Bachelor Of Business In Tourism Management Tourism Essay

Bachelor Of Business In Tourism Management Tourism Essay The objective of this project is providing an evaluation of sustainability in Changi Airport. By focusing Terminal 3, a lot of discussion and analysis have been done to examine Changi Airports sustainability. The project comprises four main components included the description of Changi Airport, identification and discussion of sustainability criteria, analysis of potential impacts and recommended planning tool. Methodology: The project takes full advantage of using qualitative and quantitative methods to collect data for the sustainable indicators and support for its arguments. Particularly, to qualitative method, a lot of site observations, evident pictures and interviews with relevant personal included face-to-face communication and email were conducted to examine Changi Airports sustainability (Hair et al. 2003, p.74). Feinstein Thomas (2002) determined that quantitative method is the adoption from a range of mathematical and statistical techniques used to analyze data and information. The qualitative method was applied to obtain information through Changi Airport website, relevant journal articles and books from both online sources and the National Library Singapore. Description of Changi Airport: Singapore Changi Airport has always been known as the best airport in the world (Changi Airport Group (CAG) 2010). Their reputation has been expanded through a lot of annual worldwide awards such as: 2010 Best Green Service Provider Airport, 2009 Asias Leading Airport, 2008 Worlds Leading Eco-friendly Airport, 2007 Worlds Leading Airport, etc (CAG 2010). Establishing from 1981, Changi Airport is centrally located in the South East Asian region and is managed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) (Caudle 1996). The airport handles more than 80 airlines operating 5,100 weekly scheduled flights flying to about 200 cities in 60 countries (Hui Wan2003). These big numbers of airlines operations allow the airport welcoming more than 5,000 arrivals and departures every week and over 37 million passengers a year (Hui Wan 2003). Changi Airport Terminal 3 opened on 9 January 2008. This S$1.75 billion terminal comprises 380000 square meter of space and can handle about 22 million passengers a year (NEWASIA Singapore 2010). The roof of the main terminal building is designed with 919 skylights that automatically adjust to sunlight and fill soft natural light into the inside of the terminal (NEWASIA Singapore 2010). Terminal 3 consists of seven storeys (4 levels above ground and 3 levels below ground) which are considered as a small city with many services and amenities (NEWASIA Singapore 2010). There is a floor-to-ceiling viewing gallery on the fourth floor which allows visitors to enjoy watching the control tower, plane takeoff and land. Natural greenery is the main theme of the terminals architectural design (NEWASIA Singapore 2010). The green wall, a 5-storey tall and 300 meter long vertical garden is very good evidence with 4 waterfalls, layers of tropical foliage and sculptured sandstone art walls at the arrival hall (NEWASIA Singapore 2010). Identification and Discussion of Sustainability Criteria: Sustainability Criteria is known as the specific standards which organizations follow to achieve their purposes of minimizing at the lowest level of negative impacts and balancing the triple bottom lines (Swarbrooke 1999). To be well-known as a green destination, Changi Airport has put a lot of efforts to obtain sustainability in many ways. (The table of sustainability indicators can refer to Appendix 1) Environmental Indicators: Water Management: To Changi Airport, water management is very important to reduce as much as possible water consumption and the amount of water that takes from suppliers. They are quite successful to apply Rainwater Harvesting system that allows them to collect storm water for irrigating plants at Changi Airport Nursery and external landscape areas (CAG 2009). Besides, NEWater (recycled water) is using as the main water source in Changi Airport for multiply purposes such as : irrigation, fire-fighting, sanitation and cooling purposes in place of potable water (CAG 2009). Another efficiency practice in water conservation is installing flow rate regulators for wash basins in selected areas of the airport to decrease water usage by 66% from 6 liters per minute to 2 liters per minute (CAG 2009).  Drinking water is also conserved in term of installing taps with water saving devices such as on-off sensors (CAG 2009). One of the biggest sources of water usage is from toilets, so that Change Airport Introducing low-flush toilets that recycled water (NEWater) being used for flushing (CAG 2009). Energy Management: The airport has saved a lot of energy from its initiatives to improve energy efficiency. A typical practice is using natural lighting in passenger areas by installing double glazed glass and solar shading devices (CAG 2009).  These practices allow the nature light to get into the buildings while minimizing heat gained from sunlight at the same time. From then on, it helps to decrease the need for artificial lighting and air conditioning. Inside the buildings, they also set up the efficient lighting system with motion sensors and sensor escalators and travellators (CAG 2009). The other practices included shutting down escalators and travellators at night and during off-peak hours, turning off peripheral lighting during day time and looking for the best energy-efficient options when replacing their assets and equipments (CAG 2009). The most remarkable practice is installing a 250kWp photovoltaic system with solar panel modules which cover a rooftop area of about 2,500m ². These panel modules generate over 280,000 kWh/year, it is calculated to reduce more than 122,000kg of carbon dioxide per year (CAG 2009). Waste Management: The whole idea of sustainable development has been developed very efficiently by Changi Airport through reducing waste generation and increasing the percentage of waste recycled. The airport has introduced a new creative design of recycling bins which actually depicted an enlarged bottle, a can and a newspaper (CAG 2009). The purpose of these bins is trying to catch peoples attention and encourage them to be more considerate and participate in recycle waste. With regards to reducing waste generation, the airports taxiway pavements are construed by recycled materials and recycled concrete is used to built roadways, drains, pavements and kerbs. Office refurbishments are also used drywall partitions instead of mortar and bricks to minimize waste generation (CAG 2009).These results in cost savings through waste disposal and raw material costs. Noise Management: Efficient noise management always challenges for aircraft operators all over the world. The activities such as: re-fuelling, baggage loading, engine maintenance, unloading and re-provisioning of aircraft usually generate a lot of noise which can affect directly to the nearby community. At Changi Airport, noise management is considered as a very important factor to minimize the possible negative impacts to the community. All airlines and civil aircraft operating in Singapore have to commit to  meet the noise standards stipulated by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)s guidelines on Balanced Approach to Noise (CAG 2009). Land use planning is conducted by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), which zones land surrounding Changi Airport for residential use in accordance with international norms on noise levels.   Noise studies are conducted regularly to update the noise contours around Changi Airport.   The results of these studies are shared with URA for future land-use planning (CAG 2009). Changi Airport also assigns runways to aircrafts to reduce air traffic and requires all aircraft that departing from Singapore to follow defined routes to avoid flying directly overhead residential areas (CAG 2009). Besides, the airport conducts regular inspections to maintain noise level and detect any abnormal noise activity (CAG 2009). With a better effort to reduce noise level, Changi Airport Group (2009) cooperates with Singapore Amalgamated Services Co-operative Organization (SASCO), the nearby airside agency to ensure that the impact of noise from their compounds is minimized especially from 12 a.m. to 06 a.m. Air Quality Control: To Changi Airport, providing a good environment with best air quality is very important to protect their employees health and the local community. There are a lot of useful practices which allow them to minimize as much as possible the amount of carbon dioxide generating from airport vehicles, ground running of aircraft, road traffic, food preparation and air conditioning. They only use hybrid tractors to sort baggage within Terminal 3 (CAG 2009). The Sky Train system is also used efficiently to transport passengers who make inter-terminal flight connections among Terminal 1, 2 and 3 (CAG, 2009). The system has total of seven stations: two each in Terminal 1 and 2, and three in Terminal 3. This high-speed people mover system is powered by electricity and creates zero local emissions (CAG 2009). Moreover, the airport put their sustainable efforts in term of designing the airfield to maximize the number of rapid exit taxiways and connecting taxiways to limit congestion on the airfield (CAG 2009). This helps cutting down a lot of taxiing time of aircraft and reducing a large amount of engine emissions. Another good practice which allows reducing a lot of carbon emissions from the airport is applying electronic car park system in 1,700 car park spaces and 130 motorcycle spaces (Changi Airport Singapore (CAS) 2010). With this helpful system, vehicles can quickly find the empty lots and decrease the big amount of carbon emissions from going around the car parks. The key highlight of terminal 3 is the Green Wall, five-storey high vertical garden. The garden is designed with four cascading waterfalls, a sculptured sandstone art wall and a lot of climbing plants (Hui Wan 2003). This green practice help creating fresh air, cooling the atmosphere inside the building and saving a large amount of energy consumptions through air conditioners. Stress Level: Changi Airport is well-known as one of the best airports all over the world which serves more than 80 airlines operating 5,100 weekly scheduled flights flying to about 200 cities in 60 countries (Hui Wan2003). These big numbers of airlines operations allow the airport welcoming more than 5,000 arrivals and departures every week and over 37 million passengers a year (Hui Wan 2003). The whole airport is about 1,300 hectares with 870 hectares reclaimed from the sea (670 hectares using seafill and 200 hectares using landfill) (CAS 2010). There are more than 230 retails and services stores and about 100 food beverage establishments here (CAS 2010). Besides, terminal 3 has an annual handling capacity of 22 million passengers while the total handling capacity of Changi Airport is about 70 million passengers per year (CAS 2010). Social-cultural Indicators: Environmental Education: There are many kinds of sustainable education which is conducted in Changi Airport through environmental exhibitions, campaigns, events, gallery and activities. Some remarkable activities that bring a lot of good green image of Changi Airport are: Changi Airport Group and IATA launched environmental exhibition between 2 February 2010 and 28 February 2010 to highlight aviations commitment to the environment (Changi Airport Group IATA 2010). The airport practiced Earth Hour 2010 to raise environmental awareness among its stakeholders (CAS 2010). Changi Airport cooperates with National Museum of Singapore and Double A Ltd. to promote Making your own woodblock print with local icons campaign to use the paper wisely (CAS 2010). Value of foreign ownership: The full beneficial ownership of Changi Airport belongs to the government of Singapore. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) is  the regulatory authority (Channel Newasia 2009). Within CAAS, there are two entities: One is in charge in the regulator, promoter and developer of the aviation industry (Channel Newasia 2009). The corporatized entity is in charge to operate Changi Airport, the airport emergency services and exploit investment opportunities overseas (Channel Newasia 2009). Locals jobs created through tourism: Changi Airport is generating about 13,000 jobs for local community (CAS 2010). Baseline Indicators: Quality Management: Changi Airport is known as the worlds most awarded airport with over 350 awards included 28 won in 2009 and  8 won as at May 2010 (CAG 2010). Some remarkable awards are: 2010 Best Green Service Provider Airport 2009 Asias Leading Airport 2008 Worlds Leading Airport 2008 Worlds Leading Eco-friendly Airport Potential Impacts of Changi Airport: Tourism activities can cause a lot of impacts to the triple bottom lines included environment, economic and social-culture (Swarbrooke 1999). Changi Airport is well-known as an essential element in the aviation industry in particular and the whole tourism system (WTS) in general (Weaver Lawton 2010). Therefore, it cannot ignore both negative and positive impacts from its transportation service to local community. Environmental Impacts: The good side of tourism development in Changi Airport is promoting peoples sustainable awareness and their responsibility in term of environmental conservation (Buckley 2000). There are also many cleaning programmes such as: the Clean Energy Programme Office (CEPO) to protect the attractiveness and green image of the best worldwide eco-friendly airport (Singapore Economic Development Board 2009). Besides, one of the best benefits which Changi Airport has created for the environment is promoting the development of using renewable sources such as: solar energy- 919 skylights, recycled water the NEWater, etc (Manson 2003). Together with the positive impact, there are also a lot of negative impacts which Changi Airport generates for the environment. Noise pollution is, for many people, the most obvious form of pollution related mainly to aircraft (Leiper, Braithwaite Witsel 2008). Besides, its impacts on climate change, peoples health and contributing in depleting the stratospheric ozone layer are the most serious problems (Refer to Appendix 2 for more detail). Social Impacts: The development of tourism in Changi Airport has created more job opportunities and higher income to local residents. There are about 13,000 jobs are generated during last few years (CAS 2010). It also results in the development of more and better shopping, transport, the countrys medical facilities, cultural and recreational facilities and communication facilities (Khan et al. 1990). Crowne Plaza Hotel with 5- star rate is a very good example of how good infrastructure has been improved because of tourism development in Changi Airport (CAG 2010). Besides, it can bring locals feeling of pride about their worlds best eco-friendly airport and consciousness of keeping the airport clean and attractive (Khan et al. 1990). The image of Singapore as a clean and beautiful city is also emerged to attract more and more tourists (Khan et al. 1990). On the other hand, the development can cause vulnerability to the community. The difference in wealth between the locals and the tourists may result in the high number in drug abuse, prostitution, and theft and crime rate especially with the setup of gambling facilities at the two integrated resorts (Khan et al. 1990). Many locals complained that they have to pay higher prices for some good and services as well we their rentals for offices and shops were increased because of tourism development (Khan et al. 1990). Obviously, there are a lot of buildings around the Changi Airport area such as: 4 terminals, control tower, Crowne Plaza Hotel, etc. They will definitely cause the visual impact at the end (Weaver Lawton 2010). Economic Impacts: The significant effects of tourism development in Changi Airport expand on the high number of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employment. There are more ten 13,000 job opportunities generated to cater passengers demand (CAG 2010). Another important benefit is generating indirect local revenue through the multiplier effect of money and jobs (Heng Low 1990). Due to the development of the aviation industry, it also cause the stimulation of backward linkages of the other industries, includes agriculture, fisheries and construction (Heng Low 1990). The full beneficial ownership of Changi Airport belongs to the government of Singapore; thus, it limits the negative impacts from high leakage due to foreign ownership (Channel Newasia 2009). Besides, the strong demand for Singapore dollars due to tourism expansion is resulting in the growth of the price of Singapores currency and exchange rate (Heng Low 1990). However, the high tourism dependence of Singapore economy in general and Changi Airport in particular can be a big problem. The uncontrollable outside forces such as: natural disasters (Tsunami), SARS and economic crisis will affect seriously to the whole economy of Singapore (Heng Low 1990). The aviation activities can cause a lot of problems; however, there still are many offsets that can organize to limit them at the lowest level. Changi Airport is a very successful representative for the aviation industry that owns a lot of initiatives to balance its negative impacts to triple bottom lines (Refer to Appendix 1). Their efforts in sustainable development have been proved through a lot of honor awards such as: the Green Mark Gold in October 2009, the inaugural Best Green Service Provider at the Annual Asian Freight and Supply Chain Awards in 2010 (CAG 2009). Recommended Planning Tool: According to Newsome, Moore and Dowling (2002), the best planning tool is one that provides an effective monitoring in the areas with effective outcome, involve visitors and community and lead to sustainability of the resource. There are many tourism planning frameworks, but, the Visitor Impact Management Framework is the most suitable one for Changi Airport (Refer to Appendix 3). Visitor Impact Management (VIM) Framework: To Changi Airport, applying the VIM planning framework to ensure visitor impacts at acceptable levels seems a good idea which allows them to enhance visitors benefit and achieve their purpose in excellent service: We are the best in our business (CAG 2010). Based on eight basic steps, the VIM framework can lead the managers not only focusing on reviewing existing data and management objectives, through selecting indicators and standards and using these to identify unacceptable impacts, but also helping them to indentify causes and appropriate management strategies (Newsome et al 2002). The purpose of steps1 and 2 is reviewing the organizations existing objectives, legislation, policies, pervious research and other data to identify problems. In these stages, Changi Airport can recognize the need for clear objectives (excellent service provider), better understanding the needs and wants from passengers and identify current problems within the process of organizing. The next steps (steps 3 and 4) are selecting key impact indicators and standards for the whole terminal 3. Noise management, air quality control and passenger satisfaction seems to the best indicators that need to be highlighted for taking care of local community and passengers (Refer to Appendix 1). The following indicators such as: waste management, energy consumption, water quality control and quality management will be also useful to providing excellent service in the aviation industry. After collecting enough data, the comparison between standards and existing conditions will necessary to examine whether it exceed the acceptable level or at that level. For instance, the desired standard for passenger satisfaction at Changi Airport was 94 % while passenger rates their satisfaction at lower or higher standard (CAG 2010). To maintain the service standard at a high level, monitoring programmers have been established with certain criteria. The purpose of this practice is making sure that they can win annual Best Worldwide Airport award (CAG 2010). Therefore, this award is used as a measuring method to ensure their standard of passenger satisfaction. If their actual satisfaction level is below the desired standard, the Changi Airport Group will take action to identify probable causes of decreasing in passenger satisfaction level (Step 6) (CAG 2010). Some possible problems might be low in service delivery, lack of initiative in operation, etc (Tian-Cole Cromption 2003). From then on, the suitable planning and strategies are provided and implemented to get over limitations and enhance in service delivery (Steps 7 and 8). The Be a Changi Millionaire Draw, which kicked off monthly from1 June 2010 to choose the most lucky passenger who shopped at Changi Airport, is a very good evidence (CAG 2010). This activity is a very creative idea to promote the airports products and its wonderful service at the same time. Through this activity, passengers will be very happy and their satisfaction level will increase at the end. Limitation of the report: The report focuses mainly on Terminal 3 to collect data for the sustainable indicators. Thus, the quality of information collected might not be representative for the whole Changi Airport included: Terminal 1 and 2. Besides, there are some data and information cannot be gathered because the organization is outsourced its departments and some private information cannot be leaked out. The paper only mentions about environmental impact, one important component in the triple bottom lines, thus, it is lack of convincing evidences to prove that the balance among triple bottom lines have been done in Changi Airport. Conclusion: The whole project provides a good understanding how Changi Airport can create its image and reputation as the best airport in the world. Especially, in term of sustainability, there are a lot of efforts have been done to take care of environment and local community. However, it cannot avoid the negative impacts which the aviation industrys member causes for the environment. These problems are able to offset by taking full advantages of using management frameworks and planning tool such as: the VIM frameworks. With this research, it is obvious that Singapore Changi Airport is meritorious to be known as the best green airport all over the world. In the future, it can strongly believe that Changi Airport will be more conscious about the environment with more green planning and strategies to maintain its reputation as well as develop as a green icon of sustainability.

Home Is Where the Heart Is Essay

Some say â€Å"home is where the heart is. † Home can be everything to some. Home is their safe comfort place they have in life. Home determines a sense of one’s identity. One poem called â€Å"The Youngest Daughter† by Cathy Song involves characters experiencing conflicting situations between the demands of their home and identity. One might think that this poem is simply about mothers versus daughters; however, this poem evokes a broader sense meaning that daughters are torn between either pulling away or pulling closer to home. In one sense, the daughter in this poem is frustrated with her current situation and aspires to do more with her life, rather than devote her time doing what her mother thinks she should be doing. Despite this feeling, she knows she should be caring for her sick mother. The role she has in her home has conflicting messages. Using the elements of tone, narrative poem, and word choice, the poem can be explicated to show how it creates and resolves the meaning of conflict between mothers and daughters. â€Å"The Youngest Daughter† utilizes the narrative type poem, which helps create and resolve the conflict in the poem. The main conflict in this poem is that the daughter has to choose between obligations and desires, while finding her own role in her home. A narrative poem tells a story, and this poem tells a story about a daughter taking care of her elderly mother. The poem is about what the daughter’s daily life is like. This shows the â€Å"obligations† part of her life. The first sentence of the poem is â€Å"the sky has been dark for many years. † This implies that everything that has been going on with her taking care of her mother has been going on for many years. Since her mother became ill, it has been the daughter’s obligation to take care of her. This obligation is based on cultural expectations. In many cultures, children are expected to take care of their parents once they age. The poem is organized into stanzas that are associated with a certain part of the story. One stanza describes what has been going on lately. Another is about â€Å"this morning. † The last stanza is about what goes on â€Å"in the afternoons. † Through the narrative type poem, the daughter is able to express the feeling that her identity is basically taking care of her mother. This identity is also her role in the family. This role limits her own self-identity. Because she is busy caring for her mother, she is unable to develop a sense of self. She is torn between two things: growing away from her mother, and pulling closer to her mother. She knows she has to take care of her, so that aspect makes her seem to pull closer to her mother. Contrary to that, this daughter is a grown woman, and she has a very limited and conflicted life. Her life is devoted to the mother. This is seen by the story of the poem. She wants to grow apart from her mother and do things in her life that interest her. The reader can see that the daughter wants to escape this whole situation because towards the end of the poem it says â€Å"She knows I am not to be trusted / even now planning my escape. † The readers learn here that the mother doesn’t trust the daughter, for reasons unknown. The second line of the above quote shows the readers that this is what the daughter is currently doing to make her mother not trust her. The daughter also desires that her mother’s health improve, because in the poem is says â€Å"As I toast to her health. Love and pity toward her aging mother clash with the feelings of resentment and entrapment of herself. â€Å"The Youngest Daughter† uses word choice to show the conflict of mothers versus daughters, and the daughter’s internal conflict of obligations and desires. The daughter uses middle diction to show her emotions. Like noted in a previous paragraph, the first sentence of the poem is â€Å"the sky has been dark for many years. † This shows that the daughter has been dealing with her mother’s illness for quite some time, and she hasn’t been able to see the sun. She hasn’t been able to do what she wants to do because she has been so overwhelmed with taking care of the mother and fulfilling her obligations. When describing the mother, the daughter says â€Å"her breathing was graveled / her voice gruff with affection. † The word choice of graveled and gruff is interesting. This demonstrates the effort required to breathe and be affectionate. It’s almost as if the writer of the poem wanted the readers to hear what her breathing and voice sounded like by including those two words in there. This implies in a way that the mother has an opinion with the situation too. These two words make these two lines more effective. The daughter says â€Å"I was almost tender / when I came to the blue bruises. † This shows that the daughter feels sorry for what the mother has to go through. Tender is another interesting word choice. The poem also says â€Å"I soaped her slowly,† meaning that the daughter takes her time when washing her mother, because her life has been accustomed to nothing. Another aspect of obligations is that the daughter says â€Å"I scrubbed them with a sour taste in my mouth. The daughter obviously doesn’t want to scrub the mother, but it is obligation, her duty, so she must. Using the sentence â€Å"We eat in the familiar silence† shows that there is tension between them, because if there was no tension, they would be talking when they are eating. Despite this tension, this still occurs each day, and they continue to follow the same routine. If this line just had said â€Å"We eat in silence,† it would have a much lesser effect on the poem as a whole. By adding the word â€Å"familiar,† it allows the reader to understand that eating that way is a commonality and part of a consistent routine. The words â€Å"familiar silence† contrast each other. Familiar is something that has occurred so often that it becomes accustomed. And what is familiar in this poem? Silence. Silence, though it means quiet, is essentially nothing. Quietness, or nothing, has occurred so much that it is accustomed. The word choice is contrasting obligations with desires. The daughter is obligated to care for her mother. This is evident throughout the entire poem when the daughter describes everything she does for her mother. Despite this, she desires to do something different than just solely care for her mother. This desire is evident when the poem says â€Å"She know I am not to be trusted / even now planning my escape. † The daughter wants to escape, and the mother is aware of it. This contrast between obligations and desires makes the reader of the poem feel that this is an either/or situation. The daughter can either take care of the mother, or she can go off on her own. The last two lines of the poem are very meaningful: â€Å"A thousand cranes curtain the window / fly up in a sudden breeze. These word choices are effective because the words allow the readers to see an ending image. It seems like the cranes flying away is associated with the daughter being set free and escaping her life. It’s ironic how the first line of the poem uses words that talk about the sky, and in the last few lines of the poem the cranes fly into the sky. This line is used as a way for the author of the poem to show that the resolution has occurred. By the end of the poem, the conflict of obligations versus desires is resolved. One of the last lines of the poem says â€Å"As I toast to her health. This shows that the daughter finally realizes that caring for her mother is what’s best for her at this moment. By toasting for her health, she reveals that even though she is sick of caring for her mother, she would rather care for her mother than have her mother be dead. The daughter realizes that there will eventually be a time when the mother dies, and at that time the daughter will be able to do whatever she desires, but right now, her focus needs to be on her mother. The cranes flying into the sky reiterates this fact. When this time comes, even though the daughter will be able to do what she wants, she will be without a mother. She will have no obligations, which in a sense is good for her, because she will be able to do what she wants, yet a part of her life will be missing. Death is always hard to deal with, and even though in the poem she talks about how she wants to escape, in reality she really would miss her mother. The tone is this poem is bittersweet and affectionate; children should care for their aging parents, yet children need to live their own lives. In a way, the tone is also both happy and sad. The way the tone changes correlated with both of the conflicting sides of the poem. It’s happy in the way that the poet shows that there is affection and love between mothers and daughters, yet it is sad in the way that it shows that sometimes conflicts arise between mothers and daughters. This also explains how it is bittersweet. The tone shows that there are moral ties between children and their parents. These moral ties tie in with the obligational part of the conflict. Morally, the daughter feels obliged to care for her mother. The speaker is the youngest daughter of a family, and her duty is to take care of her aging parent. As one can see, looking at a poem through elements can help a reader understand the meaning of it. In â€Å"The Youngest Daughter,† the poem creates the meaning of conflict between mothers and daughters related to the daughter either pulling closer or pulling away from family and having to choose between obligations and desires. The elements of tone, word choice, and narrative poem together effectively create this meaning. In this poem, the home determines one’s identity. The daughter is conflicted between either pulling closer to her home life and her mother, or pulling away from it all and going after her own aspirations. Readers can relate to this poem because many people go through the same predicament in life: taking care of an aging parent. People do it because they love their family. Even though this daughter is having conflicting feelings about taking care of her mother, she does it anyways because family always comes first.

Global Warming : causes, effects and remedies Essay

Global warming is the greatest challenge facing our planet. It is, in fact, the increase in the temperature of the earth’s neon- surface air. It is one of the most current and widely discussed factors. It has far-reaching impact on biodiversity and climatic conditions of the planet. Several current trends clearly demonstrate that global warming is directly impacting on rising sea levels, the melting of ice caps and significant worldwide climate changes. In short, global warming represents a fundamental threat to all living things on earth. Global average temperature rose significantly during the past century. The prevailing scientific view is that most of the temperature increases since mid-20th century has been caused by increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations produced by human activity. Most scientists agree that planet’s temperature has risen 0.5 degree Celsius since 1900 and will continue to increase at an increasing rate. As a result, the world is getting warmer. The year 1990 was the hottest year in the last century. Together with 1991, the years of 1983, 1987, 1988 and 1989 have been measured to be the warmest six years in the last hundred years. The year 1991 was the second warmest year of the past century. The consequences of the rise in temperature is being felt all over the globe the findings of scientific research done in this field reveal that the temperature of the earth is likely to rise from 1.4 °C to 5.8 °C within a period of 100 years. Unfortunately, the imbalance which we have created between our life and earth is already showing the signs disasters in the form of flood, cyclones, landslides, tsunami, drought, etc. If the imbalance continues to rise, one day this will pose a question mark on the existence of this planet. Carbon dioxide (C02) which is an important constituent of environment is causing a warming effect on the earth’s surface. It increases the evaporation of water into the atmosphere. Since water vapour itself is a greenhouse gas, this causes still more warming. The warming causes more water vapour to be evaporated. The C02 level is expected to rise in future due to ongoing burning of fossil fuels and landuse change. The rate of rise will depend largely on uncertain economic, sociological, technological and natural developments. Other gases such as methane, CFCs, nitrous oxide, tropospheric ozone are also responsible for global warming. Increases in all these gases are due to explosive population growth, increased industrial expansion, technological advancement, deforestation and growing urbanisation, etc. Trees play a significant role in the global carbon cycle. They are the largest land-based mechanism for removing carbon dioxide from the air. Deforestation is checking these positive processes. It is the second principle cause of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Deforestation is responsible for 25 per cent of all carbon emissions entering the atmosphere, by the burning and cutting of 34 million acres of trees each year. Everyday over 5500 acres of rainforest are destroyed. As a consequence of massive loss of forests, global CO, levels rise approximately 0.4 per cent each year, the levels not experienced on this planet for millions of years. As we know the forests are the great absorbers of CO,,. There is a close relation between global warming and population growth. Today the large population on earth is using the technologies which are destructive for the earth. Approximately, 80 per cent of atmospheric C02 increases are due to man’s use of fossil fuels either in the form of coal, gas or oil. A large portion of carbon emission is attributed to the burning of gasoline in internal-combustion engine of vehicles. Vehicles with poor gas mileage contribute the most to global warming. Besides, the sulphur group gas is the most harmful for this. Its contribution is 30 per cent in global warming. This gas is also emitted from the burning of fossil fuels. Increase in global temperatures will cause rise in sea level. It will lead to melting of glaciers, changes in rainfall patterns, increased intensity and frequency of extreme weather. As per the latest survey report the rate of melting of glaciers has seen sharp increase in recent times. Even those glaciers are affected from global warming which have been considered permanent. The shrinking of glaciers is going to pose a major problem of drinking water. The sea levels as a result of melting of glaciers have risen from 0.35 mm to 0.4 mm. Scientists have warned in their reports that most of the glaciers will disappear within a period of 15 to 25 years. It will create problems of drinking water and food grains in most of the North American countries. India is not unaffected from it. The Himalayan glaciers have shrunk about 30 per cent after 1970. The rise in sea levels is a major cause of concern. A large number of cities located in coastal areas will submerge in the sea. Besides, many island countries will ultimately â€Å"lose their existence and will be washed away from the surface of the earth. The damage of rising sea levels is diverse. Buildings and roads close to the water could be flooded and they could suffer damage from hurricanes and tropical storms. Experts believe that global warming could increase the intensity of hurricanes by over 50 per cent. In addition, as the sea rises, beach erosion takes place, particularly on steep banks. Wetlands are lost as the level rises. Rise in atmospheric temperature will lead to the outbreak of air ¬borne and water-borne diseases. It would also contribute to the rise in death caused by heat. The problem of drought would be frequent. Consequently, malnutrition and starvation will pose serious challenge before humanity. Global warming is a great threat to the flora and fauna of the earth. A large number of species of them may become extinct. The expanse of desert would increase. Low rainfall and rising temperature could add to the intensity and frequency of dusty storm. This in turn will immensely affect the quality of agricultural land, ultimately causing adverse effect on agricultural produce. It would have far-reaching socio-economic impact. In Indian context, the impact of global warming is a matter of grave concern. As is well known, India is mainly an agricultural country and agriculture here is gamble of the monsoon, e.g. largely depending on rainfall. Though it is to affect the whole country, the worst likely impact would be on central and northern India which is high-yielding parts of the country. These are the regions which produce the largest agricultural yield. The rise in atmospheric temperature and fall in rain would naturally result in decline in crop production. Moreover, it would have great effect on biodiversity as well. The growing concerns over global temperatures have led to the nations, states, corporations and individuals to draw out a plan of action to avert the situation. As a result the world’s primary international agreement on combating global warming was reached in Kyoto in 1997 which came to be known as Kyoto Protocol. However, ten years have passed; the situation does not appear to be very changed. It seems that the member countries are not very serious about its devastating effects. In addition, forestation can be of great help in this regard. Planting more trees and reducing timber cuts worldwide will help restore the imbalance. Secondly, we must follow on environmental policy of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’, i.e. promoting the reuse of anything. Thirdly, the use of fuel-efficient vehicles should be promoted as these vehicles have lower emissions of harmful gases. Fourthly, every individual should be aware of the importance of the protecting environment. Besides, eco- friendly technologies must be promoted, and must be substituted with the technologies which cause great emission of global warming gases. Public awareness campaign can be of great help in this regard because unless each and every individual is aware only governments’ effect cannot bring desired difference.

Animal Domestication - Table of Dates and Places

Animal domestication is what scholars call the millennia-long process that created the mutually beneficial relationship that exists today between animals and humans. Some of the ways people benefit from owning a domesticated animal include keeping cattle in pens for access to milk and meat and for pulling plows; training dogs to be guardians and companions; teaching horses to adapt to the plow or take a farmer to visit relatives living long distances away; and changing the lean, nasty wild boar into a fat, friendly farm animal.   While it may seem that people get all of the benefits out of the relationship, people also share some of the costs. Humans shelter animals, protecting them from harm and feeding them to fatten them up and make sure they reproduce for the next generation. But some of our most unpleasant diseases--tuberculosis, anthrax, and bird flu are just a few--come from the proximity to animal pens, and it is quite clear that our societies were directly molded by our new responsibilities. How Did That Happen? Not counting the domestic dog, who has been our partner for at least 15,000 years, the animal domestication process started about 12,000 years ago. Over that time, humans have learned to control animal access to food and other necessities of life by changing the behaviors and natures of their wild ancestors. All of the animals that we share our lives with today, such as dogs, cats, cattle, sheep, camels, geese, horses, and pigs, started out as wild animals but were changed over the hundreds and thousands of years into more sweet-natured and tractable partners in farming.   And its not just behavioral changes that were made during the domestication process--our new domesticated partners share a suite of physical changes, changes that were bred it either directly or indirectly during the domestication process. A reduction in size, white coats, ​and floppy ears are all mammalian syndrome characteristics bred into several of our domestic animal partners.   Who Knows Where and When? Different animals were domesticated in different parts of the world at different times by different cultures and different economies and climates. The following table describes the latest information on when scholars believe different animals were turned from wild beasts to be hunted or avoided, into animals we could live with and rely on. The table summarizes the current understandings of the earliest likely domestication date for each of the animal species  and a very rounded figure for when that might have happened. Live links on the table lead to in-depth personal histories of our collaborations with specific animals. Archaeologist Melinda Zeder has hypothesized three broad pathways in which animal domestication might have occurred. commensal pathway: wild animals were attracted to human settlements by the presence of food refuse (dogs, cats, guinea pigs)prey pathway, or game management: in which actively hunted animals were first managed (cattle, goats, sheep, camelids, reindeer, and swine)directed pathway: a deliberate effort by humans to capture, domesticate and use the animals (horses, donkeys, camels, reindeer). Thanks to Ronald Hicks at Ball State University for suggestions. Similar information on the domestication dates and places of plants is found on the Table of Plant Domestication. Sources See table listings for details on specific animals. Zeder MA. 2008. Domestication and early agriculture in the Mediterranean Basin: Origins, diffusion, and impact. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105(33):11597-11604. Domestication Table Animal Where Domesticated Date Dog undetermined ~14-30,000 BC? Sheep Western Asia 8500 BC Cat Fertile Crescent 8500 BC Goats Western Asia 8000 BC Pigs Western Asia 7000 BC Cattle Eastern Sahara 7000 BC Chicken Asia 6000 BC Guinea pig Andes Mountains 5000 BC Taurine Cattle Western Asia 6000 BC Zebu Indus Valley 5000 BC Llama and Alpaca Andes Mountains 4500 BC Donkey Northeast Africa 4000 BC Horse Kazakhstan 3600 BC Silkworm China 3500 BC Bactrian camel China or Mongolia 3500 BC Honey Bee Near East or Western Asia 3000 BC Dromedary camel Saudi Arabia 3000 BC Banteng Thailand 3000 BC Yak Tibet 3000 BC Water buffalo Pakistan 2500 BC Duck Western Asia 2500 BC Goose Germany 1500 BC Mongoose? Egypt 1500 BC Reindeer Siberia 1000 BC Stingless bee Mexico 300 BC-200 AD Turkey Mexico 100 BC-AD 100 Muscovy duck South America AD 100 Scarlet Macaw(?) Central America before AD 1000 Ostrich South Africa AD 1866