E. Kaplan’s Contemporary Religious Relevance: A Review of Reconstructionist Philosophy and Theology. Reconstructionism Today, 2001

Haikouichthys - Facts and Figures

Haikouichthys - Facts and Figures Name: Haikouichthys (Greek for fish from Haikou); pronounced HIGH-koo-ICK-thiss Habitat: Shallow seas of Asia Historical Period: Early Cambrian (530 million years ago) Size and Weight: About one inch long and less than an ounce Diet: Small marine organisms Distinguishing Characteristics: Tiny size; fin along length of back About Haikouichthys The Cambrian period is famous for its explosion of bizarre invertebrate life forms, but this span of time also saw the evolution of the earliest almost-vertebratesmarine organisms like Haikouichthys, Pikaia and Myllokunmingia that bore the faintest outlines of backbones and had a noticeably fish-like shape. As with these other genera, whether or not Haikouichthys was technically a prehistoric fish is still a subject of debate. This was certainly one of the earliest craniates (i.e., organisms with skulls), but lacking any definitive fossil evidence, it may have had a primitive notochord running down its back rather than a true backbone. Haikouichthys and its companions did, however, introduce some features that are so commonplace now as to be completely unremarkable. For example, this creatures head was distinct from its tail, it was bilaterally symmetric (that is, its right side matched up with its left side), and it had two eyes and a mouth on its head end. By Cambrian standards, it may have been the most advanced life form of its day!

Comparing Themes Essays

Comparing Themes Essays Comparing Themes Essay Comparing Themes Essay The innovative and powerful structure of As I Lay Dying is beneficial to the themes William Faulkner is attempting to intertwine with his characters. A worthy note to his writing is his use of stream-of-consciousness narrative to assist in achieving his goal of portraying perspectives of the same events through different people and levels of emotional and logical intensities. Darl Bundren is the first and most important narrator of the fifteen due to his elaborate descriptions. His version of events seemed to be the easiest to interpret and the least subjective. Another significant character to the novels dynamics is Jewel who partook is several of the main events in the novel.Faulkners need for fifteen individual narrators suggest his need for fifteen different views of every situation. From Darl he obviously wants a character that is more isolated from the others that will be able to mediate between the hectic events of the characters and the understanding o f the reader. Jewel on the other hand brings out the more disturbed side of Faulkners imagination. He is the illegitimate child of Addie and the minister giving him a predisposed sense of being an outcast. His neurotic qualities include being impatient and ill tempered although his love for horses represents a more gentle side. These characters, when compared, often represent far extremes of perspective although the also show similar ideals on the subjects of luck and fate, honor and dishonor, as well as life and death.The Bundren family is extremely underprivileged in all aspects of living. Tough times have fallen upon them and they survive on a meager income and they scrape together odd end jobs. Jewel and Darl are going to miss their mothers death for three dollars to transport lumber. The family lives in an everlasting state of need, always short of cash. Darl most likely views the family situation as being more fate then a matter of luck and Jewel more as bad luck. Darls passag es possess intense imagery and metaphor that suggest his more accepting view of his mothers death and the wagons broken wheel. Jewel, on the other hand, most likely accepts the job of transporting lumber more willingly then Darl because he knows that one must make there own luck and in this case there own money.Darl believes the families poverty is more predisposed to them rather then subject to change by going out of their way. Another example of Darls perspective of fate is when he burns down the barn to try and end the familys struggle to try and bring their mother to her burial site. He accepts his mothers death as a part of life and wishes to be done with the unnecessary hardship. Darl saves the coffin from floating down stream when they are on their journey to Jefferson and he saves her from the burning barn, other attributes Faulkner adds to give Jewel a stronger sense of luck over fate. He could have known that fate caused is mothers coffin to almost float away.On the matter of honor and dishonor the two think fairly similar. They both take their family duty seriously and strive to hold the family together. Darl is the only character that knows that the minister conceived Jewel, and he manages to withhold this from the other in order to not divide the family, especially at such tribulating times. They also both hold honor in different things. Jewel had a deep love of horses and when Anse sells his horse to buy mules he is deeply sadden and angry about the loss of his cherished horse.When Darl is swept away to the asylum he as completely lost his mind, almost out of convenience to appease the family. Thought the novel he was the isolated brother who was more intelligent, and with mother buried and the journey almost complete they find little need for his presence. He served his family with honor and was attempting to distinguish of the corpse to remove her burden from the family.It is most obvious that Darl has an acceptance for death that none of the o ther have the intelligence to understand. He repeatedly asks Jewel if he realizes that Addie is going to die and he is unable to grasp it. The journey is tough on the family and Darl truly sees no point in transporting the body to a gravesite where Addies family is buried when the odor the body is giving off is so unbearable. To the other characters he almost seems insane because he is so accepting of death. Jewel especially seems ignorant to the idea of his mothers death even after she has passed away.Collectively the characters of As I Lay Dying provide a complete account of Faulkners story. Jewel and Darl especially allow Faulkner to look at opposite extremes of the events the novel includes. Although the two often clash in their actions, they ultimately form a team to give the novel its abstract feel.

The List of All U.S. Colleges With a Geography Major

Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. Fast forward a few centuries later and most of the world has already been discovered. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a need for geography anymore, it just means the need for such a field has evolved. A student with a love for geography loves to study the relationship between people and the world they share. This student can find help in selecting the right college by starting with the complete list of universities that offer this degree program we have compiled in this post. Geography has become more than simply traversing an unknown land across the globe and creating a map of said land; it is the study of the interactions between people and their environments and how these interactions overall affect the planet. These environments can be either natural, like the study of climate change, or human, like the study of culture and landscape. At the surface, geography doesn’t appear to hold much promise for a future career. On the contrary, because geography is known as the â€Å"mother of all sciences,† students who pursue this program have a myriad of options from which to choose. Physical geographers study the landscape and how these affect our way of life and how our changes to the landscape affect the earth. Cultural geographers study people’s behaviors in relation to their effects on the environment such as transportation methods and building cities. Political geographers study the global political issues between countries and cultures around the world. A student who studies geography in college will reap the benefits of a well-rounded education. They can expect to learn excellent communication skills, excellent skills in research, and a broadened ability to think critically. In having a geography degree, the world becomes a never-ending pool of learning that can ultimately make a change for the greater good. It’s important to think of a high school transcript and profile like a resume when contacting college admissions officers. They will be looking for a high GPA score and proof that the student is dedicated to learning all that comes with a major in geography. That being said, a student should have excellent grades in natural science, basic math courses, and computer science. Extracurricular activities are also a great way to boost a student’s profile that makes them stand out to college admissions officers. Science fairs and school clubs that are geared toward the student with a heart for geography are excellent choices for making a profile shine. For more information about the importance of extracurriculars before college, check out this post on the site! There are some students who have figured out early on that they want to study geography in college. Fortunately, has designed the Early Advising Program to help give 9th and 10th graders a head start in the admission process. The tools given to the student through this program help set up the student for a successful admission process once high school is over and it’s time to begin the freshman semester. Sometimes it takes a student a little bit longer to decide on a major, whether it’s geography or not. also has an program that helps rising seniors stay on course and on schedule in time for college admissions. The College Strategy Program is geared for the junior student and helps them navigate and organize all the necessary steps to gain higher chances of acceptance into the college of their dreams. Estimating your chance of getting into a college is not easy in today’s competitive environment. Thankfully, with our state-of-the-art software and data, we can analyze your academic and extracurricular profile and estimate your chances. Our profile analysis tool can also help you identify the improvement you need to make to enter your dream school. With so many universities to choose from in the country, it’s hard to find the one that’s a great fit and one that offers a geography major. That’s why has done a little bit of leg work for you and provided a list of all the colleges in the nation that offer this degree program. Auburn University at Montgomery | AUM Austin Peay State University | APSU Bowling Green State University | BGSU California State Polytechnic University, Pomona | Cal Poly Pomona California State University, Chico | CSU Chico California State University, Dominguez Hills | CSUDH California State University, East Bay | CSU East Bay California State University, Fresno | CSU Fresno California State University, Fullerton | CSU Fullerton California State University, Long Beach | Long Beach State California State University, Los Angeles | Cal State LA California State University, Northridge | CSUN California State University, Sacramento | Sacramento State California State University, San Bernardino | CSUSB California State University, Stanislaus | Stanislaus State California University of Pennsylvania | Cal U Central Connecticut State University | CCSU Central Washington University | CWU College of Staten Island | CUNY CSI Eastern Washington University | EWU Farmingdale State College | SUNY Farmingdale Fayetteville State University | FSU Florida International University | FIU Grand Valley State University | GVSU Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis | IUPUI Indiana University Bloomington | Indiana Indiana University of Pennsylvania | IUP Jacksonville State University | JSU Kutztown University of Pennsylvania | KU Metropolitan State University of Denver | MSU Denver Millersville University of Pennsylvania | MU Minnesota State University Moorhead | MSUM Minnesota State University, Mankato | MNSU North Carolina Central University | NCCU North Carolina State University | NC State North Dakota State University | NDSU Northeastern Illinois University | NEIU Northeastern State University | NSU Northwest Missouri State University Pennsylvania State University | PSU Rutgers University–New Brunswick | Rutgers Saginaw Valley State University | SVSU Sam Houston State University | SHSU San Francisco State University | SF State Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania | SRU Southeast Missouri State University | SEMO Southern Connecticut State University | SCSU Southern Illinois University Carbondale | SIU Southern Illinois University Edwardsville | SIUE Southern New Hampshire University | SNHU State University of New York at Cortland | SUNY Cortland State University of New York at New Paltz | SUNY New Paltz State University of New York at Oneonta | SUNY Oneonta State University of New York at Potsdam | SUNY Potsdam Stephen F. Austin State University | SFA The State University of New York at Albany | SUNY Albany The State University of New York at Binghamton | SUNY Binghamton The State University of New York at Buffalo | SUNY Buffalo The State University of New York at Geneseo | SUNY Geneseo United States Military Academy | Army University of Alaska Fairbanks | UAF University of California, Berkeley | UC Berkeley University of California, Los Angeles | UCLA University of California, Santa Barbara | UCSB University of Central Arkansas | UCA University of Central Oklahoma | UCO University of Colorado Boulder | CU Boulder University of Colorado Denver | CU Denver University of Hawaii at Hilo | UH Hilo University of Hawaii at Manoa | UH Manoa University of Houston–Clear Lake | UHCL University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign | UIUC University of Louisiana at Lafayette | UL Lafayette University of Maine at Farmington | UMF University of Mary Washington | UMW University of Maryland, Baltimore County | UMBC University of Maryland, College Park | Maryland University of Massachusetts Amherst | UMass Amherst University of Michigan–Flint | UofM-Flint University of Minnesota, Twin Cities | Minnesota University of Missouri–Kansas City | UMKC University of Nebraska at Kearney | UNK University of Nebraska–Lincoln | UNL University of Nevada, Las Vegas | UNLV University of North Carolina at Charlotte | UNC Charlotte University of North Carolina at Greensboro | UNC Greensboro University of North Carolina at Wilmington | UNC Wilmington University of South Alabama | South University of South Florida St. Petersburg | USFSP University of Southern Mississippi | Southern Miss University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) University of Tennessee at Martin | UTM University of Texas at Austin | UT Austin University of Texas at San Antonio | UTSA University of Wisconsin-Madison | Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–La Crosse | UW–La Crosse University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee | UWM University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh | UW Oshkosh University of Wisconsin–Platteville | UW–Platteville University of Wisconsin–River Falls | UW–River Falls University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point | UW–Stevens Point University of Wisconsin–Whitewater | UW–Whitewater Western Washington University | WWU William Paterson University | WPUNJ While the list may seem overwhelming, choosing the right college for your student doesn’t have to be. offers help exclusively for graduating seniors to help make the transition into higher education that much smoother. Check out the College Applications Program today!

The Ethics of Job Discrimination Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Ethics of Job Discrimination - Essay Example US Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit applied US Supreme Court's opinion (Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Inc. and McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green) that "The plaintiff must first establish a prima facie case of discrimination. Once the plaintiff has met the minimal burden of establishing a prima facie case, the burden then shifts to the defendant to produce a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the adverse employment action. The burden then shifts back to the plaintiff to show that the proffered reason was pretextual and that the defendant discriminated against the plaintiff" http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4180/is_20010620/ai_n10066999 So, in the above case, initially, it is the burden of the employees to show that they had been discriminated by Texaco and later, the burden of proof lies with the employer to demonstrate justifiable nondiscriminatory reasons supported by statistics that the decision was not influenced by discrimination (Zimmermann v. Associates First Capital Corporation). In 1973, the case of McDowell Douglas Corporation v. Green the Supreme Court established the burden of proof (Title VII) as a model by opening: Plaintiff carries the initial burden establishing that he/she belongs to a protected group, is qualified for the job, and was rejected while post remained vacant, and the burden shifts to the employer to justify himself.

Male Cultural Competence response Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Male Cultural Competence response - Assignment Example Therefore, the multiculturalism cornerstone remains in establishing an appropriate understanding of people’s sociopolitical histories as well as the people’s histories and the groups to which they belong. During treatments, it is significantly important for the development of an alliance between the clinician and the client for a better therapy. In such a perspective, masculine oriented therapy does not necessarily mean that the clinician has interests in an individual’s masculinity; however, such information is important for the establishment of an alliance. From the student post, it is evident that the patient is given unsatisfactory treatment based on his past behaviors. Because of discriminations, it is proper that clinicians understand their therapist’s values and worldview in order to develop a strong alliance during therapy and offer appropriate treatment (Healy, 2005). As such, the clinicians and another medical staff would offer treatments without any bias, or assumptions by understanding that indeed people are different from the varied cultural variances. Appropriate training and education are crucial in the development of male- culturally appropriate interventions and strategies, especially for therapists as in instances of learning to discuss issues of race and racism. Male as a gender has certain characteristics and activates associated with it. As such, men tend to participate in certain activities, having the strengths-based approach, which are ideally positive factors of engagements in optimizing the available conditions for positive development and creativity in the minimization of the possible risk practices (Berg-Weger et al., 2001).  Certain elements  of the  male  strengths approach of a man’s interaction with other men involve the recognition and focus on strengths and capabilities as a means of responding to challenges that one faces as well as depersonalizing the problems.

Reaction to Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road Essay

Reaction to Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road - Essay Example Al these activities were however meant to try and answer one constant question in their minds â€Å"how are we to live?† Beat is there a rather ambiguous word which can have several meanings. Kerouac’s critics however emphasis that the word beat means quite literally tired or beaten down. While Kerouac himself endorsed a rather positive meaning of the word, he put forward a meaning that was beatific and blissful. That is a generation that was always on the beat like in a musical rhythm such as jazz. Holmes and Kerouac published articles to try and enlighten on their interpretation of the word beat. They implied that rather than weariness the word implied being used and raw. This they explicated as coming from the core, of the human soul. It is therefore a word that depicted the vulnerability of the beat generation. He further depicted the meaning as being reduced to the bedrock of consciousness. In his articles he additionally enlightens that the beat generation was ver y different from the lost generation of the 1920’s. The beat, generation as enumerated by Kerouac in his many articles is a generation that is rather not lost but one that is constantly searching for answers to life questions. For the beat generation therefore there main concern is not why they should live but rather how they should live. The novel depicts a rather spiritual journey which also included some subjects that the beat generation struggled with. This included religion, marriage and friendship. In numerous ways it the journey the beat generation took in Kerouac’s novel is a quest towards understanding and to find conviction, significance and belonging. They also wanted a more than average feeling they therefore searched for a profound feeling and understanding. As described by Holmes, to be beat is being at the bottom of your personality looking up. This is a state where all things that lack importance have been stripped down and only the core remains to expe rience the different sensations. The beat generation of 1950’s and 60’s were correlated to behaviors that expressed estranged feeling from the conventional society and promoted individual freedom and clarity through intense sensory awareness brought about by altered consciousness. The beat poets including Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Gregory Curso attempted to write verses which were not constrained in the academic norms but rather of a â€Å"beat† quality. They sometimes mixed vernacular and profanities in their poems this was to depict the urgency and extent of the feeling in the poem movement. In the novel Kerouac depicts various other meanings of beat this are brought out by the characters he writes about. One instance is how Sal admires Dean’s transgressions and immorality even though his indecencies are sometimes extreme and very selfish to those around him. He embodies the beat generation by living for the moment and sampling different girls that come his way not caring if he destroys their lives. Sal in just the same pace idealizes the junkie body which also depicts some aspects of the meaning of the word beat. The word also has negative meanings as brought out to be nightmarish which is embodied by the homeless man idealized by Sal as Huck Finn. He ignores the poverty and marginalization but depicts the Hobo as being in Buddhist trance like mode. This is ridicule since the Hobo

Business Opportunities in Brunei Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Opportunities in Brunei - Essay Example Brunei is a members of ASEAN, United Nations Organization and the Organization of Islamic Conference. In spite of great political changes, Brunei is still a sultanate headed by Hassanal Bolkiah. The official language is Malay but business companies and organization understand English and Chinese. The currency of the country is Brunei dollar (Brunei. Brunei Country Reports 2008). The uniqueness of Brunei business culture is that it is influenced by Hinduism and Islam. Similar to other Asian coulters, Brunei culture has no clearly defined division between religion, philosophy and business. Faith and philosophy are lived every day as a way of life. To understand the Brunei businessmen, for example in the context of business leadership, it is important to understand the principles by which they live and to what extent the teachings of their philosophers are still applicable today (Brunei. The World Factbook 2008). They are extremely good at exploiting opportunities and at deal-making; they are masters of financial, in particular cash, management; in short, they are a result of a long series of opportunistic tactical moves. They are persistent, enduring and may survive in business for a long time by simply accumulating slim short-term gains. Historically, one characteristic of the Brunei business leaders is that their power rests on high flexibility, adaptabilit y and political pragmatism.

Ecpnomics for Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ecpnomics for Business - Essay Example The economy showed signs of a slowdown, though not to the point of recession. The GDP growth of only 1.1% took many economists by surprise and was the lowest rate of growth in three years (Porter & Bajaj, 2006). The GDP reported disappointing end-of-year results for the automotive industry in the U.S. Economists believed this to be the result of high gas prices and the expiration of deep discounts from the summer and fall seasons, which automakers instituted to improve domestic sales. Many U.S, economists predicted a normalization of sales and economic growth within the first half of 2006. Though some experts were not so optimistic. Robert J. Barbera, chief economist at Investment Technologies Group, Inc. and Charles Dumas, the chief international economist at Lombard Street Research in London predicted a slowdown, if not an outright onset of a recession by the end of the year (Porter & Bajaj, 2006). According to Steve Goldstein (2006), "Home Depot rose 3% in the pre-open after it earned $1.3 billion, or 0.60 cents a share in the 4th quarter of year 2006. This rise was up from 0.47 cents a share or $1 billion within the last year. The revenue for Home Depot has risen 16% while store sales were up. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis had a slow-down in the fourth-quarter growth. This primarily reflected a deceleration in consumer spending (2006). The annual growth for GDP was 3.5% which was unchanged from the estimate in February. According to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in April 2006 was 5.10 % in Texas 4.6% in San Antonio, Texas, and 4.7% nationally, which was comparatively the lowest rate since 2001. The relationship between supply and demand became precarious as unemployment affected the industry in several ways as Bureau of Economic Analysis showed a rise in personal income

Reaction to Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road Essay

Reaction to Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road - Essay Example Al these activities were however meant to try and answer one constant question in their minds â€Å"how are we to live?† Beat is there a rather ambiguous word which can have several meanings. Kerouac’s critics however emphasis that the word beat means quite literally tired or beaten down. While Kerouac himself endorsed a rather positive meaning of the word, he put forward a meaning that was beatific and blissful. That is a generation that was always on the beat like in a musical rhythm such as jazz. Holmes and Kerouac published articles to try and enlighten on their interpretation of the word beat. They implied that rather than weariness the word implied being used and raw. This they explicated as coming from the core, of the human soul. It is therefore a word that depicted the vulnerability of the beat generation. He further depicted the meaning as being reduced to the bedrock of consciousness. In his articles he additionally enlightens that the beat generation was ver y different from the lost generation of the 1920’s. The beat, generation as enumerated by Kerouac in his many articles is a generation that is rather not lost but one that is constantly searching for answers to life questions. For the beat generation therefore there main concern is not why they should live but rather how they should live. The novel depicts a rather spiritual journey which also included some subjects that the beat generation struggled with. This included religion, marriage and friendship. In numerous ways it the journey the beat generation took in Kerouac’s novel is a quest towards understanding and to find conviction, significance and belonging. They also wanted a more than average feeling they therefore searched for a profound feeling and understanding. As described by Holmes, to be beat is being at the bottom of your personality looking up. This is a state where all things that lack importance have been stripped down and only the core remains to expe rience the different sensations. The beat generation of 1950’s and 60’s were correlated to behaviors that expressed estranged feeling from the conventional society and promoted individual freedom and clarity through intense sensory awareness brought about by altered consciousness. The beat poets including Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Gregory Curso attempted to write verses which were not constrained in the academic norms but rather of a â€Å"beat† quality. They sometimes mixed vernacular and profanities in their poems this was to depict the urgency and extent of the feeling in the poem movement. In the novel Kerouac depicts various other meanings of beat this are brought out by the characters he writes about. One instance is how Sal admires Dean’s transgressions and immorality even though his indecencies are sometimes extreme and very selfish to those around him. He embodies the beat generation by living for the moment and sampling different girls that come his way not caring if he destroys their lives. Sal in just the same pace idealizes the junkie body which also depicts some aspects of the meaning of the word beat. The word also has negative meanings as brought out to be nightmarish which is embodied by the homeless man idealized by Sal as Huck Finn. He ignores the poverty and marginalization but depicts the Hobo as being in Buddhist trance like mode. This is ridicule since the Hobo

Ecpnomics for Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ecpnomics for Business - Essay Example The economy showed signs of a slowdown, though not to the point of recession. The GDP growth of only 1.1% took many economists by surprise and was the lowest rate of growth in three years (Porter & Bajaj, 2006). The GDP reported disappointing end-of-year results for the automotive industry in the U.S. Economists believed this to be the result of high gas prices and the expiration of deep discounts from the summer and fall seasons, which automakers instituted to improve domestic sales. Many U.S, economists predicted a normalization of sales and economic growth within the first half of 2006. Though some experts were not so optimistic. Robert J. Barbera, chief economist at Investment Technologies Group, Inc. and Charles Dumas, the chief international economist at Lombard Street Research in London predicted a slowdown, if not an outright onset of a recession by the end of the year (Porter & Bajaj, 2006). According to Steve Goldstein (2006), "Home Depot rose 3% in the pre-open after it earned $1.3 billion, or 0.60 cents a share in the 4th quarter of year 2006. This rise was up from 0.47 cents a share or $1 billion within the last year. The revenue for Home Depot has risen 16% while store sales were up. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis had a slow-down in the fourth-quarter growth. This primarily reflected a deceleration in consumer spending (2006). The annual growth for GDP was 3.5% which was unchanged from the estimate in February. According to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in April 2006 was 5.10 % in Texas 4.6% in San Antonio, Texas, and 4.7% nationally, which was comparatively the lowest rate since 2001. The relationship between supply and demand became precarious as unemployment affected the industry in several ways as Bureau of Economic Analysis showed a rise in personal income

The Relationship between Working Parents and the Socialization of Children Essay Example for Free

The Relationship between Working Parents and the Socialization of Children Essay Western countries family life has undergone so many transformations in recent years that the context within which paternal employment is now occurring is different from in the past. Technological developmentsincluding clothes dryers, no-iron fabrics, disposable diapers, home freezers, and processed foods of good qualityhave enormously diminished the amount of work necessary for operating a household; family size is smaller; marital instability has increased the necessity for women to establish occupational competence; economic pressures in general have increased; womens educational levels have risen; the adult roles for which children are being socialized are different; the prevailing social values have changed. Today full-time mothers as well as employed mothers may feel a need to justify their role, and the role of full-time mother is a less satisfying one according to a number of recent studies. The role of the present-day non employed mothers may be as new as the role of the majority of present-day mothers, who are employed. It is even difficult to know which represents more of continuity with the non employed mother of the past. It is possible that the individual child in todays employed-mother household receives as much attention as the individual child in yesterdays non employed-mother householdwork filling in the time previously spent on the extra household responsibilities and the additional children, while todays non employed mother represents the really new pattern. The non employed mother today may represent a more intense parent-child interaction than we have ever had before. There is no data base that would make testing that hypothesis possible, but it is important to keep in mind as employed-mother families are compared with non employed mother families; neither one represents the traditional pattern. Until recently there were very few studies of the effects of paternal employment on the infant and preschool child, largely because the pattern was unusual. But the pattern is no longer unusual. Hochschild (1997) stated that in 1992, over 48% of the mothers of preschoolers, with a husband present in the home, were employed; over 45% of the mothers of children under 3. For mothers with no current husband, a rapidly increasing group, the comparable figures were 60% and 53%. In fact the rate of increase in employment has been greatest for mothers of preschoolers. The current figure of 48.7% employment among married mothers of preschoolers, for example, is more than double the rate in 1985 (Hochschild, 1997). In 1960 less than 20 percent of mothers with preschool children were employed, but by 1972 this had risen to over 45 percent and by 1990 to over 50 percent. In 1960 less than 40 percent of mothers with school-aged children had employment outside of the home. By 1972 this rose to almost 50 percent and by year 2000 to over 60 percent (Kahn, Kamerman, 1987). A long-standing concern exists in our society about possible problems for young children when their mother works outside of the home (McDonald, 2001). In general, available evidence indicates that children from families with two employed parents are as a group similar to those with housewife mothers in terms of emotional, intellectual and physical development (Hochschild, Machung, 1989). Children with two employed parents generally show as much maternal attachment as those whose mothers are full-time housewives. However, maternal employment can, along with other family circumstances, have either positive or negative ramifications for particular children. Tannen (1991) assert many complex factors are involved in determining the impact of maternal employment including the age of the child, type of day-care arrangements and the amount of time the child is actually separated from the parents. The ways that maternal employment may affect the young child can be influenced greatly by the quality of the fathers involvement in parenting. Under some circumstances, maternal employment can have a quite positive influence on both the parents and the child. Maternal employment often defuses an overly intense parent-child relationship, allowing the woman to develop more generalized feelings of competence. On the other hand, if the mothers employment means an already somewhat neglected child receives even less attention, there can be very negative implications for family functioning (Tannen, 1991). The employed mother can provide the father with an opportunity for a closer one-to-one relationship with his child. In many families before the advent of the employed mother, the father was less likely to be with a young child in individualized situations. More than one-third of all child-care arrangements made to aid employed mothers involve some increased participation by fathers. This can be a great advantage indeed if fathers realize their potential positive influence on children. The child with employed parents may also be able to spend some time, at least occasionally, at each of their workplaces. It can be quite stimulating for even very young children to discover that their mothers and fathers are competent adults outside the home. Unfortunately, most employed mothers in two-parent families still find themselves having much more than their fair share of household and parenting responsibilities (Morris, 1992). Wives often balance employment and parenthood better than their husbands do. Employment does not in itself detract from a womans motherhood. The personal satisfaction derived for the woman who enjoys her career may actually increase her effectiveness as a parent. The fact that the employed mother can be a very competent parent while still spending time away from home should support the contention that more fathers can also combine successful careers with effective child rearing. Among educated middle-class mothers, evidence suggests that many of those who are employed actually spend more quality one-to-one time with their children than do most of those who have no career. Many mothers who are home much of the day feel that simply being there is enough for their children. In contrast, employed mothers may feel that they must positively make up for being away from their children. Fathers, too, can learn a great deal from such mothers (Sassoon, 1987). Working mothers who have highly demanding careers tend to become more focused in their attention to their children when they are at home. Most working mothers realize that their children definitely need a period of close contact with them on a daily basis. They are usually committed to quality after-work time with their children. The child may get even more constructive attention from a working mother than from one who does not have a career. The housewife might not have as much of a need to interact as positively with her child on a one-toone basis. After all, she may feel that she is always at home anyway. When a mother has been the primary parent and then decides to pursue a career, especially before her children reach adolescence, much stress may be put on the marital relationship and the family system. In cases where the mother has assumed traditional responsibilities, the transition of going to work or back to school requires role redefinitions affecting both parents and children. Modification of conceptions of marital and parenting responsibilities is necessary but may be difficult to some extent for all family members. The first year in the familys readjustment to the mothers changing status is crucial. Unfortunately many couples cannot adapt in a successful way, and their marriages may deteriorate, sometimes ending in divorce. However, if they stay together during the difficult transition period, most couples actually seem to develop better relationships than when only the husband was an employed parent (Twigg Atkin, 1994). More than half of the preschool children in the United States spend a considerable part of the work week being cared for by someone other than their parents. Estimates show that even though thirty million children under fourteen years of age have mothers who work, there are only five million places available for them in before and afterschool care centers (Wolcott Glezer, 1995). Few studies have looked at the relationship between child stress and maternal employment. In a study by Tannen (1991), 180 adolescent girls and 92 adolescent boys thirteen to nineteen years of age participated in a study to determine whether their mothers employment status had any consequence on their sense of wellbeing. While no considerable results were found for the boys in the sample, the daughters of women employed full-time outside the home were considerably more likely to feel they could not approach their mothers or peers with personal problems; these girls also reported drastically greater life stress than the daughters of mothers who stayed in the home. The author stated, The sources of stress which female adolescents with working mothers found to be most intense imply that the absence of the mother should leave a substantial void in their lives and It seems that maternal employment can be associated with difficulties in the relationship of the parents and this consecutively created a stressful environment for the adolescents. (Wearing Wearing, 1996) The last two decades has seen a emerging of scholarly interest in work family relationships, but thus far the definition of work and family as a distinctive research domain has proceeded mainly as a search for the fundamental effects of specific working conditions on family life. The emotional edge between parents work experiences and qualities of parent-child relationships has been a mainly intriguing subject, leading some researchers to look at the ways in which a parents work-related stresses (deriving from work overload, for instance, or from lack of job autonomy) spill over into the family domain. Most research has emphasized the negative consequences of job spillover, as evidenced by parents emotional taking out or by their controlling, punitive behavior toward their children (Traustadottir, R. 1991; Wearing, Wearing, 1996). In their efforts to elucidate the causal connections between workplace experiences and family interaction, researchers have leaned to take as self-evident the conceptual distinction between work and family. Yet what describes an activity as work or as family is far from clear-cut. Nearly everyone of us who work outside the home are familiar with the ways in which family responsibilities break in the workplace, for example, in the form of personal phone calls to and from family members throughout working hours or in office conversations with co-workers about family-related subjects (Traustadottir, 1991). The division of labor between men and women stated by economic circumstances, womens adjustment to their economic responsibilities as replicated in their management of their time and delegation of tasks to their children and other family members, and the emergence of social behavior in children as a consequence of different socialization practices. The available evidence supporting the subsistence of an adaptive relationship between the mothers economic responsibilities, child care practices and the childrens behavior includes consequences from the Six Cultures study documenting that women in simple cultures who have considerable economic responsibilities assign more chores to their children and seem to be more despotic in their work assignments than women in complex cultures who have few economic responsibilities (Nolan, Grant, Keady,   1996,   and Moen, Robison, Dempster-McClain, 1995). From a western perspective, assessment of the nature of the relationship between maternal employment and child rearing practices presumes special prominence because of distress over the consequences of womens work outside the home. Speculation as to the impact of maternal employment ranges from commentary on the optimistic aspects of work on womens self esteem to concern over the phenomena of latch key children who come home to an empty house in the afternoon (Twigg Atkin, 1994). To date, the evidence derived from experiential studies of Western families is ambivalent as to the overall positive and negative collision of maternal employment on children (Hochschild, 1997). Working mothers report assignment of more household responsibilities to their children and are stricter disciplinarians than nonworking mothers (Hochschild, 1997, 1989). Survey data on adolescents specify that both sons and daughters are better adjusted while the mothers are employed, although the study was primarily designed to explore the negative consequences of maternal employment on adolescents (Nolan, Grant Keady, 1996). Interviews with working and nonworking mothers of young infants have revealed working mothers to recognize less distress in their infants while separated from them and to be less apprehensive about the capability of other care takers (Morris, J. 1992). It has also been suggested, that some working mothers feel guilty concerning not being instantaneously available to their children and compensate by being generous, overprotective, and lax in discipline (Hoffman, 1974). These conflicting lines of evidence point to the requirement for additional information on the consequences of maternal employment on family functioning. Information on changes in childrens behavior instigating from shifts in socialization practices linked with maternal responsibilities assumes increased significance while considered in conjunction with changes in womens employment behavior. As of 1999, 50% of the mothers of school aged children living with their husbands were employed as almost forty percent of mothers of preschool children were employed (Pocock, 2001). It is generally recognized that economic circumstances and the cost of living will encourage, if not force, women to seek paid employment outside the home. The dramatic increase in number of women, mainly mothers of young children, who are joining the work force suggests the requirement for careful examination of the impact of mothers working status on mother-child interactions and ensuing child development. During the last three decades, particular social concern has been directed at the quality of day care provided for children when mothers have employment outside of the home (Pocock, 2001).. A woman who has had a career may be in a state of indecision about continuing to work after she has had a baby. In most families, availability of day care and economic considerations are the major factors impacting on the familys options. If the couple looks strictly at the economic aspects of work, the situation may seem bleak. The potential income the mother earns may get absorbed by the new expenses of child care. But her job may be a significant source of pride as well as money for her. It is to be hoped that her career provides her with personal satisfaction as well as economic benefits (McDonald, 2001). In most cases, the father and mother can take at least some parental leave from their jobs. If they decide that neither of them will take any extended period of time off from working, both should be involved in planning day care for the baby. If some responsible adult cannot be found to care for the child in the home, the mother and father should visit several alternative settings and talk to other parents using such facilities before making a decision. They may find a day-care situation close to where they work so that they can visit their child during the day. Parents should not feel that they have to settle for an institutional day-care center where babies and children may be treated as little more than parts on an assembly line (Hochschild, 1997). They can form a small baby-care cooperative with other parents-fathers as well as mothersso that their child will be cared for with more personalized attention and commitment. As a general rule, it is best for parents to take primary responsibility for the care of their baby. Ideally, parents should not be reticent about presenting their special needs to their employers. They should explain that they may need some time off or will want to work unconventional hours, or even bring the child to work with them occasionally. Many potential arrangements can be made to minimize the need for day care outside of the family. For example, both parents may work thirty-five hours a week, but if one goes to work two hours earlier than the other and comes home two hours sooner, most of the care of the infant can be managed without including other adults. Also, either or both parents may be able to spend part of their lunch hour with the child. A general consequence of the greater involvement of adult females in positions of social and political leadership is a lessening of the emphasis on women just being mothers (Morris, 1992). This is beneficial in relieving some of the enormous pressure on women to define themselves solely in terms of their parenting responsibilities. However, this redefinition of adult femininity can be destructive to the quality of family life if fathers are not involved partners in parenting. The fathers and mothers attitudes toward the womans role outside the family are crucial. If the mother wants to work, to continue her education, or to become more involved in endeavors outside of the home, it is important that the father views it as his responsibility to be positively involved with his children. Greater flexibility for mothers can benefit fathers in many ways. While the mother is gaining an opportunity to broaden her interests outside of the home, the father can have more of a chance for a one-to-one relationship with his child. On a more general level, men must be sensitized to the enormous need for more constructive paternal influence in our society. The danger of the wife subtly resenting the husbands increased involvement with their child is lessened because she is gaining a greater confidence in herself as a well-rounded person. There is a very low probability that a child will be harmed by spending less time with a previously full-time mother, assuming they still share a regular, ongoing relationship. In fact, the child can be greatly stimulated by periods of time getting to know each parent as an individual as well as by opportunities to function more independently of family influence (Twigg, Atkin 1994). The childs social development can be greatly facilitated by a caring, accessible and dependable father who fosters a sense of closeness, sharing and trust. The fathers positive family involvement assumes special significance in fostering social competence because he is apt to be the only salient male adult the child encounters on a day-to-day basis. Both boys and girls need to develop effective modes of social interaction with males as well as females. Children who have the benefit of being exposed to kind, considerate interactions between their parents are likely to have a solid basis for constructive male-female relationships. By conveying positive values about male-female relationships, the nurturing father can have an especially crucial role in supporting his sons and daughters capacity for intimacy. His encouragement of assertiveness, body pride and basic self-esteem increases the likelihood of his child having constructive relationships both inside and outside of the family. Although many interacting biopsychosocial influences are involved, the quality of fathering that individuals receive during childhood tends to be associated with their social competence, sexual adjustment and life satisfaction in adulthood. The earlier father-mother-child relationship is a significant factor in the adults personality functioning and capacity for success in marriage, parenting and work. Exposure to positive paternal and maternal influence during childhood increases the likelihood that females as well as males will be socially and vocationally successful during adulthood, able happily to pursue their personal, family and career interests. Work Cited Hochschild, A. (1997). The Time Bind When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work. New York: Metropolitan Books. Hochschild, A. with Machung, A. (1989). The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home. New York: Avon Books. Kahn, A.J. Kamerman, S.B. (1987). Child Care: facing the hard choice. Dover: Auburn House. McDonald, F. (2001). Work-family policies are the right approach to the prevention of very low fertility. People and Place, 9(3), 17-27. Moen, P., Robison, J. Dempster-McClain, D. (1995). Caregiving and womens well-being: a life course approach. Journal of Health Social Behaviour, 36, pp. 259-273. Morris, J. (1992). `Us and `them? Feminist research, community care and disability. Critical Social Policy, Issue 33 (Winter), pp. 22-39. Nolan, M. Grant, G. Keady, J. (1996) Understanding Family Care. A Multidimensional Model for Caring and Coping. Buckingham: Open University Press. Pocock, B. (2001). Having a Life: Work, Family, fairness and community in 2000. Adelaide, Adelaide University: Centre for Labour Research. Sassoon, A. S. (Ed.) (1987). Women and the State. London: Routledge. Tannen, D. (1991). You Just Dont Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. London: Virago. Traustadottir, R. (1991). Mothers who care. Gender, disability and damily life. Journal of Family Issues. 12 (2), pp. 211-228. Twigg, J. Atkin, K. (1994). Carers Perceived: Policy and Practice in Informal Care. Buckingham: Open University Press. Wearing, B. Wearing, C. (1996). Women Breaking Out: Changing Discourses on Grandmotherhood. journal of Family Studies, 2, 165-177. Wolcott, I. Glezer, H. (1995). Work and Family Life: Achieving Integration. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family.

Illegal Forest Acticvities In Malaysia Environmental Sciences Essay

Illegal Forest Acticvities In Malaysia Environmental Sciences Essay Malaysia is a tropical country which consists of three regions: Peninsular Malaysia and the two Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak. According to Forest Statistic Information for the Year 2009 from Official Website Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia, the forested area in Peninsular Malaysia is 5.89 million hectares from overall Peninsular Malaysia Area which is 13.18 million hectares. McMorrow Talip (2001: 217, citing Wood 1990) have pointed out that, based on its performance up till the end of the 1980s; Malaysia is one of the 14 major countries with over 250,000 hectares deforested annually. They added that by the late 1980s half of the forest area in Peninsular Malaysia and a fifth in Borneo had gone. A variety of factors contribute to this state of affairs. When deforestation and forest degradation became critical issues, shifting cultivation was singled out by the governments, and particularly by the Sarawak government, as the main cause of forest loss. Yet, it has since been established that forest degradation due to shifting cultivators is minor (Cramb 1989; Jomo et.al. 2004; Nicholas 2003). The major causes of the decline in forest area and quality include commercial logging, agricultural development, dams and resettlement. To look deeply into the matter of the role of authority from land office and forest department to prevent illegal occupation in the forest, the author will give some definitions about forest, illegal forest activities which include illegal occupation of forestlands, illegal logging, etc. The laws such as National Land Code1965 and National Forestry Act 1984 that involve illegal occupation in forest have to be defined. Forest management or sustainable forest management also has to be defined to find out overview of forest law enforcement and system monitoring in Malaysia. Since the respondents of study are authorities from land office and forestry department, hence the functions, roles or responsibilities also need to be defined. 2.2 Definition 2.2.1 Forest According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, forest is a large area of land that is thickly covered with trees. While in Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary, forest is defined as a large area of land covered with trees and plants, usually larger than a wood, or the trees and plants themselves. Forest is a problematic and hybrid category. As defined in FRA2000, it is a combination of a land-cover class and a land-use class: it relates not only to the presence of trees of over 5m and 10% canopy cover, but also to the absence of other land uses such as agriculture. It includes areas normally forming part of the forest area which are temporarily unstocked but which are expected to revert to forest (FAO Forestry Department, 1998, p. 3). Further complications stem from changes in minimum size of area included (0.5 ha in FRA2000, compared with 100 ha in FRA1990). Rubber plantations were included as plantations in FRA2000 but not in FRA1990. And while a uniform definition was employed in FRA2000, it has not become a global standard: discussion continued thereafter (FAO, 2002), and a different one has been agreed for reporting on the Kyoto Protocol (UNFCCC, 2002). Even if a single definition is agreed, as in FRA2000, problems remain and indeed may become even more insidious because they are less obvious. At the country level, data are collected according to national definitions, and have to be adjusted to the international one Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 showed that forests cover 31 percent of total land area. The worlds total forest area is just over 4 billion hectares, which corresponds to an average of 0.6 ha per capita. The five most forest-rich countries (the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the United States of America and China) account for more than half of the total forest area. Ten countries or areas have no forest at all and an additional 54 have forest on less than 10 percent of their total land area. Carol Yong (2006) revealed that the official definition of a forest used in Malaysia differs from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) definition, which excludes areas under agricultural crops (e.g. oil palm). In Malaysia, however, the areas under oil palm, rubber and tree crops are frequently regarded as forest. The question of the definition of forests is particularly significant in the Malaysian context where the Malaysian forests are rapidly disappearing and, conversely, forest plantations areas are expanding. Malaysian Timber Council (2008) draws our attention that in the year 2006, Malaysia has 32.95 million hectares of land area, of which 24.60 million hectares or 74.7 percent of total land area are classified as total area under tree cover. Of these, 18.5 million hectares are forested area and 6.25 million hectares are other tree cops. Of the total area under tree cover, 8.96 million hectares (36.42 per cent) are found in Sarawak, 11.23 million hectares (45.65 per cent) are found in Peninsular Malaysia and 4.41 million hectares (17.93 per cent) in Sabah. Sabah claims it has the least area under tree cover. S. Mather (1990) in Zalinda Binti Muhammad (2003) and Norisah Binti Kasim (2006) stated that forest is one spectrum which has natural elements like product of the forest, flora and fauna, etc. Area of all the forest that has been identified at the middle of decade 1980 is more than 4000 million hectare or 31 percent of surface of the earth. According to S.M. Mohd Idris who is the director of Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) or Friends of the Earth Malaysia (1987) in Norisah Binti Kasim (2006), he stated that forests offer protective roles against environmental changes. The complex role played by forest in the heat and water balance of the earth is undeniable. At the local level, the forest cover breaks the impact of heavy rainstorms on the soil, reduces and slows down surface run off, and minimizes soil erosion as well as situation of the drainage systems. Flash floods and prolonged floods in many areas of the topical world are increasingly attributable to extensive clearance of forested areas. 2.2.2 Unlawful Occupation According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, the meaning of occupation is the act of living in or using a building, room, piece of land, etc. Meanwhile the meaning of unlawful is not allowed by the law or synonym with illegal. Therefore unlawful occupation can be defined as the act of living in or using a building, room, piece of land, etc which is against the law. 2.2.3 Illegal Forest Activities Illegal forest activities is a broad term that includes illegal logging; it is used to refer to activities broader than just harvesting, which is, transport, processing and trade (Smith, 2002). Brack and Hayman (2001) also mention that illegalities may also occur during transport, including illegal processing and export, misdeclaration to customs, and avoidance of taxes and other monies. Illegal forest activities include all illegal acts related to forest ecosystems, forest industries, and timber and non-timber forest products. They include acts related to the establishment of rights to the land and corrupt activities used to acquire forest concessions. Illegal acts include unauthorized occupation of public and private forestlands, logging in protected or environmentally sensitive areas, harvesting protected species of trees, woodland arson, wildlife poaching, unlawful transport of wood and other forest products, smuggling, transfer pricing and other fraudulent accounting practices, unauthorized processing of forest products, violation of environmental regulations, and bribing government officials (Contreras-Hermosilla 2002a) There are many types of illegal forest practices like public servants may approve illegal contracts with private enterprise. Private commercial corporations may harvest trees of species that are protected by law from timber exploitation. Individuals and communities may enter public forest and illegally take products that are public property. Illegal activities do not stop at the forest. They travel down the line to operations in transportation, processing and trade of forest products. Individuals or corporations may smuggle forest products across international borders or process raw forest materials without a license. Corporations with strong international links may artificially inflate the price of imported inputs or deflate the volume and prices of their exports to reduce their tax liability and to facilitate the illegal transfer of capital abroad (FAO 2001). Contreras-Hermosilla presents examples of illegal activities in the forestry sector, grouped into six categories: illegal occupation of forestlands; illegal logging; arson; illegal timber trade and transport, and timber smuggling; transfer pricing and other illegal accounting practices; and illegal forest processing that shown in Table 1 below. Illegal occupation of forestlands à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Invasion of public forested lands by either rural families, communities or private corporations to convert them to agriculture or cattle ranching à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Practice of slash-and-burn agriculture on invaded lands à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Landless peasants illegally occupying forested areas to force governments to grant land ownership rights to them and these governments buying lands from peasants. Illegal logging à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Logging protected species à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Duplication of felling licenses à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Girdling or ring-barking, to kill trees so that they can be legally logged à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Contracting with local entrepreneurs to buy logs from protected areas à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Logging in protected areas à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Logging outside concession boundaries à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Logging in prohibited areas such as steep slopes, riverbanks and water catchments à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Removing under-/over-sized trees from public forests à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Extracting more timber than authorized à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Reporting high volume extracted in forest concessions to mask the fact that part of the volume declared is extracted from non-authorized boundaries à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Logging without authorization à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Obtaining logging concessions through bribes. Woodlands arson à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Setting woodlands on fire to convert them to commercial uses. Illegal timber transport, trade and timber smuggling à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Transporting logs without authorization à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Transporting illegally harvested timber à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Smuggling timber à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Exporting and importing tree species banned under international law, such as CITES à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Exporting and importing timber in contravention of national bans. Transfer pricing and other illegal accounting practices à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Declaring lower values and volumes exported à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Declaring purchase prices higher than the prevailing market prices as equipment or services from related companies à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Manipulating debt cash flows to transfer money to a subsidiary or parent company, such as inflating debt repayment to avoid taxes on profits à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Under-grading, under-valuing, under-measuring and misclassification of species exported or for the local market. Illegal forest processing à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Operating without a processing license à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Ignoring environmental and social and labour laws and regulations à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Using illegally obtained wood in industrial processing. Table 3: Examples of illegal practices in the forestry sector The World Bank estimates that loss of revenue caused by illegal forest activities throughout the world is worth US$5 billion annually. Illegal forest activities occur in tropical, temperate and boreal forests. Illegal forest activities abound in many countries, for example: * In Indonesia, as much as 50 million cubic meters of timber are estimated to be illegally cut-down each year. * At least one-fifth of Russias annual timber harvest is taken illegally, and illegal harvesting may account for as much as 50 percent of the total in East Asia. * In Cambodia in 1997, the volume of illegally harvested logs was ten times that of the legal harvest. * In Cameroon and Mozambique about half of the total annual timber harvest is illegal. * In Brazil, an estimated 80 percent of timber extracted each year in the Amazon is removed illegally. 2.2.4 Illegal Logging Illegal logging has no single definition. It is not a legal term derived from treaties, statutes, or court opinions. Neither is it a technical term that professionals use in a consistent way. In a general sense, illegal logging takes place when timber is harvested, transported, bought or sold in violation of national laws (Black and Hayman 2001). This broad definition includes almost any illegal act that may occur between the growing of the tree and the arrival of the forest-based product in the hands of the consumer(Rosenbaum 2003) There are usually no explicit definitions for illegal logging. In practice, the definition can be derived from the legal violations that are reported on in the national statistics concerning illegal logging. This does not necessarily mean that other types of violations would be ignored; they may simply be recorded under different headings. In broad terms, the various legal violations associated with illegal logging can be divided into eight groups: (i) theft, (ii) unauthorized harvesting, (iii) non-compliance with regulations related to timber harvesting, (iv) non-compliance with the procedure of timber sales/concession award, (v) manipulation of timber data, (vi) evasion of taxes and fees, (vii) non-compliance with regulations concerning transport or export of timber, and (vii) noncompliance with labor laws Typically, the statistics on illegal logging in the countries involved in the study refer to violations which involve physical removal of trees i.e. theft, unauthorized harvestin g and noncompliance with cutting regulations. Corruption in connection with timber harvesting is not recorded under illegal logging unless it involves physical removal of trees. All types of violations in the above list except theft could involve corruption. Based on interviews with various stakeholders in the countries involved in the study, noncompliance with labor laws is perceived to be only weakly linked to illegal logging. Sector-specific records are not maintained and forest administration is not involved in enforcement activities. The illegal logging phenomenon is neither new nor uncontested by the government. It started in the years prior to the social economic reform; it reached the peak in 1997 and continues to date. From this point of view, the illness has not infected only one sector but has extended its roots into other sectors of the economy, and the cure for this illness requires the intersectoral cooperation of public administration, not denying here the interested community and the work of the economic and environmental NGOs. 2.3 Forest Management Forest management is the branch of forestry concerned with the overall administrative, economic, legal, and social aspects and with the essentially scientific and technical aspects, especially silviculture, protection, and forest regulation. This includes management for aesthetics, fish, recreation, urban values, water, wilderness, wildlife, wood products, forest genetic resources and other forest resource values. Management can be based on conservation, economics, or a mixture of the two. Techniques include timber extraction, planting and replanting of various species, cutting roads and pathways through forests, and preventing fire. Formal forest management in Malaysia was introduced in 1901 by the British colonial administration with the creation of a forest department. The department was involved in forestry botany, silvicultural practice, policy formulation and forest preservation. Forestry policies formulated by the British in the 1920s and 1930s were consolidated as the National Forestry Policy (NFP) in 1978 to ensure orderly implementation of forest management, conservation and development across all states. This is because land and forest in Malaysia are strictly state matters. The ad hoc forest management policy practiced by each state makes monitoring and control of forest resources at the federal level difficult. The National Forestry Act (NFA) of 1984 provides for orderly harvesting, renewal and conservation of trees at the sustainable yield level. 2.3.1 Significance of Forest Management 2.3.2 Sustainable Forest Management Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) is the way of management in which growth exceeds timber harvest, now also encompasses economics, environmental and social qualities that contribute to the sustainability of forest dependent communities and ecosystems as well as the forest itself. Malaysia has a plan more environmentally-friendly and responsible business practices. This will help reduce operating costs in the long-run and is a wise investment in the future, safeguarding the natural resources depending on corporations and communities. For example, local corporations in forest industries are joining WWFs Global Forest and Trade Network. They are targeting European and US markets, where consumers are increasingly demanding wood products from sustainably managed forests (WWF-Malaysia, 2008). According to International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO, 1992), sustainable forest management is the process of managing forests to achieve one or more clearly specified objectives of management with regard to the production of a continuous flow of desired forest products and services, without undue reduction of its inherent value and future productivity, and without undue undesirable effects on the physical and social environments. FAO (1993) defines it as one which ensures that the values derived from forest meet present day needs while at the same time ensuring their continued availability and utilization to long-term development needs. Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) is impossible to achieve if a country does not have a management system. In this regard, the use of more systematic approach in managing the forests in Peninsular Malaysia began in 1901 when the first forest officer was appointed (Ismail, 1996). Since then, forest management practices in Peninsular Malaysia had been subjected to constant review and refinement so as to ensure their suitability in achieving forest renewal and sustained yield. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 report has provides a comprehensive overview of the results of FRA 2010 grouped according to seven themes, covering key aspects of sustainable forest management: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Extent of forest resources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Forest biological diversity à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Forest health and vitality à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Protective functions of forest resources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Productive functions of forest resources à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Socio-economic functions of forests à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Legal, policy and institutional framework 2.4 Legal Framework The forestry policies are implemented primarily through the provisions in the forest laws enacted for the three regions: National Forestry Act 1984 for Peninsular Malaysia, Forest Ordinance 1958 for Sarawak and Forest Enactment 1968 for Sabah, and the various amendments by the States. The other related regulations that affect forestry for Peninsular Malaysia include the Land Conservation Act 1960, Environmental Quality Act 1974, National Parks Act 1980, Protection of Wildlife Act 1972, National Land Code 1965, Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954, Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 and Forest Rules 1985. For Sabah, the relevant regulations include Forest Rules 1969, Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1977, Land Ordinance 1930, Cultural Heritage (Conservation) 1997, Sabah Parks Enactment 1984, Biodiversity Enactment 2000, Conservation of Environment Enactment 1996, Water Resource Enactment 1998, and Environmental Quality Act 1974. Sarawak has the Natural Resources and Environment Ordinance 1 997, Forest Rules 1962, Wildlife Protection Ordinance and Rules 1998, The Forests (Planted Forest) Rules 1997, Sarawak Biodiversity Centre Ordinance 1997, Sarawak Biodiversity (Access, Collection Research Regulations) 1998, Land Code 1958, Natural Resource and Environmental Ordinance, Water Ordinance 1994, Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994, Land Ordinance 1952, Native Code 1992, Native Code Rules 1996, and Native Custom Declaration 1996. 2.4.1 The laws 2.4.1.1 Malaysian Constitution Forests are under the responsibility of the states as enshrined in the Malaysian Federal Constitution. Under Article 74(12) of the Federal Constitution, land and forest ownership and management is the responsibility of the State governments. Each state has control over how they use and protect their forest resources then come up with their own policies. For example, Sarawak governs under the Sarawak Forest Ordinance of 1954 while Sabah operates under the Sabah Forest Enactment of 1968. The executive authority of the Federal Government only extends to the provision of advice and technical assistance to the States includes help with forest management, training of personnel, conduct of research and demonstration or experimental stations unless the State agrees to delegate some of their authority to the Federal Government. However, the Federal Government is responsible for trade policies, import and export controls and international cooperation among others. Under the provision of Article 74 Clause (2) of the Malaysian Constitution, land and forest are defined as state matters and are thus within the jurisdiction of the respective State Governments. Clause (3) of Article 76 of the Malaysian Constitution ensures that all Acts related to land and forest shall not come into force in a State unless it has been adopted by a law made by the legislature of the State. As such each State is empowered to enact laws on forestry and to formulate forest policy independently. The executive authority of the Federal Government only extends to the provision of advice and technical assistance to the States, training and the conduct of research, and in the maintenance of experimental and demonstration stations. 2.4.1.2 National Forest Policy Upon independence from the British in 1957, the Colonial Office returned the forests to Malaysia. In 1958, with provisions under the Federal Constitution, the National Land Council (NLC) was formed for coordinating State and Federal policies and objectives covering land use, mining, forestry and agriculture to formulate from time to time in consultation with the Federal Government, the State Governments and the National Finance Council a national policy for the promotion and control of the utilisation of land throughout the Federation the development of natural resources was therefore perceived piecemeal, rather than holistically (Kathirithamby-Wells 2005: 267). The first step to protecting the forest resources in Malaysia was the formation of the National Forestry Council (NFC) in December 1971. The goal of the NFC was to create coordinated plans and effectively manage Malaysians forests. The NFC is made up of the Chief Ministers from all 13 states. Later, this body created the groundwork for the formation of the National Forestry Policy (NFP). This policy was officially adopted by the Malaysian government in 1978. This policy recognizes the importance of forests for the welfare of both individual communities and that nation itself. Malaysia has dedicated itself to sustainable timber yield practices. The National Forest Policy for Peninsular Malaysia of 1978 was revised in 1992 to incorporate several new elements, one of which is on the importance of forest law enforcement. In this revised policy statements, it was emphasized that the State Governments through their respective State Director Forestry must judicially implement the National Forest Act 1984 (Revised 1993) to ensure sustainable forest resource management and conservation. 2.4.1.3 National Forestry Act 1984 An Act to provide for the administration, management and conservation of forests and forestry development within the States of Malaysia and for connected purposes. There is the amendment to National Forestry Act 1984 in 1993 to provide for stiffer penalties for illegal logging and enlisting the Police and Armed Forces to assist the Forestry Departments in carrying out enforcement to curb illegal logging, timber theft and encroachments. The key measure taken by the Government to prevent forest crime was by amending the National Forestry Act, 1984 to incorporate new provisions to deter the occurrence of forest offenses. The Act was enacted to update and harmonize forest law in the Peninsula. Prior to the Act, the various State governments depend on the State Forest Enactments, which were formulated in 1930s, for legal guidelines on forest management and conservation. The Act also enables the effective implementation of the National Forestry Policy passed in 1978. It was amended in 1993 to further strengthen its provisions to curb illegal encroachment of forests and theft of timber. The Act has been adopted by all the states in Peninsular Malaysia. The main objectives of amending the Act are as follows: i) To increase the penalties and tighten the procedures in compounding forest offences ii) To transfer burden of proof from the prosecutor to the defense in the court iii) To delegate power in writing by State Director of Forestry under section 88, 89, 90, 92 or 93 to any member of the armed forces not below the rank of Lance Corporal as empowered to the police but shall not include the power of investigation iv) To add new sections 100A and 100B for rewards and protection of informers respectively, section 101A for power of court to order revocation and disqualification, section 110A for offenses committed by licensee or holder of permit, and New Sixth Schedule for list of machines, equipment and conveyance. v) To make general amendments in the national language text, change of name in the national language text and substitute sections 5, 69, 101 and 104 2.4.1.4 National Land Code According to section 425 unlawful occupation, etc., of state Land, reserved land or mining land National Land Code (Act 56 of 1965) and regulations, Section 425(1) stated that any person who, without lawful authority Occupies, or erects any building on, any State land, reserved land or mining land or Clears, ploughs, digs, encloses or cultivates any such land or part thereof; or Cuts or removes any timber or produce on or from such land, shall be guilty of an offence, and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding ten thousand Ringgit, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year. (1A) Any person who abets the commission of an offence under sub-section (1) shall be guilty of an offence, and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding ten thousand ringgit, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both. (2) For the purpose of this section, State Land shall include all land held by or on behalf of Federal or State Government a local authority or a statutory authority exercising power vested in it by Federal or State law. Section 426 also stated that unlawful extraction or removal of rock material also show that any person who without lawful authority, extracts removes, or, transports or permits the extraction, removal or transportation of rock material from any land shall be guilty of an offence, and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand ringgit, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to both. Section 426A show that any police officer not below the rank of Inspector, Registrar, Land Administrator, Settlement Officer or other officer duly authorized by the State Authority (hereafter in this part referred to as authorized officer may without warrant- Arrest any person found committing or attempting to commit or abetting the commission of an offence under section 425 or 426 Seize any vehicle, tractor, agricultural implement or other thing whatsoever which he has reason to believe was used or is being used in the commission of an offence under that section Demolish, destroy or remove any building, or take possession in the name of the State Authority of any crop, erected or cultivated on any land land in contravention thereof. 2.4.1.5 List of unlawful activities under each Law Violations of the protective provisions (damage of forest reserve through fire, prohibited acts in a forest reserve, illegal logging and removal from other areas, cutting of undersized trees) are punished by fine and imprisonment in the case of unauthorized entry for interference with fences or notice boards, by a fine alone [id. Section 20(1)(C) and 33(1)]. Various offences of fraud, concealment of evidence and receiving forest produce are also punished by fine and imprisonment (Section 30). In addition to fines and imprisonment, the Forest Enactment authorizes the court to order the cancellation of licences, the payment of any fees that would have been payable in the case of unlicensed acts that could have been licensed, and compensation of ten times the value of forest produce removed or damaged (Enactment No. 2 of 1968, Section 34). There is also provision for compounding of certain offences [entering closed area, practising shifting cultivation (Section 20(C)], subject to the payment of an amount based on the fine provided for the offence (Section 35). The Forest Enactment contains a number of presumptions that shift the burden of proof to the defendant charged with a forest offence. In prosecutions against licensees, if there is an extraction route from an area of alleged illegal removal to the licensed area, or if the volume of timber claimed to be covered by a licence exceeds the production of the licensed area, the elements of illegal removal or of possession of produce in respect of which an offence has been committed are presumed. In any case in which the existence of a licence, payment of any royalty, ownership of livestock or forest produce, or the provenance of forest produce is in issue, the burden of proof lies on the accused (id. Section 38) . 2.4.2 The Agencies Involved 2.4.2.1 Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia (JPSM) is one of the departments under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Malaysia and consists of Peninsular Malaysia Forestry Headquarters, 11 State Forestry Department and 33 District Forest Office in all of the Peninsular Malaysia. The department is headed by Director General of Forestry and assisted by two Deputy Director of Forestry. At the end of 2009, the number of employees is about 5.432 people. Forestry Department is responsible for the management, planning, protection and development of the Permanent Forest Reserve (HSK) in accordance with the National Forestry Policy (NDP) 1992 and National Forestry Act (APN) 1984. Peninsular Malaysia Forestry Headquarters responsible for the formulation of forestry policies, providing advice and technical services to State Forestry Department in the planning, management and development of forests, forest harvesting and wood-based industries, forest operations research, and training and human resource development. At the Head Office of Forestry, there ar