The Life of Jesus Christ Free Essays

The Life of Jesus Christ The birth of Jesus Christ to the Virgin Mary is said to have happened in a humble stable in Bethlehem, which is of some controversy. There is belief that the Christian Monks miscalculated the actual time and date that Jesus was born. It has been stated that Jesus, born in Bethlehem as told in the Old Testament, could have been born in or near Nazareth in the town of Galilee. We will write a custom essay sample on The Life of Jesus Christ or any similar topic only for you Order Now With that, some scholars have dated Jesus’ lineage back as far as Adam, the son of God, as well as King David and Abraham from the Old Testament. With the birth of Jesus, nothing else is told about his childhood until he reached the age of twelve. It is said that he found himself lost from his parent during Passover in Jerusalem, when found by his parents; Jesus was in the Temple discussing the Torah with the rabbis. The rabbis were astonished in Jesus’ comprehension of the Torah and the answer he had provided them to their questions. There is little said about Jesus’ climb to manhood, he is about thirty when it is told about his Baptism by John in the Jordan River for his preparation for the Kingdom of God. After the Baptism, Jesus then began to gather his first disciples, having them leave their processions and human attachment to follow him. Jesus taught that the spiritual treasures were far more fulfilling than the material riches of the earth, that prayer to God for help will hem them find what they seek. Jesus’, Or the Messiah as he was called by his disciples, began performing miracles in his travels such as; turning water into wine, healing the sick, resurrecting the dead and the widely know, walking on water. Jesus taught that everything was possible with God and that god was forgiving to those who are willing to repent their sins. In Jesus’ travels he finds himself back to Jerusalem, the place where Jesus knows will bring about his end, but continues. Jesus is then put on trial and Crucified on the hill called Golgotha, also know as the Place of the Skulls. It is at the Crucifixion that Jesus’ disciples became fearful and took to hiding till the word of Jesus’ Resurrection. The resurrection was seen as a victory for Jesus, making his followers believe that he was God sent down into human form to guide them to the Kingdom of God. The Life of Muhammad Muhammad, unlike Jesus, was a prophet that was sent out by Gods angels to spread his word. Mohammad’s mother and father passed away when he was very young and was taken care of by his protective uncle. Muhammad had been noticed by a Christian Monk that identified the marks on his body as that of a prophet. When Muhammad reached the age of twenty three, a woman named Khadijah offered to marry him and became his biggest supporter as he began his teaching of Allah. It is said that angels in human form would come to Muhammad giving him the word of god, which at first, Muhammad was opposed to accepting. The teachings that Muhammad was told to preach publicly, were rejected by the Qurayshites at Ka’bah, and Muhammad was ridiculed and stoned for preaching these beliefs. It is said that after this public preaching, Muhammad and his followers were banished for three years to a desolate place to struggle for their survival. At the age of fifty, also know as his â€Å"Year of Sorrows†, Muhammad lost his beloved wife and protective uncle. With his strongest backers gone, the persecutions increased when he returned to Mecca, thus causing him to accept an invitation to Yathrib to assist in solving their social and political problems. This movement caused the Meccans to feel threatened by Muhammad, causing the Meccans to wage war against Yathrib or al-Medina. After several battles, Muhammad was able to negotiate a truce between the two cities. In 630 ce, Mohammad returned to Mecca, with a following so great that the Meccans did not fight and began to accepted Muhammad as a prophet. Muhammad, using Qur’anic revelations, emphasized that the traditions of Abraham are the religious unities of Jews, Christian and Muslim belief systems. With Mecca reclaimed, Medina was kept as the political and spiritual base of Islam, allowing campaigns to spread the faith to Africa and Persia. The Death of Jesus Christ After the Crucifixion of Jesus, many that followed him became fearful and hid from the Jews, spending that time in hiding mourning instead of continuing Jesus’ preaching’s. His death was thought to be the end of the religion as had happened to numerous other messianic religious cults. With his death, the belief that Jesus was God in human form was crushed till his resurrection from his tomb. The Death of Muhammad Muhammad’s death had little impact on Islamic religion because he was and still is considered just a man. There was no thought that Muhammad was anything more than a man that was a servant to God, helping spread God will to those around him. The humble life that Muhammad led is what allowed the continued strength of the religion, the non discriminatory way about him is was every Muslim strives to be. Muhammad may not have been God, or a Messiah, but the way in which he led his life is still a very important part of how the Muslim religion works. Good Muslins try to live in the footsteps of Muhammad as though he was just man as they are, instead of a God. The Worshipping of Jesus Worshippers of Jesus believed that he was the Messiah and Savior for humanity, even though Jesus himself refused to be considered in that way. Communion, the sharing of bread and wine, and Hymns are just a few way that Jesus has been worshipped. The Mass is a gathering of Christians to, in prayer and preaching, remembering Jesus Christ and all the suffering he did for the good of humanity, and then is praised with music and hymns. The sharing of the bread and wine are for the remembrance of Jesus, the bread a sign of his body and the wine of his blood, the comer is thought to bring Jesus in them. The cross, from which Jesus was crucified from, is the centerpiece of the Christian faith as a reminder that Jesus had sacrificed himself for the good of humanity. The Death of Muhammad Mohammad’s followers would have done anything and everything for him, if Muhammad would have let them. Worshippers of Muhammad were told that worshipping him would discrimination, God would not was his servants to consider themselves as superior to another. It wasn’t till after Muhammad’s death that he was worshipped for the way that he led his life, which true Muslims try to model their own lives. Muslims now face Mecca for their daily prayers on the urging of Muhammad, and remember the trial and tribulations he endured for God. Christianity Today In modern day Christianity, many different views of the bible have formed as well as doctrines. These four doctrines would be; the Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant and other Catholics, and Restorationists , all having a slightly different version of worship. In some aspects, Christianity has taken on some of the Muslim belief as far as discrimination. The cross is still a symbol of Jesus’ sacrifice for humanity, and there is now a place for a Christian to confess their sins for forgiveness. Aspects of Christianity have had to do a certain amount of changes to conform away from the skepticism today. Islam Today The Muslim religion today, minus a few setbacks early on, still holds true to the teachings of Muhammad. The changes in the Muslim culture have set on some changes to help those less fortunate, to help increase the right of equality and kindness. The Qur’an is still used as the Muslim scriptures and adhered to as it was when Muhammad taught them. Islam has rejected Christianity as a brothering religion and women are returning to being veiled in public. References all information came from Fisher, M. P. (2005). Living Religions (6th ed. ). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc. How to cite The Life of Jesus Christ, Essays

LLP business model free essay sample

Business Model 3y Trevor Barrows I Executive Summary A or third-party logistics provider iS defined as a company that provides logistics services for its clients and customers, where as a 4PL or fourth-party logistics provider is defined as a company that provides logistics services that manages a group of logistics providers that perform 3PL operations, including value add services. Driven by supply chain forces 3PLS are consolidating into 4PL service providers more commonly called Lead Logistics Provider (LLP). Given increasing pressures for speed, flexibility and global reach, the LLP role provides greater functional ntegratlon, and assumes more operational responsibility. Increasingly compames must collaborate in engaging an enterprise logistics system that Integrates to manufacturing. enterprise- requirements planning. and warehouse management systems to optimise the entire supply chain. not just transportation, for imprwed supply chain performance and cornpetit. ve advantage. To gain the speed and global reach of todays supply chain, it is necessary to create ew ways to source capabilities. We will write a custom essay sample on LLP business model or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It is necessary to collaborate rather than purchase. It is necessary to share authority rather than direct outcomes. It is necessary to integrate the supply chain functions more broadly, To do this requires know-ho. and resources beyond the capabilities of a single organisation(s). Trevor 3arrows has found that assisting companies in creating a distinct LLP organisation is a path to greater competitive advantage. A LLP organisation brings focus to the supply chain in which all parties share sourcing because the successful LLP organisation is founded On principles of shared risk and shared reward. The scope Of todays business requires greater functional integration Of the supply chain. This integration iS critical to achieving speed, precisely described service and optimal It iS no longer sufficient to Outsource discrete functions. Each Of the disciplines Of the supply chain must be evaluated If one Of the disciplines is not best of breed, then a way must be found to align, source, acquire or venture with a best of breed capability. After all, a supply chain Is only as strong as its weakest link. Then, having established well defined objectives and associated metrics, gives the LLP entity the authority to act. In developing LLP capability better enables member entitles to: o Develop agile supply chain practices o Collaborate in Factory Gate Pricing Initiatives with major distribution channels o Provide track and trace audits tor legislation conformance such as o Compliance with future customer supply chain requirements such as Serial Shipping Container Codes (SSCC) and RFID Tagging o Address growing demand for customer sustainability strategies for shared orporate social responsibility (CSR) and legislation regarding greenhouse gas emissions o Leverage overall supply chain assets in reducing cost and improving customer service In summary tnere nas Deen mucn aeoate In Industry aoout tne lack of logistics innovation. By industry and companies collaborating in LLP business models leverages the optimal utilisation of existing logistics assets into cohesive demand driven supply chains. Trevor Barrows February 2009 2 LLP Model 2. 3PL Outsourcing benefits, Issues and Success Factors Outsourcing c an be defined as converting core activities from cost centres into profit entres, the benefits, issues and success factors for which consider the following: Benefits: Rationalisation and reduction in assets Cost reduction from better use of assets An improved management focus on core competencies Improved working practices Improved control systems Economies of scale providing lower overheads Customer service improvement Issues: Make decisions from not identifying and balancing all issues Scope and responsibility 0T 3PL not correctly aeTlnea Poor construction of contracts Unstructured pricing mechanism High tender pricing due to ignorance of customer market No clearly defined KPIs or realistic KPIs Failure to establish working relationship with all parties Lack of communication Loss of key staff in new arrangements Failure to address HR union issues Success factors: o Ensure all overhead costs are considered o Ensure contract has mutual benefits for all parties o Establish correct pricing mechanism o Specify all tasks and responsibilities of all parties o Handle HR and union with care and attain early buy in o Embrace staff o Establish and agree mutual KPIs o Ensure all parties share in the risk and reward equally 2. Core Competency and Capability in Outsourcing Core competency can be defined as the combination of individual technologies and supply chain skills that underlie a companys myriad of supply chain processes, including production and logistics. Capability can be defined as a companys time to market in delivery of the value derived from its core competencies. Competency and capability represent two different but complimentary dimensions of emerging corporate business strategies that should be considered. Both concepts emphasise behavioural aspects of business strategy in contrast to traditional tructural models. However where as core competency emphasises technology and SCM processes at points along the value chain, capabilities are more broadly based encompassing the entire supply chain, including outsourcing partners. In this respect capabilities can be achieved by ensuring core competencies are maintained or improved upon. 2 Core logistics supply chain competency improvements that are discussed in associated white papers are as follows: Deman Planning Transportation Planning including: o Multi-modal transportation order aggregation, splitting and pooling (cross docking) o Load Optimisation Advanced Warehouse Management including: o Voice Picking o Radio Frequency Tag Devices The basic principle is gaining competitive advantage via improved capabilities that should consider the following: The building blocks of corporate strategy are not products markets but business processes Competitive success depends on transforming key business processes into strategic capabilities that consistently provide value to the end customer A company(s) should create these capabilities by making strategic investments in a Lead Logistics Player (LLP) support infrastructure that links together and transcends Strategic Business Unit (SBU) functions The capabilities put in place should be cross functional, the champion of a capabilities based strategy being the CEO. By developing core competency and investing in a LLP capabilities infrastructure will enable improvements in market scalability and flexibility as follows: o Speed Consistency Anticipation Agility Innovation ability to respond quickly to market demand ability to meet customer expectations ability to predict the competitive environment ability to adapt to changing business processes ability to create new ideas and hence ongoing value . 3 Lead Logistics Player (LLP) Business Model A Lead Logistics Player (LLP) may be defined as an organization that manages a full scope 0T loglstlcs servlces Tor a company Dy aggregating ana coorolnatlng tne services of multiple logistics service providers. The LLP serves as the single point of contact between its client(s) and the array of logistics and information service providers executing the clients supply chain.

Ethnicity Problems in United States

Introduction The United States is a host to many varied cultures and is considered the world’s super power with developments that are envied all over the globe. The country’s democracy has undergone various changes over the years. It has also made several steps towards peace, and equity, among other principles of its foundation. However, this was not achieved in a day; in fact, it took several decades of civil wars and conflicts, among other problems to realize the American dream.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Ethnicity Problems in United States specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The country boasts of varied culture that arises from immigration. Every year, it receives people from other countries as immigrants. This has improved its credibility in the world. Some of the ethnicities that live in the United States include, Native Americans, African Americans, Chicanos, Asian Americans, among others. T hese ethnicities did not find it easy settling in the country. They went through various obstacles such as discrimination, among others. This led to conflicts that spurred acts of atrocities. The strategies employed to fight against racial discrimination included political participation, armed resistance, legal system, and economic participation, among others. This paper will therefore explore each of these ethnicities, their most effective along with the least effective strategies employed in fighting against racial discrimination, as well as the evidence (Baugh 133-146). Native Americans These were indigenous people found in North America by the European colonialists. They lived in areas such as Alaska, Hawaii, among others parts. The community was composed of various tribes, ethnic groups and States. In most cases, these communities are referred to as Indians or American Indians. The largest of these tribes included Apache, Iroquois, Navajo, Sioux, Cherokee, among others. In the last 500 years, the community encountered discrimination and wars with European populations. These were mainly because they had encroached on their Native lands and also tried to displace them. In the process, most were killed; some assimilated, and others removed. In the 19th century, the communities were granted citizenship after several treaties and wars. During United States’ fight, for independence against British, Native Americans sided with the latter hoping that they would help them avoid land seizure. This later backfired as the British handed over their land to Europeans. They also sided with Southern States during the civil war. George Washington later helped in restoring them as citizens with rights to vote even though they were not given the opportunity to govern themselves (Colin 34). African American These are black Americans who were largely from the African continent during slavery. They were also known as American Negroes. It is quite important to note that this term is usually employed when refereeing to people with African ancestry (sub Saharan Africa). The majority of these communities were descendants of victims and survivors of slavery era.Advertising Looking for essay on ethnicity studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More They faced several problems as they fought for freedom, these included slavery, racial segregation, reconstruction and civil rights movement, among others. This community forms the second largest racial community in United States, only second to Whites. They formed part of the American military conflicts during civil wars. In addition, the community has been active in politics ranging from Martin Luther to Rice and the country’s current president Obama, among others (Baugh 133-146). Chicanos These are United States citizens of Mexican descent. This term was used widely during Mexican movements and was aimed at fighting against racism in the 1960s. Th e community is said to have lived in the United States as early as 1848, even though they are sometimes considered as the latest of immigrants, to arrive. This is mainly because some of them crossed over and joined with indigenous American Mexicans. The war against mainstream whites between 1846 and1848 in New Mexico among other parts, left many casualties on Mexicans and attributed to their bitterness towards federal government. Their movement was also formed to help fight for affirmative action, immigration rights, globalization, among other issues (Toro 1). Asian Americans These are American citizens with origins from peoples of Asia. They were first referred to as Orientals and this displeased them as they considered it a colonialist term. In this regard, they adopted the term Asian Americans, as a way of identification. They benefited from elimination of the Hart-Celler Act, which had restricted them from moving into the United States. This development led to increased influx f rom Asia. Asian Americans are now estimated to have the highest attainment of education in United States. Moreover, they also form some of the best-paid employees in the country. Their fight against racial discrimination was also difficult as they fought against acts instituted to exclude them. These included among others, Asian as well as Chinese exclusion acts (History World International 1). Areas in which they have been most effective when fighting against racial discrimination These communities faced several challenges in their quest for equality and citizenship as well as acceptance in the American society by mainstream whites. This was achieved through many ways that included political participation, armed resistance, legal system, and economic participation, among others. Native Americans Native Americans fought for their rights to own ancestral land in the United States. However, this failed as they lost the battle to retain that land. In this regard, the most effective way of fighting against racial discrimination was through political participation.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Ethnicity Problems in United States specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More African Americans African Americans have had a long history of civil rights activists, conflicts as well as politics. In this regard, the most effective way of fighting against racial discrimination was through political participation. Chicanos The Chicanos fought to govern themselves but lost to the federal government. In this regard, the most effective way of fighting against racial discrimination was through political participation. Asian Americans Most Asian communities immigrated for jobs in the 19th century. This helped empower them economically. In this regard, the most effective way of fighting against racial discrimination was through economic participation. Areas in which they have been least effective when fighting against racial discrimination These communities used various means to fight against racial discrimination, some of which caused many casualties and was least effective. These were: Native Americans Native Americans had their own culture, which was anti-western. Therefore, in their quest for recognition, they fought against mainstream whites and lost. This was therefore the least effective method of fighting against racial discrimination. African Americans African American used several means to fight for freedom and racial discrimination. The least effective way of fighting against racial discrimination was through legal system. Chicanos Chicanos believed that they had the right to govern themselves; the least effective way of fighting against racial discrimination was through armed resistance.Advertising Looking for essay on ethnicity studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Asian Americans Asian Americans came as laborers at the coast. The least effective way of fighting against racial discrimination was through the legal system. Evidence Throughout the history of fight against racial discrimination, various occurrences ranging from conflicts to political participation proved to be either the least or most effective way of fighting racism. These were as follows: Native Americans These were the indigenous people found in North America by the European colonialists. They suffered from racial discrimination in the 1700s when slavery was a racial caste. This led to various wars in response to this, as they tried to protect their land and culture. Infightings also led to their downfall as some groups were assimilated. This proves why use of armed resistance was the least effective. On the other hand, their ways of governing was widely adopted by United States Presidents like Benjamin Franklin, among others. In addition, wider political participation allowed them to reduce racial discrimination through George Washington. Political participation was therefore the most effective (Colin 34). African Americans These black Americans were largely from the African continent during slavery. They faced several problems as they fought for freedom, these included slavery, racial segregation, reconstruction and civil rights movement, among others. Like Native Americans, the law was against freedom to African Americans who were racial castes. The least effective method was through legal system since their position as slaves was in law until reconstruction period and civil right s movements. The most effective way was through political participation, which has enabled them to improve in leadership (Baugh 133-146). Chicanos This community lived in the United States as early as 1848, even though they are sometimes considered as the latest immigrants. This is mainly because some of them crossed over and joined with indigenous American Mexicans. Their le ast effective method of fighting racism was through armed resistance as they were excluded and displaced from their land. This was also witnessed in Texas. On the other hand, their most effective method was through political participation in the Chicano movement that kept pushing for equality since 1960s (Toro 1). Asian Americans The Asian community benefited from the elimination of Hart-Celler Act, which had restricted immigrations from Asia. This led to more influx of Asians. Currently they are estimated to have the highest attainment of education in United States. Their attempts to mitigate racism through legal system were least effective as the acts defended Asian and Chinese exclusion (Wong 25). The most effective method of mitigating racial discrimination was through economic participation, which made them superior in education and pay (History World International 1). Conclusion United States is a home to various cultures of the world. This is due to influx of different commun ities, which started over 500 years ago. Among the communities that live in United States include, Native Americans, African Americans, Chicanos, Asian Americans, among others. These communities did not find it easy settling in the country. They went through various racial subjections in the hands of mainstream whites. This led to several conflicts that caused high numbers of casualties. The strategies employed in fighting against racial discrimination included political participation, armed resistance, legal system, and economic participation, among others. Most of these communities realized their dreams through political and economic participation, while those that opted for armed resistance lost in many occasions as was seen in Native Americans and Chicanos, as well as African Americans (Toro 1). Works Cited Baugh, John. â€Å"The Politicization of Changing Terms of Self Reference among American Slave Descendants†. American Speech. Vol. 66, No. 2, 1991, pp. 133-146. Colin, Calloway. â€Å"Native Americans First View Whites from the Shore†. American Heritage. Spring 2009. History World International. â€Å"ASIAN AMERICANS†. World History center. 19.07.2011. Web. Toro, Luis. â€Å"Chicanos as a Racialized Minority†. The University of Dayton School of Law. 31.12.2010. Web. Wong, Sau-ling. â€Å"Asian America.Net: Essays in Ethnicity.† Nationalism and Cyberspace. Routledge University Press. This essay on Ethnicity Problems in United States was written and submitted by user Maeve Hodge to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Free Essays on Automatic Dependence Survailenc

Introduction The beginning of the twentieth century brought about major changes in the world. One of these changes began at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina witht the Wright brother’s historic first flight. The rest of the century brought gigantic leaps in the aviation industry. Charles Lindberg’s solo Atlantic crossing showed the world the growth avation was capable of. By the end of the Second World War, the jet age had been born, and Radio Detection and Ranging (radar) was tracking aircraft as it crossed the sky. The Soviet Union’s launch of the Sputnik satellite brought humanity into the space age. As mankind passed through the 1960s, Neal Armstrong made his walk on the moon. From these fledgling first steps, aviation has moved to routine space flights, a constellation of manmade satellites currently circle the earth, and everyday thousands of people board non-stop international flights. Through the use of new satellite based technology, the safety and efficiency of av iation will continue to grow. Current Airspace Systems The United States current National Airspace System (NAS) is arranged around ground based equipment. Navigation is based systems such as Very High Frequency Omni directional Range (VOR), and Non-directional Beacons (NDB). Aircraft surveillance is maintained through the use of radar. Radar is broken down into two categories, primary and secondary. Primary radar is the signal that is returned as the radar waves bounce off an aircraft and is shown displayed on the controller’s screen. This is supplemented by secondary radar, which is a signal sent from the aircraft giving its current altitude. Both the navigational and surveillance systems currently in place rely in ground-based equipment and airborne receivers. These systems are costly to maintain, as the ground transmitters must continually be serviced. They are also susceptible to errors such as the slant range error and are limited to line ... Free Essays on Automatic Dependence Survailenc Free Essays on Automatic Dependence Survailenc Introduction The beginning of the twentieth century brought about major changes in the world. One of these changes began at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina witht the Wright brother’s historic first flight. The rest of the century brought gigantic leaps in the aviation industry. Charles Lindberg’s solo Atlantic crossing showed the world the growth avation was capable of. By the end of the Second World War, the jet age had been born, and Radio Detection and Ranging (radar) was tracking aircraft as it crossed the sky. The Soviet Union’s launch of the Sputnik satellite brought humanity into the space age. As mankind passed through the 1960s, Neal Armstrong made his walk on the moon. From these fledgling first steps, aviation has moved to routine space flights, a constellation of manmade satellites currently circle the earth, and everyday thousands of people board non-stop international flights. Through the use of new satellite based technology, the safety and efficiency of av iation will continue to grow. Current Airspace Systems The United States current National Airspace System (NAS) is arranged around ground based equipment. Navigation is based systems such as Very High Frequency Omni directional Range (VOR), and Non-directional Beacons (NDB). Aircraft surveillance is maintained through the use of radar. Radar is broken down into two categories, primary and secondary. Primary radar is the signal that is returned as the radar waves bounce off an aircraft and is shown displayed on the controller’s screen. This is supplemented by secondary radar, which is a signal sent from the aircraft giving its current altitude. Both the navigational and surveillance systems currently in place rely in ground-based equipment and airborne receivers. These systems are costly to maintain, as the ground transmitters must continually be serviced. They are also susceptible to errors such as the slant range error and are limited to line ...

Mass Extinction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mass Extinction - Essay Example I think that this is the possible reason why Douglas Erwin said it is quite difficult to identify which is the real cause of the mass extinction in the past. There are these many factors that contribute; they are all giving different degrees of impact to the environment, which the scientists need to delve into each to know the actual influencing degree. The world population is growing exponentially but the land is so limited. Humans exploit virgin land, like the jungle and mountains. They cut down the jungle and make the mountains flat to make houses and farmland. The equivalence of the whole ecosystem is disturbed. Firstly the flora and fauna in the wild lost their habitat. They cannot even find food that they used to get. As a result, this leads to wildlife extinction. Loss of soil due to loss of plants also caused the river- and seabeds to become shallow. This is obvious with the increase of sea water level. The situation becomes worse when the pole's glacier starts melting due to greenhouse effect! Eventually, the increasingly warming atmosphere triggered the people's interest to study the global warming phenomena. This is how the greenhouse effect situation was discovered. It is estimated that about 15 to 37 per cent of the species will become extinct from now to 2050 if the climate keep on changing (Kirby, 2004). The causes of global warming were identified: excretion of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, water vapor and methane, use of aerosol products and depletion of jungle land and ozone layer. Carbon dioxide and methane will trap heat in the atmosphere. They are the by products from the use of fuel energy. Meantime, depletion of jungle land reduces the number of green plants that can convert... The world population is growing exponentially but the land is so limited. Humans exploit the virgin land, like the jungle and mountains. They cut down the jungle and make the mountains flat to make houses and farmland. The equivalence of the whole ecosystem is disturbed. Firstly the flora and fauna in the wild lost their habitat. They cannot even find food that they used to get. As a result, this leads to wildlife extinction. Loss of soil due to loss of plants also caused the river- and seabeds to become shallow. This is obvious with the increase of sea water level. The situation becomes worse when the pole’s glacier starts melting due to greenhouse effect! Eventually, the increasingly warming atmosphere triggered the people’s interest to study the global warming phenomena. This is how the greenhouse effect situation was discovered. It is estimated that about 15 to 37 percent of the species will become extinct from now to 2050 if the climate keeps on changing. The causes of global warming were identified: excretion of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane, use of aerosol products and depletion of jungle land and the ozone layer. Carbon dioxide and methane will trap heat in the atmosphere. They are the by-products from the use of fuel energy. Meantime, depletion of jungle land reduces the number of green plants that can convert the carbon dioxide gases back to oxygen. The increase of methane gave the similar effect to the environment, methane plays an important role in the previous mass extinction.

Palm oil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Palm oil - Essay Example The UK is the wealthy nation which dominates the poor nation of Indonesia which has an abundance of cheap labour and land on which palm oil can be grown successfully. Instead of development, the production of palm oil in Indonesia takes place at a cost to the indigenous people and to the environment. The benefits derived from the production of palm oil also accrue mainly to the developed country at the expense of the relatively undeveloped Indonesia where land which should be preserved for the protection of the environment and biodiversity is being burnt in order to supply palm oil cheaply to Tesda’s supermarket chain and other company’s. Instead of development Indonesia is faced with displacement of its people and depletion of its resources. The soot from burning has affected the operations of the airline industry and will therefore have a negative effect on the economic development of the country. The preservation of the environment is important in the development of any country. The burning of the forests will have dire environmental consequences for the people of Indonesia. With the increasing and negative effects of climate change countries around the world are taking the necessary steps to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere while this is taken place in Indonesia. These events indicate that Tesda has not adopted a model for corporate social responsibility with all the negative events including corruption, lack of dialogue between groups affected by the production of palm oil and poor labour standards employed. These along with the death of persons who speak for their rights are unacceptable. The stakeholders that have legitimate claims on Tesda are the indigenous people of Indonesia whose lives have been negatively affected by plantations in which Tesda has a stake, the people who work on these plantations, suppliers to its processing plant in the Netherlands and

History of the Collapse of the Soviet Union

History of the Collapse of the Soviet Union How can one explain the disintegration and eventual collapse of the Soviet Union and its sphere of influence? The disintegration and collapse of the Soviet Union was the result of a complex combination of internal and external pressures which had been building for decades. Economic decline, strong currents of indigenous nationalism, corruption and the systematic deligitimization of the central authority and Communist ideology all contributed to an environment of internal pressure, doubt and cynicism. Externally, the Soviet Union’s foreign policy had led it into a tense and costly confrontation with the West, both socially and militarily. The combination of these internal and external pressures forced the Soviet Union into an untenable position, no longer able to maintain control through a sense of legitimacy and lacking the will to exact it through force. Many were surprised not only at the speed with which the USSR unraveled, but also at how quickly nationalist movements and organizations were able to move forward with popular support and structure in such a short amount of time. The pressures that had been building show the collapse of the Soviet Union to have been more akin to a dam breaking, releasing pent up pressure and momentum that had been merely held back. What made the disintegration and collapse of the Soviet Union so remarkable was not just the convergence of so many complex factors to necessitate its failure, but the means and manner in which its broken parts responded. It must be remembered that the Soviet Union was an empire. As Gerhard Simon Points out in Aussenpolitik, it was the first of its kind, held together by a party and a committment to ideology. As a result â€Å"The Soviet Union was not perceived in the context of the other empires which had fallen apart in Europe The USSR, on the other hand, ranked in the West as a ‘normal’ state The Soviet Union, however, was simply not a normal state.† (Simon, 2000) It was based upon the legitimacy of its party and its ideology. The systematic deterioration of this legitimacy served as one of the main factors in its disintegration and collapse. It was the weakening of the dam itself, so to speak. The actions of its satellite states represent the impulses of newly freed captives, not the heartless abandonment of their mother-state. The pressures against the dam, however, reach back into the early 20th century. Simon identifies the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 as an effective reassertion of the Russian empire following the First World War. Furthermore, he argues that it arrested the nationalistic movements taking shape among the recently freed peoples’ of post-imperial Russia. These nationalist movements, of major ethnic and cultural signficance for many, were not stamped out under the Soviet system of control and oppression. They were merely pushed underground. They spent the better part of the 20th century building momentum from within the Soviet system until the internal pressures, exerted in so many directions and ways, could no longer be contained. (Simon, 2000) This explains how quickly and eagerly the different sattelite states declared independence and moved toward Western models of government and economy. â€Å"The causes for the downfall are rooted, on the one hand, in the design errors of the Soviet system and, on the other hand, in the process of degeneration which had been undermining stability for decades.† (Simin, 2000) The currents of nationalism within the Soviet Union were intensified and gained strength as Stalin’s controls were gradually loosened and the legitimacy of the Communist Party began to suffer in public view as information began to flow more freely. Nationalist sentiment coincided with social events in the 50’s and 60’s where labororers from the Soviet Gulag returned home and began to talk with long-lost friends and relatives about what had happened to them. (Hosking, 1991) This began to affect public perceptions and attitudes for the first time. People of like mind began meeting privately in their homes to talk and listen to Western radio. Eventually, the dissemination of unofficial literature, known as Samizdat, began. A culture of covert associations and hidden groups emerged. They began to grow covertly in response to the systematic persecution of intellectuals and dissidents. These groups and associations eventually began operating openly in the late 80â€⠄¢s, only to add to the tremendously diverse pressures pulling at the Soviet Union. (Hosking, 1991) As nationalist sentiments began to gain strength from such a ‘social awakening’, they quickly learned that their energies were best spent organizing within the Soviet system. Different national movements had gained strength and led to uprisings in Hungaria in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968. The Soviets put them down quickly and brutally. (Fowkes, 1993) â€Å"[The] party leadership had no qualms about forcibly helping their ideological presumptions become reality† (Simon, 2000) Combined with the ‘social awakening’, and the currents of nationalism running through the USSR, was the systematic deligitimisation of its sytem. â€Å"During the 1950’s the Soviet middle class became increasingly optimistic about the performance of the Soviet system and about its own prospects for material betterment In the 1970’s it has given way to pessimism. The rise and decline of middle-class optimism can be linked in part to political developments, but the crucial determinant has been the changing perception of Soviet economic performance.† (Dallin Laepidus, 1995) Ruled by ideology, the failure to meet economic goals and expectations constituted a signigicant crisis of confidence for many and a serious blow to the legitimacy of collectivist economic philoophy. The political developments that contributed to the deterioration of Soviet legitimacy had to do with a dissonance between ideology and practice. The conflicts of Krushchev’s ‘de-Stalinisation’ gave way to political rifts which exposed key divisions in government. This dis-unity was damaging to public confidence and to Soviet political legitimacy. It became a habit for the new Soviet leader to deal with his problems by casting blame and criticism upon his predecessor. â€Å"All successors have dissociated themselves along similar lines from their respective predecessors, declared them to be unpersons, and thus contributed considerably to the delegitimation of the Soviet system.† (Simon, 2000) The establishment of this practice had an extremely detrimental effect upon the public perception, resulting in a more entrenched cynicism toward politics in general and political leadership. Furthermore, this cynicism became even more deeply rooted in the social and political culture as Brezhnev’s Soviet Union saw the spread of corruption invade almost every corner of Soviet life. â€Å"The Soviet Union is infected from top to bottom with corruption – from the worker who gives the storeman a bottle of vodka to get the best job, to the politburo candidate Mzhavanadze who takes hundreds of thousands of rubles for protecting underground millionaires; from the street prostitute, who pays the policeman ten rubles so that he won’t prevent her from soliciting clients, to the former member of the Politburo Ekaterina Furtseva, who built a luxurious suburban villa at the government’s expense – each and everyone is afflicted with corruption.† (Dallin Laepidus, 1995) The lack of legitimacy by itself was not enough to dissolve the Soviet Union, as no single issue probably could have been, but it was enough to make everyone look to themselves. Public cynicism combined with deep graft and corruption at all levels made for a political system held together simply by control. Within this system the communal ideal was effectively dead. Everyone looked to cut corners, everyone looked for a bigger piece of a zero-sum pie. The Soviet Union saw the development of competing interests within itself rooted in a system of corruption. Combined with the currents of nationalism, who were cut short in their bid for self-determination, and the social underground harboring forbidden ideas and conversations and publications, this in-fighting proved to be the final element of a political picture which had lost its fundamental integrity. From a foreign policy point of view, this is also when the Soviet Union came to be known as the ‘Evil Empire’. With the gradual relaxation of Stalin’s controls came an increased flow of uncontrolled information between the Soviet Union and the West. The turning of international sentiment against the Soviet Union in the late 70’s and early 80’s, as the truths of their social and political system made their way into the international mainstream, only served to heighten the moral legitimacy of the West in confronting Soviet Ambitions abroad. Before that, the American political spectrum remained solidly divided over how best to engage the USSR. After the moral clarity issued by the facts of such an indictment, the West was far less sympathetic and much more aggressive in applying all the external pressure it could. The socialist/communist intelligentsia in the West lost credibility and standing, while the political mainstream in both America and Europe b oth saw thwarting Soviet ambitions as a strategic, and more importantly, a moral imperative. With a moral mandate to challenge Soviet interests across the globe, the Americans committed fully to maintaining their military and technological advantage, and dealt with little opposition from within their own political system. At the height of the arms race, it is estimated that the Soviet Union allocated anywhere from â€Å"at least 15 percent† (Dallin Laepidus, 1995) to 25 percent (Simon, 2000) of their budget to defense spending. This represented huge external pressure to an already struggling Soviet economy beign outperformed by its Western counterparts. The economic difficulties of the Soviet system were masked initially as steady growth in the 1950’s led to a sense of optimism. From that point onward, Soviet growth continued to decline. â€Å"One reason was that earlier on, inputs-capital, labor, energy-had been ample and cheap. By the 1970’s this was no longer so† (Dallin Laepidus, 1995) Furthermore, Dallin and Laepidus note that â€Å"productivity was low, and the system failed to provide adequate incentives for harder work of for technological innovation.† So in addition to the economic circumstances of declining growth, the Soviet system had no way of increasing the productivity of its workers or the creativity of its technology industry. â€Å"Above all, the motivating effect of the market, competition and profit could not be replaced by any system of allocation and control, regardless of how sophisticated it may have been. Initiative, creativity and the striving for profit maximisation drifted in to the shadow economy and corruption after the disciplining and deterrent effects of Stalinist terror had ceased to be effective.† (Simon, 2000) And so while the economy declined, the quality of goods and services continued to decline as well. (Notice the conspicuous absence of hsitorical market demand for Soviet goods) The Soviet system had killed off or driven away the very tools it needed to recover. Or from the point of view of Hillel Ticktin, who famously predicted the failure of perestroika and accurately described the long denied economic realities of the then-current Soviet system, they had put themselves in a position (according to Communist ideology) where they needed to â€Å"defeat the working class† and return them to the conditions under which they had been exploited before. (Ticktin, 1992) It is a cruel irony, indeed, that the very pronouncements of the ideology that sustained their political order walked hand in hand with their economic doom. In the late 80’s the sum of all the factors discussed here proved too great. The nationalist movements the Bolshevik revolution had arrested in mid-development were driven underground but ultimately endured within the Soviet system, waiting to release a momentum held back by years of Soviet control. These sentiments found friendly ears in the social underground that developed as information began to flow more freely after the gradual relaxation of Stalin’s controls. This underground only continued to grow as the oppressed and free-thinking individuals of the Soviet Union continually sought refuge in association with one another. These two elements only reinforced the sense of lost legitimacy following the economic setbacks of the mid-20th century and the political divisions that showed the first cracks in the Soviet political system. The the general sense of a loss of legitimacy was a critical blow that aided the widespread proliferation of a deep and contagious corrupt ion which came to partially define and become engrained in the culture. This corruption struck at the heart of all the mechanisms the Soviet Union needed to right itself, but it was at the same time a consequence of the system itself. They had, in the course of their committment to their ideology, abandoned the necesssary tools to successfully recover and advance their economy. The social forces of discontent, the nationalist sentiments and social underground, combined with economic factors to present significant internal difficulties. And as Soviet foreign policy demanded a share of defense spending four times larger than that of the United States (as a percentage of GNP), external pressures combined with internal pressures to literally put the Soviet system in a pressure cooker. By the time Gorbechev’s came through with perestroika, the myriad social and political interests at odds with one another, combined with the deep cynicism and scorn for the Soviet system rooted in the social underground, proved too much. There was no social consensus or any real momentum for support. â€Å"The political and social contiguity of the Soviet political system had been broken long ago. â€Å"For the first time since the revolution of 1917, society, rather than the state, was driving the process of change in Soviet life. But that society was increasingly fragmented, fractious, and polarized, pitting radical democrats against die-hard communists and nationalists of all kinds against Soviet patriots. In this setting Gorbachev found himself reacting to multiple and conflicting pressures in an effort, growing ever more desperate, to hold the country together.† (Strayer, 1998) The final years of the Soviet system were spent with the political leadership desperately trying to hold it together. But it could never survive the collapse of its political order because it was under the very pretext of that political order that the Soviet Union came to power. â€Å"[The] Communist party had reconstituted the empire and developed the instruments of rule, which meant that, following the party’s loss of power, there was no other force to hold the empire together.† (Simin, 2000) Meanwhile, the political alternatives that had been developing and taking shape within the Soviet system itself, the national movements which never came to fruition, provided the impetus to break free from the Soviet system. As new declarations of independence were proclaimed, one after the other, â€Å"the consequence of decades of pent-up energy† (Simon, 2000) ensured that the strugle for nationhood which began after the fall of the first Russian Empire, would continue a fter the second. Bibliography Dallin, A., (1992) â€Å"Causes of the Collapse of the USSR†, Post-Soviet Affairs. 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