Sisterhood Method to Calculate Maternal Deaths

Sisterhood Method to Calculate Maternal Deaths

Wind energy

Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using: wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, wind pumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines which are connected to the electric power transmission network. Offshore wind farms can harness more frequent and powerful winds than are available to land-based installations and have less visual impact on the landscape but construction costs are considerably higher.Small onshore wind facilities are used to provide electricity to isolated locations and utility companies increasingly buy back surplus electricity produced by small domestic wind turbines. Although very consistent from year to year, wind power has significant variation over shorter timescales. The intermittency of wind seldom creates problems when used to supply up to 20% of total electricity demand, but as the proportion incre ases, a need to upgrade the grid, and a lowered ability to supplant conventional production can occur.Power management techniques such as having excess capacity storage, dispatch able backing supplies (usually natural gas), storage such as pumped-storage hydroelectricity, exporting and importing power to neighboring areas or reducing demand when wind production is low, can greatly mitigate these problems. Wind power, as an alternative to fossil fuels, is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, produces no greenhouse gas emissions during operation and uses little land Any effects on the environment are generally less problematic than those from other power sources.As of 2010 wind energy production was over 2. 5% of worldwide power, growing at more than 25% per annum. The overall cost per unit of energy produced is similar to the cost for new coal and natural gas installations. Although wind power is a popular form of energy generation, the construction of wind farms is not u niversally welcomed. Fossil fuels are subsidized by many governments, and wind power and other forms of renewable energy are also often subsidized. For example a 2009 study by the Environmental Law Institute assessed the size and structure of U. S. energy subsidies over the 2002–2008 periods.The study estimated that subsidies to fossil-fuel based sources amounted to approximately $72 billion over this period and subsidies to renewable fuel sources totaled $29 billion. In the United States, the federal government has paid US$74 billion for energy subsidies to support R&D for nuclear power ($50 billion) and fossil fuels ($24 billion) from 1973 to 2003. (Energy subsidies are measures that keep prices for consumers below market levels or for producers above market levels, or reduce costs) During this same timeframe, renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency received a total of US$26 billion.It has been suggested that a subsidy shift would help to level the playing field and support growing energy sectors, namely solar power, wind power, and biofuels. History shows that no energy sector was developed without subsidies. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) (2011) energy subsidies artificially lower the price of energy paid by consumers, raise the price received by producers or lower the cost of production. â€Å"Fossil fuels subsidies costs generally outweigh the benefits.Subsidies to renewables and low-carbon energy technologies can bring long-term economic and environmental benefits†. In November 2011, an IEA report entitled Deploying Renewables 2011 said â€Å"subsidies in green energy technologies that were not yet competitive are justified in order to give an incentive to investing into technologies with clear environmental and energy security benefits†. The IEA's report disagreed with claims that renewable energy technologies are only viable through costly subsidies and not able to produce energy reliably to meet de mand.In the US, the wind power industry has recently increased its lobbying efforts considerably, spending about $5 million in 2009 after years of relative obscurity in Washington. By comparison, the US nuclear industry alone spent over $650 million on its lobbying efforts and campaign contributions during a single ten year period ending in 2008. Following the 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents, Germany's federal government is working on a new plan for increasing energy efficiency and renewable energy commercialization, with a particular focus on offshore wind farms.Under the plan large wind turbines will be erected far away from the coastlines, where the wind blows more consistently than it does on land, and where the enormous turbines won't bother the inhabitants. The plan aims to decrease Germany's dependence on energy derived from coal and nuclear power plants. Commenting on the EU's 2020 renewable energy target, Economist, Professor Dieter Helm, is critical of how the costs of win d power are cited by lobbyists. Helm also says that the problem of intermittent supply will probably lead to another dash-for-gas or dash-for-coal inEurope, possibly with a negative impact on energy security. A House of Lords Select Committee report (2008) on renewable energy in the UK reported a â€Å"concern over the prospective role of wind generated and other intermittent sources of electricity in the UK, in the absence of a break-through in electricity storage technology or the integration of the UK grid with that of continental Europe. Many wind power companies work with local communities to reduce environmental and other concerns associated with particular wind farms. In other cases there is direct community ownership of wind farm projects.Appropriate government consultation, planning and approval procedures also help to minimize environmental risks. Some may still object to wind farms but, according to The Australia Institute, their concerns should be weighed against the ne ed to address the threats posed by climate change and the opinions of the broader community. In America, wind projects are reported to boost local tax bases, helping to pay for schools, roads and hospitals. Wind projects also revitalize the economy of rural communities by providing steady income to farmers and other landowners.In the UK, both the National Trust and the Campaign to Protect Rural England have expressed concerns about the effects on the rural landscape caused by inappropriately sited wind turbines and wind farms. Some wind farms have become tourist attractions. The White lee Wind Farm Visitor Centre has an exhibition room, a learning hub, a cafe with a viewing deck and also a shop. It is run by the Glasgow Science Centre. In Denmark, a loss-of-value scheme gives people the right to claim compensation for loss of value of their property if it is caused by proximity to a wind turbine.The loss must be at least 1% of the property’s value. There have been numerous re ports of those living close to wind turbines suffering adverse health effects from noise, vibration and shadow flicker, and in 2009 New York Pediatrician, Dr. Nina Pierpont, claimed to have identified an effect for which she coined the term â€Å"Wind Turbine Syndrome†. An industry commissioned review of the current research on the possible health effects of wind turbine noise and vibration reported in 2010 that, â€Å"the sound (including sub audible sound) is not unique, and does not pose a risk to human health.Although the sound may cause ‘annoyance’ for some people, this in itself is not an adverse health effect. † The findings of the report have, however, been questioned on a number of grounds including; that the reviewing group did not include an epidemiologist, usually a given for assessing potential environmental health hazards, and that there was no clear description of the methods the researchers used to search for available research, nor how the y rated the quality of the research. In October 2010 The Society for Wind Vigilance held an international symposium concerning the subject.A study on wind farm noise published in 2012 by The US state of Massachusetts reported that people are annoyed by sound from wind turbines at far lower sound levels than they are by noises from railroads, aircraft, or road traffic. The study found the percentage of respondents who found noise levels highly annoying rose quickly as sound levels increased above about 37dbA (about the level of a conversation). Wind Power Is A very good resource for energy I think that everybody should use win power in the future

Is the Ecological Crisis the Human Rights Concern of the Century Essay

The ecological crisis has now become an important topic throughout the years. Even so, toward the end of the last century, the issues of such crises became a focal talking point of governments, international organisations and scholars. This most likely is, as Leigh (2005) discusses, an increasing acceptance that such ecological disasters affecting mankind has been one of â€Å"the most critical turning points† that the world has ever encountered. Such crises are experienced when our environment is modified in ways which undermine our continued existence. As the environment and its ecosystems are in a constant state of being damaged, its quality is vastly ruined and this has major effects on the lives that are dependent on it. Magdoff and Foster (2011) suggest that for the ecological crisis to be understood, it must be looked at in the sense of the boundaries of the planet. They go on to indicate that ultimately the Earth has several thresholds which it must remain in in order to preserve the gentle conditions that the Earth has experienced in the past century. These thresholds include loss of biodiversity, climate change, a depleting ozone layer, world-wide freshwater and chemical pollution. Unfortunately, the planet has already passed two of these, including loss of biodiversity and climate change due to our damaging activities that cause environmental disparities. Until recently, the ecological crisis and its subsequent effects have been discussed mainly in the scientific disciplines as merely an environmental issue. It has also been made into an economic concern. However, it is now more than ever in the 21st century being debated and referred to as a subject for human rights. This essay seeks to examine the issue of the impact of the ecological crisis, its human rights implications, and how it has come to be considered the human rights concern of the century. The Ecological Crisis The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st has seen a remarkable increase in the number of environmental catastrophes that the Earth has experienced. These disasters have not been just limited to one eographic region but they have affected nearly every single part of the planet. Some have included climate change, which in turn has been affected by the greenhouse effect and gases ; the advent of peak oil; loss of biodiversity and therefore diminished quantities and quality of food supplies; plus deforestation, chemical pollution and oil spills. These in turn have had a knock-on effect on the way of living for man and caused such issues as rising sea levels, floods, reduced food resources, droughts, and polluted air and water supply. As mentioned, the Earth’s threshold for climate change and biodiversity loss has been passed and this has already been causing irreparable harm to the planet’s ecosystems and the environment. It is still possible, however, to stop such effects from permanent harm to the environment, which is why the ecological crisis has become such an important matter for discussion today. Climate Change â€Å"Of all the environmental issues that have emerged in the past decades, global climate change has been the most serious and most difficult to manage† (Dessler and Parson, 2006). Like with the above quote, it is thought by many scientists and scholars that climate change is and will be the biggest threat to the environment mainly because of its potential to bring about such brutal destruction. Oxfam International (2008) stated that some of the 23 richest countries in the world (comprising Canada, Australia and USA) where just fourteen percent of the entire world population inhabits, produced almost sixty percent of the planet’s carbon emissions since the 1800s. The Earth’s climate is changing. In fact, it has always been varying from time to time. However, the degree of change is now the big worry. The Great Warming (2006) defines climate change as an alteration in the â€Å"long-term climate† of a particular area. It is further stated that humans contribute to this climate change by discharging greenhouse gases and sprays up into the atmosphere while also modifying the land we live on. Dessler and Parson (2006) debate the forecasts for climate change in the 21st century are more or less unclear, nonetheless, this uncertainty can work either way in that the climate may increase or decrease. The prospect of such unknowns makes this question a lot graver. Many of the activities that individuals carry out on a daily basis has contributed significantly to the greenhouse effect, the depletion of the ozone layer, and therefore climate change. As The Great Warming (2006) put it, the inhabitants of the Earth are constantly burning fossil fuels for heating of houses, for production of electricity and to run machines and vehicles. All of these activities have been adding to the warming effect on the atmosphere. The UNDP (2007) report on fighting climate change established that since the start of the industrial age, the temperature of the Earth has risen by about 0. 7 degrees Celsius and this increase seems to be speeding up with time. The report went further in determining that if a threshold of 2oC is broken, we hazard the idea of greater irreparable damage to the environment. Magdoff and Foster (2011) quotes the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stating that by the end of the century in 2100, the most probable temperature increase worldwide will be in the 2. to 4. 6oC range. This, we can see, is far higher than the previously mentioned threshold of 2oC, and as the authors mention, is a major cause for concern and panic. Such drastic climate change can ultimately lead to ice caps melting, sea levels rising, droughts, forced migration of peoples, a reduction in food produce, and danger to coastal regions. This can lead to reduced health and welfare of the population while also causing serious issues with atmospheric pollution. Other forms of the Ecological Crisis Climate change has not been the only crisis the environment has faced. There has also been widespread degradation with other human-driven activities. Goodhart (2009) explains that the ecosystem has been affected by severe exhaustion of its resources. This includes deforestation which has led to erosion and land slippage and thus pushed people out of their habitat. Oils spills have been a major source of concern, according to Goodhart, which has threatened the survival of certain oceanic species that are a vital source of food for man. The ecological crisis will affect the entire world population if nothing is done to stop the effects of all these contributory factors. This has led international organisations such as the United Nations (UN) to establish various agencies and protocols that will guide international actors in dealing with the crisis. These include the IPCC, as well as the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The UN has also held several conferences over the years to tackle the problems including the Earth Summit in Brazil and the United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC) . As will be seen in the next section, some of these mechanisms have begun placing more emphasis on and framing the environmental issues as human rights concerns. Relationship between the Ecological Crisis and Human Rights â€Å"As the world marks the 60th anniversary of the UDHR, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay points out that a wide range of universally recognized rights including food, life, water and adequate housing are under a direct threat as a result of climate change† (OHCHR, 2008a). The destruction of the environment and its consequent effects on humans is leading to grave human rights concerns. In its resolution on climate change, the UN Human Rights Council stated their concern for climate change posing a direct danger to communities in the world, further suggesting that this ecological crisis has consequences for the â€Å"full enjoyment of human rights† (HRC, 2008) . Framing of the issues in human rights terms has been a very useful tool for creating greater awareness of its impacts and ensuring that the subject reaches new actors and activists, ultimately influencing the process for the better. Human rights are now frequently referred to as â€Å"universal and indivisible†. For this reason, Hawkins (2010) suggests that every human being is â€Å"entitled to every basic right by virtue of their humanity†. As climate change is possibly the biggest ecological concern of late, many scholars refer to it the most when focusing on the human rights implications. However, there are still very deep human rights concerns for the other contributors to the crisis. Depledge (2007) mentioned that there are, at present, no organisations such as the UN that blatantly suggests a right to a healthy environment. Nevertheless, he proposes that the human right to health covered under the UDHR directly implies a link to the environment. This is because the way in which the environment is kept can and does affect the security of people. Therefore, we see truth in Commissioner Navi Pillay’s words in mentioning these rights. Hunter (2009,p. 7) also suggests that climate change can have an impact on the right to self-determination. One example of the effect of the crisis on this right is that of the Inuit people of Alaska who in 2005 submitted a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights suggesting that their â€Å"way of life† was being hindered by climate change which in turn influences their continued existence and culture. Climate change, if continued on its current path will increasingly raise the Earth’s temperature. This will further affect the water sources, our food, and cause major disease outbreaks. These activities are bound to result in significant human rights violations under the various charters and treaties. Firstly, the right to health will see a drastic rise of malnutrition in children. There will also be a threat of major increases in droughts and flooding around the world (Oxfam, 2008). Another right that needs to be preserved during this process is the all-important right to life and security. Article 3 of the UDHR asks for the â€Å"right to life, liberty and security of person†. These rights are in serious danger of being breached from the issues of the ecological crisis. Goodhart (2009) maintains that the depletion of environmental resources like clean water and oil has â€Å"been a cause of violent conflict in several areas around the world† and this is of extreme distress because of the occurrence of, say, peak oil. Climate change can greatly affect the security of people around the world. As a result of the rising sea levels, the increased temperature and therefore the damage to land, inhabitants of the Earth will experience more flooding, droughts and fires, heat waves and higher occurrence of storms. All of these can ultimately lead to death and an increase in numbers. Another important right affected by this crisis has been the right to food as stipulated in Article 11(1) of the ICESCR . Current trends are not a good sign for people’s right to food under this treaty. Oxfam (2008) suggests that any further warming of the planet is bound to expose fifty million more people to hunger by the year 2020. Within another 30 years in 2050, that number could vastly increase to 132 million. These are extremely high numbers that would be detrimental to the survival of many regions and populations. The Oxfam report cites the case of Africa, where land for cultivation is being reduced by climate change causing the season for growing crop to decrease thereby producing less crop for food. The International Council on Human Rights Policy (ICHRP) categorically mentions that climate change creates violations of human rights due to the constant harm that we are inflicting on the environment (ICHRP, 2008). The most serious effects of the ecological crisis will usually and unfortunately be experienced by the people whose rights and protections are currently not being respected and so occurrences like climate change, tar sands, and pollution will have a greater impact on the more disregarded populations. This includes the poor and usually indigenous peoples around the world. As Havermann (2009) put it, the indigenous peoples around the world are some of those that are most susceptible to these crises while being the ones who have the smallest responsibility for them. For example, the oil and gas expansion by multinational corporations around the world is having severe effects on climate change and the environment, leading on to issues for human rights particularly with indigenous peoples. As Karliner (1991) noted, oil and its excavation has an overwhelmingly negative effect on the economic stability of these groups. Also a huge concern, as a result, is their health which tends to suffer from these activities. The problems faced by many countries with deforestation have also been exacerbating the situation for the realisation of human rights around the world. Many of the forests are disappearing at an alarming rate. The boomerang effect is thus a reduction in the all-important biodiversity that the forests contain and that is necessary for the continued livelihood and survival of those dependent on it. This includes, according to ICHRP (2008), the over fifty million tribal inhabitants of forests around the globe who are constantly affected with their food safety harshly curtailed. If the present rates at which such deforestation and the previously mentioned rises of climate change, oil spills and pollution continue, it is thought that a majority of the rainforests on the Earth will have vanished even before the 21st century has ended. Concern of the Century? Many environmentalists and human rights defenders have framed the ecological crisis as one with a human rights dimension. This is because most see it now as a serious inhibitor to development, to the daily living of man and to fulfilling the rights that have been laid out in the various international instruments. The ecological crisis has seen a large number of environmental problems over the years and its effects are now being debated fiercely on the world stage. Some world leaders, scientists and the general population are all trying to engage in finding solutions to the problem while others still question and underestimate the gravity of the phenomenon. The issue has become a major concern, not just for the planet physically, but also in a human rights context because the ecological crisis single-handedly affects a range of different human rights as seen above. In many instances, its effects can breach more rights than some of the other current rights violators. In addition, while most abuses of human rights can generally be halted voluntarily, if these environmental problems are allowed to linger untreated then at some point in time the destruction of the environment would have become irreversible. This in turn would result in more human rights violations. As Hawkins (2010) argues, the resources of the planet are limited and so to continue with the existing trend will place humanity in peril. Also, the atmosphere cannot distinguish between the greenhouse gases that affect climate change by the region it comes from (UNDP, 2007). Climate change, for example, is non-discriminatory and unlike other rights violations being perpetrated around the world, it can affect just about anyone. This is why such a huge international human rights advocacy process has now been implemented. In a statement in 2007, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon referred to climate change as â€Å"the greatest emerging humanitarian challenge of our time† which is â€Å"menacing the whole human family†. As the UNFCCC acknowledged in the framework, the universal reach of the effects of climate change requires the â€Å"widest possible co-operation from all countries† (UNFCCC, 1992). It is evident that the human rights implications of the ecological crisis is a great concern for many people especially in the recent efforts by NGOs to publicise the matter, while a number of measures have been put in place by international organisations such as the UN to tackle the problems – through summits, conferences and protocols like the Kyoto protocol. In 2008, a resolution was passed by the Organisation of American States (OAS) on human rights and climate change (ICHRP, 2008). The commitments set forth in the 1997 Kyoto protocol are soon to end in 2012. Neglecting to meet these obligations will cause us to reach even closer to further crisis. In December 2011, Canada officially pulled out of its commitments to the protocol (Carrington and Vaughan, 2011). The backlash and criticism from world leaders and actors was astounding and this showed the level that the ecological crisis and its implications for human life have reached in this century. Conclusion Going forward without confronting this global challenge that is the ecological crisis with the seriousness that it deserves will result in countless human rights violations around the globe. The climate change, deforestation, oil spills and rising sea levels will cause a massive increase in the destruction of habitats, reduced water supply, island and coastal regions vanishing, and greater health concerns. These in turn are destabilizing many peoples’ rights to food, health, security, life and livelihood. It is imperative that the principles and norms of human rights are continuously applied to these crises so as to halt the irreparable destruction of the environment and the future of humankind. As noted by the UNDP (2007), the 20th century saw leadership disasters resulting in two world wars in which masses of people suffered. In this the 21st century, the destructive nature of the ecological crisis has become the new and preventable disaster.

Thematic Elements of One is One and All Alone by Nicholas...

From the repertoire of short stories available to form 2 students, this paper will select a piece written by Nicholas Fisk, entitled One is One and All Alone. The story is about Trish, the main protagonist, living on a spaceship bound for Trion. There were no other adolescence of her peer but there were her father and several other adults on deck maintaining the spaceship. Trish got lonely pretty quick and decided to create a clone of herself to accompany her lonely journey to Trion. At first it was all butterflies and rainbows but later things got ugly and lead to a traged where Trish was thrown out of the spaceship by her clone, Clo. In the end, Clo enjoyed living her new life as Trish without being noticed by her Dad. The central†¦show more content†¦Made popular by Carter and Long in 1991 in their book, Teaching Literature, this personal growth model is aimed at helping students to achieve an engagement with the reading of literary texts (Carter and Long, 1991). Why does this paper select the personal growth model as the model of choice in teaching the short story One is One and All Alone? It is because the ultimate goal of teaching a literary text or literature itself is not for examination purposes. It is larger than that. It is to help the students assimilate the lessons learned or the messages implied from any literary texts into their daily life, especially later when they are old enough to make decisions on their own. Carter and Long (1991) suggested that the teacher should be able to impart a lasting pleasure in the students upon reading literary texts and could help them achieve a deep satisfaction in a continuing growth of understanding. Besides that, personal growth model is more student centered (Carter and Long,1991). The overall aim is the ability to motivate the students to read by relating the themes and topics depicted in a literary text to his or her own personal experience. Therefore, the theme of friendship and making friends are very relatable towards students at that particular stage in life. They should be able to extract the positive message implied on the