Global warming & human activities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Global warming & human activities - Essay Example These alterations threaten to transform the global environment. As one author imagined it, â€Å"The year is 2035. In New York, palm trees line the Hudson River †¦ Phoenix is in its third week of temperatures over 130 degrees †¦ Holland is under water. Bangladesh has ceased to exist †¦ in central Europe and in the American Midwest, decades of drought have turned once fertile agricultural lands into parched deserts (Rifkin, 1988).† Composition of Greenhouse Gases Methane and carbon dioxide primarily constitute the greenhouse gases. They also consist of water vapor and trace amounts of other gases including ozone, nitrous oxide, and HCFCs. Greenhouse gases â€Å"trap† some of the sun’s infrared radiation within Earth’s atmosphere, similar to a greenhouse. As the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increase, they trap more of the sun’s heat in the earth’s atmosphere, which has a number of effects on the earth’s env ironment. Were it not for greenhouse gases, most of the sun’s energy would radiate back out into space, leaving the earth cold and lifeless with an average temperature of minus 18 degrees C (0.4 degrees Fahrenheit) (Miller). ... Increasing levels of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide (CO2 ), in the atmosphere since pre-industrial times have been well documented. There is no doubt this atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is largely the result of human activities. Combined with unnaturally elevated levels of naturally occurring gases, global warming is exacerbated by anthropogenic emissions of additional greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. To illustrate the problem, under pre-Industrial Revolution conditions, global levels of carbon dioxide were around 275 parts per million (ppm). Carbon dioxide levels increased from 275 ppm to 346 ppm between 1860 and 1986, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation (Flavind & Tunali, 1995). Plants convert carbon dioxide to oxygen and are one effective way to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Deforestation has resulted in a reduction in the carbon dioxide to oxygen conversion. It is estimated that deforestation co ntributes 1.0 to 2.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually (Oppenheimer & Boyle, 1990). It is thought that global levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will reach 550 ppm sometime between 2040 and 2100; however, most analysts believe those levels will be reached closer to the middle of the twenty-first century (Rifkin). It is estimated that over the next 100 years the temperature will increase about 1.98 degrees C (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Such a severe temperature change would most likely cause an increase in heat waves and drought, the spread of infectious diseases, and the disruption of ecosystems worldwide. Furthermore, increased global temperatures is causing the melting of ice in both polar regions, resulting in a rise in sea level, predicted by

The effects of Behaviour Management on Teaching and Learning in Essay

The effects of Behaviour Management on Teaching and Learning in Secondary Education - Essay Example It has been fundamentally inspired by this virtue of behaviour management that it has today emerged as one of the major elements adopted by teachers in the pedagogy education system with the intention of improving the behaviour of learners (Rogers, 2007, p. 1-27). Notably, as pedagogy deal with young minds which are again attributed with high instability and curiosity, making the learners focused on a particular subject becomes a noteworthy challenge. Hence, teachers can be benefitted by obtaining better control on the behavioural traits of the learners which can assist in motivating the students to enhance their behavioural skills and consequently, build their future career prospects. However, the application of behaviour management initiatives is subjected to various factors among which the learning environment is often argued as one of the most crucial elements (Fields, 2004, p. 4-8). As argued by Rogers (2007, p. 1-27), an effective learning environment needs to be developed with the aim of conveying the rights as well as the responsibilities that are necessary for generating better disciplined school and classroom atmosphere and therefore implementing effective behavioural management strategies. It is in this regard that teachers, when applying the theories of modern pedagogy, attempt to introduce as well as execute certain developing and disciplinary programs for the purpose of motivating the learners to develop behavioural traits, appropriate for their promising future (Rogers, 2007, p. 1-27). As can be observed, the major objective of behaviour management is to ensure that the learners are able to acquire appropriate qualities and knowledge in accordance with which they will be able to determine the differences between pessimistic and optimistic influencing factors. Along with developing the behavioural skills of learners, it is also essential that the teachers are equipped with effective behavioural factors in order to ensure that they are able to impa rt appropriate educational knowledge and develop their skills successfully to the desired level. Additionally, it has also been often argued that with the help of behavioural management, teachers can develop the perceptions as well as influence the conscience of the learners which can further contribute towards minimising the involvement of those learners in conducting any sort of anti-social activities (Rogers, 2007, p. 1-27). In other words, with the help of behavioural management, learners’ behavioural traits can be developed in a more responsible as well as conscious way. With this concern, this paper intends to discuss the importance of behaviour management. Moreover, the effects of behaviour management on teaching as well as learning will be taken into concern. In this regard, the effects of behaviour management will be analysed by considering certain important reports like Steer and Taylor Reports among others. Focus of Behaviour Management In the context of education system, behaviour management is often viewed to be an important practice and discipline for the development of positive attitudes, skills and behaviours of students or learners. This particular aspect is recognised to be dependent on various values as well as aims according to which the learning programs and policies are formulated