Thursday, January 30, 2020

The Environment Should Be Protected Because and Only Because Human Livelihoods Depend Upon It Essay Example for Free

The Environment Should Be Protected Because and Only Because Human Livelihoods Depend Upon It Essay The environment should be protected because and only because human livelihoods depend upon it. The essay will treat the different problems that exist, nowadays, between environment and human beings, their difficulty to coexist, and mostly the ethical issues that result from it. Introduction â€Å"There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but nor for man’s greed†- Mohandas K. Gandhi. This sentence is getting all its meaning since the previous decades. Nowadays, the question of environment, and its relation with human beings is one of the most central issues. Many things impact people’s life, but protecting the environment and the planet should be important to everyone all around the world. The questioning of environment was an ignored issue through time, and human beings hadn’t put this problem on top of his priorities. For many years, people have satisfied their needs, without showing any concerns or awareness about the care of our planet, the way we treat our environment is described by some, like murder. Thus, it is natural to ask ourselves if the environment should be protected because and only because human livelihoods depend upon it or the opposite, that us, humans, exist only because of our planet, and that we should do all our best to save the air we breathe, the ground we live on, the entire environment that surrounds us. First of all the study will begin by what the environment is through time, then it will show the obvious relationship between environment and human beings and its issues, and it will finish by the question of ethics about human and nature. The nature of the environment In recent years, the term environment has replaced the term nature, environment may be understood by what is surrounding us, it can be separated into living components: fauna and flora, and non-living components. Environment provides resources that ensured the well being of each species in the world, it is a real support for all the living organisms that exist on our planet. According to Raymond Williams, that is one of the most famous Britain writer and philosopher, the nature can be defined as â€Å"the material world itself, taken as including or not including human beings†, it means that nature includes everything that lives, and that human beings are fully part of nature. There are two ways of thinking, on one hand, the ecologists who focus on environment and living being relationship in general and on the other hand the ones who focus on human beings and its relation with the environment. Firstly, the traditional meaning of nature was that God created it for all the living organisms, but basically, through history, people used to think that humans had a central place in it, like a king on his realm. As times has passed, with the industrial revolution, environment has another position in the society, and nowadays, human being is the one responsible for the environment’s change. According to Michel de Montaigne, French philosopher and writer of the 16th century: â€Å" Let us a little permit Nature to take her own way; she better understand her own affairs than we. Montaigne tried to explain that nature could be by itself, and that it had always done. For decades, man gives itself the right to do everything, everywhere without any concerns for the planet. Before the creation of man, the environment was evolving by itself, and now, a new reliance emerges, the well being of the environment almost depends on man. The issue is that human nature didn’t respect what was offered to it. The relationship between environment and human beings Firstly, it is crucial to realise that humans have a unique position in nature because of the exceptional ability they have to adapt, to transform, to create. In the beginning, man could be compared to other animals; nature was the one who dictated where living beings was. Humans lived with fishing, hunting, gathering vegetables; nature was the only dominator. Through time, humans continuously evolved in their way of living, they succeeded in creating new materials; they understood what the environment could provide them. The relationship between man and nature had gradually changed, through the evolution of the agriculture, man begins to control his environment, he modified his needs, and his frequency. However, the most important redefinition of the term nature was after the industrial revolution until today, man is now able to have a total control over it. The evolving of new technologies, of new mores, and the rising of the population created a new world. Since the 20th century, and the birth of the consumer society, the relation man-nature totally changed, man doesn’t only need nature in order to survive, but he needs it to satisfy different inexistent needs. The issue of energy is almost the most important, as it was said previously, evolution and energy are two reliable term, concerning man. The most famous ones are fossil energies, for years, man has used these energies indefinitely, and this phenomenon has grown abruptly because of our society. A new reliance was created, man plundered every resource on Earth, and a new dependence was born, nowadays, nature almost needs man. Moreover, another fact has to be pointed out: the massive decrease of certain species because of man, especially the decline of fish, as it is shown in the documentary: â€Å"The end of the line† by Rupert Murray, which highlights all the problems caused by humans in the maritime world. Even if man has to satisfy his natural needs, it is obvious to say that, in the 21th century, there is a big issue, because man acts without any concern about what the environment provides The questions of ethics about the relationship: man-nature Human beings are part and parcel of nature, which is part and parcel of the universe. Nowadays, new issues comes up about environment, a lot of scientists agree that human beings succeed in creating an alarming disaster on the planet. Since few decades, man realised what happened, and the mores about environment preservation began to change, it is now a well-known fact. However, there are some real ethical questions that have emerged: who is responsible of the environment degradation? Does it have to concern every man on Earth? Was it legitimate for human beings to use what nature can offer without any awareness of the damage? As it was previously said, it is necessary to understand that man is unique compared to other living species. In the mean time, nature created every living organism, included man, thus, these ones have to give it some respect; it is the basis of the ethics. Unfortunately, the issue is the nature of men, they didn’t respect the contract, and they even abused of the environment’s creed. Human beings basically exploit nature to gratify their selfish instincts; they are ignorant of what universe had provided them. The fact is that the development of our society takes over the good preservation of our planet, when man undertakes to create new technologies, he doesn’t have any concern about the environment, because it is included in human nature. Moreover, it is difficult to satisfy everyone’s needs, and thinking about the protection of the environment at the same time, but today, human beings are facing a really new type of dimension concerning environment. At first, man deeply depended on nature, and it is the opposite in this day and age, nature deeply depends on man. What is central to highlight, it is that all flora and fauna is degrading, man destroys living life, and today, we are on the ledge of nature bankruptcy. Human beings have to be more and more implicated in the protection of Earth; it is crucial for them to save the living and non-living organisms for the reason that even if man doesn’t protect the environment for himself, he has to do it for all the species that exists in the world, and that he threatens. Conclusion â€Å"I dont understand why when we destroy something created by man we call it vandalism, but when we destroy something created by nature we call it progress† – Ed. Begley Jr. This quote really points out the fact that it is unconsciously acknowledged in humans minds that using all the resources that nature has to offer is normal and moral. The way of thinking is starting to evolve these days, because people are realizing that it’s for their own sake that the environment should be preserved. This shows all the duality of the problem, people start caring only when their own interests are at stake, and not due to the fact that it is ethical and moral to try and protect the living things around us. Ecologist have now a very powerful plea, which is that letting things going the way they are will harm us, but this means that telling people that we should protect the environment just because it is a beautiful living thing that we should try to coexist with, wouldn’t work. The consequence of people starting to care is good, but if they are doing it for the wrong reasons, selfish reasons, is that really the morality that we should adopt?

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Native American Schooling Essay -- essays research papers

Native Schooling For many years Native American people have been discriminated against in the United States as well as in the Public School system. Beginning with the common-school movement of the 1830s and 1840s, which attempted to stop the flow toward a more diverse society, the school systems have continued to be geared exclusively toward WASPS (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants). Native Americans have been forced to abandon their culture and conform to our â€Å"American† ways (Rothenberg, 1998, pp. 258-259.)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Thomas L. McKenney focused on deculturalizing the children through public schooling (Spring, 1997, p. 16). McKenney served as superintendent of Indian trade for fourteen years. After that office was abolished in 1823, he was appointed as the first head of the Office of Indian affairs. His idea was that a person could â€Å"civilize† the Native American children in schools when they were away from their parents. He tried to force assimilation on these Native American children. He wanted them to convert to Christianity, and adopt the WASP’s beliefs and morals. In 1827 McKenney wrote to the Secretary of War, James Barbour stating that, â€Å"children, who only needed to be protected from evil . . . and under the conditions of isolation and education Indians could be civilized in one generation (Spring, 1997, p.18).†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Missionaries were sent to the tribes to spread the word of Christianity under the Civilization Act. Today the act of sending in missionaries would be viewed as a violation of the First Amendment. The amendment states that there shall be no governmental support of any religion. In that time though they were still beginning their school day with a reading from the Protestant Bible (Spring, 1997, p. 18). The Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches brought into existence the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in 1810. Their mission was worldwide and they sent missionaries abroad as well as the Native American tribes. According to Spring, the missionaries viewed the Native Americans as foreign â€Å"heathen.† A powerful example of the path to deculturalization was Reverend James Ramsey’s visit to a Choctaw school in 1846. As quoted in the Spring text, Ramsey stated, â€Å"`I showed them [on a map] that the people who speak t he English language, and who occupied so small a part of ... ... p. 103), which encouraged Indian involvement in the school systems. This required a separate local committee to represent the population if the majority of the school board was not Native American. This committee was given control over all Native American education programs affiliated with the United States Government. The ideals of this act were expanded upon in 1988 with the Tribally Controlled Schools Act. This act provided for grants to be given directly to tribes to fund the operation of their schools. With these positive modifications equality is in the possible, but distant future.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Native Americans have been oppressed for hundreds of years since the their land was taken from them. The United States Government simply expects the Native American’s to assimilate to our society. Their culture and tribal ways have been stolen without a second thought. The government should provide some sort of retribution for these people. Perhaps Native American culture should be taught in our schools as well as American culture. Hopefully, someday everything will be equal in the world as well as in the public school system no matter what the person’s heritage.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Change management simulation Essay

As the rapid development of modern economy and the increasingly fierce market competition, the demand of how to manage organization change is increasing. Especially for leaders in both large and small companies, the ability of dealing with change is so significant. In many case, the main reason for company bankruptcy is that leaders fail to cope with organization environment change properly. The demise of many fortune 500 companies in the 1980s and 1990s suggests that the leaders of these companies were ineffective in responding to changes in the business environment; they were unable to overcome rigidities in their firms until it was too late. (Beer, M. & N. Nohria. 2000) In order to improve my learning about managing organization change, I did change management simulation four days ago. Then I am going to talk about the detail of my stimulation. In this simulation, I was the CEO of Spectrum Sunglass Company. For this company, the future is bright due to the growing sunglass market. However, from many professional articles I read, I learned that sustainable development is significant for business, our company should offer some new sunglass products to customers who concern about Spectrum’s environmental impact. Moreover, new products can also differentiate our products from competitors’ and provide us more sales opportunities. But unfortunately, some of my colleagues doesn’t agree with my points, the CFO of my company thinks green raw materials may be so expensive that will influence the profit margins of Spectrum. Then my  mission is to persuade Spectrum’s managers to adopt my proposal. PROCESS RECORDING Week 0 – Week 2 Firstly, I conducted private interviews, I interview Michelle Barth, the executive assistant; Nancy Kerr, the director of product innovation and Yao Li, the director of process innovation. For my assistant, I think I should discuss with her first if I have a proposal. And the other two people are in innovation department, it’s easier for them to accept my opinion than others. After that, I told a ‘success’ story to the three same people to convince them deeply and hope them help me persuade other colleagues. Successful diversity need strong commitment from top management. (Beer, M., R. A. Eisenstat, & B. Spector, 1990) Week 3 to Week 5 In the third week, I issued an email notice to the whole company to tell them my opinion and obtain initial feedback from them. I think it’s important to let them understand my opinion and persuade them to support my opinion. Then I hold town hall meetings to talk about my opinion face to face, to know my colleague’s opinion, after that week, walk the talk was followed. Week 7 – Week 9 In the seventh week, I got the consultant’s support, at this time, the people who was interested in my opinion was greatly increased. From the seventeenth week to the ninety week, I provide both external skill-building and internal skill-building to some people in our organization, the purpose is to let them know well about the skill that my proposal needs and make them believe the advantage of my proposal, after these two levers I used, some people began to adopt my proposal. I think these two levers are effective. Week 13 In the thirtieth week, I announced goals and deadlines of Spectrum. I told my company my determination to change, to produce new products. After that, five people began to try my opinion. Week 23 Ten weeks later, I revised reward system, I hope I can use a special way to let them know the significance of changing. After that, I repeated to use the former effective levers to persuade my colleagues. Week 64 – Week 65 In the sixty four week, I posted progress reports of my company, to show the development of the new product, two more people adopted my proposal. At this time, I have already achieved most people’s adoption, in order to convince more people, I decided to continue my work. I also conducted pilot project the following week, I want to see the marketing condition of the new sunglass product, to find its drawbacks and relative developing ways. Week 74 – Week 75 In the seventy four week, I privately confront resister Louise Orysh to ask his opinion about new products and why she doesn’t adopt it, to know the weakness of the new product and how to reform. Then I restructured organization the following week. Week 91 – Week 93 During the ninety one to ninety three weeks, I provided internal skill-building and external building again, and then, my initiative achieved all the managers’ adoption. CHANGING MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENT Now I will assess my work. As a change agent, I have 20 adopters of sustainability initiative in the management team at Spectrum, I persuaded all the managers adopt my proposal successfully. I have succeed in bringing about a significant organization change and creating a bright future for both Spectrum and the environment. So, I think I am an effective change agent. But I also have some deficiencies on my changing management practices. Although I attained 20 adaptors, I spend 93 weeks to get this result, it’s really a long time. The change efficiency ratio is only 0.22. I have to say my work is effective but not efficient, I still need to shorten working time to improve change efficiency. The flexibility and speed is also important in changing management. (Kanter, R. M., B. Stein & T. D. Jick. 1992.) From managing organizational change, I learned that the need for knowledge about how to manage organization change efficiently and effectively is continually rising. If there was a code that could unlock our understanding how change might best be changed, it hadn’t yet be broken. (Beer, M. & N. Nohria. 2000) But break the code may be not the best way to  manage change. The core of organization change is that change what is invalid and remain what is effective. A successful organization know how to overcome the antibody of refusing innovation, seize appropriate opportunities and avoid risks. Furthermore, the central challenge is not strategy, not systems, not culture. These elements and many others can be very important, but the core problem without question is behavior. (Kotter, J. & D. Cohen. 2002.) So changing behavior is the core of changing organization management. Revitalization is one kind of organization change, it involves enhancing the abilities of and contributions made by, managers, workers, and the organization sa a whole to cope with an increasingly competitive environment. (Beer, M. 1990) In summary, I still have some deficiency during this change management simulation. For next time I am going to lead change, when I catch up with a changing opinion, I will notice all the company managers about it, to seek for their advisements. The core of organization changing is human’s behavior, if they agree with my initiative, it’s easy to change their behaviors. I think I should give every manager an equal chance to learn about my proposal and state their own opinion, this way is more acceptable for the managers. So I will hold town meeting first. Moreover, I would like to take some measures to persuade managers adopt my proposal, such as clarify organizational values and conduct private interviews. Finally, I will provide internal skill-building and external skill-building to the rest managers who still doesn’t agree with me, and I can also privately confront resisters to ask the reason he disagree with me. I think through improving what I listed above, I will enhance the efficiency of changing management and achieve most adaptors in shortest time. Reference Beer, M. 1990. The Critical Path to Corporate Renewal. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Beer, M., R. A. Eisenstat, and B. Spector. 1990. Why change programs don’t produce change. Harvard Business Review (November–December): 2-11. Beer, M., and N. Nohria. 2000. Breaking the Code of Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Kotter, J., and D. Cohen. 2002. The Heart of Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Kanter, R. M., B. Stein, and T. D. Jick. 1992. The Challenge of Organizational Change: How Companies Experience It and Leaders Guide It. New York: Free Press.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Anorexia Nervos A Psychological And Physical Causes And...

Every time you view your reflection in a mirror, the sight of your body horrifies you. You have become so brainwashed to believe that your body is unacceptable, that you have formed an obsession with being smaller. This is how people with eating disorders feel. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) (2016), about one-fifth of people with anorexia are related to at least one person with the disorder. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder with mainly adolescent victims. Different studies have been able to identify some of the psychological and physical causes and consequences of anorexia. Many people dismiss anorexia nervosa as a short-lived adolescent disorder, but most do not realize the disease’s long-lasting implications on health and how crucial it is to seek treatment. The UMMC (2016) defines anorexia nervosa as, â€Å"an emotional disorder that focuses on food, but many researchers believe it is an attempt to deal with perfectionism and a desire t o gain control by strictly regulating food and weight†. The McGill Journal of Medicine (2007) states that some of the causes of anorexia are refusal to maintain adequate body weight and intense fear of gaining weight. Other causes of anorexia have been identified as severe trauma, stress, abnormal serotonin levels, an environment that promotes thin body image, want for perfectionism, and family history of eating disorders (UMMC, 2016). It is no surprise that the body image that society portrays as being