Book Report on Earth in the Balance by Al Gore Essay

Book Report on Earth in the Balance by Al Gore - Essay Example Everyday there is a threat posed to our climate, water, soil, and diversity of plant and animal life. A passionate, lifelong defender of the environment, Gore describes in brave and unforgettable terms how human actions and decisions can endanger or safeguard the vulnerable ecosystem that sustains us. Al Gore's passion for the environment started when he was a boy growing up on a farm. His parents taught him the importance of soil erosion, having to stop river gullies before they got started. His mother read Rachel Carlson's book, Silent Spring in 1962 and he remembers how she told everyone the dangers of pesticide abuse like DDT are doing to the environment. She had emphasized to him and his sister that the book was different from others, and it was important. As a student in college his professor Roger Revelle had introduced the idea of carbon dioxides threat on the global environment. Revelle started sampling the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in 1958 only to watch it rise from 315-360 parts per million. The cover of Earth in the Balance is strikingly meaningful in black and red with the globe displayed at the background right. The book mainly touches topics on the globalecologicalsystem, dysfunctionalcivilization, climateequilibrium, and GlobalMarshallPlan. In writing this book, Al Gore said, "The time has long since come to take more political risks - and endure more political criticism - by proposing tougher, more effective solutions and fighting hard for their enactments." The book is arranged into three sections: the first describes the plagues; the second looks at how we got ourselves into this mess; and the final chapters presents solutions. By way of introduction, the book talks about the importance of the 1992 Earth Summit. This was a world-wide meeting to discuss and implement a new generation of global treaties aimed at promoting sustainable economic progress and healing the relationship between civilization and the fragile ecological system of the Earth. At the summit the Bush administration declined to sign the treaty to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, hence disappointing many other countries. The book soonest ships in the desert, talks about Al Gore's many travels and horrifying discoveries that are murdering our environment. First, Al Gore went to the Aral Sea which at one time was the 4th largest and now to an irrigation scheme to grow cotton in the desert it has greatly diminished. Then he spoke of the white sea in 1990 where millions of starfish where killed because the military dumped radioactive waste. All across the world, mysterious mass deaths have been happening in our oceans; some scientists say it is because of accumulated environmental stress. The Trans-Antarctic Mountains was Al Gores next stop to see for himself the studies of the effects of glaciers. He discovered from ice core samples that a small reduction in one country's emissions from the Clean Air Act had changed the amount of pollution found in the remote and least accessible place on Earth. He recounted that in 1989 the Amazon rain forest was being burned to provide pastures for fast food beef. The amount burnt added up to the state of Tennessee, killing thousands of species. According to Al Gore, a record of living species of plants and animals are now vanishing around the world one thousand

The Life of William Shakespeare :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Life of William Shakespeare William Shakespeare's father, John Shakespeare, moved to the idyllic town of Stratford-upon-Avon in the mid-sixteenth century, where he became a successful landowner, moneylender, wool and agricultural goods dealer, and glover. In 1557 he married Mary Arden . John Shakespeare lived during a time when the middle class grew and became wealthier and wealthier, thus allowing its members increasing freedoms, luxuries, and voice in the local government. He took advantage of the opportunities afforded him through this social growth and in 1557 became a member of the Stratford Council, an event which marked the beginning of an illustrious political career. By 1561 he was elected one of the town's fourteen burgesses, where he served as constable, one of two chamberlains, and alderman successively. In these positions he administered borough property and revenues. In 1567 he was made bailiff, the highest elected office in Stratford, and the equivalent of a modern day mayor. The town records indicate that William Shakespeare was John and Mary's third child. His birth is unregistered, but legend places it on April 23, 1564, partially because April 23 is the day on which he died 52 years later. In any event, his baptism was registered with the town on April 26, 1564. Not much is known about William's childhood, although it is safe to assume that he attended the local grammar school, the King's New School, which was staffed with a faculty who held Oxford degrees, and whose curriculum included mathematics, natural sciences, Latin language and rhetoric, logic, Christian ethics, and classical literature. He did not attend the university, which was not unusual at this time, since university education was reserved for prospective clergymen and was not a particularly mind-opening experience. However, the education he received at grammar school was excellent, as evidenced by the numerous classical and literary references in his plays. His early works especially dr ew on such Greek and Roman greats as Seneca and Plautus. What is more impressive than his formal education, however, is the wealth of general knowledge exhibited in his works, from a working knowledge of many professions to a vocabulary that is far greater than any other English writer. In 1582, at the age of eighteen, William Shakespeare married the twenty-six year old Anne Hathaway. Their first daughter, Susanna, was baptized only six months later, which has given rise to much speculation concerning the circumstances surrounding the marriage.

Infosys: Financing an Indian Software Start-Up

Infosys is small software development venture which provides information technology (IT) consulting services for international clients. The company is located in Bangalore and was founded back in 1981 by a small group of skllfull entrepreneurs, with very little equity of 1000$ and without backing from a large companies. Mr. R. Narayana Murthy is the CEO and chairman and Nandan Nilekani is the president and chief operating officer (COO), of Infosys Technologies Ltd. Being a company grounded on a Indian soil at that tome was not an advantage for Infosys because the economic policy supported by the government prior to 1991 caused many problems for business, especially for those businesses that wanted to import goods from a foreign market. Therefore the easiest business solution for Infosys was to develop software services , since production of hardware could have been a troble because all the devices they need for the hardware development were imported from abroad. Because the domestic market held no real opportunity for the new company, Infosys focused on international markets for its software products. Up till 1999 Narayana Murthy bought out all the shares from the remaining founders, the company has dramatically transformed its business and image and grown with over 100 employees. It faced possible bancropcy but somehow managed to survive it, took the advantage of the capital markets with one of the first market-priced IPOs and brought itself a tremendous growth in its business. It is our vision at Infosys, to create world-class leaders who will be at the forefront of business and technology in today's competitive marketplace. Challenges: As the mission for the company was to become a globally respected firm and a leader in the Indian market, they needed to transform Infosys as a desirable place to work not only for domestic people but also for the foreigners who have complementary skills. That is why they have invested the money from the IPO and created an environment that would enhance the overall experience for employees by taking three most important values: learning value-added, if there is financial value-added, and if there is emotional value-added. This was very well percieved by the internal employees as well as all other gratuated students who were considering Infosys as the best place to work. Employees had very good training programm, chance for carrier development, possibility for company loans for private reasons etc. Infosys even offered stock options to all qualified employees. The factor which helped Infosys to grow at a faster pace than others was the low employee turnover. The turnover rate at Infosys was around 11% as opposed to industry average for software companies' of over 25% during the 1990s. Infosys' retention capability was a function both of its rigorous selection procedures as well as proactive HRD practices Increasing productivity was their next challenge in order to remain competitive on a global basis. Therefore they considered three objectives: increase our customer penetration, to increase our brand equity, increase the amount of fixed price contracts we work on. Hiring international employees was a possibility to accomplish many of the objectives with regard to productivity. And finally the most important challenge was regarding future growth and financing. Infosys' shares trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The company must decide whether it should seek to also list its shares on a U. S. stock exchange and, if yes, whether to list on NASDAQ or NYSE. Solution: There are several opportunities and constraints for considering the current situation and objective of the company. The main challenge is to move up the value chain by increasing our revenues per employee and by increasing our customer base. For accomplishing this goal, the brand should be enhanced not with tools like advertising and other â€Å"traditional† forms of marketing but with word-of-mouth publicity that will highlight the uniqueness of our company compared to our competitors. Secondly, an ADR offering in the United States would help accomplish other goals, such as the recruitment of international employees. Thirdly, in addition to providing currency for our employees, a listing would also provide currency for acquisitions in the United States or any another international location. Finally, it would be helpful for our current investors as well. Very few contraints appeared for infosys’s listing on the US exchange, mostly related to the valuation of the company on the US exhange. Conclusions: In my opinion I think the company should be list its shares on the US exhange due to the following reasons: The offering would be fantastic for investors as there are very few, if any, comparable ways to invest in this part of the world and there is a huge desire to invest in international markets. Possibility to recrute international employees. Finally with the listing Infosys will voluntarily opt to behave like a US domestic issuer, rather than subjecting itself to the less stringent standards of a foreign issuer. When it comes for deciding the right exchange, I would choose NASDAQ since it is a favoired market for technology stocks and offers better conditions for foreign companies unlike NYSE .

Reagan Analysis Paper - 1150 Words

Reagan Analysis Paper Michael Jakubowski History/145 January 19, 2015 James Green The Reagan years were they overrated or was he underrated as the 40th President of the United States. This report will cover the agendas and accomplishments of Reagan during his tenure as President. Starting from the Hostages coming home to the supply side economy and how he was able to conclude the cold war. Were the actions of President Reagan underappreciated or was he glorified for actions taken while performing the duties of his position. The students set their hostages free on January 21, 1981, 444 days after the crisis began and just hours after President Ronald Reagan delivered his inaugural address (U.S. History, 2015). The main point here†¦show more content†¦On top of the low military wages came outdated equipment that was unfitting for combat. The embarrassing ending to the Vietnam War and the U.S. embassy employees being taken hostage were proof enough that change was needed. President Reagan then began improving the military by expanding the U.S. budget to improve the military. By doing so military budget up 43% and created programs such as SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) where the U.S. began to test missiles in outer space. While the U.S. was on a spending spree and advancing their military program the Soviets, were the complete opposite. The Soviets had a deteriorating military and an economy on the verge of crashing. The Soviets could not withstand a war with the United States. In fact, they ha d a war inside of their country that lead to the breakup of the Soviet Union. Having the new and improve military resources were an intimidating advantage, but no matter who was president at the time Russia was heading into a civil crisis inside their nation which led to their break-up. While campaigning in 1980’s Ronald Reagan promoted his solution to fixing the economic debt that the United States accumulated over the years. This solution was named â€Å"Reaganomics†. The United States was left with a $2.6 trillion dollar debt from President Reagan theory by cutting taxes, and the Federal Revenue would increase because economic activity will increase. President Reagan focused cutting downShow MoreRelatedJimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan Analysis1118 Words   |  5 PagesRonald Reagan Analysis Paper HIS/145 January / 2014 â€Æ' Ronald Reagan was born in 1911 and died in 2004 the former president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 was also the governor of California from 1967 to 1975. Many people have mixed feelings of Ronald Reagan. Some did not like that Reagan was an actor before he became president of the United States. Attempted assassination In 1981 President Ronald Reagan survived an assassination attempt. 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