Cause And Effects Of Land Degradation Environmental Sciences Essay

Cause And Effects Of Land Degradation Environmental Sciences Essay Land degradation is an issue of increasing concern to most countries. It is a concept in which the value of the environment is affected by one or more combination of human induced processes acting upon the land. It also means the deterioration in the quantity of land or soil that affects phenomena such as floods and bushfires. The land degradation threatens not only the viability of agriculture, but also water quality, human health, biodiversity and the fundamental ecological processes on which all life depend. The loss of arable land has been caused by a number of factors, many or most of which are tied to human development and agriculture used. The major causes are land clearance such as clear cutting and deforestation, agriculture activities, irrigation salinity and over drafting, livestock including overgrazing, pollution and industrialization. Overgrazing is a common problem in many parts of Australia. It is caused by animals, generally sheep, cattle, or other feral animals, all concentrated in the one area, all feeding on the grass and shrubs. Grass and shrubs hold the soil firmly together. The removal of grass and shrubs leaves the soil bare and susceptible to wind and water erosion. The soil can be broken up or compacted by hooves, this makes the problem worse. Irrigation salinity is when the irrigation water, used to provide water for crops and pasture, seeps down to the water table, with all the dissolved salts, rises and kills the crops and grass, as they are not used to the salty soils. Deforestation is the complete removal of a forest ecosystem and conversion of the land to another type of landscape. It differs from clear-cutting, which entails complete removal of all standing trees but leaves the soil in a condition to regrow a new forest if seeds are available. Over drafting is the process of extracting groundwater beyond the safe yield or equilibrium yield of the aquifer. Since every groundwater basin recharges at a different rate depending upon precipitation, vegetative cover and soil conservation practices, the quantity of groundwater that can be safely pumped varies greatly among regions of the world and even within provinces. Some aquifers require a very long time to recharge and thus the process of over drafting can have consequences of effectively drying up certain sub-surface water supplies. Land Degradation Processes The main outcome of land degradation is a substantial reduction in the productivity of land. The land degradation processes include soil erosion, nutrient depletion, salinization, desertification and soil acidification or alkalinisation. Soil erosion is a natural process that removes soil from the land. The critical aspect of soil erosion for our purpose here is that the rate of the process is highly dependent on human actions. Natural rates of soil erosion are lower for soil with a good cover of vegetation than for bare soil. In fact, any human actions that uncover soil (farming, logging, building, overgrazing, fires, etc.) greatly enhance soil erosion rates. Soil salinization is the concentration of salts in the surface or near surface of soils. It involves the processes of salt accumulation in the upper rooting zone so that many plants are inhibited or prohibited from normal growth. Human induced salinization is a major problem in drylands and is often associated with large-scale irrigation. Dryland Salinity When drylands are irrigated, the water evaporates quickly, leaving behind previously dissolved salts. These salts can collect, since there is little rain to flash the system. The salt in the soil inhibits the uptake of water by plant roots and the soil can no longer sustain a vegetative cover. Irrigation Salinity Irrigation salinity is when the irrigation water, used to provide water for crops and pasture, seeps down to the water table, with all the dissolved salts, rises and kills the crops and grass, as they are not used to the salty soils. Nutrients loss is an important problem in regions of low-input agriculture, such as Africa. In such regions, when crops are harvested, essential nutrients are taken away in the crop and not replaced. Desertification occurs whenever a non-desert area starts to exhibit the characteristics of a true desert. The term was coined by the United Nations in 1977. The main cause of desertification is not drought, but mismanagement of land, including overgrazing and felling of trees and brushwood for fuels. Soil acidification is when certain chemicals are used on the soil, for various reasons including pesticides, removal of salt from the surface and the soil, acid rain, the growth of certain crops, certain animal wastes and etc, these chemicals are often absorbed into the soil and become part of the soil-structure. With these chemicals now part of the soil, the soil may become acidic and therefore crops and pastures will not grow. Soil acidification can lead to a productivity decline up to and equal to 50%. Soil akalinisation is clay soils with high pH (> 9), a poor soil structure and a low infiltration capacity. Alkali soils owe their unfavorable physico-chemical properties mainly to the dominating presence of sodium carbonate which causes the soil to swell. Sometimes these soils are also referred to as (alkaline) sodic soils. Effect of degradation Several land degradation affected a significant portion of the arable lands, decreasing the wealth and economic development of nations. Land degradation cancels out advanced by improved crop yields and reduced population growth. As the land resource, base becomes less productive, food security is comprised and competition for dwindling resources increases. Thus, a downward eco-social spiral is created when lands are nutrient depleted by unsustainable land management practices resulting in lost soil stability leading to permanent change. Land degradation not only affects soil productivity but also have more significant impacts on receiving water resources. Since soil along with nutrients and contaminants associated with soil, are delivered in large quantities to environments. Land degradation therefore has potentially impacts on lakes and reservoirs that are designed to alleviate flooding provide irrigation and generate Hydro-Power. In summary, land degradation includes soil erosion, salinization, soil acidification or akalinisation and desertification. The rate of degradation has increased dramatically with growth in human populations and technology. Severe land damage accompanies large-scale of agriculture. The continued loss of arable land will jeopardize our ability to feed the world population. Land degradation is a worldwide problem which includes both of the developed and developing countries.

courteous :: essays research papers

Being courteous is an act of being respectful and by using good manners towards people. Treating people with courtesy can show many different feelings towards the person being acted upon. In the play Othello by William Shakespeare there are many characters in the play that use and don’t use acts of courtesy. The focus of this issue is the question of, do the men in the play show courtesy towards the women in the play? Othello is the main character, and Iago is a solider in his army. Iago was passed a position of lieutenant to another solider named Cassio. This action made Iago very angry and jealous, so he would seek a sort of revenge throughout the play. In the play Othello Iago, a respected individual, shows very little respect towards women in the play. In lines 103 through 125 in Act 2 scene one Iago is very disrespectful towards the women in the play. In Iago’s speeches, especially in lines 109 through 119, Iago acts in a very heavily manner towards Desdemona, and Emilia in these scenes throughout the play. In the opening acts we learn that Othello is a respected man, and a leader of an army. He lives out a long history of heroic stories and epics that make women woo over him. He marries Desdemona, while carrying a relationship with Emilia, the wife of Iago. Iago finds out about a past relationship with Othello and Emilia and becomes jealous and seeks revenge again. Iago then thin ks of a way to make Othello jealous. Iago shows no remorse towards anyone in these situations and uses not only his wife but also Desdemona to seek revenge on Othello out of jealousy. Throughout act 2 Iago talks to and about women in a very rude DuBois 2 manner. In line 115 Iago states, " â€Å"You rise to play, and go to bed to work.† This statement was primarily directed towards Desdemona and Emilia but, also includes all women at this time period. This means that a woman’s main purpose is to please a man and that’s it. Iago also shows little respect for the leaders of his army, like Cassio his former lieutenant. He uses Cassio to make Othello jealous and then this makes Othello angry at Cassio. Cassio also shows little some disrespect towards women as well. In act 3 tension arises between the crowd and at the end a former prostitute of Cassio approaches him and he deliberately eases her by telling her that he hasn’t seen her in awhile because he is under a lot of stress lately.

Sedalia Engine Plant Case Study Review

We have reviewed your case at Sedalia Engine Plant and believe we have found a plan that fits your needs. We believe that while your company surely holds a lot of promise, we have a few ideas to we would like to recommend to you and perhaps take into consideration. We have your best interests at hand and only serve in helping you in bettering your company and becoming more efficient. By the means of what is known as lean production, you can continue to preserve the value in your product while increasing efficiency in the production process, making your employees happier resulting in more productivity and quality control, and hoping to save your company time and money in the long run while not costing your employees, products or consumers anything, all of which are good things. You state that employees are starting to feel powerless and feel like they are unable to do tasks that would benefit the company. While you have implemented a program to address this, you indicate it is not working. One important principle of lean production is leveling out the workload. We recommend spreading the work load among all employees. If the work load is level across the board, employees will feel useful and not feel as though they have wasted efforts. Feeling like a part of a team and feeling equal amongst your work peers creates for greater solidarity and an increased chance for greater work quality, resulting in product quality. Adding standardized tasks is also the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment. Employees themselves should be passionate about the company and work together for one goal. These people should be in agreement with your companies’ philosophy. Those you elect to be team leaders or managers should be equipped for the position. They should thoroughly understand every aspect of the company and also be trained in being team leaders, while at the same time understanding the teaching methods of the company. Building strong leaders to help lead and keep teams working together is essential for the well-being of your company. As mentioned prior, giving each employee a fair amount of the work will help with their morale, and providing strong leaders equipped with good leadership skills to direct their equal efforts makes for an outstanding system. Concerning the Board of Representatives, Board of Employees, and Human Resources, these teams will need to work in tandem to be effective. These three teams should be making decisions together, and rapidly implementing the unanimous decision. These decisions should focus on the long-term picture, not the short-term picture, even if sacrifices will need to be made. The Board of Representatives should constantly be watching with their own eyes to ensure production is being carried out in a proper manner. The Board of Employees should be concerned with making employee tasks standardized, and work to continuously improve the level of standardization. With standardized tasks and work evenly spread across employees, employees will feel empowered to succeed. To avoid wasting time and resources, the focus should be on building quality first, rather than worrying about fixing problems later. Your company should only be using reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes. You should also provide visual controls so no problems are hidden. Remember, quality is â€Å"key†. In regards to the issue pertaining to wage differentials and job security, a good way of going about handling that is to compromise with the workers. Also if you use the steps for searching for integrative solutions, that would help as well. The first step would be to separate the people from the problem. I know that wages and job security directly affect the employees, but it is best if you take away the employees from the issue and really find out the company issues with differing wages. The second step would be to focus on the shared interest of all the parties. As for the plant, you would naturally want to do what is in the best interest of the company, but if you are really trying to resolve and compromise the issue you would need to look at the issue from an employee point of view. The next step, and one of the biggest ones, is to generate options. It is good to not just come up with one solution to the job security issue, but to also formulate many options that can be used to solve that problem. I suggest layout a plan that employees were to follow and if they didn’t, that would put their wages and job security at risk. The fourth step in the breakdown would be evaluation. It is best to evaluate the options using objective criteria. This step simply means to thoroughly look over options and have a certain criteria to follow for the options to be of any relevance to the problem. The last step would be to iteration. There is not a, onetime, perfect option for every problem. The best way to go about this is to keep trying. If one solution doesn’t fully solve the wage issues at the plant, than keep trying other plans. It was mentioned that POT is still functioning, but an Organizational Review Group (ORG) was established to discuss plant guidelines along with Exempt and Non-exempt Task Force Groups (NEIG & EITG). In response to employee criticism and the potential for negative publicity, the board of trustees made a decision to establish a â€Å"Task Force on the Work/Family Interface. The mission of the Task Force was to make recommendations on possible additions and modifications to company policies and programs that will better accommodate the family responsibilities of its employees. Members of this Task Force included: company executives, exempt and non-exempt employees, and members of the board of trustees. The Task Force can make recommendations in a large number of areas including health insurance coverage, absence with pay, leave without pay, sick leave, promotion criteria and policies, training programs, family leave, job sharing, flextime and child care. I believe task forces are an improvement on past practices, but I also do believe there could be another option as well Your decision-making processes should be based on a long-term philosophy of proving good services and products, even at the expense of short-term financial goals. While profit is important and essential, a high one means nothing if your employees aren’t happy, resulting in your products not having as much quality, resulting in unsatisfied customers. This rips everyone off in the end. High morale and work ethic is core, as previously stated. Bringing back building a philosophy within the minds and work ethic of team leaders and employees, it trickles down into the product itself and reassures that your company stands for something great and admirable, not simply another big name making lots of money. It is probably very important for you to hold a high morale and solid reputation, and with these key ideals and systems, that is very much possible. We thank you for your time and hope you to take our recommendations into deep consideration. We feel these decisions would be wise for the lasting future and quality of your products, people and proficiency.

Border Wall †An Issue to Solve

Border Wall – An Issue to Solve Free Online Research Papers Out of the never-ending list of issues between the United States and Mexico, illegal immigration into the United States is the most important. If Mexico is the would help its citizens by opening new job opportunities there would be less people coming to the United States illegally. The Border Wall is not the best solution to stop Mexicans from coming to the United States illegally; it would probably encourage more Mexicans to try to cross the Wall just to prove to the United States that Mexicans can still immigrate to the United States. The idea of having a physical barrier between the United States and Mexico is redundant. The Wall will separate two countries that have been like sisters for decades. I do not believe in the construction of the Wall because it will be a waste of money and aside from that, Mexicans work like mules in exchange for less than the minimum wage, something that a person who is fired from an eight-dollar an hour job will do. If the United States would help Mexico instead of fighting it, things would be much better for both countries. In the Valley, many Mexicans work for less than the minimum wage in houses and downtown stores. This has been done for decades. Why? Because citizens will not do that job, but still say that Mexicans have come to the United States to take there jobs from them. The U.S can help Mexico by creating enterprises and factories in Mexico. By doing this, the United States creates cheap labor and helps U.S and Mexico’s economy; it will also reduce the illegal immigration into the United States. Another way to help solve immigration issues in the valley would be by granting working permits to Mexicans who want to work in the United States. For those Mexicans who are granted permission to work in the United States, taxes should be charged as if they were citizens. This will also help our economy and Mexico’s. Of course, some safety procedures like background checks should be done in order to grant the working permits. The United States would solve immigration issues not by building the Wall, but by creating more job opportunities in the United States and Mexico and charging taxes to those who decide to work in the United States. Research Papers on Border Wall - An Issue to SolveThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NicePersonal Experience with Teen Pregnancy19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraPETSTEL analysis of IndiaAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeTwilight of the UAWBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2Quebec and Canada

Andrea Yates Argument Paper essays

Andrea Yates Argument Paper essays The death penalty is the most severe punishment awarded to an individual who has abruptly ended the life of another human being. Recently five innocent children died at the hands of a mother who was declared mentally unstable. Andrea Yates was not in control of her own actions when she took the lives of her children, therefore Andrea did not deserve the death Mental illness is a state of mind or feeling or spirit and is closely related to depression. Depression is a suppressed or low feeling. Andrea Yates suffered from a number of mental disorders which increased the state of severe out of control emotions. In her young years she was studious, high achiever, and very caring even to the point of becoming a registered nurse. Not being able to full fill that desire to nuture her sensitivity to the feelings of helping others added to the mental state of depression. Added to that was the death of her father which often times will push down an individual. Andrea was robbed of her spirit of life and body of energy with this helpless feeling of depression. Meanwhile while desperately trying to overcome the state of depression Andrea sought medical help and began taking anti depressant drugs. These drugs do worse damage to an already depressed person. Prozac and Zoloft are so closely related that they can be viewed as the same drug. Prozac can worsen the depression in patients. Andrea Yates was taking Zoloft and the possibility the medication added to the depression driving her further into a mental unstable condition such as psychosis. Added to the fact that during this time she was pregnant and nursing her babies as well. Both of these factors cause post partum depression. It is clear that Andrea Yates never had time to recover from post partum depression before another pregnancy occurred and combined with the anti depressant drugs she lived in continual depression. Pr ...

Of Thinking Globally and Acting Locally Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Of Thinking Globally and Acting Locally - Essay Example Thus, business organizations like Coca-Cola (Coca-Cola) Company take on the challenge of "thinking globally but acting locally." Coca-Cola is currently one of the most recognizable and widely sold commercial brands in the global arena. The company capitalizes on its extensive distribution network comprised of 9 million retailers in more than 200 countries (Klebnikov 2003). Amidst its being a global brand, what is apparent is the company's innate desire of satisfying each locale according to their needs. This aim of Coca-Cola can be seen its products and promotion strategies. Coke, the flagship brand of the company is marketed worldwide. It should be noted that this product has been warmly accepted by the global market because of its universal taste. Coke has a "universal taste" which discounts the differences in nationality, culture, and traditions. However, the company recognizes that the product portfolio offered in each foreign market should be differentiated as not all product appeal to all consumers. Thus, Coca-Cola strives to develop a product portfolio which is unique for each market. Quoting the company's annual report: "Consumer demand can vary from one locale to another and can change over time within a single locale.

Principles that teacher use in helping african american english Assignment

Principles that teacher use in helping african american english speaking student to become bidialectal - Assignment Example In order to learn and work well in America, this group is required to learn the standard American English that cuts across all cultures. There are guiding principles of teaching African American English speaking people to become bi-dialectal. The core principle to teaching them Standard English is combining culture, language, and literacy. Standard English should be taught as a second language and not taken as correcting or eroding the native language (Perry and Delpit 80). In order for the learners to appreciate the language, their culture must be studied and encompassed into the curriculum. This would produce a culturally responsive, appropriate, and relevant system of Education (Alim and Baugh 24). Educators that have attempted to teach Standard English to Ebonics as correcting the shortcomings of their native language either have failed to improve the Standard English speaking capability of this group or have achieved very little. In some cases, Blacks have dropped out of the sys tem in protest of the lack of recognition or respect for their culture. By studying the culture/language of the American blacks the following can be taken as guiding principles of teaching them Standard English (Hudley, Charity Ann and Mallinson 70-90). Development of Sensitivity of Rhymes For young learners, teachers can aid them practice nursery rhymes and games, such as hand clapping. To be able to appreciate both Standard English and the local dialect, they should rhyme in both dialects. Teachers may examine the rhyming differences that learners hear and use to increase their sensitivity to sound patterns and become acquainted with the linguistics. In the case of learners in higher grades, teachers may impart the rhyme sensitivity by introducing word games and some aspects of verbal play into the classroom. This should be done both in Standard and African American English. Students can also learn rhyming through composing poems and lyrics, analyzing them and writing reviews (Ali m and Baugh 19). Students should be allowed to compose songs in their dialect especially in hip hop style they are famously known of. They should recite these in front of the class. Learners should then discuss how words that rhyme in their native dialect are similar or different from those of the Standard English. They should also be encouraged to write reviews of songs or poems and take note of instances where the composer used Standard English or African American English. The exercise of composing, analyzing, and writing reviews of songs and poetry enhance knowledge, rhyme sensitivity, and word formation. In a nut shell the teacher is encouraging learners to express themselves both in their native language and the Standard English in order to develop language flexibility. Teachers can also come up with mechanisms that allow learners to compare and contrast lyrics/poems composed in different dialects including their own. Students should keenly explore the styles in the different p oems and also note the advantages and disadvantages of each style. By comparing and contrasting different styles, they appreciate the importance of each dialect and will be encouraged to learn the Standard English because they are aware that their dialect is also recognized alongside the Standard English. Grammar The use of ‘ain’t’ in African American English: - The African American English has phrases that are commonly used that are viewed by the rules of Standard English