Sustainable and Unsustainable Development Essay Example

Sustainable and Unsustainable Development Paper Sustainable Development Concept Sustainable development is a pattern of social and structured economic transformations (i. e. development) which optimizes the economic and societal benefits available in the present, without jeopardizing the likely potential for similar benefits in the future. A primary goal of sustainable development is to achieve a reasonable and equitably distributed level of economic well-being that can be perpetuated continually for many human generations. Sustainable development implies using renewable natural resources in a manner which does not eliminate or degrade them, or otherwise diminish their usefulness for future generations. It further implies using non-renewable (exhaustible) mineral resources in a manner which does not unnecessarily preclude easy access to them by future generations. Sustainable development also requires depleting non-renewable energy resources at a slow enough rate so as to ensure the high probability of an orderly society transition to renewable energy sources. Sustainable development is a broad concept covering the way in which human activities impact on economic development, the environment and social well-being. It is generally accepted that both governments and industry should promote development that is sustainable in all three dimensions, but practical application of the concept is complex because its objective assessment is elusive. While the concept can be readily and widely accepted in general terms, a consensus viewpoint on the value of individual actions is more difficult to achieve because of the absence of criteria permitting objective assessment of their â€Å"sustainable† qualities. We will write a custom essay sample on Sustainable and Unsustainable Development specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Sustainable and Unsustainable Development specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Sustainable and Unsustainable Development specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Some of the areas that come under the scope of sustainable development are : Agriculture Biotechnology Energy Forests Water etc. Sustainable development is said to set limits on the developing world. While current first world countries polluted significantly during their development, the same countries encourage third world countries to reduce pollution, which sometimes impedes growth. Some consider that the implementation of sustainable development would mean a reversion to pre-modern lifestyles. Sustainability in Construction Industry Sustainable Construction is the application of sustainable development to the construction industry. There is an increasing demand, in both the private and public sectors, to understand sustainable construction practices. This demand is driven by a realisation that sustainable practices make sense to both owners and operators. The practices not only help the environment but can also improve economic profitability and improve relationships with stakeholder groups. The diagram below explains how sustainable development is implemented within the construction industrys private and public sectors. Many construction companies are involved in implementing sustainable development practices and have made sustainability a key part of the design and construction process; many companies in India have successfully constructed â€Å"Green Buildings†. Green buildings are constructions in which resources like energy, water, and materials are used efficiently, through better design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal of waste, reducing negative impacts on human health and the environment. The reason for going green or adopting sustainable development practices is literally a no brainer, as a green building constructed using sustainable development practices provides many benefits both tangible and intangible, starting from the immediate cost savings in terms of energy and water consumption to a healthy and productive environment for work. Some of the initiatives by construction companies are listed below: ITC Green Centre is the worlds largest green building with space of 170,000 square feet, and also the first non-commercial complex in the country to be awarded the USGBC-LEED platinum rating the highest in the order. In collaboration with Canadian plastics major Nova Chemicals, Reliance Industries will be designing and constructing energy-efficient buildings in India. Indias first internationally certified green building that houses the Confederation of Indian Industry-Sohrabji Godrej Business Centre spread over 16,000 square feet was set up in Hyderabad in 2003. Today, the public and private construction companies in India have applied sustainable development practices prevalent in the industry to construct over 25 million square feet of registered green building expanse, which is all set to touch a 100 million square feet by 2010–12. Unsustainable development in the Energy sector Unsustainability can be defined as a practice or process that cant go on indefinitely because it is destroying the very conditions on which it depends. Agriculture development is at crossroads today. Despite an agricultural revolution in the developing world over the course of a single generation that has produced enormous benefits for farmers, consumers and economies, a number of second generation challenges in agricultural transformation have emerged. Issues such as disparities in agricultural growth, problem of food insecurity and decreasing diversity, plateauing productivity in certain crops, growing ecological imbalance and unsustainable agricultural practices have come to fore. Ironically, a large proportion of the rural community continues to live in regions with poor quality soils and unpredictable rainfall, and remote from agricultural services and markets, deprived of the gains of agricultural revolution. Water harvesting is defined as the process of collecting and concentrating runoff water from a runoff area into a run-on area, where the collected water is either directly applied to the cropping area and stored in the soil profile for immediate use by the crop, i. e. runoff farming, or stored in an on-farm water reservoir for future productive uses, i. . domestic use, livestock watering, aquaculture irrigation. The collected water can also be used for groundwater recharge and storage into the aquifer, i. e. recharge enhancement. Source FAO, 2003. Rainfall failure occurs once every 3 to 5 years and is usually below 50% of the average annual rainfall of the region. During periods of rainfall failure, the groundwater level lowers since fluctuations in the water table levels depend on the rainfall when both surface and groundwater availability becomes critical. Drought begins to prevail and there is a difficulty to cope up with the water demand during this period. Similarly, in some locations or areas water shortage is observed just before the rainy season commences. These two situations can be managed if suitable soil and moisture conservation measures are systematically implemented on a small watershed basis. Watershed development and management implies an integration of technologies within the natural boundary of a drainage area for optimum development of land, water and plant resources, to meet the peoples basic needs in a sustained manner. A watershed is an area from which runoff resulting from precipitation flows past a single point into a large stream, river, lake or pond. Each watershed is an independent hydrological unit. It has become an acceptable unit of planning for optimum use and conservation of soil and water resources. The concept of integrated watershed development refers to the development and management of the resources in the watershed to achieve higher sustainable production without deterioration in the resource base and any ecological imbalances. This concept requires the formulation and implementation of a package of programs with activities for optimum resource use in the watershed without adversely affecting the soil and water base or life supporting system. The concept assumes more importance in the context of planning for sustained development. Watershed development aims at preventing watershed degradation resulting from the interaction of physiographic features. It eliminates unscientific land use, inappropriate cropping patterns and soil erosion, thereby improving and sustaining productivity of resources leading to higher income and living standards for the inhabitants in the watershed area. It, therefore, involves restoration of the ecosystem, protecting and utilizing the locally available resources within a watershed to achieve sustainable development. Water harvesting is a proven technology to increase food security in drought prone areas and helps to erosion control and recharge of ground water for future demand.

Marriage and Happiness essays

Marriage and Happiness essays Do you think that middle-age and older married couples are more or less depressed than unmarried individuals? I have a cousin who is scared of marriage because he fears he will be unhappy. He says that maybe when he is forty years old he will marry a twenty year old girl to pop out a few kids for him. If he was not my cousin, I would not like a person like this by the way he thinks and talks. Everyone should get married one day for many valid reasons. People need love, companionship, a family, and just basically to turn old and gray with. Individuals need a partner in life. It can be hard to find the right person to be with. The divorce rate these days is extremely high. That is something I am scared of, as well as many people out there. Overall, there is more benefit from being married if you think about it. Although a bad marriage can lead to serious cases of depression. An individual handles their life how they want to and are to some extent in control of how things af fect them. Many different external factors in life can lead to happiness or depression among married couples. Depressive symptoms can range from gender differences, to races, and income levels, for instance. Personally, I know I would be able to handle my life in a positive manner with a good, fun-loving, respectable spouse. I would be much more happy and content if I were married and had a family, rather than living alone or with my parents forever, and being able to date numerous people. People really need to have a positive connection with another human being. Depressive symptomatology has been looked at as an individual matter, but social contextual models argue that symptom levels are likely to covey in close relationships. An individualistic model says one persons emotional sate has nothing to do with anothers emotional state. It emphasizes that ones characteristics are affected only because of the self. However, this mod...

A Short Guide to Capitalization

A Short Guide to Capitalization A capital letter is the form of an alphabetical letter (such as A, B, C) used to begin a  proper noun  or the first word in a sentence. A capital letter is an uppercase letter in contrast to lower case. Verb: capitalize. Also known as  majuscule, uppercase, upper-case, block letter, and caps. In classical Greek and Latin writing, only capital letters (also called majuscules) were used. Examples and Observations By the sixth and seventh centuries the various letter forms we now use had been invented . . .. From the ninth century on all writing in the Latin alphabet, in whatever style or hand, used capital and small-letter pairs as we do now.(Thomas A. Sebeok, Current Trends in Linguistics, 1974)A capital is always used for the first letter of a sentence. It is a universal rule. But the same cannot be said for the capitalization of names or proper nouns. Style varies wildly betweenand even withinpublications such as national newspapers and magazines. Apply commonsense rules. All names of people and placesPeter Cook, Paraguay, Piccadilly Circustake capitals. All titles of specific works of artCitizen Kane, the Mona Lisa, Beethovens Fifth Symphony, Anna Kareninatake a capital. Languages and nationalitiesEnglish, the Frenchtake capitals. Institutionsthe Houses of Parliament, the White House, the Anglican Churchtake capitals. Days, months and formally defined periods of historyMonday, February, t he Middle Agestake capitals. . . .Words deriving from proper names usually take a capitalas Christian from Christ and Marxist from Marx. But some such words, known as eponyms, have come into everyday use and no longer take a capital.(Ned Halley, Dictionary of Modern English Grammar. Wordsworth, 2005) She laid the folded newspaper on the counter between us, and my eye caught the words DISASTER, FAILURE and CRASH.(Eva Figes, Nellys Version. Secker Warburg, 1977) Trends in Capitalization I am a poet: I distrust anything that starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (Antjie Krog)Times have changed since the days of medieval manuscripts with elaborate hand-illuminated capital letters, or Victorian documents in which not just proper names, but virtually all nouns, were given initial caps (a Tradition valiantly maintained to this day by Estate Agents). A look through newspaper archives would show greater use of capitals the further back you went. The tendency towards lowercase, which in part reflects a less formal, less deferential society, has been accelerated by the internet: some web companies, and many email users, have dispensed with capitals altogether.(David Marsh and Amelia Hodsdon, Guardian Style, 3rd ed. Guardian Books, 2010)If in doubt use lower case unless it looks absurd.(The Economist Style Guide. Profile Books, 2005) The Lighter Side of Capital Letters He believed in a door. He must find that door. The door was the way to . . . to . . .The Door was The Way.Good.Capital letters were always the best way of dealing with things you didnt have a good answer to.(Douglas Adams, Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency. Pocket Books, 1987) Carol Fisher: This is Scott ffolliott. Newspaperman, same as you. London correspondent. Mr. Haverstock, Mr. ffolliott.Scott ffolliott: With a double f.Johnny Jones: How do you do?Scott ffolliott: How do you do?Johnny Jones: I dont get the double f.Scott ffolliott: Theyre at the beginning, old boy. Both small fs.Johnny Jones: They cant be at the beginning.Scott ffolliott: One of my ancestors had his head chopped off by Henry VIII, and his wife dropped the capital letter to commemorate the occasion. There it is.Johnny Jones: How do you say it, like a stutter?Scott ffolliott: No, just straight fuh.(Laraine Day, George Sanders, and Joel McCrea in Foreign Correspondent, 1940)

Requirement Specification Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Requirement Specification - Case Study Example Due to the increasing requests of people involved in the preparation of question papers, the School is considering the computerization of the process to improve the current system by addressing the issues associated with it, while meeting quality assurance requirements in the preparation of question papers. The Examination and Conferment Unit (ECU) is a department at the Academic Registry of Oxford Brookes University which provides services to the entire university related to examinations, award certificates and conferment of awards, and award ceremonies (Brookes, 2007). The ECU has prepared Guidelines for Examination Paper Preparation and Submission (Appendix 1). At the beginning of each semester, the ECU sends the examination paper template (Appendix 2) to all module leaders in the different academic schools of Brookes, who have an examination at the end of the semester. The template is a Word document which has been laid out to comply with the University's approved format for examination papers. Upon completion of examination paper preparation by the different schools, a camera-ready hard copy of the papers along with additional exam materials such as case studies and formula sheets, should be submitted to the ECU, either by hand or using the secure pouch system. Fiona Parker is the Academic Programmes Administrator at the School of Technology. She is also the designated exam secretary and holder of the secure pouch system at the School. She prepares the TE01 and TE02 forms (Appendix 3,4,5,6) for modules that have examination and modules that only have coursework as assessment, respectively, for distribution to the module leaders at the beginning of the semester and collected together with the papers or coursework schedules. The forms are word documents which work with an excel spreadsheet in a mail merge operation (Appendix 7) which Fiona Parker needs to complete using a tedious manual process (Appendix 8). Generally, a module is taught by more than one member of the teaching staff and because of this, a question paper for a particular module is prepared by more than one member. It is the responsibility of the module leader to put together all the questions prepared by the individual members of the teaching staff. This process is tedious for the module leader as it involves collecting copies of the questions from individual staff members who currently use different editing tools or different formatting. The module leader has to re-work the formatting of the question papers so that it meets the requirements set by the ECU. When the module leaders have completed the initial preparation of question papers and solutions for each module they are responsible for, they complete the sections they are responsible for in the TEO1 and TEO2 forms. The document sets are then passed to the internal checkers in the School of Technology. The internal checkers check the papers, complete the sections they are responsible for in the TEO1 and TEO2 forms and send their comments and suggestions back to the module leaders. The module leaders then disseminate the commented documents to the individual members of the teaching staff who prepared the initial documents for them to make necessary the necessary amendments. The amended documents are then returned to the module leaders who will need to again go through the process of putting together the

International Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

International Marketing - Essay Example Luxottica should promote the concept of individualism through its promotional campaigns. This concept of individualism includes three classes of young generations, namely children, young people and young parents. For every group belonging to this young generation lot, Luxottica has something exclusive to offer in the form of a wide range of its optical products with a blend of local preferences. Thus it can be implied that Luxottica’s product strategy should largely based on the consumer behavior while keeping in view the cultural norms and market conditions prevailing in different countries of the world (Scruton 2007). Price setting Strategies Setting price of a product is determined by many factors and these factors may vary across different regions. Apart from the fact that the manufacturers costs of bringing a product into a useable form plays a decisive role in setting the price of a product, there are many other factors which are not under the control of the manufacturer . First of all, consumer behavior plays a significant and leading role in determining the price of a product. In countries where the income levels of people in general are not high, price plays the most important role in determining the success of a product or sometimes of a business as a whole. Consumers’ preferences for expenditures on any product are not necessarily influenced by its usefulness, quality and branding; the ability to pay for a product and the satisfaction which the use of a product yields are regarded as major factors responsible for the success of a product. Apart from this, the social and cultural norms prevailing in a society have a... This report stresses that considering the market data provided by the case study of Luxottica, it is imperative that franchising the business would lead Luxottica to reduced control over the sales and distribution network. Franchising the business would not only cause ambiguity in the supply chain management but also increases the costs involved in making the product available for the customers. Presenting auctions for franchising and continuous management of franchised business is considered to be a costly initiative by a business. This paper makes a conclusion that the company may look for and implement alternative distribution strategies which offer some new avenues and can attract people from all over the globe. In this regard, it is recommended that the company shall add to its existing distribution channels an online distribution source or platform, form where the company can interact with the whole world through the World Wide Web and this approach will add a complete new dimension in the existing distribution channels for the company. The major benefits of distributing through online platform are that it is cost effective and is able to attract large number of consumers due its omnipresence on the globe. Moreover, the company may find it relatively easy to control its distribution activities through online channels as compared to the existing channels of distributing its products. Thus, online distribution channel can be recommended as an alternative distribution channel for Luxottica.

Comets Essay Example for Free

Comets Essay A comet is a small body, roughly the size of a small town, in the Solar System. It is made up of ice, rock, dust, carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane and more. Some researchers think comets might have originally brought some of the water and organic molecules to Earth that now make up life here. Comets become visible as they near the Sun. The tail of a comet is its most characteristic feature. Round and round a comet goes in its orbit and when it comes into the inner solar system. Each time a comet gets closer to the Sun, the ice on the surface of the nucleus, measuring ten miles or less, begins turning into gas, forming a cloud known as the coma. Radiation from the sun pushes dust particles away from the coma, which can reach 1 million miles wide, forming a dust tail, while charged particles from the sun convert some of the comets gases into ions, forming a stream of volatile materials known as an ion tail. Some tails can reach 100 million miles long. The tail of the comet always points away from the Sun, since they are shaped by sunlight and the solar wind, so that when the comet is receding from the Sun, its tail actually runs before it. Typical comet loses about one tenth of a percent of its mass every time it passes near the Sun. After one thousand passages or so, Comets lose all their ices, leaving behind only an orbiting stream of fragile, inactive objects, meteoric dust, ice, and pebbles, similar to an asteroids. When Earth, in its annual journey around the Sun, passes through one of these dusty tracks, we are treated to a meteor shower. For centuries, scientists thought comets traveled in the Earths atmosphere, but in 1577, observations made by Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe revealed they actually traveled far beyond the moon. Isaac Newton later discovered that comets move in elliptical, oval-shaped orbits around the Sun, and correctly predicted that they could return again and again. Throughout history comets inspired both wonder and fear. They were known as hairy stars resembling fiery swords that appeared unpredictably in the sky. Often, comets seemed to be omens of doom. The most ancient known mythology, the Babylonian â€Å"Epic of Gilgamesh,† described fire, brimstone, and flood with the arrival of a comet. (Goldman, 2009) Chinese astronomers kept extensive records on comets for centuries, including illustrations, observations and celestial positions of Halleys Comet going back to at least 240 BC; historic archives that have proven valuable resources for later astronomers. A few dozen comets are discovered annually by astronomers with telescopes or on photographic plates. Comets are usually named after their discoverer, and/or has spacecraft missions incorporated into their name. Most Comets are too faint or small to be seen without a telescope. Only every few years does a comet grow bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. A highly visible comet was Hale-Bopp, which came within 122 million miles of Earth in 1997. Its unusually large nucleus gave off a great deal of dust and gas, roughly 18 to 25 miles across, appeared bright to the naked eye. Our solar system is surrounded by a sphere, or cocoon, of cold, dark comets called the Oort Cloud, far beyond the orbit of Pluto, that reaches halfway to the nearest stars. Most Comets are believed to inhabit The Oort Cloud, however it has never been observed directly; but it must exist to account for the comets that arrive in our vicinity from enormous distances. (Dickinson, 1999). The Kuiper Belt, was discovered in an attempt to locate the non-existent tenth planet, planet X. The Kuiper belt was named after Gerard Kuiper an astronomer who predicted its existence in 1951. The Kuiper belt is a belt of comets. The first of these comets was picked up in 1992 during a deliberate search by astronomers. It is a chunk of primordial ice about 200 kilometers in diameter orbiting the Sun at 1 ? imes Neptune’s distance. In the years since the discovery, more than 100 similar sized objects have been found in orbits outside Neptune’s path. This is known as Trans-Neptunian Objects, (TNO). These giant cosmic ice balls are left over from the formation of the solar system. There are millions of comets six miles in diameter and thousands measuring a few do zen kilometers across, that form the Kuiper Belt. They are short-period comets. They take less than 200 years to orbit the sun, and in many cases their appearance is predictable because they have passed by before. Short period comets come around with steady regularity. Halleys Comet is likely the most famous short period comet in the world; it becomes visible to the naked eye on its return, every seventy-six years. Its last visit near Earth was in 1986. At that time five spacecraft flew past it, attaining extraordinary information, coming close enough to study its nucleus which is normally concealed by the comets coma. The potato-shaped, nine mile long contains equal part ice and dust, with about 80 percent of the ice made of water, and about 15 percent of it consisting of frozen carbon monoxide. Researchers believe other comets are chemically similar to Halleys Comet. The Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, discovered by Gene Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy. March 25, 1993 (Raymo, 2001). This short-periodic comet was the comet of the Great Comet Crash of 1994. The comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided spectacularly with Jupiter in 1994, with the giant planets gravitational pull ripping the comet apart for at least 21 visible impacts. The largest collision created a fireball that rose about 1,800 miles (3,000 km) above the Jovian cloud tops as well as a giant dark spot more than 7,460 miles (12,000 km) across, about the size of the Earth. The Hubble Space Telescope, orbiting 375 miles above our planet’s surface, (Rosselli, 1998) has shown the effects of the comet smashing into the surface of Jupiter with an explosive power of 100 million megatons, which was the most violent event ever witnessed in the solar system. Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp are long-period comets. These Oort Cloud comets have orbital periods of thousands or millions of years. Their appearance is unpredictable. They follow long cigar shaped trajectories that take them far out beyond Pluto. They move like wave, up and down. At the cold, black tops of their curves, far from the Sun they proceed with a laborious leisureliness, taking as long as 30 million years to complete one trip around the sun. They gather speed as they fall toward the inner solar system, moving at its fastest, it punches around the Sun, then they slow again as they climb back to the tops of their trajectory. A potentially bright Oort cloud might be discovered at any time, typically somewhere near the orbit of Jupiter on its way center stage in the inner solar system. The brightest apparitions occur when a comet passes near Earth on its inward or outward journey. A comet is not like anything anyone has seen before. It is a starkly fascinating, and amazing visual experience, evoking passions of fear, anxiety, admiration, wonder, and bewilderment to the enlightened and unenlightened observer. Comets, especially those that are bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, continue to fascinate the Earth’s population. With 2013 being deemed â€Å"Year of The Comet,† (Barnett, 2013), astronomers, scientist, and watchers of all kinds can look forward to a rare treat; two visible comets, Pan- STARRS (3/12/13) ISON (11/28/13), in one year!

Fire, Knowlege and Progresses Relationship Essay -- Literary Analysis,

In the world, there are a mix of successful countries and unsuccessful countries. However, the distinction between the two depends on the point of view. Primarily, it depends on what one calls success. Success is the progress the country has made. Progress is a mix of several things, however. It is how the people have gotten happier. How they have gotten wealthier. How the people have been educated and the jobs they are in compared to before. It is how the society has changed. When people look at the unsuccessful countries that have not progressed, they look to find the reason. Many times they find the wrong reason. They blame it on little side reasons that while being part of the problem are not the entire cause. Most of the times, the true reason is ignorance and a lack of quality knowledge. If not for being misinformed, many countries would be able to change. The people who have been kept in the dark could rebel. The true statistics and issues would be revealed and be fixed becau se people know what they are. The dystopia Bradbury creates in Fahrenheit 451 is no different. They have been kept ignorant of the issues and therefore have no idea how to fix it. This book shows the importance of how knowledge is intertwined with progress and how with one stray fire; it could all be torn down. Bradbury uses fire as a symbol of destructive entertainment to emphasize the connection between knowledge and progress. In Fahrenheit 451, fire is constantly lurking nearby, ready to destroy and entertain. As Montag points out, â€Å"The world was full of burning of all types and sizes.†(141). Yet, though fire could be used for good, they put it to the bad use of destructive entertainment. Their false happiness depends on this. They must watch an... ...hey have not been trained to think so they will not be able to solve problems. They have never been educated. The fire controls them and restrains them from reaching quality information by burning it and scaring them out of trying to find it. They give the fire a lot of power over them by allowing it to shape them and by using it as entertainment. Before giving something a try, they already decide against it because of fear of the firemen who are very important in this society. This society’s problem is that it keeps the people ignorant with fire. Many places also have the problem of ignorance. If someone does not know what the problem is, how are they supposed to fix it? If they would not even know how to fix the problem, even if they could find it, the people would also not be able to fix it. In this novel, the connection between knowledge and progress is shown.