Is the Global Warming Real?

Global warming has becoming an increasingly important issue in our environmentally conscious society as it is a problem affecting every aspect of the environment and the living beings everywhere on this planet. Yet, it is quite controversial as to its nature, cause, and the effects it will bring along in the future. The average temperature of the earth’s surface has risen by 0. 8 degree Celsius since 1880. The International Panel on Climate Change (the IPCC), based on the work of hundreds of scientists in more than 100 countries, has concluded in its 2007 report that this current planetary warming is mainly caused by human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and agriculture. (The IPCC 2007 Synthesis Report) These activities have greatly increased atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). These greenhouse gases are naturally occurred and essential for life on earth as they trap the sun’s heat and keep the earth warm. If these gases were removed from the atmosphere, the earth’s temperature would plummet to -18 Celsius, far too cold to sustain our current ecosystem. However, humans are causing massive increase in these greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing their heat- trapping ability. As a result, the temperature is rising higher and higher. Pidwimy, 2006) Scientists have also found that CO2 is the most important greenhouse gas which is responsible for 55% of the current warming. The atmospheric concentration of CO2 increased from 280 parts per million (ppm) in 1750 to 379 ppm in 2005. The principal reason for this mounting CO2 levels is the use of fossil fuels and changes in land use: the burning of oil, gasoline, and coal for running cars, factories, and generating electricity, and the cutting down of forests to make way for farming, housing and other dev elopment. Emissions from fossil fuel combustion contribute about 65% of the additional CO2 added to the atmosphere. (Pidwimy, 2006) The world’s biggest fossil fuel consumers are the United States, China, and the European Union. ( Damassa, 2006) Deforestation contributes 25% the CO2 emissions. Sir Nicholas Stern says the destruction of the rainforests of the Amazon, the Congo basin and Indonesia will in the next four years alone add more CO2 into the atmosphere than every flight in the history of aviation to at least 2025. According to the audited figures from 2003, deforestation is releasing two billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. (Howden, 2007) If these activities continue, the atmospheric CO2 concentration will be double the pre-industrial levels during this century that will raise the global temperatures by around 2?C to 5?C. (Pearce, 2008, P1) Chlorofluorocarbons are man-made greenhouse gases which accounts for 25% of the current warming. Chlorofluorocarbons have the strongest heat-trapping ability among all the greenhouse gases per molecule. However, the atmospheric concentration of these gases is low so they are not as damaging to the climate as CO2. Many nations have reduced their production and use of these man-made chemicals in response to Reports of the development of ozone holes over the North and South Poles and the general decrease in global stratospheric ozone levels over the last 20 years, thus the concentration of these gases may soon begin to decline. (Pidwimy, 2006) Other two important contributors to global warming are methane and nitrous oxide. Comparing figures from 2005 with pre-industrialised levels (measurements taken in 1750), methane increased from around 715 parts per billion (ppb) to 1774 ppb and nitrous oxide increased from 270 ppb to 319 ppb. (The IPCC Synthesis Report 2007) the main sources for the extra methane now found in the atmosphere are agriculture (rice cultivation, grazing animals) and fossil fuel use (coal mining, and oil and gas extraction). Nitrous oxide is released into atmosphere from the loss of the forests, the cutting down forests for agricultural fields, and the use of fertilizers for plants growth. Pidwimy, 2006) The impacts of this man-made warming lie not only, or even primarily, in the temperature rise. It says in the IPCC Synthesis Report 2007, Discernible human influences extend beyond average temperature to other aspects of climate, including temperature extremes and wind patterns. Anthropogenic warming over the last three decades has likely had a discernible influence at the global scale on observed changes in many physical and biological systems. There are many other effects that have occurred due to global warming, e. g. the melting of ice and snow cover, rising global average sea level, increase in intensity and frequency of extreme weather events (heat weaves, heavy precipitation, tropical cyclone activity). (The IPCC Synthesis Report 2007) 41 Scientists are predicting that global warming will produce a lot of negative consequences. According to the IPCC, the global average temperature will rise 0. 2 per decade for the next two decades if the greenhouse gas missions are at or above the current rate and this warming will cause further damage to the global climate system during the 21 century than those observed during the 20 century. (the IPCC 2007 Synthesis Report) The sea level is expected to rise between 7 and 23 inches (18 to 59 centimetres) due to thermal expansion and melting ice on land by the end of this century. By 2080s, many millions more People than today in coastal areas, especially in heavily populated and low-lying mega deltas of Asia and Africa will be at great risk every year due to sea level rise. the IPCC 2007 Synthesis Report) it is estimated that there are more than 180 countries having populations in low-lying costal areas, 70% of which have urban areas of more than 5 million people that are at risk, including Tokyo; New York; Mumbai, India; Shanghai, China; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Wagner, 2007)126 Global warming will pose threats to people’s health: More frequent and severe heat waves will cause more heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses and death. The elderly and the young are the most susceptible to these effects; air pollution worsened by global warming will lead to more respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, such as asthma and cardiac disarryhthmia; Thanks to global warming, malaria-carrying mosquitoes are spreading to cooler places too, where there has never been this disease before, such as South Korea and the highlands of Papua New Guinea; (Weiss, Pam, 2008) And a group of 12 diseases called Deadly Dozen have been found to spread due to the warming temperature, e. g. Avian ‘Flu, Cholera, Plague, Ebola and Tuberculosis. (Simmons) Global warming will add significantly to the world’s water shortage problem as it increases the severity of droughts, foods, and cyclone, all of which reducing the water supply and destroying the quality of water. Wong Poh Poh, a professor at the National University of Singapore, says that the U. N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found that 2 billion people will not have access to adequate drinking water by 2050 and 1. 2 billion more people will be under the threat of severe water shortage by 2080. NG, 2008)86 Many of the world’s species could be on the verge of extinction due to global warming. According to the IPCC 2007 report, that 20- 30 % of the world’s species would become extinct if global average temperature rises additional 1. 5 to 2. 5?C (relative to 1980-1990) and 40-70% would be expected if the increase in temperature exceeds 3. 5?C. (the IPCC 2007 Synthesis Report) Ho wever, there are some scientists who are sceptical about this man-made global warming theory. According to these sceptics, Climate change is a natural process and is not caused by man. The world has experienced warmer and colder periods in the past without any external cause so a minor rise (less than a degree) in global average temperature is normal. Explains Richard L. Lindzen, a professor of meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, â€Å"the motions of the massive oceans where heat is moved between deep layers and the surface provides variability on time scales from years to centuries. Recent work †¦suggests that this variability is enough to account for all climate change since the 19 Century. † Lindzen asserts that the warming in the tropics around an altitude of about 9 km should be 2. times greater than the surface warming but the measurements show that warming at these levels is only about ? of the surface warming. This means the greenhouse effect only contributes to about one third of the surface warming and not all of this really small warming is caused by man. (Lindzen, 2009) Global warming sceptics also argue that computer models which predict the future climate are not reliable. According to S. Fred Singer, an atmospheric physicist at George Mason University, these computer models can not calculate all the important parameters around the globe therefore are unable to predict the future climate. Singer says, â€Å"If you only calculate temperature, winds, and so on at intervals of 200 miles, then you cannot depict clouds, or even cloud systems, which are much smaller. So until the models have a good enough resolution to be capable of depicting clouds, it's very difficult to put much faith in them. † Singer also claims that these models do not agree with each other in predicting the temperature rise for a doubling CO2 levels. Some predict a warming of 5 degrees Centigrade while others predict one degree. (

MREmpanada Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

MREmpanada - Research Paper Example I. Fragmentation and/or Concentration As a player in the United States restaurant industry, Mr. Empanada is a fast casual industry and not a fast food company as most people take it. The U.S restaurant industry is characterized by countless actors. The industry has already entered the mature stage of the industry life cycle, as growth of the industry slows own. The united states restaurant industry is fragmented into various subsets, the most popular being the fast food, full service restaurants and the fast casual segments. In a fast food setting, food is prepared before being ordered while in a casual setting, food is prepared after the customer has ordered it. There are hundreds of fast food and fast casual joints in United States that offer products that are intractably similar in almost all aspects. Panera Bread Company is the renowned leader in the casual food subset while McDonald’s is the overall industry leader operating in the fast food segment. The yearly anticipate d growth for the restaurant industry is 1.9% from 2013 through 2018 (The University of Tampa, 2). The slow growth rate is attributable to reduction in consumer disposable income due to prolonged recession period in United States. Consumers opt to consume home cooked means or consumer lower priced items when eating out. This is hurting the growth in the various fragments of the restaurant industry. United States restaurant industry sales ($ billions) (Source: The University of Tampa, 1) II. Switching costs Switching costs are the negative costs that buyers incur due to changing products, brands or suppliers. Switching costs are mostly evaluated in terms of money value, but they may also be time-based, effort based and psychological switching costs. Switching costs may be associated to learning, finding alternatives, ambiguity costs, contractual costs and transaction costs. Switching costs is a control mechanism that exists in most markets (Sundelin, para 1). In the case of Mr. Empana da, there are little or no switching costs as substitutes are readily available. Providers of casual foods are such as the chipotle Mexican grill, Panera bread, Skyline Chili, Donatos Pizza, Freebirds among others, which are easy to locate. Customers who wish to change from Mr. Empanada products and consumer rival products do not incur significant costs. For illustration, learning and compatibility cost is almost zero since the Mr. Empanada and its rival’s products are undifferentiated. Therefore, customers do not have to look and learn new information with regard to rival products. As such, consumers easily change from one Mr. Empanada products to its rivals due to insignificant switching costs or no cost at all. III. Buyer inclination to substitute In the United States restaurant industry, competition is so rife and fierce. As stated earlier, most of the industry’s products are undifferentiated. Customers hardly notice the difference between competitors’ produ cts and this extremely heightens buyers’ inclination to substitute (Porter, 28). In regard to Mr. Empanada, buyer inclination to substitutes is indispensably high. The reason is that Mr. Empanada is not known to many people outside its headquarters in Tampa, Florida. In addition to limited popularity, Mr. Empanada offers few types of salads, beverages, sandwiches that

Case Study Analysis Paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Case Study Analysis - Term Paper Example has to be blamed for the current troubling scenario. This paper is an attempt to evaluate the key problems, suggests some handy solutions as well as propose suitable recommendations for the company and employees. Analysis of Carl Robins Case Study Introduction: The knowledge of workplace ethics and personal responsibilities is an integral duty of any employee. When such duties are neglected then wide-ranged problems occur. It is also true that first impressions are always the last ones, most specifically in a workplace setting. Carl Robins’ case is an important example in this regard since he forgot these basic rules and ignored many significant requirements of his post. He is a six-month old recruiter in ABC Inc. and due to his extreme professional negligence, the company is facing several drastic problems, and the newly hired employees are not properly being trained as well. Through his ignorance, Robins has proved himself incapable for this post. This paper accumulates the key issues that are threatening the organization, provides useful suggestions and alternate solutions that might help Carl Robins and ABC Inc. in eliminating this challenging situation. Situation Background: Carl Robins was hired as a recruiter in ABC Inc. only six months back, and so far he has recruited 15 new employees who are supposed to work under the Operations' Supervisor Monica Carrolls. Carrolls has made him in-charge for the orientation so that the new trainees are formally welcomed and could start work from July. Robins has scheduled the orientation date on June 15, and has selected the training hall as the venue without double checking if it is available or not. On 15th May, Carrolls inquires Robins about the basic procedures needed to be fulfilled while recruiting new employees such as their training, orientation preparations, manual's distribution, policy booklets, medical inspection, and drug screening tests. Robins assure her confidently that he has taken care of eve rything, and preparations have already been instigated for the orientation. However, post the Memorial Day holidays, he realizes that the application process is still half remaining, new employees have not filled out their forms completely, and transcripts are also not present. Moreover, they are yet to undergo the compulsory physical and drugs’ screening test and professional training. Another painful discovery was that only three copies of the orientation manual are available, and many pages containing important information are missing from the files. To add more depth to his misery, he later learns that the room has also been booked by the technology services department, for the whole month to conduct seminars. This is a very disturbing situation for Robins, because time is running out, and he is ill-prepared. Main Problems and challenges There are several significant problems that can be analyzed from the situation for this case. First, pointing out of the most obvious is sues is important because there is not much time left and problems are too many. Currently, Robins needs to find a new venue for holding the orientation, and then organize it perfectly. He needs to make sure that the 15 employees complete their forms, and that transcripts are attached to their respective files. In addition, they must go through all the official requirements, including medical examination and drug's test and training before 15th June. Orientation manual also requires proper completion before the scheduled event.

Airline labor-management conflict Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Airline labor-management conflict - Case Study Example Therefore, he was balanced in his assessment of the situation. Ott (2006) had clearly pointed out that the fate of the airline rested with the management, ALPA representatives, the industrial court and the team of arbitrators who are mandated to manage the ALPA contract in the event that both sides in the conflict failed to reach an amicable solution. According to Ott (2006), the collapse of Delta would have created a big gap in the America’s aviation industry, leaving the remaining players to heighten their competition and inherit Delta customers and clientele base. A consensus on the issue of picketing pilots who were protesting pay cuts would stem the fallout following the airline’s move to control labor expenditures. The article is extensive in the sense that it touches on the future of would-be pilots who may start to wonder how they will survive in an industry coupled with risks and lower incomes. Factually, such cuts could have had negative repercussions on the then aviators, other professionals and stakeholders in the industry as well as subsequent pilots. Ott (2006) had painted out a clear picture of the short-term and long-term impacts of the likely collapse of Delta, suggesting that an estimated 50,000 jobs would be lost immediately. And with the exit of such a significant population of human resources and profitable assets, key Delta hubs such as Jackson International Airport would be reduced to idleness due to under capacity. And whereas other busy hubs that are dominated by Delta such as Salt Lake City and Cincinnati would face a similar fate, the airline’s rivals in the market like Continental Airlines would struggle to provide alternative air transport mechanisms. Ott (2006) had foreseen that the failure of Delta’s rivals to fit in its shoes would reduce the former busy hubs to hubs for more local flights. A complete reversion to the current bee-hive of activity in those hubs from fewer regional

Change Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Change Management - Assignment Example For most cases, change in an organization is an emergent phenomenon and takes place at a slow pace. On the other hand, planned change is seen less commonly and requires a thorough analysis of the environment and development of strategies for improvement. Change management includes a range of activities ranging from communication and discussion to implementation and so the ideal change management process should take into account all these factors (Gustin, 2007). It is generally regarded as a strategic improvement for the organization and requires effective management to accomplish the desired results. Furthermore, upon this concept, this paper will describe the calm-waters and white-water rapids metaphors used for change management. It will focus on learning processes in the context of change management as well. The latter half of the paper will deal with force-field analysis and change management in the organizational culture. Calm-waters metaphor was popular amongst practitioners and academics for quite some time (Rao, 2012). Particularly till the late 1980s, it was a just delineation of the environment and circumstances the organization was observed. It can be likened to a big ship, which, on its usual course around the sea, faces an occasional storm (Robbins, DeCenzo, Bhattacharyya and Agarwal, 2008). The path traversed by the ship is not new to it, since it follows the same course every time it sets out on a journey. The interruption that it comes across with is temporary. Kurt Lewin’s 3-step change process is a comprehensive explanation of the metaphor. The three steps include unfreezing of the status quo, modification to the new state, and freezing the change again in order to make it permanent (Robbins and Coulter, 2007).

International Law, law of treaties Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

International Law, law of treaties - Essay Example By virtue of these international agreements, it is possible to ensure joint action for the purpose of achieving common goals, such as the fight against organized crime, extradition of criminals, the preservation of the environment, economic developments, protection of human rights, and scientific cooperation2. For the purpose of this research, Treaty arrangements was made the focus point for the reason of the significance developments in the International law after the emerge of The Vienna Convention on the law of treaties 1969. In fact, the international communities consider The Vienna Convention on the law of treaties 1969 as the authoritative mechanism on the international law of treaties3. With such intensive study, the research will later examine the current practice on treaties by the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, and finds out the benefits and limitation of the current arrangements. On the basis of the above examinations, the outcome of this research will conclude the advantages and disadvantages of the current treaty practise in the UK and the UAE, and whether such practice follow any pre-existing models, or was a new model created. The conclusion will result on a list of recommendations for better practice by developing the arrangements made by both states on the l aw of treaties. The first two chapters of this research will focus on the pr... Since then, states and international organizations began to enter into an increasing number of agreements, a number of which were formal and legally binding, and others were non-binding agreements5. This will be approached by first analyzing the establishments of the Vienna Convention, and its parallel 1986 convention on treaties made by international organization. This analysis will take into account the flexibility of the Vienna Convention, and explore how it affects the domestic laws of different states. Furthermore, the research will also analyze the role of the International Law Commission, which broached the 1969 Convention in 1950, even though the Law Commission is not the only organ in the United Nations involved in codification, but it was the only Commission, which deal with the law of treaties as a major issue6. However, it will be necessary to mention that the 1969 Convention did not cover all the issues relating to treaties, such as the treaties concluded by Internationa l Organizations, which are subject to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties between States and International Organizations or between International organizations 1986. Following the examination of the 1969 and 1986 conventions this research will begin by offering a working definition of the term "treaties" in the context of the Vienna Convention on the law of treaties 1969 and the outlook of different international scholars. This will necessitate an evaluation of the various and relevant elements defined under this Convention. The third chapter will include an examination of the definition and use of binding agreements. Taking this approach, the terms "treaties" and

Chessington World of Adventure, Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Chessington World of Adventure, - Essay Example And if they involve themselves in fun filled group activities, it will surely relax their mind and will bring down their stress levels to bare minimum. This is where the concept of amusement or theme parks comes into the picture. Even though, in amusement parks, there will be physical activities, it can be carried out in a relaxed and fun filled way. So, it will surely relax the physical and the mental part of the body. Because of this role, the amusements parks will be flocked by many people. Thus, it becomes an important duty of the amusement park administration or management to maintain the park optimally. That is, they should provide all the necessary facilities and features, with quality and safety inbuilt in it. So, this paper will analyze Chessington World of Adventure Chessington World of Adventure is a theme park located on the Surrey town of Chessington in United Kingdom. It is considered to be enjoyable place catering to the needs of people of all ages. Inside, Chessington World of Adventures and Zoo, there are ten different park areas, each with their own unique theme and rides as Beanoland, Chessington Zoo, forbidden kingdom, Land of the Dragons, Market Square, Mexicana, Mystic East, Pirate cove, Toytown and Transylvania. In recent years it has become increasing popular for an organisation to produce a mission statement and/or its ‘vision’ that sets out the purpose and general direction for the organisation (Mullins). The main mission of Chessington park is: ‘†¦create an unforgettable place of adventure for our guests and provide our customers a great day out †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ With this mission as its main plank, Chessington World has put into actions its different departments to run the company successfully. The different departments, which are aiding Chessington to actualize its mission, are marketing department, followed by Human Resources, Finance, Quality, Customer Service etc. Among the many departments, which