Overpopulation Essays (949 words) - Demography, Population Ecology

Overpopulation Overpopulation October 12, 1999 marks the day when the worlds population supposedly reached six billion. Many humanitarians and ecologists worry that soon the planets population will become too big for our food production and resources to support. With the current population growth rate, the total population in the year 2050 is estimated to be between 7.3 and 10.7 billion (Kluger, The Big Crunch 47). Soon the Congress of the United States will vote on whether to restore $60 million of U.S. taxpayer funding over the next two years for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The United Nations Population Fund, for the past 30 years, has been involved with brutal population control programs such as Chinas genocidal one-couple, one-child policy. However, using taxpayer money to fund these programs is a total waste of time, money, and energy. The world is not overpopulated; thus, population control is unnecessary, it is also unethical and anti-religious beliefs. Population control presents several problems for a country. The Philippines, for example, has an artificial birth control program, instated by the government and funded by UNFPA. The people of the Philippines, consisting mainly of Catholics and Muslims, are taxed to pay for this program. Because of its nature, contraception must be paid for every year, in increasing amounts. Over 20 years from 1970 to 1990, it has cost our people over three billion pesos (P3,000,000,000), but has not significantly achieved its self-assigned goals of reducing poverty or improving quality of life. This is because artificial contraception is incapable of accomplishing those goals. It is powerless in removing the yoke of poverty from our people. It is impotent in improving the lot of victims of economic inequity, which is the real cause of poverty, says Antonio B. de los Reyes (http://www.pop.org/students/cbreyes.html). Contraception, a mild form of population control, goes against the grain of Filipinos, who traditionally respect life, and see children not only as resources for production, nor only as means of security for the future, but also as blessings from God and expressions of gratitude to Him. American propaganda and aid policy have portrayed this pro-life orientation as anti-development, and the contraceptive establishment has gradually infiltrated into Filipino minds fewer children mean more happiness. Yet the impotence of past national governments in mobilizing the people's labor resources, and its squandering of the nation's capital assets, were the real problems. Why should we change our positive values to make amends for incompetence and corruption? Children are God's gifts to us. Should we sacrifice them to make up for the failures of our political and economic leaders (http://www.pop.org/students/cbreyes.html)? The contraceptive program's management machinery is a nightmare. It fields 2,500 full-time workers, supports 50,000 subsidized volunteers, and retains a coordinating staff of over 300 with vague managerial responsibilities. These do not include the numerous clinic personnel in the Department of Health's bureaucratic network, and hundreds of private agencies, which opportunistically mushroomed from the outpouring of foreign funds. While POPCOM's field force is among the best-trained and qualified government workers, the disarray at central management level renders it impotent. If this whole network were channeled instead into the government's livelihood program, these well-trained government workers would most likely be more productive and more professionally trained (http://www.pop.org/students/cbreyes.html). Aside from the many problems population controls causes, it is unnecessary. The world can feed its people. Despite the concerns expressed, the food situation has improved dramatically for most of the world's consumers. World output of cereals, the main food source for most consumers, has increased by 2.7 percent per annum since 1950 while population has grown by about 1.9 percent per annum. Cereal yields alone have increased more rapidly than world population since 1950at 2.24 percent per annum. This has allowed per capita calorie consumption in developing countries to increase by about 27 percent since the early 1960s (http://www.pop.org/students/feed.html). The whole world's population could fit in the state of Texas and very comfortably indeed. Everyone, including the poorest of the poor, would enjoy living conditions/housing conditions that are now only available to the wealthiest of people. The land area of Texas is some 262,000 square miles, and current UN estimates of the world's population (for 12 October 1999) are about 6 billion. If the square miles are converted into square

Artificial Selection in Plants

Artificial Selection in Plants In the 1800s, Charles Darwin, with some help from Alfred Russel Wallace, first came up with his Theory of Evolution. In this theory, for the first time that had been published, Darwin proposed an actual mechanism for how species changed over time. He called this idea natural selection. What Is Natural Selection? Basically, natural selection means individuals with the favorable adaptations for their environments would survive long enough to reproduce and pass down those desirable traits to their offspring. Eventually, the unfavorable characteristics would no longer exist after many generations and only the new, favorable adaptation would survive in the gene pool. This process, Darwin hypothesized, would take very long periods of time and several generations of offspring in nature. When Darwin returned from his voyage on the HMS Beagle where he first developed his theory, he wanted to test his new hypothesis and turned to artificial selection to gather that data. Artificial selection is very similar to natural selection since its aim is to accumulate favorable adaptations to create a more desirable species. However, instead of letting nature take its course, evolution is helped along by humans who choose the traits that are desirable and breed individuals possessing those characteristics to create offspring that have those traits. Experiments With Artificial Selection Charles Darwin worked with breeding birds and could artificially select various characteristics such as beak size and shape and color. He showed that he could change the visible features of the birds to show certain traits, much like natural selection would do over many generations in the wild. Artificial selection does not only work with animals, however. There is also a great demand for artificial selection in plants in the present time. Perhaps the most famous artificial selection of plants in biology is the origin of Genetics when Austrian monk Gregor Mendel bred pea plants in his monastery’s garden to collect all of the data that began the entire field of Genetics. Mendel was able to cross-pollinate the pea plants or let them self-pollinate depending on what traits he wished to see in the offspring generation. By doing an artificial selection of his pea plants, he was able to figure out many of the laws that govern the genetics of sexually reproducing organisms. For centuries, humans have been using artificial selection to manipulate the phenotypes of plants. Most of the time, these manipulations are meant to produce some sort of aesthetic change in the plant that is pleasing to look at for their tastes. For instance, flower color is a large portion of artificially selecting for the plant’s traits. Brides planning their wedding day have a special color scheme in mind, and flowers that match that scheme are important to bringing their imagination to life. Florists and flower producers can use artificial selection to create blends of colors, different color patterns, and even leaf coloring patterns on their stems to get the desired results. Benefits of Artificial Selection in Plants Around Christmas time, poinsettia plants are popular decorations. The colors of poinsettias can range from a deep red or burgundy to a more traditional bright red for Christmas, to white, or a mixture of any of those. The colored part of the poinsettia is actually a leaf and not a flower, but artificial selection is still used to get the desired color for any given plant. Artificial selection in plants is not just for pleasing colors, however. Over the last century, artificial selection has been used to create new hybrids of crops and fruit. For instance, corn can be bred to be larger and thicker in the cobs to increase grain yield from a single plant. Other notable crosses include broccoflower (a cross between broccoli and cauliflower) and a tangelo (the hybrid of a tangerine and a grapefruit). The new crosses create a distinctive flavor of the vegetable or fruit that combines properties of their parents.

Birthday Customs and Traditions in Germany

Birthday Customs and Traditions in Germany Many people, both young and old, love celebrating their birthday. In Germany, like in most countries around the world, cake, presents, family, and friends bring in the fun for such a special day. In general, birthday customs in Germany are similar to American birthday celebrations, with a few peculiar exceptions sprinkled here and there throughout German-speaking countries. German Birthday Customs and Traditions(Deutsche Geburtstagsbruche und Traditionen) Never wish a German a happy birthday before their birthday. It is considered bad luck to do so. There are no well-wishes, cards or presents given before a German’s birthday. Period. On the other hand, if you live in certain parts of Austria, it is customary to celebrate your birthday on the eve of. If somebody in Germany invites you out for their birthday, the tab is on them. And don’t try insisting on paying for yourself - it won’t work. If you live in northern Germany and happen to be single going on thirty, a few chores may be expected from you. If you’re female, your friends will want you to clean a few doorknobs for them with a toothbrush! If you’re male, then you’ll most likely be sweeping the stairs of town hall or some other busy public place.There is a way to be freed from such menial tasks, however - by a kiss from someone of the opposite sex. Of course, if you dont want to be so mean to your friend, there are alternatives. For instance, the doorknob chore is sometimes executed by having the birthday girl clean a series of doorknobs attached to a wooden board instead, right at her party and not in public. But you cant let them off so easy; it is also tradition to comically dress the birthday girl and boy as they perform their tasks. Other birthday customs include: 16th Birthday: This birthday child should run for cover as his or her friends will undoubtedly pour flour on top of his or her head. Common in northern Germany.18th Birthday: Cracking eggs over the head of someone turning 18.25th Birthday: Once again, if you are an unmarried man, the whole town will know! A Sockenkranz, a type of garland of socks is strung outside the home and around the birthday boy’s property leading to his party. As he follows the garland of socks, he’ll down an alcoholic drink every few meters. Why socks? In German, you have the expression alte Socke (an old sock), more of a derogatory way of saying confirmed bachelor.† A similar experience awaits unmarried women turning this age. They follow a garland of cigarette cartons instead (or other similar-sized cartons if they are non-smokers). These single women are nicknamed eine alte Schachtel (an old box), similar in meaning to old maid. Geburtstagskranz These are beautifully decorated wooden rings that usually contain ten to twelve holes, one for each year of life as a child. Some families opt to light candles in such Geburtstagskrnze instead of on the cake, though blowing out candles on a birthday cake is frequently observed in Germany as well. A bigger Lebenskerze (life candle) is put in the center of these rings. In religious families, these Lebenskerzen are given at the time of the child’s christening.

Billys Method of Accomplishing His Goals in the Movie Money Ball Essay

Billys Method of Accomplishing His Goals in the Movie Money Ball - Essay Example This paper illustrates that organizational behavior is important in fostering and maintaining cordial organizational relationships. It helps in improving relations between management and the employees. Furthermore, it is important in helping the leader of the organization understand what motivates his or her employees to work in certain ways. Understanding the basis of motivation leads to the management getting things done easily and through delegation of duties. Also, the understanding organizational behavior is imperative in the sense that it helps in understanding organizational life. The different people and workers who encompass the important organization. It helps in understanding them and how they relate to the organization to ensure peaceful and meaningful coexistence. Billy uses a method that is unique in the accomplishment of his intended goals and the goals of his baseball team. This method recognizes that his team does not have the financial muscle and might to compete wi th the big financially well-off teams. Despite that fact, Billy uses a new method to study players who have been overlooked and unappreciated due to varying degrees of problems among others. The inability of the Billy’s Oakland Athletics team to acquire talent through their financial might forces him down through using other methods in acquiring the necessary talents. Billy uses a new method based on statistical analysis of players. The method was new and unheard of in the Baseball game which was started by the man Billy recruited from a meeting. The research and analytics based method helped the team to identify undervalued players from the competitive major league baseball talent pool.

Urban Water Cycle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Urban Water Cycle - Essay Example Most urban centers receive their supply of water from a definite water entity such as a river, lake or a dam. The land area that surrounds the water source is its catchment. The level of cleanliness of a catchment area determines the water quality of the dam or river. A town that uses a dam or several dams as water reservoirs will receive water from rivers. In this regard, the state of the river will determine the water quality that enters the dam. The dam is the storage point for the water from rivers. It is normally built adjacent to a river to block a section of the flowing water and store it. It is from the dam that the urban population receive reliable water supply for their use. Although the water in the dam might look clear, it is not fit for human consumption yet. This is because it contains pollen, soil particles and dust. These particles contain viruses, bacteria together with several other microorganisms that can be harmful to human health. To remove these microorganisms, the water from the dam is first processed in a water treatment plant prior to its use. The water goes through some specific stages and steps at the treatment plant. Such stages include pre treatment, flocculation, filtration and chemical dosing. At the pre treatment level, a polymer called coagulant and alum is added to the water. The substances help to capture the solid particles that provide host to bacteria and viruses. The water free of the particles remains less turbid and clean. At the flocculation level, there is the removal of solid particle from the water. Mixing and circulation occurs for the solid particles captured in the pre treatment step to float on top in the form of froth. At the filtration level, the water is pumped through filters to get rid of the remaining particles. Finally, there is the addition of chlorine to get rid of the remaining microorganisms or germs, if any at the chemical dosing stage. This stage also involves the addition of fluorine for teeth prote ction and the adjustment of the pH level of the water.     After the above stages of treatment, the bulk main pipes supply carries the treated water to reservoirs allowing its distribution into smaller pipes into households. The reservoirs help the water stored to adjust with the changing demands. It also assists in the management of the pressure from users so that it flows to taps at expected speeds. Reservoirs can be either above or below the ground. The reservoirs supply water into homes through the service lines than branch from the mains pipe. After use at home, the water goes down the drain from where it enters the network of wastewater. The wastewater then flows into the sewerage system.

Strengths weaknesses and the strategy of IKEA

Strengths weaknesses and the strategy of IKEA IKEA is the worlds largest home-furnishing retailer. It was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden. In terms of scope, IKEA is designed for the total home environment, in order to offer furnishings and fittings for every part of the home, both in- and out of doors. With the vision: To create a better everyday life for the many people, it offers a wide range of well designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. (IKEA.com). From it first store in Sweden, today, there are over 300 IKEA stores in 39 countries, with turnover in 2009 of more than à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬22.7 billion. According to Forbes Magazine, Ingvar Kamprad, now in his eighties, is the 11th-wealthiest person in the world, with a fortune estimated at U.S. $23 billion in 2010. (Mary Albon, The Sun Never Sets on IKEA, 2010). I would like to address some issues to understand more about IKEA success as follows: Since its establishment, IKEA has always taken care of people and the environment as it stated on its vision. That is the reason why in manufacturing process, IKEA tries its best to have a better use of both raw materials and energy. They even have a brochure presenting a brief overview of how the IKEA groups work to in a high sense of responsibility to people and environment. We also can easily see how much they concern people and the environment by knowing IKEA stakeholders. Like other business organisations, the stakeholders who have high power and high interest are Inter IKEA system BV, investors and customers. However to me the most impressive and important stakeholders of IKEA are environmental organisations of which IKEA Group also is a member such as: BCI, Better Cotton Initiative, aims to promote measurable improvements in the key environmental and social impacts of cotton cultivation worldwide. (IKEA.com) Building and Wood Workers International (BWI) is the Global Union Federation of democratic and free trade unions, protecting more than 12 million members in 350 trade unions around the world in the building, building materials, wood, forestry and allied industries. IKEA and BWI meet frequently to exchange experience and discuss working conditions and social responsibility. (IKEA.com) The IKEA Group is member of BSR and has an representative on the board is a global, non-profit organization that helps member companies achieve business success while respecting ethical values, people, communities and the environment. BSR provides information, tools, training and advisory services to make corporate social responsibility an integral part of business operations and strategies. (IKEA.com) Clean Cargo Working Group (CCWG) which is working to promote sustainable product transportation. (IKEA.com) European Retailers Round Table (ERRT) which is Focus for activities include consumer protection, food safety, environmental issues, corporate social responsibility and trade issues Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) (IKEA.com) Refrigerants Naturally is a United Nations initiative acting as a catalyst, advocate, educator and facilitator to promote the wise and sustainable development of the global environment. (IKEA.com) The Network for Transport and Environment (NTM), aiming to establish a common base of values on how to calculate the environmental performance of various modes of transport (IKEA.com) And IKEA also is the partner of: IKEA Foundation and UNICEF are long term partners working together on both a global and local level (IKEA.com) WWF and IKEA co-operate on projects which focus on sustainable forestry, sustainable cotton production and climate change (IKEA.com) During working and sharing experience with these organizations, IKEA not only has better knowledge about social responsibilities but also has built its reputation of being green. In 2010 and beyond, the world economy would be a key issue to impact Ikeas business. IKEA and other companies in the world had to face the worse economic situation since many decades as its financial sector was deeply in crisis and then the global economy was felt into the depth of recession. The world economic growth reached only 1.1 % if compared to about 5% in previous years (VietnamPlus and World Economy, n.d). However, the world economy improved in 2010 with the economic growth increased to 4.2% as the economy of the United States of America is expected to grow by 2.1 per cent in 2010, following an estimated downturn of 2.5 per cent in 2009. Recovery in both the European Union (EU) and Japan is projected to be much weaker, reaching GDP growth of no more than 0.5 and 0.9 per cent, respectively, in 2010. At this pace of recovery, the major developed economies are not expected to provide a strong impetus to global growth in the near term (World Economic Situation and Prospects 2010 Global outlook, p.2). Nevertheless, the UN stresses that the recovery is uneven and conditions for sustained growth remain Fragile. In 2010, global growth will remain below potential and unemployment will stay high ( p.1 ). Though the situation was still difficult because fewer people have moved home but the company sales increased 7.7% in 2010 compared to fiscal year 2009 is surprised outcome. The company also faces increased competition of other competitors all over the world. For example, it is ddifficult to sustain good design quality products at low cost when the number of competitors keep increasing e.g. In the US, Kmart, Target Corp, Fly in France and Japan Nitori Co in Japan (Ikea case study). In particular sales case, competition cut Ikea sales in UK as profits dropped to  £17 million to August 2009, according to documents filed at Companies House last week. Sales fell 1.4 per cent to  £1.23 billion. The company has reported falling profits for five years and falling sales for three years in Britain. Ikea has come under increasing pressure from DIY retailers that are selling more home furnishings, as well as growing competition from supermarkets (Neil Craven, daily mail, n.d) IKEA is positioning as a cost leader of home furnishing retailers. Ikea states firmly its market position by a statement that Your partner in better living. We do our part, you do yours. Together we save money (Ikea Portal, Student Info, n.d). It is clear to see that IKEA is regarded as low price products with high quality by using inexpensive materials in a novel way and minimizing production, distribution and retail costs, customers benefit from low prices. This cost leadership has been making IKEA differently from other competitors. Due to high inflation increasing every year, it is hard to find any other companies who can announce that last year our price is 8.99 euros, this year 4.90 euros or 10 year ago 260 euros, today 169 euros (Ikea Welcome inside 2010, p.20). Ikea has been making it for many decades. Low prices are one of the cornerstones of the IKEA concept and help to make customers want to buy from IKEA. This low price strategy is coupled with a wide range of well designed, functional products. IKEAs products cater for every lifestyle and life stage of its customers, who come from all age groups and types of households. This is vital in times when the retail sector is depressed, as it increases IKEAs potential market. While the price of other companies products tends to rise over time, Ikea says it has reduced its retail prices by a total of about 20 percent during the past four years. Ikeas corporate mantra is Low price with meaning. The goal is to make things less expensive without ever making customers feel cheap. Striking that balance demands a special kind of design, manufacturing, and distribution expertise. But IKEA pulls it off in its own distinctive way: tastefully, methodically, even cheerfully, and yet somehow differently than any other company anywhere. Lisa Magonelly therefore presents guide to how IKEA designs, builds, and distributes the furniture that the entire world wants to buy. Based on low prices strategy, IKEAs segmentation is targeting to young low and middle-income family who are willing to do a little bit of work serving themselves, transporting the items home and assembling the furniture for a better price. IKEA offers customer experiencing in actively involve in shopping at its stores. Definitely, customers involvement contributes to IKEA low prices. To explore the successful of the IKEA, analyzing its opportunities and threats is an essential. Before looking at the opportunities of IKEA, we can come over its strengths. First of all, Brand is one of the most important that IKEA has. It is already a global brand therefore it will be a very attracted factor to customers because it like a promise to customers that where ever they are, they will be provided the same quality. Second strength is its vision to create a better everyday life for many people. The concept that offers a wide rage of well designed and functional home furnishing products at the inexpensive prices is the third strength. Fourth is the sustainability is fully-integrated into all business strategies.   The IKEAs strengths bring its opportunities, especially in this dedicate, people more and more care a bout a sustainable environment. By caring about environment, people will care about Green products and IKEA has reputation of being green so that its products will be their choices. IKEA shows their care about environment clearly on its statement: Each and every one of our business strategies whether local, national or global must now clearly and systematically integrate sustainability as a part of everyday operations.   I see this as a milestone. It will help us move forward in our relentless work with the many challenges we have to solve on our route to becoming a sustainable company. (Greeneconomics.com) As a member of number of environmental organizations enables IKEA to work with sustainability in different ways: IKEA reduced overall CO2 emissions by 5% in FY 2009.   The company plans on participating in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol in 2010. (Greeneconomics.com) The company has a pilot program with select suppliers to reduce energy consumption by 30% or more by 2011. (Greeneconomics.com) IKEA has also started four new climate change projects with the WWF, which will focus on measuring supply chain emissions, helping our customers tackle climate change through transport initiatives, reducing emissions from IKEA food product transport, and improving the reuse and recycling of used products. (Greeneconomics.com) One climate change project is to install solar panels in 150 of its stores, with the long-term goal of supplying all buildings with 100% renewable energy. (Greeneconomics.com) Because of the economic downturn, customers tend to be looking for products with low prices than expensive one. The excellent thing to be come IKEA customer is you can buy good things with well designed and good quality but inexpensive prices. It means that, even the economic crisis, the demands for IKEA products still raising and the turnover also high more than à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬22.7 billion in 2009 (Mary Albon, The Sun Never Sets on IKEA, 2010). However the strengths and opportunities of IKEA can also drive the organisation to its weaknesses. IKEA with hundreds stores in different countries is really hard to control the quality as well as the standard of the products and services. The low cost is a strength however in the management aspects it is not easy to control the low cost but keep the standard of quality in the same time. The threats that IKEA is facing are: The competition in the retails market: there are more and more organsations have strategy of producing products with high quality with reasonable prices. They will become competitors of IKEA so this will be one of the main factors can impact to IKEA. The economics down turn in 2010 and will continues in 2011 makes the disposable income decrease but the living expense is rising. This will definitely affect the business operation of IKEA. By analyzing these factors IKEA can have plan to reduce the threats and take advantage of the opportunities.

Too Much Technology

What are the some of the arguments for and against the use of digital media? Technology has both positive and negative sides. Positive opinion about technology as we are able to find many sources of information quickly and easily as well as saving production cost. Technology that is negative opinion can influence our behavior, destroy our way of thinking, and the more severe impact of computer technology is also able to give rise to a number of diseases. 2.How might the brain affected by constant digital media usage? Digital media would greatly help us in the world as well as other technologies. However, if used continuously can cause health problems. Vision problems continued to decline also occur when using the computer for too long. Besides, the new studies suggest that digital technologies are damaging our ability to think clearly and focus. 3. Do you think these arguments outweigh the positives of digital media usage? Why or why not? As for me, I think the above is indeed the ne gative side of technology.However, in the orld of technology such as current location, we will have to use the technology so that we can continue to survive and not lose against our competitors. 4. What additional concerns are there for children using digital media? Should children under 8 use computers and cellphones? Why or why not? I think children under eight years old can use digital media, such as a computer or cellular phone. So they are able to advance digital media, and we hope that when they grow up, they are not stiff again using digital media. Of course parents should control their children by using it overtime. Too Much Technology By lulsfrfr