Sci question

Current event 1

Over the recent couple of years, it has become rather significant for the general human population to have a greater than ever need to weigh up the obvious links between ecological as well as social dimensions of human vulnerability, especially with regards to climate change (Cinner, Huchery, Darling, Humphries, Graham, Hicks, Marshal & McClanahan2013). In order for this article to acquire some semblance of significant efficacy, it is important for us to be in the advantageous position to utilize some scientific accuracy, viz, a viz, we shall utilize an empirical case study of at least twelve coastal communities together with associated coral reefs in the famous country of Kenya; this will be in order for us to be able to assess as well as compare at least some five vital ecological and also social mechanism of the presented vulnerabilities of coastal social-ecological structures to temperature (Adger, 2006).           It should be noted that millions of the globe’s underprivileged peoples more often than not depend on the bionetwork or rather, ecosystem services as well as goods which tend to be provided by the coral reefs. This simply means that coral reefs are for the most part imperative for fishing, tourism and not to forget the most biological diverse and productive aquatic environments on this planet (Cinner, et. al, 2013). It is for this particular reason that we should acknowledge that climate change is constantly affecting our vast coral reefs through long term alterations in the inter-annual cycles, frequency of extreme climate events, and not forgetting the long-term mean environmental conditions.          This has drastically affected the general fish population and almost the entire livelihood of the native populations due to the dwindling tourism industry (Adger, 2006). If at all these briefly mentioned problems could have been addressed, the coastal ecosystem would have been drastically saved in time and this could not have resulted to decreasing fish population; moreover, the tourism industry would have been also saved as a simple result of taking preventative or rather eco-friendly measures, and thus, the presented problems could have been avoided in the first place (Cinner, et. al, 2013). Some of the simple lessons which can be learned is that we as humans stand to gain a lot if they simply abide or rather lead eco-friendly lifestyles in order to create a healthy future human ecology (Adger, 2006).

References Adger, W. N. (2006). Vulnerability. Global Environmental Change. 16(3): 268 – 281Cinner, J. E., Huchery, C., Darling, E. S., Humphries, A. T., Graham, N. A. J., Hicks, C. C., Marshall, N., & McClanahan, T. R. (2013). Evaluating Social and Ecological Vulnerability of Coral Reef Fisheries toClimate Change. Retrieved on 27th August 2014 from http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0074321  

Current Event 2

Introduction

Human ecology is the study of human beings in relation to what surrounds them and this may include other human beings, animals, plants and generally the environment. In general this discipline focuses on the relationship between human beings and their environment (Zora, 2014).

The water of life

This is the title of the articles I am about to evaluate and it talks of the importance of respecting other animals as part of our environment. The title ‘water of life’ is allegory and therefore it simply means life is very important as water is important to our bodies.

Evaluation of the Article

The human body is made up of 75% water and the world on the other hand has its two thirds of area covered with water. This simply shows how important water is to humanity and without water human life will perish. The same way water flows in rivers and assumes any shape so does life meaning water and life go hand in hand. Other human beings should not mistreat other animals because life is no different and it takes different shapes, it could be in a flower, a bacteria, an animal or any other living thing.

The articles urges human beings to respect and never mistreat other living things because he who mistreats an ox shall never be loved by a woman (William, 2000). The article ends by stating that one will feel closer and even better when they are aware that on earth, it is all the One Life that keeps us going and it doesn’t matter which form it takes, it is life. (Zora, 2014).

 

References

Zora, N. H., (2014). Human Ecology, The water of Life. Ashe Publishers. Australian School of Human Ecology. Retrieved from. http://www.humanecology.com.au/wateroflife.html

Current Event 3

News from Venezuela, sierra Leone and Scotland

The article ‘news from Venezuela, sierra Leone and Scotland talks about the introduction of a compulsory fingerprints system in the supermarkets in order to curb smuggling and food shortage. This order was announced by the president of Venezuela. He argued that this would stop people from buying too much of one item. This was rejected by the opposition in Venezuela as they argued that the president was accusing the people of Venezuela for being thieves. They said to put fingerprints on customers of staple products was breach of privacy. The authorities argued that like 40 percent of the goods Venezuela subsidize for its local market are taken to Colombia illegally where they are sold at prices that are much higher. A military spokes man said that the smuggled goods to Colombia are much that they can load the shelves of the supermarkets in Colombia.

This article is accurate as it holds facts about the smuggling of food products to other countries. This problem could be from the first place avoided by not implementing the left wing strategies that were started by the late president Hugo. Another way that would have avoided the problem is well manning the borders that connect to the countries that these products are smuggled to. Another possible solution to this problem would be the closing of borders where the smuggling of cheap goods happens.

From this article, it can be learnt that the problems of smuggling cannot be solved by implementing a policy like fingerprinting staple products rather by dealing with the problem at the ground level. This can be done in order to avoid human ecology conflicts in the future.

References

‘News from Venezuela, sierra Leone and Scotland.’ (2014). Retrieved on September 10, 2014 from:http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/world-current-events/news-from-venezuela-sierra-leone-and-scotland/

Current Event 4

News from Venezuela, sierra Leone and Scotland

The article ‘news from Venezuela, sierra Leone and Scotland talks about the introduction of a compulsory fingerprints system in the supermarkets in order to curb smuggling and food shortage (Pearce, 2010). The president of Venezuela announced this order. He argued that this would stop people from buying too much of one item. This was rejected by the opposition in Venezuela as they argued that the president was accusing the people of Venezuela for being thieves. They said to put fingerprints on customers of staple products was breach of privacy. The authorities argued that like 40 percent of the goods Venezuela subsidize for its local market are taken to Colombia illegally where they are sold at prices that are much higher. A military spokesman said that the smuggled goods to Colombia are much that they can load the shelves of the supermarkets in Colombia.

This article is accurate as it holds facts about the smuggling of food products to other countries. This problem could be from the first place avoided by not implementing the left-wing strategies that were started by the late president Hugo. Another way that would have avoided the problem is well-manning the borders that connect to the countries that these products are smuggled from (Kricher, 2009). Another possible solution to this problem would be the closing of borders where the smuggling of cheap goods happens.

From this article, it can be learnt that the problems of smuggling cannot be solved by implementing a policy like fingerprinting staple products rather by dealing with the problem at the ground level. This can be done in order to avoid human ecology conflicts in the future.

 

 

References

‘News from Venezuela, sierra Leone and Scotland.’ (2014). Retrieved on September 10, 2014 from: http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/world-current-events/news-from-venezuela-sierra-leone-and-scotland/

Kricher, J. (2009). The balance of nature: ecology is enduring myth. Princeton university press.

Current 5

News from Venezuela, sierra Leone and Scotland

The article ‘news from Venezuela, sierra Leone and Scotland talks about the introduction of a compulsory fingerprints system in the supermarkets in order to curb smuggling and food shortage. This order was announced by the president of Venezuela. He argued that this would stop people from buying too much of one item. This was rejected by the opposition in Venezuela as they argued that the president was accusing the people of Venezuela for being thieves. They said to put fingerprints on customers of staple products was breach of privacy. The authorities argued that like 40 percent of the goods Venezuela subsidize for its local market are taken to Colombia illegally where they are sold at prices that are much higher. A military spokes man said that the smuggled goods to Colombia are much that they can load the shelves of the supermarkets in Colombia.

This article is accurate as it holds facts about the smuggling of food products to other countries. This problem could be from the first place avoided by not implementing the left wing strategies that were started by the late president Hugo. Another way that would have avoided the problem is well manning the borders that connect to the countries that these products are smuggled to. Another possible solution to this problem would be the closing of borders where the smuggling of cheap goods happens.

From this article, it can be learnt that the problems of smuggling cannot be solved by implementing a policy like fingerprinting staple products rather by dealing with the problem at the ground level. This can be done in order to avoid human ecology conflicts in the future (Kricher, 2009).

References

‘News from Venezuela, sierra Leone and Scotland.’ (2014). Retrieved on September 10, 2014 from: http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/world-current-events/news-from-venezuela-sierra-leone-and-scotland/

Kricher, J. (2009). The balance of nature: ecology’s enduring myth. Princeton university press.

Pearce, T. (2010). A great complication of circumstances. A journal of history of biology.

Current Event 6

The World Wildlife fund (WWF) published the Living planet report (2014) which provides an overview of the overall health of the planet. This report is considered to be accurate from the fact that WWF is one of the largest and most experienced independent conservancy organizations in the world. Furthermore, the research was also conducted in collaboration with other reputable conservancy organizations which include the Zoological society of London, the Global Foot Print Network, and the Water Footprint network.

The Director General of WWF in his foreword points out that the report is not for the faint hearted due to the depressing nature of the report. According to this report, the overall health of our planet is facing a serious decline in several fronts. For example, the population of mammals has declined by 52% from 1970 to 2010 when the research was being conducted. When broken down, the report states that 39% of terrestrial wildlife has gone, 39% of marine wildlife is gone and 76% of fresh water wildlife is also gone and all this has happened only within the last 40 years (World Wildlife Fund, 2014). This therefore means that if nothing drastic is done, then there will be no wildlife in the next 40 years that is by 2080.

Apart from this rapid decline in wildlife populations, the report also provides details of other health problems that our planet is experiencing. For example carbon monoxide in the atmosphere has reached levels that have not been experience in one million years and this has triggered massive climate changes which is destabilising the already fragile ecosystem. Reactive nitrogen which has reached high concentrations is degrading land while water is becoming scarcer. To cap it all, 60% of the essential services that are provided by nature from forests to the seas are experiencing a sharp decline (World Wildlife Fund, 2014).

What is most ironical from the report is that though it is the developed countries that are most responsible for the damage made on the planet, it is the developing countries that take the brunt of this behaviour. For example, the report states that high income countries consume five times the ecological resources that are consumed by low income countries and that the high income countries are increasingly consuming more per person than the climate can consume thus maintaining per capita ecological footprint that is greater than the amount of bio capacity available to each person. At the same time, low income and middle income countries have shown very little increase in their per capita foot prints during the same time period (World Wildlife Fund, 2014).

On the other hand, high income countries have experienced a 10% increase in their biodiversity yet middle income countries have experienced an 18% decline while low income countries have experienced a 58% decline. This trend saw the report remark that developing countries are outsourcing resource depletion (World Wildlife Fund, 2014).

The main lesson learnt from the report is that the world has a finite capacity of resources and as such there is a greater need to move towards a more sustainable approach to resource utilization if the world is to regain its health. It is also very clear that moving on as we have done in the last forty years will definitely lead to a total ecological breakdown sooner that we may actually think and most of the current generation will see it.

As such the report suggests that there is a need to accelerate the shift towards smatter food and energy production, reduction of the ecological foot print through responsible consumption from the personal to the corporate and government levels as well as valuing natural resource capital as the cornerstone of policy and development decisions (World Wildlife Fund, 2014).

Reference:

World Wildlife Fund. (2014). Half of global wildlife lost, according to new WWF report. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 2, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140929205312.htm