Video game essay Essay Example for Free

Video game essay Essay Are video games bad for you? Sure, parents and adults will tell you they are bad, but how are they bad for you? Many will tell you that video games hurt your eyes and damage your nerves. They may even tell you video games make you more violent, but they cannot provide any evidence to back up their opinions. Nor do they realize the real problem—which is not video games themselves—but the addiction that drives many gamers to play video games to the exclusion of all else. In this essay, I will show that video game addiction is the real reason why video games are bad for you. Video game addiction leads to poor performance in school and insufficient physical inactivity. Video game addiction can have a negative effect on academic achievement. For example, a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology indicates that the more a student plays video games, the worse their academic performance is in school. A second study by Argosy Universitys Minnesota School on Professional Psychology found that video game addicts argue a lot with their teachers, fight a lot with their friends, and score lower grades than others who play video games less often. As these sources suggest, video game addicts obsessive gaming comes at a cost to their academic performance and relationships with those around them, ultimately leading to poor performance in school —and life. Video game addiction also leads to physical inactivity and related health problems. This occurs because obsessive gamers sacrifice a balanced lifestyle so they can spend all their free time playing video games. Instead of going out and rollerblading, playing hoops, or hanging out with friends, they sit in front of a screen for hours and hours. Consequently, they do get the exercise they need. The Center for Disease Control recommends 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. When these gamers do not get this exercise, they are abusing their bodies and risking developing heart disease and other cardiovascular problems; they even run the risk of becoming obese, which further increases the chances of cardiovascular problems and could result in them developing diabetes. As I have shown in this essay, video game addiction leads to poor performance in school and physical inactivity. The urge to play games can drive gamers to neglect their studies and injure relationships with those around them. Their desire to play video games can cause them to disregard healthy levels of activity, leading to health problems and even obesity. The key to keeping the negative influence of video games in check is one word: control. If gamers can balance video games with the rest of their lives, video games can be a fun, entertaining diversion; but when video games take over their lives, they are left with a life that is not worth living. This type of addiction develops when gamers obsess over the video games they play. As result, they As this evidence indicates, video game addiction promotes physical inactivity, putting gamers at risk of obesity, heart disease and other health problems. Thus, students addicted to sacrifice homework and study to whatever game they are currently obsessing over, This results in excessive physical inactivity, which puts gamers at risk of developing heart disease and other cardiovascular problems, or becoming overweight. by spending all their free time playing. as gamers spend all their free time playing their games. Without the required levels of physical activity, these gamers risk developing cardiovascular problems, such as The Center for Disease Control and American Heart Associatoin.

A critical analysis of Goodbye Lenin!

A critical analysis of Goodbye Lenin! The Relationship between History and Memory: The post-war period ends in Germany in 1989 by demolishing of the Berlin wall. The unification process brought a lot of problems in all sections of the society. It has also brought problems to Germany’s future role as economic and political powers and directs the attention again to the challenging bequests of the past and tries to change the meanings of the national culture as a united Europe to sharp and clear the economic, social and ethnical differences. After 17 year of CDU rule, in 1998, the new SPD was led by Chancellor Gerhard Schroder and it made its way into recruit social and economic reforms to make the country more flexible on immigration, employment problems and more competitive in the global market. However, this move made a lot of concerns about the pulling down of the social welfare state, the crosion of a German Leitkultur and the problems in the New States as there were still racial violence and employment issues. When the government moved into Berlin, the st ructures of Reichstag and Potsdamer Platz, made the public think about the changes in the nation and identity. All of these events had an impact on the German cinema but they were less traceable in the few feature films that had a direct theme about the unification than in the unpredicted revival of popular cinema, based on a critical examination by some film scholars (Rentschler 2000). Film-makers returned to the post-war period genre to address special unification problems as a method of retrieving the stabilising purpose of classical narrative and of applying these effects. This process found an expression in the new generation’s disagreement to film movement with the social and political including New German Cinema. The young film-makers from producers to directors did not accept its philosophy of the authorship and individualism for a more practical, cooperation and between creative and marketable interests. Considering entertainment as a primary essential in cinema and films, they organized themselves with international trends in film-financing and marketing that had made the 1990s an bland decade for films, conquered by the blockbuster films. However, replying to some domestic worries, film-makers registered the consistent effects of genre in the modifying of the German past and the remapping of the German present inside the cultural and geopolitical of post-wall Europe, and trying to approach themselves openly to German audiences, the films of the 1990s required to house the audience’s conflicting desire of both creating the narratives of the Germannerss less complex and give more room for optimistic images of a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural culture. It is also considered that the wider the effect of continuing reconsideration for modern filmic performs and the writing of film history. Film scholars have started to check the main serious models and give extra care to the connections between German popular cinema and its purpose. In Goodbye Lenin! (Dir.: Wolfgang Becker, 2003), it reveals the change of viewpoint on the sense of East-West unity in post-wall Germany. Becker approaches to unification in his film Goodbye Lenin! By exanimating the images of separation and connection that he created. He also approaches unification between the East and the West as something unwelcome. The conception of merging two parts together becomes the idea of one part is overwhelming the other and the other is fighting this engagement. The resistance rest on viewing the German Democratic Republic which is known as East Germany as a unified individual part. As the rest of the film focus on keeping the impression of GDR unity in the unification’s strength to erase that impression. The beginning scenes of Alex’s childhood express the separation of Germany in this film as a represented by the family. It seems to allow for more pleasant relationships for Alex’s disappointment to his father who travels to the we st and Alex’s mother and sister remains in the East. The separation is not about the division of the two parts but rather about the discharge of disruptive elements from the controlled unity of the GDR. The separation leads to more tightly enforced impression of the unity as a clue in the mother’s efforts to express any need for going back with the father. However, instead of trying to bring the father back to her world, she creates a new world where the father has no role in it. She merges the family without him in her alleged fight to assistance the GDR achieve its socialistic values. Therefore there is no desire to overcome the separation between the East and the West. The film represents the unity of the GDR through many home movies and flashbacks to Alex’s childhood which makes the family overcomes the difficulty of the fact that the father left the home and the mother’s breakdown to develop as loyal supporters of the GDR socialism. Later on, Alex jo ins in protests for freedom to travel out the GDR. At this moment, the mother sees Alex in the protest and she faint because of her son’s challenge for his dream, she represents diverts him from his hard work to rebel. Christiane goes into an eight months coma. As Christiane wakes from her coma, Alex fears that if she knew about the GDR after the fall of Berlin wall, the shock will give her another heart attack after the first heart attack in 1989 and it will result in her death as her doctor advised Alex. As he is faced with the loss of both of his mother and the state with which she recognized, the memory of his childhood and the vanishing GDR starts to take on parallel potentials to his imaginations of space. The historical distance of his East German childhood, offers Alex a wish of a resting place away from experience of time that would separate him quickly from his mother and his past. All of these losses to Alex share a desire for a division, a slow flow of time. As Svetlana Boym says of nostalgia: â€Å"At first glance, nostalgia is a longing for a place, but actually it is a yearning for a different time- the time of our childhood, the slower rhythm of our dreams. In a broader sense, nostalgia is a rebellion against the modern ide a of time, the time of history and progress.† [1] The film represents the adult’s relationship to the memory of childhood through Alex’s attempts to retain a link to his personal past with all of these changes that happens in his world that surround him, hoping that he can extend his mother’s life. Alex hides the breakdown of the East German state by recreating his mother’s bedroom with the outmoded GDR furnishings that he and his older sister threw after the breakdown. Alex also create the childhood â€Å"heaven† that he never had before and his dream of that perfect place battle both of communism and capitalism’s large-scale difficulties of endless progress, Alex turns his perfect place desire hidden, looking for asylum in the expectedness of everyday life and in the national spaces of personal childhood. Andreas Huyssen proposes that this â€Å"memory boom†¦ is a potentially healthy sign of contestation† in our fast-paced world, â€Å"recover[ing] a mode of contemplation outs ide the universe of simulation and fast-speed information and cable networks† as well as stating â€Å"the basic human need to live in extended structures of temporality.†[2] However, Alex’s preservation act carries a positive potential in the context of the unification and the resulting disagreements of both the social and political structures of East German. He risks delaying a method of observation that would result to his mother’s death, covering himself instead in the comfort of a timeless present. Christiane’s bedroom becomes a shelter, where the desperate hurry to unification and the similarly swift closure of the GDR have slowed down. In reconstructing the physical environment linked with his childhood, Alex offers himself a historical space to renegotiate his connection to his past in the way of the incoming loss. As modern institutions to everyday life in the GDR favour to concentrate on house entities rather than the political leftovers, Alex’s plan steps out of the current of historical disorder and harsh change, lasting in the slower pulses of his private life. The level of protection about the objects that relates to his mother’s extended survival, Alex’s museum space offers him time to imitate on the chance of his mother’s death, by the help of artefacts that created a memory aid link to the disappearing GDR. In a argument on the changing meanings of museums in the modern culture, Andreas Huyssen proposes that modern museums support us â€Å"to negotiate and to articulate a relationship to the past that is always also a relationship to the transitory and to death, our own included;† we may therefore see the museum as â€Å"a life-enhancing rather than mummifying institution in an age bent on the destructive denial of death†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . [3]Alex’s museum space offers him the chance to get to the loss on his own agenda, to show sorrow if his mother died without a limit, surrounded by entities that reminds him of the childhood in an atmosphere of quiet echo. Regardless of the positive Alex’s protection of culture entities to protect against the comprehensive removal of the East and to heal his approval of his personal loss, the trick is triggered in his rebuilding that will eventually prevents from a positive relationship to the past, present, or future. To defend his mother from the shock he worries that he will kill her, Alex must retain the impression that the radical changes of the Wende did not happen. Rather than easily simplifying things his mother, and himself, into the present, Alex works progressively to duplicate a frame in the past, pouring Western foods into East German jars and bottles collected from the trash, filming fake East German news and even forcing friends and guests to wear old East German clothes. Unlike a museum, where the physical and historical distance between viewer and entity inspires a serious echo, Alexâ€℠¢s complete rebuilding a time-sphere to put his mother in the impression of a timeless present, where artefacts of the past may not show any symbols of age. Boym distinguishes between two types of nostalgia: restorative nostalgia, which search for to reconstruct the missing home and reflective nostalgia, which lingers lovingly on ruins. As Boym express that, â€Å"Restoration signifies a return to the original stasis, to the prelapsarian moment. The past for the restorative nostalgic is a value for the present; the past is not a duration but a perfect snapshot. Moreover, the past is not supposed to reveal any signs of decay; it has to be freshly painted in its â€Å"original image† and remain eternally young. Reflective nostalgia is more concerned with historical and individual time, with the irrevocability of the past and human finitude. Reflection suggests new flexibility, not the reestablishment of stasis. The focus here is not on recovery of what is perceived to be an absolute truth but on the meditation on history and the passage of time†.[4] Both the ordinary route of time and the historical disorders of 1989-1990 have distorted Alex’s childhood desire to travel and the physical distance to outer space into a desire for the historical distance of his East German childhood, by exaggeratedly breaking up the historical distance of his East German childhood. However, he fights his thinking on the route of time, and as a result, he fails to arise to a conclusion of loss. Though his mother’s bedroom protects him from the leap of life in the real world, Alex dodges fronting the option of death by constructing a zone where time is reach a stationary point. Also, since he cannot settle the joy of unification and trying to protect of the past at the same time, Alex’s inner and external worlds develop ever more separation. Throughout the film, the West German football team’s victory in the 1990 World Cup aids as an icon of internal unity in Germany, motivating the approaches of unity and shared celebrati on. Good Bye, Lenin! Ends with the collocation of the depressing, broken-down streets of the GDR and the bright colours of the Super-8 films that had represented happy moments in Alex’s childhood in the beginning of the film. Once the Berlin Wall falls, Alex’s desire for the slower pace of life was paid by the distance of space as well as his East German childhood is an answer to his requirement to sorrow the loss of his mother in a historical time-space isolated from that which so quickly and unsentimentally thrown out the GDR. Though he briefly falls as a victim to a returning nostalgia that would prevent him from carrying on into the future, Alex on the other hand reveals how the protection of East German popular and culture’s entities in unified Germany can aid the GDR citizens to keep a connection to the his past, simplifying the echo on the route of time and recognising the loss that relates to the unstable cultural significance of East German entities. Alex in the end sends his mother’s ashes into the air on a firecracker that had the same identity and was almost a replica to the tiny rocket of his childhood. As he is looking up at the fireworks in the sky, he imagines that his mother is looking down on them from space. The meaning of his relationship to space has now upturned from the diversion of his childhood to accept the death fact in adulthood. For Alex, GDR childhood breaks and fails as being a â€Å"haven† to him, where he can delay sadness forever, and he develops a collection of cultural markers and personal memories that open up a dialogue between the real and imagined spaces of past, present, and future. Alex’s desire for a different knowledge of time eventually will accomplishes its positive prospective to recuperate a missing connection to the slower rhythms of East German childhood, standing in front of fast and confusing historical disorder. In Pierre Nora article ‘Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Memorie’, he claimed that many section of memory exists because people do not have impulsively arising memory, instead, the people depend on history to fill in the gaps of their memory. He also claims that the leftovers of an experience have been â€Å" ‘moved under the heaviness of a essentially historical sensibility’ with haunting images of the â€Å"push and pull† result of historical moments that are being separated from the movement of history and then re-joint, ‘like shells on the shore when the sea of living memory has receded.† [5]Nora proposes that the existing desire for archives files aids his philosophy in that nations are trying to record everything based on the philosophy â€Å"record as much as you can, something will remain.† Nora appears to understand the government’s history storing because the culture’s quantity has crushed the real m emory. Bibliography: Anton, Christine, Pilipp Frank, Beyond Political Correctness. Remapping German Sensibilities in the 21st Century (Germany: Rodopi, 2010), pp: 218-220 Clarke, David, German Cinema since Unification (London: Continuum, 2006), pp: Hake, Sabine, German National Cinema (London: Routledge, 2001), 179-180 Nora, Pierre, ‘Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mà ©moire’ in Representations, No. 26, Special Issue: Memory and Counter-Memory, (spring, 1989), pp. 7-24. [1] Clarke, David, German Cinema since Unification (London: Continuum, 2006), pp: 26 [2] Clarke, David, German Cinema since Unification (London: Continuum, 2006), pp: 27 [3] Clarke, David, German Cinema since Unification (London: Continuum, 2006), pp: 27 [4] Clarke, David, German Cinema since Unification (London: Continuum, 2006), pp: 32 [5] Nora, Pierre, ‘Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mà ©moire’ in Representations, No. 26, Special Issue: Memory and Counter-Memory, (spring, 1989), pp. 7-12.

Impact of Globalization on the Environment

Impact of Globalization on the Environment Human race faces some desperate challenges to replenish for what has been done by our generation in the name of globalisations. The definition of our in this context is to eloquently emphasise that the outcome of globalisation today was the result of the comprehensiveness of all human race and our here refers to every living human being on this earth who contributes to both the positive and negative outcomes of globalisation. According to Pierik and Werner, the all-inclusiveness (2010, p. 2) applies to every living human being in general and the access to basic rights should also be equally available to every individual on this earth. For instance, right to clean air or clean water. In similar fashion, cosmopolitans argue that as citizens of the world, we should conjointly tackle both the positive and negative impacts of globalisation. As documented by Pogge in World Poverty and Human Rights, every human being has a global stature as the ultimate unit of moral concern (2002, p. 169). However, in the era of globalisation, this is not always the case. The environmental problems have become a pressing issue often relating it to the causal effect of globalisation contributed by the human activities. As stated by Mol in Globalization and Environmental Reform, the environmental repercussions are often related to the market demand and supply, or also widely known as Global Capitalism (2001, p. 71). Global capitalism is no foreign to the global consumptions and economic production which severely hampers the stability of the environment. So, this boils down to one question, what impacts does globalisation really has on the environment? To begin with, this essay will discuss about the implications of globalisation towards the general society. It also argues on the question of distribution equality of environmental risks and followed by the discussion on the ramification of global warming caused by the processes of globalisation. The second part then details on how globalisation has lead to the harmonisation of environmental practices among Transnational Corporations (TNCs) and the last part will then entail on the development of global environmental governance discourses. Is Globalisation eco-friendly? In respect to the effect of global capitalism, it has certainly induced or in a bold way of saying it, it has messed up the entire climate system and the environment respectively. Global warming is no longer a foreign term to most of us and this issue has been overly argued that the economic globalisation is partly behind this which has brought us to where we are now. In relation to the act of global capitalists, it boils down to one question, is there an equal distribution of risks relating to environmental threats across the globe and are the responsibilities on emitting Green House Gases (GHGs) being shared equally by every state in the world? As argued by Mol (2001 p. 79), it is hard to escape from the environmental threats in a highly-globalised era and it is merely impossible to do so. Another scholar like Gray suggests that developed countries conserve their environments by moving their productions to the developing world where environmental regulations on Multi-national corpo rations (MNCs) are more slack and thus, exporting their pollutions to the operating countries (Gray cited in Lofdahl, 2002, p. 9). Hence, making it one of the negative impacts of globalisation. In this case, the environmental risks are not being shared equally nor fair as the win for few are often a dispense for many others. As a cosmopolitan, being equally fair is the way to do it and in a perfect world, sharing environmental risks should be borne not only by states but also transnational actors across the globe and putting effort in conserving the environment in any possible means. This may sound superficial for some of us, but a cosmopolitan scholar like David Heater himself also share the same believe as he had documented in his book, World Citizenship: when possible, participate in schemes for positive conservation and cleansing; and the understanding that the most deleterious effects of environmental degradation can rarely be contained within boundaries of the state where the depleting or polluting processes originate (2002, p. 123). Having said that, to have an equal distribution of environmental risks among nation states and global actors in the real world is really difficult. The question on whether or not the risks are equitably distributed also depends on some bodies in the global governance, for instance, transnational actors like the MNCs or TNCs. There has been debates about transnational corporations for not acquiring feasible (sustainable) production methods and such practices has been widely lauded by most business people across the globe. These unsustainable practices have contributed harm towards the environment both in the operating countries and its neighbouring countries respectively. To top it all, these activities are being operated mostly in the developing nations. Why is that? Is developing nations a soft target for transnational corporations to conduct their unethical business operations? In answering this question, according to Daly and Cobb, one of the many reasons for the favour of operati ng in most developing countries is due to its weak local trading system and the laid-back regulations on transnational corporations. In this respect, the issue on trades and environmental problems could be explained in a wider context involving the WTO (World Trade Organisation) or formerly known as GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). Technically, the formation of globalisation itself was partly moulded by the GATT or WTO in making the world a freer trading ground by opening the markets everywhere across the globe (Baylis et al, 2014, p. 346). According to liberal economists in respect to WTOs trade policies, they argued that the result form pollutions due to the trade could be treated as part of the production cost of producing the goods, and hence, supporting their claim that it could be favourable towards the environment as resources will be utilised in a more efficient manner (Baylis et al, 2014). However, one could contest that its equitability remains questionable. As a money-making organisation, this is often seen as a benefit to further grow their companies in seeking more profits out the production despite for its unsustainable practices in these countries (Daly and Cobb cited in Mol, 2001, p. 83). For instance, the tragic Bhopal incident on December 1984 was the result of unsustainable practices done by a Transnational Corporation. It killed more than fifteen thousand people and approximately more than two hundred fifty thousand people were injured due the pipes leakage mishap; releasing over forty thousand tons of toxic gases to Bhopals open air (Fortun, 2009). Bhopal was obviously a soft target for a multi-national corporation like the Union Carbide. Bhopal region were seen to be backward in terms of development, but due to its prominent location for easy transportation access, it made Bhopal to be an ideal location for the operation (Fortun, 2009). Put simply, Bhopal incident is just one of the examples of an unequitable distribution of environmental risks, not only to the population of Bhopal region, but the result from the mishap has an indirect effect in contributing to transboundary pollution and thereby ultimately, increasing the GHGs emission level on a global scale. In short, every emission made everywhere around the world will be in the expense of every living things on earth including, human, our future generations to be, and even biodiversity. Secondly, its responsibility for the environmental damages and severe climate change particularly on the increase of GHG emissions since the industrial revolution era. Environmental agencies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) believes that the cause for the environmental degradation or global warming is caused by the increasing amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the result of the increasing number of human activity over the past decades (Huwart and Verdier, 2013, p. 112). Many argues that globalisation is partly responsible for the environmental issues that we are currently facing which is caused by the increase in industrial productions and surging amount of international trade deals due to massive global consumption. That said, several human-induced activities that contributes to the surging emission amount of CO2 are mainly from transportation, global capitalist activities (mainly on industrial activity and consumption) and deforestation. Accordin g to Huwart and Verdier (2013), transportation takes a big chunk of the CO2 emission level to the atmosphere. For instance, roughly about nine percent of the GHG emission is from the aviation sector and overall, approximately about eighty-six percent increase of GHG emission from the aviation sector from 1990 to 2004 (Huwart and Verdier, 2013, p. 113). Nonetheless, aviation industry is one of the most profitable industries now. According to International Civil Aviation organization (ICAO, 2016), the overall amount of CO2 emission for India aviation industry was roughly around 16.4 million tonnes as of 2014. On that note, between 2005 to 2007, the local airline companies have ordered about five hundred aeroplanes due to the rising number of passengers travelling locally and internationally (Huwart and Verdier, 2013, p. 113). Put simply, the dilemma between economic growth and pollution is never ending, it is an unprecedented loop. So long as there is consumption, we are inevitably bo unded to experience global warming. In relation to the issue on global warming, as Huwart and Verdier documented in Economic Globalisation, Globalisation is often an ally of the chainsaw (2013, p. 114). Huwart and Verdier (2013) argues that transportation is not just the only source of pollution, other human activities such as deforestation also contributes towards the gradual increase of GHG emissions over the past decades. This is none other due to the increase in consumption percentage globally and it pushes mass production of goods in order to cater the market demand. For example, as of 2003, soy exports by the Brazilians to China was approximately around six million tonnes. Deforestation of lands in some parts of Brazil has enabled them to produce more soy to cater China market. The rule is simple, more soy export, more rainforest is being turned into farmland (Huwart and Verdier, 2013). All of these activities has a chain effect which contributes to global warming. Besides, gl obal warming is one of the reasons for the increasing number in natural calamity such as increase in sea water level causing floods and also hurricanes. For instance, low-lying island states that only lies about three metres above sea level will be in jeopardy, countries such as, Tuvalu, Palau, Maldives and other low-lying states will be severely affected (Ashe, Lierop and Cherian, 1999). Considering that these small island states play a very little role in global pollution and this boils down to one question, could this also be a case of unequitable distribution of environmental risk? Looking at it in a different perspective, a realist or a sceptic would perceive it as an equal loss or gain. For instance, as pointed out by Ritzer (2010, p. 337), the North is more concerned on the issue of global warming, meanwhile the South is heavily encumbered with other pressing issues like HIV, famine and Malaria. So, is this a fair game? Mass migration is also often discussed in unearthing the several effects from the result of global warming. Its side effect within itself has caused several problems and it will be catastrophic to the human race in many years to come. In this respect, the rising sea level is one of the products of global warming. Scientifically, this is due to the rapid melting of ice sheets throughout the world which is caused by a rapid increase in temperature. For instance, it is expected that there will be a rise in sea level globally by twenty-three feet if the ice in Greenland were to be completely melted and another seventeen-foot rise on sea level if the ice in the Antarctica were to be ruptured in a similar manner. Hence, that make it up to forty feet increase in sea level in total. It goes without saying if this happens, it would be a massive calamity on a global scale and it could easily wipe out the entire low-lying states and the small island nations in a glimpse (Ritzer, 2010, p. 345). This is not a new phenomenon, temperature has been increasing and the rise in sea level is expected to be quicker than previously forecasted putting the small island and low-lying states in a most vulnerable position (Collins Rudolph cited in Ritzer, 2010). In many cases, natural disasters like floods, droughts or even storm could be a golden opportunity for businesses out there. As stated by Klein in This Changes Everything, natural disaster could open doors to business opportunities especially in the reformation of new houses and infrastructures like in New Jersey right after the superstorm sandy died down. Or, the surge in numbers of patent for genetically engineered seeds that withstands extreme weather conditions is also seen as business opportunity by big corporations like Monsanto and Syngenta (2015, p. 9). None of these are much of a surprise for us as this is rather a norm for most capitalists to act in such manner. That said, natural disasters are often seen as an opportu nity, making money out of ones agony. Referring to the earlier statement, could this also be the case for the small island nations if the entire land is no longer inhabitable? Charging each and every individual from these nations for a new place to stay when the sea level hits exactly at three feet above the ground? The idea behind this is that, charging would not solve any of these problems. The issues on global warming is very complex that it is interconnected with the well-being of the world society. For instance, looking at the small island nations and low-lying states circumstances, it is expected to be about 60 million people will become refugees if sea level were to rise above three feet (Ritzer, 2010, p. 347). The potential haphazard from the migration would be a nightmare for the world society and the likely effect from this would be an increase in crime rate, surging number in poverty, food scarcity and security issues as the world will become more borderless. Are we ready for this? Should this happen, this will become a world problem as catastrophe as such is irreversible. Hence, preventing or slowing down global warming would be the best solution to this. On the other side of this coin, thanks to globalisation for leading us to a world without border in a sense where creating awareness on global warming and other environmental issues are easier now than it was 50 years ago, despite for the damages that it has done over these years. Put simply, it is a way forward and it could be a way out for the citizens of the world. As stated by Mol in Globalization and environmental Reform: Globalization can trigger the harmonization of national environmental practices, regimes, and standards, produce new institutional arrangements at a supra-national level, transfer environmental technologies, management concepts, and organizational models, and accelerate the exchange of environmental information around the world (2001, p. 96). In a way, globalisation had already created a platform in addressing the issues on environment. That said, a collective effort is needed in order to achieve certain objectives on creating a sustainable environment and a greener economic growth. As argued by Mol (2001), globalisation has led to the harmonisation of environmental practices among the key drivers on the global market, i.e. transnational corporations. As one of the key drivers in the global scene, their position is quite prominent which enables them to influence the environmental improvements and promoting best practice to their consumers and as well as to their suppliers. Transnational corporations are seen to be as a strong actor in the global governance especially in the transmission of new technology and producing influential advertisements (Choucri, 1991). Choucri (1991) also stated that transnational corporations will be useful in shaping up new means of doing business and trades in the most sustainable way as possi ble. However, issues on environmental reformation is not a one man show, it is rather a collective initiative from other responsible parties as well. In light of this, Mol (2001) also argues that efforts on environmental harmonisation practices by transnational actors would not have been possible without the help of few driving factors like the International Standard Organisation (ISO), environmental Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), international regulatory bodies and even public pressure. These underlying has been a push factor for some, not all, TNCs everywhere around the globe. Some international standards were created cohesively with the harmonisation of environmental practices for manufacturing purposes, namely, the ISO 14000 series (Mol, 2001, p. 99). Having said that, this kind of initiatives help to reduce unsustainable manufacturing methods and act as one of the triggering tools towards a greener means of production across TNCs. But then again, having ISO alone will n ot secure the future of the environmental problems that we are currently facing because it acts as only a jumpstart for a greener way of manufacturing goods. On another level, globalisation could also somehow create a join force or formation of positive social movements especially in combating the environmental challenges that are contributed by TNCs across the region. Let us take the social movement of the Bhopal incident survivors as an example to help explain this particular point. After the Bhopal incident, many social movements were formed with regards to the unethical business practices by TNCs in the region. In this respect, the focus of these initiatives has also evolved overtime where issues on gender were also integrated in these social movements. Underpinning gender in this context, Suroopa Mukhrejee argued that the tragic Bhopal incident has put gender under the limelight where the social movements were formed and lead by the women survivors of the Bhopal incident (Mukre jee cited in Scandrett and Mukhrejee, 2011, p. 201). That said, Mukhrejee also argued that the core of the social movement was focused in addressing womens well-being which the outcome from the incident had caused several complications to womens health and body respectively. As stated by Scandrett and Mukhrejee, the experience of poison in the womens bodies in its disruption of menstrual cycles and gynaecological functions, abnormal births and dependent children, becomes reflected in the bodily practices of protest (2011, p. 202). Put simply, the result from the incident has somehow induced for such movement to happen allowing women to step forward and be empowered in fighting not only for womens right, but also environmental justice in their region and throughout the country. In view of this, I argue that the strive from these kind movements is not just beneficial for the present society, but also for the future generation to come which has the right to access clean air and clean environment. After all, living in a clean environment is part of human rights as well. However, scholars like Wilfred Beckerman and Joanna Pasek believes that the unborn future generations hold no rights and do not deserve to have anything out of it as they are not here to utilise these rights in present (Beckerman and Pasek cited in Pierek and warner, 2010, p. 32). On contrary, scholars like Simon Caney argued that the rights for the unborn generations will be jeopardised if such approach are not going to be taken into account now. If such right like the rights for the unborn generations were to be in placed now, the future generation would hold a full moral sentiment on duties to protect and not to harm the environment (Caney, 2011, p. 235) and hence, shaping up a better and highly morale future society. Therefore, the current generation should be obliged to not act in a way where it will threaten the rights of the future generations. In relation to the collective efforts as mentioned earlier, there are several initiatives that has been done over the recent years in addressing the environmental issues especially on mitigation of climate change. For example, the development of global environmental governance like the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Kyoto Protocol in 1997, Copenhagen Accord or even the recent Paris Agreement. In general, these initiatives are recognised as an effort in spearheading the global economy towards a greener global business direction. Of course, having institutions or agencies as such does not necessarily bring about a complete success in tackling environmental issues, but rather, it could be a game changing process for the businesses especially the TNCs in modifying their production practices into a more sustainable method. For instance, the carbon tax could be a powerful tool in reducing the emissions on GHGs. Businesses will be taxed on a basis of th eir carbon emission usage from the utilisation of fossil fuels and the aim of this instrument is to motivate businesses to divert their production methods into a more sustainable one (Ritzer, 2010, p. 356). Having said that, instruments as such would be more effective if nations from all over the world participates, especially some major polluters like the US and China. Thus, participations are also seen as a collective effort in mitigating environmental issues. Several instruments like the carbon credit purchase and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) were also introduced in Kyoto Protocol which aims to reduce GHG emissions especially from the highly industrialised developed countries (Lechner, 2009, p. 257). For instance, the essence of the CDM encourages cooperation between developed and developing countries in a sense where a conducive sustainable development could be harnessed from utilising this instrument i.e. green technology transfer to developing countries. Of course, th e motivating factor for these developed countries to run CDM is to ensure that their emission target could be achieved by 2012 to 5 percent below 1990 level (Ma, 2010). The idea behind this is that, globalisation has lead us to a stage where issues on global warming are seen to be a severe world problem if its left untreated. Also, we have witnessed growing numbers of environmental agencies and regimes over the past years and it would not have not been possible without the essence of globalisation. A scholar like Lipshutz argues that the creation of a sustainable environment could be done because human has an ability to be innovative in resolving complex issues as such (Lipschutz cited in Lechner, 2009, p. 261). On another note, Lipschutz also argues that, we cannot grow or consume our way out of the crisis (Lipschutz cited in Lechner, 2009).ÂÂ   Referring to Lipschutz argument, it suggests, the world we are currently living in is worn out and the more we are trying extract mor e resources from the ecosystem, the more damages will be done to environment. For example, increasing sea level and catastrophic natural disasters as mentioned on the earlier paragraph. Therefore, it makes more sense for us to spearhead towards a greener and sustainable economy where changes in attitudes towards consumption is required, ultimately, improving the quality of the environment, social and also economic inequalities. Globalisation: is it good or bad for the environment? What can be concluded based on the arguments above is that, globalisation has certainly brought us to an era where the stability of environment is at stake. The results from globalisation has lead us to another level of environmental deterioration global warming. For a fact, the environmental risks are not being distributed equally across the globe due to the ever-rising levels of consumption which in turn, affecting the level of GHG emissions on a global scale and as well as climate stability. Regardless of its negative consequences, the nature of interconnectedness in globalisation could also be seen a vector in bringing down the environmental issues that world is currently facing. Globalisation has open doors for green politics through the development of global environmental governance with the involvement of other bodies like Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and social movement groups which helps to elevate the awareness across the globe. As a cosmopolitan, I argue that every individual has a duty of engaging with activities that is sustainable and causing less harm to the environment. Not to completely neglect globalisation as it is inevitable, but rather, placing commitments on doing things in a most sustainable manner and citizens of the world should also associate themselves to environmental groups because the world of politics can be used as an agent of change. On this note, Derek Heater also argues that, encouraging appropriate activity can alter the horizons of what seems possible to leaders and to the mainstream public (Heater, 2002, p. 129). This process maybe slow, but I strongly argue that with a collective effort from the citizens of the world, the impossible can potentially be accomplished and further harnessed.

The Powerful Voice of Kurtz in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Essay

The Powerful Voice of Kurtz in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Many times, words by themselves do not convey an idea wholly or conceal it altogether. Instead, the voice carrying the words conveys the idea, lending shape and new meaning to the familiar syllables. Words resonate with prescribed meanings, whereas voice creates its own meaning and identity. In Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, voice comprises the primitive component of language, with words existing only as a secondary function of voice. Glimpsing a â€Å"primitive truth,† Kurtz’s voice and soul unite so that his knowledge speaks through his voice, rather than through his words. Alternately draining words of their meaning and filling them with new meaning, Kurtz’s voice contains the power to define his own words. Strip Kurtz of his common syllables, and what remains is a terse note in a margin of seventeen eloquent pages, a frightening voice shaped by unfamiliar words. Marlow first hears of Kurtz as a word repeatedly spoken by others. As Marlow navigates down th e river, traveling farther from civilization, Kurtz’s voice amplifies, ultimately consuming the name and the man himself. The voice of Kurtz is heard and realized not in the familiar words of others, but in the journey down the river into the unknown. People’s inability to pronounce Kurtz’s name suggests the authenticity of Kurtz’s own voice and the weakness of the words used to describe him. When describing Kurtz, familiar vocabulary fails altogether; Kurtz remains a word with little meaning. Marlow first hears of Kurtz from the Company’s chief accountant at Outer Station. When asked who Kurtz is, the accountant responds, â€Å"He is a very remarkable person† (37).* The accountant does not mention his name without adding t... ...r. The structure of words and the report are unable to contain his voice. Like Kurtz’s last words, these simultaneously drain all meaning from words and add their own new meaning, highlighting only lies. In German â€Å"kurtz† means short. What Kurtz actually says is plain and terse, but appalling. It is not hidden behind words, but revealed within Kurtz’s own voice and scribbled in margins. However, it is the voiceless words, the written words, the lies, and not the note scribbled by his own voice that Kurtz asks Marlow to preserve. By wanting to preserve his report, Kurtz acknowledges the power of written words. He knows that besides Marlow’s memory, writing is the only thing that can begin to immortalize him. But, perhaps, Kurtz’s knowledge is meant to die along with his voice. Works Cited * Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (London: Penguin Books, 1995).

Corruption and Greed in The Canterbury Tales Essay example -- The Cant

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a collection of stories by a group of pilgrims who are heading to Canterbury Cathedral. In this book, the pardoner and the reeve show antipodal characters in many ways. The pardoner is beautiful blonde hair man who is being loved by everyone. However he is very corrupted and smart and sells fake religious stuff to people saying very good compliment. On the other hand, the reeve is very serious and honest business man. He is very smart enough to know what criminals think and do. The pardoner story-tells a great example (or tale?) of seven deadly sins and reeve’s story is mocking of the miller. These very different characteristic men tell story telling that human beings are always punished for being greedy. The crooked pardoner and the honest reeve have different purposes for telling their tales, but their stories have the same major theme; sins deserve punishment. The pardoner tells the readers that money and greed is root of all evil throughout this tale. In his tale, there are three drunken men, one day, decide to find Death and annihilate it. They ask one old man where the death is and he points at the tree where a lot of gold are. When they find gold they only think of getting gold as many as possible and end up planning to kill each other. Three men are unaware of their own evil and as a result, three all die. By story-telling this tale which comprehends no interaction with his behavior, the pardoner negate his own moral and advises other people how should they live their life in order to avoid sins. In the reeve’s tale, the miller, Symkyn, is very well know for stealing other people’s properties. Two university students, John and Aleyn, have their corn stolen from that miller ... ... is not greedy at all because he doesn’t show off the fact that he is rich. He is loyal to his lord and a working-hard business man which is free from sloth, lust and gluttony. He is a perfect example of the human who lives their life best, not committing deadly sins unlike the pardoner. He disgusts of the miller in the book who is being very gluttony and lust. He warns the miller that he will be punished as in his tale says â€Å"He who does evil should not expect good.† He analyzes the miller in the book to the miller in the tale, Symkym; greed will bring disaster to him and will punish him by the fate. These completely different characters share the same theme for different reasons and purposes which tells the reader that the standard of morality is same to various people and they should not commit the sins which certainly will be punished in some way in the future.

Letter home nurse

My dearest Mother, I am missing you dearly and I hope everything is well. I am getting very home sick, life here is different than over there. I can hear sounds of the battlefield and it's very frightening. We also get very little sleep and It is so cold here. The food is so plain; we rarely eat meat. We eat mostly beans, potatoes and soup. I'm getting so tired of it. Many of the things I see are very disturbing but it feels good to help these men.Some of them have talked to me about their families or what they plan to do after the war. like to hear them being positive. I've started keeping a diary and I've even started writing poems. This helps me take all my emotions out. It feels really good, but you know what doesn't? Feeling to dirty all the time. I feel Ilke I feel this way most of the time. We have to take sponge baths with cold water, which doesnt help at all. Many girls have not been able to handle all of this and have gone home but that ont happen to me.Everything here move s so fast and the men come and go or we have to move and some are left behind. I get very sad when I think about those men and if they had families or not. Maybe that's why some girls are leaving, I don't blame them. I hope to see you and Father and sister soon, I hope this Is all over really soon. I miss you all so much It hurts. I've made some friends but I wish I was at home in my own bed, or having dinner with all of you. Ill be home soon! Love, Leslie

A Farewell to Arms

Throughout the novel, A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway developed a specific discipline and behavior for a true Hemingway â€Å"code hero†. Although there are many characters in the novel, each one of them possessed a similar or contrasting characteristic of a â€Å"code hero†. While Frederic Henry became a true â€Å"code hero† by the end of the novel, Catherine Barkley was a better example of a â€Å"code hero† throughout the course of the novel. Hemingway's definition of a code hero stated that there were many qualities, some more important than others, needed in order to be classified as a true â€Å"code hero†. The most important characteristics required to be a true Hemingway â€Å"code hero† like Catherine Barkley are bravery, immorality, and discipline. According to the Hemingway hero's philosophy, a truly brave â€Å"code hero† was a stoic person, who accepted the fear of a situation and did not complain about it. â€Å"I'm not a bit afraid. It's just a dirty trick.† This was all that Catherine said shortly before she died. However, Catherine died according to her view of what the brave should do in death as in life. A brave person should simply not mention their fear of the deaths that they have encountered. Death was the end of everything and life was devoted to exposing oneself to all types of physical pleasures, which were the rewards a Hemingway hero would strive for in life. Catherine dismissed the traditional concepts of morality and developed her own system of moral values. Because of her self-created values, she did not marry yet, she was pregnant and did not want the child to be baptized. In a way, Helen Ferguson was the living symbol of the traditional concepts of morality. She disliked Frederic since he and Catherine were not married but continued to pretend as if they were. Helen felt this was wrong and that they should have been married especially since Catherine was pregnant. This controversy with Helen only further illustrated the fact that Catherine was a non-conformist to the traditional moral values of the day. The most important characteristic required of a Hemingway hero† was discipline. Self-discipline was a value, which grows out of one's essential being. When Frederic had to return to the front, Catherine didn't even cry or display any disappointment about his leaving. This was an excellent example of the discipline of refusing to be emotional about an event. If a â€Å"code hero† ever expressed any emotion, they would often be ashamed of having done so. Even though she was involved in the war since she was a nurse, Catherine never spoke of the ravages of war or expressed any feeling toward the war. Talking was considered to be emotionalism, which involved thinking. A Hemingway hero was not a thinker but a person of action. Catherine Barkley exemplified the â€Å"code hero† by possessing a great sense of bravery, her own sense of immorality, and her own sense of discipline. A Hemingway hero must be brave in the face of danger, must push aside the traditional moral values, and must have discipline to block out true emotion. These characteristics were just a few of the many that a Hemingway â€Å"code hero† must possess. While each â€Å"code hero† may have shared similar qualities, when and how each detail was discovered varies greatly from character to character. Unlike Frederic Henry, Catherine possessed all of these qualities from the beginning of the novel, which led Hemingway to create Catherine Barkley as the true Hemingway â€Å"code hero†.