Saturday, February 29, 2020

Andrew Carnegie

The following paper discusses the biography of Andrew Carnegie, an entrepreneur and founder of the American steel Industry, his life, the major influences and significance of his work and the impact of his life on others. Andrew Carnegie helped build the formidable American steel industry and then sold his steel business and systematically gave his collected fortune away to cultural, educational and scientific institutions for the improvement of mankind. This paper examines the way in which Carnegie, who was one of the first industrialists to use scientists to research his own business, came to be the wealthiest man of his time, in the world.During his final years, Carnegie spent most of his time in endeavors to promote world peace. He built both the Pan American Union building in Washington D.C. and the Hague Peace Palace, in the Netherlands to support international peace.The outbreak of World War I was devastating to him, and he died August 11, 1919 in Lenox, Massachusetts. By the time he died, Carnegie had given away $350,695,653 and had given another $30,000,000 to foundations, pensions and charities. Andrew Carnegie is considered one of the greatest philanthropists in the world and one of the wea lthiest men who ever lived (http://www.carnegie.lib.oh.us/andrewcarnegie.htm).

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Review of Selected Journal Papers and Online Material Essay

Review of Selected Journal Papers and Online Material - Essay Example Statisctics across the globe indicate an increase in emissions in the European Union between the years 1990-2006. The authors argue that though efforts have been made in increasing fuel efficiency, the emissions from the transport sector still pose a challenge. The article presents literature evidence on the positive impact of compact cities in mitigating emissions. The main argument of the article is that compact cities reduce the overall commuting length. The authors raise an argument concerning suitable policies that would make the positive effect last. They argue that though compacting cities reduce environmental pollution from the transport sector perspective, it may have a counter effect. People and firms may need to relocate due to the effect on wages and household rents. The authors of the article seek to establish the best policy tradeoff that would arrive at an appropriate population density that allows the environmental impact skew to the beneficial side (Gaigne, Riou, Thi sse, 2012, p. 1425). Stone, Hess and Frumkin (2010, p. 1425) do not support the opinion presented by Gaigne et al. In their article, they argue that the city form has a profound effect on the climate. Compact cities can encourage climate related fatalities. They raise the issue of Extreme Heat Events, a phenomenon that involves the rise of temperatures in the cities by a magnitude of up to 100C compared to surrounding countryside. Compact cities call for building configurations that aid in absorbing and trapping heat. Low-density land use and sprawling over expansive areas have a spillover effect due to the increasing distance. This is in agreement with Gaigne et al. Walters and Ewing (2009, p. 196) observed that vehicle and fuel technology were not sufficient in cutting the carbon dioxide emissions. Becky and Chow (2011, p. 552) also observed that reducing the vehicle miles could have a positive impact on reducing emissions. The two articles support the role compact cities would ha ve on reducing use of vehicles. Congestion in compact cities discourages people from using their own means of transport, thus cutting on the emissions. Congestion in the compact cities is a limiting factor. In addition to traffic congestion and air pollution, urban transport affects the climate (Creutzig & He, 2009, p. 120). Williams, Joynt and Hopkins (2010, p. 105) raise a concern that urban areas under consideration of compacting are not well adapted to deal with anticipated changes. Boussauw, Neutens and Witlox (2012, p. 687) argue that compact cities are beneficial in reducing commuter distance for employees and residents. This has a corresponding positive effect on reducing emissions. This view corresponds to Hamin and Gurran (2009, p. 238). They, however, recognize loopholes for possible policy conflicts arising from local contributions of such mitigation to climate change. Jensen, Christensen, & Gram-Hanssen, (2011, p.1) argue that the benefits that can be accrued from a com pact city setting are ambiguous. This is in agreement with Gaigne et al who view the benefits as a tradeoff. In another article, Nygard, Cao, Csordas, Larssen, Liu, Strand and Zhang (2012, p. 438) argue that Chinese cities have succeeded in bringing down emissions. This accrues from the congestion that discourages people from driving. Such a model can be replicated to other cities of the world. Mueller and Steiner (2011, p. 94) emphasize the need to exercise equity in formulation of policies for compact cities. They argue that

Saturday, February 1, 2020

The Role of Mass Movement in the World Politics Essay

The Role of Mass Movement in the World Politics - Essay Example The early stages of the War of American Independence appear a notable example of civil disobedience, including mob violence and resistance, which, however, subsequently developed into a full-scale armed conflict (Williams, 1980). Furthermore, the depth of the social crisis in France brought to the French Revolution of 1789 (Breuilly, 1993), which inter alia fully and explicitly demonstrated the potential civil disobedience has for both destruction and creation, as the case might be. A working-class movement in the early 19th-century Britain, named the Luddites, attempted to hold up the â€Å"steady march of capitalism† by destroying and sabotaging the machines that were ousting the workers from their jobs (Richmond, 2012); while the advent of the socialist movement eventually brought the world the 1917 October Revolution, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Cuban missile crisis, etc. Despite some differences – in terms of geography, country-specific grievances and demand s, the outcome, and a scale of impact on the world political system – the above-mentioned cases, along with many others as reviewed in the section below, appear to have two common features. First, civil disobedience had been sparked by existing power relations within a particular spatial and temporal configuration, and second, it was aimed at changing those power relations, thus bringing about disruption for state and society’s modus operandi on a massive scale. This paper is intended to review the history of the Occupy Movement in order to establish the actual motives behind its emergence; which, in turn, could provide some answers in regard to the tenability of capitalist and neo-liberal modes of production, the role and success of mass action in bringing about political change at both national and international levels, and, most notably, the feasibility of a fully functioning democracy. Historical Background In more recent times, there are many examples of mass move ments that played more or less an important, if not decisive, role in the development of the respective states and societies. These include the Non-Cooperation Movement inspired and led by Mohandas ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi in the 1920s (Bakshi, 1988; Brown, 2009), The African-American Civil Rights Movement which operated between 1955 and 1968, and later on gave birth to the Black Power movement (McAdam, 2009), Stephen Biko’s Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa (Gerhart, 1978), the Anti-Vietnam War Movement in the United States (DeBenedetti and Chatfield, 1990), also the 1989 velvet and colour revolutions in Eastern Europe (Sorin and Tismaneanu, 2000), and the so-called ‘Orange Revolution’ in Ukraine that followed the 2004 presidential election, etc. (Gee, 2011).