Amazing American Beaver Facts

Amazing American Beaver Facts The American beaver (Castor canadensis) is one of two living species of beavers- the other species of beaver is the Eurasian beaver. The American beaver is the worlds second largest rodent, only the capybara of South America is larger. Fast Facts: Beavers Scientific Name: Castor canadensisCommon Name(s): Beaver, North American Beaver, American BeaverBasic Animal Group:  MammalSize: About 29–35 inches longWeight: 24–57 poundsLifespan: Up to 24 yearsDiet:  HerbivoreHabitat:  Wetland areas of North America outside of the California and Nevada deserts and parts of Utah and Arizona.Population:  6–12 millionConservation  Status:  Least Concern Description American beavers are stocky animals that have a compact body and short legs. They are aquatic rodents and have a number of adaptations that make them adept swimmers including webbed feet and a broad, flat tail that is covered with scales. They also have an extra set of eyelids which are transparent and close over their eyes enabling beavers to see while underwater. Beavers have a pair of glands located at the base of their tail called castor glands. These glands secrete an oil that has a distinct musk odor, making it great for use in marking territory. Beavers also use the castor oil to protect and waterproof their fur. Beavers have very large teeth in proportion to their skull. Their teeth and are super-sturdy thanks to a coating of tough enamel. This enamel is orange to chestnut brown in color. Beavers teeth grow continuously throughout their lives. As beavers chew through tree trunks and bark, their teeth get worn down, so the continuous growth of their teeth ensures they always have a sharp set of teeth available to them. To further assist them in their chewing endeavors, beavers have strong jaw muscles and significant biting strength. Stan Tekiela Author / Naturalist / Wildlife Photographer/Getty Images Habitat and Distribution American Beavers live in the riparian zone- along the edges of wetlands and bodies of fresh water including rivers, creeks, lakes, and ponds and, in some cases, in and around brackish estuaries. American beavers inhabit a range that extends throughout most of North America. The species is only absent from the northernmost regions of Canada and Alaska as well as the deserts of the southwestern United States and Mexico. Diet Beavers are herbivores. They feed on bark, leaves, twigs and other plant material which is plentiful in their native habitat. Behavior Beavers are well-known for their unusual behaviors: They use their strong teeth to fell small trees and branches which they use to build dams and lodges which have a significant impact on the path and health of waterways. Beaver dams are structures built with logs, branches, and mud. They are used to block up flowing streams to flood grasslands and forests, thus turning them into beaver-friendly habitats. In addition to providing habitat for a wide range of animals, beaver dams also reduce waterway erosion. Beavers build lodges, dome-shaped shelters made of woven sticks, branches, and grass that are plastered together with mud. Lodges can be burrows built into pond banks or mounds built in the middle of a pond. They can be up to 6.5 feet tall and 40 feet wide. These elaborate structures include an insulated, wood-lined lodge chamber and a ventilating shaft called a chimney. The entrance to a beaver lodge is located below the surface of the water. Lodges are generally built during the warmer months, during which time beavers also gather food for the winter. While they do not migrate or hibernate, they do slow down during the winter months. Reproduction and Offspring Beavers live in family units called colonies. A beaver colony commonly includes as many as eight individuals including a monogamous breeding pair, newborn kits, and yearlings (kits from the prior season). Members of the colony establish and defend a home territory. Beavers reproduce sexually. They reach sexual maturity at about three years of age. Beavers breed in January or February and their gestation period is 107 days. Typically, three or four beaver kits are born in the same litter. Young beavers are weaned at about two months of age. Zoran Kolundzija/Getty Images Conservation Status Beavers are considered to be of Least Concern, meaning that there is a large, thriving population of beavers in North America. This has not always been the case; in fact, beavers were overhunted for many years and beaver fur was the basis of many large fortunes. More recently, however, protections were put in place which allowed beavers to re-establish their population. Beavers and Humans Beavers are a protected species, but their behaviors can make them a nuisance in some settings. Beaver dams can cause flooding to roads and fields, or block the flow of waterways and the fish that swim in them. On the other hand, beaver dams are also important for controlling erosion and runoff during storms. Sources â€Å"Beaver.†Ã‚  Smithsonians National Zoo, 23 Nov. 2018, nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/beaver.Sartore, Joel. â€Å"Beaver.†Ã‚  National Geographic, 21 Sept. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/b/beaver/.

Abraham Lincolns 1838 Springfield Lyceum Address

Abraham Lincolns 1838 Springfield Lyceum Address More than 25 years before Abraham Lincoln would deliver his legendary Gettysburg Address, the 28-year-old novice politician delivered a lecture before a gathering of young men and women in his newly adopted hometown of Springfield, Illinois. On January 27, 1838, a Saturday night in the middle of winter, Lincoln spoke on what sounds like a fairly generic topic, The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions. Yet Lincoln, a little-known lawyer serving as a state representative, indicated his ambition by delivering a substantial and timely  speech. Prompted by the murder of an abolitionist printer in Illinois two months earlier, Lincoln spoke about issues of great national importance, touching on slavery, mob violence, and the future of the nation itself. The speech, which has become known as the Lyceum Address, was published in a local newspaper within two weeks. It was Lincolns earliest published speech. The circumstances of its writing, delivery, and reception, provide a fascinating glimpse at how  Lincoln viewed the United States, and American politics, decades before he would lead the nation during the Civil War. Background of Abraham Lincolns Lyceum Address The American Lyceum Movement began when Josiah Holbrook, a teacher and amateur scientist, founded a volunteer educational organization in his town of Milbury, Massachusetts in 1826. Holbrooks idea caught on, and other towns in New England formed groups where local people could give lectures and debate ideas. By the mid-1830s more than 3,000 lyceums had been formed from New England to the South, and even as far west as Illinois. Josiah Holbrook traveled from Massachusetts to speak at the first lyceum organized in central Illinois, in the town of Jacksonville, in 1831. The organization which hosted Lincolns lecture in 1838, the Springfield Young Mens Lyceum, had probably been founded in 1835. It first held its meetings in a local schoolhouse, and by 1838 had moved its meeting place to a Baptist church. The lyceum meetings in Springfield were usually held on Saturday evenings. And while the membership comprised young men, females were invited to the meetings, which were intended to be both educational and social. The topic of Lincolns address, The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions, seems like a typical subject for a lyceum address. But a shocking event that occurred less than three months earlier, and only about 85 miles from Springfield, surely inspired Lincoln. The Murder of Elijah Lovejoy Elijah Lovejoy was a New England abolitionist who settled in St. Louis and began publishing a stridently anti-slavery newspaper in the mid-1830s. He was essentially chased out of town in the summer of 1837, and crossed the Mississippi River and set up shop in Alton, Illinois. Though Illinois was a free state, Lovejoy soon found himself under attack again. And on November 7, 1837, a pro-slavery mob raided a warehouse where Lovejoy had stored his printing press. The mob wanted to destroy the printing press, and during a small riot the building was set on fire and Elijah Lovejoy was shot five times. He died within an hour. Elijah Lovejoys murder shocked the entire nation. Stories about his murder at the hands of a mob appeared in major cities. An abolitionist meeting held in New York City in December 1837 to mourn for Lovejoy was reported in newspapers throughout the East. Abraham Lincolns neighbors in Springfield, only 85 miles away from the site of Lovejoys murder, certainly would have been shocked by the outburst of mob violence in their own state. Lincoln Discussed Mob Violence In His Speech It is perhaps no surprise that when Abraham Lincoln spoke to the Young Mens Lyceum of Springfield that winter he made mention of mob violence in America. What may seem surprising is that Lincoln did not refer directly to Lovejoy, instead mentioning acts of mob violence generally: Accounts of outrages committed by mobs form the every-day news of the times. They have pervaded the country from New England to Louisiana; they are neither peculiar to the eternal snows of the former nor the burning suns of the latter; they are not the creature of climate, neither are they confined to the slave-holding or the non-slave-holding states. Alike they spring up among the pleasure-hunting masters of Southern slaves, and the order-loving citizens of the land of steady habits. Whatever, then, their cause may be, it is common to the whole country. The likely reason Lincoln did not mention the mobs murder of Elijah Lovejoy is simply because there was no need to bring it up. Anyone listening to Lincoln that night was entirely aware of the incident. And Lincoln saw fit to place the shocking act in a broader, national, context. Lincoln Expressed His Thoughts on the Future of America After noting the menace, and very real threat, of mob rule, Lincoln began to talk of laws, and how it is the duty of citizens to obey the law, even if they believe the law is unjust. By doing that, Lincoln was keeping himself apart from abolitionists like Lovejoy, who openly advocated violating the laws pertaining to slavery. And Lincoln did make a point of emphatically stating: I do mean to say that although bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible, still they continue in force, for the sake of example they should be religiously observed. Lincoln then turned his attention to what he believed would be a grave danger to America: a leader of great ambition who would attain power and corrupt the system. Lincoln expressed a fear that an Alexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon would rise in America. In speaking about this hypothetical monstrous leader, essentially an American dictator, Lincoln wrote lines which would be quoted often by those analyzing the speech in future years: It thirsts and burns for distinction; and if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slaves or enslaving freemen. Is it unreasonable then, to expect that some man possessed of the loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient to push it to its utmost stretch, will at some time spring up among us? It is remarkable, that Lincoln used the phrase emancipating slaves nearly 25 years before he would, from the White House, issue the Emancipation Proclamation. And some modern analysts have interpreted the Springfield Lyceum Address as Lincoln analyzing himself and what kind of leader he might be. What is apparent from the 1838 Lyceum Address is that Lincoln was ambitious. When given the opportunity to address a local group, he chose to comment on matters of national importance. And while the writing may not show the graceful and concise style he would later develop, it does demonstrate that he was a confident writer and speaker, even in his 20s. And it is noteworthy that some of the themes Lincoln spoke about, a few weeks before he turned 29, are the very same themes that would be discussed 20 years later, during the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas Debates that began his rise to national prominence.

Answer question Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Answer question - Assignment Example Expected Costs: Sarah handles payroll functions, travelling to both offices once per week,70 miles round-trip to Sedona,190 miles round-trip to Prescott. Her SUV gets 17 mpg, the cost of gas on average is $ 3.40 per gallon. Expected cost per week therefore is: $ 3.40 multiplied by 17 mpg of her SUV= $57.8. Incase Sarah maintains her job, DSS will reduce her approximately 5 hours per payroll period, reducing her daycare cost to $ 200 monthly thus, (200 * 12) = $ 2400 annually to be subtracted from $ 1430044. Therefore TOTAL EXPECTED COST WILL BE $ 1,427,644. It will increase the time needed to run the clinic efficiently and provide a proper database that will enable Collins to keep track of the clinic’s financial transactions. This translates into an increase into the net-worth of his business. 6) That Collins facilitate the implementation of the DSS payroll software immediately. In addition, for him to up-grade his knowledge of working with the software for effective management, and if need be, to retain his wife in her position due to her experience with managing payroll system which will prove useful. Because she is technically savvy, it eliminates the need to have to incur cost in training a new

Critically examine the measures in the detailed case study Essay

Critically examine the measures in the detailed case study - Essay Example Also, as a way of increasing cost savings while not sacrificing the morale, loyalty and motivation of employees, they are given various opportunities for a more flexible work schedules and arrangements to suit their career growth and development needs. Under the heading of â€Å"Workforce Planning†, important measures given emphasis on by the proposed measures involve the management of planned retirements in relation to the expected high retirement rates within the next 10 or more years. However, grants for allowing temporary retention of employees aged 64 are still allowable under certain circumstances in order for them to enter into a state of transition prior to fully retiring from the workforce. In relation to this measure, while there are no prohibitions to the retention or the rehiring of employees beyond their retirement ages, due to the need for a career succession in hopes of adding contributors of new ideas or innovations to the organisation as well as to allow the career growth of the remaining 65% of the workforce there will be a prioritisation of opening positions in the upper rung of the corporate ladder, with exceptions to certain positions related to advisory councils or organisational consultants. It is als o proposed that aside from vertical realignment of positions there will also be possible redeployment in line with the need to change how the whole organisation functions upon the retirement of 35% of the workforce. Thus instead of hiring new employees to fill in the jobs, there will be a greater focus on retraining employees to be more flexible in their jobs to meet the needs of the organisation, thereby decreasing the odds of redundancy within the next few years. To prevent any violation of contracts or other prior agreements it is proposed that negotiations and consultations are done between trade unions and the council, with assistance from human resources. In line with the proposal for an organisation change

The Impact of Internet Pornography on American Society Essay -- Intern

Pornography is nothing new to American society, so why would there be a problem with the merging of the internet and pornographic material? Why would it make a difference if the material is online or in a magazine? In this paper, the issue of internet porn will be discussed in terms of its relation to the addiction of online porn, desensitization to sexual violence and rape, encouragement of sexual violence, objectification of women, sexual compulsiveness, and the reshaping of expectations regarding sex and body images. Internet porn has become increasingly popular, and one reason for this is because it is easily accessible and can be kept relatively private. There is no need to order any materials or go to a store to buy the magazines. With internet porn, viewers can access a multitude of materials right on the internet. The variety is endless and the gratification is instant. According to The US News & World Report, 17.5 million surfers visited porn sites from their home computers in January of 2004, which is a 40% increase from 4 months earlier (Dew, 2004). The easy access and variety of materials has been known to cause addiction in online viewers, as pointed out by The BBC Website, â€Å"Internet porn is available in much larger quantities than traditional porn and at a cheaper cost†¦this may be a good case of having ‘too much of a good thing’†(Kadu, 2004). The current numbers of people who are addicted to porn are unclear, but the estimate according to the Minnesota Family Institute (2004) runs as high as 5 million. As with other forms of addiction, this creates the opportunity for problems in other areas of the addict’s life. Viewers tend to treat people as â€Å"†¦mere objects of... ...rences Anderson, Kerby. (2004). The Pornography Plague. Probe Ministries [Online]. Available: http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/pornplag.html Dew, Diane. (2004). Social & Psychological Effects of Porn [Online]. Pornography & the Bible. Available: http://dianedew.com/porn.htm [2004, February 17]. Kadu, Flyer. (2004). Internet Pornography-The Issues. BBC [Online]. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A523504 [2004, February 15]. Minnesota Family Institute. (2004). Pornography: Don’t Protect It, Reject It. Backgrounder-Analyzing Current Issues. [Online]. Available: http://www.mfc.org/resources/backgrounders/pornography.htm (2004, Winter).Public Libraries, Pornography, and the Damage Done: A Case Study.Library Administration & Management, v18no1. 8-13. (2004, January 19). The Porn Factor. Time v163no3. 99-101.

Bottled Water and Its Industry

Bottled Water and Its Industry Bottled water is a big business. Since the 1970s the market for bottled water has boomed around the world. Even soft-drink companies like Pepsi and Coca-Cola have dipped their hands into this successful product. According to Beverage Marketing Corp, New York City, Americans now consume more bottled water than milk, coffee, beer, or any other drink (Fishman) Consumers’ thirst for the beverage is fueled by many factors, one of the largest reasons being an increased interest in a healthy lifestyle.As a result, the bottled water market increased by an average of 9% annually between 1999 and 2004 (Spinner, 2006) The global rate of consumption more than quadrupled between 1990 and 2005 (Li, 2007) People in the United States buy more than half a billion bottles of water a week; that is enough to circle the earth more than 5 times (Leonard). How can we explain this trend and what are the consequences for producers, consumers, and the environment? Bottled water consumption reflects a certain way of life. In many cases, bottled water is an alternative to tap water.Consumers think it tastes better than tap water and they perceive it as being safer and of better quality. Bottled water is perceived as pure and harmless, although it is not necessarily the case. Consumers care for their health and their well-being and bottled water happens to be a quick, easy, and healthy alternative to other bottled beverages. The history of bottled water comes back to how the economy works. If companies want to keep growing they have to keep selling more and more stuff. In the 1970s giant soft drink companies got worried when they saw their growth projections starting to level off (Leonard).This was most likely because one person can only drink so much soda and sooner or later people were going to realized that soda is not healthy and they will convert back to drinking tap water. So at the end of the 1970s companies found their next big thing in a Frenc h product, Perrier. This was water sold in glass bottles and became the newest fad. It wasn’t until 1989 when they started manufacturing bottled water in plastic containers (Tapped, 2009). But how do you get people to keep spending two-thousand times more on a product that they can get out of their kitchen sink?Companies needed to find an effective way to keep people interested in their product, so they start using manufactured demand, or advertising. They started scaring people away from drinking tap water, telling them it was no good. Susan Wellington, president of the Quaker Oats Company’s United States beverage division said, â€Å"When we’re done, tap water will be relegated to showers and washing dishes† (Gleick, 2010) Their next technique was to hide the reality of bottled water behind pure fantasy. They market it as being convenient and personal, which caters to our desires as a human.Producers know that we love having something that is all ours a nd in close reach whenever we want it. They seduced us with images of mountains, streams, and pristine nature, but in reality one-third of bottled water in the United States comes from the tap. Pepsi and Coca-Cola are just two of many brands that are merely tap water. There is much debate on whether bottled water is better or worse than tap water. Obviously there are places around the world, and even the United States that do not have access to clean drinking water, so yes, in these places bottled water is the better choice.But in the places where most bottled water is purchased, tap water is equally comparable, if not better, than bottled water. In 2006 Fiji built an ad campaign around not drinking city tap water. They chose the city of Cleveland, Ohio and printed full page ads in magazines that read â€Å"The label says Fiji because it’s not bottled in Cleveland†(Gleick, 2010) Obviously the city of Cleveland was not pleased and conducted a blind test comparing Fiji w ater to their city’s tap water. The test showed that a glass of Fiji water is lower quality and loses the taste test against Cleveland’s tap water.Five percent of the bottled water purchased in Cleveland fell within the required fluoride range recommended by the state, compared with 100% of the tap water samples (Duncan, 2010) Also, a bottle of Fiji costs thousands of times more than the same about of tap water. Tap water being chosen blindly over bottled water seems to be the common trend (Wilk, 2006) Bottled water is actually less regulated than tap water. City municipals must perform multiple tests a day on the city’s water source, whereas bottled water industries are not bound under these same laws.Clearly taste is not the central motivation behind the continuing increase in the bottled water trade (Li, 2007) In March 1999, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released a report called â€Å"Bottled Water, Pure Drink or Pure Hype? † NRDC's repo rt points out that as much as 40% of all bottled water comes from a city water system, just like tap water. The report also focuses on the fact that 60% to 70% of all bottled water sold in the United States is exempt from the FDA's bottled water standards, because the federal standards do not apply to water bottled and sold within the same state.Unless the water is transported across state lines, there are no federal regulations that govern its quality. According to the NRDC, â€Å"Bottled water companies have used this loophole to avoid complying with basic health standards, such as those that apply to municipally treated tap water. † Also, all carbonated or sparkling waters are completely exempt from FDA guidelines that set specific contamination limits. According to the NRDC study, â€Å"Even when bottled waters are covered by the FDA's specific bottled water standards, those rules are weaker in many ways than EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] rules that apply to big- city tap water. For instance, if we compare EPA regulations for tap water to the FDA's bottled water rules (these examples are quotes from the NRDC report): †¢City tap water can have no confirmed E. coli or fecal coliform bacteria. FDA bottled water rules include no such prohibition (a certain amount of any type of coliform bacteria is allowed in bottled water). †¢City tap water, from surface water, must be filtered and disinfected. In contrast, there are no federal filtration or disinfection requirements for bottled water. Most cities using surface water have had to test for Cryptosporidium or Giardia, two common water pathogens that can cause diarrhea and other intestinal problems, yet bottled water companies do not have to do this. †¢City tap water must meet standards for certain important toxic or cancer-causing chemicals, such as phthalate (a chemical that can leach from plastic, including plastic bottles); some in the industry persuaded the FDA to exempt bottled water from the regulations regarding these chemicals. City water systems must issue annual â€Å"right to know† reports, telling consumers what is in their water. Bottlers successfully killed a â€Å"right to know† requirement for bottled water †¢The Natural Resources Defense Council report concluded: â€Å"Therefore, while much tap water is indeed risky, having compared available data, we conclude that there is no assurance that bottled water is any safer than tap water. † Often, enforcement and monitoring of water quality is uneven and irregular for both tap water and bottled water.While tap water contamination incidents must be reported promptly to the public, the same is not true for bottled water. While contamination of bottled water does occur, many instances have never received public notice until recently (Gleick, 2010). Aside from the excessive spending of consumers on bottled water, there are also many health effects inadvertently caused by the b ottled water industry, one of these problems being tooth decay. Since the 1950s, the United States has been involved in a public health program called ‘community water fluoridation’(1800 Dentist).Many communities throughout the nation added fluoride to their water supply, and the result was a significant decrease in the number of childhood cavities (Xiang, 2010) Bottling companies use processes such as reverse osmosis or distillation to remove impurities from the water, which also removes the fluoride (Lalumandier,2009). Fluoride, or lack thereof, in your water may not seem like much of a reason to worry about whether or not you should drink tap water versus bottled water, but this is not the only risk for consumers.According to a 1999 NRDC study in which approximately 22% of brands were tested, at least one sample of bottled drinking water contained chemical contaminants at levels above state health limits. Some of the contaminants found in the study could pose health risks, such as cancer, if consumed over a long period of time (NRDC) Polyethylene terephthalate (PET, or PETE) is a chemical found in the plastic used to make water bottles. A 2009 study by reasearchers form Goethe University in Germany suggest that PET bottles may contain hormone-disrupting chemicals that are detrimental to human health.Some compounds in PET may seep out from these bottles and can possibly cause cancer. This typically occurs when the water is exposed to either cold or hot temperatures (Ferrier, 2001) Another chemical found in the plastic used to make water bottles is bisphenol-a (BPA). This has multiple health effects, including cancer and reproduction problems in women of child bearing age, as well as in babies (Ferrier, 2001, and Tapped). Producers and consumers are not the only components affected by the bottled water industry. Probably the most effected element is our environment.From diminishing fresh water sources, to wildlife, to pollution, our environment i s suffering immensely from production and disposal of bottled water. In a recent full page ad, Nestle said, â€Å"Bottled water is the most environmentally responsible consumer product in the world. † (Nestle Waters). How can this be true when these industries are trashing the environment all along the products life cycle. This is not environmentally responsible. The problems start with extraction and production where oil is used to make water bottles. PET is derived from crude oil.One kilogram of PET requires two kilograms of oil and produces three kilograms of CO2. Making bottles to meet consumer demands for bottled water requires more than 1. 5 million barrels of oil a year (Arnold, 2006 and Ferrier, 2001). That is enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars each year. With all that energy used to make the bottle, even more energy is used to ship it around the planet and once it reaches us we drink it in about two minutes. That brings us to the problem at the other end of the life cyc le. What happens to all the bottles when we are done with them?Eighty percent of empty bottles end up in landfills where they will sit for thousands of years before decomposing. Many end up in incinerators where they are burned releasing toxic pollution into the atmosphere. The rest is recycled. But what happens to the recycled bottles? In a perfect world each bottle would be recycled and remade into another water bottle. Instead the plastic goes through a downcycling process, which turns the material into lower grade plastics which is used to produce tons of other products, wasting much of the scrap and discarding it in another country’s backyard and/or into the ocean (Tapped, 2009).There is a garbage patch twice the size of Texas in the North Pacific Ocean. The garbage patch occupies a relatively stationary region of the North Pacific. The rotational pattern of the current draws in waste material from across the North Pacific, including costal waters off North America and J apan. As material is captured in the currents it remains trapped inside this region of ocean. One hundred million marine mammals and turtles in the North Pacific are killed every year by plastic in the ocean. 70-100% of North Pacific sea birds are affected by eating plastic. Plastic is killing the ocean and it is poisoning the fish we eat.Because the fish we eat have likely ingested contaminated plastic, it is virtually impossible for nature to produce organic fish in the ocean. Pepsi’s vice chairman publicly said, â€Å"The biggest enemy is tap water. † They want us to think it is dirty and that bottled water is the best alternative. In many places public water is polluted. Thanks to polluting industries, one of the major contributors being the bottled water industry. Drinking bottled water has become a trivial habit in many people’s everyday lives. Bad tap water taste or quality, fitness goals, and other numerous reasons lead consumer to buy bottled water.Bott led water may even be necessary, for instance in case of temporary tap water contamination. This flourishing market is profitable for many companies and provides a great number of jobs to people around the world. Bottled water quality is generally good, although it can suffer from the same contamination hazards as tap water and also contains hazardous compounds in the bottle itself. Some solutions to make sure bottled water quality is as good as it claims could include things like, companies releasing their quality tests on a day-to-day basis and make them available to the community.It should also be required by all companies to include information about where the water came from, or how it was filtered, on the label. The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) is beginning to â€Å"go green†. Nestle, for instance, will use 30% lighter plastic bottles and 30% smaller labels, as well as eco-shaped bottles. Their bottles will be 100% recyclable, and when building product ion plants they will make sure the building is green-building certified.Another step they are taking is looking into hybrid vehicles for distribution of their product (Nestle Waters, 2011). This seems like Nestle is taking the right steps to improve production and use resources in a manner that will help improve, or at least maintain, our environment, but I cannot help but wonder if this is one of their marketing tools. Sure, they are producing in a more environmentally friendly way, but is this one of their ways of â€Å"tricking† us into buying their product and steering us away from their non-green competitors?When buying their product we are still contributing to this market. Bottled water is not all bad. It has many positive uses. Bottled water is an absolute critical lifesaver in many natural disasters. Bottled water has a substantial shelf life. This is especially valuable for emergency preparation, but also for many other purposes. Also, bottled water is a nearly idea l consumer product: it is healthy, non-addictive, hypoallergenic, caffeine-free, calorie free, and contains no artificial colors, flavors, trans fats, etc. Fager, 2009) Some things we could do to reduce the environmental impact of bottled water are to re-use bottles of water rather than recycling them to be re-manufactured, or buy a reusable, BPA free, water bottle. A more aggressive approach would be to lobby with city and state officials for more drinking fountains around your city, or towards the boycott of bottled water in your public schools and work places. These are just a few steps to start protecting our wallets, our health, and our planet.

Is Abortion A Bad Thing - 1357 Words

There are two types of abortion: one is spontaneous abortion and the other is induced abortion. Although these two are all abortion, the meaning between them is highly different. Spontaneous abortion is the abortion because of embryo or fetus itself or the health condition of the mother. However, unlike spontaneous abortion, induced abortion is the abortion because of the human factor, and it has been a huge ethical issue in today’s society. While there are lots of debates about whether abortion is doable, in the Buddhist view, abortion is a bad thing. First of all, by nature, fetus, or embryo has the same status as a baby and even an adult in the Buddhist sense. There’re some descriptions in the fifty-sixth volumes of MahÄ ratnakÃ… «Ã¡ ¹ ­a-sÃ… «tra of the process how a bardo, the state after death and before rebirth (GossKlass,1997), enter into mother’s womb. the Buddha said that bardo will enter the mother’s womb and become an embryo; also, he said that at the first week of the mother’s pregnant, the embryo will feel very uncomfortable just like it is in a hot pot which does not have any air in it (MahÄ ratnakÃ… «Ã¡ ¹ ­a-sÃ… «tra). This description shows that an embryo has consciousness since it has the ability to feel uncomfortable. In Buddhism, the creature with consciousness is called â€Å"sattva† (such as human and animals); therefore, just like a baby or an adult, an embryo is also one of sattva. Thus, adults, babies, fetus, and embryo are on the same status by their nature; on the ba sis ofShow MoreRelatedIs Abortion A Bad Thing? Essay1488 Words   |  6 PagesAbortion, a strong word that has multiple meanings. In a room full of people when this word is mentioned it quickly brings attention to the speaker. Different opinions and different beliefs is something that will always be a problem when it comes to this topic. Although many people believe abortion is a bad thing, there will always be the other half of the people that believe abortion isn’t good, but it might be the safest way to go. In addition more than 750,000 teenagers become pregnant every yearRead MoreIs Abortion A Good Thing Or A Bad Thing?878 Words   |  4 Pages Is abortion a good thing or a bad thing? Is abortion good? Is it bad? Abortion is seen different for a lot of people, because everyone has different opinions. In 1973, U.S. Supreme Court held Roe V. Wade said â€Å" protected women’s rights.† The Supreme Court later found out that Roe V. Wade was wrong. It does count that abortion is a women’s right ,but it’s also the child’s right to stay alive. In 2013, 22 states passed abortion but 70 other countries restricted abortion. More and more people areRead MoreEssay on Buddhist view on Abortion686 Words   |  3 Pages It is quite clear from a variety of sources that abortion has been severely disapproved of in the Buddhist tradition. It is also equally clear that abortion has been tolerated in Buddhist Japan and accommodated under exceptional circumstances by some modern Buddhists in the U.S. The situation is similar to that of Roman Catholicism, where abortion, though disapproved of in the strongest terms by Church authorities, is still p racticed by a large number of devoted Catholics and defended by at leastRead MoreAbortion : A Controversial Topic986 Words   |  4 PagesAbortion has always been a controversial topic in the United States for decades. Abortion is like taking the life of someone without their permission so it is technically â€Å"murder†. There is no such thing as an unwanted child, millions of families in the United States are always willing to adopt. On the other hand, there are circumstances where a woman can barely care and sustain herself so chances are that she will not be able to take care of her child. Or when a rape occurs, having an abortionRead More Abortion Essays691 Words   |  3 Pageshave an abortion it’s their business and no one else’s. A woman should be able to get an abortion without having to be discriminated by people. I don’t think abortion is pretty but neither is heart surgery. I do think abortion is bad but I think it’s important that w e can all have our own choices. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;I have looked at it from both sides and actually I agree with both sides. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing but I personally think that it’s a good thing. I’m notRead MoreAbortion is the Destruction of a Human Being Essay1010 Words   |  5 Pagesbaby? Babies are the most precious things in the world. Most people love babies I know I do, I’m having one of my own and happy to say my baby is coming to this world and me becoming a mommy. Abortion shouldn’t be allowed anywhere it’s the worst thing in the world. The important ways of looking at the issues of abortion are most categorized into five major points, legal precedence, birth control issues, human rights, religion, and when life begins. Abortions can cost around $350 to more than aRead MoreMaking a Decision about Abortion679 Words   |  3 PagesIn today’s world abortion is a big issue for woman concerning the fact that for years it had been said that abortion should not be legal, but some people believe it should. Many people feel aborting an unwanted child, or killing an unwanted child should be against the law and which I feel it should be illegal. Many people dont even know what an abortion is, or who can receive abortions. I feel a womans body is her own, and can do whatever she wants with it, but I also think that babies life shouldn’tRead MoreArgumentative Essay On Abortion1380 Words   |  6 PagesAbortion the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of preg nancy. Abortion is one of the most common medical procedures preformed in the United States each year. More than 40% of all women will end a pregnancy by abortion at some time in their reproductive lives. Abortion, it is simply the one of the most debated issue in our society today. â€Å"Is abortion bad?† â€Å"Is the fetus a baby?† â€Å"Why is it bad to kill a fetus if it’s not living?† The simpleRead MoreAbortion Is One Of The Biggest, Controversial Issues In1701 Words   |  7 PagesAbortion is one of the biggest, controversial issues in the United States. In today’s fsociety it s almost split in half, 44% of people are pro life making 66% pro choice. With those stats, that shows us how close this world wide this issue is, and how this isn’t one outcome that is clear enough to be right. In my personal opinion I am pro choice, most of the time but sometimes I feel myself being pro life. This topic is so touchy and for a good reason. Bab ies and life, what everyone in the worldRead MoreShould Abortion Be Legal?923 Words   |  4 PagesAbortion is an extremely controversial topic, which brings out strong opinions on whether or not it should be illegal. â€Å"The U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973† (emedicinehealth). Abortion is a widely discussed topic throughout the American society, some people find it to be a good thing, and others find it to be a bad thing, and lastly some people find there to be pros and cons of abortion. As Americans we have the choice of who to marry and where to live, so