Mans Discovery Of Fossil Fuels Could Be His Downfall. Discus Essay

Throughout the entire history of mankind, the technological advancements that civilisations have made have always been tied in with the development of energy sources. The first human energy technology was fire, along with human labour as the major energy source. This has bee supplemented by animals for agriculture and transportation since at least the dawn of agriculture some 10,000 years ago. Wind and waterpower for milling grain have also been used nearly as long. The development of the steam engine by George Stephenson in the late 1700’s was the technological breakthrough that led to the industrial revolution. For the first time in human history transportation could be provided without the use of domesticated animals. Steam engines were used in steam locomotives, steam tractors and steam ships (B.Nebel and R.Wright 1995). Stationary steam engines were rapidly established in all the major industries. The major fuel for steam engines was firewood. By the end of the 1800’s, the demand for energy was ever increasing and firewood around industrial centres was becoming scarce. This led to a switch to coal as the major source for fuel and energy. As well as powering steam engines coal became widely used for heating, cooking and industrial processes. Air pollution during the Industrial revolution was far worse than anything seen today. Apart from the smoke and fumes obscuring visibility, they also caused major health problems to the inhabitants of the industrial areas reducing life expectancies, predominantly with respiratory diseases. The simultaneous development of the internal combustion engine, well drilling technology and the capacity to refine crude oil into gasoline and other liquid fuels (B. Nebel et al 1995) in the late 1880’s, produced an alternative to steam power. Air pollution was greatly reduced as coal-fired steam engines and gasoline and diesel engines, and fuel oil furnaces replaced furnaces. Due to the length of time it takes to change from one energy technology to another, it was not until the late 1940’s that oil surpassed coal as the worlds major energy source. World oil use peaked in 1979 when daily production passed 66 million barrels per day (W.Cunningham et al 1993). This was not without problems however. In 1973, the recognition of the increasing dependence of industrialised nations on oil along ... ...nder normal conditions. Extraction of fossil fuels is a dirty and dangerous business, with associated diseases of workers and environmental pollution, such as dust from mining and spills from tankers transporting oil. As can be seen from the various points discussed, the civilisation that we inhabit today is very much dependent on fossil fuels, without them the level of technology that we take for granted today would not exist. The economical, political, social and environmental issued associated with them show the problems of mans dependence on them. With increasing worldwide demand, and declining supplies, every effort needs to be made by governments to find solutions to these problems. This has already started today, with developments in alternative energy sources such as nuclear power, which raises its own issues, and the move towards solar and other renewable energy sources. References Cunningham. W.P and Saigo B.W (1995). Environmental Science: A Global Concern. W.C.B, Bubuque. Nebel B.J and Wright R.T (1993). Environmental Science. Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Pickering K.T and Owen L.A (1995). An Introduction to Global Environmental Issues. Routledge, London and New York.

Changing Learning Styles in the Light of New Educational Technology Essay

Over the last twenty years technology is guiding our lifestyle, i. e. how we should live, how should we communicate and also how one shall learn. Discoll (2000) defines learning as â€Å"a persisting change in human performance or performance potential which must come about as a result of the learner’s experience and interaction with the world. † In other words learning is defined as lasting changed state (emotional, mental physiological- skills) brought about as a result of experiences and interactions with the content or people. This definition holds the notion that gaining knowledge is an objective of learning (or a style) that is attainable if not already innate through either reasoning or experiences. It is known that learners create knowledge as they make attempts to understand their experience, as they are not empty vessels to be filled in with knowledge Instead learners are actively attempting to create meaning, they often select and pursue their own learning styles. Although it is believed that real life learning is messy and complex, but methods which emulate the fuzziness of this kind of learning is more effective for lifelong learning. Earlier the life of knowledge is measured in decades but today as knowledge is growing exponentially, and there we may have such fields where the life of knowledge is measured in months and weeks. Today what is known may become obsolete after few weeks. According to (ASTD) American Society of Training & Documentation the amount of knowledge in the world has doubled in the past 10 years and is doubling every 10 months as a result this is responsible for the shrinking half life of knowledge. It is believed that because of these trends in the development of knowledge formal education remains no more the ultimate source of learning, rather learners are switching on to a variety of sources like personal networks, communities of practice and personal experiences. As we can no longer personally experience and acquire learning that we need to act in this digital age making connections has become necessary to keep moving the learning theories. We may derive our learning, competence and expertise by forming connections with the experiences of others, as experience has long been considered the best teacher of knowledge, so here the quote â€Å"I store my knowledge in my friends mind† becomes an axiom for collecting knowledge by collecting people of varied experiences. Chaos is the new reality for the learners to attain knowledge, as with Chaos learners foster their understanding by deriving out the meaning of their task which has hidden patterns and their chaos unveil that meaning. Chaos as a science connects specialized communities and further it connects everything to anything. It recognises the adjacent patterns for new knowledge which is a key to learning. Since technology is getting advanced day by day thereby altering one brain, it further defines and shapes our thinking. In today knowledge economy it is necessary to form connection between the sources of information in order to develop useful informational patterns or a network, it can be computer or social networking which works on the simple principle that people groups systems nodes, entities all can be connected to create an integrated whole. This way sharing and exchanging of ideas may greatly lead to the notion of serendipity, innovation and creativity. In their new learning styles if students are connected to their teachers, their peers, and with other social groups through various networks. It may be possible that they come up with new ideologies and experiences which will result in the enhancement of their learning, researches in the past have indicated that cognitive (interactive and experimental) learning is the result of â€Å"Mental Construction† in a collaborative learning environment. It is believed that 1. Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions. 2. Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes (experts) or information sources. 3. Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known. 4. Nurturing and maintaining connective bonds is needed to facilitate continual learning. 5. An ability to seek connections between fields, ideas and concepts is a skilful learning. 6. Updated knowledge is the index of all learning activities. Learners change as the knowledge keeps on changing from time to time, learning styles acknowledges the tectonic shifts in society where learning is no longer an internal individualistic activity and learners no more permissive sponges. It requires us to rethink and redesign our learning styles for the digital age. This paper is an attempt to provide an insight into new form of learning style and tasks needed for learners to compete and flourish in this age. Connections based on small efforts of many with the large efforts of few, where flow of knowledge starts when the individual enters into his social network, add something from the global nodes comes back to him. Radio and television, print media are just a one way preposition, they push their contents to us, but the web is a two way push and pull. It connects the learners directly to the sources it can be live as on line and offline too. Web has the ability of two ways reciprocity, another important aspect of learning through web is that it is the medium that honours the notion of multiple intelligences as experts from all over the world are at an ease to contribute their knowledge at a single platform. Web has become a great tool for writers as they provide the learners learning with entertainment, it has multiple forms of intelligence abstract, textual, visual, musical social and kinaesthetic. Learning through web has a chance to construct a medium that enables all young people to become engaged in their ideal way of learning. The Web affords the match we need between a medium and how a particular person learns. One of the goal of Learner is to have course curricular to be offered in multiple formats – teach Led, CD- Rom, DVD, Video and internet , Mobile Phones, Spoken and written Information, Conferencing, Virtual Classrooms etc. The right technology used appropriately can greatly enhance the learning experience. The key to choosing the right technology to support learning is to match the technology to the learner and the learning context. E-learning has a two way benefit for learners, one to have professional lessons from the experts and to have the lessons available at anytime as online subject matter of different courses is being delivered over the internet, and is available for all learners. The most common function used in online learning style is electronic mail that allows students and teachers to send and receive messages along with attached files. In addition web conferencing capabilities let participants conduct multi-person discussions, either in real time (chats) online or off time, combination of technology with personal contact and support is optimal for pedagogy. If the faculty members of distant learning integrate technology into their teaching it will be of great help in mentoring and giving time to time support to the learners.

Global Warming Essay

Introduction Usually when people think of global warming they think of hotter weather. This is not necessarily correct. Global warming is not something that happens over one season but happens gradually overtime. The term global warming is a bit deceptive because it leads people to believe the temperatures will get hotter, this is not the case. Climate change impacts the hydrology and biology of our planet. This can cause stormier, dryer and even in some cases, colder weather. (Maria Trimarchi, 2014) Cultural Relativism When we think of global warming we typically just think about how the climate change is affecting our society. We do not stop and think how the changes affect other under-developed cultures. The article discusses how many under privileged countries die a lot sooner because of climate change. Something that developed countries would not see as quickly. (Sarah DeWeerdt, 2013) Understanding that the carbons and methane we use here in the United States not only affects our air quality and climate control but can have effects in Africa and other countries. The article discusses how the changes in weather from really dry heat to instant down pours of rain affects the agriculture. (Sarah DeWeerdt, 2013) This not only means the region experiencing this change is burdened by the increase and decrease in the climate, but countries doing import and export exchange is also affected. Ethiopia already experiences social and economical problems; climate change will make this country suffer even greater problems. National Geographic states the country already loses thousands of people a year due to effects from the climate. If global warming continues the effects would be catastrophic. (Alan Corbis, 2007) Mechanical Social Solidarity The term social solidarity refers to how a society unifies as a whole in aspects like interests, standards, objectives and sympathies. (Book Reference) Society can take a mechanical or organic approach to this philosophy. A mechanical solidarity society shows high emphasis on religion, society’s interest and has relatively low population rates. An example of this population group would be small tribes in Africa, Ethiopia and South America. Organic Solidarity is the complete opposite. They focus more on secular religion, material possessions, and high population and are human-oriented. The biggest example is America but you could also list China and Japan under this category. (Webster’s Dictionary) The article discusses how global warming is caused by omissions of carbon and methane into the atmosphere. (Sarah DeWeerdt, 2013) Our bigger organic solidarity societies are causing the global warming problems for the mechanical societies. It is unfortunate that we are not only ruining the environment for ourselves but we are also ruining it for innocent bystanders. Ethiopia being one of the poorest countries is being the most hurt by our materialist greed. They do not have the resources to even try and make a difference. Conflict Theory Conflict theories put emphasis on social, political, or material inequalities of a social group. Conflict theories draw attention to power differentials, such as class conflict and generally contrast historical ideologies. (Book reference) Understanding conflict theory is important to see how developed countries are hurting and hindering the development of under-developed countries. Until we draw a full understanding of this, a resolution cannot occur. The article discusses the differences and challenges under-developed countries face compared to developed countries. The risk of disease like Malaria is higher because of contamination and the inability to vaccinate. The United States faces mosquito problems but we do not have the issues of contaminated water. Plus our country also has vaccines to protect our  population unlike most parts of Africa and other countries. (Sarah DeWeerdt, 2013) The article discusses the dry temperatures will cause an increase in mosquitoes and the risk of contracting a disease from insects will increase. Vaccines are a concern but also the inability to control the insect contamination. Major countries have preventatives to control the reproduction of insects. Smaller countries do not have the means to control this growing problem. (Sarah DeWeerdt, 2013) If global warming continues to increase, so will the dangers all from all the effects. Conclusion Our planet as a whole must come up with a solution that protects everyone from the effects of global warming. The countries that pose a risk of losing the most are the ones that do not have the resources to contribute much to the solution. These are also the countries that do not contribute to the problem. Generating lower carbon and methane technology is a must. We need our government and other high power governments to increase federal funding to programs that help in promoting this technology. REFERENCES Corbis, A. (2007). Global Warming Effects. National Geographic. Retrieved on April 24, 2014 from http://www.environment.nationalgeographic.com/global-warming/gw-effects DeWeerdt, S. (2013). Climate Change, Coming Home: Global warming Effects on Population. World Watch. Retrieved from http://www.worldwatch.org/global-warming Trimarchi, M. (2014). Top 10 Worst Effects of Global Warming. Discovery. Retrieved on April 24, 2014 from www.discovery.com/topics/worst_effects_global_warming