Political science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Political science - Essay Example In fact, national democracy is one of the key sources of such transactional cost, since it provides sovereign risk and regulates rules at the border. In addition, national democracy reduces chances of global risks by providing regulations and supervision of financial intermediaries (Rodrik, 212). Therefore, it is important that global federalism be adopted where democratic politics is aligned with global markets. Consequently, it is important that the national state is maintained and the needs of international economy are also catered for. As a result of this, the nation will in most cases pursue the objective of achieving global economic integration before considering other objectives. The national democracy can also be used in order to reduce the goals and visions of the international economic integration and going for limited globalization as was witnessed in post war in Bretton Woods’s regime where there was more capital control and minimal trade liberalization (Rodrik, 102). Although, this system led to failure of the approach given, it is thus important that for more globalization to be achieved, national democracy or national sovereignty must be reduced. Furthermore, this clearly illustrates that national democracy is one of the factors that determine the state and pace of globalization in a country. The potential effect of globalization is the reduction of national democracy, which also reduces global fiscal competition. In that sense, it is important that democracy be provided in a way that promotes civil rights, although this will lead to low economic growth but cause high social stability. In addition, this can help in expanding global civil rights (Rodrik, 110). This also clearly indicates that economics is an important political decision-making processes that requires global order. Furthermore, although globalization is one of the factors for economic growth in both rich and poor countries, it is currently producing a different result

Discussing Causes Of Climate Change An Environmental Sciences Essay

Discussing Causes Of Climate Change An Environmental Sciences Essay Climate has a great influence over our lives. All our normal routine actions are according to the climate we are living in. However the climate has been changing from past few decades, which in turn is changing our living patterns and thus, has made this world a more puzzled place to live in. In this essay the causes of climate change would be discussed, which are divided into two categories, either the climate is changing due to natural reasons or is forced to change by the human activities. Naturally, the climate change is said to occur because of various reasons, mainly because of volcanic eruptions, ocean current, the solar variations, the earths orbital change, and by many other natural reasons, which in turn produces various greenhouse gasses and in the end results into global warming. On the other hand, carbon emission done by humans is the greatest factor leading to global warming and then to climate change. Other activities like, chemicals used in agriculture, deforestation and other uses of energy in households also contribute in the greenhouse effect. Climate can be defined as the long term weather conditions for a region, generally determined by 30 or more years of records. On contrast weather can be defined as the state of the atmosphere at a particular place and time. Moreover, the Green House effect is naturally in which certain atmospheric gases absorbs long wave radiation from the Earths surface which in the end results in heating the earths surface and the atmosphere. Hence global warming can be defined as the increase of Earths average temperature which in then results into climate change. (Glossary: Nasa). The Debate: There is no doubt about the fact that the Earths climate has become warmer over the twentieth century, however, there is still a dispute about whether the temperature increase is due to natural reasons or because of human activities. Two groups of UK scientists have recently investigated both types of effect. Mike Lockwood and colleagues at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) argue that the Suns magnetic field has doubled over the century, and that this natural force of solar system has affected the earths climate (Nature  399:437). On the other hand Simon Tett and colleagues from the UKs Meteorological Office in Reading and RAL argue that while solar forcing may have added to climate change, however, human activities have also been responsible for the temperature changes from many years (Nature  399:569). It has been stated that the Earths average global temperature has increased by 0.6 Kelvin in the past 100 years. Four main processes that can affect the Earths climate hav e been evaluated. Two of these are said to be small aerosol particles from volcanic eruptions and changes in solar luminosity. The other two, sulphate aerosols and greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, are due to increasing industrialization, in particular the burning of forests and fossil fuels. Lockwood and colleagues found that the total magnetic flux leaving the Sun has risen by a factor of 1.4 since 1964. Their results could provide support for the theory that changes in the solar wind could contribute to  climate change. The solar wind and the Suns magnetic field are very well linked with each other. According to the theory charged particles in the solar wind would deflect high-energy cosmic rays that would otherwise have ionized the Earths lower atmosphere, leading to the formation of clouds. Since cloud cover determines the amount of solar radiation reflected by the Earth back into space, a more powerful solar wind implies less cloud cover which, in turn, suggests that the Earth would warm up. However, the paper by Tett and colleagues suggests that natural effects alone cannot account for the pattern of temperature change observed over the past 50 years. They used the HadCM2 computer model to predict the Earths global temperature during five overlapping 50-year periods (1906-56, 1916-1966,), and then compared the results with observations. The program models both the oceans and the atmosphere, and also allows for changes in greenhouse emissions, surface albedo (i.e. reflectivity), volcanic aerosols and solar irradiance. They ran the programmers with a number of different solar models, including one that matched the effects highlighted by Lockwood. The results were similar for all cases: it is not possible to distinguish between the contributions of human activity and natural variations to global warming in the first half of the century, but after 1946 increases in the concentration of man-made greenhouse gases and sulphate aerosols was the dominan t effect. (News: Physics World, 1999) Climate Change Human Activities the Cause, Mea Culpa! But Consider 1816, the Year Without Summer! The whole world seems to be getting involved with the facts of Global warming and Climate change. Nobel prizes were awarded to the UNs IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and Al Gore several years ago, followed by the Kyoto Protocol Climate Change Conference of 1997, and finally President Obama led leaders of 192 nations in agreement with its principles, promising heavy financial compensations to third world nations. Scientists have calculated that emissions of carbon dioxide by human activities amount to perhaps 30 billion tons per year because of various factors including fossil fuel burning, cement production, gas flaring, industrial operations and breathing etc. They also estimate that volcanic eruptions can on average emit about one-forty-five to two-fifty-five million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere per year. This seems to specify that human activities may release perhaps 100 times the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by volcanoes, thus, this seems to be a realistic base for the universal concern, which is that human activities have a great negative impact on the climate of Earth. However, it seems like that nature itself is trying to make things worse as firstly admitting furor at Copenhagen by world leaders and President Obama in support of Global Warming then along came the coldest winter in recent decades. Then finally when Obamas EPA poised to levy severe pollutant restrictions and harsh financial penalties on American industry, a volcanic eruption in Iceland devastated the air-transport industry by closing down almost all flights over Europe for a week, which led to bankrupting major airlines, with absent bail-outs by governments. The major natural catastrophes: the recent eruption of Icelands Eyjafjallajokull volcano along with many other including Krakatau, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, or cyclical changing of atmosphere of ocean, should be enough to warn decision-makers about climate change effects. After experiencing the incident of the Iceland volcano eruption, other than man-kind activities in the reference to global warming and climate change seems warranted. The summer of 1816 is considered to be one of the coldest on record which is studied by many weather scientists. The year is known as the Year without a summer. It is also known as the Poverty Year, due to widespread destruction of crops. Severe climate oddity during the summer destroyed crops in Northern Europe, Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada, and average global temperature decrease was sufficient enough to cause many agricultural failures around the world. The most likely cause of the severe climate change seems therefore, to be the volcanic influences because greatly increased volcanic activity causes immense amounts of ash and dust to be blown and trapped high in the atmosphere, which in turn cause increased reflection of solar radiation (instead of absorption at the Earths surface), resulting in globally decreased te mperatures on Earth. Therefore human activities seem minor and insignificant relative to the power of Nature. (Kolom) How do we know that atmospheric build-up of green house gases is due to human activities? Four lines of evidence prove conclusively that the recent buildup of carbon dioxide take place largely from human activities. The nucleus of carbon atoms in carbon dioxide released by burning coal, oil, and natural gas (fossil fuels) vary in their characteristics from the nucleus of carbon atoms in carbon dioxide emitted under natural conditions. Tens of millions of years ago, coal, oil, and natural gas were formed, and the portion of their nucleus, that was once radioactive, has long ago changed to non- radioactive carbon. However the carbon dioxide released from natural sources on the Earths surface holds a measurable radioactive portion. As carbon dioxide has been emitted through fossil fuel combustion, the radioactive fraction of carbon in the atmosphere has decreased. Forty years ago scientists provided the first direct evidence that burning of fossil fuels was causing a buildup of carbon dioxide and thus reducing radioactive carbon in the atmosphere by measuring the decreasing portion of radioactive carbon-14 captured in tree rings, each year between 1800 and 1950. Moreover, scientists began making accurate measurements of the total amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in any countries by late 1950s. Their data show convincingly that the levels of carbon dioxide have increased each year worldwide and these increases are dependable with other estimates of the rise of carbon dioxide emissions due to human activity over this period. In 1980, third evidence was added that the ice buried below the surface of the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps contains bubbles of air trapped when the ice originally formed. These samples of fossil air have been retrieved by drilling deep into the ice. Measurements from the youngest and most shallow segments of the ice cores produced carbon dioxide awareness to those that were measured directly in the atmosphere at the time the ice formed. But the older parts of the cores show that carbon dioxide amounts were about 25% lo wer than today for the ten thousand years previous to the onset of industrialization. The final evidence comes from the geographic pattern of carbon dioxide measured in air. Observations show that there is slightly more carbon dioxide in the northern hemisphere than in the southern hemisphere. The difference arises because most of the human activities that produce carbon dioxide are in the north and it takes about a year for northern hemispheric emissions to circulate through the atmosphere and reach southern latitudes. (Programme, 1997) Discussion: The debate on climate change is as what really caused the climate to vary with time and which affected us adversely. Some say that climate is changed by natural factors like ocean currents or volcanoes while others deny this fact and try to prove the point that human activities have forced the climate to change. I support the second opinion, human activities indeed made the climate to change and result into global warming. The concentration of Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased from 290ppm in 1880 to 352ppm in 1989 which can be concluded as the 20% increase. This increase is almost certainly a result of human activities (Ruddiman,2003). There has been seen a sufficient increase in the emission of Greenhouse gases due to human activities. For example methane has an estimated rate of emission from human activity on the planet which is 375 million tons per year. For carbon dioxide, there is also an estimated rate of emission from human activity which is 7100 million tons per year. The anthropogenic emissions of these two gases are easier to estimate, because we know approximately how much oil, coal, and natural gas humans produce for consumption around the world each year. We also know approximately how much forest is burned and converted to agriculture each year. According to The state of the environment published in 1991 by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, human activities emit about 68 million tones of nitrogen oxides, 99 million tons of sulfur oxides, 177 million tons of carbon monoxide, and 57 million tones of particulates (dust). However, all these numbers are very approximate. On the o ther hand, sulfur oxides have been found to slightly counteract the greenhouse effect caused by other gases. Still, sulfur oxides are very harmful to the environment and are best known for causing acid rain. Carbon monoxide doesnt contribute to the greenhouse effect, but has significant effects on atmospheric chemistry. Dust is generally thought to cool the atmosphere close to Earths surface, but this effect depends on various factors, including the size and color of the dust particles. (Davis, 2004) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a scientific body set up by the UN to look at climate change. It says that human activity is the main cause of the changes seen in climate. Recent reports from the  IPCC have concluded that most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is  very likely  due to the observed increase in  anthropogenic greenhouse gas  concentrations. From new estimates of the combined anthropogenic  forcing  due to greenhouse gases,  aerosols, and  land surface changes, it is  extremely likely  that human activities have exerted a substantial net warming influence on climate since 1750. (Uk governements digital service: DirectGov) The most important factor for the climate change is the speeding up of greenhouse effect by manmade activities, which is usually known as Global Warming. Basically, the Greenhouse effect is naturally caused by the emissions of gases like nitrous oxide, carbon-dioxide, methane, ozone and water vapor.  However, anthropogenic activities like burning the fossil fuels and deforestation makes the greenhouse effect stronger. Which means more heat is trapped and the Earths climate begins to change unnaturally. The fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) are burned for various human activities mainly used for transportation, manufacturing, heating, cooling, electricity generation etc. this can be summed up after the industrial revolution, in 18th century, and more of the fossil fuels were being burned frequently. Therefore, manmade gases were being emitted into the atmosphere, mostly in the form of carbon dioxide emissions, from the burning activity. These gases speed up the greenhouse effect, forcing the climate to change. Another factor forced the climate to change and resulted into global warming is the act of deforestation.   Deforestation increases the amount of carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere. Also, due to the disappearance of trees, photosynthesis cannot take place which lowers the oxygen level in the atmosphere. Deforestation is rampant today due to the increase in human civilization. The levels of deforestation have increased by about nine percent in recent times. Moreover, the burning of wood also causes it to decay, therefore releasing more carbon-dioxide into the atmosphere, and carbon-dioxide being the main culprit in global warming increases. Another man-made cause of the increase in the Green house effect due to the emission of such gases is the use of any electrical appliances. Even the refrigerator in the house emits gases which contribute to the Greenhouse effect. These gases are known as Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and are used in refrigerators, aerosol cans, and some foaming agents in the packaging industry, fire extinguisher chemicals and cleaners used in the electronic industry. Some processes of the cement manufacturing industries also act as a cause towards the Greenhouse effect.   Population growth also is an indirect contributor and one of the causes of the Greenhouse effect. With the increase in population, the needs and wants of the people increase. Therefore, this increases the manufacturing processes as well as the industry processes. This results in the increase of the release of industrial gases which catalyze the green house effect. The increase in population also results in the increase of agricultural processes. Most man-made machines, like the automobile also contribute to the green house effect. In one of the recent articles global warming has been linked with the recent natural disasters. As almost fourteen million people have been affected by the torrential rains in Pakistan,  making it a more serious humanitarian disaster than the South Asian tsunami and recent earthquakes in Kashmir and Haiti combined. The disaster was driven by a supercharged jet stream that has also caused floods in China and a prolonged heat wave in Russia. Which comes after flash floods in France and Eastern Europe killed more than 30 people over the summer. Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, vice-president of the body set up by the UN to monitor global warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said the dramatic weather patterns are consistent with changes in the climate caused by mankind. These are events which reproduce and intensify in a climate disturbed by greenhouse gas pollution, he said, Extreme events are one of the ways in which climatic changes become dramatically visible. Professor Andrew Watson, a climatologist at the University of East Anglia, which was at the centre of last years climate gate scandal, said the extreme events are fairly consistent with the IPCC reports and what 99 per cent of the scientists believe to be happening. Im quite sure that the increased frequency of these kinds of summers over the last few decades is linked to climate change, he said. (Gray) However , authors such as  Lean and Rind (1996)  believe that, although natural factors may be the reason for most temperature increase before the Industrial Revolution, the most likely cause of climate change since about 1850is the growing concentration of greenhouse gases as the net atmospheric temperature increase, or forcing is largely due to human (anthropogenic) activities .Interestingly, particulate emissions from volcanoes produce a net decrease in global temperatures, due to the reflective properties (albedo) of the sulfate aerosol particles formed in the stratosphere. (Bianchi, 2010) Conclusion: The earths climate is dynamic and always changing through a natural cycle but the anthropogenic activities make this cycle speed up unnaturally that create problems in the atmosphere as either the earth gets oddly warmer or the people have to face natural disasters. However if man has created all these problems, he should also try to make things better by finding practical solutions.

The Environment and Industry of the Artic Region :: Geography

The Environment and Industry of the Artic Region Introduction. The Artic is a region at the upper most tip of the Northern Hemisphere. The Artic includes the area around Greenland, USSR, Canada and Alaska. Much of the Artic circle is permanently frozen ice. The Artic is a pristine environment, clean and void of human interference. However as humans move into these areas and begin to extract what ever they can be balance can be tipped, resulting in pollution and destruction of the environment. Climate. The Artic winters much longer than the Summer. In the winter the sun never rises and in the summer it never sets. The average temperature for the Artic is zero degrees or less. Industry and the Artic. There was once a time when the land of the Artic Circle was considered useless and only hospitable to those native to it. However once vast quantities of oil and fish had been found there was a rush of interest in the land. Fishing in the Artic has occurred for thousands of years but in recent years man has been fishing the Artic; in greater numbers and taking more fish. Professional fishermen are taking all kinds of fish as well as whales and seals. In some areas fishermen have become so efficient at their job that quotas have needed to be put on to limit or stop the capture of certain animals. There are many mineral deposits within the Artic Circle. In Russia: nickel, iron ore, apatite, diamonds, gold, tin, coal, mica, and tungsten. In Sweden: iron ore. In Greenland: lead, zinc, molybdenum and cryolite. Spitsbergen: coal. Canada: uranium, copper, nickel, lead, zinc, tungsten and iron ore. The digging out of minerals would inevitably disturb the natural habitat as well as the environment there would be a great cost to maintain the site. Industry that is designed to process various minerals have waste products that would be most unwelcome in the Artic. A good example of this is the pollution that has arisen as a result of the smelting of metals in the Artic. It is for this reason that there is very little industry in the Artic. However Russia, Canada, Greenland and Iceland have several small scale manufacturing plants. The largest industry in the Artic is oil. The rush began in 1968 when a large oil field was discovered, there was a great deal of protest but the development went ahead. Oil extracted from the felid makes its way to Port Valdez via a 1300 kilometre pipeline. Although steps were taken to limit the pipelines affect on the environment it still disrupts the migration of caribou.

Facebook Essay

In the 21th century, one of the era in which science and technology evolving, the world economy is becoming globalized, so the connection between the people together is a breakthrough idea. At 19, Mark Zuckerberg came up with a new way for college kids to connect–and started an online revolution. Now 23, he’s trying to build out his business without losing its cool. Now, people call his idea is social network and in the world have a lot of social network; however, Facebook (www. facebook. com) and Twitter (www. twitter. com) are the most popular people use to connect each other around the world. Almost people think Mark Zucketberg is stupid when create Facebook because Yahoo (www. yahoo. com) and Hotmail (www. hotmail. com) is the greatest tool for people can chat and email each other. Moreover, Google (www. google. com) is the big company about advertising, email, search tool†¦So Facebook have a lot of company to competitive on the internet. Today, I will introduce about how Facebook get the money, gradually become the best social network. People use Facebook to chat, post news and create group to connect with friend or another people same hobby, purpose. Facebook cooperate with Zynga, the company No. 1 developer of Facebook applications and Farmville and Mafia War become the most popular people play around the world, to make people more enjoy when use Facebook like they can play game with each other. Facebook began testing its virtual currency was called Credit, people can use Credit to trade, buy item in game or give as gift for their friend. People can buy Facebook credit through use Credit card or go to the store like Target or GameStop to buy it. Facebook have more than a million other application run on the site, so they have plan to use Credit to charge for access to certain features or to things like music, videos or news articles. The potential for using Credit can use it to pay beyond the Facebook site, some website allow people use Facebook to log in instead create new account and fill again information that make people feel annoying. People create account in Facebook and get Credit in it, so they can log in any website with Facebook account and purchase something by using Credit they have in Facebook account. In addition to innovations in Credit for users can easily pay, Facebook is a place where investors are spending a lot of money to advertise. For example, South Africa’s FNB Bank (FNB) use Facebook a marketing and customer service channel, and found an overlap between its mobile banking customers. There are more than 4. 7 million active Facebook users in South Africa (out of 50 million total population), and more than 150,000 FNB Facebook fans, giving the bank a readymade market for social media banking. Facebook bring more customers to the bank and more people know about Facebook, so they have Win-Win situation for both side. Facebook‘s revenue is more higher when more people tend to use Credit and Advertising in Facebook site. In the Third Quarter in 2012 of Facebook was published in www. Morningstar. com, the revenue about $1,262 million increase of 32%, compared with $954 million in the third quarter of 2011. Facebook was successful when more people use Facebook as web game, chat, watch news, pay web, email†¦ For investment, they look Facebook as a growing company, the investment worth it to spend money. In the stock market, when Facebook shareholder IPO in May with price $38, and then fall down like slide down the snowy mountain. More investment feeling frustrate Facebook because Yahoo and Google, in the era of the internet boom, it must thrive instead upside down as Facebook. However, after half year, FB become a name people want to talk about again when these stock fall down lowest $16 and move to $27 now. In my opinion, Facebook will be grown up in the future like Google or EBay, because Facebook have a lot of way to do in the future. Mark can add search tool like Google in Facebook site that now just only find friend and company page (advertising). Facebook can become an mixture: apart of Google for search tool and advertising, a part of PayPal using Credit to purchase, a part Yahoo that can chat and email for each other. Moreover, social network is more population in this century, so Facebook will become a big company in the future and when everyone use Facebook like a part of live; Facebook will be an intermediary between customer and company, between government and citizen, between school and student†¦ Finally, people cannot deny that Facebook brings utility like connect people around the world, connect customer and business, bring more entertainment for user, and bring benefit for investment. Facebook accounted for the top spot on the social network, because of the relentless creativity as Timeline, create Credit as currency online, bring more opportunity for business that they can marketing to everyone around the world by Facebook. As Bill Gate, Steve Job, Mark Zuckerberg will be add in the history business who create social network and make it will bring many future breakthroughs of the 20th century.

Eschatological Schools: Premillennialism, Amillennialism, and Postmillennialism Essay

Three major schools exist in the field of eschatology, the study of the end times: premillenialism, amillenialism, and postmillennialism. According to Smith (2005) all of these schools have the belief that the Rapture is part of the Second Coming of Christ. They all believe that the Christian church is the â€Å"spiritual Israel† (p. 25) and that a new Heaven and a new Earth will be formed in which â€Å"God is intimately present with his people† (p. 27). Important differences exist, however, in terms of how the eschatological schools deal with the Antichrist, the Tribulation, and Armageddon. In addition, these schools of thought differ on the Second Coming, the Resurrection, the Judgment and, of course, on how the Millennium is determined. Premilleniumism: In premillennialism, the Antichrist is an actual person who contains satanic powers. The Tribulation occurs, through which the nation of Israel will be converted. During Armageddon, the church is present; however, this period is a time of rebellion. Following Armageddon, the Second Coming of Christ occurs, during which the Millennium is established. In addition, all dead believers will be resurrected at this time. The Second Coming also begins the period during which the actions of the dead believers will be judged. This period of judgment ends following the Millennium, when all of the dead will be raised and judged. During the Millennium, Christ establishes His kingdom on Earth (Smith, 2005, pp. 25-27). Amillennialism: According to the school of amillennialism, the Antichrist is only representative of satanic powers; however, a real person may appear that contains them. The Tribulation, which is a â€Å"final outbreak of evil, occurs (Smith, 2005, p. 25). During final rebellion of Armageddon, the church is present. Following Armageddon, the Second Coming of Christ occurs, during which the new Heaven and the new Earth is established. Unlike premillennialism, only one resurrection and one judgment occurs for all of the dead at the Second Coming. In the amillennial school of thought, the current age is the Millennium, which ends at the time of the Second Coming (Smith, 2005, pp. 25-27). Postmillennialism: The school of postmillennialism believes that most of the predictors for the presence of the Antichrist, a representation of satanic power that exists during the church age. The Tribulation is the present age, during which the occurrence of evil eventually decreases. Armageddon is not a rebellion; rather, Christ is leading the church to vanquish His enemies. As in amillennialism, the Second Coming of Christ occurs follows Armageddon, during which the new Heaven and the new Earth is established. Again, only one resurrection and one judgment occurs for all of the dead at the Second Coming, but it follows the Millennium. The Millennium is established when Christ leads the people to preach â€Å"the Good News† (Smith, 2005, pp. 25-27).