Solid Waste and Recycling Essay Example for Free

Solid Waste and Recycling Essay Over the years, the demand for effective solid waste management and recycling has drastically risen. This has mainly been due to the fast changing methods of consumerism and drastically increasing populations of towns with time. Lack of long term focus has greatly contributed to the menace as the urban systems are highly dynamic and require visionary establishment that project into the future. The problem has also been exacerbated by poor technology adoption that is necessary for ensuring solid waste is effectively treated. Besides, modern planning systems require greater attention for recycling necessary for ensuring least pollution of environment while maximizing the utility of available materials. Failing to plan has been considered as major step in planning to fail in offering the necessary management of wastes in the major cities (Wilson et al, 2004). Most often, the term solid waste is used to denote municipal solid wastes which include all the wastes that are in non-liquid form generated within an urban setting. They mostly include domestic wastes from the residential areas, business and commercial centers, industrial centers and construction regions within the town jurisdictions. Recycling on the other hand involves focus on the already produced wastes to increase their utility (Eugenie, 2008). It is aimed at bringing different materials back in a useful format though mostly different from the previous one. Urban planning and management interlinks the two concepts as they are directly dependent on each other for effective treatment and management. This paper evaluates solid wastes and recycling as major considerations in urban planning. As a result, it extrapolates solid wastes management aspects necessary for consideration during urban planning. Acting as a structural system, the paper examines the waste stream from production up to disposal with appropriate planning aspects at each stage. Using examples of major cities and towns, effectiveness of solid waste planning and management systems are compared for efficiency. Besides, the paper also explores the possible planning and recycling techniques for solid wastes in the urban areas. In the conclusion, the paper gives recommendations that can be assumed by various urban planners and managers to effectively manage and recycle their wastes. Overview and statistics In US, over 500, 000, 000 tons of solid wastes are generated annually by urban centers. However, only 35% of this waste is recycled while the rest is disposed off. These indicate a strong increase in the recycling capacity of 8% since the year 1990. However, the quantity indicated is much lower as Environmental Protection Agency does not take into consideration of the incinerated solid wastes and that in the illegal landfills. Besides, this waste usually excludes health wastes which are categorized as hazardous wastes. Waste production has been increasing steadily since the onset of industrial revolution. About 0. 979 tons of wastes are disposed annually per person by the US population (Eugenie, 2008). However, the mode of handling the wastes differs greatly as states and towns have varying leadership and management as well as budgetary allocations. To add to that, the attitudes of the people in the major towns determine the suitability of the recycling processes thereby effectively contributing to the sorting out of the solid wastes for recycling process. Majority of the US cities and states have been exporting their wastes to other regions for treatment and disposal. On average, Pennsylvania exports 9,764,000 tons, Virginia 3, 891, 000 tons, Illinois 1, 548, 000, and New York 5, 600, 000 tons. Though this trend has been greatly criticized, it is considered as a better option since majority of the states and towns lack the correct facilities to treat and dispose off their wastes safely (Eugenie, 2008). Solid waste collection and transportation Arguably, town planning has diversified from the previous architectural focus to include new aspects of waste management that have become part of the same entity. Production capacity of an urban center is highly dependent on different factors that must be considered when drawing the management plan. Cognizant of the expansion capacity, the town must be fully equipped to collect various wastes produced in its jurisdictions. As the first step ample means of classifying the production regions and categorization of the same waste must be set in place. This role is usually taken by the Solid waste management departments of the urban managements. Collection of solid wastes acts as one of the most important initial stages as it prevents spread of the same wastes in the areas of production. To effectively manage collection of wastes, Loss Angeles, San Francisco and London have established cooperative mechanisms where they link with the private sector for the collection purposes. However, the private sector operates in a business model that may at times harm the residents of the different cities through increased taxes. Of greater importance, is the transport system for the collected wastes in different regions which has been accused of spreading the wastes collected along the transportation routes. Urban planning for solid wastes should always apply the principle of proximity choice which requires that wastes are treated and/ or disposed at the nearest possible point to reduce transferring related problems to other regions. Transportation for solid wastes should always be carried out in fully enclosed systems as different materials are light and can easily be dispersed away. Since this forms a major point of interaction between the residents and the waste collecting institutions, it is of great importance to ensure that inclusive coordination and cooperation is enhanced for effectiveness. Major towns fail due to lack of effective collection and transportation mechanisms. Of greater concerns have been the plastic bags which have turned the whole solid waste management into a riddle for many towns. Their collection and transportation should therefore be immediate and highly effective. Solid waste treatment

An Assortment of Memories, a Myriad of Histories Essay -- U.S. History

American society has traditionally been referred to as a â€Å"melting pot,† welcoming people of all races, religions, and heritages to enjoy the â€Å"freedom† that only America could provide. That was not always the case, as incidents such as the internment of Japanese Americans at Manzanar and the Lewis and Clark journey along the Columbia River exhibited American racial intolerance and demonstrated the inherent racism of the Manifest Destiny—an ideal upon which this nation was founded. Today, government agencies such as the National Park Service (NPS) aim to repair the United States’ negative reputation by creating national historic sites, which serve as either a celebration of American history or an apologetic reminder of events that can never happen again. In regards to these sites, the NPS sees its role as â€Å"a powerful shaper of historical images and messages,† capable of â€Å"determining, creating, and memorializing history for all Ame ricans† (Hayashi 53). I argue that the single shared history for all Americans that this statement suggests cannot exist. These American historical sites—manifestations of the history the National Park Service aims to express—present false equations of indigenous and immigrant experience in this country, representing versions of history and heritage that are not equivalent in past temporal scale and present cultural consequence. The erection of two historical sites—California’s Manzanar and the Confluence Project along the Columbia River—exemplify the false equation of immigrant, indigenous, and settler experience in the United States. Upon analysis of these sites, we will see that the history portrayed there cannot be called a shared history because of the truly imbalanced way in which history is actually ... ...that makes up the American melting pot. â€Æ' Bibliography Confluence Project â€Å"The Confluence Project.† Last Modified 2012. Confluence Project Journey Book â€Å"The Confluence Project Journey Book.† Last Modified 2009. Daehnke, John 2012 The Confluence Project (lecture notes). Stanford IHUM 40B Class, May 1. Hayashi, Robert T. 2003 Transfigured Patterns: Contesting Memories at the Manzanar National Historic Site. In The Public Historian 25(4). Pp. 51-71. Berkeley: Regents of the University of California and the National Council on Public History. National Park Service â€Å"Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.† Last Modified April 23, 2012. . National Park Service â€Å"Manzanar.† Last Modified April 4, 2012. .

Nature of Reality Essay

Reality is what you want it to be. Reality is a term that is used loosely, but comes in many different variations. There has never been or never will be one way to interpret reality, as it is built up of beliefs and values which vary from person to person. The true nature of reality is merely an illusion; it is the universe which exists in the mind. George Orwell develops this idea in the novel 1984 as he suggests that the true nature of reality is not defined by its validity but an outcome of society’s influences, and the boundaries of reality are constructed by the boundaries of imagination. Reality for a group or individual is not built up of truths; rather it is built up of what is believed to be true or factual. The citizens of Oceania lacked basic human rights. They worked long hours, no sense of privacy, and clearly deprived of any happiness. It would be logical to assume that this form of government is cruel and rebellion would spread like wild fire, but the citizens o f Oceania firmly believe that Big Brother is taking care of them. The reason they believe this is because they have no way to access any other source of information so they are left to accept what is told by the party. This one hundred percent belief that they are being taken care of clearly defines the reality of the citizens of Oceania, but has no validity to it. Winston starts realizing this when he reads a children’s book and says â€Å"In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make the claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of the experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy.† This is the point where he starts realizing that the reality in which the party instills in the citizens of Oceania clearly is not based on logic (2+2=5) but is still enthusiastically accepted by the people. Humans are social creatures, we learn socially and through second hand knowledge passed down from society. So it makes sense to believe that the building blocks of reality, the beliefs and values which make it whole, are hugely influenced by the beliefs and values that society allows to be instilled. The Nazi rule of Germany during WWII will always be remembered as one of the darkest periods in human history. Many of the values that Hitler instilled and forced upon the citizens of Germany share the same concept in which Big Brother spread their values of hate and control, making them perfect  examples of each other. For both Nazi Germany and Oceania its citizens accepted the reality which practiced hate and scapegoat toward the enemy, ideas that would seem crazy in modern society and which would never be tolerated. So in Nazi Germany, why were these ideas so widely accepted? The citizens of Germany were surrounded by propaganda, the society in which they lived made it acceptable to act like that and enforced it, making the people believe that it’s the right way to think and believe, thus creating their reality. This is exactly the same way in which the party gained such control over the human mind, surrounding the people with propaganda hate, and nothing else, brainwashing the people to believe that it is the values reflected by the party is the most acceptable, and only way to act. When it comes down to it, the true boundaries of reality are defined by what is comprehensible by the human mind, also known as the imagination. The extent of the imagination stretches out as far as what has been seen or felt. It is impossible to know exactly what it would feel like to be on Pluto. Why? This is because nobody has ever had the experience of living on Pluto. The citizens of Oceania are completely oblivious of the outside world. The only knowledge they have is that which the party as allowed them to know. This is why in the middle of hate week, when Oceania switches allies the people blamed Emmanuel Goldstein for all of the negative propaganda about Eurasia. This is clearly another lie which the party fabricates to suck the citizens of Oceania into the negativity of their reality. This is not questioned though because the only experience the people have in terms of what they have seen or felt has been controlled by the party, so whatever the beliefs values or decisions the party reflects, no matter how ridiculous, will be enthusiastically accepted by the people. When Winston goes on about his love affair with Julia, he makes love to her and his mind opens up to the true pleasures of life. The party publicizes the idea that sex is a completely pleasure less act and should only occur with intent for reproduction. When Winston makes love to her it opens his mind up to what is possible beyond what the party is telling them. So why did this happen? Winston went through an experience which was out of the ordinary, which opened up his imagination and logically magnified his rebellion against the party because he came to the realization that there is more to life than what the party is allowing them to know. These limits of reality are defined  by how far the imagination can really stretch. George Orwell does a fantastic job exemplifying the true meaning of reality. The idea that reality is merely an outcome of experience and knowledge and nothing else is exaggerated by the totalitarian rule of Big Brother and the complete control of Oceania citizens. The belief that present reality is completely valid does make it reality, even if it is not completely factual. This was shown by the residents of Oceania as it was obvious they were being fed lies but accepted with no question. Everything that is inside your reality has been influenced by society, whether it is known or not, it is impossible to control, but what really restricts reality is imagination. If the citizens of Oceania were exposed to anything other than the beliefs and values of the party, there is no way that they would act and respond to it the same way as their reality would open up to new possibilities. Considering all of this, there is no way to know what is really true and whether what we believe and value is right or wrong. We may be living in a reality in which many possibilities of life are hidden, just in the way that freedom was hidden from Oceania.

What Is Human Resources Management

Any organization is as good and competent as the people it is comprised of. Some would say that with the advent of technological era the role of human being in production of goods is steadily on the decline – that is, machines and high-tech tools replace people in their traditional roles. However, if anything it even increases the role of every human being – although it is quite possible to replace man with machine in a position of manual labor, there will always be need in people performing creative and intellectual tasks. And Human Resources Management, or HRM, is the function that looks after this issue. In a nutshell, the chief task of HRM is to recruit new employees, manage the already recruited ones and provide direction and development for them. However, nowadays it is much more than the department that deals with hiring and firing – HRM is supposed to look after the company’s employees, make sure they are motivated to do their best for the company’s sake, define perks and benefits they are to receive in order to make sure they don’t want to leave, manage their general performance, define new ways the entire organization may develop in future, deal with health and safety issues, define training programs that will increase the value of employees. In addition to that, HRM defines the overall corporate culture in what concerns relationships between the company and the employee, with the main goal being to provide a work environment that would be optimal for maximum performance, fulfillment and job satisfaction on the part of the employee. Truly effective HRM makes sure both the company and its employees are satisfied: employees get good jobs they wouldn’t want to change, self-fulfillment they won’t find in other companies and feeling of being in their right place, and the company gets highly productive, happy and efficient employees who are in no hurry to leave and are going to increase the value of the company in the long run. All in all, proper HRM aims at using the available limited workforce in the most efficient way possible, increases its amount when necessary while constantly working on improving its quality. There is yet another function that falls within HRM’s jurisdiction – disputes and problem-solving. No matter how good the general relationships between employees and the company are, how respectful the company is towards its members, how careful it is about selecting candidates for the jobs, there will be problems. It is HRM’s job to make sure there are as few of them as possible, but they cannot be ruled out altogether. In case of disputes between the company and the employee HRM should, on the one hand, aim at resolving them peacefully, and on the other – has to be prepared for aggression, i.e., maintain compliance with local, federal and state labor laws and communicate with employees on all levels in order to, if possible, prevent the escalation of problematic situation. While HRM is often perceived as a secondary function of any organization (after all, it hasn’t been created for the reason of moving its own employees around), its importance can hardly be overestimated. Although they may not be immediately evident, HRM mistakes may bring about a host of problems ranging from annoying to catastrophic. High turnover rate, low productivity, discontent among the employees, lawsuits due to discriminatory actions or implementation of unsafe practices, general incompetence – all this and more is a result of poorly organized HRM. Thus, it can be said that although HRM is always in the shadow of organization’s primary function and goal, it is what, to a very large extent, determines its effectiveness.