Paranormal Things free essay sample

In the world of full of verification, there are a lot of things that youve goanna believe In. An example of this is a paranormal things here In the world, that was been living for a long time aside from us. Most of the people rejecting the truth of It, some are believing, some are not, some are confuse but most of the time theyre all In behalf. They only believe if they can see but if you ask me if I do: well, I only want to believe but I dont want to see, but I see and I do believe. Everything happened whenI was year-two in grade school. It started when I saw a student standing and looking at me well, I think hes not a normal student whos have freedom to play, to talk to someone, to eat during recess time or not even to study during examination days. We will write a custom essay sample on Paranormal Things or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Because me, yes I am; only one in the school can see him standing and staring at me. At the first place I thought everybody can see him. So Im fearless to go near to him or even to talk to him. Though he didnt talk back to me I still keep on asking him why does he crying. But later on I caught some peoples attention on why am I talking alone.I remembered how they talked, stared, teased and laughed at me saying: That young girl Is talking alone look! Eve wondered at that very moment saying to myself, Every second had been done, is it all an Imagination or Is It the moment of truth The young boy never visited me again. Days, weeks, months and years passed by, all supernatural things for me are now simple natural things. Yes, after I saw that young boy, theres a lot of like him that I saw and will see in my life. Years been done and I am now in year seventh in high school.I do my best to do some normal stuff that normal teenagers do. Like to listen some songs of my favorite boy bands, I also try harder to go shopping, strolling, costume playing and bonding with my friends. Those things forgotten me in my past or even in my present experiences in my life. Im studying at Dry. P Camps College Dave campus Incorporated, near at my house In Torn City but far from my elementary school. As a transferred student- new life, new school, new environment, new teachers and new friends are waiting for me In this school.Im a shy type of student to be described by my classmates of me. I left myself off to them and Im afraid to join them. But later on Ive learned how to communicate to them and place myself for where it is, I also learned to do simple things what simple students do. I thought everything or somethings will be alright but, months passed by at that school, a time when Im listening to my teacher while discussing. Theres a shocking thing appeared, it actually tickling my nerves off, I thought its Just nothing, no big deal to see like him because I really do can see.But not because, he caught my attention while calling me then he suddenly walked away and I followed him. After all Im out of my mind seeing myself sitting on the side of speech vibratory talking by myself alone like such a stupid someone playing a fool. Until a teacher called me asking, Why are you there Fruit? It Is still a class hour. But why am I there? Me, myself dont even know why. I tell the whole story to my speech mentor Ms. Irish Torrance, the one who saw me slating on the side of speech laboratory.Thanks God he believed but the problem here is, the story scattered even not, some are confused but most of the time theyre all in behalf. They told me Im just over reacting, some said that Im going crazy and most of them said that Im seeking an attention but I Just dont mind them. My classmates find me weird, after that happened they gave me a distance, a distance that they could not even wanted to talk to me. And my schoolmates, when they look at me I felt like they giving me a way to Judge me.But still I Just dont mind them. Until I talked too priest and I share all my problems, then he gave me an advice. He told me that I should be true to myself and to my feelings because that can help me to set myself free, if they still dont accept me I should live my own life and Just dont mind all of them. That I should be happy and treasures every second of my life because its Just a small time to be a teenager. But if I will see some paranormal things again I should Just trust God and always remember that he always with me. After weve talked I realized how important life is; It is not worth to be dumped by regrets or by giving time to those nonsense things, but to live more enjoying and exciting. Right now the important for me is; If I believed to a supernatural thing I do believed more to God, I assume nothing, I work hard, I live a simple good live, I give a lot of space to them and I let them Join to my world where I lived in. But if you ask me if I still see them.

The Difference Between Un- and Dis-

The Difference Between Un- and Dis- The Difference Between Un- and Dis- The Difference Between Un- and Dis- By Maeve Maddox A reader asks about differences between the prefixes un- and dis-. The question is not easy to address. The prefix un- has been in the language longer than dis-. The Old English prefix on- (now spelled un-) was added to verbs to indicated a reversal of the action: wind/unwind bind/unbind fold/unfold do/undo This prefix has remained alive, giving us such verb opposites as: fasten/unfasten buckle/unbuckle cover/uncover wrap/unwrap Old English also had the prefix of negation un- that was added to adjectives, such as unborn and unburied. We continue to form negative adjectives in this way: unhappy unknown unwanted unavailable unconventional uncool unputdownable Dis- came into English during the Middle English period, along with many Latin and French words. The prefix dis- is related to bis, (two), and can be used in the sense of separation: disjoin disable In the course of centuries, distinctions between un- and dis- have blurred. Sometimes the prefixes are interchangeable. Sometimes not. Sometimes a perceived difference may exist only in the mind of the individual English speaker. Many speakers distinguish between disorganized and unorganized. Disorganized applies to the sort of person who stuffs receipts into the sock drawer and can never find the car keys. Unorganized applies to things which have not yet been arranged in an organized manner. By this reasoning, a person would be disorganized, but an office would be unorganized. At one time, unease and disease (first syllable stressed) could be used interchangeably with the meaning state of anxiety. Now disease (second syllable stressed) has taken on the meaning of illness. Angry arguments are waged over the differentiated meanings of uninterest and disinterest. The argument is that uninterested should be used with the sense of indifferent, lacking in interest, while disinterested should be used only when the intended meaning is impartial. Some argue against the distinction on historical grounds, but the perceived difference in modern usage is a useful one. When it comes to language, those who value logic above all else are just asking for elevated blood pressure. For example, the noun discontent is matched with the adjective discontented, but the adjective that corresponds to the noun discomfort is uncomfortable. About all one can safely say about the use of the prefixes un- and dis- is that their correct use is often a matter of idiom. The best way to master them is to read, listen, and look up questionable forms in a trustworthy dictionary. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:When to use "on" and when to use "in"List of 50 Great Word Games for Kids and Adults10 Varieties of Syntax to Improve Your Writing

Identify and explain the main causes of economic growth. b) Look at Coursework

Identify and explain the main causes of economic growth. b) Look at the country rankings of the UK, South Korea, Qatar and Equat - Coursework Example In the recent past years, the initiative of sustainable development intensification has led to development of additional factors such as environmentally sound process, which ought to be considered in the growth of an economy (Erikson & Stimson, 2002. p. 56). A factor that leads to an increase in total demand is one of the key causes of economic growth in any country. This can occur due various sources. However, an increase in total demand is a short-term cause. This is because whenever an economy of any country is at its full capacity, that country cannot produce any additional products or services to improve her economy. However, improvements or advancements in the labor forces, and quantity and quality of products and services will give room for the long-term economic growth through a heightening in productivity (Nordhaus, 2001, p. 23). Progression or advancement in technology has been one of indicators of economic growth in various states. Technological advancements in any country lead to a high and more productive economy of that given country, and this will accelerate economic growth. Every developing country and developed states have invested heavily in the technology industry in order to see their country economy grows quickly. According to Erikson and Stimson, advanced technology has improved service delivery and encouraged both local and foreign investments (Erikson & Stimson, 2002, P.56). There are few cases of unemployment in all countries with improved technology. This is because technological improvements have led to creation of job opportunities that see their citizens securing jobs and improving their living standards. Consequently, these local and foreign investments will accelerate economic growth despite the fact that the fresh capital goods or assets for example, machines, will be the exact source of the growth (Friedman, 2005). Deepening and widening capital is one of the causes of economic growth of a country. Capital widening takes place w hen investment rises and increases with the strengthening of the labor force. On the other hand, Capital Deepening takes place when capital increases while the labor force remains constant. Economists usually say that capital deepening is one of the most significant and necessary forms of investment (Nordhaus, 2001, p.23). Uses of land and mineral resources are the major causes of economic growth in both developed and developing countries. Proper utilization of mineral resources of a country depends heavily on government policies and regulations. Most of citizens in countries that have implemented strict policies have utilized their resources well, including land. Countries with double-digit economic growth have recorded proper utilization of their resources. In the economic growth globally, various countries have different situation and circumstances that are facilitating economic growth. For instance, the UK has a robust economy (Nordhaus, 2001, p.23). In the end, economic growth can take place due to increased capital, raised investment in new infrastructure, factories, increased labor productivity, and augment the working population or the discovery of fresh raw materials. Technological improvements can also facilitate or hinder economic growth (Friedman, 2005). Economic growth relies on investment and productivity, using available resources more efficiently and

Influence of physical attractiveness and personality on relationship Essay

Influence of physical attractiveness and personality on relationship formation - Essay Example (Gonzales, 2008). Some uses physical attractiveness as factor to consider in choosing the person to have a relationship with. Simple observations like clothes he wears, the way he talks, the way he walks and others may lead to the interpretation of a variety of other characteristics. In the literature review the paper presented researches and study done on physical attractiveness and personality on relationship. One of the study was done by Gonzales, Casey of Department of Psychology in Loyola University of New Orleans (2008). In 2001 Yela and Sangrador of Univeristy of Madrid releases their article, "Perception of Physical Attractiveness throughout Loving Relationship". In the article they try to verify various hypotheses about the importance of physical attractiveness (PA) in loving relationships, based on known psycho-social processes. Also included in the review are the researches done by Gilles on 1994. In this article the writer presented two useful and complementary models of relationship development: the Social Penetration Theory and Attraction. At the end of this letter the writer will show his own view about the topic. In the study done by Casey Gonzales of the Department of Psychology in New Orleans presented three characteristics that affect interpersonal attractiveness across a range of social relationships these are: warmth, competence and physical attractiveness. (2001). Warmth is described as a positive outlook and positive attitude towards people and things. Competence matters mostly when it depends on the nature of the relationship that he/she has with a person. Physical attractiveness according to Gonzales (2001) is the most difficult of the three characteristics because it is hard to avoid forming impressions of people based on their appearance. This implies that if a person is physically attractive he/she also has other positive qualities as well. Also in the article written by Gonzales (2001) when choosing someone to have a relationship with the characteristics of warmth, competence and physical attractiveness are important influences. Many studies showed that although both sexes view a partner's physical attractiveness as an asset, men placed greater value on the physical attributes of a partner than women did (Feingold, 1990; Jackson, 1992; as cited by Taylor et. al). In a national survey of Americans, women were more willing than men to marry someone who was not "good looking"(Sprecher, Sullivan, & Hatfield, 1994). Women also prefer older partners while men prefer younger partners. Women place greater emphasis on a partner's economic resources than men do. Men were more willing than women to marry someone who was not likely to have a steady job, earned more, and had more education. These sex differences have been found not only in the United States but in a wide range of other cultures as well (Buss, 1989). Yela and Sangrador (2001) presented scientific study on the importance of physical attractiveness and personality in forming a relationship. Using variables and measurement technique they evaluated how physical attractiveness greatly influences the person to pursue to have a relationship. Social psychology emphasize that the role played by physical attractiveness in our social cognition, behaviors, and interpersonal relationships is

Sound and Music in Films Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sound and Music in Films - Research Paper Example Filmmaking has transcended a challenging and colorful artistic journey. The fast pace of technological advancement profoundly influenced the growth of filmmaking from its crude origins of silent and black and white films to the intricately three dimensional movies of contemporary times. Kay, Ghent, Chumney & Lutkins presented the history of sound in films and traced its origins before the 1920s when Thomas Edison was quoted to say in 1925 that â€Å""My plan was to synchronize the camera and the phonograph so as to record sounds when the pictures were made, and reproduce the two in harmony. . . We had the first of the so-called "talking pictures" in our laboratory thirty years ago" (Kay, et.al., n.d., par. Edison’s persistent intent to invent the kinetoscope, granted patent in 1897, paved the way for the introduction of sound in films. In this regard, this essay aims to proffer relevant issues and perspectives of sound and music in movies and films. The discourse would initia lly present significant events from the origins of sounds and music, together with the people who were instrumental in making the discoveries. Likewise, the role of sound and music in films would also be discussed before presenting the characteristics of these elements in contemporary filmmaking.

Spatial Patterns Of Tropical And Temperate Deforestation Environmental Sciences Essay

Spatial Patterns Of Tropical And Temperate Deforestation Environmental Sciences Essay Global deforestation has become a major concern of human society. Belonging to the last untouched and pristine terrestrial ecosystems on earth, tropical forests in particular are a central issue of many conservation movements. Safeguarding global biological diversity has been widely approved as a political goal throughout the global community with forests playing a major role. Large and rare animals and pictures of burned forests have strengthened the belief in the moral and ethic injustice currently taking place in the tropics. Yet, we have to consider that this point of view originates in western society and mainly remains widely accepted in the developed world where for the most part no tropical forests exist. In contrast to the (partly) intact and less degraded forest ecosystems of the tropics, in the highly developed countries of the northern hemisphere large parts of temperate forest ecosystems have long vanished and been replaced by anthropogenic landscapes. This change in lan d use has resulted in the creation of severely transformed ecosystems fundamental for the economic and social development. These include, for instance, agricultural, pastoral, industrial and urban landscapes. The long time that has passed since their clearance often leaves temperate forests out of the current investigation on deforestation patterns. Rather, scientists concentrate on patterns of tropical deforestation, which is currently the most alarming regarding the net loss of forest cover. Generally, land degradation occurs to a great extent in forested areas since about 25% of total land degradation is associated with broad-leaved forests and 17% with boreal forests (UNEP 2007). With the severity of the consequences of global deforestation becoming evident, environmental and economic science is increasingly addressing the issue. Just recently, beginning in the late 1980s, environmental economists have been publishing new thoughts on valuing the environment and considering its ecological functions in economic decision-making (see de Groot 1987, 1992; Daily 1997; Costanza et al. 1997; among others). Nowadays, the interdependence and importance of forest ecosystem functions and services is widely accepted throughout scientific and economic literature. This development has raised the general awareness of the importance of well functioning and sustainably managed forests and has augmented the acceptance of forest conservation movements (at least in western societies). Supp orted by new technologies, such as satellite imagery and remote sensing methods, the study of deforestation processes and spatial patterns of deforestation has been facilitated at various levels and different scales at affordable costs. By using new technologies and approaches, many studies have been conducted in an attempt to estimate the extent of deforestation and to explain its causes. A great amount of studies focuses on the processes of tropical deforestation which is doubtlessly most alarming at the moment. However, other studies have approached deforestation from a global perspective and also for temperate forest ecosystems in particular. In light of the ongoing debates on deforestation, this paper first defines forest degradation and deforestation and then explores potential misunderstandings of such definitions. This discussion is followed by an analysis of the causes of global deforestation process and concludes with some key findings for tropical as well as temperate deforestation patterns. 2 Defining forest degradation and deforestation Drawing on the publication by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2009), the following section will shortly present the debate on the definition of forest degradation and deforestation in a global context. As the number of studies and policy instruments concerning forest degradation and deforestation are numerous it is necessary to establish a common language in order to draw mutual conclusions and to find applicable solutions. Being a serious environmental, social and economic problem, forest degradation and deforestation are issues of major concern discussed at various political levels as well as by the public. As consequences of deforestation become evident not only on the local but also on the global scale, finding consensus among different parties is of great importance for responding adequately to a daunting challenge. The definition of forest degradation and deforestation, however, is technically and scientifically difficult to define because it is viewed and perceived differently by various stakeholders who might have different objectives regarding forest use or conversion. Furthermore, discrepancies in the definition can have implications on forest related policy making processes as well as on the monitoring and enforcement of policies (FAO 2009). The FAO report argues that forest-related definitions [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] which are outcomes of international processes are policy tools and can have major economic, social and environmental implications (FAO 2009, p. 8). Besides monitoring purposes, forest-related definitions also determine financial flows and the allocation of financial incentives for various purposes (e.g. restoration or improvement measures, projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) program) (FAO 2009). 2.1 Deforestation Deforestation describes the process of land use change from forest to non-forest (FAO 2009). However, this quite simple definition based on certain thresholds of deforestation has the potential to cause conflicts when the individual factors are evaluated. Different nations, international organizations or ethnic groups might have differing perceptions and definitions of forest or non-forest. Drawing on the definition provided by the FAO, forests are defined as land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than five meters and a canopy cover of more than ten percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ (FAO 2005, p. 16). This definition does not include land that is predominately under agricultural or urban use (FAO 2004). Furthermore, deforestation can occur on different spatial and temporal scales which will be discussed later in the following section. 2.2 Forest degradation While deforestation is relatively easy to define, much more effort is required to define forest degradation. In 2002, a symposium of international forestry-related organizations consisting of the FAO, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) agreed on a common definition of forest degradation, defining it as the reduction of the capacity of a forest to provide goods and services (FAO 2009a, p. 9). This process occurs within the forest and negatively affects the characteristics of the forest, which can be of structural or functional nature and which determine the capacity to provide goods and services. Defining the latter two terms well is a challenging and demanding task. The definition can be comprehensible for one party but could be understood very differently or be misunderstood. For instance, with r egard to the REDD mechanism, forest degradation considers particularly the reduction in carbon stocks within a forest (FAO 2009b). However, there is still a lack of practically applicable approaches to measure the extent of forest degradation because the existing definition is not an operational formulation due to different perceptions of what forest degradation furthermore entails (FAO 2009). Therefore, the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) has called for greater harmonization of internationally applicable definitions related to forests to facilitate monitoring and reporting on progress towards the achievement of the global objectives on forests and sustainable forest management [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦](FAO 2009, p. 8). 3 Processes of deforestation As described above, deforestation is a process of change in land use. Although it is currently being addressed widely at different political levels as well as by the public, it is not a new phenomenon. Since humankind began to control fire and to domesticate animals, forests needed to be cleared for various purposes. However, among great parts of western society forests nowadays are being valued very differently than even a hundred years ago. Scientific progress, environmental awareness, technical innovations and deliberative policies have made clear that deforestation has become an important and global issue. The following section shortly depicts the process of deforestation after which the underlying causes for this development and typical observable spatial patterns of deforestation will be presented. In general, it can be distinguished between natural and anthropogenic disturbance processes. Natural interferences occur naturally in the environment, in contrast to anthropogenic interferences which are human induced. While natural stresses occur rather on a small to medium scale and are of relatively short term, anthropogenic disturbances often occur on a medium to large scale and are long term processes. The former include forest clearances by natural wildfires, wind (storms), extreme weather events or changing climatic conditions (though being argued to be human induced). The latter includes timber extraction, pastoral uses, small shifting cultivation plots, induced forest fires and large scale forest conversion activities. Anthropogenic disturbances can either be intentional (direct), e.g. logging or land conversion, or unintentional (indirect), e.g. introduction of invasive species (FAO 2009). However, forest disturbance regimes become less predictable once natural and anthropo genic factors combine (FAO 2009). The two factors are often dependent on each other and combinations can be complex and take various forms. For instance, anthropogenic impacts on forest structure and dynamics in tropical mountain regions can have severe consequences for downstream areas during naturally occurring storm events in the form of floods and landslides. Further, human impacts influence the vulnerability of forests to degradation from natural causes, can negatively affect the successional regeneration process in naturally disturbed forests, and naturally occurring drought periods can be the cause for large scale forest fires ignited by escaped land clearing fires (Goldammer 1992). Moreover, global ecological feedback mechanisms can have far reaching impacts on anthropogenic forest interferences (Goldammer 1992); this will be addressed later in the paper. Usually, forest degradation is associated with a reduction of the vegetative cover (Lund 2009 in FAO 2009). Considering forest degradation as a continuous internal process caused either by natural or human induced disturbances, various thresholds can be defined, for example, in terms of percentage of canopy cover. Thus, when passing a certain threshold, a forest can be classified into various levels of degradation and eventually, when reaching a high level of openness, the forest cannot longer be defined as a forest (i.e. 10% canopy cover), although administratively it still might be considered forest land (FAO 2009). Deforestation can occur abruptly in a very short period of time by simply removing the lands tree cover. Under those circumstances, the forest is usually cleared for the purpose of land conversion for other forms of land use or for the substitution by monoculture plantations of exotic tree species. This form of deforestation, if sufficiently large, is easily detectable by remote sensing (FAO 2009). However, deforestation can also occur over a longer period of a subsequent forest degradation process caused by disturbances which vary in terms of severity, quality, origin, extent and frequency. The impacts occur on varying spatial and temporal scales and are dependent on the type and specific characteristics of the forest (FAO 2009). Its detection and measurement is relatively difficult as it implies a long-term loss of biomass, productivity or species composition that is difficult to assess, especially the impacts on soils, water, nutrients, biodiversity and the landscape. (FAO 2009, p. 13). Yet, forest degradation is not inevitably a prerequisite for deforestation. Forests can also exist as degraded forests for a long period of time without reaching the level of deforestation (Angelsen et al. 2008). 4 Causes for deforestation Various direct and indirect causes for tropical deforestation exist (Geist and Lambin 2002). Drawing on an earlier publication by the two authors (2001), the results are based on the analysis and interpretation of 152 subnational case studies within the tropics. Direct or proximate causes are human activities or immediate actions at the local level [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] that originate from intended land use and directly impact forest cover (Geist and Lambin 2002, p. 143). Indirect causes or underlying driving forces are fundamental social processes [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] that underpin the proximate causes and either operate at the local level or have an indirect impact from the national or global level (p. 143). In other words, direct causes for deforestation are the actual physical impacts on forest cover that degrade the forest or convert it to other forms of land use. Indirect causes, on the other side, are institutional arrangements or socio-demographic forces which facilitate the existence and emergence of the direct causes. At the proximate level, the results clearly show that deforestation in the majority of cases is caused by multi-factorial terms, that is, a combination of direct causes rather than by a single variable. The four single causes are (decreasing in relevance): agricultural expansion, infrastructure extension, wood extraction and other factors (land characteristics, biophysical drivers and social trigger events). The most frequent combination of direct causes is the agricultural wood extraction infrastructure expansion combination that ultimately leads to deforestation (3-factor term of causation) (Geist and Lambin 2001). However, it is questionable to just project this result to the entire tropical forest biome. Each individual case of (small to large scale) deforestation can have a distinct history of the cause or need to change the land use form and might statistically not be represented in the current literature. Likewise, at the underlying, institutional level tropical deforestation is associated with synergetic driver combinations rather than individually operating forces. The five single driving forces are (decreasing in relevance): Economic factors, policy and institutional factors, technological factors, cultural factors, demographic factors (Geist and Lambin 2001). Here, the indirect factors are in the majority operating at the 5-factor term of causation, that is, all underlying factors together are argued to be driving deforestation in more than a third of all cases. In Lambin and Geist (2003), the two authors discuss regional differences in tropical deforestation in more detail. In fact, they argue that the processes of humid tropical deforestation in the three most important areas, namely Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa, can vary to a great extent. Reasons for the regional differences are derived from three sets of factors: the environmental and land-use history, the particular combination of causes triggering and driving land-use change, and the feedback structure, that is the social and ecological responses to land-cover changes (p.24). Though, Rudel (2006) distinguishes more precisely the most important tropical forest areas (Central America the Caribbean, South America, West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia) and depicts a detailed image of the relevant agents of deforestation (road builders, corporate loggers, forest managers, reserve advocates, urban enterprises and consumers). He argues that wh ile the size of the forest area decreases, the agents of change adjust their behaviour and act differently in respect to the actual forest size. The authors main conclusions can be shortly summarized as follows. As forests decline in size roads are ceased to be built, corporate enterprises stop exploiting the forests, community forest management becomes more effective, protected forest areas become less applicable for conservation measures, and degraded sites are reforested by urban consumers (Rudel 2006). Thus, the causes for deforestation and land use change are not static and since all factors are interdependent it is difficult to assess causes in a biome wide or global perspective. However, the quite general conclusions that are drawn by Geist and Lambin for the three major tropical forest areas (Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa) must be viewed cautiously. For instance, an extensive and diverse area such as central and western Africa is reviewed by means of only 19 case studies from eight countries. The results then are treated non-exclusive, are thus assumed to be comparable (although being quantitative as well as qualitative) and are used for drawing representative conclusions on the entire tropical Africa (Geist and Lambin 2001). Furthermore, the definition of deforestation that is used by the authors must be viewed critically since they use a broad and inclusive (Geist and Lambin 2001, p.17) definition which considers not only forest conversion (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) but also different types of [forest] degradation (p.17). Nevertheless, Geist and Lambin (2001, 2002, 2003) provide a good overview of the existing causes for deforestation in the tropics an d relate underlying and direct causes (as well as accompanying occurrences) before they conclude with a quantification of the causative linkages. Also, they discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their chosen methodology and address potential biases and ambiguities to the reader adequately (2001, p. 17 ff). Also, it is important to stress the importance of roads or access in general to (remote) forest areas, which is a prerequisite for large scale anthropogenic interferences. This is true not only in the tropical forest biome but also in the temperate forest biome. In many logistic regression models for the assessment of deforestation patterns, the distance to roads is a major factor and closely related to deforestation processes (Mertens and Lambin 1997; Altamirano and Lara 2010; Echeverria et al. 2008; Wilson et al. 2005; among others). Although agricultural expansion is mentioned to be the most significant cause for deforestation, it should be mentioned that the intensification of agricultural practices, however, can have a positive effect on remaining forests since productivity increases and the pressure of expansion thus is reduced (cf. Barbier 2001). As the global human population and the demand for food and agricultural products increase, the importance of agriculture must not be neglected and should be incorporated into policy responses. In his book Logjam Deforestation and the Crisis of Global Governance, David Humphreys (2006) shortly describes the European deforestation process from an institutional economics perspective. He argues that, in contrast to Garret Hardins theory of the tragedy of the commons, common property regimes are crucial for the conservation of forest public goods (such as watershed protection or climate regulation) as long as land tenure rights and legal ownership are secured. Likewise, Elinor Ostrom (2002) argues similarly in her essay Reformulating the Commons and identifies several requisite attributes for the resource system and the appropriators in order for efficient self-governing associations to form. The most important attributes mentioned are the spatial extent of the resource system, the salience or dependence of the appropriators on the resource for a major portion of their livelihood, trust and reciprocity and autonomy, among others (Ostrom 2002, p. 5). Common property regimes can be defined as institutional arrangements for the cooperative (shared, joined, collective) use, management, and sometimes ownership of natural resources. (McKean 2000 in Humphreys 2006, p. 4). Humphreys (2006) states that in Europe the common use of forests under public ownership was widely respected until the Middle ages when the aristocracy and political elites organized the systematic and widespread displacement of commoners from common land, and the subsequent enclosure of this land by fencing (p. 6), thus, changing the property regime from public to private. Then, with the rise of the centralized state during the 16th to 18th century, forests were further enclosed and exploited with timber as a steady revenue source. In central Europe soon only few species were considered economically profitable. By conserving only economically valuable species, this instrumental, utilitarian and abstractionist logic eroded biodiversity in the forest and promoted the development of scientific f orestry [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] (Humphreys 2006, p. 6). This socioeconomic development, an increasing demand for timber and fuel wood and a steadily growing population promoted the exploitation of temperate forests across Europe and lead to the degradation of the forest public goods which were considered unproductive in economic terms. The practices of enclosure and scientific forestry were later also brought to the European colonies in Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas (Humphreys 2006) where currently remaining pristine tropical forests are experiencing a similar trend. To sum up this paragraph, again I use the words of David Humphreys since they convincingly make a point and cannot be formulated better. Enclosure during the medieval and colonial eras degraded and destroyed forest commons across the world. Forest degradation in the 20th and 21st centuries has rarely been due to poorly functioning common property regimes. It is invariably the result of the enclosure of commons by s tate and private interests, who overexploit the forests for economic gain and who have a totally different relationship to the forest than the commoners whom they displaced. (p. 7). 5 Spatial change patterns Only as recent as the last 150 years have tropical forests experienced a drastic human induced change in terms of forest cover and species composition in contrast to many temperate forest ecosystems which have experienced severe and large scale changes for much longer. While vast areas of tropical forest were still without anthropogenic pressure, temperate forest landscapes (in Europe i.e.) were, in relation to available land area, highly populated and forest ecosystems largely impacted and altered (Potapov et al. 2009). Today, it is estimated that over one half of the temperate forest biome has been fragmented or removed by humans, in comparison to nearly one quarter of the tropical forest biome (Wade et al. 2008) Tropical forests have recently experienced a constant loss of forest area. Achard et al. (2002) estimated a loss of tropical forest of 0.52 % for the period 1990-1997 and Hansen et al. (2008) estimated that 1.39 % of the total tropical forest area were lost between 2000 and 2005. Temperate forests, however, recently experience neither large net gains nor losses in forest area and some areas even show an increase in forest cover (FRA 2010). For the tropics, six general spatial patterns of the forest/non-forest interface were developed by Husson et al. (1995) which were used for example in Mertens and Lambin (1997) or Geist and Lambin 2001. The six types of patterns are: geometric, corridor, fishbone, diffuse, patchy, and island. Geometric patterns are related to large-scale clearings for modern sector activities, corridor patterns to roadside colonization by spontaneous migrants, fishbone patterns to planned resettlement schemes (yet limited to the Brazilian Amazon), diffuse patterns to smallholder or traditional subsistence agriculture, patchy patterns to high population density areas with residual forest patches, and island patterns to (peripheral) urban areas (Geist and Lambin 2001, p.66). Such spatial patterns are easily detectable once the deforestation process occurs quickly and when the connectedness of the forest area was large hitherto. These characteristics are more likely to be found in the tropical moist bro adleaved forest type (especially in South America and Africa (Wade et al. 2003)) and thus the spatial models depicted here are more adequate to be used in the tropical forest biome. Source: Geist and Lambin (2001), p. 66 For the temperate forest biome (here: Europe) Estreguil and Mouton (2009, p. 6) present four different and typical patterns of forest loss. Drawing on publications by Forman (1995) and Bogaert et al. (2004) they characterize local spatial forest loss by a) attrition (the disappearance of patches), b) shrinkage (decrease of the size of remaining patches), c) perforation (cleared holes within forest patches), and d) fragmentation (braking up of forest areas). Source: Estreguil and Mouton (2009), p. 7 6 Consequences of deforestation The consequences of deforestation can cause local scale and far reaching ecological feedback mechanisms such as atmospheric, hydrological and climatic changes (Goldammer 1992) and can furthermore have implications on the socio-economic environment. This, in turn, affects the whole forest ecosystem at large scale and in the long run. Regarding the current debate on a changing global climate, forests are of major concern since they serve as a great sink for atmospheric carbon. The wooden and photoactive biomass as well as forest soils sequester large amounts of atmospheric carbon. In comparison, forests store and sequester more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem (Gibbs et al 2007). A great amount of the total human induced global carbon emissions is argued to be released from forest degradation and deforestation; a great amount in tropical regions since here deforestation rates are currently most striking. Calculations that not even include tropical forest fires estimate the amount of carbon released at 10-25% of the total human induced carbon emissions (Santilli et al. 2005; Houghton 2003). The proportion of carbon released by forests fires and burning of biomass is still difficult to determine but is practically responsible for great amounts of carbon and other harmful substances released into the atmos phere (Goldammer 1992; Houghton 2003). While tropical deforestation processes are estimated to significantly add to global carbon emissions and act as a source, temperate forests of the northern hemisphere are considered a carbon sink (Heath et al. 1993 in Potapov 2009; Goodale et al. 2002 in Houghton 2003). 7 Forest rehabilitation At any level of degradation, forest conditions can be improved and the process of degradation halted or even reversed. Essential for the rehabilitation of degraded forests are silvicultural or protection measures on degraded forest land or reforestation measures on non-forest land. These rehabilitation measures must be adapted to the specific ecological conditions of each individual area. If successful, those measures might eventually lead to a level of non-degraded forest (FAO 2009). In general, tropical forest rehabilitation is more complicated and requires more efforts than in temperate forests. From an institutional perspective, the implementation of rehabilitation or conservation measures by corporate enterprises is seldom achieved on a voluntary basis because (tropical) forests are mostly characterized by open access conditions and forest ecosystem services are public goods. Only if secure property rights are allocated, monitored and enforced and incentives for action are being provided are such measures more likely to be realized. Moreover, forest degradation and deforestation can be argued to be negative externalities that are often neglected by forestry or agricultural enterprises or even small-scale users. David Humphreys (2006) puts it as follows: While corporations are effective in supplying private goods, their efficacy in public good provision is highly questionable. Corporations have one overwhelming responsibility, namely to maximize shareholder value. This is a fiduciary responsibility in private law in most countries [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] (and) rationalizes both t he internalization of monetary benefits and the systematic externalization of social and environmental costs. (p. 11). For those ecologically negative externalities to be considered during decision making processes adequate policies and governance structures are required. In our current capitalist system of neoliberal economic policies, an ecologically and socially sustainable economy will be very difficult to achieve, if not impossible. 8 Conclusion The scientific progress towards an understanding of ecological forest processes and deforestation patterns has recently fueled the debate on the true value of intact forest ecosystems. With the recent tendency of accelerated anthropogenic forest conversion into other land uses, the impacts of considerable small-scale disturbances along with large-scale conversions accumulate to such an extent that they become measurable on a regional and even global level. Although forest ecosystems are of central importance regarding the economic development especially in humid tropical countries, Hansen et al. (2008) argue that forest governance is still impaired by a lack of timely information on forest cover change. They conclude that a mixed strategy for monitoring should include data at multiple temporal and spatial resolutions (p. 9443) providing a feasible and cost-effective methodology to produce timely, precise, and internally consistent estimates of biome-wide forest clearing (p. 9443) (Hansen et al. 2008). However, global governance on forest ecosystems is currently not sufficiently developed. A biome-wide assessment of the forest development must therefore be viewed critically. Rather, a decentralized assessment of the causes and processes of deforestation should be aimed at to find appropriate political answers to halt deforestation and promote a socially and environmentally sustainable forest management. Goldammer (1992) points out that a reliable assessment of tropical forest development requires detailed knowledge of interacting ecological processes, namely the consideration and connection of small-scale impacts with large-scale feedback mechanisms. Thus, not underestimating the social importance forests play, a comprehensive understanding of deforestation processes and patterns requires an interdisciplinary approach from an ecosystem perspective that considers ecological, economic and social sciences. Word count: 4558 (list of references excluded)

Senior Trip :: essays research papers

On Wednesday, April 6th, I woke up from a deep sleep just like every other ordinary school day, but this particular day was going to be much more fun! I got to school around 7:15, dropped off my luggage in the conference room, and went off to class. In my next 3 classes I waited excitedly until the enouncement was made for all seniors going on the Senior Trip to head down to the office. And this is where the great trip began.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We all got on 2 busses and headed to the airport where we dropped off out luggage and got through security rather quick. Then we all anxiously waited for our plane to arrive. When the plane finally arrived we all got on board and before we knew it we were in Orlando Florida. The bus from there to Walt Disney World eventually arrived and within 30 minutes we were in our rooms and getting ready to go to Downtown Disney for the first day.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Downtown Disney was very large, with lots of stores, arcades, and restaurants. The arcade was free, which was very cool and convenient because I really didn’t feel like paying for anything. Walking around this place was fun in itself, just seeing all the sites and seeing all the people. There were many good looking girls, everywhere! One thing I will remember for a long time is Jason buying a very large cigar, and after his first puff Mrs. Vanderhoff rushing up to him and taking it away.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  MGM was a great park. This park had the best rides out of them all, which include the Tower of Terror, and the Roller Coaster. The park was very nicely kept and was also fun just walking around. All of the rides had so much detail to them, even after going on them numerous times I still saw things I hadn’t seen before. This was great because it made it just as interesting as the first time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The nights were always fun and entertaining. From phone calls from girls in other rooms, to Josh sleeping in the corner. Everything seemed to make it fun. Spying on the guard outside was fun, as well as joking about sneaking out and going into other peoples rooms. We didn’t end up going to bed until very late†¦ or early.