Ethical And Environmental Factors Essay Example for Free

Ethical And Environmental Factors Essay The state of Belina is situated in the sub-Saharan region. The countries in the sub-Saharan region have suffered a lot for many years. Most African countries in the sub-Saharan parts have been depicted to be suffering heavily due to the low industrialization level in the region. The transformation of country’s economics together with the changes of living standards of the people begin with education, which is brings about technology changes. Education in the region has been low with just most people attaining the elementary education. There are a few elites with higher education whom the state hope would transform their states. (Williams, 2004. pp 95) The governments of the sub-Saharan states have encouraged their investors by offering them favoring production and investment terms. As the past investment reveals, the investments which have been conducted in the African countries has adversely affected them. There is unfathomable damage and disadvantages which have been created as result of industrial development within many African states. This ranges from the high rates of there natural resource exploitation as well as human labor exploitations to the adverse environmental changes they have implicated. Davidson, 1992, pp402) Despite all the investment made within the sub-Saharan countries, energy investment has received low investors. Due to the low energy production in the region the majority of the people in the region are believed to be subjected to abject poverty. As the people within the region suffer a lot, the energy scarcity has contributed to the low economic growth. Introduction The energy demand has eminently risen in many countries allover the globe over the mid and the last century. This has been as result of rapid developments in the industrial sector as well as in the revolution in technology. Besides this industrialization factor, the state population has also increased several folds. The state populations have been increasing in high rate, thus it has multiplied more than 4 times between 1985 and 2005. The energy demand has increased twelve times within this particular period. This has lead to the government and other individuals to embark on more resources for energy. This indicates the important aspect the country men leaders attaches to the energy production. The people from the sub-Saharan countries such as the belina community should be cautious of the environmental impact that any industrial development might have in there livelihoods. Many people have developed technologically leading to industrialization, but the development which has been done also turned out as draw backs to future generations. The American and the United Kingdom states such as Germany and the Japan are such developed countries which are currently savaging from such development. This is because any technology which is introduced within the state should perpetually yield positive more advantages than its disadvantages. (Munasinghe, 2005, pp 35-48) The effects of energy productions plants are similar to those of other processing and manufacturing plants. While the industrialized countries are savaging from great environmental pollution, there has been campaigns on environmental control. The impacts of environmental pollutions are globally felt. The energy producer companies and the consumers companies of such energies have both been major contributors to the scourge felt. As the effects of global warming are being felt, the sub-Saharan countries seem to be in worse hit. This is because global warming has affected the good climatic conditions under which they have thrived in economics means. This climatic change has been associated with the industrialized countries of which most of them are much far from the continent. Due to the above consideration, the government of belina has an obligation of considering such campaigns of eliminating and discarding the energy companies interested in investments that has got inadequate pollution control measures. For this reason, the government has to view those companies having the utilization of old traditional methods as environmentally unfriendly and also some of those modern technology methods which are not renewable. Energy sources and their effects The old traditional energy sources have greatly led to the advancement of our production. They have been credited for they have enabled men to the discoveries which were fundamental for high productions. However, this old traditional methods of energy sources have now created another milestone of environmental clean up. The major traditional energy sources which are available range from the fossils to wood and to some extent the reactive elements used in the nuclear powers. These have continued for long being in use, and even today, they form ninety percent of the energy produced and consumed world wide. The application of energy resources such as coal, natural gas, petroleum products as well as uranium have for long been used. These are all non-renewable sources which have high risk of depletion besides high hazards to the environment and the people handling them. The fossils fuels have only been of continued used initially as they were plentiful and inexpensive. However, these advantages are no longer valuable as there are other means for which energy has been produced cheaply and with consistency. Usually, the consumption of these substances and their products has now been a major risk to the country consuming them. The consumption of these substances has generated numerous air pollutants and other air by-products which have lead to global climatic changes. Coal as energy resources take millions of years to be formed. Despite this, it is historically disputed as a threat to the miners/ workforce and also as an environmental hazard. While petroleum has served for long in the transportation systems and other industrial sectors like manufacturing of plastic and synthetic fabric, it has also posed greater dangers to the environment of our people. The spillage which may occur within the seas and rivers during its transportation to the power plants creates a lot of stress and tension to the environment. This significantly destroys our rivers, seas and marines live, hence the whole aquatic live. This not only affects the water ecosystems but they also leading to endangering the human life through food chain systems. The natural gas products are also enormously boosting both agricultural production and our health through their application in the medical systems. Although the natural gas seems to contribute much towards environmental conservation, the methane gas has got enormous effects which relates to the greenhouse effects. (Hall and Mao, 1994, pp 234) The non-renewable fossil energy sources are indiscriminately disastrous to the environment. The extraction of these fossils causes many changes to the soil structures hence causes disturbances to the soil. Apart from affecting the soil and its inhabitants, the method of extraction causes disturbances in the water systems, which my lead to diversion of the water ways making a particular region to experience unexpected dryness water scarcity while other part enjoys plenty of water availability. Vegetation and other significant resources are not spared either and this perhaps affects the whole ecosystem of the region which may act as tourism attraction centre. The twentieth century has endeavored to utilize the technology advances on combating with the problem of limited energy. Undoubtedly the discovery of the nuclear energy was a period of great hope to the world. Many individuals thought that nuclear energies would save the world from its limited natural resources as elements are quite abundant. The believed results turned out as unfulfilling very soon. Just after the introductory of this energy production technique, numerous fearful cases were reported allover the world. As with the Japanese case, many countries were apprehended with awesome fear as the enormous disaster left behind with the prolong killing of people. As well known, any excess without control is dangerous. Due to excess energy that is generated, the nuclear energy mistakes left thousands of the Japanese killed and many others injured. The state is also suffering from this long historical happening even after heavily assistance to curb the radiation effects. Many are born disabled due to affected human molding factors. The non-renewable based companies may thus find no way of solving the Belina problem of energy crisis. (Ministry of Water, Energy and Mining, 1988, pp 16) The struggle for the belina energy shortage takes the alternative energy sources. This adopts the issues of renewable energy sources. The Belina is positioned within the advantageous positions of the world. The fact that Belina lies in the sub-Saharan region; there is an immeasurable advantages over other countries which lies in the far ends of the artic and Antarctic of the globe. Being in the sub-Saharan region, it has the full advantage of utilizing the major world energy sources which is believed as the sun. The state does not have to succumb to the developed states demands on favors which will bring them more future life uncertainty. However, the country would need to tap the solar energy which is availed for twelve plus hour in a day. The use of this energy has not only been praised for its natural occurrence but it has been environmentally friendly. It is the best natural occurring clean energy in spites of its limited amounts that depend on the intensity of the sun. Furthermore, solar plant installation clears only a minute piece of land affecting a few vegetation cover. (World Bank, 1989, pp 23) Windmills have transformed the lives of many people living in the sub-Saharan and sub-Saharan states. Windmill energy production is thus a rapidly growing energy sources, this is thriving well in places where wind is freely blowing such as the ones experienced in the Belina. The wind blowing along the ridges and others part are potentially trapping position of energy to the industries. This would mitigate the lives of the communities by enhancing economic growths while maintaining the low effects which are short lived such as vegetation clearing on the wind pathways. Although, this may affect the country economy, it is anticipated the most hit sector is the tourism which depend on birds as their attraction means. The killing of such birds by the blades of turbines is quite minimal as compared to the energy non-renewable sources (Ministry of Water, Energy and Mining, 1988, pp 16) As the country come to the culmination of industrialization leading it to the level of developed state, the urban centre would be highly populated more than the cities are packed now. This will lead to an unimaginable sanitary state of the city environment. The living places of the people are now ravaged and littered with garbage from fruit refuse and other organic plant litters. This is making the people to live barely struggling to breathe for pure oxygen. This poses great threat of health hazards to the people. The chances of endemic and epidemic are now in the verge of being rampant in the region. But, with the modern technology, the people in the cities and other metropolitan can be saved with the utilization of the refuse both for the energy production and for economic agricultural production through soils enrichment. It will be a prime reason for not investing on others energy forms while refuse is indirectly and directly disseminating diseases to the population of the nation (Johansson, 1993, pp 96-118) The investment in bio-fuel and other biomass degradable materials has lead to the production of products such as gasohol, gasoline and many other products. The products have been a means of saving the countries from the energy crisis which is associated to the over dependency on non-renewable energy sources. Apart from their application by other states as energy alternative, they have an impact on the maintenance of stable prices of the products from the factories, making the products affordable to the consumers in poverty stricken states such as those in the sub-Saharan regions. (Sokona, 2002, pp 145) Conclusion The energy crisis and shortage to countries in the sub-Saharan region has contributed to the persistence of great suffering of the people due to poverty high level. However, the investment on energy production to solve the problem should be a careful process that does not impact adversely both in the environmental factors as well as in the ethical factors. The traditional energy sources have been major contributors to the worse economic conditions of the people in the sub-Saharan states. This can thus be altered by the adaptation of the energy production methods which are renewable. References: Davidson O. (1992): Energy Issues in Sub-Saharan Africa: Annual Review of Energy and Environment Vol. 17 pp401-403. Hall, D. and Mao, Y. (1994): Biomass and Coal in Africa. London Johansson, T. et al (1993): Renewable Energy:. Island Press Ministry of Water, Energy and Mining, (1988): Lesotho Energy Master Plan: GTZ and Department of Energy World Bank, (1989) Sub-Saharan Africa From Crisis to Sustainable Growth: The World Bank. Williams, J. (2004). Sustainable development in Africa: is the climate right? IRI Technical Report Munasinghe, M. (2005). Primer on climate change and sustainable development: Cambridge University Press. Sokona, Y. (2002) Think bigger, act faster: a new sustainable energy path for African development: University of Cape

Stages of Criminal Trial Essay Example for Free

Stages of Criminal Trial Essay There are eight stages in a Criminal Trial, the trial initiation, jury selection, openings statements, presentation of evidence, closing arguments, judge’s charge to the jury, jury deliberations and the verdict. In this essay I will focus on the jury selection stage. A criminal petit jury is very important in a trial. The jury is responsible for deciding whether a defendant committed the crime as charged. In a criminal trial there are usually 12 members in a jury. The jury selection is conducted by both the prosecution and the defense attorneys. An examination process called voir dire is performed on each potential juror, to ensure any unbiased or preconceived notions of guilt or innocence doesn’t exist. Any person desiring or summoned by a judge to sit on the panel must meet certain qualifications. An individual must be 18 years of age, be a citizen, live in the judicial area for one year, and speak English, no mental or physical conditions or any felony charges. Certain people are excused from juror duty; armed forces, professional fire, police and public officers. The Jury Act will excuse a person from jury duty on the grounds of undue hardship or an extreme inconvenience. In Florida the case of Casey Anthony vs. The State of Florida, the jury selection was difficult. The problem with this case is that the media made a big mess of the information released. Many people saw, read or heard about the case, potentially causing them to be unbiased or perceiving a notion to whether Casey was guilty or innocent. The charges and details of the evidence were released to the public. Due to the nature of this case it was titled as a high profile case. Casey Anthony’s name was all over the country; I remember during the time of the trial, the only thing on television was something about her case. There were pictures of her daughter, family and personal life. A lot of suspected evidence was shared with the public as well as information about where evidence was found. A jury selection could normally take about one day. Jurors could be removed from the selection process for any reason. The judge (Belvin Perry) dismissed more than two dozen potential jurors. The potential jurors discussed the case while in a private room with other jurors. One male juror was held in contempt of court and fined $450.00 for attempting to talk about the case with a television producer. After the long process of selecting a juror panel, the trial lasted about eight weeks and the jury was sequestered. Sequestered is when the jury is isolated from the public  during the trial and deliberation. A decision was made and Casey Anthony was found not guilty. .

The rationale rights based approaches

The rationale rights based approaches This essay will discuss about the rationale, shortcomings and potentials of rights based approaches to development as a subject. The objective of this essay is to explore the above mentioned in detail as this is believed to help all those involved in development work and to add to the existing debates in this area. The other reason is to clarify this theorisation for actors in the field be it NGOs and government or international agencies dealing with development to really understand what rights based approaches entail. Rights based approaches to development has become so popular for the past decade, with development agencies and national governments understanding it and implementing it in a diverse of ways. As Hickey put it â€Å"Some development professionals remained committed to the approach, while others were frustrated at the lack of progress in realising its apparent potential. Some academics and activists expressed continuing scepticism and argued that the rights based approach was one more example of northern hegemony†.(Hickey etal,2009:9) It is against this backdrop that discussing about the shortcomings and potentials of rights based approaches is appropriate. The discussion is hoped that it will help governments and NGOs to take into account the shortcomings and potentials in their development work. The essay focuses on the rights based approaches in generally, for there is need for self reflection so that actors can understand both the negative and positive side of rights based approaches for it to be a helpful tool on the ground rather than theory. This point was emphasised by Hickey saying â€Å".neither praise nor damn rights based approaches to development, and to instead work toward a more balanced understanding of both potentials and pitfalls of such approaches. We hope that this measure assessment will avoid the antagonisms with other new approaches to development for example social capital, participation, in which reasonable disagreements have become running battles, entrenching increasingly polarised positions, clouding attention to facts on the ground and preventing the productive synergies that should develop between opposing views.†(Hickey etal, 2009:209). To address the issues highlighted in the above paragraphs the essay will deal with the rationale of rights based approaches followed by a discussion on the current debates which will help to highlight the shortcomings and potentials. A comparative analysis with other approaches to development will be looked at and a discussion about the shortcomings and potentials which will be followed by a conclusion. Various definitions has been put forward to describe what a rights based approach is. As stated in the Human Rights Reference Book, â€Å"Human rights to development can be defined as a conceptual and analytical approach to development cooperation, which is based on the standards and principles of human rights and which aims to incorporate these standards and principles in all planning and implementation of development cooperation †(Sepulveda etal 2004:03) Others define a rights based approach in what it does to a situation. As stated in Ball, â€Å"A Rights based approach helps to uncover the root causes of under development, conflict and even natural disasters such as famine.†(Ball 2005:278).In relation to this essay, the definition as propagated by Sepulveda in the Human Rights Handbook will be used or referred to. For the proper understanding to the readers, there is need to define as well what development is and which definition is applied in this contexts as rights based approach focuses on the way in which development is being approached. The preamble to the Right to Development Declaration states that, â€Å"Development is a comprehensive economic, social, cultural and political process, which aims at the constant improvement of the well being of the entire population and all individuals on the basis of their active, free and meaningful participation in development and in the fair distribution of benefits resulting there from.†[1] This definition will be the one referred to in this essay since it cover so many things and it is a consensus from all the nations which fall under the United Nations. Having stated the objective of the essay, given the definitions of development and rights based approach the essay will now discuss the rationale behind having rights based approach to development. In order to highlight the shortcomings and contributions the fundamental reasons for using a rights based approach to development will be discussed. It is my view that from the past development projects were not incorporating human rights in their agendas. Human development and human rights were seen as separate fields altogether. However it was realised that all the two frameworks are there to promote and secure the peoples dignity and also freedoms. As stated by Nyamu-Musembi, â€Å"A rights based approach adds an element of accountability and culpability, an ethical or moral dimension to development. It therefore, demands a shift from viewing poverty eradication as development goal to viewing it as a matter of social justice, as the realisation of a right and fulfilment of a duty.†(Nyamu-Musembi, 2005:42) However in relation to NGOs, adopting rights based approach is based on the fact that it is moral right, and widely accepted perception that it brings contributions to traditional approaches which will be discussed in the essay. It was also believed international-wide by authors and professionals that development should have a consideration for rights. It is the writers view that human rights and development are more effective together than either one on its own. And this reason of combining a rights based approach to development was confirmed by Theis as he stated that â€Å"Combining human rights, development and activism create a more effective approach than any of them on their own. A rights based approach has a greater chance of achieving results in the fight against injustice, inequality, poverty and exploitation†. (Theis, 2004:13). The realisation by actors in development was to the effect that not all was being done to realise the rights of people and there was need for some comprehensive approach to tackle issues as poverty and address the inequalities involved and this can be done through legal means. Petit said â€Å"Development practitioners have to begun to recognise the limits of their technical and micro-project approaches in tackling the root causes of poverty. They have recognised the need to address deeper structures of inequality and exclusion and to confront these at the legal and political as well as social, cultural and economic levels.†(Petit, p92) Also according to Gready the realisation of links has led to the issue of rights in development as he stated that â€Å"Recognition of the fundamental links between rights, denial, impoverishment, vulnerability and conflict has led to the incorporation of rights- based approaches into the funding strategies, policy formulations and practice of a diverse range of actors.†(Gready P etal.2005:1). The other reason for adopting a rights based approach to development was that it uses different lens for the analysis of problems which development seeks to address. The committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights have summarised or explained the above statement as follows â€Å"The real potential of human rights lies in its ability to change the way people perceive themselves vis-a-vis the government and other actors. Rights framework provides a mechanism for reanalysing and renaming â€Å"problems like contaminated water or malnutrition as â€Å"violations† and, as such, something that need not and should not be tolerated..Rights make it clear that violations are neither inevitable nor natural, but arise from deliberate decisions and policies. By demanding explanation and accountability, human rights expose the hidden prioritise and structures behind violations and challenge the conditions that create poverty†[2] Having looked at the rationale for using rights based approach it is important for this essay to discuss some of the debates which are existing in this field to clearly show the potentials and shortcomings of rights based approach. There has been a debate that human rights based approaches re-politicise development through NGOs work and it is still topical. This was about humanitarian principles applied by international agencies namely impartiality, independence and neutrality which are considered to be political values. Most writers have agreed that development can be re-politicised by human rights based approach especially in relation to to the identification of needs. As Nyamu -Musembi and Cornwall expressed that â€Å"Whereas a needs based approach focuses on securing additional resources for delivery of services to marginalised groups, a rights based approach calls for existing resources to be shared more equally.assisting the marginalised people to assert their rights to those resources, thus making the process explicitly political†(Nyamu-Musembi etal 2004:2). This debate is now looked at to see if it can highlight some shortcomings or potentials of using a right based approach. In this case I will try and analyse whether being political in the sense portrayed is bad for development. It is my personal view that it is necessary part for rights based approach to be political as this can bring public awareness and include naming, shaming for the governments and development actors for the rights violations. It is my contention that using other methods was leaving behind the issue of power relations that exist in society and this causes them not to look at the root causes of the problems. Others argue that human rights based approaches are a new form of imperialism used to provide an increasingly intrusive attack on sovereignty, democracy and political debate. Some argue that this issue of cultural imperialism stems from the origins or foundation of human rights which is mainly western in nature. But others also defended the position by arguing that the universal aspect of rights is necessary for it adds legitimacy and that human rights based approaches involves both sides of universality and cultural relativism. Looking at this debate I find it to portray a potential of rights based approach to development. Those who support human rights based approaches are happy and felt that putting development within the confines of the law is good for it creates a point of accountability, that is obligations and rights or duties mainly on states and all the actors involved in development programmes. As pointed by Gready that â€Å"The value -added of rights based approach can be sought through direct applications of the law, but more particularly through indirect and strategic uses of the law.†(Gready 2008:78) However there are some who are so sceptical about using the law where there are inequalities and existing power relations which are different. The existing debates are showing potentials and rationale of human rights based approaches as perceived in the development circles. To real engage in the debate as to whether rights based approach have any potential or has some shortcomings, a comparative analysis will be done with other traditional approaches which were used and in this case sustainable livelihoods and needs based approaches or charity. In relation to sustainable livelihoods it can be said that they can complement each other but it deals with the impact of entitlements whilst rights based deals more with what entitlements the marginalised people should have and focus more on the long run effect. This can highlight the potential made by rights based as compared to sustainable livelihoods approach. Another approach to be discussed is needs based, in which case it is mainly based on needs and even selective as to which needs are more important and will be addressed. Looking at a rights based approach it can be compared to a needs based and be found to be better for it addresses the root causes of the problem since rights are indivisible it deals with the situation as it is. A needs based approach no one has obligation and duty unlike in a rights based approach, it entails binding and moral obligations on the actors like government. The other fact about needs based approaches is that like sustainable livelihoods, it focuses on the short term just to address the needs but a right based looks at the long term. I strongly believe that rights based approaches to development has improved the situations and contributed a lot to development as a subject. In a rights based approach the subjects are empowered to claim for their own rights. A table inspired by Save the children will be dra wn to show this comparison, summarising the differences between rights based and needs based. It is not disputed that these are good contributions made by rights based approaches to development Inspired by Save the children and created by the author The comparative analysis has been done by various authors among them Jonsson from UNICEF stated when comparing needs based and rights based approaches to nutrition, â€Å"..the essence of the differences is that in the former beneficiaries have no active claims to ensure that their needs will be met, and there is no binding obligation or duty for anybody to meet these needs. In contrast, a rights based approach recognises beneficiaries as active subjects or claim -holders and establishes duties or obligations for those against whom a claim can be held.†(Jonsson 1999:49) From the above comparative analysis with other approaches or perspectives to development it can be safely concluded that human rights based approaches contributed significantly to development as a subject and has the potential of driving development works in a better direction for the betterment of the marginalised groups. After having dealt with a needs based approach to show the contributions made by rights based approach another comparative analysis is done with a charity based approach. This approach has been criticised because it give the impression that a problem has been solved, but it does not deal with the root causes as well and it does not give the beneficiaries the opportunity to make decisions. Rights based approach is rapidly trying and replacing this charity based to overcome the shortcomings. The table below also shows the different between charity and rights based approach to development Inspired by (Lisndstorm -Sarelim and Mustaniemi-Laakso.2007) and created by the author From the above table 2 it can be said the rights based approaches have contributed significantly to development as a subject. Despite the theoretical strength of this approach, it is also not free from shortcomings. The following section will explore the shortcomings of the approach without a specific context and juxtapose it with the potentials which will be grouped into four categories namely political, conceptual, organisational and strategic challenges and ideological as well as implementation. All this is done to address the issues as to whether rights based approaches have really contributed or is it is just a failure. Conceptual It can be said that rights based approaches sometimes suffer a number of conceptual difficulties, especially in the economic social and cultural spheres. As can be supported by John Farrington, â€Å"The difficulty of systematically incorporating a time frame in the consideration of right, so that for instance they do not illuminate environmental issues such as the appropriate rate of depletion of non-renewable resources. The difficulty of conceptualising an appropriate balance between rights and responsibilities and also the difficulty of defining when cultural specifications override wider good should require suspension of normal rights. The difficulties in resolving tensions among different levels at which rights are conceived†, (Farrington,2001:3) There is a progressive potential though, rights based approach did position development as being for everyone and not really focusing on the so called poorest people in society. It also gives some political issues into development in the issues be it problems and solutions. Organisational and strategic challenges Rights based approach can be said that it gives an organisation a hard time in that rights are indivisible, so they cannot prioritise since all rights are equally important and this is really difficult when the organisation has only limited resources to address the issues at stake. Another issues that in the process the staff is engaged in the politics at a greater stage than with other approaches. This can be against foreign policy and the organisations may compromise the humanitarian principle of neutrality and this can be dangerous to the staff. On the other hand it can be said the approach is a potential in that this is a holistic approach and can help the development agencies to deal with the root causes of the problem which in some situations would be authorities. It gives a clear planning to organisations. Political A rights based approach can be said to have a shortcoming in that it put on the state, as a duty bearer all the burden. And another contentious issue is of taking matters to the courts, in these instances it will be on individual basis and this undermines or destroys the collective struggles. Rights based approach in some instances might be too confrontational a method or a strategy and this takes away or removes the other approaches of negotiation. Again it can be regarded a potential as it gives and impose obligations also creates duty bearers. It makes the beneficiaries or rights holders to participate in programmes and play a role in the decisions that affect their lives. Its again strengthens the principle of equality and citizenship. Ideological Rights based approach can be said to be supporting the neoliberal agenda or ideas by emphasising on individualism. And the approach does not sometimes take into account different contexts and some ideas may not be good for a certain group of environment, they just applied equal everywhere. On the other hand it can be said rights based approach put development so as to address inequalities and fight discrimination of marginalised groups and address power relations through development on how to distribute resources. Rights based approach needs adequate resources to be implemented and this sometimes offer a major problem for there can be financial constraints After exploration of the potentials, shortcomings and the rationale for rights based approaches in a bid to address the issues as a way of self criticism within the approach, it is noble to provide some suggestion so as to take forward the goal and securing more progressive forms of development. Though it has been discussed that rights based approaches re-politicise development, it can be said that it is necessary for development actors to tackle the underlying causes of poverty and marginalised. Also when rights based approaches is focused, there is need to be defined and conceptualised well since there is room for diverse interpretation. I t is also suggested that there is need for self reflection of the rights based to understand the potentials and shortcomings as this will help to move this tool of human rights based approach from being theory into practice, or from theoretical arguments to evidence based arguments. Conclusion Rights based approach is here to stay and be implemented in development projects, however as highlighted in the essay it has made tremendous contributions to development as a subject by bringing into board the issues of accountability, duty bearers, participation of the citizens and dealing with the root causes of the problem. It again tries to address the inequalities from the power relations that exits in society. Like any other approach it also suffers shortcomings from the way it can be implemented, different contexts, political and ideological differences that exist as some portray it as a form of cultural imperialism and some sort of western hegemony. This writer was aware of the existing talks with regard to the approach and have decided to do a rundown of the approach looking into the contributions that has been made and also the shortcomings as a way of helping the various actors involved in development to know more about the approach so as to appreciate it as it is and work ing towards improving on the shortcomings highlighted. It was also intended to add to the existing debates as to whether rights based approaches have failed or not. References Ball O.2005 â€Å"Conclusion†, in P Gready Reinventing development? Translating rights-based approaches from theory into practice (PP278-300) Farrington J.2001, Sustainable Livelihoods, Rights and the New Architecture of Aid, Number 69, June 2001, The Overseas Development Institute. London Gready, P 2008 â€Å"Rights based approaches to development: What is the value added? Development in practice- oxford p74 Hickey S. and D Milton (eds) 2009 Rights Based Approaches to Development, Exploring the Potential and Pitfalls. Kumarian Press Jonsson U.1999 Historical Summary on the SCN Working Group on Nutrition, Ethics, and Human Rights.SCN News 18 July, special issue on Adequate Food: A Human Right:49-51 Lundstrom-Sarelin, A and M Mustaniemi-Laasko 2007 Human Rights Based Approach to Development; what is it all about? HRBA in development cooperation: change from needs based to rights based† 27. 09.2007 Nyamu -Musembi C and A Cornwall2004 â€Å"What is the rights based approach â€Å"all about: Perspectives from International development agencies, Sussex, England. Institute of Development Studies. Nyamu -Musembi.C2005 â€Å"An Actor-oriented Approach to Rights in Development†, IDS Bulletin, Volume 36 Number 1, January 2005 pp42. Petit Jand J Wheeler, Developing Rights? Relating Discourse to Context and Practice. Institute of development Studies Sepulveda M,T Van Banning D.Gudmundsclotter,C. Chamoun and WJM.Van Genungten(eds) 2004 Human Rights Reference Handbook, University of Peace. Theis J 2004 Promoting Rights Based Approaches, Experiences and Ideas from Asia and the Pacific. Save the children Sweden. Keen Publishing. Declaration on the Right to development, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in resolution 41/128 of 4 December 1986. CESCR (Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) 1999 International Technical Assistance Measures (article 2).CESCR General Comment Number 2.Geneva.CESCR.

Evil in The Picture of Dorian Gray: :: Picture Dorian Gray Essays

Evil in The Picture of Dorian Gray:      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Picture Of Dorian Gray is yet another novel portraying evil.   The theme is very much reflected by the book's setting, plot structure and characterisation.   It shows how individuals can slowly deteriorate because of the evil lying within themselves.   The evil of this book is the evil created by one's self and thrusted upon one's self.   The power of greed and selfishness take over Dorian Gray and create an ugly evil side to him.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The mid eighteenth century was a very influential era, specially in England.   This period judged much upon appearance and status.   Dorian was a very wealthy, intelligent man with a very high status.   He knew the very influential and rich people in his town as well.   His beauty charmed the world.   Basil was inspired to draw his portrait in order to preserve his beauty and youth. Dorian recognised that as long as he remained young he would be handsome.   He dreaded the day that he would age slightly and start to form wrinkles and such ugly (in Dorian's opinion) ugly things.   He believed that that day would deprive him of triumphs that would result in him being miserable.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The degree of evil within Dorian increases as the plot develops.   By trading his soul for his youth, Dorian rids of the good inside of himself.   The plot proves to us that evil does actually lie within an individual.   From the moment that he becomes forever young he begins to deteriorate.   Even once he reached his epiphany and saw his evil through the portrait he simply denied seeing it and continued his malicious deeds.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The characterisation of the book is one of the most important elements of this book.   Dorian begins by being a very naà ¯ve lad.   He is very easily influenced by others especially his two new good friends; Basil and Lord Henry. Basil, the painter of the portrait, influenced Dorian in more of a good, honest way.   While Lord Henry, although not being evil himself, gave him a more evil insight on life.   Both of them changed his life forever.   How little they both knew what went on inside that man.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Basil does not have any real direct influence on the youngster; without

Evolution Essay -- essays research papers

Charles Darwin had two great themes in "On the Origin of Species" which accounted for the similarities and adaptations characteristic of living organisms. To account for the adaptations of organisms and those innumerable features that equip them for survival and reproduction, Darwin (and Wallace) independently came up with the central theory of evolutionary process: natural selection. Natural selection gives insight in to why organisms are the way that they are. Adaptations are phenotypic variants that result in the highest fitness among a specified set of variants in a given environment. In reference to humans, there are many traits that have been selected and adapted for throughout their evolutionary history giving them the characteristics that they have today. In this paper I will discuss some parts of the human body, which have been found to be selected for by the evolutionary mechanisms of natural selection, adaptation and mutation. Natural selection, adaptation, and mutations are three components of the evolutionary process, each one having either positive or negative effects on the other. What exactly is natural selection? There are many variations of the definition but most agree that it must include the following concepts: some attribute or trait must vary among biological entities, and there must be a consistent relationship, within a defined context, between the trait and one or more components of reproductive success, where "reproductive success" includes both survival and the reproductive processes themselves (Futuyma, 1998). Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection states "if variations useful to any organic being ever occur, assuredly individuals thus characterized will have the best chance of being preserved in the struggle for life; and from the strong principle of inheritance, these will tend to produce offspring similarly characterized." Regardless of how it is defined, natural selection and its action can have tremendous effects on the members of a population. It is natural selection that causes adaptation, and these adaptations evolve to ensure the survival of a species. Evolution, in a very broad sense, is defined as descent with modification and often with diversification (Futuyma, 1998). Darwin's idea of evolution was that it occurred by descent with modificatio... ...-carbohydrate, high protein diet. Certain metabolic adaptations were therefore necessary to accommodate the low glucose intake. Many indicate that the adaptive response to the low carbohydrate intake is insulin resistance(Miller, Colagiuri, 1994). A study done by J.C. Brand Miller and S. Colagirui proposes that insulin resistance offered a survival and reproductive advantage during the Ice Ages. This study also proposed that a carnivorous diet would have disadvantaged reproduction in insulin-sensitive individuals and positively selected for individuals with insulin resistance. Another factor mentioned was the various environmental factors that contributed to the low carbohydrate intake such as the types of foods that were available. The forces of natural selection on the evolutionary processes in humans can have a broad range of effects on the characteristics of humans. There are no concrete answers to some of the questions proposed in this paper, but time will soon tell exactly how the evolutionary mechanisms have effected the human race. The human species will continue to evolve as long as the mechanisms of evolution and environmental factors act upon us.

Evolution & Creationism in Education Essay examples -- Teaching God Cr

Evolution & Creationism in Education The twentieth century has witnessed the escalation of the creation - evolution debate through famous court cases and Supreme Court decisions on the teaching of evolution in public schools, culminating most recently in a Kansas Board of Education decision. As this highly controversial issue of the teaching of evolution in American classrooms rages on, it may be difficult for some individuals of Christian faith to form an alternative belief other than the extremes of creationism and evolutionism. Before discussing this issue any further, when I refer to strict beliefs in creationism or evolution as extreme views I am not necessarily implying that they are wrong, but are simply two views on completely opposite sides of the creation - evolution debate spectrum. For some creationists, accepting God as Creator as told in the Book of Genesis means the simultaneous rejection of evolutionary theory. For some evolution believers, accepting evolution ultimately results in the replacement of God as Creator with the process of evolution. After reading the preceding two sentences, we can come to the conclusion that the creation - evolution debate is really a matter of faith, either there is a Creator or there is no Creator. However, at the same time the main battle of the debate is over what is taught in our public schools. This creates a problem, particularly for creationists, because separation of church and state keeps religious criticism to evolutionary theory away from the classroom. The Kansas Board of Education decision to eliminate evolution and the Big Bang Theory from statewide tests reflects the resulting pressure on school officials to chose between what many have come to view as two mutu... ...l Bible Society. Johnson, P. E. (1999). The Church of Darwin. Human Events, 55(32), 16. Lane, C. (1999). Devolution. New Republic, 221(11/12), 6. Marcus, D. L. (1999, August). Charles Darwin gets thrown out of school: A Kansas ban on the mention of evolution. U. S. News & World Report, 127, 32. Merriam Webster's collegiate dictionary (10th ed.). (1995). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc. Miller, L. R. (1997). Must Christians chose between evolution and creationism? http://www.goshen.edu/bio/Biol410/Biol410SrSemPapers97/millerl.html (1999, November 1). The Scopes "monkey trial." http://www.dimensional.com/~randl/scopes.htm (1999, November 1). Wright, R. T. (1989). Biology: Through the eyes of faith. New York, NY: HarperSanFrancisco. Zimmerman, J. (1999). Relatively speaking: Creationism's political evolution. New Republic, 221(10), 13-14. Evolution & Creationism in Education Essay examples -- Teaching God Cr Evolution & Creationism in Education The twentieth century has witnessed the escalation of the creation - evolution debate through famous court cases and Supreme Court decisions on the teaching of evolution in public schools, culminating most recently in a Kansas Board of Education decision. As this highly controversial issue of the teaching of evolution in American classrooms rages on, it may be difficult for some individuals of Christian faith to form an alternative belief other than the extremes of creationism and evolutionism. Before discussing this issue any further, when I refer to strict beliefs in creationism or evolution as extreme views I am not necessarily implying that they are wrong, but are simply two views on completely opposite sides of the creation - evolution debate spectrum. For some creationists, accepting God as Creator as told in the Book of Genesis means the simultaneous rejection of evolutionary theory. For some evolution believers, accepting evolution ultimately results in the replacement of God as Creator with the process of evolution. After reading the preceding two sentences, we can come to the conclusion that the creation - evolution debate is really a matter of faith, either there is a Creator or there is no Creator. However, at the same time the main battle of the debate is over what is taught in our public schools. This creates a problem, particularly for creationists, because separation of church and state keeps religious criticism to evolutionary theory away from the classroom. The Kansas Board of Education decision to eliminate evolution and the Big Bang Theory from statewide tests reflects the resulting pressure on school officials to chose between what many have come to view as two mutu... ...l Bible Society. Johnson, P. E. (1999). The Church of Darwin. Human Events, 55(32), 16. Lane, C. (1999). Devolution. New Republic, 221(11/12), 6. Marcus, D. L. (1999, August). Charles Darwin gets thrown out of school: A Kansas ban on the mention of evolution. U. S. News & World Report, 127, 32. Merriam Webster's collegiate dictionary (10th ed.). (1995). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc. Miller, L. R. (1997). Must Christians chose between evolution and creationism? http://www.goshen.edu/bio/Biol410/Biol410SrSemPapers97/millerl.html (1999, November 1). The Scopes "monkey trial." http://www.dimensional.com/~randl/scopes.htm (1999, November 1). Wright, R. T. (1989). Biology: Through the eyes of faith. New York, NY: HarperSanFrancisco. Zimmerman, J. (1999). Relatively speaking: Creationism's political evolution. New Republic, 221(10), 13-14.

Interracial Marriage Essay

Interracial marriage occurs between two people from separate racial backgrounds. As a general note â€Å"African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans are far less numerous than whites, and therefore have fewer opportunities to meet one another. â€Å"Most interracial marriages, therefore, involve whites, who constitute the majority of the population† (Qian, 1999, p. 579). Throughout history interracial marriage has not been recognized in the United States as a valid marriage. â€Å"One theme that has been pervasive in U. S. history and literature and that has been accompanied by a 300-year-long tradition of legislation, jurisdiction, protest, and defiance is the deep concern about, and the attempt to prohibit, contain, or deny, the presence of black-white interracial sexual relations, interracial marriage, interracial descent, and other family relations across the powerful black-white divide† (Sollors, 2000, p. 3). Interracial couples have been scrutinized, judged, and looked down upon simply for loving someone with a different skin color. In the not so distant past â€Å"a complicated area defined only by the racial difference of bride and groom was designated where family founding was considered â€Å"null and void,† and children of interracially married couples were deemed illegitimate†(Sollors, 2000, p. 3). In recent years the interracial couple has been more accepted by society. Despite this acceptance there is a number of issues interracial marriages face. Reviewing the structure of the interracial marriage will help us gain an understanding of interracial marriage. â€Å"While, in 1970, 0. 7 percent of all marriages in the continental United States were interracial, today 2 percent of all Americans marry outside their race The number of ‘mixed-race’ births have grown 26 times faster than all U. S. births† (Korgen, 1998, p. 1). Interracial couples have a variety of backgrounds and there is not a conclusive theory that suggests why people enter into interracial relationships. The basic explanation for entering an interracial relationship is physical attraction and comfortableness. Research has found â€Å"Most biracial couples say that they became attracted to each other because of compatibility† (Socha & Diggs, 1999, p. 150). Interracial couples and families expand over all socioeconomic classes. Unfortunately, â€Å"most (interracial) couples have experienced some form of racism during their relationship†(McNamara, Tempenis & Walton, 1999, p. 106). With the exception of racism â€Å"There has been very little written on the interracial family, and nothing regarding the interracial family contextualized in leisure within the leisure literature. As the number of interracial marriages increases, it will become increasingly important to understand the needs of these families† (Hibbler & Shinew, 2002). Culture throughout interracial families is distinguished by each individual couple. â€Å"In general, one of the major issues for interracial families is identifying, preserving, and explaining the cultural heritage to their children†(McNamara, Tempenis & Walton, 1999, p. 65). Studies have found that typically one culture has a stronger influence on the interracial couple. The culture with the stronger influence typically takes over in the household and that culture is more influential with the children involved in the interracial family. â€Å"Our racial structure does not yet allow biracial Americans to choose freely between their two racial heritages† (Korgen, 1998, p. 67). Interracial children often have a hard time identifying with their background. â€Å"Typically, racially mixed children will be somewhat ambivalent towards their parents’ ethnic or racial backgrounds† (McNamara, Tempenis & Walton, 1999, p. 66). Biracial children have an especially difficult time identifying themselves as teenagers. â€Å"As the child enters high school, where one’s identity begins to take a particular shape dating begins, it is easy to see how difficulties can develop for biracial children. Since their physical appearance is different, and their families are considered unusual, many peer groups reject them† (McNamara, Tempenis & Walton, 1999, p. 66). A substantial historical literature base suggests that interracial marriage may have a number of negative effects on the couples and their children. Among the suggested negative effects are anxiety, insecurity, guilt, anger, depression, and identity conflicts. On the rare occasions that biracial people and/or interracial couples are asked about their social reality, they often report that the psychological and sociological problems that they face are manifestations of racism and overall societal pressure. This suggests that, perhaps the broader concern is not the issues affecting those involved in interracial relationships, but rather the societal issue of race and the â€Å"possessive investment in whiteness†(Hibbler & Shinew, 2002). Biracial children typically identify themselves with one race and portray those characteristics. â€Å"Biracial Americans who appear white are often judged by different standards than darker mixed-race individuals when they face the racial litmus test. Those who appear white are assumed to be white by those in the larger society who are unaware of their heritage† (Korgen, 1998, p. 64). The biggest issues interracial couples and children deal with are racism and self identity. There are several coping mechanisms for interracial families deal with when experiencing racism or self identity including ignoring it, dismiss it, and normalize it, awareness, hiding, support groups, and using humor to cope with negative reactions of others. Ignoring and dismissing racism are very similar concepts. People have said that sometimes they feel they should say something in return to a racist comment but choose to ignore or dismiss it to avoid conflict. Normalizing racism occurs when people accept that they will be singled out because they are an interracial couple. An interracially married woman â€Å"Sydney Mead has this to say (about interracial marriage and portrayed racism): We are just ordinary people, an ordinary married couple and go through the same things that everybody else goes through. We have our problems you know, up and down, up and down† (McNamara, Tempenis & Walton, 1999, p. 111). Awareness is when interracial â€Å"couples are able to minimize the likelihood of encountering problems, or diminishing their impact, by being very aware of their surroundings and the places they frequent. Many feel they can significantly reduce the type and frequency of problems by simply avoiding some places and spending more time at others† (McNamara, Tempenis & Walton, 1999, p. 111). Hiding is when couples withdrawal from social interaction to avoid racism or judgment. Support groups are an excellent resource for interracial couples who have estranged family and need to build a social network of support. Humor is another coping mechanism. Many couples have learned to laugh about the interactions they have as an interracial couple. Laughter and making jokes often helps to ease the pain of racism and make light of situations (McNamara, Tempenis & Walton, 1999). While it is true that interracial marriage has changed in the eyes of society in recent years, â€Å"†A great deal of misinformation exists concerning interracial couples. (McNamara, Tempenis & Walton, 1999, p. 3). â€Å"The recent increase in interracial marriage is seen as a positive change in race relations and a decline in racism. It also indicates that racial distances have declined between whites and racial minorities because of the increase in interracial marriages with whites for all racial minorities â€Å"(Qian, 1999, p. 579). The acceptance of interracial marriage and the decline in racism is a great achievement for society. This is true but â€Å"there are still powerful forces in society that make interracial marriage difficult, unappealing to people who might be looking for a partner, or otherwise unlikely† (Socha & Diggs, 1999, p. 150). Although there has been much progress and acceptance with the concept of interracial marriages in society there is much more work and progress that needs to be completed. More research needs to be conducted to fully understand the cultural influences interracial families have. â€Å"Overall, more attention is needed for ethnic culture, especially in the family communication classroom. This general inattention can be attributed, in part, to family communication scholars’ and educators’ viewing their work from a Eurocentric perspective, which, similar to Eurocentrism in everyday life, leads to a general neglect of ethnic culture by assuming that all families are similar to those of the dominant group (i. e. , European Americans) and/or minimizing those who are different from the dominant group† (Socha & Diggs, 1999, p.210). References Hibbler, D. K. , & Shinew, K. J. (2002). Interracial Couples’ Experience of Leisure: A Social Network Approach. Journal of Leisure Research, 34(2), 135+. Retrieved April 11, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=5000783247 Korgen, K. O. (1998). From Black to Biracial: Transforming Racial Identity among Americans. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. Retrieved April 11, 2007, from Questia database: http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=o&d=9959531