Columbian Food Exchange Essay Example for Free

Columbian Food Exchange Essay Columbian Exchange Food/Ingredient Project By: Aaron Poulin Mr. Yonkers 6th Period What is the origin of your food/ingredient? Cinnamon originates from the islands of Shri Lanka (formerly called Ceylon), southeast of India. It is also native to southwest of India and the Tenasserin Hills of Burma. Cinnamon is part of the Lauraceous, a branch of the Laurel family of spices. Although there have been many versions of cinnamon with stews, desserts, and everyday food, I am focusing on cinnamon buns, also known as sticky buns, a delicious by-product of cinnamon and bread rolls combined. Both cinnamon and bread rolls are ancient foods, but when did they first combine? According to early spice historians, the history of cinnamon is unclear. Dr. Ronald Wirtz (American Institute of Baking) has researched sticky buns in depth. He begins with the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Wirtz believes that our modern sticky bun owes some of its origins to British cooking and baking, perhaps with some degree of influence from the Dutch and Germans. The cinnamon bun or sticky bun came to Philadelphia with 18th century English and German immigrants. The cinnamon buns that reached Philadelphia were composed of cinnamon, sugar flavored yeast dough, with raisons, buts, and caramelized topping. They are now very popular in the United States and some parts of England. Why is this crop/ingredient historically important? Cinnamon buns played a historic role in Europe mostly, originating from central Europe; they formed as a tasty treat for higher-class people. Because cinnamon was hard to harvest and only grew parts of Asia and the Middle East it was hard to transport and therefore made it pretty expensive. Many myths surrounded cinnamon and how people harvested it. The source of cinnamon was unknown in the middle ages; it was thought that the Arabs supplied people with cinnamon. It was said that giant cinnamon birds collected the sticks from an unknown land where cinnamon trees grew, and used them to construct their nests. Fastened to sheer cliffs, the Arabians employed a trick to obtain the cinnamon. They killed and chopped up oxen and other beasts of burden into pieces, laid them near their nests and withdrew to a distance. The birds were then tempted down to carry the chunks of meat back to their nests, where the weight of the carcasses broke them from the cliffs. Leaving the Arabians to collect the fallen cinnamon. According to Herodotus until as late as 1310. Cinnamon had many other appearances in classical literature, including Socinus’ Collecanea Rerum Memorabbilium (Collection of Remarkable Facts), Aristotle’s’ Historia Animalium (History of Animals) just to name a few. Where did your food/ingredient spread? Cinnamon became more popular than ever during the middle Ages, in a matter of years it had spread to many different countries, so popular that stories had created myths about the tasteful spice. It also made Arabia famous for its export of cinnamon. But today Indonesia is the largest exporter of cinnamon in the world.

Poverty And Environmental Degradation In Ghana Environmental Sciences Essay

Poverty And Environmental Degradation In Ghana Environmental Sciences Essay The relation between poverty levels and environmental degradation has been widely debated inside academic circles. The theoretical linkage between poverty and environmental degradation has for some time been shroud in ambiguity. Environment degradation and poverty are closely interrelated and inseparable, particularly in developing countries. Awareness and concern about environmental degradation have grown around the world over the last few decades; these concerns are shared by people of different nations, cultures, religions and social classes. In recent years economic researchers have become increasingly aware of the important implications that the state of the environment has for the success of development effort. .(Michael P Todaro, Stephen C Smith, Economic Development) it has been asserted that the interaction between poverty and environmental degradation can lead to a self perpetuating process in which ,as a result of ignorance or economic necessity, communities may in advertently destroy or exhaust the resources on which they depend for survival.(Michael P Todaro, Stephen C Smith, Economic Development) According to Michael P Todaro and Stephen C Smith, environmental degradation can have severe consequences on the poor in developing countries. They further conclude that since the solution to environmental problems involve enhancing the productivity of resources and improving living conditions among the poor, achieving environmentally sustainable growth is synonymous with achieving economic growth. Poverty is considered a great influence on environmental degradation. In many regions of the developing countries, regional overgrazing has resulted in destruction of grazing lands, forest and soil. In addition air and water have been degraded . It has been hypothesized that as people become poorer, they destroy the resources faster . By so doing tend to overuse the natural resources because they dont have any means of survival except through the natural resources. They therefore tend to depend more on natural resources. An increase in poverty gives rise to an equal increase in environmental degradation thereby necessitating the need to improve the quality of living. Ghana is located on the west coast of Africa bordering the Gulf of Guinea with a 539-kilometer stretch of coastline. The capital, Accra, is situated along the coast. The country shares borders with Togo to the east, Cote dIvoire on the west and Burkina Faso to the north. Ghana covers a total area of 238,537 square km (92,100 square miles). Ghana is well endowed with natural resources gold, timber, and cocoa the major sources of foreign exchange, and recently discovered oil in commercial quantities. The domestic economy continues to revolve around subsistence agriculture, which accounts for 34.7 percent of GDP and employs 56 percent of the work force, mainly smallholders. The country has a total of 170 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies within its ten administrative regions and has approximately 22 million people. Most of the population is concentrated in the southern part of the country, with highest densities occurring in urban and cocoa-producing areas.(USAID) . Ghana is rapidly urbanizing. Despite this, most of Ghanas poor live in rural areas without basic services such as health care and clean water. Small-scale farmers, who are affected most by rural poverty in Ghana, depend on outdated farming tools and lack access to improved seeds and fertilizers to increase crop yields. Since independence Ghana has had a long fight with poverty. There have been six development plans implemented in Ghana since 1951. They have all generally sought to improve upon the growth of GDP and ensuring an acceptable level of social and political life for the country. The most recent and significant have been the Vision 2020 and The Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy.( Eugene Eluerkeh,2004) Environmental degradation is difficult to define. In simple terms environmental degradation can be said to be the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil, the destruction of the ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife. Poverty is the state of having inadequate access to ones survival needs and basic social amenities which include food, clothing, shelter, education, good health, employment, transport, communication and other basic social services. Poverty breeds frustration, depression, helplessness, carelessness, insecurity, indiscipline, crime and struggle to meet immediate survival needs at the expense of long-term environmental benefits. This struggle for survival has been the major linkage of the poor to environmental degradation such as deforestation, land degradation of coastal habitats and poor urban sanitation that keep perpetual poverty. Poverty can be assessed at the individual, household, community, district, regional and national levels in which case a nations capability to provide the social needs of its people is used as a measure of its poverty status. One out of five people on earth still live with $1 a day, and many coordinated effort and commitment have been targeted to reduce the number of poor people including the socalled Millennium Development Goals: halving extreme poverty by the year 2015 (World Bank, DFID, EC, UNDP, 2002). As part of the conditions to be met for the realization of (HIPC) relief package, Ghana, like its counterpart countries, was to develop a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) to indicate how monies accrued from joining (HIPC) would be used to alleviate poverty among Ghanaians. The broad strategies outlined in the document included good governance, macro-economic stability, production, employment, vulnerability and exclusion, and human resource development. Unfortunately, however, the environment, which is the primary ingredient for survival, growth and development was not streamlined in the document. Environmental degradation is a result of the dynamic inter play of socio-economic, institutional and technological activities. Environmental changes may be driven by many factors including economic growth, population growth, urbanization, intensification of agriculture, rising energy use and transportation. Poverty still remains a problem at the root of several environmental problems. Poverty is said to be both cause and effect of environmental degradation. The circular link between poverty and environment is an extremely complex phenomenon. Inequality may foster unsustainability because the poor, who rely on natural resources more than the rich, deplete natural resources faster as they have no real prospects of gaining access to other types of resources. Moreover, degraded environment can accelerate the process of impoverishment, again because the poor depend directly on natural assets Environmental sustainability should thus, be a key priority area in our strategic plans towards poverty alleviation. Within this context therefore, the right linkage between the various specific environmental degradation and poverty must be well established to the appreciation of all stakeholders. In search of an explanation of the poverty- environmental degradation linkage, many studies have been done in this regard. In terms of urban poverty, it is suggested that there is little evidence of it being a significant contributor to environmental degradation but strong evidence that urban environ-mental hazards are major contributors to urban poverty (David Satterthwaite). Most of the studies on the poverty-environment linkage have used panel data studies and hence have not been country specific. This study thus aims to explore in detail the poverty-environment linkage with specific reference to the Ghanaian situation. It will thus review the existing literature on the poverty-environment linkage, provide an overview of the poverty and environment profile in Ghana and attempt to provide policy recommendations suitable for the Ghanaian situation. Statement of Problem Poverty in Ghana has for a long been considered an economic problem. Hence economic policies that have been developed haved not considered the environment. It is however useful to consider the interplay between the environment and poverty in formulating policies designed to alleviate poverty. Various studies have established that there exists some kind of dynamic interplay between the state of the environment and poverty levels. Hence it is useful to consider the impact of the various economic policies designed to reduce poverty on the environment. Significance of the study The study will be of immense significance to the economy of Ghana. It will attempt to explain the poverty-environment linkage in Ghana. The study will review the literature on the poverty and environmental profile of Ghana. It will then explore the impact that policy reforms that have been designed to alleviate poverty have had on the environment. Objectives of the study The main objective of the study will be to: explore the poverty-environmental degradation linkage in Ghana. Explore the determinants of environmental degradation im Ghana. Elaborate on steps taken to reduce environmental degradation in Ghana Evaluate the existing economic policies designed to reduce poverty Data and Methodology The study will use macro data on poverty levels and measures on environmental degradation. To achieve the above objectives the study will adopt and modify the model used by Shaista Alam in the study Globalization, Poverty and Environmental Degradation: Sustainable Development in Pakistan . The model is given as: lnEGt= ÃŽÂ ²0+ÃŽÂ ²1lnPVRTt+ÃŽÂ ²2lnFRTt+ÃŽÂ ²3lnURBNt+ÃŽÂ ²4lnPOPt+ÃŽÂ ²5lnEDUt+ÃŽÂ µ where the variables are defined as follows: EG is environmental degradation,FRT is fertilizer consumption (in metric tons), URBN is the rate of urbanization, POP is the population growth, PVRT represents poverty, EDU is the education.

Strategic Management Approaches For Managing Change

Strategic Management Approaches For Managing Change The subject for this intended research will focus on problem-solving and how organizations can successfully manage change during difficult periods of economic development by relying on the integration of strategic management approaches so they can become learning organizations. It will use the UAE government as the organization to be profiled, with its employees for the questionnaire survey to obtain useful data into what changes are needed in the UAE government for achieving its overall objectives. Since managing change requires identifying weaknesses and developing strategies for turning them into strengths, strategic management techniques are very effective. There will be both primary and secondary deductive research methods using theories for testing data. Although there are many different drivers for change in organizations, developing nations like the UAE and its government must undergo extensive restructurization that requires recognizing change as an ongoing process affecting all departments, employees and processes. Change management theories support the need for strategic management approaches being implemented for companies or governments to become learning organizations that can continuously adapt to the unpredictable dynamics of economic, social and infrastructure change. Organizations that refuse to adapt to change often become inefficient and obsolete, so it is in their own best interest to learn how to adjust their leadership and management processes to gain knowledge about and become skilled at adaptation. Introduction Change is a continuous process where organizations either adapt to their new environment or they will not survive. Organizational change requires major restructurization on all levels to accomplish the overall goals of managerial expectations exceeding results to compel employees to perform better. Change management refers to considering problems as opportunities for future improvement that can help organizations achieve their goals. Managing change for organizations means learning how to convince managers that investing in the resolution of present problems is a worthwhile risk that can result in long-term success. Managing change must be performed at the highest managerial level and all throughout the organization if it is to be effective for the long term. Managing change also involves persuading employees that the risk of altering their current performance is worth the future higher performance levels they will eventually reach. Change management relates to learning how to proper ly manage change through extensive knowledge management and job skills training to upgrade all employee performance which will gradually result in higher organizational performance. Strategic change management approaches for managing change are the most effective methods of developing learning organizations that can suitably adapt to change. Research Question Are strategic change management approaches for managing change the most effective methods of developing learning organizations so they can suitably adapt to change? Research Objectives Intended Outcomes Some of the main research objectives and outcomes for this project will involve: Determining which change management strategies are useful for managing organizational change Explaining how strategic management approaches can help manage change Describing what organizational learning strategies are and how they help companies become continuous learning organizations able to suitably adapt to and successfully manage change Company Background The organization that will be researched and profiled for this dissertation will be the UAE government which was established in 1974. This organization focuses on creating and implementing strategic policies, plans and procedures for the development of the local UAE infrastructure. This includes assisting the UAE President and UAE Ruler Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan in handling all responsibilities and delegating authority to carry out his strategic plans. The government is in charge of all UAE governmental Ministries and agencies. This office manages, supervises and reviews all activities related to the UAE government, including construction development projects they sponsor, service and IT development, and governmental performance improvement programs (Mohammed, 2010, 1-6) (Ali, 2010, 1-3). Background of Problem: Etisalats Challenges To Managing Change There are several problems and challenges that Etisalat is currently dealing with in order to improve their global market positioning, such as: Contrasting processes of change response-Etisalat has been using two different methods of adapting to change that are working together well, which has helped them deal with many issues within the company; however, these two strategies are also causing some internal problems dealing with communication and teamwork among the global offices Etisalats specialization in the telecommunications industry has allowed for increased communication between employees and management, yet it reduces the chances for expansion worldwide Etisalats diversification uses strategic alliances with global suppliers, which helps expand to international markets, yet decreases communication internally Etisalats management changed the organizational culture from a hierarchal authority to using workplace teams, which has been difficult for managers and employees to adjust to and led to resistance to change strategies (Mohammed, 2010, 1-6) (Ali, 2010, 1-3). Etisalats main issues all deal with how the company has been expanding so quickly that the employees and management are not communicating well together. They are not working well in teams and that reduces overall efficiency. The company has been having trouble adapting to the external PEST industry changes and internal SWOT company changes as well, which has led to many redundancies and high overhead costs. The company has also been adding new firms through acquisition and expanding to new countries with different cultures, so employees speaking different languages and having diverse cultural traditions and business practices may not be blending well with the UAE processes and systems. Etisalat has to develop many different global strategies that all focus on integration and collaboration. Etisalat has been focusing on expansion without concentrating on coping with the consequences of such major internal company and employee changes, which has created a lot of tension and resentment. Employees who do not have job satisfaction do not perform well and often end up quitting. There are also managerial problems in the decision-making that appear to come from a lack of international business experience. The company may need to hire more experienced global business managers who have been running multinational operations for other firms and who are already familiar with the problems involved. Etisalat may also be suffering from too rapid expansion and globalization that could cause them to have major problems later on if they do not properly address them now (Mohammed, 2010, 1-6) (Ali, 2010, 1-3). Etisalat managers do not have the capabilities of dealing with multicultural environments very well since they did not have those issues before. They also do not have any type of cultural diversity awareness programs in their HRM strategies that could help all employees learn how to adapt to global workplace environments. The company has to adopt new technologies and implement them into the workplace to increase efficiencies and core competencies. The company also seems to need a better organizational culture that is more productive and visionary so they can adapt to changes in the market. The management team must be dedicated to identifying all changes that must be made and integrating proper strategies to deal with them. They must adopt more e-ordering systems and online strategies for increasing production and customer services. They also appear to need tactics for embracing change rather than resisting it from all levels of management and employees. The company needs to incorpora te strategies that focus on money management, generation of new sales revenues and increasing profitability for the long-term (Mohammed, 2010, 1-6) (Ali, 2010, 1-3). Etisalats Change Management Strategic Direction Etisalats managers hope to alter their strategic direction to include change management approaches that will allow them to: Expand to new countries by profiling target markets preferences and demands Etisalat must develop a comprehensive HRM change management strategy allowing for increased efficiency, productivity, communication and teambuilding Adopt online e-marketing strategies to appeal to global markets Develop a streamlined strategy that coordinates management and employee communication and teamworking (Mohammed, 2010, 1-6) (Ali, 2010, 1-3). Literature Review: Justification of Research on Managing Change Li (2001) states managing change means analyzing the organizations gaps between employee and company actual performance and the anticipated results expected by management. For change management to be successful, theoretical strategic management strategies must be effectively integrated into organizational real-world scenarios. Managing change requires companies to prepare ahead of time for uncertainty by developing their employees individual potential and turning their firms into continuous learning organizations. To avoid the usual resistance to change that often comes from organizational restructurization, change management strategies help managers better communicate with employees to focus on learning and training programs to adapt to the changes needed for long-term success and market leadership (Hiatt, 2003, 55-68) (Tucker, 1991, 44-56). According to Kruger (2003), effectively managing organizational change means planning for uncertainty, and learning how to adapt to all types of changes, such as economic change, personnel change, leadership or managerial change, technological change or industry change. Organizational change management theories refer to managing change as a long-term ongoing process where various drivers of change are identified and appropriate strategies are formulated to alter managers and employees performance, attitudes and behaviors. Managing change during recessions like the recent period relates to taking on new technologies to become more innovative, efficient and productive. It refers to learning about market competition to know the strategies rivals are pursuing to develop more effective approaches to counteract them (Adler, 2007, 56-72). Change Management Prosci (1998) developed the ADKAR Model for providing assistance to organizations that required change management strategies. This model helps employees and management adapt to the changes in business strategies, duties, procedures and attitude adjustments needed for organizational transformation. Prosci also feels developing action plans for both professional and personal change management is the key to successful implementation and less resistance. Since there are many barriers to change within organizations, Prosci believes that acknowledging them so they can be properly addressed is the most effective means of overcoming change management issues. Kraus (2008) feels global change management must include identifying obstacles in employee attitudes and behavior to create stronger information and communication strategies (Golding, 2008, 82-104) (Hiatt, 2003, 55-68). Change Management Indicator Chart Source: Kempster, 2010. The change management indicator chart explains the practices for adopting change, including establishing the vision and leadership for the organization, knowing the workforces personality traits, understanding the workforces behavior and attitudes toward the change process, what the impact of the changes will be on the staff, the nature of the changes to be implemented, and realizing how the changes will alter the attitudes of employees and managers for the long term (Martel, 2008, 112-117). Garrett (2007) states increasing awareness of the changes needed, explaining why they are necessary, gaining appropriate feedback, and building employee participation in the change process are all essential components in change initiatives. Stacey (2008) feels organizational change management must include a full restructurization of all departments to properly adapt to global changes in the market. This example of a configuration management database explains how the main divisions that must adopt change management policies and processes include: resource management, financial management, service desk and future planning with strategic management (Georgiades, 2008, 216-224) (Golding, 2008, 82-104). Strategic Management Strategic management involves a comprehensive organizational set of corporate, business and functional strategies for defining the companys objectives, vision and mission using a Balanced Scorecard approach to assess overall performance and progress in reaching its long-term goals. Arieu (2007) feels strategic management is a continuous process for evaluating the competitors, business and industry to achieve objectives and goals. Strategic management is supported by Porters many theories that focus on gaining competitive advantages to face rivals in competitive environments (Hill, 2009, 59-75). Organizational Learning Organizational learning relates to various models of transforming companies into learning organizations by helping them become adaptive. Lamb (1984) feels organizational learning must include the adoption of new technologies and innovations to compete with rivals. Continuous learning is a necessary part of employee development that the HR Department provides with courses, job skills training and work experience. Learning organizations actively promote and facilitate collective learning as a part of the change management process (Beckhard, 2005, 161-182) (Peters, 2008, 113-126). Research Methodology Sosa believes epistemology is considered the philosophical theory of knowledge related to the meaning of knowledge and what restrictions there are to gaining and understanding it. Epistemology refers to comprehending knowledge, what others know, how it can be acquired, how it was gained in the past, and why it is significant in life. Epistemological study relates to evaluating the nature of all knowledge and how it refers to beliefs, justification and truth. It explains how knowledge can be produced and why there is sometimes skeptism about knowledge claims due to the way it was obtained. These explanations relate to this research project because they show how important epistemology is to conducting research studies and why the knowledge gained from them must be accurate and verifiable for it to be applied to future real-world situations (Brigley, 2005, 119-125). Research Design Data Collection This project will use both primary and secondary deductive research methods with epistemological interpretivism approaches to gain valuable insight into how well the company can adapt to change. The methodology for this project will research how to gain a comprehensive overview of what challenges the company faces coping with market and consumer demand changes and what change management strategies will help them improve their business for the future. The primary research methods will involve conducting a survey using a 10-question survey questionnaire that can be passed out to a random sample group of 50 Etisalat employees aged 24-30 years old. This sample group will be emailed the survey to fill out and then it will be collected to analyze the results. Deductive Inductive Reasoning in Research Source: King, 2008. The progression in the chart shows how in research methodology, deductive reasoning is a top-down approach that goes from thinking about a theory, forming a hypothesis, observing the participants in the research study, and using the data for confirming the theory. However, in inductive reasoning, it is a bottom-up approach where observation is the initial start for the researcher, where they search for behavioral patterns, make a tentative hypothesis, develop a theory, and then confirm that theory as a result of it being justified from the data (Yin, 2008, 128-137). Qualitative Research Methods Source: Bradley, 2006. The model explains the elements of qualitative research methods, which include soft systems methodology (SSM), Delphi study, action research, field experiments, focus groups, case studies, and interviews. Qualitative research also includes conversation analysis, content analysis, repertory grid with photo sorting, cognitive mapping, laddering and structural analysis. It involves phenomenological description, ethnomethodology, projective techniques and critical discourse analysis. Qualitative research methods also use narrative interviews, grounded theory, participant observation, ethnographic interviews, log books and diaries, phenomenography, ethnography and thick descriptions (Jankowicz, 2007, 118-134) (Kelly, 2006, 118-129). This projects research process will involve using both quantitative and qualitative research methods which will allow for data to be calculated into a statistical analysis format and then evaluated in an overall analysis to provide an accurate perspective on the sample groups responses. There will also be an in-depth tape recorded half-hour personal interview conducted with an Etisalat manager to gain insight into their future change management strategies for the long term. All surveys and interviews will be anonymous to protect the confidentiality of the sample group and participants and all ethical guidelines will be adhered to so the research can be used for the future as a framework for improving change management strategies. The information will be analyzed and the results calculated into percentages for overall analysis. The secondary methods will involve research of academic journals, textbooks, library books and newspaper articles related to strategies for managing change. Code of Ethics Limitations All ethical codes will be adhered to during this project to protect the integrity of the research proposed. It will conform to all global ethical research standards to achieve its research objectives, including avoiding plagiarism, using suitable in-text references and citations to give credit to theorists, and allowing the survey participants to be anonymous to protect their privacy and identity to ensure their jobs will not be in jeopardy. There should not be any major limitations to gathering the data since I have already spoken to the management and they have agreed to allow the survey. Action Plan 1st week: begin researching Internet for journals and library for books 2nd week: make questions for survey questionnaire 3rd week: take notes on articles and books, work on how to format research data 4th week: distribute the survey to employees 5th week: collect surveys and put together statistical results for analysis 6th week: analyze results of survey and interviews 7th week: begin writing final draft of paper 8th week: perform all editing and complete final paper Conclusion Many multinational corporations are enduring in todays highly competitive business environments as they learn how to adopt change management strategies to become learning organizations that can appropriately handle multicultural markets, new technological developments and e-tactics to coping with change. This type of strategy would benefit both managers and employees as they learn how to cope with new problems and people who may have different ways of communicating with others at work. Etisalat also appears to be having difficulty understanding how competitive it is in global markets, since they have been previously only focusing on regional expansion. They may have to have their management take more seminars, lectures and training programs on how to cope with global workplace environments during globalization and expansion. Etisalat can gain a competitive advantage over rivals in the market by integrating new change management strategies that allow for better managerial decisions an d continuous learning HRM training programs.

Family Therapy Involving an Alcoholic Parent Essay -- Counseling/Thera

One in five adults can identify with growing up with an alcoholic relative and Twenty-eight million Americans have one parent abusing or dependent on alcoholic (Walker, & Lee, 1998). There are devastating and ubiquitous effects of alcoholism, which vary from psychological, social, or biological problems for families. Counselor’s treating this problem all agree that the relationships within a family, especially between a parent and a child is one of the most influential within a system, but what are the effects on the family when a parent is an alcoholic? Contemporary research has found there is a higher prevalence of problems in the family when alcohol is the organizing principle. In addition, there is copious research on the roles of individuals within the family becoming defined into specific categories, and evidently, the roles may become reversed between the parent and the child. This topic of functional roles in alcoholic families will be analyzed and investigated further. Family therapy has had substantial results in the treatment of an alcoholic parent. These results will be discussed more along, with the literature examining the existing research related, to specific interventions and treatments in family therapy with an alcoholic parent. Before research on the treatment is illuminated on distinctive therapies, it is crucial for counselors facilitating family therapy to comprehend the literature on the presenting problems commonly, associated with alcoholic parents and the effects this population has on their families. Furthermore, the adverse outcomes an alcoholic parent has on their children and spouses has been researched and reviewed. Children of Alcoholics (COAs) Negative Outcomes Parental alcoholism has ... ...temporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, 24(2), 371. Copello, A., Velleman, R., & Templeton, L. (2005). Family interventions in the treatment of alcohol and drug problems. Drug & Alcohol Review, 24(4), 369-385. doi:10.1080/09595230500302356 Steinglass, P. (2008). Family Systems and Motivational Interviewing: A Systemic-Motivational Model for Treatment of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 26(1/2), 9-29. doi:10.1300/J020v26n01_02 Liepman, M. R., Flachier, R., & Tareen, R. (2008). Family Behavior Loop Mapping: A Technique to Analyze the Grip Addictive Disorders Have on Families and to Help Them Recover. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 26(1/2), 59-80. doi:10.1300/J020v26n01_04 Chan, J. G. (2003). An Examination of Family-Involved Approaches to Alcoholism Treatment. Family Journal, 11(2), 129-138. doi:10.1177/1066480702250149 Family Therapy Involving an Alcoholic Parent Essay -- Counseling/Thera One in five adults can identify with growing up with an alcoholic relative and Twenty-eight million Americans have one parent abusing or dependent on alcoholic (Walker, & Lee, 1998). There are devastating and ubiquitous effects of alcoholism, which vary from psychological, social, or biological problems for families. Counselor’s treating this problem all agree that the relationships within a family, especially between a parent and a child is one of the most influential within a system, but what are the effects on the family when a parent is an alcoholic? Contemporary research has found there is a higher prevalence of problems in the family when alcohol is the organizing principle. In addition, there is copious research on the roles of individuals within the family becoming defined into specific categories, and evidently, the roles may become reversed between the parent and the child. This topic of functional roles in alcoholic families will be analyzed and investigated further. Family therapy has had substantial results in the treatment of an alcoholic parent. These results will be discussed more along, with the literature examining the existing research related, to specific interventions and treatments in family therapy with an alcoholic parent. Before research on the treatment is illuminated on distinctive therapies, it is crucial for counselors facilitating family therapy to comprehend the literature on the presenting problems commonly, associated with alcoholic parents and the effects this population has on their families. Furthermore, the adverse outcomes an alcoholic parent has on their children and spouses has been researched and reviewed. Children of Alcoholics (COAs) Negative Outcomes Parental alcoholism has ... ...temporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, 24(2), 371. Copello, A., Velleman, R., & Templeton, L. (2005). Family interventions in the treatment of alcohol and drug problems. Drug & Alcohol Review, 24(4), 369-385. doi:10.1080/09595230500302356 Steinglass, P. (2008). Family Systems and Motivational Interviewing: A Systemic-Motivational Model for Treatment of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 26(1/2), 9-29. doi:10.1300/J020v26n01_02 Liepman, M. R., Flachier, R., & Tareen, R. (2008). Family Behavior Loop Mapping: A Technique to Analyze the Grip Addictive Disorders Have on Families and to Help Them Recover. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 26(1/2), 59-80. doi:10.1300/J020v26n01_04 Chan, J. G. (2003). An Examination of Family-Involved Approaches to Alcoholism Treatment. Family Journal, 11(2), 129-138. doi:10.1177/1066480702250149

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 :: Conservation Biology Wildlife Essays

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the most powerful tools that environmentally concerned citizens have to preserve biodiversity. Specific categories that the Endangered Species Act (ESA) includes are the listing of "Threatened species", "Endangered species", and the designation of "critical habitat". When these categories are identified, it is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) which assumes the responsibility of enforcement. Development of recovery plans, Biological or Environmental Assessments, and the development of Habitat Conservation Plans are just some of the tasks for USFWS (Smallwood, et al,). This act which was originally enacted in 1973, and its’ reauthorization, is now going through quite a bit of debate. The ESA has actually been awaiting reauthorization from Congress since 1995 (Reid, 1995). There are two main "ideas" for bills to effect the ESA. There are bills that will strengthen the Act by emphasizing endangered species recovery over extinc tion risk. The other bills will weaken the Act by bringing more attention to the needs of businesses and landowners (Brown, et al). The main controversy seems to arise from economic and social concerns. There is also a great deal of scientific concern about the accurate implementation of this "species-saving" act. I was recently alerted to the economic ramifications of this Act through a local issue I have been "looking into". My frustrations mounted when I learned the USFWS gave an "OK" to developers, to bulldoze through a pristine habitat in my community. Seeing that six threatened and endangered species make their home here, I couldn’t understand why the USFWS had backed down. The answer, which seems all too common was, the USFWS simply doesn’t have enough money to effectively protect these species at this time. Consequently the majority of my paper will focus on some of the economic issues the ESA is faced with. Question number one is "How effective has the ESA been?" This question is difficult for both scientists and government officials to answer. Most agree that the amount of time since the ESA was enacted is really too short of a time period to impartially answer this question. I will attempt to point out some of the facts. "Since the inception of the Act in 1973, 11 species of more than 1,000 listed have recovered and have been removed from the list, including the eastern states brown pelican, Utah’s Rydberg milk-vetch, and the California gray whale" (Brown, et al, 1998).

Discursive Essay on Racism -- Papers

Discursive Essay on Racism Racism has existed for centuries, but during the last two hundred years hatred toward ethnic minorities or even majorities has fluctuated. Racism occurs all over the world, can happen to anyone and will always exist. There are three different forms of racism, open racism, violent racism and secret racism all express forms of hatred towards ethnic groups. These forms of racism, although different, all have the same main purpose, to promote hate towards ethnic groups. Open racism expresses freedom of racial thought and speech. In America it is allowed due to the First Amendment that protects political views on racism. The American National Party and various other parties come under this protection, and so does the British National Party and the National Front. We do not have a First Amendment, but these obviously racist parties still exist. Open racists promote their views through propaganda, but soon may die out as it becomes socially unacceptable. Violent racism promotes racism through violence and fear. This form of racism is not allowed because it promotes violence to express its ideas. Unfortunately, many violent racial groups claim they do not promote violence, and therefore they are allowed because not enough sufficient evidence exists to prove their violent intent. Secret racism expresses ideas of racism in hidden ways and sometimes, secret racists are not aware that they are racist. People nowadays do not express their dislike of minorities and are not prepared to show a feeling that could be called racist. Avoiding minorities on the street and low pay to an employee of a minority are examples ... ...avour of "purity of the race" idea, but they understand how it worked. Blond hair and blue eyes are recessive genes. Two brown-eyed people can give birth to a blue-eyed child, but two blue-eyed people cannot give birth to a brown-eyed child. Dark skin and dark hair are also dominant genes, so because of evolution, it must mean that the ancestors of humanity had dominant genes. If they had only recessive genes, there would be no dark eyed, haired or skinned people. This leads to the conclusion that all people have a black ancestor. This is backed up by the well-accepted idea that Africa was the starting place of humanity. As African species travelled north to Europe they made the previous inhabitants extinct. Racism is a worldwide problem that will never be eradicated and there are no simple solutions to it.

Corporate Social Responsibility Task

The partnership is employee owned (these employees are Often called members or partners) and so they state that their purpose is â€Å"the happiness of all our members, through their worthwhile, satisfying employment in a successful business† The next business researched was McDonald's which is the largest global fast food restaurant in the world. It has over 34000 stores located around the world that serve around 68 million people a day (equivalent to the population of the K). McDonald's has often been criticized for its effect on the environment and its customers due to its low quality products.Its main competition is KEF and Burger King although to combat this McDonald's offers a larger product range with KEF mainly focusing on chicken and Burger King mainly offering burgers. To help promote their food to children they use a clown mascot that they also use for their charities that support children e. G the Ronald McDonald House charity which offers temporary homes for famil ies with close relatives who are in a distant hospital. The Final business researched was SAD which is owned by Wall-Mart, the largest private employer in the world and the second largest public reparation in the world.SAD got its name from the merger of Associated Dairies & Farm Stores Limited and Acquits (a small chain of supermarkets) with the AS coming from Acquits and the DAD coming from Dairies. SAD has had various problems with false advertising in the past usually due to showing items in adverts for sales that are not included in the sale. SAD manufactures and sells its own range of clothes called George. SAD employs 175,000 employees and 565 stores in the ASK. Its mission statement is â€Å"to be Britain's best value retailer exceeding customer needs always. All of these organizations have been put under pressure in recent years to act responsibly and show good corporate social responsibility. The main pressure on these businesses comes from pressure groups which are group s such as Greenback who put pressure on businesses who damage the environment. These groups can have a substantial effect on a business as they can use various protest methods to reduce the profits of a business. These methods include calling for boycotts, deterring ethical consumers, picketing and even suing the business.All these methods cause negative publicity for the equines which deters customers from going to the store as its actions may not follow their ethical beliefs. Negative publicity can also affect share prices as this publicity can be an indicator that the profits of the business fall drop soon due to some of their customers being deterred. The main organization have researched that has been effected by this is McDonald's who has been targeted by various environmental groups in the past and is now being targeted by PETA who has done investigations into McDonald's and has set up whom. Cruelty. Com which publicizes how McDonald's mistreats animals. This is likely to det er customers from going to McDonald's and cause it to lose a small amount of its market. Although it is being targeted negatively by some pressure groups, other groups have recently sat reed to us port its new CEO-friendly initiatives and employment strategies which has improved the company's image a lot. Another organization that has been effected negatively is SAD who have been targeted by Labor Behind the Label and War on Want who have shown various suppliers of SAD to be underpaying workers.This would affect ethical consumers as they would be deterred from supporting SAD and its u pliers by buying their products and some may protest against SAD in other ways. Pressure groups can also help a business if it shows advancement in particular CAR fields. The John Lewis Partnership is the main business that I've researched that has benefited from positive publicity from pressure groups as it has received various awards from pressure groups for having good suppliers and caring for the e nvironment.One of their recent awards, the good pig award, allowed the company to advertise that they sourced their pork products from high welfare farms which would increase the likelihood hat an ethical consumer would purchase that product. Many of the Actions taken by pressure groups would not work without ethical consumers. Ethical consumers are people who purchase goods based partly on them being ethically right.An example of this is people who buy fair trade products which are often more expensive than non-fair trade products but help support the producers of those products. These consumers are very important for the pressure groups as it can allow them to get customers to boycott certain products or retailers. This also allows pressure groups to influence the decisions of a business as they can reduce the profits of a business or alternatively if the business is doing well in some aspect of CAR they can give them an award that will attract ethical consumers to them.An example of the power of ethical consumerism is that McDonald's has been forced to alter its view on the environment with it being linked to rainforest's destruction and over packaging of products whereas now it has some of the best packaging in the fast food industry and has decreased its effect on the rainforest's. The main way ethical consumerism has affected SAD is through the reduces it sells with them now stocking a large range of fair-trade and free range products to encourage ethical consumers to go to SAD instead of its competitors.This has caused SAD to decrease its profit margin on these products as these products cost more for SAD to buy which may have lost them money for a short time but would increase their sales due to greater Customer retention. The John Lewis Partnership has benefited a lot from ethical consumerism with many of its products aimed at ethical consumers and a lot of its customers choosing to shop their because of their view on business.This allows them to main tain a good customer base as ethical consumers are likely to keep shopping at John Lewis Partnership stores so long as they continue to make ethical decisions. Often the main way a business promotes it is being socially responsible is through its investments. This helps to maintain a good relationship with pressure groups and advertises the business to ethical consumers. An example of this is McDonald's who promote their investment into fuelling over 50% of their trucks with bodiless and continually researching ways to reduce their packaging waste.Most socially responsible investments made by a business have other benefits too such as the bodiless they make themselves which reduces fuelling costs and decreasing waste packaging means they don't have to buy as much of the raw materials for the packaging. The John Lewis Partnership promotes its socially responsible actions a lot. An example of this is that it has invested into an awards program called the Waitress Supplier Awards which rewards suppliers for improving their environmental performance. This has helped Waitress improve its suppliers so that ethical groups will continue to support Waitress.This also advertises to consumers that Waitress are trying to improve the CAR Of their suppliers and not just their stores. SAD gain substantial benefits from advertising its socially responsible actions. One way it has benefited is through better employment as it advertises its employment benefits, such as access to its skills academy, to gain a better standard of employees. It also benefits by advertising the various things it is doing for the local community, such as supporting a local athlete, which would help the local community see some of the good aspects to having an SAD in their community.All 3 of the businesses I have researched have benefited from their positive CAR which has helped them grow. The John Lewis Partnership has benefited a lot from the good publicity it has received from various organizations that report on CAR to the extent that it has become the industries leader for ethical consumers. This has allowed their stores to offer their goods at a higher price than their competitors as their customers are willing to pay more for an ethically sourced product.As they have a history of ethical consumerism they have been able to maintain customer loyalty as it is less keel for them to make an unethical business decision. John Lewis has also used its employment benefits to maintain a good work force with it giving its employees a large percentage of the profits (usually in the form of a bonus worth 2 months pay). These benefits increase employee loyalty and make the John Lewis Partnership a more attractive option for job seekers. This allows the stores to be more selective when employing new members of staff so that they can get the best person for the job.This also allows them to create a more diverse workforce so that they can find out bout different ways to market products tow ards people of a different age, culture, ethnicity, sex and background. McDonald's has benefited from the positive publicity from its socially responsible actions a lot because in the past many pressure groups have given McDonald's negative publicity on its effects on the environment, its packaging and its effects on the consumers health. Over recent years though it has advertised what it has done to combat these issues to such an extent that it has now won a lot of environmental awards.This has helped to increase its ethical consumer customer base and in turn increase its profits. The main area McDonald's has benefited from good CAR is in its recruitment. Due to McDonald's offering its employees a good range of benefits it has been named one of the Auk's top employers. This helps promote McDonald's to potential employees and helps retain employees which is essential for McDonald's as most Of their franchise owners are previous employees. SAD has benefited a lot though the loyalty o f its customers. This is due to them maintaining a good price for their products while still doing a lot for their CAR.This has meant that the business has not had to invest in club cards which it says cost â€Å"hundreds of millions of pounds† and only reward â€Å"people who can afford to spend the most†. Instead it explains that it uses that money to reduce the cost oftener products â€Å"across the board for everyone. † This allows them to advertise that they have more products cheaper than Deco's than Deco's have of SAD. This draws in new customers and maintains customer loyalty as customers believe it is the best option for them to shop there. SAD have offered a lot of benefits to employees with cheaper stock offerings and various qualifications available. Corporate Social Responsibility task One thing it has done is source a lot Of its products from local suppliers e. G. All Waitress fresh chicken, beef and pork, bacon, duck and goose are sourced room the [J which helps local communities as it increases the profits of the local suppliers and allows them to expand which allows them to increase their workforce. Increasing the suppliers workforce helps the community as it decreases unemployment rates and increases the amount of money that stays in the community.This is very important to local communities as usually 95% of a business's income is taken away from the local community but by altering its supply methods and improving its employee bonuses John Lewis removes a lot less. Another way the John Lewis Partnership has had a positive impact on the coal community is through its employee bonuses which are substantially larger than most other supermarkets. This helps the local community as it gives the employees more disposable income which is likely to be spent in the local community.It also helps employees to maintain financial stability through the Christmas period which would help the community as there would not be as many community members in debt after Christmas. The John Lewis Partnership has also helped the local community through its community matters scheme which offers its employees the opportunity to work with the community on local projects. This combined with their investment of Ell million into the local community has benefited their local communities a lot.This helps the local community as it not only gives them the funds to make a change but access to a large workforce to get it done. The final way the John Lewis Partnership helps the local community is by using diverse recruitment methods which helps different parts of the local community to learn about each other's cultures and helps people who would find it hard to get a job. An example of this is their elderly recruitment which provides jobs to elderly people who normally would fi nd it hard to get a job.This would also set an example for other business in the area and so increase diverse recruitment methods in other businesses. The John Lewis Partnership also has a negative impact on local communities as its Waitress products are often a higher price than other supermarkets which could cause problems for people with money troubles as they would not be able to afford as much. This may also cause a class divide in some areas as some would be financially able to shop at John Lewis or Waitress whereas other would not and so this may split the community.The John Lewis Partnership has also been linked to an increase in house rises as people are willing to pay more for a house located near a Waitress. This effect has been noticed by estate agents in areas that a Waitress has been built nearby with some claiming it increases house prices by up to 25%. This would affect people who want to move into the area as they may find fewer houses in their budget. This would al so affect the diversity of the local community as it would reduce the amount of people who have a lower income in the area.This would however have a positive impact on people already living in the area as their house value would increase. The final negative impact that Waitress has had is that in some communities it has caused traffic problems as people from the local area flock in to use the store. This would affect the environment as some of these people would have driven further than normal so that they can use Waitress rather than a different store. This would also affect the local area which would become more congested and would have to spend Moore to maintain the roads.Overall I think that the John Lewis partnership is good for the local community as it offers the local community a range of high quality products and has advanced ethical consumerism a lot. Also the main negative impacts John Lewis has are difficult for them to change and they are still trying to improve on thes e effects such as offering a value range to make Waitress a more affordable option and looking to decrease its impact on congestion such as at its Guilford site which is located near a large junction they have paid for the council to improve the roads.McDonald's McDonald's is probably the most improved business I have researched as it has received a lot of negative publicity on its CAR choices in the past but is now trying to improve its public image. One way it has done this is by advertising its various green schemes that reduce the impact they have on the environment. The most visual form of this environmental change is their packaging which has been altered so it is now more biodegradable and smaller.This helps the local community as it makes it easier for the council to deal with any litter that is dropped by a customer and it reduces the amount of waste McDonald's contributes to the local land fill. Another way McDonald's green schemes have helped the local community is that i t has increased its local product sourcing. This decreases the air miles of he food and reduces the amount of money that is removed from the local community. This helps support local agriculture which is at threat due to other companies sourcing products from overseas.This also helps to support the local economy as a transnational corporation usually removes a lot of money from local communities and so the more money it spends on local produce the less impact it has on the local economy. McDonald's also helps the local community by bringing a lot of jobs to their community and hiring people with little or no experience which helps some members of the local community improve their ability to work. This also helps people in higher education as often McDonald's working hours are quite flexible and so they can work their without it affecting their education.The final way they are trying to help the local community is by decreasing the amount of litter found around the community. They ar e doing this by funding local council bins and putting litter bins outside of their restaurants. This helps the local community as it makes it a cleaner place and improves its image which would increase the amount of people who would want to visit the area. This also helps reduce the cost for the council when dealing with an areas litter problem. McDonald's has had substantial negative impacts on the local community as well.The main impact it has had is on the health of the local people as many of their best selling products are unhealthy and the products that are healthy have been criticized as they often do not appeal to their customer base. This is shown in a daily mail article called â€Å"McDonald's shares fall as customers shun new healthier items on the menu† that links recent price drops to customers rejecting the healthier McDonald's products. Although McDonald's are trying to combat litter in their local communities, they are one of the main causers of it. This is s hown by a 2009 survey that McDonald's packaging makes up for a third of the Auk's litter.Also a lot of their delivery packaging contributes to local landfills which if filled would have to be expanded or a new local site would have to be created which would decrease the appeal of the local area. Overall I think that McDonald's is bad for the local community as although it is trying to reduce its impact on the local community it still has a strong impact on the local populations' health and the cleanliness of the surrounding area. This would decrease the appeal of the area which may lead to problems such s a decrease in house prices, less tourism and less people visiting the area to use the local shops.As I have mentioned above, McDonald's is often criticized for it negative effects on the customer's health and its low sales in its healthy options. To decrease these negative effects McDonald's should look to invest in research on improving the nutritional value of their food. This re search should include trials of various food ideas in some of their stores so that they can work out which ones to spread chain wide and which to improve on. After improving the healthiness of their product range they should then Penn a large amount of money on a new advertising campaign that advertises the largest changes e. . A large decrease in calories or saturated fat in their burgers. This should also include a look at their Other positive improvements such as their care for the environment and anything else related to the welfare of their customers and the environment they live in. Due to McDonald's advertisement of its healthier product range the company's image should improve. This should help to set up a business deal with a new healthy food partner such as Real Foods, Weight watchers, Wellness Foods or another healthy food company who would be happier to e associated with a healthier McDonald's.With one of these healthy food company McDonald's should work with them to try and improve the taste of their healthier product range so that it seems a more attractive option to customers. This would allow McDonald's to gain a larger customer base as then only other large fast food chain that can advertise the healthiness of its food is subway who McDonald's could take customers from. This could also be used to try and appeal to a larger customer base as some organizations, such as weight watchers, offer their own food range for people who are dieting.If they sold weight watchers dieting products or certified some of their own products as recommended by a healthy food company then they would probably attract a lot of new customers as their main competition, KEF and Burger King do not offer any specific dieting products. Another benefit of this is that they could work with a company such as Real Foods to increase the amount of special diet foods on their menu. This would increase their customer base as it would attract people that are vegetarian, vegan or hav e an allergy to things like gluten or wheat.This improvement would greatly improve McDonald's image as they would come the market leader in healthy fast food which, with its environmental work, would alter the view of groups such as PETA who would not target them as much. This image change would also increase the amount of children (one of their prime demographics) that go to McDonald's as parents would be happier to take them if they had healthy food. SAD SAD benefits the local community mainly through its SAD foundation program which supports a lot of small charities located around the ILK.This is especially helpful to the local community as most businesses only support arguer charities but as SAD has this program it can donate to smaller charities that need the money to improve their functionality in the local community. So far this year the program has donated almost E3000000 to a wide variety of charities which often offer specialist support for members of the community. Anothe r way SAD is helping the local community is through its new plan to give Store space to local authorities, businesses, voluntary groups and educational services.It is giving this space as a lot more customers are buying online and so the stores do not need as much space for stock. This helps the local community as it means that customers are more likely to find out about various groups and community projects in their community. The final way SAD has had a positive impact on the local community is through its community life program which offers customers the opportunity to vote on what SAD should do with the money it plans on investing in the local community. This helps the local community as it increases the relativity of the changes for the local community.This also encourages other groups to consult the community more due to the increased advertisement they receive from voters. SAD has also had a negative community due to where it's building. A lot of Sad's stores are deliberately located near another supermarket to try and reduce its profits. The problem with this is that often they can't find a suitable site near enough and so use planning loopholes and other methods such as paying for an improved transport system to secure sites that aren't meant to be built on.This affects the community negatively because it is likely that there would have been a reason for the council not wanting the supermarket being built there (e. G. The site had natural beauty). This also effects where the average shopper purchases goods as many of these stores are located out of town or on the edge of towns many people are drawn away from the shopping area Of the town and so are less likely to purchase something from that area. Due to Sad's delivery service many of their Lorries have to go into smaller towns to make deliveries.This poses problems for the local community as they may not have the infrastructure needed for Lorries to travel through their town which could cause damage to the roads and congestion. This effects the local community as the council would have to pay for any damage one to the road and the local people may find it harder to get to their destination. Like other supermarkets, SAD cause 2 main problems, increased traffic and a decrease in business for local shops.