The Main Sources Of Carbon Dioxide Emissions Environmental Sciences Essay

The Main Sources Of Carbon Dioxide Emissions Environmental Sciences Essay Since the Industrial Revolution, human activities such as the burning of oil, coal and gas, as well as deforestation have greatly increased CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. Almost all CO2 emissions (about 96.5%) come from fossil fuels use. The 3 types of fossil fuels that are used the most are coal, natural gas and petroleum. When fossil fuels are combusted, the carbon stored in them is emitted almost entirely as CO2. The three main sectors that use fossil fuels are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Transportation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Utilities (power, gas, oil etc) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Industrial production Transportation: The first new projections of future aircraft emissions in 10 years predict that carbon dioxide and other gases from air traffic will become a significant source of global warming as they double or triple by 2050. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The most important source of CO2 emissions worldwide is caused by the transportation of goods and people. The emissions caused by people traveling (by car, plane, train, etc) are examples of direct emissions since people can chose where they are going and by what method. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The emissions caused by the transportation of goods are examples of indirect emissions since the consumer has no direct control of the distance between the factory and the store. Since the distance between the manufacturer and the consumer is constantly growing, more pressure is put on the transportation industry to bridge this gap and this ends up creating more indirect emissions. Whats worse is that 99% of the energy used to transport people and goods all over the world comes from the combustion of fossil fuels. Industrial production: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Manufacturing and industrial processes all combine to produce large amounts of each type of greenhouse gas but specifically large amounts of CO2 because of two reasons. First, many manufacturing facilities directly use fossil fuels to create heat and steam needed at various stages of production. Second, their energy intensive activities use more electricity than any other sector so unless they are using renewable sources the energy that they use is responsible for vast amounts of emissions. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ By industrial production we are mainly talking about manufacturing, construction, mining, and agriculture. Manufacturing is the largest of the 4 and can be broken down into 5 main categories: paper, food, petroleum refineries, chemicals, and metal/mineral products. These categories account for the vast majority of the energy use and CO2 emissions by the sector.3, 4 Land-use Change It is estimated that man-made changes in land-use have, until now, produced a cumulative global loss of carbon from the land. Widespread deforestation has been the main source of this loss, estimated to be responsible for nearly 90 percent of losses since the mid-nineteenth century. Losses primarily occur due to the relatively long-term carbon sinks of forests being replaced by agricultural land. The conversion of land from forested to agricultural land can have a wide range of negative effects as far as greenhouse gas emission is concerned. Soil disturbance and increased rates of decomposition in converted soils can both lead to emission of carbon to the atmosphere, with increased soil erosion and leaching of soil nutrients further reducing the potential for the area to act as a sink for carbon. Respiration Respiration, both on land and in the sea, is a key component of the global carbon cycle. On land, an estimated 60 Pg C (60 billion tones) is emitted to the atmosphere each year by autotrophic respiration. In the sea, autotrophic respiration is thought to account for about 58 Pg of the dissolved inorganic carbon in surface waters each year, with the contribution of heterotrophic respiration being 34 Pg C. Effects of increasing temperatures on pollution can be observed which : 1. Higher temperatures due to carbon dioxide increased the chemical rate of ozone production in urban areas 2. Increased water vapor due to carbon dioxide-induced higher temperatures boosted chemical ozone production even more in urban areas. Engineers have designed a simple, sustainable and natural carbon sequestration solution using algae. A team at Ohio University created a photo bioreactor that uses photosynthesis to grow algae, passing carbon dioxide over large membranes, placed vertically to save space. The carbon dioxide produced by the algae is harvested by dissolving into the surrounding water. The algae can be harvested and made into biodiesel fuel and feed for animals. A reactor with 1.25 million square meters of algae screens could be up and running by 2010. America is by far the largest contributor to global warming than any other country releasing a quarter of the worlds carbon dioxide the primary cause of global warming. Bayless, with a team at Ohio University, created a photo bioreactor that uses photosynthesis to grow algae just like a plant would take carbon dioxide up and, through the energy of the sun, convert that into oxygen. That passes the carbon dioxide over these membranes, Ben Stuart, an Ohio University environmental engineer, tells DBIS. These membranes are fabric just like your shirt. Its a woven material, and as the carbon dioxide pass by them, that carbon dioxide dissolves into the water. That carbon dioxide is broken down by the algae. Nitrogen and clean oxygen are released back into the atmosphere. But to capture the CO2 created from a power plant, algae would have to fill a building the size of Wal-Mart. The size of these things would be enormous, about an acre worth of land space. And so the flu gases would run through this huge building and the algae would be growing on the suspended vertical surfaces. Stuart says. But what makes it cost effective? The algae can be harvested and made into biodiesel fuel and feed for animals. # Sea level rise densely settled coastal plains would become uninhabitable with just a small rise in sea level, which would result from melting of the ice caps # Impacts on agriculture Global warming could have major effects on agricultural productivity # Reduction of the ozone layer Warming would result in increase high cloud cover in winter, giving chemical reactions a platform in the atmosphere, which could result in depletion of the ozone layer # Increased extreme weather A warmer climate could change the weather systems of the earth, meaning there would be more droughts and floods, and more frequent and stronger storms # Spread of diseases Diseases would be able to spread to areas which were previously too cold for them to survive in # Ecosystem change As with the diseases, the range of plants and animals would change, with the net effect of most organisms moving towards the North and South Poles

Media Influences On Publics Fear Of Crime Media Essay

Media Influences On Publics Fear Of Crime Media Essay Fear of Crime, Violent Behavior And Policy Changes. Mass media is obsessed with crime. Today in our society, as well as other western societies, crime seems to be a topic of fascination. The criminal justice system appears throughout the mass media. From television shows and films to books, newspapers and magazines, crime turns up for everyone to see. By the 1970s the crime or police drama had replaced the western for the most prevalent prime-time television fare (Doyle, 2006). The boundary between crime entertainment and crime information has been blurred progressively more in the past years (Dowler, Fleming, Muzzatti, 2006). Roughly half of the newspapers and television items people come into contact with are concerned with crime, justice or deviance (Doyle, 2006). With the bombardment of criminal images surrounding people every day, the mass media often influences how people look at crime. The picture presented in the media of crime differs from the picture by official and other statistics (Doyle, 2006). How the public fears crime, the violent behavior associated with it and even some policy changes are all thought to be influenced by the media. While there is some debate as to how much influence the media actually has on these things, there is some evidence to suggest there is some connection. The study of media influences on crime has increased substantially throughout the years. In more than 30 years the interest and diversity of the field has expanded substantially, along with our knowledge about the interplay between the media and crime. Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s Gerbner et al (1980) works expanded the knowledge about the relationship between the consumption of various media sources, mainly television, and the fear of crime. Heath and Gilberts (1996) works on how audience traits affects and Liska and Baccaglini (1990) works on direct experience expand the understanding of how different characteristics could affect the medias influence on the fear of crime. When people interact with the mass media, they are often showered with criminal images. It is suggested by many that this bombardment of criminal images people experience can lead to a higher fear of crime. Since many of these images are violent or include violence in some way, they can cause the public to overestimate how much crime there is. Throughout the years, more and more crime has been mentioned in the media. There is a highly skewed presentation of crime highlight stories of select forms of crime (Dowler, Fleming, Muzzatti, 2006). It seems the old adage if it bleeds, it leads is true when it comes to news stories. The most serious and violent crimes are given the best entertaining angles and are presented as hard news, even if the facts are distorted and misrepresented (Dowler, Fleming, Muzzatti, 2006). Often times crime in the media is stylized as infotainment, that is it is presented in a way that is edited, stylized and formatted in a way that is camouflaged as realisti c and informative (Surrette, 2006). People associate the information they see on the television to real life. If the television shows elevated crime rates, real life must also. The line between media crime and real life crime has become blurred. For example, studies in Canada have found that despite significantly lower crime rates, Canadians are more afraid of crime than their American counterparts (Dowler, Fleming, Muzzatti, 2006). It is not quite known why this is the case since both counties enjoy much of the same viewing habits. It seems that maybe the line between reality and media portrayals of crime have blurred even more for Canadians than for Americans. This could lead to potentially remarkable analyses of how people filter news, reality shows and drama to construct their ideas about crime (Dowler, Fleming, Muzzatti, 2006). In addition, television series and movies have seemed to make the move towards criminal themes. These criminal justice themes run throughout many American television shows, each showing a skewed view of justice in which the public absorbs. There is some debate among researchers as to whether or not the mass media actually influences the publics fear of crime. In an earlier study, Gerbner et al (1980) found that individuals who watch mass amounts of television show a higher rate of fear towards their environment than those who watch a less television. A later study conducted in the 2000s seemed to partially reinforce Gerbners early results. Even when controlling for age, gender, race, income, education and marital status, people who watched crime shows regularly showed a significantly higher rate of being fearful of crime (Dowler K. , 2003). On the other hand, the hours of television as the primary source of crime news was not significantly related to the fear of crime (Dowler K. , 2003). The crime portrayed on the television is more violent, haphazard and hazardous than the crime in reality. Those who are exposed to it more internalize these images and develop a mean world view (Dowler K. , 2003). Crime show viewers we re more likely to worry about being sexually assaulted, shot or stabbed and getting killed. On the other hand, Rice and Anderson found a weak association between television viewing and the fear of crime (Dowler K. , 2003). While Dowler himself found that there was a statistically significant relationship between the watching of crime shows regularly and the fear of crime, he also found that it was not a strong relationship (Dowler K. , 2003). Who is viewing the stories and where the person is located influences how much influence the media has on the fear of crime. Heath and Gilbert (1996) suggest that the relationship between the mass media and the fear of crime is contingent on the audience and the message. Large amounts of local crime news increased fear among those who lived in the area while large amounts of non-local crime had the opposite effect (Dowler K. , 2003). Chiricos et al (2000) also found that local and national news affected the fear of crime. They found that the effect of local news was greater for residents of high crime neighborhoods. Also, those who live in high crime areas and watch large amounts of television were more likely to be fearful of crime (Dowler K. , 2003). Other factors, like experience and demographics, influence whether or not media consumption affects the fear of crime. For instance, when a person has a direct experience with a particular crime in a story, he or she is less likely to be influenced by that story. It is when direct experience is lacking that the media influences the fear of crime the most (Liska Baccaglini, 1990). Gerbner et al (1980) found that the relationship between the fear of crime and the amount of television watched was greatest for females and whites. Another researcher also found that the females, whites and the elderly were more likely to be fearful of crime even though they had a lower risk of being victimized (Dowler K. , 2003). As mass media grew in size and number, the fear that the violent images seen on television caused violent behavior seemed to increase as well. From research on video games to violent television shows, trying to understand whether or not violence in the media causes violent behavior has been a topic of vast discussion. For centuries people have been concerned with the corrupting nature of media, dating back to at least ancient Greek and Roman times. Plato cautioned that plays and poetry may have detrimental effects on youth and should be burned (Ferguson, 2010). Throughout history, people have been arguing that violent media could lead to violent or unwanted behavior from those who are exposed to it. In the 1930s social research on the matter began and the Payne Fund studies were released which suggested a link between movie watching and aggressive behavior (Ferguson, 2010). Setting the stage for the debate that was to come, critics noticed a lack of control groups and difficulty meas uring aggression (Ferguson, 2010). Several decades later the debate would really begin to take off with the introduction of the television into society and a few decades later moral crusaders began to link crime waves with the mass production of the device. Violent crime spiked in the late 1970s to the 1980s but even though the rates were comparable to those before 1930, a link was established by looking only at a slice of Americas crime patterns (Ferguson, 2010). In the 1970s video games came onto the market with the launch of first game counsel. Almost immediately debate as to whether violent video games could have an adverse effect on childrens development started. This concern for the violence developing because of the video games at the time was founded since according to the American Psychology Associations pamphlet violent behavior is learned, not genetic (Ferguson, 2010). When Grand Theft Auto was introduced to the market, the debate really began to take off. David Grossman, a respected activist, claims video games desensitize youth to killing because they simulate the real thing. His main argument claims these killing, violent video games mimic combat and the US military actually uses similar devices to desensitize soldiers so they will be more willing to kill an enemy combatant (Ferguson, 2010). He argues that since the military began to use simulators, soldiers in combat are more likely to shoot and kill an enemy soldier than a WWII soldier (Ferguson, 2010). He also claims that exposure to violent media and specifically violent video games can be a predictor of youth violence (Ferguson, 2010). In an extensive meta-analysis study conducted by Anderson et al (2010), they found that violent video games stimulate aggression in players and increase violent behavior later in life. After playing for a short while, Anderson showed that mild aggressive beha vior increased in youth for a short while. After repeated, habitual exposure to the violent game, the youths aggressive behavior became worse and even became physical on occasion. On the other hand, while some researchers have found some positive relationships between violent video games and violent behavior, others have found no relationship or a negative one. Others who have found effects, when looked at closer by critics the relationship disappears when certain factors are accounted for. It is also said that meta-analysis of violent video games produce inconsistent and weak results (Ferguson, 2010). Sherry (2007) found that a meta-analysis on video games produced weak effects and the results were even weaker than for the television (Sherry, 2001). Numerous other researchers produced similar results that violent video games did not have an effect on the violent or aggressive behavior of children and youth. Even with their interactive nature, video games do not produce more of an effect on violent behavior than television or anything else. In the case of television, there is much debate as to whether or not there is a relationship between violent media and violent behavior. While some research has shown that violent television and media have an effect on violent behavior others do not. In a two year longitudinal study done by Hopf and associates, they found that the more frequently children view horror and violent films and the more frequently they play violent video games at the beginning of teenage years, the higher their violence and aggression rates will be at the age of 14 (Hopf, Huber, Weiß, 2008). Other research by Anderson and associates found that exposure to any kind of violent media, whether it is television or video games, increases the risk of violent or aggressive behavior in both immediate and long term contexts (Anderson, et al., 2003). Short-term exposure to violent media increases aggressive thoughts, behavior and emotions (Anderson, et al., 2003). Earlier research results tended to show that shor t term exposure could increase aggression in people (Drabman Thomas, 1974). Many of the studies done throughout the years have shown that exposure to violence on television through film and series increases peoples aggressive and violent behavior but there are a few critics out there claiming the effect is small and/or weak. Political policy changes are also thought to be influenced by the media. Since we are contently surrounded by media texts, it is reasonable to conclude that the media would have some influence on policy. Particularly gruesome, heinous crimes have tremendous appeal to the media. Since these stories sell and are attractive to both consumers and the producers, these types of crimes often saturate the airwaves and print material. The media can construct a new crime problem or can construct a moral panic around a particular crime by twisting and relaying facts. By creating a moral panic or by creating fear and anxiety around a crime, public pressure for solutions to problems are put on political figures. Some researchers found that the presentations of crime news increases pubic pressure for more effective policing and more punitive responses to crime (Dowler K. , 2003). Dowler (2003) also found that those with a college education were more likely to hold non-punitive attitudes. It was su ggested that these people were more likely to recognize the inequality of the justice system (Dowler K. , 2003). Crime news has been long understood to have influence in moving society towards law and order campaigns, increasing social control and punitive responses to criminal conduct (Dowler, Fleming, Muzzatti, 2006). Research has indicated a sophisticated understanding of the interplay between the media and policy (Dowler, Fleming, Muzzatti, 2006). The message from the media outlets is clear: there is a strong support for more critiques of police efforts, harsher measures, stronger laws and/or an increase prison sentences. Although the debate rages on as to whether or not the media actually influence the fear of crime, violent behavior and policy changes, there are some things that future research needs to consider. First of all, one should be careful not to make associations prematurely. Assumptions should be made carefully about the production or reception of media products when the analyses based on the media products themselves (Doyle, 2006). Numerous researchers use the media texts themselves to make assumptions about the production and reception of different forms of media. Many times it is also assumed that the audience taking in the various media forms conforms to a dominant ideology the same way. While this may work for some research, work rooted in various critical theories should avoid this mistake and not assume a homogeneous public (Doyle, 2006). Secondly, one should acknowledge the considerable diversity and complexity in media organizations, production, formats and audiences (Doyle, 2006). Media and crime are both complex entities which researchers need to take into account. Crime in the media is a diverse phenomenon that needs to be accounted for. It shouldnt be oversimplified and unified. It is assumed that crime in the media isnt as varied and complex as other social phenomena. Often times the media reports have a pack mentality in which they try to appeal to a wide population. On the surface this may make it seem as though it is a homogeneous entity but in reality it is more complex. One key flaw in academic and other accounts of crime in the media a unitary, reductionist reading in terms (Doyle, 2006). This flaw should be changed by accounting for the fragments and recognizing that neither the audience nor the media texts themselves are homogeneous. More complex, specific, and contingent way of thinking about crime is needed when thinking about how it is represented in the media (Doyle, 2006). In order to explore effects or influences has been to move away from the construct of a homogenous audience and look directly at the repercussions of representations of crime in the news media in particular political and institutional contexts (Doyle, 2006). Specific media coverage could provide some insight into how the media actually influences the criminal justice system and the public. Political consequences should be considered when looking at influences and effects. It could prove to be easier to analyze effects directly on political events and other institutional contexts. Case studies should be used to show the political effects on political episodes of media coverage in a more specific, localized way (Doyle, 2006). For example, in New York, police and politicians used the media to manufacture a crime wave which served their own ends by resulting in more police resources and tougher laws. Analyzing more direct political and institutional effects of crime and the medial repres ent an advance (Doyle, 2006). It offers perhaps the best way of approaching the question of how news-media coverage contributes to the politics of law and order (Doyle, 2006). It also opens up more questions about the place of crime stories in the lives of individuals, questions that cannot effectively be answered by the fear of crime topics (Doyle, 2006). Lastly, researchers should give more attention to the very substantial interplay between crime news and crime fiction (Doyle, 2006). Most researchers only consider one subject, even though there is often similar and intersecting public concern. These common approaches ignore the fact that these two aspects could be intertwined. Both news and entertainment media texts interact, shape and are shaped by frames of meaning about crime and punishment (Doyle, 2006). Sometimes fictional television shows take their stories from news headlines. These shows incorporate the story of real life and when seen by the public it is often interpreted in that context. Both of these factors seem to be interpreted together by the public as a package. Since these items are absorbed together and not separately from each other, they should also be studied as such. There have been lots of efforts and difficulty to try and isolate and measure influences of the media on crime. For example, many critics have come forward questioning whether or not the media actually influences the fear of crime. It has been widely criticized for the way it operationalizes key concepts, like simply counting the number of hours people watch television and contrasting the attitudes of high viewers and low viewers (Doyle, 2006). Other factors need to be taken into account in order to make sure there is an actual relationship. For example, while it could be suggested that watching lots of television causes fear of crime, it could be that those who are fearful of crime tend to watch lots of television (Doyle, 2006). It is not clear which factor causes the other. While lots of research has been done to try and figure out which way the causation goes, it is more likely that fear and media consumption reinforce each other (Doyle, 2006). In an effort to isolate causality in the media more control has been imposed through the creation of experimental situations (Doyle, 2006). This has mostly been used in violent behavior and television violence relation studies. One key problem with this study is external validity: it becomes difficult to judge how the artificial environment generalizes to the outside world (Doyle, 2006). There is much debate as to whether or not media actually influences crime and criminal behavior. While some researchers contend that the effect of media influence is significant, others claim it is weak, if not nonexistent. Even if we are not influenced by them as strongly as some believe, they are still all around us. Crime is ever present while the lines between reality and the media continue to be blurred. No matter what one believes, one thing is for sure: we are and will continue to be bombarded with media images.

Civil War :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The civil war drastically altered American history. It would be difficult to find anyone who would disagree with the above statement. But, did the civil war affect the lives of Southern women as drastically? In my opinion, it did. Many people fail to realize that the outbreak of the civil war changed the lives of all Southern women - not just slaves. The women of the Confederacy, black and white, rich and poor, would see their lives changed forever as a result of the war that ensued between the North and the South during the years of 1861 to 1865. The fact is, that even though men were doing the fighting, the women were faced with the more intimidating aspects of the war - new challenges, depravations, unforeseen dangers, and most importantly the uncertainty of their futures. The war required complete mobilization of resources and with three out of four men away at war1, there were many gaps for Southern women to fill. (â€Å"Our Needles.)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The affects of war were widespread and varied by age, location, and marital status, but the clearest and most significant delineations were by class and race. As is the case with most national crisis’s, the war seemed to have an almost leveling affect on social status - everyone shared a common hardship and suffering. The truth is though that women who owned slaves faced much harsher realities of war than those who did not. For slaveholding women, the civil war represented an evil that was slowly diminishing their privileges and affluence, and one that would eventually reshape their entire social identities. While the war disrupted the economy, as is normal, the bigger issue at hand was its attack on slavery. This was most crucial, because the deterioration of a slave labor system was synonymous with the deterioration of wealth for many southern families.

Essay from Things They Carried- Spin Assignment :: essays research papers

Spin Assignment Wrestling; a sport for only the top athletes, contenders if you will. We struggle through the hardest of physical, mental and emotional beatings. I could give every detail of every match I have ever wrestled in, from match score, to the people around me, to what I could have done to make it better. You remember everything about the sport. I remember doing the same thing for four years straight before every match. When I was younger my father taught me prayers to recite every night. Before every match I go directly behind the mat, by myself, and say my prayers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I remember knowing what needed to be done to make weight. Making weight is the first struggle of the sport. It’s a challenge to yourself before you can even compete, and not an easy task at that. Rubber suits, water pills, boiler rooms, jump ropes, sweats, all triggers to the memories of those long hours sweating off that last pound just to make weight for the match the next day. At the end of the night, I can recall having to wring out shirts just to take some sweat off of it so that it wouldn’t soak my sports bag. You remember how good ordinary things taste extraordinary after you weigh-in before the match and are allowed to eat again. Every average piece of food you eat tastes like a slice of heaven.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is a time before the match starts that they introduce the line-ups for the respected teams. One team is in weight order on one side of the mat and the other team is on the other side of the mat. They will announce the specific weight and call out each wrestler from the team to meet in the center of the mat and shake hands. This isn’t just a chance to meet; this is a chance to size him up. This doesn’t seem like much, but just by the way this happens you can tell what kind of opponent you are up against. The way he runs out or casually walks out, lets you know how excited or nervous or confident he is, the way he shakes your hand, with a tight grip a casual slap or barely even touches lets you know how he thinks his chances are in the match, and of course the most important aspect of this is the eye contact made.

Music Piracy Is a Good Thing Essay

If pirating music hurts musicians income so badly it would show, and after all this time of pirating music it hasn’t. Music piracy benefits artists more than it hurts, therefore it should be legal. Music piracy is mostly committed by people who are everyday people who have average income jobs and have families who end up being sued by big record companies over downloading music for free. It seems a bit to greedy when you look at the difference in pay between the artist and the people who download the songs. ( †¦) say that the people who pirate the music are more likely to go to the show and buy the albums after downloading music (Ernesto). Also, people who pirate music tracks are very likely to develop an connection to the bands orartists and that will lead to them attending the shows, buying albums and merchandise. When putting this issue in perspective, record companies are just looking for money without any consideration for the ways of getting it. Record companies start suing people who have downloaded music for ridiculous amount of money in attempt to intimidate and scare off the fellons from downloading music illegally. The main groups affected are college kids that don’t have the money. Sarah Barg was a sophomore at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Sarah received an email from a label company stating that she owed $3,000 to the Recording Industry Association of America (Bratton). For that amount,, Sarah would be paying $7. 87 for each song. Majority of the songs she pirated were from the eighties and weren’t even relevant anymore, and yet she was battling record company’s in court over them them. Sixty students like Sarah at UNL received the same similar, as well as hundreds sent out to over sixty other universities across the country. Not knowing ow else to handle the situation, Barg contacted her parents and they had to cover her settlement. â€Å"I don’t know what I would have done. I’m only 20 years old,† says Barg. Well over five hundred students across the states have paid settlements to avoid being sued. â€Å"I see it as bullying,† UNL freshman Andrew Johnson says, â€Å"Legally, it makes sense, because we donâ⠂¬â„¢t have the money to fight back. † Johnson illegally downloaded one song and settled $3,000 to avoid being sued for one song. The money used came from the 18 year old’s college fund and he now has to work two jobs to compensate for his losses. The record companies seem to target those can’t fight back. In 2007, major record companies such as Warner music groups, Warner Bros Records, Inc. , and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, tried to sue a young girl from Texas named Whitney Harper for illegally downloading music from file sharing networks on the internet (Malisow). Whitney was at the time was sixteen years old and was being sued for a minimum of $750 per song when Whitney downloaded thirtyseven songs. That is a little over $20,000 and she is only sixteen years old. Harper tried to use the Innocent Infringer Act that would reduce fees to $200 per song. In order to accomplish that, Harper had to prove she was unaware of the copyright laws by claiming that the copyright notice placed on cds were not on the file sharing networks on the Internet therefore she was unaware. The companies referred to the sixteen-year-old as a â€Å"long term massive infringer† of copyright laws. Harper warned that if the companies won the case that downloading music off the Internet could never be innocent infringement. The Harper case is one the few after many years still going through federal court. The companies had stated they were going to begin transitioning away from suing individuals and find better means of fixing the issue. After years of record companies using an intimidation method to fix the pirating problem, it got them nowhere because the amount of pirates only went up, and the efforts by the companies were in most cases useless. According to the Wall Street Journal, they attempted suing many single mothers, a thirteen-year-old girl, and a dead peope. The new approach is for the companies to work with Internet service providers and when music is eing pirated the user receives a warning that they will lose Internet service if they continue(WSJ. com). The companies still reserve the right to sue if someone is a heavy violator or has ignored several warnings, but even with this new system, it still seems like the companies are only out for money, but in an attempt to escape negative attention from the media, they change their approach. According to The Independent, peo ple who illegally download music also spend more money on music, concerts, merchandises than anyone else. The Secretary of State for Business, Peter Mandelson, stated that the record companies new approach to crack down on illegal down loaders by cutting off internet service could potentially harm the music industry more than help it. â€Å"The people who file share are the ones who are interested in music. They use file sharing as a discovery mechanism. † The artists also have mixed opinions over file sharing, some such as James Blunt and Lily Allen are anti-piracy and Shakira is pro-piracy(Shields). Sites have come out with monthly bills for unlimited music plans that seem fairer. Some artists don’t feel affected by file sharing and support the fact that piracy creates a bigger fan base for them. Bands like Angels and Airwaves have produced free records so copyright wasn’t an issue. They figure that the fans will still come see them play and record sales aren’t the only thing to being in a successful band. Some artists don’t seem to realize that. Most artists make plenty off of record sales even with a piracy problem, so court cases and law suits on everyday people by record companies seems a bit greedy and selfish. Even with the new laws, they are still pushing to stop this unstoppable problem. Today music piracy is referred to as a dead issue. Most cases that are still pending are being dropped. This year a $54,000 fine on a single mother of four was dropped by the U. S. District Court Judge, Micheal Davis, who stated piracy is â€Å"no longer monstrous and shocking. The need for deterrence cannot justify a two million verdict for stealing and distributing twenty-four songs for the sole purpose of obtaining free music†(physorg. om). Thomas Rasset was convicted in 2007 and was ordered to pay $220,000, but the judge who presided over the trial called off the verdict, saying it was â€Å"wholly disproportionate and oppressive. † Her case was one of the thousands that had actually made it to court. In 2011, with new laws, these cases should not be forgotten about. The people who lost cases should be compensated and apologized to because they did nothing other than have an interest in the artist.

Dystopian High Rise

Dystopian High Rise The novel ‘High Rise’ written by J. G. Ballard focuses on a massive forty story apartment building that houses thousands of people. Anthony Royal, who is the architect of the apartment, designed the building with shops, a school, swimming pools, and enough space to accommodate an overwhelming amount of people. Ballard does not write the plot of ‘High Rise’ in an attempt to illustrate the urban possibilities of modern innovations or future novelties of our evolving world. Ballard expresses how a newly designed building that seems as though it is a well thought out idea of a safe haven can turn into a dystopian underworld.A dystopian society is the idea of a community of people that live in miserable conditions of life, characterized by disease, pollution, oppression, war, violence, poverty, and the classism of systematic discrimination based on sex, age, or IQ. The tower in the novel houses the vision of a dystopia through the fictional ch aracters depicted, and how the building is the agent that pushes the society within to turn into a felonious world. Through the eyes of medical school lecturer Dr. Robert Laing, we see how minor altercations between floors quickly escalate into anarchy, harsh violence, rape, and murder.Laing is eventually dragged into the lifestyle of the tower. Since everything for essential living is located within the tower, such as shops and swimming pools, Dr. Laing has no need to leave the building other than going to work. This entrapment in the building of many residents is the cause of this anarchic activity. The building is a small vertical city (Ballard 15). Within the introduction of the novel, Laing states, that even being two miles from the city, the building that he resides in feels as if the tower were in a different world, in time and as well as space (Ballard 15).The high-rise in turn becomes an alternate world separating the people living inside from the real city giving them the higher chances of confrontation. What we perceive as development through the creation of a structure that can work independently for the common wellness of society, comes with a price to pay. With all social classism in the world, the High Rise becomes a part of the dreadful tradition. Ballard’s dystopia is divided into three classes: upper, middle, and lower class. The upper portion, floors 36 to 40, of the building is where the upper class resides in, this includes the architect Anthony Royal.The middle class’ subdivision, Where Dr. Laing lives, is located from the 10th floor to the 35th floor, from the 10th floor swimming pool to the 35th floor restaurant deck. The swimming pool on floor 10 clearly formed the boundary for everyone under that floor, the lower class residents. The lower class is subjected to faulty maintenance where they go for days without electricity and air conditioning. The residents soon find themselves in a ‘Lord of the Flies’ state of emergency where the different classes and levels of the tower are at war. Works Cited Ballard, J. G. High Rise. New York: Liveright, 2012. Print.

Discipline in the Classroom Essay

â€Å"You’re nothing but a wuss. Your mama ain’t here to help you now so why don’t you stand and fight me like a man†¦. That’s right, saying nothing is going to make the situation better. You gonna go cry to Mrs. Wilson about it now? † This type of harassment in the classroom distracts the students from their main objective-to learn. Disciplinary problems in the classroom interrupt the atmosphere of the classroom, a place where learning takes precedent above all else. A tense environment detracts from learning and everyone loses. Mrs. Wilson got upset, the other school children endured constant harassment, and the children responsible for this harassment got lost in the system. Although experts cite many responses, multicultural education remains an answer that benefits both the teacher and all of the students. Disciplinary problems not only disrupt the serenity of the classroom, but if left untreated, manifest into societal problems. Violence grows as America’s answer to any problem. This trend has been growing steadily in our nation’s classrooms, and recent incidences like that of Columbine High School remind us that angry children become everyone’s problem if no one reaches out to them. cal1966, please do not redistribute this work. We work very hard to create this website, and we trust our visitors to respect it for the good of other students. Please, do not circulate this work elsewhere on the internet. Anybody found doing so will be permanently banned. Detention, suspension, and expulsion remain popular methods for dealing with discipline, but these methods serve only to remove rather than to solve the problem. Multicultural education stimulates the children to incorporate their own life experiences into what they learn and makes them active participants in their own learning process. Multicultural education serves to help bridge gaps between different classes, races, and genders. Not a seemingly easy task, drastic measures are imperative when the future of our country rests on the futures of our children. Take an eighth grade classroom located in a rural district with only three middle schools servicing the entire county. Mark and Jake, two white boys, constantly disrupted Mrs. Wilson’s Social Studies class. The situation distracted the teacher from her lesson plan, meaning that the other children’s learning fell behind their peers. Also, Mark and Jake jeopardized their own academic careers and threaten to become societal menaces. If left untreated their problems might develop into larger societal ills that hurt members of the population at large through their abuse of welfare or filling up the jails. Previously detention failed to help Mark and Jake correct their behavior, but Mrs. Wilson felt that the rest of the class should not suffer because of two members of the class. Disciplinary problems usually stem from some deeper anxiety that the children are facing. Mark’s parents work in an assembly line of a car manufacturer and net $40,000/year combined. They work long hours and spend little time with Mark after school. He takes the school bus to and from school, and he lives in a poor area of town where the houses are run down. Neither of his parents finished formal high school, although they both received GED’s. He has several younger siblings that look up to him as an example, but education is not stressed in his family. This hypothesis from studentcentral. o. uk Part of his disciplinary problem could be that he resents the fact that the state requires him to go to school. Mark sees that his parents struggle to get by, but no connection between improving his situation and education in his mind exists. People who succeed in class and come from upper-middle class backgrounds receive the brunt of his harassment. He feels resentment towards these students because he feels that he tries hard but society and good fortune still shun him. Jake’s parents come from working class backgrounds, and he lives in an area that is close to Mark’s house. His parents experienced marital problems lately. They fight constantly, and his one younger sister also experienced problems in school. His father graduated from technical school and works as a mechanic in a local garage, and his mother works at Kroger. His disciplinary problems relate to the fact that his parents fight a lot and offer to get into screaming matches. With so much tension in his home he feels the need to lash out at someone, and conveniently finds other students to harass-students who he already resents because of their higher social status. His disciplinary problems started about the time that his parents started having problems. However, his parents failed to communicate their problems on to Mrs. Wilson, so she understands little about the reason for Jake’s disciplinary problems. cofb fbr sefbfbw orfb fbk infb fofb fb. Mrs. Wilson, a 35-year old white teacher, became exasperated because Mark and Jake refused to respond to what she viewed as adequate attempts to reach them. They reserve their harassment for children who identify with the pper-middle class or excel in schoolwork. Because she experienced no contact with either set of parents, she remained unaware of the home problems that contribute to Mark and Jake’s frustration with the school system. Her training also left her unprepared to deal with types of children who shrink away from contact with other people. The boys consistently under-perform in all their subjects. Although they received extra help in the past, they refused to take an active inter est in learning, and instead tried to disrupt class time. Mrs. Wilson gave them extra help by working with them during class, and also assigned group partners to them, but the hostility the boys exhibited towards their partners made the working environment tense. They also disrespected Mrs. Wilson, and she felt like she lost all control because they refused to listen to anything she said. They removed themselves from the social scene of the school and appeared to not trust anyone but themselves. The harassment of other students needs to stop because everyone suffers in this situation. All the students fail to get to as much information as other classes with no disciplinary problems. These students will then experience a disadvantage next year when they compete against students from other classes. Also, Mark and Jake acted out and created this disturbance in class for some reason. If Mrs. Wilson fails reach them then their class disturbances might turn into societal disturbances. The importance of the situation remains for all involved to receive some help. This hypothesis from studentcentral. co. uk Mark and Jake’s harassment needs to stop for the benefit of all involved. Multicultural education ensures that every child receives a proper education and an equal chance of success later in life. Like a runaway effect, the problems snowball setting students back and preventing them from attaining success in schools and jobs. In a multicultural setting ideally all the students express their individual voices in the class and its pedagogy. Multicultural education address typical disciplinary problems because the themes that of the process builds around active thinking by the students themselves about the world around them. Multicultural education helps remedy this situation, because everyone’s culture needs to gain acknowledgement by the teacher. However, since limited diversity exists in the classroom, Mrs. Wilson tries to incorporate other cultures as well to make all her students more accepting and understanding of everyone’s lifestyle. Although the classrooms contain relatively new textbooks, they should be discussed critically in class so that the students feel like active participants in their own education. Mark and Jake may be acting out because they feel a lack of control over their own education and their situation in life. Mrs. Wilson realized she had failed to stimulate stimulating them enough, and so they act out to try to grab attention. Rather punish these students, Mrs. Wilson tries to understand their motives and then to try to help them in whatever way the teacher deems possible. This hypothesis from studentcentral. co. uk Nieto writes, â€Å"all teachers can become role models for all students as long as they are understanding, caring, and informed. One way in which teachers can build substantial relationships with students is by offering help to those who do not seek their aid† (331). Mark and Jake try to get attention by lashing out. Mrs. Wilson must dig deeper than usual to get at the root of the problem if she wants to help them. Mrs. Wilson reaches her students through multicultural education. Her determination to reach students who have been labeled as â€Å"problem children† determines the rest of their scholastic careers. For her first step, Mrs. Wilson reevaluates whether her accusations about the children’s behavior warrants concern. Her actions could stem from her preconceived notions of lower, working class families since the children causing the disturbance are poorly dressed and do not have the best hygiene. If Mrs. Wilson holds any bias then she needs to address her own personal bias so that the children do not suffer from her one-sidedness. coce cer sececew orce cek ince foce ce! Once Mrs. Wilson ascertains that these children pose a serious disturbance in her classroom, then her objective reworks itself into new inventive ways. The benefits of conventional negative reinforcement seem to not pose any threat to Mark and Jake, so perhaps she can try positive reinforcement. Also, if she practices what Nieto outlined as a multicultural classroom (p. 05) then she creates an environment where the children feel comfortable approaching her. Perhaps by gaining their confidence she then determines the root of their discipline problems. Before implementing multicultural education, Mrs. Wilson first identifies the reason for Mark and Jake’s outbreaks in class. Until now she treated them as regular problem children, but since none of the conventional disciplinary methods worked, she needs to sort out the root of the problem. Their problems at home cause their harassment of their peers. However, since the parents fail to return phone calls, Mrs. Wilson writes them and requests that they come in for a parent/teacher conference. If this measure fails to get the parents to school, then she plans to go visit them in their home. Because the parents are usually busy, there do not often communicate with the school. If the school approaches the parents in a non-threating manner, then perhaps the parents shed some light on their sons’ behavior problems. With more parental involvement, the boys feel more pressured to shape up. The home environment remains difficult to overcome, especially without the parents’ help. However, Mrs. Wilson needs to make the effort to at least try to contact them so that she has more input to correctly identify the reason Mark and Jake are acting out. Nieto writes â€Å"teachers can encourage parents to give their children jobs at home, and then support them when they do† (328). Maybe if Mark and Jake feel more important at home then they lose the urge to act out at school. Another method Mrs. Wilson employs to draw in outside resources for her classroom involves meeting with Mark and Jake’s other teachers. Outside input also influences learning because if she experienced disciplinary problems in her class the boys probably act out in all of their classes. By calling a meeting with everyone involved, the teachers might be able to trace commonalties between all of the disciplinary outbreaks. If they see what sets the boys off then they prevent cause of the harassment, or at least create an opportunity to talk to the boys about their behavior. If the teachers pinpoint the cause of the boy’s disciplinary problems within the classroom, then they know how to solve the problem more effectively. A reason for their frustration within the classroom stems from the fact that Mark and Jake feel left out of the education process. If Mrs. Wilson’s teaching style revolves around lectures they become bored and act out because of their boredom. The difficulty lies in making students pay attention in the classroom if their families devalue education at home. The teaching style induces no stimulation for them to want to learn. By using multicultural education, Mrs. Wilson aims to instill a love of learning in the students. Perhaps if Mrs. Wilson incorporates other methods of learning like hands on learning, group projects, or presentations by students for the rest of the class then she receives more positive behavior from all her students. If she can relate the student’s life and how education increases knowledge, then she makes not only Mark and Jake realize the importance of education in their lives but the importance of education to all of her students’ lives. Mrs. Wilson tries to incorporate other multicultural ideas in her lesson plan in order to accommodate the behavior of Mark and Jake. When they cover the holocaust she shows them Schindler’s List to illustrate its impact on the Jewish people. Movies help show history in vivid detail, and the brutality of the film helps bring this terrible period in history to light. This helps her students realize that other people endure suffering, and by showing them a real example of suffering they might feel more compassion for others. She also shows that other groups have suffered more than her students. The suffering that their class endures pales in comparison to the plights of other ethnicities. When Mark and Jake see the brutality of war and the horrible consequences of fighting, they realize other methods for solving their internal conflicts exist. Mrs. Wilson also engages the students in a unique manner that tries to draw their attention onto examples that shape our modern day world. Examples that relate to the student’s lives impact students more forcefully instead of assigning them reading and expecting them to pick up all the material. By relating the assignments in class to their every day lives she shows them examples of how education better their own situation. The learning becomes much more personal and effects them more. Mrs. Wilson also changes the structure of her class. If she includes more history about the working class and their importance in situations like the Industrial Revolution, then she makes all the students from working class backgrounds feel more important and a sense of pride in their heritage. Nieto writes that teachers can â€Å"use the experiences and understandings her students bring to class rather than an exotic or irrelevant curriculum† (338). She needs to uphold and validate their culture because Mark and Jake feel like their culture contains no importance and that could be a reason for their lashing out. The punishments that the boys get assigned could take a more inventive twist in order to quelch their behavior. If assigned community service Mark and Jake see that many others in their community undergo more hardship then their families. Nieto also writes â€Å"opportunities for after-school work or community service can be provided in much more substantial ways than they currently are† (328). The boys gain a perspective on their own problems by comparing them to others less fortunate. Such epiphanies might improve their behavior in the classroom. Multicultural education starts in the classroom but affects a wide array of social problems. Discipline, if left untreated, expands into larger social ills, where the perpetrators leech off of everyone. The plague on society takes the form of welfare and jails where taxpayers bear the responsibility for those who refuse to help themselves. This societal failure can be avoided by trying to reach these children earlier in their academic careers so that they experience success later in life. Multicultural education remains the best way to retain those borderline students who otherwise get lost in the system. Mrs. Wilson employs many methods to try to reach Mark and Jake before they lose complete interest in school. First she tries to determine the root of the problem so that she knows the exact problem she is dealing with. Talking to the parents and other teachers gives a more comprehensive view to the situation. Once the boys’ frustration surfaces, Mrs. Wilson incorporates different teaching aspects into her lesson plan. Engaging the students makes them more interested in their education and lessens their tendency to act out. Relating the real world to their own lives makes them more involved members of society. Mark and Jake symbolize children whose problems generally run deeper than most teachers suspect. Multicultural education helps make these boys and all of the students in the classroom more productive members of society. If the boys stay off welfare then our tax dollars go towards improving other facets of life. The boys also become taxpayers who contribute to the solution rather than the problem. Without some intervention, children like Mark and Jake plague American society and benefit no one, including themselves. Hatred makes a disastrous problem that needs to be solved immediately, and multicultural education is one answer to that problem.