Mans Attitude Towards Nature As Being Superior Essays -

Man's Attitude Towards Nature as Being Superior As mans attitude towards nature evolved, western culture perceived man as the central and most important part of nature. This egocentric attitude has acted to the extreme detriment of nature. Yes, I believe this to be true and I will prove it by looking at resourcism and speciesism. Resourcism is the exploitation of the worlds resources. Our consumption rate, especially in the western world, is overwhelming. In the beginning, we were a hunter and gatherer society, perceiving man and animals as equals. Everything was shared, there was no claims of ownership, especially land. The two most significant events in our conquest of the planet was the creation of agriculture and the industrial revolution. The development of agriculture gave us control over what we grew and ate. Mass amounts of land were cleared in order to make room for new crop fields. Science is considered to be knowledge, knowledge is power and therefore science is mastery. The continued advancement of science created what is known as the industrial revolution. This is where our over consumption began. We were now able to drill into the earth and extract unrenewable resources and make them into many new products. This attitude of power and control over the resources of the earth has lead us to think of ourselves as the most important part of nature. We took what the earth had to offer, and there was no one to stop us. Speciesism is the exploitation of plants and animals. At first, we feared animals but once we domesticated animals we gained a sense of power and dominance. We now view animals as commodities, curiosities, and even as our selves. As commodities, we sell, buy and hunt animals. Fish are considered to be a commodity, so are domesticated animals as well as some wild animals. As curiosities, we have animals for entertainment. Zoos, circuses, bullfights, marine land, etc. . The problem with this is the animals are kept in cages and often have poor living conditions, they are to some, being held captive. Many people would prefer watching them in their natural habitats doing natural things. Bears do not normally roll on balls in bright coloured skirts just so people can laugh. This is degrading to the animals but once again it reminds us that we are the top species, the one who controls all the others. We even view animals as our selves, this is true when it comes to children's enjoyment. Stuffed animals, cartoons and especially Walt Disney depict animals as humans. In cartoons we see animals talking like us, walking like us, doing all the things we normally do. Children are exposed to this egocentric attitude at a very early age, almost every child will want to visit disney world. With plants, it is in our gardening that we exemplify control. We all know of those large gardens with mazes that are geometrically correct, notice how every hedge is trimmed perfectly. In the hunter and gather society, their hierarchy had animals and humans as equals, but today we have god at the top, humans in the middle and nature at the bottom. Some believe that animals were created for our benefit this belief which I hold myself comes from Genesis, the first book in the bible. Chapter 1, verse 26 says "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth". In conclusion, we now view our selves as the central and most important part of nature. It is this new attitude that has acted to the excessive degradation of nature. Things are still in the process of changing, with the environment high on our list of priorities, we are beginning to view nature in a different light, as something to be protected and preserved for future generations.

The Case For The Defence InDepth Review essays

The Case For The Defence InDepth Review essays My fascination with the Judicial System Structure of today's society was furthered and strengthened after reading and analyzing the works of Edward Greenspan. This superbly written biography recollecting past cases and important events in Greenspan's life allowed myself, the reader, to learn more about Jurisprudence and the Criminal Code. The entire casebook revolves around several main themes including the balance of Positive & Natural influences in the courtroom, whether a lawyer's consience intervenes with his duty as a counsellor, and the alarming rate of perjury occuring in front of the juries. To be more concise and clear to the point, Greenspan's book is a diary of controversial and beneficial issues which have hovered around our criminal courts and will continue to plague and pester them for years to come. By observing and understanding certain issues presented in his book, I was able to comprehend what type of person Greenspan is, what he believes in, what he represents and what he would do for his profession. The wheels of Jurisprudence are always turning, and I came to realise how Greenspan worked and bargained for his status in the country to be solidified. This book also flourished with innovative situations pertaining to the most diversified of criminal charges, to the most uncanny regions of law ever dealt. It was this thorough look at Greenspan's life which impressed this reviewer the most. It was quite clear that after the fourth page, I came upon the conclusion that this casebook would create a most influential reaction to anyone who had displayed any interest towards our Law system in general. Part One of the novel, No Little Clients, presents the reader with the author's proposed thesis. His ambition is to defend innocent people accused of crimes. Whether they are innocent or guilty without being proven guilty is irrelevant to Mr. Greenspan. A lawyer's consience must not be his deciding factor when advising or couns...

Curriculum Based Assessment (CBA) for Students

Curriculum Based Assessment (CBA) for Students Curriculum-Based Assessment (CBA) is any form of assessment based on the curriculum that a child is mastering. Most CBAs comes directly from the textbook, in the form of tests- often in the form of chapter tests. Other CBAs can be taken from online resources. This is especially true for online worksheet resources. The following are especially helpful. The Math Work Sheet Site The basic worksheet generator for this site is free, although it provides a variety of useful formats in its members section. You can choose to generate worksheets by the format (horizontal or vertical) the number of digits, whole numbers, the range of numbers use. It offers each of the basic operations, mixed problems, fractions, measurement, graphing and telling time. The worksheets have large numerals that are well spaced for the large digits made by most students in special education. Edhelper.com Edhelper is a member only site, although access is provided to some items. The reading selections are not well adapted for children with reading disabilities: the text is often too close together for these readers, and the content is not particularly well written. My preference is always Reading A-Z, another member only site with excellent reading resources.Edhelpers math resources are excellent, especially for functional math skills such as money counting, fractions, and telling time. It provides several ways to show evidence of competence in each skill area. Money Instructor Money Instructor has both paid and member-only options. Many of the free options provide realistic (color) money for counting. These are excellent resources for children who have difficulty with generalization, such as children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Reading A-Z Reading A-Z is an excellent resource for special education teachers. It breaks reading levels into discrete levels from a-z for pre-primer through grade 6 readers. One of the advantages is that there is a great deal of non-fiction, which makes these lower level reading books age appropriate for older but very disabled readers. Not exactly the same as the Fountas and Pinnell levels, the website provides conversion charts which can be helpful if you are writing IEP goals with grade level goals (say, John will read at grade level 2.4 with 94% accuracy.)The website provides books in the PDF format that you can download and print in multiples. Each level provides benchmark books with pre-printed running record forms with the text from the books with places to check off the sort of errors for miscue analysis. Each benchmark also comes with a comprehension question, with different levels of questions geared to Blooms Taxonomy. Scholastic Bookwizard Finding leveled reading material for running records or miscue analysis can be a challenge. Scholastic offers a way to level the books they publish, either by grade level or guided reading level (Fountas and Pinnell.) Fountas and Pinnell also provide resources for leveling books but require a paid membership. Scholastic publishes some of the most popular childrens titles. Knowing grade level means that a teacher can select 100 word plus passages from authentic texts to use for running records and miscue analysis. Special Education Some publishers offer adapted assessments for special education students, or the special educator can adapt the assessment him or herself. Some text-based assessments can be read and scribed, especially if those accommodations are part of the students Specially Designed Instruction. Social studies tests are a good example: these are tests of a students social studies knowledge, not reading ability. The curriculum materials may be adapted to the students ability or Individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals. For example, fourth-grade children are mastering long division, but children with disabilities in the same classroom may be mastering single digit divisors into two or three digit dividends. Curriculum-based assessment is just one of the ways to collect data to meet IEP goals. The above websites provide a lot of useful resources for the special educator.

Sustainable Development of the Happy Planet Index Assignment

Sustainable Development of the Happy Planet Index - Assignment Example The firm that is analyzed in the paper is Happy Planet Index (HPI) that was designed in the year 2006 to evaluate the certain condition of the human life and the association of the humans and the environment. The previous indices like the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the Human Development Index (HDI) have lost their worth, as the most of the people agreed to be happy and healthy instead to being rich. In other words we can say that the Happy Planet Index (HPI) is the measure of how healthy and happy the humans are leading their lives and how is the activities of the humans affects the environment surrounding them. Moreover, the rate of consumption of natural resources also matters a lot in determining the Happy Planet index (HPI). The carbon foot prints produced by the humans largely affects the index and in this way, it encounters the ecological footprints bet unit person residing in a particular locality. The lower the value of ecological foot prints, the larger will be the Hap py Planet Index (HPI). Happy Planet index contributes much in the sustainable development of the planet as the Happy Planet Index tells about the growth of the ecological foot prints per person residing in the certain locality. In major cities of the world and the bigger and progressed countries of the world, it is seen that the ecological foot prints per capita is more as compared to the some of the underdeveloped countries. Moreover, such areas, which have forest and green fields in the vicinity, have the higher Happy Planet index. It can be noticed that most of the people want to have a healthy and happy life instead of a lavish life that is full with money but lacks health and happiness. The major strength of the HPI over other types of indices like GDP etc is that the economic perspective attached with the GDP and others is replaced by the Happy Planet Index and provided a Satisfied and happy life to the people. It associated the humans well being to the ecology. The previous i ndices have pity less information about the health and happiness of the persons. The methods involved in the evaluation of the index are simple enough to be understood by the common public as well as politicians. The factors like the Ecological footprints and the life expectancy can be calculated and utilized in the calculating the Happy Life index that is then compared to other regions of the world but the results might have some minor errors particularly when considering the ecological footprints. The index is the way to encounter many factors, some soft as life satisfaction and hard as Life expectancy and ecological footprints. It covers both state wise factors as resource consumption and individual’s factors like individual’s well being. However, Happy Planet Index (HPI) has some limitations, as the Happy Planet Index has a major factor associated with it is the ‘Happiness’ and it is hard to measure the happiness as the complexity of the term is heavil y discussed among social reformers. In different regions of the world, the ideas related to the term may vary and it depends on the metal status of the person to define the term. In this way, the policy building step becomes more complex that is a limitation in the Happy Planet Index (HPI) (Schepelmann, Makipaa & Goossens, 2007). Moreover, as the index is named as the Happy Planet Index (HPI), many people got the wrong idea of the index and considered it only an index that depicts the happiness of the country while the Happy Planet Index covers the environmental, ecological and Longevity factors. The biological indicators or the biotic indicators are the organisms or organism or community’s aspect, which are the part of the environment and as some alteration in the environment occurs, the organisms correspond to the change and show some special characteristics. Some biotic indicators prove the purity of the water through their presence in the water, while show that the water is not ideal for drinking. Some organisms

Ethics Foundations Paper - Business Ethics Essay

Ethics Foundations Paper - Business Ethics - Essay Example Some engagements in business could be legal but then again not ethical. Ethical reasoning regarding business conventionally has been described by two essential approaches. One approach outlines ethical behaviour as a duty or formalism or deontology. Formalism is a duty-centred ethical principle that is frequently derived from moral values entrenched in religious foundations. For instance, the Ten Commandments create guidelines for moral deeds. Various faiths have their identifiable sources of publicized truth for example the Koran in the Muslim faith. Within the boundaries of their guidance, moral ethics are collective, unconditional and undisputable (Boucher and Kelly 158). When an act is forbidden by religious teachings that function as the basis of an individual’s moral or ethical principles, the act is regarded as unethical for that individual and must not be accepted, irrespective of the consequences. Ethical principles based on an impression of duty can also be exclusively consequential to moral values. John Rawls’ social contract theory gives a significant contemporary illustration of how formalism has prejudiced philosophy about business as well as subjective ethics. This theory apprehends itself with exactly how to build an unbiased society given the various variations in prosperity, awareness, and social status. Rawls proposes a humble first step in defining the ethical standards on which an unbiased society can be constructed (Rawls and Rawls). This can be accurately illustrated by ignoring factors like wealth, intellect, gender, strength, race, or social ranks. Rawls suggests two ethical ideologies which include: first, every person is eligible for assured equal basic rights, comprising of autonomy, own security, and freedom of association. Second, even if there may perhaps be inequalities (social and economic), these disparities must be built on anything an individual engages in, not on who

Responsibilities in William Shakespeares Merchant of Venice Essay

Responsibilities in William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice The small and seemingly insignificant details in a story often hold together an entire theme of the work. This phenomenon is recognizable in the plays of William Shakespeare, as a speech or incident with a minor character can point the audience to a much larger truth about the work as a whole. The Merchant of Venice contains such a minor character, Lancelot, whose story gives a clue to the reader about the roles of the other characters in the play. Lancelot abandons his servitude to Shylock, and thereby weakens his own value as a member of society fulfilling a role. Lancelot’s decision is noteworthy because it represents a conflict of responsibilities that can be found in some of the main characters. These other characters (with the exception of Portia) behave similarly to Lancelot, and Lancelot’s story helps to illuminate their shortcomings. Lancelot’s speech about running from Shylock captures the greater conflict between inconsistent responsibilities that is present throughout The Merchant of Venice. Every servant has a responsibility to his master before he is responsible to himself. Lancelot violates this basic principle of servitude, and thus brings shame upon himself. Not only is Lancelot under a contractual obligation to Shylock, he has both social and religious obligations to remain in Shylock’s service. It is no surprise that the one who counsels Lancelot to leave Shylock is â€Å"the fiend† himself. â€Å"To be ruled by my conscience I should stay with the Jew my master who, God bless the mark, is a kind of devil;† reasons Lancelot (2.2.17-19), thinking that it is probably a better idea to stay with Shylock. He also knows that â€Å"to run away fro... ... ones. Because The Merchant of Venice is a comedy, no real harm comes to Lancelot or Bassanio because of their poor choices, but they are all made out to be foolish in comparison to Portia. These characters are lucky—in comparison with some of Shakespeare’s other characters that are faced with inconsistent responsibilities (such as Hamlet or Juliet, who both die), the non-role-fulfillers of The Merchant of Venice have extraordinarily happy endings. It is interesting to note that most of Shakespeare’s plays that include conflicting roles or responsibilities are tragedies, while the happy resolution of The Merchant of Venice makes it a comedy. The mistakes in The Merchant of Venice are all fixable, so even though the characters neglect their roles on occasion, the quick thinking of Portia allows them to retire with their spouses safely as a new day is breaking.

My Idiolect

Explore how and why your own language varies in different contexts and consider how others react to your speech. During the 14 years of my life, I have learnt to adjust and familiarise my dialect to suit diverse situations through the impact of media, family, music and social networking. Moreover, I have come to pay special attention to the context of where someone is talking and the mode of how they are communicating. I have also gained the awareness of how others respond to features of my idiolect and what to anticipate of them if I alter it.One aspect that stands out to be the utmost dominant in the means of varying my idiolect is social networking. Abbreviations like â€Å"LOL† and â€Å"ROFL† appear to be making their way into everyday teenager dialects around the world including mine. I have noticed that I currently use â€Å"LOL† often to let others recognise when I find something humorous. What I perceive from this is that I only use this abbreviation aro und my friends primarily because of the formal and informal parting of my idiolect between my friends and people like my teachers and parents.I think I do this because I consider using informal words with an audience I’m generally formal with, strange and unfamiliar. I also believe I do this because I expect an audience of that kind to object to it since teenage slang is most frequently thought as discourteous and lethargic. Music also impacts my idiolect as I am so exposed to it that it has come to be typical for me to pick up a few words and slang from certain lyrics. One example of how music has influenced me is a simple conversation between me and my sister in which she said: â€Å"You lost my earrings didn’t you? and I answered with â€Å"Oh whatever, YOLO! † The origin of this acronym came from the Canadian rapper, Drake’s bonus track from his album ‘Take care’. It has since been popularized all over the world and people have now start ed using this term to define when someone is about to do something idiotic. I used this word because I knew my sister would be acquainted with it since the majority of teenagers have basic understanding of slang and abbreviations being used at the moment.I regularly speak to my mother in a more official and basic way thus the variation in spoken language between my sister and my mother is due to me wanting to adapt to the way my friends and the younger generation of my family use the aspects of music to express their feelings. I also used â€Å"YOLO† to strengthen the connection between me and my sister so that she would know that we have a lot of things in common in terms of understanding general teenage knowledge.I do not use slang when conversing with my parents because I know that they will criticize this way of communicating as most parents believe slang makes teenagers sound unintelligent and incompetent including mine. My parents think I should use try to use Standard English in everyday life as practice for when I do specific English exams. They also consider that media in terms of TV shows and the dialectal manner of celebrities have triggered an adverse effect on people my age because they believe that the poor grammar of people from this region is promoted to sound cool and trendy.My parents have confidence in the idea that my vocal language has been substituted with words like â€Å"Totes† and â€Å"amazeballs†. Nevertheless when I indicate to them that I have adapted to using proper and apparently ‘posh’ words from classical books, my parents react positively and praise the use of my language. This goes to show that certain factors have certain outcomes to the way a person speaks and how a person responds to this.