Interpersonal Relationships free essay sample

Interpersonal relationships can either be defensive or supportive. I find myself being both very many times because I can see things in all different aspects. I try to put myself in the persons shoes in order to determine what would be best in my eyes, A supportive relationship is one where you back up the persons ideas and actions. I believe a manager must always have a supportive relationship with their boss in order to enforce rules in the workplace. If the manager does not enforce their supervisor’s rules then things would go very wrong. A defensive relationship is something we see very often because we all have different opinions. In the workplace especially when working in the healthcare field being defensive can be mistaken for aggression. Having a defensive relationship means that although you work together you have different views and they are expressed. I had a meeting last week where I actually had to speak defensively towards the CEO of the company. We will write a custom essay sample on Interpersonal Relationships or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Our quota was being held against us in a manner that I did not agree with and I advised the manager. Since she did not acknowledge my suggestion I brought it up in our meeting and not only was I acknowledged our quotas are being reviewed. Part of being a successful communicator whether it is defensive or supportive is being assertive. Being assertive is essential in our daily lives especially in the workplace. There are plenty of times when we are trying to submit claims to the insurance company but they require more information. Many times we try to request more information such as letter of medical necessities from the doctors and they refuse because they feel they documented enough. Because we work for them we are not allowed to tell them what to do but this is when being assertive comes in. You advise the doctor that the insurance company is requesting more information than what is in the medical records and that if the letter is not done by a certain time the insurance company will not pay for the services that were rendered. Being assertive means being straight forward and strong with your style of communication without being aggressive or demeaning. Being assertive is like demanding something without the umpgh. I believe I effectively communicate within my interpersonal relationships. I always am assertive when speaking. I stand my ground and make my point clear and aggression is rarely ever used. I do defend my ideas and my points fully with everyone I speak to. Even at home I do not yell at my son unless he has done something truly incorrect. I always talk to him and show him right from wrong and explain why things should be done a certain way. Interpersonal relationships are essential in life. We all need to work together in our everyday lives in order to accommodate one another and not to offend anyone. In the healthcare field we all have the same goals and that is to make sure that the patient gets the care they need while the insurance companies pay the claims for our doctors. The healthcare field is filled with interpersonal relationships. We all depend on one another in order to do our job correctly. The doctor needs the nurse the nurse needs the front desk and everyone needs the billers. In the healthcare field we must use our confidence in order to be assertive. Being confident means knowing and standing for what you believe is right and expressing that. Being assertive means standing your ground without proof and without being aggressive. Although I believe being assertive works much better when there is proof because it shows that you researched what you are discussing. Assertiveness is a need in any field because you must speak your mind in order to communicate effectively and if you work in the healthcare field than being assertive will make you a very successful healthcare professional. Interpersonal Relationships free essay sample Establishing a close relationship with another person appears to be one of the major contributors to happiness. This chapter first distinguishes between interpersonal relationships and impersonal ones. Basically, what makes a relationship interpersonal is interdependency, since in impersonal relationships the communicators are independent. Furthermore, in impersonal relationships, the social role of the person governs, whereas in personal interactions the psychological uniqueness of each person leads the communication. This psychological data characterizes interpersonal relationships. Second comes the explanatory knowledge, where a person becomes able to predict and explain the other’s behavior rather than just describing it. The third factor is the personally established rules stating that interpersonal relationships should go beyond rules of interactions set by social norms, to rules set by the communicators themselves. Adding to those differences, the author sheds light on relationships’ benefits and inconveniences in general. Some improvements are that interpersonal affiliations help alleviate loneliness, gain self-knowledge, enhance self-esteem, maximize pleasure and minimize pain. We will write a custom essay sample on Interpersonal Relationships or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Some of the drawbacks is that those connections put pressure on the partners to reveal themselves, impose significant financial, emotional and temporal obligations. It may also lead to isolation from former friends and present difficulties in dissolving. Next, the chapter discusses a stage model for relationships, providing a general description of their development. It mainly applies in face-to-face relationships. -Contact: it is somewhat a perceptual contact, where one forms a physical and a mental picture of the other, and then initiates an interactional contact through exchanging basic and superficial information and impressions. 2-Involvement: one mutually connects with the other by trying to learn more about him/her. It starts with a testing phase to prove your previous judgments right or wrong. Then goes to reveal oneself in order to intensify the relationship. 3-Intimacy: commitment takes place; the other person becomes the closest companion. Interpersonal commitment is a private one, however the social bonding is when the commitment is made public. The lifetime partnership decided upon in this stage involves three anxieties: security (worries about unfaithfulness), fulfillment (worries about not having an equal relationship) and excitement anxiety (worries about routine and lack of freedom). 4-Deterioration: it is the weakening if the bonds due to intrapersonal dissatisfaction leading to interpersonal deterioration when the two mates grow farther away. The breadth (number of topics relevant to discuss) and depth (degree of personalness) reverse themselves, and conflicts become more common and difficult to resolve. 5-Repair: some partners may try to repair their relationships after deterioration. At first, an intrapersonal repair is needed to analyze what went wrong, and then discuss it with the companion in interpersonal repair. The couple ought to negotiate new agreements and behaviors. 6-Dissolution: here, the bonds are definitely broken. Each begins to manage a separate life, either alone or with someone else, it is an interpersonal separation. Then the separation becomes publicly known once it officially fails every repair. It is important to note the following: -The model is certainly not the only way to look at relationships. -All relationships can be defined by opposite desires that influence the movement from one stage to another. (autonomy vs connection, novelty vs predictability, closeness vs openness) -Each stage offers the opportunity to exit the relationship. Movement through each stage is a gradual process. -Movement from one stage to another largely depends on the communication skills a person has. Moreover, culture and technology affect or even govern relationships. In some cultures, the lifetime partner is chosen by the parents, to satisfy certain family interests. This shows how culture influences the relationship’s purposes and values. It also sets rules for the rights to end a relationship. (C atholicism for example forbids divorce once there are children) and it shapes principles towards accepting or not same-sex unions. As for technology, it has now assumed a major role in developing and maintaining interpersonal relationships. Nonetheless, online relationships have advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, they are safe, they are based on the person’s personality instead of the looks, self disclosure is mainly the road to intimacy, they prone trust and honesty and are an efficient tool for shy people and people with disfigurements to establish relationships. On the other hand, the Net obviously gives opportunity to lie and share unauthentic information, a whole fake identity can easily be made up.

The Day That Changed America essays

The Day That Changed America essays September 11th Two thousand one. Lives were lost, freedom was challenged, and two symbols of liberty were left in ruins. On this very quiet morning of this horrible day, the United States of America was caught off guard. This was the day that changed us all forever. This caused millions of Americans to stop and realize that we were not invincible like we had been trained to think. This was the very day that I realized that there are more important things than what I want. When I first heard that this had happened, I was eating lunch outside. It was my friend that had told me what had happened. And of course not realizing the situation... I went on with lunch laughing and telling jokes as usual. It was little after that I was in for a pretty awful surprise. When I walked into my third period class, I had seen the pentagon burning on one half of the T.V screen and the World Trade Centers which had fallen by this point, in ruins. My stomach had turned inside our and I had a very awful feeling. By fourth period, I was very scared about what else these dirty, evil people were capable of, and being so close to White Sands Missile Range, and knowing that my dad was a State Police officer, I knew that if something ever happened like that, he would be one of the first ones there because thats the kind of man he is. And with that in my head I felt nothing but worry and sorrow for the children whose fathers were lost trying to save others. Till this very day, I still have very deep feelings for those people and I really do wish them the best in life. I could imagine what they have been through but I do know how it feels when your freedom is challenged. And I hope I never have to feel it again. Everybody who put their life on the line that day is considered a hero in my heart and I ...

End of like care in the United States Current Reality and futrue Essay

End of like care in the United States Current Reality and futrue Promise A policy review - Essay Example With age, serious health complications arise. Given the general body weakness and poor immunity, most chronic diseases are terminal to the old. Previous research has proven that open discussion on care treatment between patient and doctor improved the patient satisfaction among the elderly. The old experience less fear and anxiety, they feel an appreciation towards their wishes, and it provides them the opportunity to die with dignity. On the other hand, end life care can be a serious burden to the elderly suffering from chronic illness, it prolongs pain and suffering. It is also a heavy burden when bills ought to be paid to prolong the life that will soon end (Giovanni, 135). Most women than men experience end of life care due to their prolonged life span as compared to the male counter parts, as a result, most elderly women than men end up in nursing homes or homes for the elderly. The negative impact in this is the fact that a majority of this women end up widowed and alone (Giovanni, 135). A majority of the old individuals suffer from cognitive impairment; a condition characterized by memory problems beyond the expected aging process. End of life care program provide the necessary understanding and facilitate memory gain. A majority of the unaware would not handle the situation in the same manner. Older adults dying in countryside areas due to chronic illness are many due to the limited access of health care facilities, lack of transportation, limited social services, and lack of adequate housing. The benefits arising from end of life care to this category of the elderly include household care and respite care (Giovanni, 135). The elderly managed to receive medication and support from any

Internet Marketing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Internet Marketing - Assignment Example Source from website: http://www.toshiba.co.uk/about/index.html Toshiba's strategy has been to support from behind and offer its executives sufficient responsibility in the local offices. It is an enormously focussed and transparent and its commitment to excellence has held it in good stead. Toshiba has products in varied domains. Its primary domain comprises of notebook computer and related equipment and peripherals, mobile phones, home entertainment segment with AV equipment, including digital and flat panel TVs, and portable personal equipment and home appliances. Its major competitors would be Dell, Hp and Compaq in the notebook segments, Sony in home entertainment sector, flat panel TV's and PDA's by Dell. Customers would be retailers and individual consumers. This is a mass marketing segment over the Internet and these target consumers are more probable to end up in a purchase. They are very strong market players in electronic devices & components consisting of semiconductors, electron tubes, opto-electronic devices, LCDs, batteries, printed circuits boards, etc., but it is a more niche marketing segment which may or may not end up doing the purchase over the Internet. Consumers would include high technology operators and business. Another stable sector for Toshiba is the domain that sells industrial apparatus, power generating equipment, transportation equipment, social automation equipment, telecommunication systems, broadcasting systems, elevators & escalators, medical systems, etc. The target segment would be hospitals and medical facilities, municipalities, universities, commercial construction companies. The purchasing power of these consumers need to be very high and often these decisions a thorough product evaluation that may not be possible through the website. The website will be more of a product introduction that may lead to a purchase through an agent after product observation. Evaluation of the site The website is a part of the integrated marketing approach of Toshiba. With the number of Internet users exploding, it is imperative that the website is utilized to generate awareness and business for the company. The website scores on theses counts. It is very well laid out. The look of it is clean and it plays a great part in enhancing the brand and the company, to the professional image they portray. There is consistency in the presentation of information and common standards are maintained in the presentation of the information throughout. The site has a complete list of all the company's products, product information and registration, owner's manuals and service information as well as enabling consumers to purchase accessories and news releases pertaining to the segment. The look and feel of the site is also very simple and seems to encompass all of Toshiba's marketing disciplines. There is sufficient information for the knowledgeable buyer and there were no error messages encountered through the time it was navigated. It is easily navigable and quite user friendly. However, the site seems to have an overload of information and the product categories are all listed together. An individual consumer and the products he wants to buy are very different from a business and

Daoism: The Opposite Of Confucianism

Daoism: The Opposite Of Confucianism Daoism is the reverse and opposite with Confucianism. Actually Diaosim is a religion in which people separate himself from World, Society and live himself in the very small community in a very simple way. Followers never attachà © themselves in any political affairs. These people keep just away from worldly issues .These people follows the Doctrine of Wei-Wei in which they know what to do and how to act. In Confucisum the people believe in peace and harmony buy by doing it they are supposed to involve in the political affairs and become nonviolent person. Daoism is a disciplined organized and systematic religious tradition that has been continuously developing and transforming itself through across Korea , Japan and China for some 2000 years. Now a days it has spread across globe among its followers which includes whole range of ethinicities and cultural backgrounds.Daoism is not having any founder like Buddha, Jesus nor having any key message like gospel or four noble truths.Rather Daoism is having a history of continuous self improvement , self invention. Daoism can be divided in 4 periods:- Proto Daoism Classical Daoism Modern Daoism Contemporary Daoism Daoism is having three core values as:- Simplicity Compassion Humility Above are obtained only by constantly practicing the state of No Mind or Wuji or Emptyness during mediation. The more a person practices Wuji or No Mind. The more of these virtues satisfy themselves of their own accord. The term No-Mind does not mean to be without a mind or to be absent mined. The term no Mind originates from Taoist background and was used by Buddhist. Chan had translated it as no deliberate mind of ones own or no mind of ones own and in a Buddhist Context as the non being of mind. The term No-Mind is never meant nor intended to leave us with the impression that no-mind is never meant nor intended to leave us with the impression that no-mind is against direct inution or awakening to something transdecent. A more pithy meaning for no-mind is no discriminating mind. Such a no discriminating mind is the same as True-Mind. In fact the treatise says : Treatise. says as Indeed , no-mind is nothing other than true mind. Further on the treatise says What is called no-mind is nothing other than a mind free from deluded thought. Answer-2 Buddhism was beginned in India in the 6th century B.C. with the birth of Siddhartha Gautam. In the start when siddharta was born, a sage predicted that he would become a great holy man and teacher. Buddha four noble truths are:- Desire is destroyable Existence is unhappiness Unhappiness is caused by self-fish desire or craving Buddhist observes the Ten Percepts as:- No Killing, Stealing, Lying, Unchaste Acts, Intoxicants ,Gossip, Covetousness, Anger, Idle Pride or Insulting the Buddha or his teachings. No mind or No Thought is delusion free state the supreme enlightment. Only by achievement supreme enhightelement by eliminating even the tiniest from Alayavijna , does not attains no mind and it is when one becomes as Buddha. Sentient being ranging from micro organism at the 7th level of sainthood lives inside the realm of the conscious. Bodhitsav which is above that level and who have attained universal enlightment live in the world of the unconscious. What is No Mind? Let understand in this way -Use Mirror as an analogy because mirror is used in Buddhism in explaining Fundamental Mind, Fundamental Nature, and Original Face. Think delusions as dust, no mind as natural state of mirror. Here that mirror which is spotless is Buddha Nature, Fundamental Nature, and Original Face. No mind can also be described in the term of non extinguishing, non producing. Nonextigush is the phase and state of great ray light of wisdom and non producing is the state without trace of dilusion. Nonproducing is non extinguish is the light and tranquil. If you dust off the mirror, you have this natural state. Answer-3 Hui Neng was a influential figure in the Budhhist History. Neng is the famous sixth patriarch of the mediation tradition or chan , In Japaneese it is called as Zen. According to Hui-Neng :- Inborn mind and Active Mind both are same. Clean Mirror and Dusty Mirror both are same. There is no mind, Mind is not a substance. Since there is no mind as substance, there is nothing to get dirty. Hue Neng refers the metaphor of mind as sun surrounded and covered by clouds. Someone just needs to only clear away the clouds to discover the mind shine brightly. Nonproducing is non extinguish is the light and tranquil. If you dust off the Quanzhen ( Full Perfection) school which was a monastic sect that originated in the 12th Century. It Quanzhen sect indicates blatant Chan effect from its view and code of regulations meditation techniques and layout of its monastic compounds. Wang Chongyang the founder of school along with his insistence and cryptic teaching style on diligent practice for all times, it could even be one of the Huineng disciples. Hui Neng followed method as There is no Bodhi Tree and no stand of mirror bright. Since all is void, where can the dust alight? Hui Neng method refers as roughly, with realization that everything is void.It reduces the realization that there is nothing in the way of enlightment so nothing that needs to be done away with or got through we dont do something to attain unimpeded expression of themselves, while we do nothing. By doing nothing, it means that we stop doing what it was we did before that stopped self realization.

Environmental Revolution

The Next Step Broad Social Change Through Personal Commitment Introduction In the last thirty years, America has witnessed an environmental revolution. New laws like the 1963 Clean Air Act and the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act forged new ground in political environmentalism. Social phenomena like Earth Day, organized by Dennis Hayes in 1970, and the beginning of large-scale recycling, marked by Oregon's 1972 Bottle Bill, have help change the way Americans think about the environment. As we approach the third millennium, however, we must reconsider our place on the planet and reflect on our efforts and progress towards a sustainable society. As global warming becomes a scientific reality, natural disasters make monthly appearances in the headlines, and communities continue to find their ground-water contaminated by industrial and nuclear waste, we must ask ourselves: are we doing enough? The environmental movement in the past has largely been a social and political phenomenon. While many of us recycle (yet still only 35 percent of us) and take dead batteries to our town's Hazardous Waste Day, most Americans have not made the environment a personal issue. Very few of us have taken the kind of personal life-changing steps that are necessary to create an environmentally sustainable society. It is simply naive to believe that America's present rates of consumption, waste production, and environmental contamination are sustainable. The kind of social change required can only happen when we as individuals embrace the effort in our everyday lives. Only then will corporate America and the government realize that they too must change to maintain their customer base and public support. This kind of personal commitment to change would also create a new social ethic based on the environment under which people and companies who do not care for the earth would be held socially and financially responsible. In six parts, this article will re-examine our place in the environmental movement and investigate exactly what changes we can make in our personal lives to bring about positive change. These areas are transportation, energy, recycling and waste management, toxins and pollution, food, and water. Some of the changes discussed will require sacrifice. But, more important, these changes will often simplify our lives, bring our families and communities closer together, and help us to better understand, revere, and coexist with the world upon which each of us is directly dependent. Transportation The invention of the automobile is one of history's greatest environmental disasters. The automobile decentralized our society. People with cars moved out of the city and drove to work from their suburban homes. Before the automobile, agriculture was local. Food was grown by farmers living in what was soon to be the suburbs, and delivered fresh to markets in the cities. Because of the short distance food had to travel, farmers didn't need to add preservatives or other additives to maintain freshness. Clearly, the automobile, like other harmful inventions, makes our lives easier in many ways, but how often do we consider the environment when weighing these benefits? Fossil fuels account for the automobile's most significant effect on the environment. Not only are the emissions from cars and trucks toxic to every air-breathing organism, but every step of the fossil fuel process, from extraction to disposal, is bad for the environment. According to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), millions of gallons of untreated water contaminated by the drilling processes are dumped into waterways and oceans annually. Once extracted, fossil fuels are frequently refined on site, burying 179 million tons of toxic waste annually. During transport, an average of 1 million gallons of oil is spilled into the ocean each month. Upon arrival, fossil fuels are usually burned in automobiles or power plants. The average coal-burning power plant burns about 10,000 tons of coal in a single day. With even a low estimate of five per cent waste, that leaves 500 tons of toxic waste produced each day by a single power plant. If used in cars, oil must be refined further, wasting more energy and creating more toxic waste before drivers purchase it. The combustion engines used in cars and trucks emit toxic gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect and acid rain, deplete the ozone layer, and create more than 50% of the smog producing toxins that city-dwellers breathe every day. Even if we disregard the environmental damage caused by fossil fuels, we should recognize that, as a non-renewable energy source, the earth's reserves will eventually run out. Hundreds of millions of years of organic decomposition will be wiped out in a single century. Conservative estimates say we have 30 to 50 years left of oil use. With more and more developing nations rapidly increasing their use of fossil fuels, and the continuing growth rate of fossil fuel use at four times the population growth, our time with fossil fuels could be significantly less. Just imagine the economic and political upheaval a major oil shortage would cause. Simply put, the country that depends on fossil fuels the least will be the most likely to survive the economic strife and wars resulting from global depletion. Fossil fuel consumption is deeply entrenched in the American mode of life. We rely on automobiles for almost all of our transportation needs, enjoy motor boats and jet skis on our vacations, and use gas-burning engines in most of the tools we use in the yard. (Although electricity is another major consumer source of fossil fuel consumption, that will be discussed in the Energy section. Yet we can make numerous changes in our lifestyle that will significantly decrease our personal consumption of fossil fuels. Let's return to America's biggest weakness: the automobile. Simply not driving is the best and most obvious solution to the problem of automobiles. Americans have gotten used to their cars and seldom walk or bicycle even short distances. Gym class became a federal requirement in the 1930s because students were being driven or riding busses to school instead of walking. Americans have also become significantly more overweight since we started driving. Consider your Saturday errands around town. Most errands we make are to destinations less than a few miles away and frequently involve dropping off or picking up something small. These kinds of errands can just as easily be accomplished by walking or bicycling. Your body will thank you, and so will the environment. Public transport, if available, is also a great way to stay out of the car. Consider an area's public transportation system in choosing a place to live, as some cities have significantly better systems than others. When your destination is too far to walk or bicycle, there are still numerous ways to minimize the use of automobiles. If you drive to work, find other people at your company or other companies near you that live in your town and start a carpool. Even carpooling once in a while makes a difference, so don't get discouraged by occasional scheduling conflicts or other obstacles. When running errands, plan ahead to consolidate them into one trip and consider the most efficient route. If possible, park in a central location and walk to multiple destinations. Ask a neighbor or friend if they need to go out (everybody has to go to the grocery store, for example), and share a ride. For every ride you share, the fuel consumption and emissions for that trip are cut in half. There are also many ways that your driving habits effect the fuel efficiency of your car. Try to avoid fast accelerations, for instance. They use significantly more fuel than gradual accelerations. Likewise, avoid driving at excessive speeds. Every car engine has an RPM (revolutions per minute) at which optimal fuel economy is achieved; you'll find it in your car's manual. Check your tachometer and try to maintain that RPM while driving. Minimizing the work-load on your car is another way to increase fuel economy. Remove any unnecessary heavy objects from the car, and avoid using the air conditioner when possible. Finally, turn off your engine if you expect to be idle for even a short while. Starting a modern fuel-injected car uses less gas than idling for 30 seconds. Did you know that warming up your car by letting it idle in the driveway in cold weather actually causes engine damage? This is also when your car's emissions are at their worst. The best and fastest way to heat up a car is by driving it. When it's time to buy a new car, there are many ecological alternatives to the gas guzzling beasts typically driven by Americans. Many compact cars on the market today achieve stunning fuel economy. The four-wheel-drive trucks so popular in today's market get comparatively bad gas mileage and usually carry one person over a paved road. Buy the smallest car you can, and don't buy a larger car for infrequent needs-consider buying a used trailer for infrequent cargo hauls. If you've been putting off the purchase of a motorcycle as whimsical, think again. Many motorcycles (and scooters in particular) achieve significantly better fuel economy compared to even the most fuel-efficient cars, resulting in less over-all consumption and emissions. Maintenance is the final step in minimizing the environmental impact of automobiles. Modern cars have very sophisticated emissions systems and engines that must be finely tuned to achieve maximum efficiency. Regular check-ups for your car will protect your investment and ensure the car is in its best possible working order. The longer you keep your car, the more value from it you receive and the less waste is created and energy spent in the production of a new car. If you have to commute to work every day, consider an electric car. Electric cars have come a long way in price, distance and efficiency, and will soon be available from large manufacturers like Ford and Toyota. Several small companies around the country convert small gas powered cars and trucks to electric, zero-emissions vehicles and sell them for slightly more than a gas-powered car. As electric cars become more common and are manufactured on a large scale, their prices will drop significantly. Many hobbyists, with no prior automotive or electrical expertise, have created their own electric cars from their used gas-powered vehicles. Check your local library for one of the many conversion guides available. Today's electric cars take about four hours to charge, plugged into a standard outlet, and can go anywhere from 50 to 200 miles on a single charge. While you wouldn't want to take an electric car across the country (though this has been done), their distance per charge is plenty for a typical commuter to get to work and back. Most electric car owners keep a gas-powered car around for longer trips. Owners of electric cars generally find the increase in their electric bill minimal compared to the amount they save in gasoline. While electric cars create no emissions themselves, and create almost no waste (even the batteries are recyclable), the electric company is still burning fossil fuels to create the electricity needed to charge the car. Nevertheless, electric companies are capable of converting fossil fuels to energy much more efficiently and with fewer emissions than a gas-powered car. Electric cars also leave room for improvement in any method of large-scale energy production, such as biomass, hydro, and solar (see the Energy section). This section has focused primarily on cars, but Americans also use many other gas-powered engines. The small engines in motor boats and lawn equipment do not have to meet the emissions standards of cars, and thus, emit far more toxins into the air. Consider using a quiet, powerless mulching mower on your lawn if you have one, and an electric weed whacker rather than one that is gas powered. If you enjoy the water, consider learning to sail rather than motoring. Motorized water vehicles not only emit air pollution, they also pollute the water, contribute to sound pollution, and injure fish and other animals in the water. Energy in the Home Automobiles are not the only consumers of fossil fuels or sources of air pollution stemming from our personal lives. According to the EPA, furnaces, hot water heaters, and other fossil fuel burning appliances in American homes produce 20% of all U. S. carbon dioxide, 26% of sulfur dioxide, and 15% of nitrogen oxide emissions, the leading causes of acid rain and global warming. Note that these figures do not take into consideration the power our homes draw from fossil fuel-burning power plants. By making our homes as energy-efficient as possible and minimizing our personal use of electricity, we can significantly reduce our personal impact on the environment. The main sources of power consumption in our homes are the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Maintaining, repairing, or upgrading these systems will not only save us money, but also reduce the amount of energy needed to run our homes on a day-to-day basis. The EPA's Energy Star Homes program brings environmentally aware developers and manufacturers together to build homes that are better insulated and utilize 90% efficiency or better HVAC systems. If you are looking to build a new home, call their toll-free hotline, (888) STAR-YES, for literature, or save paper and visit their Internet site at www. epa. gov for more information. Unfortunately, building new homes is not an environmentally sound thing to do. New homes require previously undeveloped land or disposal of the property's old construction. Further, new wood and materials must be used unless costly measures are taken to restore materials from an old construction. Beyond environmentally unsound, new construction is many times more expensive and time-consuming than renovation and repair of most existing houses. Even if your house is too costly to upgrade, consider buying an already renovated house or one easily renovated before building new construction. A furnace using heating oil, natural gas, or electricity heats most American homes. Still others use a wood or pellet stove. Of these, electricity is by far the least efficient. One truth of energy conservation is that electricity should not be used to produce heat, whether in a stove, water heater, or central heating. The exception to this is the microwave, which is the most efficient way to heat small amounts of food. Edward Harland's book, ECO~RENOVATION: the ecological home improvement guide, an excellent resource for anyone interested in environmental renovations, provides this revealing chart: Fuel Kg of CO2 Emitted per Useful Kilowatt Delivered (approx. ) Gas 0. 7 Oil 0. 5 Coal 0. 40 Electricity 0. 83 As you can see, electricity is more than twice as polluting as a coal burning furnace. Electricity is even worse if you take into consideration the amount of energy created by nuclear power, which creates nuclear waste instead of carbon dioxide (CO2). There is also a significant amount of energy wasted in cooling power plants and lost in the power grid, which further degrades electricity's viability as an environmentally sound energy source. As the chart shows, natural gas, or methane, is the cleanest burning fuel. While most of the natural gas used in America is drawn from non-renewable reserves, it can be produced renewably through biomass production, a method currently used by China. Methane is produced in massive quantities by decaying waste and agricultural operations, so much that methane is one of the most serious greenhouse gasses. If methane could be captured from these sources, we would be slowing the greenhouse effect and using clean-burning renewable fuel at the same time. For these reasons, if you have an aging or inefficient oil burning furnace, consider converting to an efficient natural gas furnace. Wood or pellet stoves still fuel many homes in America. Wood, if used wisely, is a renewable and relatively clean-burning fuel. While burning wood does produce CO and CO2, new technology allows wood stoves to reuse unspent output by re-burning it before emission. Pellet stoves, quickly replacing log-burning stoves, use pressed recycled paper and wood pulp that look like rabbit pellets. Pellets, while more expensive, are more efficient to burn and take up less space during storage. Before investing in a wood stove, however, be sure to investigate which brands are most efficient and emit the least gases and particulate. Also, wood stoves must be used carefully and maintained properly to avoid inefficient operation, excessive emissions, and leakage of carbon monoxide into the home. The best way to minimize the amount of fuel-produced heat your home requires is to insulate it properly. Insulation is the most important factor in the amount of energy required to heat your home. Consider a hypothetical home with 100% perfect insulation. This home would need to be heated only once, and never again. This puts into perspective the idea that we only need to heat our homes as much as heat escapes to the outside. Most houses in America are poorly insulated at best; only one in four houses have insulated walls. Consider the fuel savings if you increased your home's insulation quality by even 20%, which in many cases is a realistic goal. Initially, insulation costs time and money, but it pays for itself quickly in reduced fuel costs and a warmer, more comfortable home. Unfortunately, the finer points of insulating a home are beyond the scope of this article. An excellent resource on maximizing your home's insulation is Home Insulation by Harry Yost. Your local library should have, if not this book, several books on insulation that will at least get you started. Beyond updating your furnace and insulating your home, consider your personal use of heat in the home. The average American household's temperature during the winter is slowly rising because of increasingly sedentary lifestyles and lighter dress. The healthier we eat and the more exercise we get, the more internal heat our bodies will produce. The more above the outside temperature a home is heated, the less efficient its heating system becomes. If we simply wear more clothes, we will need substantially less heat. Wearing sweaters and slippers, eating nutritious food, and getting plenty of exercise are simple but frequently overlooked ways we can reduce our heating energy needs. Next to furnaces and stoves, the air conditioner is the second most energy-hungry appliance in American homes. Unfortunately, air conditioners rely on lots of electricity, the most polluting form of energy available. The use of air conditioners should be avoided at all costs. If you live in a climate with extreme heat, consider your air conditioner and its placement carefully. The EPA has outlined efficiency standards for most household appliances, air conditioners included. Make sure, if you buy an air conditioner, that it has the EPA's Energy Star mark of approval. This does not mean that the air conditioner is good for the environment, but that it uses its electricity efficiently instead of wasting it as many older models do. If you must have an air conditioner, purchase a small, efficient model and place it in a small, closed-off room where you spend most of your time. Make sure this room does not contain any heat-producing appliances like a washing machine or clothes dryer, and that sunlight does not enter through windows. Under these conditions, air conditioning can be relatively efficient and economical. Central air conditioning, on the other hand, is extremely inefficient and usually goes largely unused. Outside of heating and air conditioning, almost all of the energy used in our homes is electricity. Many Americans take electricity for granted, leaving unused lights and appliances on without thinking. A simple awareness in turning things off can greatly reduce our electric bills. Further, choices can be made in the kinds of lights and appliances we use, and whether they need to be used at all. As for lights, there are several high-efficiency bulbs on the market that, for slightly more money than a typical light bulb, can get by on a fraction of the electricity. Fluorescent lights, for instance, are five times more efficient than incandescent (typical) lights. Standard incandescent light bulbs use electricity to heat a filament that glows to create light, whereas fluorescent lights send very rapid and brief charges of electricity through a filament. The days of flickering long tube fluorescent lights are over. According to Edward Harland, new Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) flicker at more than 20,000 cycles per second (compared to 60 in tube lights), are 30% more energy efficient than tube lights, and come on almost instantly. These lights, while more expensive, will significantly reduce your electricity bill and last five to ten times longer than standard light bulbs. Before even turning on the lights, make the best possible use of natural light in your home. Place your reading chair by a sunny window instead of in a corner facing out a window. Consider adding skylights to your home. These can create a surprising amount of natural light during the day, and contribute to your house's heat during the winter. Mirrors strategically placed on walls can also make better use of light and heat from the sun coming in through the windows. Use only what electric lighting is necessary: low-wattage task lights for individual applications instead of high power lights to illuminate a large area. If you must use outdoor lights, consider purchasing a motion detector that will turn the light on and off only when it senses movement. When purchasing appliances, check to see that they are EPA Energy Star approved. These appliances use energy more efficiently than others. Most refrigerators, for instance, have compressors at their base which produce significant heat and cause the refrigerator to work against itself. During fair weather, consider drying clothes on a line outside instead of using a dryer, which inefficiently uses electricity to heat cold wet clothes. Your clothes will last longer, and you'll see the difference in your electric bill. When undressing at night, ask yourself whether your pants can be worn again before washing. Americans, in particular, tend to balk at this sort of a suggestion. Allowing ourselves to think logically beyond social qualms and customs will allow each of our personal environmental movements to transcend many of our unsustainable habits. If you work in an office or at home, chances are your clothes aren't that dirty at the end of the day. You'll be surprised at the decrease in your weekly laundry load. The last big source of energy consumption in our homes is our favorite appliance of all. The average American household television is on 7 hours and 20 minutes per day, and 98% of all households have at least one television. At 170 watts per hour, that comes to 452,965 watt hours (or 453 kilowatt hours) of television use per year in an average household using one 25†³ television. Look at the breakdown of your electricity bill to put this number into perspective. You'll see that America could save a lot of electricity and money by simply turning off the television. Instead, we can read a book, go for a walk or hike, work in a garden, or talk or play a game with our families. Quite simply, the less television we watch, the richer our lives will be, the less we will spend on electricity, and the more we will be doing for the environment. All of the information in this section has focussed on minimizing the use of energy in the home. Imagine if you could use electricity in your home without burning any fossil fuels and without any monthly electric bills. This is not only possible, but a reality for thousands of Americans. With one initial investment in a photovoltaic system (silicon cells that convert the sun's light into electricity), you can end your dependence on polluting power companies and begin a new life of clean energy self-sufficiency. You can get started with a simple photovoltaic setup for a single zone of your home for less than one thousand dollars, or go all out with a top-of-the-line fully self-sufficient photovoltaic power center for about $13,000. If these prices sound high, consider the savings. If your monthly electric bill is $100, a top-of-the-line system that requires only a moderate degree of energy efficiency would be paid for in less than eleven years. And there is a whole spectrum of cheaper systems that can easily power a typical home. For less than four thousand dollars (paying for itself in about 3 years) the Real Goods Trading Corporation sells a system â€Å"designed to handle all the lighting, entertainment, and small kitchen appliances for a modest, energy-conserving household of one to four people in a full-time home. † This description is taken from the Real Goods Solar Living Source Book, 9th Edition. This seven hundred page tome covers everything from taking care of the land to water conservation and every alternative form of energy from solar to hydro to wind. It is a must-have for anyone who wants to live lightly on the earth, and is available at most major book stores and libraries. Recycling and Waste Management There is no environmentally sound method of dealing with the 200 million tons of municipal solid waste produced in America each year. There are many things we can do, however, to minimize, if not eliminate, our personal 4 1/2lb-a-day contribution to that figure. The now ubiquitous threesome, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, still defines what we all must do to bring our personal trash production down to a sustainable level. With the media and certain high-positioned nay-sayers claiming that recycling is worse for the environment than it is good for it, and laws making recycling just another stupid rule rather than a social imperative, perhaps a redux of America's trash situation is called for. Households and other residences produce 100 of the 200 million tons of annually produced garbage in the United States. Most of that goes to land-fills, where it is covered up (if not purposefully sealed to prevent leakage) and starved of the oxygen needed for biodegradation. Here is just a taste of some garbage statistics from Geoffrey C. Saign's well-researched book, Green Essentials: More than 1/2 of U. S. landfills have closed in the past 10 years, and nearly 1/2 of the remaining 5,800 landfills do not meet federal or state standards for human health and environmental protection. More landfills are being closed as they fail to meet 1993 and 1994 guidelines and as communities resist allowing new landfills in their area; 22 states will run out of landfill capacity within 10 years or less. The nation's 10 largest cities use a land area for their garbage that is larger than the state of Indiana. And this is just landfills. Incineration is quickly becoming the chosen method of dealing with garbage. Incineration actually concentrates the toxicity of garbage by mixing volatile chemicals at high temperatures and reducing its harmless biomass content. Approximately 1/4 of the ashes produced in a typical incinerator escape into the atmosphere, where they combine with the toxic gases emitted to cause acid rain, smog, and global warming. The remaining ashes are highly toxic and dumped in landfills or stored in toxic waste facilities. A few states mix this ash with pavement, where it will slowly decompose and leach into the ground. The simple fact is that most of this waste could be recycled or composted instead of burned or buried. Green Essentials offers this breakdown of garbage ingredients by weight: Ingredient % by weight Alternative disposal methods available Paper and paperboard 34% Recyclable Yard trimmings 20% Compostable Plastic 9% Recyclable Food waste 9% Compostable Metals 8% Recyclable Glass 7% Recyclable Wood 4% Compostable, can be used as fuel Rubber and leather 3% Recyclable (tires) Textiles 2% Donate Other 4% As this chart displays, 58% (not counting the 3% for rubber and leather) of our garbage is recyclable; 33% of the remainder could be composted. That means that 91% of all the garbage produced in this country (that's about 182 million tons annually) could be kept out of incinerators and landfills. Even a fraction of this ideal estimate would have a profound impact on the environment. Despite the amazing potential for waste reduction that recycling makes possible, The New York Times joined the media's misinformed recycling myth extravaganza in their June 30th, 1996 article, â€Å"Recycling is Garbage. From the beginning, pessimists and special-interest industries have spread incorrect â€Å"myths† about recycling. These claims frequently charge (among other things) that landfill space is abundant and cheap; there is no market for recycled goods; and recycling doesn't pay for itself. Consider the facts on these three points: Landfill space has become a precious commodity in the U. S. , with many states paying to export trash to other states or countries. Recall Geoffrey Saign's statement that â€Å"22 states will run out of landfill capacity within 10 years or less. The market for recycled goods, while fluctuating like any burgeoning market, has increased with the amount of recycled goods available to create a powerful new industry. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, â€Å"U. S. pulp paper manufacturers have voluntarily built or expanded more than 45 recycled paper mills in the 1990's, and are projected to spend more than $10 billion on such facilities by the end of the decade. † To argue that recycling doesn't pay for itself is like arguing that landfills and incinerators don't pay for themselves-of course they don't. Recycling plants, even in the industry's infancy, cost about as much to operate as conventional disposal methods, but are considerably more environmentally sound (costing less when environmental damage and cleanup costs are considered) and reduce pollution from manufacturing and mining for new production. Recycling is an easy thing to do, and good habit to get into as many towns and cities are requiring their citizens to recycle by law or charging by the pound for non-recycled garbage. First, find out what your town recycles by calling your local waste management facility. If your town or city doesn't recycle or recycles only a few materials, consider getting a â€Å"recycling-only† dump permit for a near-by pro-recycling town or city. Next, reorganize your home's main trash area to include receptacles for all the different materials you will recycle. Food containers like tin cans and bottles should be rinsed to keep your recycling receptacles from smelling. You'll be amazed at the decrease in waste the next time you take out the trash. If we make a commitment to recycle our garbage, we must support the effort on the other end by buying recycled goods. Many products' packaging claims â€Å"100% recyclable. † This is good, but keep in mind that it doesn't mean the material is recycled. Look for the percentage of â€Å"post-consumer waste† to tell you if it is and how much of is recycled. Recycled products like paper and cardboard have come a long way in quality and price. Seventh Generation, a producer of a full line of 100% recycled and earth-friendly household products, posts a convincing advertisement on the side of their bathroom tissue packages: If every household in the U. S. eplaced just one 4-pack of 430 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissues with 100% recycled ones, we could save 1 million trees, 4. 1 million cubic feet of landfill space (equal to 4,618 full garbage trucks), and 427 million gallons of water (a years supply for 12,300 families of four). About 33% of the garbage we produce, like food scraps and yard trimmings, can be composted. Composting is nature's answer to garbage control, converting organic waste back into the soil it came from. While many people compost to create nutrient-rich soil for their garden, you don't have to be a gardener to compost your organic waste. You should cover your compost pile, but not suffocate it. The organic waste needs plenty of oxygen to feed the microbes that decompose the matter. You can build a box for your compost, or buy one pre-made at your local garden shop. Look for an organic gardening book at your library for instructions on building a

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Essay

Early on in a poet’s career development, influences lead him down the path to be an inspiring poet. One’s family, friends, foreign places they visited, and even other famous poets and authors, often help shape a poet’s professional writing style. In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s case, all of these motivators helped him become interested in writing. At night his mother would read him poems and stories that inspired him even more to write poetry. Henry was raised in a rural area with much open countryside. Henry’s friends pressured him to write one of his most famous poems â€Å"Evangeline†. As a child, Longfellow was very fascinated when he would travel to different places around the world and hear foreigners speak different languages and tell stories in their native tongue. The Author that really influenced him was Washington Irving. Henry said every good poet would have in his possession and use as a tool Irving’s first book. Henry Wad sworth Longfellow can thank his family and peers for helping him develop into one of the most admired poets. â€Å"Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland Maine on February 27, 1807†(Beck 1). Henry was the second son of eight children in his family. His father, Stephen Longfellow, was a prominent lawyer and later a member of Congress. Henry’s mother, Zilpah Wadsworth, was the daughter of a Revolutionary war hero who was Henry’s grandfather that lived in Gorham. Henry lives with his grandfather during school and summer vacation. As Henry grew older, he married a woman named Mary Storer Potter a former classmate at Bowdoin College. In Henry’s second trip to Europe, his life was shaken when his wife Mary died. When this happened Henry spent a whole year in Germany and Switzerland morning his wife’s death. The whole year Henry spent in Germany and Switzerland he didn’t write any poetry at all. After he came back to the United States from Germany and Switzerland, he met a woman named Frances Appleton. Henry proposed to her, however, Frances refused his proposal. â€Å"Frances finally accepted his proposal the following spring ushering in the happiest 18 years of Longfellow’s life†(Beck 1). This marriage with Frances gave Henry new confidence that he never had. In 1861, when the Civil War had just begun, Frances was sealing an envelope when her dress caught on fire. â€Å"Despite her husband desperate attempts to save Frances she died the next day†(Beck 1). After this happened, Longfellow lost the confidence he had gained and again didn’t publish any poetry for the next two years. After all these tragic years Longfellow went through, his health started to fail and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow died March 24, 1882 at the age of 75. He was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Even though Longfellow has died, his legacy still liv es on. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow found inspiration for his poems in the forest, in the sea, and all over Portland, Maine. Henry didn’t just get inspiration for his poems from the environment, he also found inspiration through people he meet and admired. Henry spent school and summer vacations in Gorham, at his grandfather’s house. These times spent with his grandfather were among his most joyous and influential times in his life. His grandfather would tell him stories about the war, Indian fights, legends of that time, and how life was when he was a boy. One of Henry’s poems that were inspired by his grandfather was his first poem called â€Å"The Battle of Lovell’s Pond†. This poem was based on a story about the war that his grandfather told him. Henry’s grandfather was not the only family member that influenced him. At night before Henry would go to sleep his mother would read aloud to him, his brothers, and his sisters. She would read from The High Romance of Ossian, the legendary Gallic hero. This is not the only book that Henry’s mother read to him she also read Washington Irving’s Sketch Book. Henry said that every aspiring poet would have Irving’s first book. Family was not the only people that influenced Longfellow, his friends also influenced him. His friends pressured Henry to write one of his most famous poems â€Å"Evangeline†. Nathaniel Hawthorne influenced Henry’s writing style and some of the content in this poem. Many people have different inspirations in their life and in Henry’s case it was mostly family and friends that helped shape his writing style and subjects. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow made his poetry unique by vividly describing the typical American life by using words and phrases in a musical language that was easy to read and understand. He would frequently write about all the war stories and legends of the time that his grandfather told him as a child. When writing, Henry would use all different types of writing styles. His favorite style was free verse because he was able to tell stories with ease and he was able to describe his poetry in a way a reader could understand and relate to their own life. This is evident in his poem â€Å"The Village Blacksmith† when he writes, â€Å"And children coming home from school Look in at the open door; They love to see the flaming forge, And hear the bellows roar†(Henry 20). When Henry would write in free verse he wasn’t writing a poem based on a story he was writing a poem about his life and how he felt. He would look around at the nature anything around him and write about what he felt inside. Henry was a great writer and was very unique in his own way and that is how he became so famous around the world. Overall it is easy to see that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a very famous and well-loved poet. Longfellow’s life was blessed with happiness and troubled by tragedy. Many times he stopped writing due to depressions however, he managed to return and continue to produce many famous poems. He had many influences and his own unique way of writing his poems using everyday happenings that Americans could relate to easily. His family and his friends influenced him with all the stories that they told him and the many famous literary works that were shared with him. Although Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was influenced by many famous poets and writers he is by far the only American writer of the 19th century to truly capture the culture of the time through his literary works.