Should people take plastic surgery?
Introduction
Taking plastic surgery is getting increasingly popular nowadays. People could have better physical appearance after the operation. Meanwhile different voices from the society also come after it. There are mainly two different opinions about plastic surgery. Some people believe plastic surgery could bring a happier life to them. On the other hand, the other group of voice stands on the opposite side. They think plastic surgery is an unnecessary thing to do. People risk their health on it. This essay will analyse the different aspects of plastic surgery from different type of people who wants to take it. And then, the opinions from those two groups will be compared to see should people really need to take plastic surgery.
Introduction of Plastic Surgery
“Plastic surgery is a special type of surgery that can involve both a person's appearance and ability to function. Plastic surgeons strive to improve patients' appearance and self-image through both reconstructive and cosmetic procedures. ” (Nemours)
It has wide influence in the nowadays society, especially in rich countries. There is a statistic has been done by International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in 2002 showed a rank of the countries which has the most people who took the plastic surgery. And in the rank top 34 countries, most of them are developed and European countries. (International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 2002)
And, the number of people who takes plastic surgery is going up rapidly in recent years. Take American as an example. According to the statistic done by American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, they presented that in 2008 there were over 10.2 million people in American have done the plastic surgery. And the overall number of plastic surgery has been done increased 162% since the first statistic began. (Plastic surgery research.info, 2008)
Moreover, women are the majority willing to take plastic surgery. The research done by American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery found out that there were 9.3 million women have done the operation in 2008 which nearly 92 % of the total number. But only about 800,000 men took the surgery in 2008. (Plastic surgery research.info, 2008)
Why people want to take plastic surgery?
Apparently, the first reason for most of people to take plastic surgery is that it can improve their appearance which could give people more confidence. There were two studies presents at American Society of Plastic Surgeons Plastic Surgery 2006 conference in San Francisco presented that taking plastic surgery could improve people’s mood and quality of live. In addition, one of the studies done by American Plastic surgeon Bruce Freedman and his colleagues presented that Plastic surgery may can help people get off antidepressant medications. (Doheny, 2006) The second reason for people to choose plastic surgery is that having a good looking could help people to get more opportunities in the society, such as people may get more chances for finding a better job. As we know some jobs require good appearance like a fashion model or airline hostess. That may be one of the reason for some people want to take the risk to undergo the procedure.
For the normal people who consider plastic surgery is in order to get better looking. But for some people who have physical defect and they think people treat them differently because of their physical flaw or they are not confidence enough. Then the plastic surgery will turn to quite important and necessary. Plastic surgery could help them re-build the confidence and life.
The positive side of plastic surgery
Plastic surgery does can bring the benefits to the people, but still some people against it with few reasons. The first one is that the plastic procedure is too expensive. Take the UK as an example, in 2006/7 the single man and single woman, their income were £267 and £240 per week respectively. And the income for old couple was £508 per week. (Office for National Statistic) But one single plastic surgery could cost over £2000. (Beautyinprague) Compare the price with the normal UK citizens’ income. It is too expensive for normal people. Especially for some people who has physical defect, but they do not have enough money to pay for it.
Moreover, plastic surgery cannot guarantee to make people look better after it. It contains risks. Actually the risk for plastic surgery is quite high. Different procedures have different failure chance. It also depends on the doctors, if people chose a doctor without certificate with cheaper price and the risk will be even higher. Normally there are some common risks of plastic surgery such as drop in blood pressure, infection, Loose Stitches and Asymmetry. Even the operation is success, but there is still a change that the part has been changed may not suit for patient’s face. People may look worth than before and then they have to spend extra time and money to take another risk.
Conclusion
Nowadays, having good looking is a quite important element in the society. Better looking could affect people’s mood and confidence. Also it could help people have more job opportunities. For these reasons some people rather take the chance to undergo the surgery even they are actually looking good. But for some people who have physical defect, it is necessary to take cosmetic surgery. To sum up, whether to take the cosmetic surgery or not, people need to think about it carefully before take it. How important it is worth to undergo the surgery.
Bibliography
1. Nemours, what is Plastic Surgery? http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/body_image/plastic_surgery.html#a_Is_Plastic_Surgery_the_Right_Choice_ (accessed, 15 March,2010)
2. Plastic Surgery Research info. (2008) Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Research Statistics and Trends for 2001 - 2008 http://www.cosmeticplasticsurgerystatistics.com/statistics.html#2008-HIGHLIGHTS (accessed, 15 March,2010)
3. K Doheny, (2006), Cosmetic Surgery Can Boost Mood,
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/09/health/webmd/main2074388.shtml (accessed, 15 March, 2010)
4. T R Dean, (2009), Is Cosmetic Surgery a Necessity Or Vanity?
http://ezinearticles.com/?Is-Cosmetic-Surgery-a-Necessity-Or-Vanity?&id=2784525 (accessed, 15 March, 2010)
5. Office of National Statistic, (2009), Income & expenditure,
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=2158 (accessed, 15 March, 2010)
6. Beauty in Prague, cosmetic surgery price, http://www.beautyinprague.com/pricing-guide/(accessed, 15 March, 2010)
7. International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, (2002), Plastic surgery procedures (per capita) (most recent) by country,
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_pla_sur_pro_percap-plastic-surgery-procedures-per-capita (accessed, 15 March, 2010)
Friday, 19 March 2010
Jessica's essay
The reason of employment difficulty for university graduates
In China,the employment difficulty is still a big problem for university graduates.Many research have been done to analyze the reason but most of them only focus on the education and lack of demand in job market. This essay tend to evaluate these research and then put forward a new viewpoint from economy perspective.In the process,the essay will give the brief background information about this phenomenon ,analyze the defects of the employment structure , then compare the employment situation with Hongkong ,finally ,suggestion for Government to solve this problem more effectively.
According to Ministry of Education statistics,more than 6 million students will graduate from university this year ,which is nearly 6 times more than that in 2002.But it predicts that 2 million graduates will not find job even include postgraduates and doctoral graduates. Nowadays,there are two main analyzation to explain the cause of this phenomenon .
when the thoery of mass higher education proposed,Chinase government started a plan to increase rate of enrollment to 15 per cent by 2010( Limin,2006) .Limin analyzed that“ it would require little government investment but surely stimulate domestic consumption demand”,which is benefit for the economic development. However,with the increasing number of enrollment ,the gap bewteen the supply of graduates and demand of employers has been growing rapidly that lead to high level competation for job and also the increasing umemployment rate.So the first main analyzation think that the low employment is caused by increasing enrollment.However ,actually It is just one of the reason but still not the main one.Before giving the main cause,the second analyztion is as follows.
The second one is related to a word called “mismatched job”,which means the major learned in university isn’t matched with what is needed in job. When more and more people concerned the umployment probelm,this word become popular in China and almost every graduates try to use this word to define the reason why they can’t find job.However,actually in China the higher education is liberal education not special education that means its purpose is to teach student with broad knowledge not cultivate them to become specialist that would be done in Master course.So it imply that the major in university are not designed sociated to the job,let alone the word “mismatched job”.And Xianping(2009) said that actually there are many fresh employers with so-called different major according to his research and “mismatch” is not the main reason that graduates can not get job.
But what is main cause for the employment difficulty?According to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, the rate of unemploymennt in Hong Kong only have 2.2% in 2010 and “Financial services, trading and logistics, tourism, and producer and professional services are the Four Key Industries,which is nearly account for half of total number of employment.And China has different situation that “Mining and quarrying, manufacturing, and the production and supply of electricity, water, and gas, and construction” are the main part of employment(Aimin,2002).With this industry structure,it is difficult to creat enough position for graduates.
The reason is that China as one of largest manufactoring coutry was assigned mainly to do the fisrt part ,raw materials and production,according to the international division of labor. The industry chain have seven sectors : raw materials and production, product design, raw materials purchase, storage and transportation, order processing, wholesale operation, retail. Except the fisrt one,raw materials and production,those six sectors can creat a large number of positions for graduates. The first one almost don’t require employer with higher education because of its low skill needed.So the position is limited for graduates and that is why the increasing number of graduates are difficult to find job .And for the six sectors,It is also the reason why the employment rate of in Hong Kong is so high.
However,the government invested huge money for public infrastructure in order to improve the domestic demand .Putting aside whether this policy is effective or not, if it invests to develop the six sector in industry chain ,the huge money would creat more value for society. Because the most of value are added in that six setor.Take America for example,it is estimated that the value created in six sector in America are nine times more than that in one sector in China.So the industry system seems work for America and get low salary.And it also result in low employment rate for graduates.With this poor system,it need to be improved by the support of government and solve this problem fundamentally.
Employment difficulty requires immediate and effective solutions to solve with government support.If the main reason is still not concerned,it would lead to many problems and misled the public.For example,Increasing number of university graduates chose to study master course after failing to get job or even when they fell pressure of finding job.And more seriouse thing is that even if they got job ,it would also disappoint them for the low skilled job.According to this essay,the main reason is the deficiency of industry chain.If it would be improved,it would be never worried about the low employment rate too much.
1. Limin，B (2006), “Graduate Unemployment: Dilemmas and Challenges in China's Move to Mass Higher Education”, Cambridge University Press ,No. 185 ,pp.128-144.
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=416034
3. Aimin,C(2002),“The structure of Chinese industry and the impact from China's WTO entry”，Comparative Economic Studies,Vol. 44, Iss.1,p72, p27 .
claire's final essay
Can money buy happiness?
A famous British psychologist Robert Holden said: "We all have a 'happiness set point', but it is not associated with our bank balance." Most of people spend their time on perusing to be richer, powerful and successful. The purpose of it is no more than make them to be satisfactory to their life. However, a survey which conducted by American reporter shows that there are more than half of the American are not happy nowadays even their average salary are 3 times more than 20 years ago. What are the factors that contribute to that? What is the correct definition to “satisfaction”? In this essay, my purpose is to analyze the reasons of this problem. Then, the importance of the both sides to us will be discussed.
Many factors may contribute to our depression and unhappiness emotion. First of all, intense competition forces us to spend more time and energy on working, which cause both mental and physical stress. According to a study by the National Sleep Foundation, the average employed American works a 46-hour work week. Also, 38% percent of the respondents said they work more than 50 hours a week. Increasing commodity prices; burden from families and children, rising unemployment rate…., those factors are pushing employees into stressful and nervous. At the deeper level, be short of communication with families and friends can also affects our sense of happiness. Family love and friend ship are two component factors during our daily life, which contributes to our sense of satisfaction. However, majority of people spend their time on earning more money and suppose to give their families better life rather than hang out or accompany with them. The third reason also the one that most people misunderstand it is: Material goods don't make us happy. Acquiring things like houses and cars only have a transient effect on happiness. People's desires for material possessions crank up at the same or greater rate, than their salaries. Again, this means that despite considerably more luxurious possessions, people end up no happier. There's even evidence that materialism make us less happy.
The diploma is which one is the most significant meaning to us in our life? Money and highly society position or psychologically happy? Can money buy everything in our life including happiness?
Let’s analyze the reason of the people who think happiness is the most important thing in our life. Firstly, good mood is the premise of your good life and working quality. In the business management theory, encourage and help to maintain happy mood can improve worker’s working efficiency. In another words, make yourself feel happy and confidence can bring you highly output and income to some extent.
Additionally, life is too short to enjoy. Whereas, many people spend their whole life on pursuing money and false pride, which stray away from the path of their original dream and purpose. According to a famous Psychological Research, most of modern people’s sense of worth was distorted by modern society. Luxury cars, bags, or decently career like lawyer, doctor….are what we desire to have or want to be. However, did you ever consider: Are those factors the happiness I want, or they are just something enviable in other people’s eyes? Nowadays, the modern concepts pushes people to believe that the employees who sitting in the bright office tower are better than the people who driving the trucks. Perhaps most of us already lost the original dreams and the definition to happiness.
According to a chart that illustrates the income and happiness in the USA in 2005, the GDP per head in 1996 increased more than 2 times than in 1946. Conversely, compared to the 40% of respondents who claims they are satisfied and happy to their life in 1958, there are just approximately 24% of responds thought they are happy in 1996. the point is, money don’t necessary brought us sense of happy. So, why most of us still do everything we can to gain more money?
There was a survey few years ago which between the winners among the lottery jackpot. They find out the most of lottery jackpot winners got married but they were single before they won money. additionally, after won lottery, the winners had huge materially change. Majority of them moved into larger properties and go for holidays overseas. The point of this case is to show: maybe money can buy everything under some situation.
At a deeper level, money is not only the standard of one’s economic competence, but also a measurement to judge one’s social position and capacity. It’s undeniable that you will easily to friends or solve problems if you are a richer people. Sometimes, money is not the single sigh to show your wealthy, also logo to attract more respect and show how successful you are.
Princess Leia says to Han Solo in Star Wars: “If money is all that you love, then that’s what you’ll receive.” Love and happiness can’t be instead or measured by money. However, we also cant live without money. Both extremes of this opinion are wrong. We need to control the balance between money and happiness. Like Dr Richard Tunney from Nottingham university said: "The old saying 'money can't buy you happiness' may not be true, but traditional family values, a comfortable home and financial security are clearly key elements to a happy life.” Obliviously, we still need to have enough fiscal capacity to help us to achieve those elements.
Reference:
David Futrelle (2006) “Can Money Buy Happiness” access from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/2006/08/01/8382225/index.htm revived on 9th Feb 2010
Robin J. Elliott (2008) ““money Isn’t Important to Me” ~ Really?” access from http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/money-isnt-important-to-me-really-319875.html revived from 15th Feb 2010
Nottingham University (2007) “Money Can Buy Happiness, Study” access from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/53610.php revived from 27th Feb 2010
Arthur C. Brooks (2008) “Can Money Buy Happiness?” access from http://www.american.com/archive/2008/may-june-magazine-contents/can-money-buy-happiness revived from 12th march 2010
Steven Gillman (2009) “Maybe Money CAN Buy Happiness” access from http://ezinearticles.com/?Maybe-Money-CAN-Buy-Happiness&id=38488 revived from 12th March 2010
A famous British psychologist Robert Holden said: "We all have a 'happiness set point', but it is not associated with our bank balance." Most of people spend their time on perusing to be richer, powerful and successful. The purpose of it is no more than make them to be satisfactory to their life. However, a survey which conducted by American reporter shows that there are more than half of the American are not happy nowadays even their average salary are 3 times more than 20 years ago. What are the factors that contribute to that? What is the correct definition to “satisfaction”? In this essay, my purpose is to analyze the reasons of this problem. Then, the importance of the both sides to us will be discussed.
Many factors may contribute to our depression and unhappiness emotion. First of all, intense competition forces us to spend more time and energy on working, which cause both mental and physical stress. According to a study by the National Sleep Foundation, the average employed American works a 46-hour work week. Also, 38% percent of the respondents said they work more than 50 hours a week. Increasing commodity prices; burden from families and children, rising unemployment rate…., those factors are pushing employees into stressful and nervous. At the deeper level, be short of communication with families and friends can also affects our sense of happiness. Family love and friend ship are two component factors during our daily life, which contributes to our sense of satisfaction. However, majority of people spend their time on earning more money and suppose to give their families better life rather than hang out or accompany with them. The third reason also the one that most people misunderstand it is: Material goods don't make us happy. Acquiring things like houses and cars only have a transient effect on happiness. People's desires for material possessions crank up at the same or greater rate, than their salaries. Again, this means that despite considerably more luxurious possessions, people end up no happier. There's even evidence that materialism make us less happy.
The diploma is which one is the most significant meaning to us in our life? Money and highly society position or psychologically happy? Can money buy everything in our life including happiness?
Let’s analyze the reason of the people who think happiness is the most important thing in our life. Firstly, good mood is the premise of your good life and working quality. In the business management theory, encourage and help to maintain happy mood can improve worker’s working efficiency. In another words, make yourself feel happy and confidence can bring you highly output and income to some extent.
Additionally, life is too short to enjoy. Whereas, many people spend their whole life on pursuing money and false pride, which stray away from the path of their original dream and purpose. According to a famous Psychological Research, most of modern people’s sense of worth was distorted by modern society. Luxury cars, bags, or decently career like lawyer, doctor….are what we desire to have or want to be. However, did you ever consider: Are those factors the happiness I want, or they are just something enviable in other people’s eyes? Nowadays, the modern concepts pushes people to believe that the employees who sitting in the bright office tower are better than the people who driving the trucks. Perhaps most of us already lost the original dreams and the definition to happiness.
According to a chart that illustrates the income and happiness in the USA in 2005, the GDP per head in 1996 increased more than 2 times than in 1946. Conversely, compared to the 40% of respondents who claims they are satisfied and happy to their life in 1958, there are just approximately 24% of responds thought they are happy in 1996. the point is, money don’t necessary brought us sense of happy. So, why most of us still do everything we can to gain more money?
There was a survey few years ago which between the winners among the lottery jackpot. They find out the most of lottery jackpot winners got married but they were single before they won money. additionally, after won lottery, the winners had huge materially change. Majority of them moved into larger properties and go for holidays overseas. The point of this case is to show: maybe money can buy everything under some situation.
At a deeper level, money is not only the standard of one’s economic competence, but also a measurement to judge one’s social position and capacity. It’s undeniable that you will easily to friends or solve problems if you are a richer people. Sometimes, money is not the single sigh to show your wealthy, also logo to attract more respect and show how successful you are.
Princess Leia says to Han Solo in Star Wars: “If money is all that you love, then that’s what you’ll receive.” Love and happiness can’t be instead or measured by money. However, we also cant live without money. Both extremes of this opinion are wrong. We need to control the balance between money and happiness. Like Dr Richard Tunney from Nottingham university said: "The old saying 'money can't buy you happiness' may not be true, but traditional family values, a comfortable home and financial security are clearly key elements to a happy life.” Obliviously, we still need to have enough fiscal capacity to help us to achieve those elements.
Reference:
David Futrelle (2006) “Can Money Buy Happiness” access from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/2006/08/01/8382225/index.htm revived on 9th Feb 2010
Robin J. Elliott (2008) ““money Isn’t Important to Me” ~ Really?” access from http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/money-isnt-important-to-me-really-319875.html revived from 15th Feb 2010
Nottingham University (2007) “Money Can Buy Happiness, Study” access from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/53610.php revived from 27th Feb 2010
Arthur C. Brooks (2008) “Can Money Buy Happiness?” access from http://www.american.com/archive/2008/may-june-magazine-contents/can-money-buy-happiness revived from 12th march 2010
Steven Gillman (2009) “Maybe Money CAN Buy Happiness” access from http://ezinearticles.com/?Maybe-Money-CAN-Buy-Happiness&id=38488 revived from 12th March 2010
Jin's PSE Final Essay
Pressure? Not a bad thing
Nowadays, more and more people realized that pressure is a necessary element for a society to advance. However, a few people still argue that pressure shouldn’t be a positive effect of a society. This essay will discuss the link between pressure and society advance, and show how different kinds of pressure accelerate the pace of development of a society.
Pressure can be divided into various aspects, for example increasing demand of people in a society could be seen as a kind of pressure. All the different kinds of pressure together affect on a society, accelerate it or even destroy it. While sociologists were trying to find the correlation between pressure and society, this issue has derived a few debates in these years, such as a wide-range debate about human right which is attributable to the one-child policy in China and a few countries.
Sometimes, pressure probably could ruin the creation, this is a main reason that why some people argue against the pressure. From these people’s idea, pressure on a society such as high competition or scarcity of resource made a more pessimistic prospective rather than positive aspect. Moreover, high social pressure also affected many facets: The fist and fundamental facet is education, as we know, less students choose to learn an artistic subject. This relates to the gradual disappearance of some traditional arts, like a few traditional operas in China. True, students choose their subjects or hobbies to find a good job in the future. This kind of phenomenon which is associated with less creativity is inevitable, what we only can do is to reduce the pressure on next generation as much as we can. The second facet is economy, one of the most important facets. High pressure in forms of unemployment or wealth gap could affect the stability of a society. Compare a country in a good economic condition such as US with a country in a poor situation, rich country always more stable than latter one. The third facet is the population which is more controversial. Looking at China who has the largest population in the world, population left the government a tough problem to deal with. Since 1990s, China have carried out the one-child policy to relieve the population problem whereas many people in west countries criticize that it goes against the human right. Actually, China has suffered from the scarce resource which dues to the large population. However, this seems can not be a reason that there is not enough human right in China.
Facing the population problem, China still gave a satisfied answer. One-child policy truly reduced the growing rate of population. Not only one-child policy, but also great breakthrough in agriculture field, such as hybrid rice and recent supper-hybrid rice. In one word, the development of China is amazing though under pressure. Pollution can be other pressure on a society, like chemistry pollution, air pollution, global warming and so forth. Most of pollutions previous can relate to energy problem. If we assume that coal or oil wouldn’t cause pollution, would we start to explore new sustainable energies? Before scientists and greeners have focused on renewable energies such as solar energy, wave energy, wind energy, the whole world had suffered from the global warming and water pollution for a long period of time. Obviously, pollution pressure forced society to advance otherwise it would fall down. There is a typical example: UK has made efforts on wild plants and animals protecting, it has carried out a few regulations, such as United Kingdom legislation for plant protection. However, a century ago, almost all wild animals have been killed. Although people started to protect wild animals and wild plants, the wild species still were hard to back. The information above shows that different kinds of pressure force a society to change and advance.
We also need to look at different parts of a society. Economy is a factor that we can’t ignore. According to Mankiw(1992), economy is a subject to find a good way to allocate the scarce resource. Resource is finite, human’s want is infinite, so pressure is essentially the confliction between human’s needs and scarce resource. Take an important index of government statistics—— the unemployment rate. “unemployed people often create their own jobs. To make ends meet, be productive, and sometimes to stave off boredom, many unemployed try to apply their skill sets to find new things to do.”(Finance and Economics, 2003) Unemployment keeps people in a society more competitive. A society can’t develop without pressure, the most tragic example is China, a 5000-year historical country. Looking over the history of China, too much relaxed society leaded to a corrupt society with no competitive power. This maybe is the main reason that such a large country would be defeated by smaller countries. Competition causes pressure, whist pressure causes advance, Darwin(1895) found that competitive environment accelerates the evolution of species. “Species which can’t adapt the harsh environment would be washed out.”(Darwin, 1985) The same as a society, pressure makes a society keeping advanced and competitive. There will be a circulation: pressure accelerates the development of a society. Conversely, the development of society causes pressure. This circulation could be the only force that could push the whole world developing step by step.
Society is advancing with pressure. A society goes without pressure would fall down itself or be eaten by other society ultimately. So, we should keep a positive and competitive value to challenge the pressure in the future whatever for a society itself or individuals ourselves.
Reference:
Wilkinson M, Environment Editor, Population pressure takes Earth to its limits, October 26, 2007. This is an online article.
Lih-Rong W, Asian Social Quality Indicators: What is Unique?, Development And Society Volume 38 no. 2 December 2009, 297-337 This is an online article.
Finance and Economics, Scarce Resources, October 09, 2003 at 03:37 AM . This is an online article.
Darwin, Charles (1859). On the Origin of Species (1st ed. ) This is a book.
Statistics is available from http://www.jncc.gov.uk/page-320
Nowadays, more and more people realized that pressure is a necessary element for a society to advance. However, a few people still argue that pressure shouldn’t be a positive effect of a society. This essay will discuss the link between pressure and society advance, and show how different kinds of pressure accelerate the pace of development of a society.
Pressure can be divided into various aspects, for example increasing demand of people in a society could be seen as a kind of pressure. All the different kinds of pressure together affect on a society, accelerate it or even destroy it. While sociologists were trying to find the correlation between pressure and society, this issue has derived a few debates in these years, such as a wide-range debate about human right which is attributable to the one-child policy in China and a few countries.
Sometimes, pressure probably could ruin the creation, this is a main reason that why some people argue against the pressure. From these people’s idea, pressure on a society such as high competition or scarcity of resource made a more pessimistic prospective rather than positive aspect. Moreover, high social pressure also affected many facets: The fist and fundamental facet is education, as we know, less students choose to learn an artistic subject. This relates to the gradual disappearance of some traditional arts, like a few traditional operas in China. True, students choose their subjects or hobbies to find a good job in the future. This kind of phenomenon which is associated with less creativity is inevitable, what we only can do is to reduce the pressure on next generation as much as we can. The second facet is economy, one of the most important facets. High pressure in forms of unemployment or wealth gap could affect the stability of a society. Compare a country in a good economic condition such as US with a country in a poor situation, rich country always more stable than latter one. The third facet is the population which is more controversial. Looking at China who has the largest population in the world, population left the government a tough problem to deal with. Since 1990s, China have carried out the one-child policy to relieve the population problem whereas many people in west countries criticize that it goes against the human right. Actually, China has suffered from the scarce resource which dues to the large population. However, this seems can not be a reason that there is not enough human right in China.
Facing the population problem, China still gave a satisfied answer. One-child policy truly reduced the growing rate of population. Not only one-child policy, but also great breakthrough in agriculture field, such as hybrid rice and recent supper-hybrid rice. In one word, the development of China is amazing though under pressure. Pollution can be other pressure on a society, like chemistry pollution, air pollution, global warming and so forth. Most of pollutions previous can relate to energy problem. If we assume that coal or oil wouldn’t cause pollution, would we start to explore new sustainable energies? Before scientists and greeners have focused on renewable energies such as solar energy, wave energy, wind energy, the whole world had suffered from the global warming and water pollution for a long period of time. Obviously, pollution pressure forced society to advance otherwise it would fall down. There is a typical example: UK has made efforts on wild plants and animals protecting, it has carried out a few regulations, such as United Kingdom legislation for plant protection. However, a century ago, almost all wild animals have been killed. Although people started to protect wild animals and wild plants, the wild species still were hard to back. The information above shows that different kinds of pressure force a society to change and advance.
We also need to look at different parts of a society. Economy is a factor that we can’t ignore. According to Mankiw(1992), economy is a subject to find a good way to allocate the scarce resource. Resource is finite, human’s want is infinite, so pressure is essentially the confliction between human’s needs and scarce resource. Take an important index of government statistics—— the unemployment rate. “unemployed people often create their own jobs. To make ends meet, be productive, and sometimes to stave off boredom, many unemployed try to apply their skill sets to find new things to do.”(Finance and Economics, 2003) Unemployment keeps people in a society more competitive. A society can’t develop without pressure, the most tragic example is China, a 5000-year historical country. Looking over the history of China, too much relaxed society leaded to a corrupt society with no competitive power. This maybe is the main reason that such a large country would be defeated by smaller countries. Competition causes pressure, whist pressure causes advance, Darwin(1895) found that competitive environment accelerates the evolution of species. “Species which can’t adapt the harsh environment would be washed out.”(Darwin, 1985) The same as a society, pressure makes a society keeping advanced and competitive. There will be a circulation: pressure accelerates the development of a society. Conversely, the development of society causes pressure. This circulation could be the only force that could push the whole world developing step by step.
Society is advancing with pressure. A society goes without pressure would fall down itself or be eaten by other society ultimately. So, we should keep a positive and competitive value to challenge the pressure in the future whatever for a society itself or individuals ourselves.
Reference:
Wilkinson M, Environment Editor, Population pressure takes Earth to its limits, October 26, 2007. This is an online article.
Lih-Rong W, Asian Social Quality Indicators: What is Unique?, Development And Society Volume 38 no. 2 December 2009, 297-337 This is an online article.
Finance and Economics, Scarce Resources, October 09, 2003 at 03:37 AM . This is an online article.
Darwin, Charles (1859). On the Origin of Species (1st ed. ) This is a book.
Statistics is available from http://www.jncc.gov.uk/page-320
Renewable Energy Ruhi Molay
1- ABSTRACT
The unprecedented increase in average temperature of the Earth has initiated problems ranging from radical whether shifts to declining agriculture yields. The paramount problems that will be faced in the sooner time period has necessitated the wide spread usage of energy sources that are replenished. Accordingly, the present study will focus on forms of renewable energy sources, causes of global warming and will call the attentions of the readers towards mechanisms of cost reduction for renewable sources. The study will be finalized with general remarks on the matter and will broadcast the perspective of the author himself.
Keywords: Sustainable energy sources, global warming, climate changes, temperature, green house impact.
2- INTRODUCTION
2.1. 1
Renewable energy is a replenished energy sourced from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat. Wind power, hydropower, solar energy, bio-fuel and geothermal energy are the major forms of renewable energy (Santer, Boyle and Parker, 1996).
2.2. Global Warming
Global warming is the unfortunate consequence of the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s near surface air and oceans since the mid of 20th century.
2.3. Global Warming Facts
Abrupt regional changes in whether conditions are among the most noticeable repercussions of global warming. Severe droughts that have lasted many years have changed many civilizations and have altered the concept of stable climate. The resulting picture of unstable ocean-atmosphere has initiated debates concerning the human involvement through greenhouse gases and aerosols (Santer, Wigley, Barnett and Anyamba, 1996).
Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) between the start and the end of the 20th century which is expected to rise 1.1 to 6.4 °C (2.0 to 11.5 °F) during the 21st century. The most dramatic result is that global warming will continue beyond 2100 even if emissions stop due to the heating capacity of the ocean and the long life time of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Schellnhuber, 2004).
The changes in sea levels, expansion of tropical deserts, unexpected shifts in extreme whether conditions, extinction of some species and decline in agriculture area productivity are the priority issues of global warming. Water scarcity in some regions, changes in mountain snow pack, and adverse health effects from whether changes are the expected results. Social and economic impacts of global warming will be strengthened as population grows at unprecedented levels in affected regions (Lacis, Wuebbles and Logan, 1990).
Economic affects of global warming will be realized at industrial level: agriculture, livestock, forestry and fisheries industries will face shifting structures. Other sectors vulnerable to climate change are energy, construction, insurance, tourism, and recreation industries. Market sector impact in terms of demand will equal to plus or minus few percent of the world GDP however the aggregate impact of climate change on most of these sectors is uncertain due to sensitivity problematic of the prediction methods (Keeling, 1998).
2.4. Problem Statement
Normal energy sources have limited usages and pose problems of extinction. In addition to this issue, normal energy resources are not environmental friendly; the side effects of such usages exacerbate the impact of emissions hence the global warming.
2.5. Purpose of the Study
The present study pinpoints the results of temperature rising, deforestation, extinction of some species, and abrupt whether conditions. The balance of the nature is distorted and the negative impediments of global warming will be lessened via using renewable resources. Hence, this study aims at analyzing the usage of naturally renewable resources with the focus capitalized on possible costs as well as on advantages that will be obtained.
3. BAKCGROUND
3.1. Literature on Renewable Energy
Defined as the development of energy from natural resources that are constantly replenished, renewable energy uses wind power, hydro power, solar energy, biofuel and geothermal energy as major sources.
3.1.1. Wind Power
The long term potential of wind power is the generation of energy that is five times higher than the current global electricity production which will require large lands for wind tribunes. During the operation, wind tribunes do not produce any greenhouse gases (Hegerl 2000).
3.1.2. Hydro Power
Since water is denser than air (800 times more), energy in water can be exploited. Hydro electric, micro hydro, damless hydro, and ocean energy are major forms of water energy (.
3.1.3. Solar Energy
Solar energy is the process of capturing, converting and using energy from the sun through solar radiation. Solar technologies are categorized as active or passive and these methods necessitate large amounts of resources (Cubasch and Voss, 2000).
3.1.4. Biofuel
Bio-fuel, which is usually bio-alcohol in liquid form, is made by fermenting the sugar components of plant materials and with advanced technology, trees and plants are also used as sources for ethanol production.
Bio-diesel, which is made from vegetable oils and animal fats, are used as pure fuel for vehicles as well as diesel additive to reduce levels of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons in diesel-supported vehicles (Fleming, 1998).
3.1.5. Geothermal Energy
Geothermal energy is obtained by tapping the heat of the earth through the crust. Though the building of power stations is expensive, operating expenses are quite low which encourages the usage of this energy form. In some areas, geothermal energy is closer to earth than in others and in such circumstances hot water can be brought to the surface and be used as energy source in much effective ways (Geerts, 1999).
3.2. Literature on Global Warming
Defined as the average increase in the temperature of Earth, the roots of global warming and its affects are exacerbated by the following externalities:
3.2.1. Greenhouse Gases
The Greenhouse Effect is the process by which absorption and emission of radiation by gases warm the earth’s lower atmosphere and surface. Water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, and methane are among the major green house gases. Human activity has increased the amount of green house gases in the atmosphere, leading to strengthened green house impact. Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere show increasing tendencies due to burning of fossil fuels and land-use changes all of which makes the future rate of carbon dioxide rise depend on uncertain economic, social, technological and natural developments (Cortijo, 1999).
3.2.2. Global Dimming
Global dimming, which is a reduction in the amount of irradiance at Earth’s surface, has been a factor of rising global warming especially from 1960s and onwards. Aerosols produced by volcanoes and pollutants are the main causes of the global dimming (Bony, Lau and Sud, 1997).
3.2.3. Solar Variation
Variations in solar output have been identified as the causes of changes observed in climate, yet as compared to green house impacts, the accountability of solar variation is quite small (Schellnhuber, 2004; Hoyt and Schatten, 1997).
3.2.4. Loop-Back Mechanisms
The tendency of warming increases the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere which, in a loop back, increases the impact of global warming. Also, the amount of heat radiated from the Earth increases vein with the increase of temperature in surface and atmosphere of the Earth (Fleming, 1998).
4. GLOBAL WARMING SIGNALS
4.1. Impediments of Global Warming
Other than the obvious and known problems of global warming below are among the most dangerous issues that are faced and that will bear more wide-spread impact in short time period:
Sulfate aerosols lead to clouds that have more droplets. These droplets involve radiation affects and they are of uniform size all of which make the natural rain droplets disappear gradually.
Soot aerosols directly absorb solar radiation which results in heating of the atmosphere and cooling of the surface. Soot aerosols are usually observed in tropical parts of Asia in the form of brown clouds (Penner, Dickinson and O’Neill, 1992).
5. ARGUMENTS AGAINST RENEWABLE ENERGY
5.1. Counter Arguments on Renewable Energy
· Difficulties in adopting government policies hinder the renewable energy development.
· Lack of information dissemination for consumers.
· Huge capital costs and initial investment requirements- especially for power station buildings-. Inadequate financing options are also among the discouraging factors.
· There will be difficulties in introducing new energy methods especially in fields controlled by the market monopolies.
· Since renewable energy will require scientific and technical skills; there will be problems of quality personnel recruitment (Hegerl, 1996).
Above mentioned factors are usually put forward by researchers and academicians who believe that renewable energy sources are additional cost creators with inefficient mechanisms embedded. However, with government supported regulations and mechanisms, the above mentioned costs can be escaped:
Quota Mechanisms force companies to use a certain degree of their energy demand from renewable sources hence increasing the competition. The underlying purpose of this mechanism is to transfer the producer surplus to consumers with decreased prices resulting from intense competition.
Contract Bidding Mechanisms force companies to supply portion of renewable energy resources from companies that have been granted the contracts by governments. The idea is to develop technology via fierce competitive environment.
Tariff Mechanism is the process of setting prices for electricity produced via renewable technologies. This mechanism aims at enabling renewable energy producers operate economically at different tariff levels pre-set.
Tax Credits encourage companies to invest in renewable technologies by allowing them to write-off the related investment expenditures. This mechanism is usually co-implemented with the above mentioned support tools (Keeling, 1998).
6. CONSLUSIVE REMARKS
6.1. General Points on the Issue
Many environmental-conscious organizations and governments work to implement a future renewable fuel mix. When the cost inefficiencies are reduced, the market demand for renewable sources will increase. Government legal sponsorships, loan programs, tax impositions for carbon dioxide usages, and support of venture investments among official bodies are recent trends reflecting positive attitudes towards renewable energy (Stott, 2000).
6.2. My Perspective on the Issue
As natural resources are exposed to threat of extinction and contraction, capitalizing on these resources for energy production will be a fruitless deed sooner. Though the development, introduction and adaptation process of renewable energy from conventional methods will pose challenges, the support mechanisms and cooperative acts of governments with private enterprises will ease the process.
REFERENCES
Bony, S., K.-M. Lau, and Y.C. Sud, 1997: Sea surface temperature and large-scale circulation infl uences on tropical greenhouse effect and cloud radiative forcing. J. Clim., 10, 2055–2077.
Cortijo, E., et al., 1999: Changes in meridional temperature and salinity gradients in the North Atlantic Ocean (30 degrees-72 degrees N) during the last interglacial period. Paleoceanography, 14, 23–33.
Cubasch, U., and R. Voss, 2000: The influence of total solar irradiance on climate. Space Sci. Rev., 94, 185–198.
Fleming, J.R., 1998: Historical Perspectives on Climate Change. Oxford University Press, New York, 208pp.
Geerts, B., 1999: Trends in atmospheric science journals. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 80, 639–652.
Hegerl, G.C., et al., 1996: Detecting greenhouse-gas-induced climate change with an optimal fi ngerprint method. J. Clim., 9, 2281–2306.
Hegerl, G.C., et al., 2000: Optimal detection and attribution of climate change: Sensitivity of results to climate model differences. Clim. Dyn., 16, 737–754.
Hoyt, D.V., and K.H. Schatten, 1997: The Role of the Sun in Climate Change. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 279 pp.
Keeling, C.D., 1998: Rewards and penalties of monitoring the Earth. Annu. Rev. Energy Environ., 23, 25–82.
Lacis, A.A., D.J. Wuebbles, and J.A. Logan, 1990: Radiative forcing of climate by changes in the vertical distribution of ozone. J. Geophys. Res., 95, 9971–9981.
Penner, J., R. Dickinson, and C. O’Neill, 1992: Effects of aerosol from biomass burning on the global radiation budget. Science, 256, 1432–1434.
Santer, B.D., J.S. Boyle, and D.E. Parker, 1996a: Human effect on global climate? Reply. Nature, 384, 524 .
Santer, B.D., T.M.L. Wigley, T.P. Barnett, and E. Anyamba, 1996b: Detection of climate change, and attribution of causes. In: Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change [Houghton, J.T., et al. (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 407–443.
Schellnhuber, H.J., et al. (eds.), 2004: Earth System Analysis for Sustainability. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 352 pp.
Stott, P.A., et al., 2000: External control of 20th century temperature by natural and anthropogenic forcings. Science, 290, 2133–2137.
The unprecedented increase in average temperature of the Earth has initiated problems ranging from radical whether shifts to declining agriculture yields. The paramount problems that will be faced in the sooner time period has necessitated the wide spread usage of energy sources that are replenished. Accordingly, the present study will focus on forms of renewable energy sources, causes of global warming and will call the attentions of the readers towards mechanisms of cost reduction for renewable sources. The study will be finalized with general remarks on the matter and will broadcast the perspective of the author himself.
Keywords: Sustainable energy sources, global warming, climate changes, temperature, green house impact.
2- INTRODUCTION
2.1. 1
Renewable energy is a replenished energy sourced from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat. Wind power, hydropower, solar energy, bio-fuel and geothermal energy are the major forms of renewable energy (Santer, Boyle and Parker, 1996).
2.2. Global Warming
Global warming is the unfortunate consequence of the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s near surface air and oceans since the mid of 20th century.
2.3. Global Warming Facts
Abrupt regional changes in whether conditions are among the most noticeable repercussions of global warming. Severe droughts that have lasted many years have changed many civilizations and have altered the concept of stable climate. The resulting picture of unstable ocean-atmosphere has initiated debates concerning the human involvement through greenhouse gases and aerosols (Santer, Wigley, Barnett and Anyamba, 1996).
Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) between the start and the end of the 20th century which is expected to rise 1.1 to 6.4 °C (2.0 to 11.5 °F) during the 21st century. The most dramatic result is that global warming will continue beyond 2100 even if emissions stop due to the heating capacity of the ocean and the long life time of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Schellnhuber, 2004).
The changes in sea levels, expansion of tropical deserts, unexpected shifts in extreme whether conditions, extinction of some species and decline in agriculture area productivity are the priority issues of global warming. Water scarcity in some regions, changes in mountain snow pack, and adverse health effects from whether changes are the expected results. Social and economic impacts of global warming will be strengthened as population grows at unprecedented levels in affected regions (Lacis, Wuebbles and Logan, 1990).
Economic affects of global warming will be realized at industrial level: agriculture, livestock, forestry and fisheries industries will face shifting structures. Other sectors vulnerable to climate change are energy, construction, insurance, tourism, and recreation industries. Market sector impact in terms of demand will equal to plus or minus few percent of the world GDP however the aggregate impact of climate change on most of these sectors is uncertain due to sensitivity problematic of the prediction methods (Keeling, 1998).
2.4. Problem Statement
Normal energy sources have limited usages and pose problems of extinction. In addition to this issue, normal energy resources are not environmental friendly; the side effects of such usages exacerbate the impact of emissions hence the global warming.
2.5. Purpose of the Study
The present study pinpoints the results of temperature rising, deforestation, extinction of some species, and abrupt whether conditions. The balance of the nature is distorted and the negative impediments of global warming will be lessened via using renewable resources. Hence, this study aims at analyzing the usage of naturally renewable resources with the focus capitalized on possible costs as well as on advantages that will be obtained.
3. BAKCGROUND
3.1. Literature on Renewable Energy
Defined as the development of energy from natural resources that are constantly replenished, renewable energy uses wind power, hydro power, solar energy, biofuel and geothermal energy as major sources.
3.1.1. Wind Power
The long term potential of wind power is the generation of energy that is five times higher than the current global electricity production which will require large lands for wind tribunes. During the operation, wind tribunes do not produce any greenhouse gases (Hegerl 2000).
3.1.2. Hydro Power
Since water is denser than air (800 times more), energy in water can be exploited. Hydro electric, micro hydro, damless hydro, and ocean energy are major forms of water energy (.
3.1.3. Solar Energy
Solar energy is the process of capturing, converting and using energy from the sun through solar radiation. Solar technologies are categorized as active or passive and these methods necessitate large amounts of resources (Cubasch and Voss, 2000).
3.1.4. Biofuel
Bio-fuel, which is usually bio-alcohol in liquid form, is made by fermenting the sugar components of plant materials and with advanced technology, trees and plants are also used as sources for ethanol production.
Bio-diesel, which is made from vegetable oils and animal fats, are used as pure fuel for vehicles as well as diesel additive to reduce levels of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons in diesel-supported vehicles (Fleming, 1998).
3.1.5. Geothermal Energy
Geothermal energy is obtained by tapping the heat of the earth through the crust. Though the building of power stations is expensive, operating expenses are quite low which encourages the usage of this energy form. In some areas, geothermal energy is closer to earth than in others and in such circumstances hot water can be brought to the surface and be used as energy source in much effective ways (Geerts, 1999).
3.2. Literature on Global Warming
Defined as the average increase in the temperature of Earth, the roots of global warming and its affects are exacerbated by the following externalities:
3.2.1. Greenhouse Gases
The Greenhouse Effect is the process by which absorption and emission of radiation by gases warm the earth’s lower atmosphere and surface. Water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, and methane are among the major green house gases. Human activity has increased the amount of green house gases in the atmosphere, leading to strengthened green house impact. Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere show increasing tendencies due to burning of fossil fuels and land-use changes all of which makes the future rate of carbon dioxide rise depend on uncertain economic, social, technological and natural developments (Cortijo, 1999).
3.2.2. Global Dimming
Global dimming, which is a reduction in the amount of irradiance at Earth’s surface, has been a factor of rising global warming especially from 1960s and onwards. Aerosols produced by volcanoes and pollutants are the main causes of the global dimming (Bony, Lau and Sud, 1997).
3.2.3. Solar Variation
Variations in solar output have been identified as the causes of changes observed in climate, yet as compared to green house impacts, the accountability of solar variation is quite small (Schellnhuber, 2004; Hoyt and Schatten, 1997).
3.2.4. Loop-Back Mechanisms
The tendency of warming increases the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere which, in a loop back, increases the impact of global warming. Also, the amount of heat radiated from the Earth increases vein with the increase of temperature in surface and atmosphere of the Earth (Fleming, 1998).
4. GLOBAL WARMING SIGNALS
4.1. Impediments of Global Warming
Other than the obvious and known problems of global warming below are among the most dangerous issues that are faced and that will bear more wide-spread impact in short time period:
Sulfate aerosols lead to clouds that have more droplets. These droplets involve radiation affects and they are of uniform size all of which make the natural rain droplets disappear gradually.
Soot aerosols directly absorb solar radiation which results in heating of the atmosphere and cooling of the surface. Soot aerosols are usually observed in tropical parts of Asia in the form of brown clouds (Penner, Dickinson and O’Neill, 1992).
5. ARGUMENTS AGAINST RENEWABLE ENERGY
5.1. Counter Arguments on Renewable Energy
· Difficulties in adopting government policies hinder the renewable energy development.
· Lack of information dissemination for consumers.
· Huge capital costs and initial investment requirements- especially for power station buildings-. Inadequate financing options are also among the discouraging factors.
· There will be difficulties in introducing new energy methods especially in fields controlled by the market monopolies.
· Since renewable energy will require scientific and technical skills; there will be problems of quality personnel recruitment (Hegerl, 1996).
Above mentioned factors are usually put forward by researchers and academicians who believe that renewable energy sources are additional cost creators with inefficient mechanisms embedded. However, with government supported regulations and mechanisms, the above mentioned costs can be escaped:
Quota Mechanisms force companies to use a certain degree of their energy demand from renewable sources hence increasing the competition. The underlying purpose of this mechanism is to transfer the producer surplus to consumers with decreased prices resulting from intense competition.
Contract Bidding Mechanisms force companies to supply portion of renewable energy resources from companies that have been granted the contracts by governments. The idea is to develop technology via fierce competitive environment.
Tariff Mechanism is the process of setting prices for electricity produced via renewable technologies. This mechanism aims at enabling renewable energy producers operate economically at different tariff levels pre-set.
Tax Credits encourage companies to invest in renewable technologies by allowing them to write-off the related investment expenditures. This mechanism is usually co-implemented with the above mentioned support tools (Keeling, 1998).
6. CONSLUSIVE REMARKS
6.1. General Points on the Issue
Many environmental-conscious organizations and governments work to implement a future renewable fuel mix. When the cost inefficiencies are reduced, the market demand for renewable sources will increase. Government legal sponsorships, loan programs, tax impositions for carbon dioxide usages, and support of venture investments among official bodies are recent trends reflecting positive attitudes towards renewable energy (Stott, 2000).
6.2. My Perspective on the Issue
As natural resources are exposed to threat of extinction and contraction, capitalizing on these resources for energy production will be a fruitless deed sooner. Though the development, introduction and adaptation process of renewable energy from conventional methods will pose challenges, the support mechanisms and cooperative acts of governments with private enterprises will ease the process.
REFERENCES
Bony, S., K.-M. Lau, and Y.C. Sud, 1997: Sea surface temperature and large-scale circulation infl uences on tropical greenhouse effect and cloud radiative forcing. J. Clim., 10, 2055–2077.
Cortijo, E., et al., 1999: Changes in meridional temperature and salinity gradients in the North Atlantic Ocean (30 degrees-72 degrees N) during the last interglacial period. Paleoceanography, 14, 23–33.
Cubasch, U., and R. Voss, 2000: The influence of total solar irradiance on climate. Space Sci. Rev., 94, 185–198.
Fleming, J.R., 1998: Historical Perspectives on Climate Change. Oxford University Press, New York, 208pp.
Geerts, B., 1999: Trends in atmospheric science journals. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 80, 639–652.
Hegerl, G.C., et al., 1996: Detecting greenhouse-gas-induced climate change with an optimal fi ngerprint method. J. Clim., 9, 2281–2306.
Hegerl, G.C., et al., 2000: Optimal detection and attribution of climate change: Sensitivity of results to climate model differences. Clim. Dyn., 16, 737–754.
Hoyt, D.V., and K.H. Schatten, 1997: The Role of the Sun in Climate Change. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 279 pp.
Keeling, C.D., 1998: Rewards and penalties of monitoring the Earth. Annu. Rev. Energy Environ., 23, 25–82.
Lacis, A.A., D.J. Wuebbles, and J.A. Logan, 1990: Radiative forcing of climate by changes in the vertical distribution of ozone. J. Geophys. Res., 95, 9971–9981.
Penner, J., R. Dickinson, and C. O’Neill, 1992: Effects of aerosol from biomass burning on the global radiation budget. Science, 256, 1432–1434.
Santer, B.D., J.S. Boyle, and D.E. Parker, 1996a: Human effect on global climate? Reply. Nature, 384, 524 .
Santer, B.D., T.M.L. Wigley, T.P. Barnett, and E. Anyamba, 1996b: Detection of climate change, and attribution of causes. In: Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change [Houghton, J.T., et al. (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 407–443.
Schellnhuber, H.J., et al. (eds.), 2004: Earth System Analysis for Sustainability. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 352 pp.
Stott, P.A., et al., 2000: External control of 20th century temperature by natural and anthropogenic forcings. Science, 290, 2133–2137.
Nancy's final essay
Cultural Heritage Tourism
For thousands of years, people have been attracted by different characteristics of another place and travelling to experience them. In the recent few years, cultural heritage tourism, as a branch of tourism, has become a particular travel product in the tourism industry. Cultural heritage tourism means traveling to experience the places and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present (The National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2010). Cultural heritage tourism is important for many reasons. It has a positive economic and social impact, for example, it helps protect the cultural heritage while facilitate harmony and understanding among people (Richards, 1996). In contrast, others think there are several drawbacks of cultural heritage tourism, including impacts on the communities such as culture exploitation, as well as impacts on the heritage sites themselves (Ramsey, 2007). In this essay I will talk about the positive impact of cultural heritage tourism from cultural, economic and educational perspective. Then I will discuss the drawbacks, and make a comparison in order to give my conclusion. In my point of view, cultural heritage tourism benefits the local community and the heritage itself on the whole.
Cultural heritage tourism helps to maintain the culture of the local community and develop it as well. Cultural heritage includes irreplaceable historic, cultural and natural resources (Duncan, 2009). It also can be classified into tangible and intangible cultural heritage by form. The former includes buildings, rock-cut tombs, ancient ruins, natural landscapes and so on. The latter, which is also called non-material cultural heritage, includes all forms of traditional activities, such as dance, music, custom, language and folklore. A large number of communities all over the world have developed many kinds of cultural heritage tourism products which attract more tourists each year. Developing cultural heritage tourism makes the residents aware of the value of their culture. Because heritage such as natural landscapes and ancient ruins which show the unique cultural spirit of the community attracts people from different places to visit and show great interest on it, when local residents notice that they will protect these resource consciously by themselves. The effect is more significant on non-material heritage. Non-material heritage is special form of culture as it is normally intangible. For example, some minority groups inherited traditional culture from their forefathers. They have very different local conditions and customs, festival, etiquette from outside world. But those performances, activities and knowledge about the universe have petered out with the development of the modern society. Finally the unique culture will disappear and difficult to find out. But cultural heritage tourism promotes people to maintain the culture and enable livelihood of the folk artisan and handicraftsmen. Apart from retaining the culture for the next generation; it also spreads the culture to the outside world.
Cultural heritage tourism benefits the local economy largely because of considerable volumes of foreign currency inflows, which is good for preservation as well. It is a major contributor to the local government economic revenues. When Canadian travelers were asked about what type of trip they would be interested in taking in the future, over 60 percent showed “a great interest” or was “somewhat interest” in a heritage or cultural trip (Cultural Heritage Tourism). 78% of all U.S. leisure travelers participate in cultural and/or heritage activities according to Mandela Research in 2009. With an average spending of 994/trip, they contribute more than 192billion dollars to the US economy (Mandela research, 2010). That’s a big business. Besides, many other industries are driven by tourism such as realty business, financial and insurance establishments, and communications industry. Moreover, the money gained from cultural heritage tourism can be used to preserve the heritage. It also improves the infrastructure of the local area. The government spends money on building roads, airports, restaurants and public facilities to attract more tourists. More jobs are created during those kinds of economic activities, so it increases the employment as well.
Cultural heritage tourism also has an educational meaning. To introduce their own culture to the tourists, the local residents need to learn the culture themselves first. As a result of that, residents feel proud of their culture and thus increase understanding among people. And during the process of communicating with tourists from different places, they build friendship and respect towards each other. Residents are educated about the world without leaving their homes, while tourists are impressed by an entirely different culture.
However, cultural heritage tourism has several drawbacks. One of them is impact to the sites themselves, like damages to the sites. As we know, taking pictures or people’s breath and sweat can be harmful to some ancient objects. The painting on the wall of the Mogao Caves in China, the color was changed as a result of the large number of tourists. Mass tourism also leads to pollution and lack of resource.
Another negative impact is cultural. People have different opinions on understanding the culture. It’s quite often that you hear two or maybe three different editions of the explanation about the same cultural issue while travelling. This causes distortion of the culture. Besides, culture exploitation is also a problem, such as exploitation of gift shops. Sometimes people even buy the same souvenirs from different places.
In general, cultural heritage tourism supports culture, helps renew tourism and brings economic benefits as well, as long as cultural heritage is well treated. In this sense, local government should assess the cultural heritage tourism in a long-term view. Development should be carried out in a way to maintain and sustain the cultural heritage. Respect the local carrying capacity instead of just making fast profits, then can meet the higher expectation of the tourists (Craine, 2005).In planning for tourism, the government should use management techniques to design programs and manage the resource. In addition, education and training programs can be provided to local residents.
Bibliography
Craine K. (2005). Cultural & Heritage Tourism in the United States, U.S. Department of Commerce and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. http://www.pcah.gov/pdf/05WhitePaperCultHeritTourism.pdf (Accessed on 10 MARCH, 2010)
Cultural Heritage Tourism. http://www.cedworks.com/files/pdf/free/P203FSS03.pdf
CULTURAL HERITAGE TOURISM 2010 FACT SHEET.(2010) National Trust for Historic Preservation. www.culturalheritagetourism.org. (Accessed on 10 March, 2010)
Duncan E. (2009). Tourism and Cultural Heritage Preservation. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1399124 (Accessed on 13 March, 2010)
Mandela Research. (2009) New Study Reveals Popularity of U.S. Cultural and Heritage Travel http://www.preservationnation.org/about-us/press-center/press-releases/2009/CHT-Study.html (Accessed on 13 March, 2010)
Ramsey D. and Everitt J. (2008) If you dig it, they will come!: Archaeology heritage sites and tourism development in Belize, Central America, Tourism Management, Volume 29, Issue 5, October 2008, Pages 909-916 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V9R-4RH2SN6-1&_user=128860&_coverDate=10%2F31%2F2008&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1230269594&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000010638&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=128860&md5=ab67385e15266329480502a43f015c6f (Accessed on 15 March,2010)
Richards, G (1996). Production and Consumption of European Cultural Tourism. Annals of Tourism Research 23:261–283.
For thousands of years, people have been attracted by different characteristics of another place and travelling to experience them. In the recent few years, cultural heritage tourism, as a branch of tourism, has become a particular travel product in the tourism industry. Cultural heritage tourism means traveling to experience the places and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present (The National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2010). Cultural heritage tourism is important for many reasons. It has a positive economic and social impact, for example, it helps protect the cultural heritage while facilitate harmony and understanding among people (Richards, 1996). In contrast, others think there are several drawbacks of cultural heritage tourism, including impacts on the communities such as culture exploitation, as well as impacts on the heritage sites themselves (Ramsey, 2007). In this essay I will talk about the positive impact of cultural heritage tourism from cultural, economic and educational perspective. Then I will discuss the drawbacks, and make a comparison in order to give my conclusion. In my point of view, cultural heritage tourism benefits the local community and the heritage itself on the whole.
Cultural heritage tourism helps to maintain the culture of the local community and develop it as well. Cultural heritage includes irreplaceable historic, cultural and natural resources (Duncan, 2009). It also can be classified into tangible and intangible cultural heritage by form. The former includes buildings, rock-cut tombs, ancient ruins, natural landscapes and so on. The latter, which is also called non-material cultural heritage, includes all forms of traditional activities, such as dance, music, custom, language and folklore. A large number of communities all over the world have developed many kinds of cultural heritage tourism products which attract more tourists each year. Developing cultural heritage tourism makes the residents aware of the value of their culture. Because heritage such as natural landscapes and ancient ruins which show the unique cultural spirit of the community attracts people from different places to visit and show great interest on it, when local residents notice that they will protect these resource consciously by themselves. The effect is more significant on non-material heritage. Non-material heritage is special form of culture as it is normally intangible. For example, some minority groups inherited traditional culture from their forefathers. They have very different local conditions and customs, festival, etiquette from outside world. But those performances, activities and knowledge about the universe have petered out with the development of the modern society. Finally the unique culture will disappear and difficult to find out. But cultural heritage tourism promotes people to maintain the culture and enable livelihood of the folk artisan and handicraftsmen. Apart from retaining the culture for the next generation; it also spreads the culture to the outside world.
Cultural heritage tourism benefits the local economy largely because of considerable volumes of foreign currency inflows, which is good for preservation as well. It is a major contributor to the local government economic revenues. When Canadian travelers were asked about what type of trip they would be interested in taking in the future, over 60 percent showed “a great interest” or was “somewhat interest” in a heritage or cultural trip (Cultural Heritage Tourism). 78% of all U.S. leisure travelers participate in cultural and/or heritage activities according to Mandela Research in 2009. With an average spending of 994/trip, they contribute more than 192billion dollars to the US economy (Mandela research, 2010). That’s a big business. Besides, many other industries are driven by tourism such as realty business, financial and insurance establishments, and communications industry. Moreover, the money gained from cultural heritage tourism can be used to preserve the heritage. It also improves the infrastructure of the local area. The government spends money on building roads, airports, restaurants and public facilities to attract more tourists. More jobs are created during those kinds of economic activities, so it increases the employment as well.
Cultural heritage tourism also has an educational meaning. To introduce their own culture to the tourists, the local residents need to learn the culture themselves first. As a result of that, residents feel proud of their culture and thus increase understanding among people. And during the process of communicating with tourists from different places, they build friendship and respect towards each other. Residents are educated about the world without leaving their homes, while tourists are impressed by an entirely different culture.
However, cultural heritage tourism has several drawbacks. One of them is impact to the sites themselves, like damages to the sites. As we know, taking pictures or people’s breath and sweat can be harmful to some ancient objects. The painting on the wall of the Mogao Caves in China, the color was changed as a result of the large number of tourists. Mass tourism also leads to pollution and lack of resource.
Another negative impact is cultural. People have different opinions on understanding the culture. It’s quite often that you hear two or maybe three different editions of the explanation about the same cultural issue while travelling. This causes distortion of the culture. Besides, culture exploitation is also a problem, such as exploitation of gift shops. Sometimes people even buy the same souvenirs from different places.
In general, cultural heritage tourism supports culture, helps renew tourism and brings economic benefits as well, as long as cultural heritage is well treated. In this sense, local government should assess the cultural heritage tourism in a long-term view. Development should be carried out in a way to maintain and sustain the cultural heritage. Respect the local carrying capacity instead of just making fast profits, then can meet the higher expectation of the tourists (Craine, 2005).In planning for tourism, the government should use management techniques to design programs and manage the resource. In addition, education and training programs can be provided to local residents.
Bibliography
Craine K. (2005). Cultural & Heritage Tourism in the United States, U.S. Department of Commerce and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. http://www.pcah.gov/pdf/05WhitePaperCultHeritTourism.pdf (Accessed on 10 MARCH, 2010)
Cultural Heritage Tourism. http://www.cedworks.com/files/pdf/free/P203FSS03.pdf
CULTURAL HERITAGE TOURISM 2010 FACT SHEET.(2010) National Trust for Historic Preservation. www.culturalheritagetourism.org. (Accessed on 10 March, 2010)
Duncan E. (2009). Tourism and Cultural Heritage Preservation. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1399124 (Accessed on 13 March, 2010)
Mandela Research. (2009) New Study Reveals Popularity of U.S. Cultural and Heritage Travel http://www.preservationnation.org/about-us/press-center/press-releases/2009/CHT-Study.html (Accessed on 13 March, 2010)
Ramsey D. and Everitt J. (2008) If you dig it, they will come!: Archaeology heritage sites and tourism development in Belize, Central America, Tourism Management, Volume 29, Issue 5, October 2008, Pages 909-916 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V9R-4RH2SN6-1&_user=128860&_coverDate=10%2F31%2F2008&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1230269594&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000010638&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=128860&md5=ab67385e15266329480502a43f015c6f (Accessed on 15 March,2010)
Richards, G (1996). Production and Consumption of European Cultural Tourism. Annals of Tourism Research 23:261–283.
lanfang's final essay
Why not read?
Reading is always considered to be one of the essential abilities for people to deeply understand themselves and others co-existing in the world. But now students tend to read less than before. This essay will reveal the reason what makes this happen and argue that the true value of books should be reconsidered seriously, though the conditions of publishing may not be so favorable. Also it will look into what government has done to encourage reading and give suggestion on how to choose books.
With the improvement of modern life, there are too many attractions make student become unstable and seemingly busier at spare time, like music, films, parties and other social activities. The names of pop stars may be better remembered than the names of famous writers. The libraries may be also crowded, but students there more tend to read for practical use, such as exam and essay. Instead, one may heard of a lot, for example, Ulysses, the great Gatsby or the sound and the fury among the 100 must-reads recommended by the American Library Association, without reading one of them completely, but just put a hard-cover edition on the desk for decoration. This goal-oriented reading is also reflected in the report which revealed the fact that the growing of publish market was mainly resulted by the increased purchase of textbooks (Jordan T).
However, it's book that bring people together and convey human civilization generation by generation. What made human beings different from other animals is the thoughts and creativities. As Francis Bacon once said, studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. He also said that there is no stand or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies; like as diseases of the body, may have appropriate exercises. Book is the nutrition for the brain, giving birth to the matured mind. It can not only help to command knowledge and skills for study, but also bring feelings of comfort and enjoyment, rich experience and broaden mind. As an old Chinese saying:” there are countless fortunes and gorgers beauties in the book”, it means the pursuit of meaningfulness in life can be realized in books.
If one doesn’t read, inevitably culture will vanish in the future and people will live aimlessly. Reading is such a pleasure for you to explore the infinite meaning of life within the limited length of your life span. The readers are offered exciting opportunities to talk to the heroes, to wander in the wonder land descript in the books, hearing what have never heard and seeing what have never seen. It’s said that reading a good book is just like communicating with a master about his ideas and opinions. So why still hesitate to pay a so affordable price for the valuable knowledge?
Someone may argue that there is no necessity to hold a block of paper in hand any more, with so many other accesses which are much more convenient, such as internet (Jarvis J, 2006). Undoubtedly internet is now widely used all over the world and any information desired can be searched out within seconds. By surfing on net, one can not only get what he want, but also easily link to other related addresses, and freely make comment at once or debate with different opinions on forums or blogs. Compared with purchasing one copy of book waited for several months, the usages of new media consume less time and money.
But what need to be cared is whether the sources of information are believable or not, under the information explosion in modern times. That proves why plagiarism becomes serious after the invention of internet.
Another problem is about the keeping of data. Paper is always considered as the safest and reliable way for recording, while computer becomes very annoying that everything you saved disappear suddenly, and that could be a disaster under some urgent circumstances.
In terms of time consuming, great mind deserves patience. The excitement and satisfaction from tasting can be doubled after some time’s hungry for food.
Of course the bookstores also provide far more information than needed, and seemingly there are a lot of choices. But actually it takes quite a long time to find, to evaluate and to buy a book in the end. Only the weekly and even daily bestseller list can cause a headache. In the past, only excellent scholars, experts or professors would be picked by the press and honored to reach the public after enduring a long and lonely time in research. This devotion was warmly welcomed while appreciation and acclamation achieved in the whole society. Everything is in some kind of order and happens naturally step by step. But things changed nowadays -- anyone can be changed into a writer and get chance to publish his work, which causes chaos. The publishers care more about the popularity which can brings profit than the real value of knowledge embodied in the book. Sadly there is more rubbish on the book shelves.
What individual can do is to sharpen their eyes and have their own judgment. But experience is required to tell the worth of a book from the first eye. It’s better for green hand to ask for advice from experienced person, such as teachers, tutor, or even writers. Also there are some famous columns on magazines or TV programs introducing great pieces of writing for readers, based on their critical attitudes.
Also, regulations by related offices may need to be strict to control and govern the book market. Another good idea is to encourage students to read at the early stage of education and help them to cultivate a hoppy in reading. Lacking of reading will result in poor creativity and lead to no future of a country. According to report from reading agency in the UK, government has supported a Creativity Partnerships project for schools and young people, funding by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education and Skills. It is now working with around 2500 schools.
For those who are already in their final stage of education, one should know that learning in class is far from enough. No matter what major you are in, reading for self -perfection is the subject should never be ignored. After graduation and entering into a more practical and material world, there may not be so much spare time or individual space allowing reading, instead, there would be one or another interruption such as career, family and other social intercourse.
References
Books: Publishing, or Publishing and Printing Industry report: Companies in this industry
http://business.highbeam.com/industry-reports/wood/books-publishing-publishing-printing (accessed 14/03/2010)
Jarvis J (June 2006) Books will disappear. Print is where words go to die http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/jun/05/bookscomment.mediaguardian1 (accessed 10/03/2010)
Jordan T, AAP Reports Book Sales Estimated at $24.3 Billion in 2008
http://www.publishers.org/main/IndustryStats/indStats_02.htm (accessed 10/03/2010)
Making reading creativity http://www.readingagency.org.uk/children/children-uploads/CreativePartnershipsbrochure.pdf (accessed 16/03/2010)
Kamil's Final Essay
Kamil Grebene
17/03/2010
OPEC’S INFLUENCE ON OIL PRICES
Introduction
Many people blame a wide range of factors and forces for high oil prices. For many, it is simply the Arabs of the Middle East and OPEC that are to blame for their setting the prices too high. However, others argue that it is not in fact open that should be blamed it is the petrol companies of the nation that have made record profits in recent years, at the expense of the customer. Research shows that while many believe that OPEC and its member nations influence oil prices by setting them the actual influence of the organization is minimal and that a wide range of non-OPEC factors causes the high price of oil.
Is the Price of Oil Too High?
In analysis of oil prices it must first be asked, and of course answered, if the oil prices today are too high. Recent research suggests that indeed they are. In fact, an article published on OPEC president, Mohammed al-Hamili stated that the price of oil is high and perhaps more importantly that the cause of the high prices is not supply and demand but because of geopolitics. However, others disagree the article reports as “..Claude Mandil, the head of the International Energy Agency, an energy watchdog for rich countries, said that prices were too high and that supply was “A bit too low” (“High oil prices caused by geopolitical, not supply concerns: OPEC” NA). Meanwhile, another source close to OPEC, the Qatari Energy Minister, echoed the comments made by the president of OPEC by stating that supply and demand are in balance.
Interestingly, OPEC has stated in the past that oil prices are out of its control. Four years ago, it was reported that despite a promise made by the organization to increase oil production that people should not expect a major break on the price of oil. As John W. Schoen reports, “In the past OPEC tried to cool overheated prices by pumping more when supplies got too tight” (Schoen NA). However, in this case, the OPEC producers says that they were already pumping as much oil as they could and that demand showed no signs of slowing despite the fact that the price was high. Moreover, Schoen reports how at the time, when OPEC ministers said that it would increase production it was believed that the effort would do any good because of the high demand for oil.
Clearly, OPEC has advanced different arguments related to the price of oil, more recently suggesting that the issue is a geopolitical one, several years ago stating that the problem is a demand issue. This does not mean that the organization is covering up some type of conspiracy. Rather, it suggests that there are a wide range of factors and forces that play a role in the price of oil. In fact, those outside OPEC appear to believe that the price of oil is not a result of OPEC but is a result of increased demand.
According to Scott Reeves OPEC does influence the price of oil but certainly cannot determine it. This view, advanced Reeves states by a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, is based on the theory, once again, that prices are established by global supply and demand. In fact, the senior fellow, Jerry Taylor states, “OPEC does not control global demand and it has a minority control over global supply. It influences prices, perhaps, but it certainly can’t establish prices. All they can affect is how much (member states) produce” (Reeves NA). However, once again, others differ in their views such as Raymond Learsy who argues that OPEC has constrained the product consistently over the last few years.
There are major concerns about the high price of oil and it appears that with even OPEC showing concern as well as other organizations, that indeed the prices are too high. An additional organization that has complained about the high prices is the International Monetary Fund. Just last year, the chief of the organization, Rodrigo Rato, “..warned that record oil prices are here to stay and appealed for collective action to rectify widening imbalances in the world economy” (“IMF chief warns high oil prices set to stay” NA). Rato stated at the time that the high prices of oil had had moderate effects on the global economy yet expressed concern that there remained a great risk of a larger impact such as global economic imbalances.
Yet, while some seem to believe that supply and demand is the problem and while OPEC suggests its concern over the price of oil, some have been highly critical of the organization. For example, an oil and petrol management expert at Southern Methodist University in Dallas states that, “OPEC is a strongly anticompetitive force. There’s no question that they have withheld oil from the market” (Trumbull NA). However, the expert, James Smith, also states that OPEC is even alarmed at oil at sixty to seventy dollars a barrel. Further, as Smith says, though the OPEC member nations agree on production quotas, they do not announce price targets.
OPEC and Oil Prices
OPEC, according to the organization itself, has its members meet at least twice per year as a means of coordinating their oil production policies. Here, the coordination comes as a result of various market fundamentals, such as the supply and demand relationship. As a result of the conference, OPEC further reveals, member nations may or may not make changes to their production levels. However, OPEC admits that, “Given that OPEC Countries product about 43 per cent of the world’s crude oil and about 51 per cent of the oil traded internationally, any decisions to increase or reduce production may lower or raise the price of crude oil” (“How does OPEC oil production affect oil prices?” NA). Moreover, OPEC states that the output decisions that are made with regard to oil prices should be considered as being separate from the prices of oil products, such as gasoline or heating oil as there are numerous factors that influence the prices of the oil products.
In fact, OPEC states that it sets oil production quotas as a means of bringing stability to the oil market. Moreover, the organizations web site state that its statute mandates that the organization pursue both stability and harmony in the petroleum market as a means of benefiting not only the producers, but also the consumers. “To this end, OPEC Member Countries respond to market fundamentals and forecast developments by co-ordinating their petroleum policies” (“Why does OPEC set oil production quotas?” NA). For example, the organization states that if some producers are producing less oil or if demand grows that OPEC can increase oil production as a means of preventing a sudden rise in prices.
Yet, it seems that there is a long lasting argument in favor of the supply and demand issue. After all, the world is believed to have limited oil reserves. However, M.A. Adelman states the alarms that oil is running out have been rung for decades. In fact, many doomsday scenarios have been advanced about the end of oil. For example, “In 1875, John Strong Newberry, the chief geologist of the state of Ohio, predicted that the supply of oil would soon run out” (Adelman 17). Other predictions have been more recent such as in 1979 then American president Jimmy Carter states that, based on an assessment conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency, oil wells were drying up all over the world. However, as Adelman states, all of these predictions have been proven false. In fact, in the year 2003 the oil production had increased four thousand times when compared to 1875.
Bibliography
Adelman, M.A. “The real oil problem: behind the myths of an oil crisis and an oil weapon is a very real danger posed by a clumsy and shortsighted cartel.” Regulation. 27.1, Spring 2004, 16-21.
“High oil prices caused by geopolitical, not supply concerns: OPEC.” Yahoo! News. April 5, 2007.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070405/bs_afp/opecqatarenergyoil_070405143045
“How does OPEC oil production affect oil prices?” OPEC. http://www.opec/org/library/FAQs/aboutOPEC/q14.htm
“IMF chief warns high oil prices set to stay.” Forbes. April 20, 2006. http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2006/04/20/afx2686035.html
Kohl, Wilfrid L. "The perfect storm: OPEC and the world oil market.” Harvard International Review. 26.4, Wntr. 2005, 68-72.
“Oil price conundrum: the adverse effects of the oil price shock are currently working their way through. But will prices settle back, or are higher oil prices now a fact of life?” OCED Observer. 245, Nov. 2004, 10-11.
Reeves, Scott. “Analysts Says Oil Prices Set By Supply and Demand, Not OPEC.” March 14, 2007. http://www.cnbc.com/id/17610656
Schoen, John W. “OPEC says it has lost control of oil prices.” MSNBC. March 16, 2005. http://www.msnbc.,sn.com/id/7190109/
“Why does OPEC set oil production quotas?” OPEC. http://www.opec.org/library/FAQs/aboutOPEC/q12.htm
“World economic prospects and the risks from oil prices.” National Institute Economic Review. 192, April 2005, 11-25.
17/03/2010
OPEC’S INFLUENCE ON OIL PRICES
Introduction
Many people blame a wide range of factors and forces for high oil prices. For many, it is simply the Arabs of the Middle East and OPEC that are to blame for their setting the prices too high. However, others argue that it is not in fact open that should be blamed it is the petrol companies of the nation that have made record profits in recent years, at the expense of the customer. Research shows that while many believe that OPEC and its member nations influence oil prices by setting them the actual influence of the organization is minimal and that a wide range of non-OPEC factors causes the high price of oil.
Is the Price of Oil Too High?
In analysis of oil prices it must first be asked, and of course answered, if the oil prices today are too high. Recent research suggests that indeed they are. In fact, an article published on OPEC president, Mohammed al-Hamili stated that the price of oil is high and perhaps more importantly that the cause of the high prices is not supply and demand but because of geopolitics. However, others disagree the article reports as “..Claude Mandil, the head of the International Energy Agency, an energy watchdog for rich countries, said that prices were too high and that supply was “A bit too low” (“High oil prices caused by geopolitical, not supply concerns: OPEC” NA). Meanwhile, another source close to OPEC, the Qatari Energy Minister, echoed the comments made by the president of OPEC by stating that supply and demand are in balance.
Interestingly, OPEC has stated in the past that oil prices are out of its control. Four years ago, it was reported that despite a promise made by the organization to increase oil production that people should not expect a major break on the price of oil. As John W. Schoen reports, “In the past OPEC tried to cool overheated prices by pumping more when supplies got too tight” (Schoen NA). However, in this case, the OPEC producers says that they were already pumping as much oil as they could and that demand showed no signs of slowing despite the fact that the price was high. Moreover, Schoen reports how at the time, when OPEC ministers said that it would increase production it was believed that the effort would do any good because of the high demand for oil.
Clearly, OPEC has advanced different arguments related to the price of oil, more recently suggesting that the issue is a geopolitical one, several years ago stating that the problem is a demand issue. This does not mean that the organization is covering up some type of conspiracy. Rather, it suggests that there are a wide range of factors and forces that play a role in the price of oil. In fact, those outside OPEC appear to believe that the price of oil is not a result of OPEC but is a result of increased demand.
According to Scott Reeves OPEC does influence the price of oil but certainly cannot determine it. This view, advanced Reeves states by a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, is based on the theory, once again, that prices are established by global supply and demand. In fact, the senior fellow, Jerry Taylor states, “OPEC does not control global demand and it has a minority control over global supply. It influences prices, perhaps, but it certainly can’t establish prices. All they can affect is how much (member states) produce” (Reeves NA). However, once again, others differ in their views such as Raymond Learsy who argues that OPEC has constrained the product consistently over the last few years.
There are major concerns about the high price of oil and it appears that with even OPEC showing concern as well as other organizations, that indeed the prices are too high. An additional organization that has complained about the high prices is the International Monetary Fund. Just last year, the chief of the organization, Rodrigo Rato, “..warned that record oil prices are here to stay and appealed for collective action to rectify widening imbalances in the world economy” (“IMF chief warns high oil prices set to stay” NA). Rato stated at the time that the high prices of oil had had moderate effects on the global economy yet expressed concern that there remained a great risk of a larger impact such as global economic imbalances.
Yet, while some seem to believe that supply and demand is the problem and while OPEC suggests its concern over the price of oil, some have been highly critical of the organization. For example, an oil and petrol management expert at Southern Methodist University in Dallas states that, “OPEC is a strongly anticompetitive force. There’s no question that they have withheld oil from the market” (Trumbull NA). However, the expert, James Smith, also states that OPEC is even alarmed at oil at sixty to seventy dollars a barrel. Further, as Smith says, though the OPEC member nations agree on production quotas, they do not announce price targets.
OPEC and Oil Prices
OPEC, according to the organization itself, has its members meet at least twice per year as a means of coordinating their oil production policies. Here, the coordination comes as a result of various market fundamentals, such as the supply and demand relationship. As a result of the conference, OPEC further reveals, member nations may or may not make changes to their production levels. However, OPEC admits that, “Given that OPEC Countries product about 43 per cent of the world’s crude oil and about 51 per cent of the oil traded internationally, any decisions to increase or reduce production may lower or raise the price of crude oil” (“How does OPEC oil production affect oil prices?” NA). Moreover, OPEC states that the output decisions that are made with regard to oil prices should be considered as being separate from the prices of oil products, such as gasoline or heating oil as there are numerous factors that influence the prices of the oil products.
In fact, OPEC states that it sets oil production quotas as a means of bringing stability to the oil market. Moreover, the organizations web site state that its statute mandates that the organization pursue both stability and harmony in the petroleum market as a means of benefiting not only the producers, but also the consumers. “To this end, OPEC Member Countries respond to market fundamentals and forecast developments by co-ordinating their petroleum policies” (“Why does OPEC set oil production quotas?” NA). For example, the organization states that if some producers are producing less oil or if demand grows that OPEC can increase oil production as a means of preventing a sudden rise in prices.
Yet, it seems that there is a long lasting argument in favor of the supply and demand issue. After all, the world is believed to have limited oil reserves. However, M.A. Adelman states the alarms that oil is running out have been rung for decades. In fact, many doomsday scenarios have been advanced about the end of oil. For example, “In 1875, John Strong Newberry, the chief geologist of the state of Ohio, predicted that the supply of oil would soon run out” (Adelman 17). Other predictions have been more recent such as in 1979 then American president Jimmy Carter states that, based on an assessment conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency, oil wells were drying up all over the world. However, as Adelman states, all of these predictions have been proven false. In fact, in the year 2003 the oil production had increased four thousand times when compared to 1875.
Bibliography
Adelman, M.A. “The real oil problem: behind the myths of an oil crisis and an oil weapon is a very real danger posed by a clumsy and shortsighted cartel.” Regulation. 27.1, Spring 2004, 16-21.
“High oil prices caused by geopolitical, not supply concerns: OPEC.” Yahoo! News. April 5, 2007.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070405/bs_afp/opecqatarenergyoil_070405143045
“How does OPEC oil production affect oil prices?” OPEC. http://www.opec/org/library/FAQs/aboutOPEC/q14.htm
“IMF chief warns high oil prices set to stay.” Forbes. April 20, 2006. http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2006/04/20/afx2686035.html
Kohl, Wilfrid L. "The perfect storm: OPEC and the world oil market.” Harvard International Review. 26.4, Wntr. 2005, 68-72.
“Oil price conundrum: the adverse effects of the oil price shock are currently working their way through. But will prices settle back, or are higher oil prices now a fact of life?” OCED Observer. 245, Nov. 2004, 10-11.
Reeves, Scott. “Analysts Says Oil Prices Set By Supply and Demand, Not OPEC.” March 14, 2007. http://www.cnbc.com/id/17610656
Schoen, John W. “OPEC says it has lost control of oil prices.” MSNBC. March 16, 2005. http://www.msnbc.,sn.com/id/7190109/
“Why does OPEC set oil production quotas?” OPEC. http://www.opec.org/library/FAQs/aboutOPEC/q12.htm
“World economic prospects and the risks from oil prices.” National Institute Economic Review. 192, April 2005, 11-25.
Vera's Essay
Get Birth Control, Get Money
—— Should drug addicts be paid to get sterilised?
Introduction
Drug and alcohol addicts will be paid if they are willing to get sterilisation——under a program called CRACK (Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity) founded by a US based organisation: Project Prevention. The organisation which started in 1997 by a housewife and a former waitress named Barbara Harris in Orange County, California, after she adopted four children from the same drug-addicted mother. "Children born to drug addicts regularly suffer emotional scars and medical disabilities and end up in foster care at taxpayers' expense," she said (The New York Times, Jan. 6, 2003). The main objective of the organisation is to reduce the number of substance exposed births to zero. Since the program was started, 3,242 drug addicts received their money for sterilisation. Most of them were women and almost half of them were permanently sterilised. Also, there were 35 men who have had vasectomies. Criticisms have been rising about ethical concerns of the program. Therefore, this essay will take consideration of whether the drug addicts should be paid to get sterilisation or not, as well as the benefits and criticisms of the CRACK program——from the aspects of the organisation, the drug addicts and the society. Then it will give conclusions of the proposal and feasible suggestions for the organisation and drug addicts.
Benefits of CRACK
The CRACK program was designed to dedicate to protect children, So the most important benefit of it is to prevent children from suffering physical and mental illnesses. Substance abusing pregnant women go through health problems which include sexual transmitted diseases, HIV, hepatitis B and C, anaemia caused by iron and folic acid deficiency, malnutrition related lack if appetite, liver diseases, absorption abnormalities and vitamin and mineral deficiencies (Fischer, et al, 1999). All of the above symptoms make it very dangerous for babies which born by drug and alcohol addicts. In spite of this, it is hard to get pregnant drug addicts to take medical treatments due to the fear of facing legal confrontations and the feeling that female treatment programs are uninformed. Therefore, if there is no sufficient professional treatment available, drug-addiction during pregnancy could cause increased morbidity and death rate in both mother and infant (Finnegan, 1995).
Secondly, the program could reduce the chance of drug-addicted parents from heartbroken because they wouldn't be allowed to raise their children. Most drug-abused pregnant women are living in poverty. If they give birth, they wouldn't have the ability to raise their children. Because it's already hard enough for them whether they try to get rid of drugs or keep drowning in them, thus, they wouldn't have the energy to take care of their babies even if they want to. Under this situation, their babies will be sent to foster cares by the government and it's difficult for the mothers to keep in touch with their children. A story told by Barbara Harris, the founder of Project Prevention, a woman who had 13 children taken away from her and sent to care before she finally got rid of drugs. After she was clean, she couldn't contact any of her children. "She was heartbroken. She didn't know where they were, they are gone." said Ms.Harris (BBC News, 8 Feb. 2010). In addition, because it's a major spend for government to support the children of drug-addicts who should be sent to foster cares and this huge cost will be taken from taxpayers. If CRACK stops drug-abusers from having children with illnesses, it could release the burden from both the government and the taxpayers.
Another benefit of CRACK is that it could encourage drug addicts to give birth after they get rid of drugs and alcohol. Drug-addicts can use the money offered by Project Prevention to get treatments to stay clear from drugs if they want to have children. Apart from drug abuse, most pregnant women don't want their children to suffer from the moment they born, just because their situation may leave them no choice such as lack of money or medical care. The money from CRACK may give drug-addicts who want to give birth to healthy children a hope and a chance to get off drugs and then start a new life.
Criticisms of CRACK
However, criticisms have been rising with the growth of the CRACK program. Some critics said that the program is Hitleresque eugenics and discrimination on drug-addicts. According to the point of view of Renee Chelian who is the president of the MARAL——the Michigan Affiliate of NARAL (National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws) Pro-Choice America, the CRACK program makes the reproductive rights of women being threatened. And instead of making effort on improving the lives of women who are struggling to get rid of drugs and alcohol addiction, the CRACK program is strictly focused on birth control of these women and simply tries to stop them from having children. The ethical concern is that like many other diseases of illnesses , drug abuse can be cured with the right treatment. The approach of the CRACK program has been criticized by medical professionals and addiction specialists which pointing out that the opinion of sterilisation should be offered as a part of a more comprehensive plan for drug-abused women by health care professionals (Renee Chelian, 2003). Due to the ethical issues have been raised along with the growing of CRACK, the program can be viewed as punishment of drug-addicted women's behaviour during their pregnancy and even as the condemnation before they get pregnant.
In addition, drug-addicts may use the money offered by Project Prevention to get more drugs rather than get treatments. With CRACK mainly takes consideration on birth control, there aren't any restrictions on how the drug-addicts will spend the money. So CRACK just hardly scratched the surface than solve the problem from the roots. Some addicts just simply ask for more money to get high.
Conclusion
With the purpose of stopping drug and alcohol abusers from giving birth, the CRACK program has achieved some contribution on reducing the birth of ill children. Because of the consequences caused by drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy such as ill children get HIV disease from their addicted parents, the more babies the drug abusers give birth to, the heavier the burden it leaves to the society. However, ethical questions have been asking about CRACK. Since the program is focused on reducing the birth of babies with illness, it doesn't consider the right of the drug-addicted mothers who go through hard times during their pregnancy. CRACK affects the reproductive rights of drug addicts and it ignores the truth that drug addiction can be cured. Drug addicts shouldn't be punished condemned for giving birth just because their behaviour. The Project Prevention should work out a better way to stop drug users spending their sterilization money on more drugs and help drug-addicted parents to get rid of drugs , so they can live better lives with healthy children.
Bibliography
http://www.projectprevention.org
http://www.drugabuse.gov/tib/prenatal.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8500285.stm
http://nytimes.com/2003/01/06nyregion/sterilization-offer-to-addicts-reopens-ethics-issue.html?pagewanted=1
Fischer G.et al (1999), Review article: Pregnancy and Substance Abuse, in 'Arch Women's Ment Health' (1999) 2:57-65
Renee Chelian (2003) Remarks on the "CRACK" Program: Coercing Women's Reproductive Choices, in Journal of Law in Society, vol.5:187 2003
—— Should drug addicts be paid to get sterilised?
Introduction
Drug and alcohol addicts will be paid if they are willing to get sterilisation——under a program called CRACK (Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity) founded by a US based organisation: Project Prevention. The organisation which started in 1997 by a housewife and a former waitress named Barbara Harris in Orange County, California, after she adopted four children from the same drug-addicted mother. "Children born to drug addicts regularly suffer emotional scars and medical disabilities and end up in foster care at taxpayers' expense," she said (The New York Times, Jan. 6, 2003). The main objective of the organisation is to reduce the number of substance exposed births to zero. Since the program was started, 3,242 drug addicts received their money for sterilisation. Most of them were women and almost half of them were permanently sterilised. Also, there were 35 men who have had vasectomies. Criticisms have been rising about ethical concerns of the program. Therefore, this essay will take consideration of whether the drug addicts should be paid to get sterilisation or not, as well as the benefits and criticisms of the CRACK program——from the aspects of the organisation, the drug addicts and the society. Then it will give conclusions of the proposal and feasible suggestions for the organisation and drug addicts.
Benefits of CRACK
The CRACK program was designed to dedicate to protect children, So the most important benefit of it is to prevent children from suffering physical and mental illnesses. Substance abusing pregnant women go through health problems which include sexual transmitted diseases, HIV, hepatitis B and C, anaemia caused by iron and folic acid deficiency, malnutrition related lack if appetite, liver diseases, absorption abnormalities and vitamin and mineral deficiencies (Fischer, et al, 1999). All of the above symptoms make it very dangerous for babies which born by drug and alcohol addicts. In spite of this, it is hard to get pregnant drug addicts to take medical treatments due to the fear of facing legal confrontations and the feeling that female treatment programs are uninformed. Therefore, if there is no sufficient professional treatment available, drug-addiction during pregnancy could cause increased morbidity and death rate in both mother and infant (Finnegan, 1995).
Secondly, the program could reduce the chance of drug-addicted parents from heartbroken because they wouldn't be allowed to raise their children. Most drug-abused pregnant women are living in poverty. If they give birth, they wouldn't have the ability to raise their children. Because it's already hard enough for them whether they try to get rid of drugs or keep drowning in them, thus, they wouldn't have the energy to take care of their babies even if they want to. Under this situation, their babies will be sent to foster cares by the government and it's difficult for the mothers to keep in touch with their children. A story told by Barbara Harris, the founder of Project Prevention, a woman who had 13 children taken away from her and sent to care before she finally got rid of drugs. After she was clean, she couldn't contact any of her children. "She was heartbroken. She didn't know where they were, they are gone." said Ms.Harris (BBC News, 8 Feb. 2010). In addition, because it's a major spend for government to support the children of drug-addicts who should be sent to foster cares and this huge cost will be taken from taxpayers. If CRACK stops drug-abusers from having children with illnesses, it could release the burden from both the government and the taxpayers.
Another benefit of CRACK is that it could encourage drug addicts to give birth after they get rid of drugs and alcohol. Drug-addicts can use the money offered by Project Prevention to get treatments to stay clear from drugs if they want to have children. Apart from drug abuse, most pregnant women don't want their children to suffer from the moment they born, just because their situation may leave them no choice such as lack of money or medical care. The money from CRACK may give drug-addicts who want to give birth to healthy children a hope and a chance to get off drugs and then start a new life.
Criticisms of CRACK
However, criticisms have been rising with the growth of the CRACK program. Some critics said that the program is Hitleresque eugenics and discrimination on drug-addicts. According to the point of view of Renee Chelian who is the president of the MARAL——the Michigan Affiliate of NARAL (National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws) Pro-Choice America, the CRACK program makes the reproductive rights of women being threatened. And instead of making effort on improving the lives of women who are struggling to get rid of drugs and alcohol addiction, the CRACK program is strictly focused on birth control of these women and simply tries to stop them from having children. The ethical concern is that like many other diseases of illnesses , drug abuse can be cured with the right treatment. The approach of the CRACK program has been criticized by medical professionals and addiction specialists which pointing out that the opinion of sterilisation should be offered as a part of a more comprehensive plan for drug-abused women by health care professionals (Renee Chelian, 2003). Due to the ethical issues have been raised along with the growing of CRACK, the program can be viewed as punishment of drug-addicted women's behaviour during their pregnancy and even as the condemnation before they get pregnant.
In addition, drug-addicts may use the money offered by Project Prevention to get more drugs rather than get treatments. With CRACK mainly takes consideration on birth control, there aren't any restrictions on how the drug-addicts will spend the money. So CRACK just hardly scratched the surface than solve the problem from the roots. Some addicts just simply ask for more money to get high.
Conclusion
With the purpose of stopping drug and alcohol abusers from giving birth, the CRACK program has achieved some contribution on reducing the birth of ill children. Because of the consequences caused by drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy such as ill children get HIV disease from their addicted parents, the more babies the drug abusers give birth to, the heavier the burden it leaves to the society. However, ethical questions have been asking about CRACK. Since the program is focused on reducing the birth of babies with illness, it doesn't consider the right of the drug-addicted mothers who go through hard times during their pregnancy. CRACK affects the reproductive rights of drug addicts and it ignores the truth that drug addiction can be cured. Drug addicts shouldn't be punished condemned for giving birth just because their behaviour. The Project Prevention should work out a better way to stop drug users spending their sterilization money on more drugs and help drug-addicted parents to get rid of drugs , so they can live better lives with healthy children.
Bibliography
http://www.projectprevention.org
http://www.drugabuse.gov/tib/prenatal.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8500285.stm
http://nytimes.com/2003/01/06nyregion/sterilization-offer-to-addicts-reopens-ethics-issue.html?pagewanted=1
Fischer G.et al (1999), Review article: Pregnancy and Substance Abuse, in 'Arch Women's Ment Health' (1999) 2:57-65
Renee Chelian (2003) Remarks on the "CRACK" Program: Coercing Women's Reproductive Choices, in Journal of Law in Society, vol.5:187 2003
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