Free and Fair Elections - Canadian Politics Essay

Free and Fair Elections - Canadian Politics - Essay Example Though the Canadian electoral system to a large extent affiliates to many democratic imperatives like being a representative democracy where the legislative office is decided through popular competitive elections, a political system that affiliates to a multiparty system of democracy, accrual of a range of political choices to the voters, and a reasonably fair and transparent system of governance, still, it will be unfair to conclude that all is well with the Canadian electoral system. ... First past the post system first and foremost is quiet simple and straightforward. Thereby such an electoral system is easy and economical to execute and in no way bothers the people who cannot understand the more complex electoral systems.5 First past the post system is also economical in terms of time in the sense that it takes only a few hours to count the total number of votes and the results could be declared at the earliest.6 This system of electioneering tends to get a sense of the voters’ views as to which party ought to from the government in the simplest possible way and thereby presents a simple and straightforward view pertaining to the peoples’ will.7 However, it goes without saying that irrespective of being an utterly simplistic way of conducting elections, first past the post electoral system in a way suppresses the will and the views of a large number of voters and is certainly not good for democracy.8 Canada has been a thriving democracy since long and now is the high time that the Canadian electoral system must graduate to more inclusive and complex electoral systems. The biggest flaw with the first past the post system is that it readily facilitates a two party system and tends to favor single party governments who are not required to rely on the support of other parties to pass legislations.9 The first past the post system certainly tends to bypass the opinion and aspirations of a large chunk of voters, as the candidates even securing a marginal excess of votes could actually win.10 It does not matter how much votes the losing candidate accrues as the winning candidate is required to get more votes than the losing candidates. Besides, first past the

Module 4 Written Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Module 4 Written - Essay Example Latin American countries characteristically have high inflation rate, with some countries having as much as three digit percentage. In fact in a 70 year history of Argentina, the country averaged in excess of 200 percent inflation rate, Brazil on the other hand averaged 390 percent from 1980, and attaining a high of 6821 in the first quarter of this year. Venezuela rates are very high, a rate of 63.4 percent. The concept of Purchasing power parity (PPP) would imply that the currencies of these countries shall depreciate compared to the United States dollar so as to consolidate the purchasing power across the countries. According to Keown, Martin & Petty (2008), PPP reflects the relative value of purchasing a product in one county versus another. A high inflation rate has the effect of making their exports cheap while making imports expensive, thereby discouraging demand for Latin American imports and forces a downward pressure in their Latin American currencies. Depreciation of the c urrencies compensates the rising prices on Latin American exports when viewed by imports from the US and other countries. Interest rate parity exacts pressure on the forward rates to contain a large discount as a result of the high interest rate prevailing in Latin America, which shows a snag of hedging Latin American currencies. Hence, the option to hedge bears more sensibility if the expected rate of depreciation exceeds more than the forward rate. It is also important to factor in that certain remittance cannot be hedged anyway as a result the value of uncertainty in future remittances The forward rate of a Latin American currency would have a big discount; as a result the Latin American interest rate would be higher than that of the US. The discount operates as the prediction of the rate of change in the value of the Latin American currency given a lengthy period of time, which I represented by the forward

Impacts Of Food Miles On Climate Change

Impacts Of Food Miles On Climate Change Todays food is well travelled. A pack of green beans in an European supermarket may have journeyed 6000 miles, or 60. While food miles loom large in our carbon-aware times, transporting it counts for less than you might think. This paper investigates the effectiveness of initiatives to reduce the number of food miles by their impact on climate change. The paper comes to the conclusion that food miles, the distance that food has travelled from farm to fork, indeed reduces the amount of greenhouse gas released. However, this does not imply that less food miles are a more sustainable way of producing. Moreover, the concept might be a justification for protectionist purposes and has significant negative side effects. Introduction Climate change is one of the greatest environmental threats of our time. The cause of climate change is mainly the emission of greenhouse gas as a result of human activity, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. A significant reduction of greenhouse gas emission is needed in order to the mitigate the effects on the climate. To accomplish this, two international treaties have been adopted: the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992 and the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The countries that ratified the Kyoto protocol committed to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gas by a given percent compared to their emission level in 1990 (Pinkse and Kolk, 2009). To achieve this, the EU has set the following targets: reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, improve energy efficiency by 20%, raise the share of renewable energies to 20% and raise the share of bio-fuels in road transport to 10%. These targets should all be achieved by the year 2020 (Confederation of Food and Drink Industries, 2008). Many industries have taken activities to cut energy use and emissions, in particular carbon dioxide (CO2), due to stricter legislative requirements and rising energy prices. Also the food industry is actively taking part in reducing energy and emissions, especially carbon dioxide. Example of such activities are the investment in energy efficient technologies, by voluntarily cutting energy use and even by participating in national energy efficiency schemes (Confederation of Food and Drink Industries, 2008). In household consumption, food has one of the highest impact on the environment. According to a study on the environmental impact of products, food and drinks cause 20 to 30% of the environmental impacts of private consumption (Tukker et al., 2006). In this study the food production and distribution chain has been fully analyzed and identifies products that are most greenhouse gas intensive. According to this study, meat, dairy, fats and oils are the most greenhouse gas intensive products. The estimated meats global warming potential ranges from about 4 to 12% of all products studied across the EU. Milk and dairy products are responsible for 2 to 4%, f ruits and vegetables for approximately 2%. The food chain consists of many different stages with many different players, like farmers, suppliers, transport companies, producers, retailers, consumers and waste management companies. At all stages of foods product life cycle there are activities that may have an impact on climate change. These include farming, manufacturing, processing, packaging, storage, transportation, consumption and disposal (Carlsson-Kanyama et al., 1997). It is estimated that the food industry accounts for about 1.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. Within the whole food chain, agriculture accounts for 49% of greenhouse gas emissions, followed by the consumption (18%) and manufacturing (11%) (Confederation of Food and Drink Industry, 2008). Transportation is also an important contributor to greenhouse gas emission, because of the consumption of fuel and energy. Transport is estimated to account for 21 % of the greenhouse gas emissions in the EU, but it is unclear how much of these emissions sh ould be allocated specifically to food transportation (Confederation of Food and Drink Industry, 2008). Other impact on climate change in food production also depends on other factors, like the agricultural soil, the countrys climate, the intensity of use of fertilizers and chemicals, and the amount of energy and fuels used at different stages of the distribution chain. It is essential to take all these factors into account when estimating the impact of food products on climate change. However, this is not always possible or feasible, because of the complexity of the supply chain and the lack of available data. Food Miles Food miles, which accounts for the distance products have been travelling to reach the end consumer, has increased awareness recently. Nowadays many food products travel long distances before their final consumption. In the USA, for example, the food for one typical meal has travelled more than 2000 kilometers. And, if that meal contains any off-season fruit or vegetable the total distance is much more (Oxfam, 2009). It is commonly for food to be transported great distances to be packaged and processed, and then sent back in order to be sold near the place where it was produced. An example of this kind of practice is the shrimp industry in the Netherlands. There are several factors that have led to the increase in the distances food travels. These include: trade liberalization, sourcing from around the world, geographical centralization to achieve economies of scale, increased market share of retailers located out of the town of consumers, and finally, lower transportation costs of air freight, which relatively cheap compared to some other supply chain costs (Smith et al, 2005). As a result of the miles that food makes, emissions like CO2 are increasingly released, which contribute to climate change. The term food miles was introduced by the British non-governmental organization Sustainable Agriculture, Food and the Environment (SAFE) in 1994. They were the first to address the danger of long distances in food transportation. The concept implies that the lower the food miles, the less impact a product has on climate change. Therefore, consumers should be encouraged to buy locally produced food. Some retailers in Europe and North Americ a started promoting food miles initiative in order to address the problem of the long distances that food travels. These initiatives are often focused on promoting localism or regionalism in food sourcing. A few examples of these kind of initiatives will be discussed later. Food Miles Calculation Complexity In order to calculate the distance that food has travelled, the commonly used formula is the Weighted Average Source Distance. This formula combines information of the distances from production to point of sale (kilometers) and the amount of food product transported (Carlsson-Kanyama, 1997). The formula for the Weighted Average Source Distance is: ÃŽÂ £ (m(k) x d(k)) / ÃŽÂ £ m(k). Where k stand for the different location points of the production, m stand for the weight from each point of production, and d stand for distance from each point of production or sale. Although this formula looks quite simple, the application is rather difficult, because many food consist of multiple ingredients. Due to a lack of precise data about the exact distance of all ingredients, the calculation is often based on approximations. The formula does also not take into account how the food is transported (by marine, road, rail or air). This transport mode is important, because different transport mo des have different emissions per product unit. Drivers for Food Miles Initiatives There are five main drivers for initiatives to reduce food miles: NGO pressure, government support, consumer demand, food miles as a marketing concept and the potential reduction of costs. In the early 1990s British NGOs addressed the social and the environmental impacts caused by food miles. The main argument to support the food miles concept was the concern for climate change. It was implied that the longer the distance food travels, the more energy is consumed, the more fossil fuels are burned, and consequently the more greenhouse gases are released. Therefore the solution proposed was to source food from as close as possible to where it will be finally consumed (Saunders et al., 2006). Other arguments used included the concern that food that could be produced in the home country was imported instead, which causes a loss of income to local production, and also the concern that workers overseas might not be treated fairly (Oxfam, 2009). Some NGOs were specifically against air freig hting of food because this kind of transport is very energy intensive and causes the most negative externalities to the environment. They also addressed multilateral international trade, this is when a product was imported in the UK while the national production of that same product was exported from the country. As the solution to these problems, the British NGOs promoted to consume food that was locally produced (Saunders et al, 2006). Many EU countries support the concept of local food production and local food consumption. For example, the Italian government forces local authorities to include organic and local food in the school catering. The EU itself, although not directly supporting the concept of food miles, provides funding to support local food initiatives to develop farmers markets and local food brands (Euractiv, 2011). Food miles is seen as a possibility to improve environmental sustainability, because the distance and transport mode are important elements within the food chain as well as being associated with pollution from vehicle emissions (Saunders et al, 2006). Also the consumer awareness has raised the concern about the impact that food transportation has both environmentally and socially. This awareness has increased due to a few major food issues of the last decade (e.g. mad cow disease, foot and mouth disease, Q-fever, swine flu and the discussion about producing genetically modified food). These events have raised consumer interest about the origin and traceability of their food. Nowadays, many consumers and restaurant owners have a strong preference for local food product. An important reason why they choose local foods is because consumers have more trust in locally produced food since they know where it comes from. The concept of food miles has become familiar topic to the public, which lead to the consumers believe that food travelling a shorter distance is better for the environment. Consumers also argue that local food is more fresh and even tastes better than when it travelled long distances (Pirog and Benjamin, 2003). As already mentioned, consumers are interested in having the opportunity to purchase products that was produced and processed within their own region. These customers might be specifically interested in buying low food miles products due to their perceived freshness and quality (Pirog and Benjamin, 2003). Food retailers and food producers anticipate on this demand and use the food miles concept as a marketing tool. These marketing messages support the consumers perception that locally produced food is better. Therefore the food miles concept helps to differentiate products from the competition. Because climate change aspects are increasingly being included in business strategies, the concept of food miles is sometimes used by producers in marketing strategies to differentiate products from the international competition. An example of this is Friesland Campina, who only source from Dutch dairy farmers, and this actively promotes in advertisement. Campina customers also have the opport unity to trace their milk via an unique code on the milk cartons. The last driver is the potential cost reduction of transportation. The costs for food transportation is relatively cheap compared to other supply chain costs. The cost of shipping containers around the world is relatively low and fuel for aviation is not taxed. Also, for a long time air freight and shipment were included in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, but this has been included in the ETS from 2011 onwards (Euractiv, 2007). Airlines will therefore have to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions or buy some sort of pollution credits on the carbon market. However, the EU recently initiated the first key measure to reduce the impact of air travel on global warming. The European Commission set an emissions cap for the aviation sector. Emissions trading for the aviation sector will start in January 2012 with a yearly allowance of 213 million tons of CO2 (Euractiv, 2011). This will increase the costs of transportation, including of food products. Therefore, it is interesting to integrat e the food miles concept in the procurement policy of a policy, because it might bring potential cost savings on airline freighting. Examples of Food Miles Initiatives As it was mentioned earlier, food quality, support of local community, food freshness and concern about the impact of transport on climate change have increased consumers interest in the origin and traceability of food, including a strong preference for locally produced food. Therefore, driven by consumer demand and with the objective to reduce food mileages of the products they distribute, big retailers made local sourcing initiatives a core aspect of their sustainable policies. The food miles concept can be used in two ways to reduce the environmental impact of food transport, the so called fewer miles and friendlier miles notions. Fewer miles means that companies and retailers are trying to reduce the overall distance that food travels. Such initiatives include local sourcing and greater capacity vehicles that carry more products in one trip. Friendlier miles are achieved when the environmental impact of the distance travelled is reduced by using less damaging forms of transport (such as rail or water compared to road or air) or by technological improvements in vehicle and fuel technologies to reduce the impact of any given mile (DEFRA Annual Report, 2007). The air-freighted labels, for consumers to identify products having been transported by plane, can be an example of friendlier miles initiatives as its final goal is to promote more sustainable transport modes. Ahold Ahold takes initiatives for fewer food miles. The supermarkets in the Ahold group are encouraged to source in a sustainable way and reduce their environmental footprint by buying local. In the United States, a product is considered local if it is sourced from the state or municipality in which the supermarkets operates. Many of the US stores operate in rich agricultural areas, so they are able to source many products locally. However, there are government regulations that restrict the use of the term local (especially when applied to dairy products), and this varies by state, region or municipality. In the United States, a local product program is executed during the local growing seasons. During 2010, Giant Food Stores and Martins Food Markets encouraged customers to follow the so called Local Route in stores that pointed the way to fresh products grown locally by farmers within their own communities. A second initiative is at Rimi Supermarket in Estonia. This initiative raises cons umer awareness about Estonian products by adding an Estonian flag label to products of Estonian origin. At some stores in Lithuania, local farm shops known as vikis have opened within the stores. Local farm produce in Rimi hypermarkets, where customers can buy high-quality products grown or produced by small- and medium-scale Lithuanian farmers. The shop-within-a-shop concept supports the idea of local sourcing and production, meeting the demands of customers and suppliers (Ahold, Corporate Responsibility Report 2010). Hellmanns Hellmanns has been taking another initiative to support fewer food miles. In 2009, the Unilever mayonnaise brand Hellmanns, campaigned for the consumption of local food in Canada. As part of its Eat real. Eat local campaign it was running a commercials that makes the Canadians wonder how far their food travels to get to their dinner tables. The campaign highlights the increasing tendency of food importation, and how this phenomenon influences the Canadian economy, the environment and communities. Food like cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers, which Canadians can grow in their own backyards, actually travel many miles and are hardly fresh by the time they are eaten. The message is mainly meant for Canadians, but could certainly be applied elsewhere. Although the climate change is mentioned the commercial, the main emphasis is on the threats to the domestic economy and not so much on the environmental consequences of food miles (Unilevers Sustainable Development Overview 2009). Heineken Heineken Netherlands recently took an initiative for friendlier miles. The beer and soda manufacturer, bottles more than 70% of its export beer in the brewery of Zoeterwoude. This means that large volumes of beer have to be transported via the highly populated roads of South Holland. In order to relieve the traffic around the brewery and to reduce the companys carbon footprint, it decided to build the a large container terminal along the channel. Since October 2010, Heineken transports all its export products by boat to the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp. By this initiative, Heineken transports three-quarters of its the total transport over water instead, which is taken off the road. The initiative is expected to reduce the number of trucks on the road with 100.000 per years, who account for 6 million kilometers. Heineken reduces its emission of carbon dioxide with 35% (Heineken Sustainability Report, 2010). Marks and Spencer To address the problem of climate change caused by air traffic and to meet the customers interest in knowing how food is transported, the UK retailer Marks Spencer, started an initiative under the concept of friendlier food miles. Since 2007, they label the food that has been imported by air. Marks Spencer prints a small airplane symbol and the words air freighted (see Figure 1) on over 150 different food products, including beans and strawberries. Marks and Spencer has created this label for all of their air-freighted food to enable customers to identify products which have been transported by air and to help the company to ensure that this form of transport is used only where local alternatives are not available (Marks and Spencer, How We Do Business Report, 2010). Figure 1. Air freighted label. Strengths and limitations In this section, the main strengths and limitations of the food miles initiatives will be presented. It can be said that one of the main advantages of initiatives promoting local food, is that they can lead to a reduction of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions because food does not travel as far as if imported from other countries. Buying local food also has the advantage of promoting local farming, which, in turn, supports the local economy and the creation of new employment opportunities. It is also believed that local food is fresher and tastes better than food shipped long distances. However, it is questionable to what extent food miles really guarantees that a product sourced locally generates lower greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore whether implementing the food miles concept actually results in a lower climate change impact. An important limitation for the food miles concept is that it might is used as a justification for protectionism of the local economy. Therefore, the food miles concept has been criticized (Wilson, 2007). Since the main principle of food miles is to promote fewer miles and the consumption of local products, this might create unofficial import barriers for some countries to export their products because they travel long distances. Another limitation that can be used against the food miles concept is the fact that a single indicator based on the total distance food is transported, cannot be an adequate indicator of sustainability (Smith et al, 2005). A study carried out Smith et al for DEFRA came to the conclusion that a range of factors have an effect on the overall impacts of food transport, not only the miles travelled. The concept of food miles is therefore inadequate, since it excludes the climate impact of other aspects than transportation (DEFRA, 2005). Food transportation represents just one of many components of the total environmental impact of food production and consumption. When assessing the environmental impact of food, it is essential to take into account all those different factors, including how food was produced, packed, stored, as well, how and how far it was transported. As an example, Smith et al. found out that importing tomatoes from Spain during the winter generates less CO2 emissions than growing tomatoes in greenhouses in the UK (Figure 2). Local produced tomatoes in the UK (high emissions, low miles): Imported tomatoes from Spain (lower emissions, more miles): Figure 2. Represenation of CO2 emission, UK vs. Spain (Smith et al, 2005). Another example is from the horticulture industry, which coulis similar to many food products. Williams (2007) carried out a comparative study of the carbon impact of growing 12,000 quality cut stem roses in Kenya and air-freighting them, with growing them in the Netherlands and driving them to the UK. The results of the study are presented in the table below. It shows that the production and following export and delivery of Kenyan roses generates less greenhouse gas than the production and delivery of Dutch roses. This is mainly due to the fact that Kenyan production uses substantially less primary and fossil energy than the Dutch production (Williams, 2007). The results are presented in table 1 below. Kenyan Dutch Climate impact 2400 kgCO2e (without altitude impact) and 6200 kgCO2e (with altitude impact). 37 000 kgCO2e. Most carbon intensive stages Air freight (73-89% of climate impact). Heating and lighting of greenhouses (99% of climate impact). Other key differences Geothermal source for energy use and almost double the yield per unit area. Fossil intensive heating and lighting, and just over half the Kenyan yield rate. Table 1: Comparison of impacts for the production of 12,000 roses from Kenyan and The Netherlands (Williams, 2007) Pirog and Benjamin (2003) also showed that food miles might only represent a small percentage of the total energy inputs in a products life cycle. According to their study, transportation accounts for 11% of the energy use within the total food system, this is considerably less than agricultural production (17.5%) and processing (28.1%) (see Figure 3). To quantify the climate impact of a product, it is essential to consider all greenhouse gas emissions through the whole life cycle of the product and not only the ones related to transportation, or just looking at the distance in miles or kilometers. Figure 3. Energy use in the US food system (Pirog and Benjamin, 2003) Another problem with the food miles concept is that it does not take into account the mode of transport (Saunders et al, 2006). Air freight has by far the highest global warming potential of all transport modes. It is also important to note that there is also a significant difference between road and rail an boat transportation, the latter appears to be more climate-friendly transport modes than road. Transport efficiency also makes a difference. According to Smith et al (2005), there is also a concern that moving to lower food miles (e.g. local sourcing) can have a negative impact on overall transport and energy efficiency. They explain it by the fact that if there is a growth in business for smaller producers and retailers, there could be an increase in energy consumption as smaller vehicles are used and economies of scale in production are lost (Smith et al., 2005). There is also a concern that a reduction of food miles, in particular prohibiting air freighted products, could have an adverse impact on imports from developing countries. This concern is motivated by the fact that farmers in developing country are heavily dependent on exports to developed country markets (Oxfam, 2009). Therefore, restricting air freighted products on a large scale have high impact on farmers of Africa. In this way climate change is going to affect the poor in Africa harder than anyone else, which are the people who have done least to cause the problem. Some business therefore disapprove the use of an airplane symbol such as Marks and Spencers logo. Oxfam for example, supports the initiative for fair miles, one that also takes the fairness of trade with developing countries into consideration. Finally, there is discussion whether policies based on food miles could lead to an increase of food prices. On the one hand, reducing food miles might lead to reduced transportation costs, which, could reduce food prices. On the other hand, locally sourced food can be more expensive than globally sourced food, because economies of scale are lost or due to differences in labor costs (Smith et al, 2005). Conclusion It has been shown that food miles, although initially believed to be a potential good indicator of climate sustainability, has just limited benefits in terms of mitigating climate change. Food transportation represent one of many components of the total environmental impact of food production and consumption. When assessing the environmental impact of food, it is essential to take into account all those different factors, including how food was produced, packed, stored, as well as but not only, how and how far it was transported. The concept can be used for protectionist purposes, but has significant negative side effects. First of all, it is unclear what the impact is for product-related costs and food prices. The implementation of food miles can force companies to put particular attention to the efficiency of the food distribution system beyond their own operations. This leads in particular to a reduction of companies transport-related greenhouse gas emissions. From a cost perspect ive, the implementation of the food miles concept can potentially both reduce and increase companies costs, leading to an increase or decrease of food prices. On the one hand, reducing food miles might lead to reduced transportation costs. On another hand, locally sourced food can be more expensive than globally sourced food, because economies of scale are lost or due to higher labor costs. Secondly, a reduction of food miles, in particular prohibiting air freighted products, could have an adverse impact on imports from developing countries. To conclude, if food producers and retailers want to operate more sustainable ways and mitigate their impact on climate change, they should not only focus on food miles. While increased food transport obviously has an environmental impact, the kilometers that food travels do not per se serve as a valid indicator. The evidence is relatively weak in terms of local sourcing leading to lower impact as a general rule. In addition to environmental considerations, transport has to be seen in a wider context, taking account of the social and economic dimensions of sustainability, both in the EU and globally. Trade and transport is an inherent component of EU policy and it is essential to provide appropriate food supplies throughout the EU market and sufficient consumer choice. Moreover, sourcing products from non-EU countries, in particular developing countries, contributes to the development and wealth of those economies. A transport concept focusing on transport distances alone would there fore seriously undermine a number of key EU policy objectives in terms of social and economic sustainability.

Nigrescence Model of Racial Identity Development Essay -- Psychology

In 1971, William E. Cross, Jr., Ph.D., a Black psychologist and prominent researcher (specializing in Black psychology) developed a framework for assessing how black Americans come to understand what it means to be Black. Dr. Cross introduced his ideologies as the â€Å"Nigrescence Model of Racial Identity Developmentâ€Å". He asserts that every black American must undergo a series of identity stages to develop a healthy and balanced understanding of the Black experience and become well-rounded in our global society. This model encompasses five stages of identity development, which Dr. Cross emphasizes, must be performed in order to successfully accomplish this goal. The first stage of Black racial identity development refers to the pre-encounter stage. This depicts the juncture in life when a black American displays a lack awareness of his/her own race and is uninterested in racial differences (to include those that affect Blacks). This stage delineates two types of identities, namely the â€Å"anti-Black† and â€Å"assimilationâ€Å" clusters. The anti-Black pre-encounter stage represents a cluster of black Americans that take pride in White standards, values, and beliefs; they view the White race and culture as emblems of beauty and perfection. These people hold a high level of hatred for the Black race and openly expresses their opinion on the matter. In contrast, the assimilation pre-encounter stage represents a cluster of black Americans that exhibits low salience for being Black. This cluster does not blatantly express hate for the Black race, however, they prefer to identify themselves with being something other than black Americ ans. They embrace color blindness and maintain a race-neutral demeanor towards humanity. Whether classified within ... ...of many concepts forwarded by academicians that inaccurately assesses identity development. Dr. Cross conceptualized theories are oversimplified, as they implicate all black Americans as unified in their upbringing; family structure; values systems, beliefs, economic status, level of education, and exposures to racial indifference; which is clearly inaccurate. Simplistic models of this sort exclude an individual’s experiential background, which provides important variables to consider when assessing one’s comprehension of what it means to be black. Further, Dr. Cross’ model failed to explicate a connection between identity and psychological functions. It is vitally important that we suspend these types conceptual theories that label and classify our experiences, and develop accurate psychological theories that encompasses all variables that makes us who we are.

The Impacts of the Global Recession of 2008-2009

The world recession of 2008 to 2009 was caused ultimately by global imbalances in trade and capital flows, globalization of financial markets, the trend towards a new finance-led capitalism and the related pattern of income distribution. The effects of the recession on Africa were tremendous and are still being felt today. Africa is homeland to numerous natural resources. Contrary to this, it is one of poorest regions in the world constituting almost 10% of the world’s population and ravaged by high crime rates and the HIV and AIDS pandemic.The worldwide economic crisis of late 2008 and 2009 made significant economic and social developmental challenges for African countries. Even if the impact of the economic crisis on Africa was expected initially to be less severe, its challenges have now been estimated to be profound. The profit Africa gained from the exports and imports of natural resources and commodities has reduced substantially. Trade with China and the United States o f America became significantly feeble. Interestingly, the outcome of the recession seems to vary from country to country.However, there have been common economic impacts seen from those countries which participate in large scale exportation. Therefore, this essay serves the main purpose of identifying the impacts made by the recession on Africa. These aspects include, impacts made on the tourism, agriculture, hospitality, banking, health, oil and mining sectors. In addition, it identifies the effects on the economy namely, global trade, foreign direct investment, remittances, foreign aid flow and over above this, the exacerbation of poverty as well the positive impacts and changes the recession brought.To make a start with this subject, the consequences of the global economic crisis have been manifold. The crisis has brought a profound economic decline in the economies of African countries and the growth rates have dropped. Furthermore, the impacts brought about by the recession hit all major economic goals, causing a down turn in the natural resources sector and recent development strategies.International trade has played a pivotal role in the economic growth of African countries, with the demand of African commodities increasingly growing in the global market. When the recession had worsened, the most immediate effect was a decline in the exporting and demand of African commodities. In 2009, global trade experienced the sharpest drop in seventy years especially trade in iron, steel and manufacturers and industrial machinery were affected severely. 60 percent of African exports go to the European Union as well as the United States. 1] Thus, considering the fact that America and European countries were adversely affected by the financial crisis, where imports fell by 2 and 5 percent respectively and a substantial fall in the prices of commodities such as copper and oil, African countries were the most vulnerable. As a result, there has been a major decrease in the economic growth rates and account balances. This is saddening, considering the fact that many countries depend on the exporting revenue of natural resources such as oil and minerals.By way of example, mineral exporting countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo dropped approximately 6 billion US dollars in 2009. Furthermore, countries such as Nigeria and Angola saw a deficit of about 79 million dollars and Uganda, the second largest coffee producer and exporter in Africa, experienced a shortfall from 36. 3 million to 23. 9 million. Moreover, South Africa’s total exports decreased significantly in 2009. The most affected product being wine which experienced a large drop in total volumes.Pursuing this point further, the decline in the price of African commodities led to a major loss in trade and trade tax revenue. For instance, crude oil which plays a vital role in making products such as paint, diesel fuel, heating oil and make up has been rep orted to be the most affected commodity in Africa. There have been numerous statistics showing its decline by 50 % between 2008 and 2009. [2] Over and above this, there has been a 20% fall in the prices of coffee, sugar, copper and cotton during this period.According to statistics given by the African Development Bank, Africa has experienced a decline of 15 billion US dollars in trade tax which accounts for 4. 6 % of government revenue and 1% of Gross Domestic Product. Moreover, the major African oil producers Angola and Nigeria together suffered a loss of 4. 6 billion US dollars in their oil exports. In fact, this has been the largest loss for oil exporting countries of Africa. With regards to the oil, the demand for international market has been reduced by a large margin, coupled with a decline in oil prices.These are the circumstances that have lead to a decline in the oil sector. Oil is a major source of energy in Nigeria and the world at large. As the mainstay of the Nigerian e conomy and by playing a pivotal role in shaping the economic and political destiny, the reduction of oil exporting revenue consequently affects the economy at large. [3] In the case of both Nigeria and Angola there was a decline in government revenues from 30% in 2007 to 22% in 2009. This in turn significantly reduced the value of the currency. By way of example, we shall look at the impact the recession had on the tourism and hospitality sector.Tourism is key sector for triggering economic growth and in addition, it is a major source of foreign currency and its labour intensive nature ensures that there is employment. Countries like Morocco, Mauritius, Uganda and Kenya are largely dependent on their tourism revenues. Most notably, Botswana’s tourism sector is one of the counties major economic contributors, with tourist attractions like the Chobe National Park, Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Gemsbok National Park to mention but a few. Like numerous other industries, this sec tor was adversely affected by the global economic crisis.Mainly hotel reservations dropped immensely and Mauritius and Tanzania faced numerous tour cancellations. Consequently, a decline in tourism revenue affects food security, purchasing power and potential for expansion. Moreover, in Kenya we see a steady fall in remittances in October 2008 from 61 million dollars to 39 million dollars in January 2009. In fact, tourism receipts went down by 13% in the last quarter of 2008. Additionally, tourism in Zimbabwe was amongst the fastest growing sectors of the economy by contributing significantly to Zimbabwe’s Gross Domestic Product during the period 1980 to 2000.However, as a result of the recession, tourism was the third largest foreign exchange earner in Zimbabwe after tobacco and gold. [4a] In spite of many economic and political hindrances, Zimbabwe is host to one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Victoria Falls and is home to many tourist attractions such as Lake Karib a, the Eastern Highlands, Great Zimbabwe ruins and boasts of a favourable warm climate. This explains why tourism has historically been an important sector in the Zimbabwean economy. The industry currently employs a significant percentage of the working population.This leads us to the issue of unemployment. Unemployment rose quite drastically in 2009, between 13 and 18 million jobs were lost according to the ILO. [4] Unemployment is rising as a result of the laying off of workers in export orientated industries. Furthermore, the continuing decline in the consumers’ purchasing power reduces demand for manufactured goods, such as household items, clothing and food. In the DRC, 100 000 workers lost jobs following the closing of 40 mines and as a result of 17 mining firms leaving the country.In addition, 80 000 workers in Zambia’s copper belt were left jobless. Many Zimbabwean citizens go abroad in search of greener pastures, and remit money to their families back home, wi th the sole purpose of investing and consuming. Most of these citizens are either living in South Africa or the United Kingdom. Thus, the world recession reduced employment opportunities to those citizens working abroad. Moreover, there has been a rapid decline in remittances since rising unemployment in Europe is compressing the demand for migrants.The estimated $15 billion dollars sent to Africa as remittances each year dropped significantly by 11%. A decline in remittances also affects household income security. It is of adequate importance to note that these remittances comprise of capital inflows, which are the main source of Africa’s external revenue. These include foreign aid, migrant workers’ remittances and charities. As far as foreign aid is concerned, the majority of African countries largely depend on foreign aid and other charities from the international communities such as Aid for Africa as well as the United Nations. 5] Before the crisis arose, many Afri can countries saw an increase in their annual aid and received a lump sum of money and commodities from many of the countries who form the G8, as a result of the their 2005 summit. However, when the crisis had a profound impact on the American and European economies a number of these developed countries were either forced to withdraw or reduce their aid to Africa. As far as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is concerned, Africa is getting the world’s maximum total amount of foreign development support which comprises of almost 27. 19 billion US dollars. 6] It would be a phenomenon if the African agricultural sector were to be left intact by the recession, especially those African countries that have agriculture as the backbone of their economy . Agriculture dependent economies such as the Ethiopian, Burundian and Malian saw a short fall in their agricultural products, leading to the reduction of their export revenues. [7] In light of this, many countries failed to reach their prescribed goals for production and exportation. As a result, farmers have been left helpless and mostly unemployed as the price of buying fertilizers, agricultural machinery and seeds increased drastically.This has led to a decrease in cultivation. Consequently, the less crops produced trigger an increase in food prices. The economic turmoil made the farmers helpless as they were unable to purchase seeds and fertilizers. This has lead to a decrease in cultivation and the export of products, hence worsening the impact on the food crisis. In this light, African governments have experienced a short fall in revenue which has threatened food security in Africa. To make matters worse, food aids to Africa have been considerably lower, therefore, the number of people facing food insecurity has increased tremendously.There is no doubt that the mining sector in many African countries was affected by the recession, considering the fact that Africa is rich in te rms of mineral wealth. Botswana has an open economy which has the mining sector as its backbone. However, the global recession saw a decline in export demand and a reduction in prices of minerals such as nickel, diamonds as well as copper. As a result of this, there was a reduction in public revenue and company sales which lead to massive unemployment. The immediate result of this massive unemployment meant lower household expenditure and savings.On the whole, Botswana’s mining sector is characterized by production cuts, staff retrenchment and lengthy plant shutdowns. STOPPED While there is unemployment one should take into account the immediate effect of unemployment which is poverty. In Africa, women bear most of the economic hardships as they are in many instances widowed as a result of the HIV and AIDS pandemic and immediately take on the role of the bread winner. Regardless of this, due to the recession women are the first to lose their jobs, because men are regarded as the ‘legitimate’ jobholders. 8] Alas, many are left at a dead end, facing an increase in food prices coupled with unemployment. This usually leads to an increase in the cases of malnourished individuals and the most vulnerable being children. Having said this, it is important to note that some parts of Africa are less pronounced than others depending on the strength of the economy. In fact, because of women’s unequal position in the household and the workplace, girls are also more likely to be taken out of school first or not given medical treatment in order to cut down on family costs.In the same vein, the health sector which was already in a state of commotion prior to the recession has been further weakened. The health sector is reliant on aid from foreign organisations as well as financial packages. This aid can be in the form of money, drugs, machinery, medical and surgical implements and sundries and toiletries. The World Health Organisation and the Oversea s Development Association are the main donors. Prior to the crisis, the African health sector had developed considerably although it faced many challenges but as the crisis worsened so did the condition of the sector.This can be illustrated by a cut down of all financial and social programmes, reduction in investment in the health sector as well as the decrease in supply and delivery of health care and other social services. The Overseas Development Association is the main organisation that deals with Aids victims by funding their medical needs. Thus a cut in this aid increases the rate of mortalities as well as the rate at which the pandemic spreads. From the onset of the crisis, African stock markets have been vulnerable and hence suffered severely.In Egypt and Nigeria the declines were reported to be 67% whilst many other African countries faced similar situations, these countries include Mauritius, Zambia, Kenya and Botswana. [9]In truth, most immediate effects of a crippled sto ck market are threats to the banking sector. Bearing this in mind, many banks have primarily felt the impacts of the economic turmoil. Surprisingly, African countries have suffered more losses than developed countries. Firstly, the balance sheet of banks was severely bruised. This takes place when borrowers are unable to meet their debt obligations due to a weakened economy and low income.Prior to the recession, well performing banks could afford to issue out loans, however, due to the financial crisis they faced because of the recession these prominent banks became bankrupt. Besides this, the IMF reports that the flow in nonperforming loans has caused huge profit losses in the banking sector. One can agree that the global recession was coupled with devastating impacts on society as a whole. However, the aftermath of the recession has paved way for economic strategies to prepare us for future crises. Whilst the effects of the recession subside there has been a massive decline in glo bal food and energy prices.Moreover, there has been stabilization in this regard which has come as blessing for countries such as Botswana and South Africa this can be seen by an affordable and stabilised level of food prices and energy. With regards to unemployment the South African government created 500,000 ‘job opportunities in 2010 mainly through a public-works programme which was also done in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Furthermore, the government has set a target of 4 million new jobs by 2014. The government insists it will create ‘decent work’, even if hese jobs are only temporary as part and parcel of the Expanded Public Works Programme. However the government has reassured the public that these jobs are just a stepping stone for what is to come and a bridge to pave way for permanent, rights based employment. Additionally African governments namely Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania and South Africa have embarked on programmes such a s negotiating a framework for a unified response by business, government and trade unions, with an emphasis on avoiding, where possible, retrenchments. [10] There has also been a reduction of interest rates.On the issue of interest rates, as a response to the financial crisis most of the African countries have taken actions to reduce their interest rates significantly since the very beginning of the crisis in the continent. In countries like Botswana and Egypt, central banks have made a decrease by 50 basis points. In Nigeria the interest rate was 10. 25% prior to the crisis but the central bank of Nigeria has reduced the rate to 9. 25% in response to the crisis. Many of the other countries include Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Tunisia also reduced interest rates.Contrary to this observation the Democratic republic of Congo is the only country that has not complied with strategy. Instead, Congolese banks have actually increased their interest rates. In South Africa the govern ment has taken advantage of the situation by initiating policies and programmes which have reduced the negative effect of the crisis on child poverty and large scale poverty. These programmes will also provide emergency relief to households in distress in this regard although poverty is still problematic, many African countries have taken up social grants, most notably the child-support grant, as well as old-age pensions.Approximately 13 million south Africans benefit from the social grant system, also South Africa ranks among the as one of the most extensive in middle-income countries. [11] Similarly, Botswana and Namibia have taken up various grants with the main aim of fighting against the deepening of poverty and distress for the foreseeable future. Many banks went bankrupt during the recession and in order to prevent a similar scenario some African countries have taken several measures to ensure that there is a constant flow of credit in banks.This has been done by increasing t he liquidity to banks and other financial firms in countries like Togo, Niger, Mali and Benin to name but a few. [12] Other countries have resorted to financial packages and new credit facilities to mobilize cash flow. This has been done in Tunisia, Cameroon and Liberia. International trade has played a vital role in the economic growth of African countries as a source of external revenue. So it is thus of adequate importance to solidify and pay attention to Africa’s relationship with the emerging economies of the world which is a handy and important business strategy.This helps Africa to find new markets to advertise and sell African commodities, over and above this it is a strategic way to accelerate export revenue mainly for the oil and other primary commodity exporting countries. On the whole it is encouraged to maintain strong ties with countries such as India and China in order to create opportunities in international market and to bring capital into Africa. As a result of the crisis a greater effort has been put to promote women’s equality and many donors have ensure that women’s voices are heard in high level discussions, conferences and forums, namely the G20 and G8 meetings.Furthermore aid has been increased significantly and an adequate amount t has been directed to cater for women and to support women’s empowerment programmes. Generally there has been an increase in organisations that strive for a world where women are equal, secure, respected and proud. Womankind works together with women’s organisations around the world to reduce violence against women, and to ensure women actively participate in society and ensure that their sole purpose of fighting for women’s rights is upheld. As a final remark, Africa has suffered severe impacts as a result of the recession, but will recover quite soon.Even if the general impact on exports was severe, it was not evenly distributed among sectors, regions and types of e nterprise. With the help of the United Nations and many other donors and organisation Africa is at the brink of recovery. Additionally, Africa is in an advantageous position considering its numerous mineral wealth, hence we should rely on these commodities to safeguard our future. Considering the fact that the crisis abruptly affected trade African countries should implement strategies to enhance the demand of their products and to find more markets.Thus it is important to maintain close ties with international trade partners in order to have a constant flow of capital. I urge governments most notably the Zimbabwean government to to actively participate in economic activities and capital generating schemes, which Increase agricultural productivity which in turn raise output and lower food prices, hence reduce inflationary pressures and the demand for imports. Secondly, these governments should also carry out further research to prevent future crises or better preparation for future crises.This research should tackle the areas most affected by the recession such as employment, social welfare support, the health, agricultural, mining and tourism sectors and social prevention for vulnerable groups such as farmers, women, children and the labour force in general. Above all, I strongly feel that aid, funds and relief packages are not given to the appropriate people. Realistically speaking many government officials abuse their privileges and sell these packages for their own benefit, thus there needs to be a strict policy that ensures that these packages are readily available for the needy.From this research, I have concluded that in order for Africa to overcome the impacts of the recession, global strategies are a necessity in order to preserve the foundations of growth and wealth in Africa. END NOTES: [1] R. Triffin, The International Accounts of the United States and their Impact upon the Rest of the World, La Banque Internationale de Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 1985 ,pp. 12-30 [2] R. J. Shiller, The economy and why it matters for global capitalism, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 2010, pp. 17-51. [3] S. A.Madujibeya, â€Å"Oil and Nigeria's Economic Development†, African affairs, Vol. 75, No. 300, Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts,1976, pp. 284-316. [4] M. T. Hadjimichael, â€Å"Growth in Sub- Saharan Africa,† IMF Staff Papers, Vol. 43, Zimbabwe, 2009, pp. 605–633. [5] R. Triffin, The International Accounts of the United States and their Impact upon the Rest of the World, La Banque Internationale de Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 1985,pp. 28-43. [6] Ibid [7] S. Seguino, The Global Crisis, Its Gender Implications and Policy Responses, Burlington, Vermont, 2009, pp. 1-25 [8] R. A.Posner, A Failure of Capitalism: The Crisis of ’08 and the Descent into Depression, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2009, pp. 16-28. [9] S. A. Madujibeya, opcit, pp. 317-321 [10] D. Sahn, Adjusting to Policy Failure in African Economi es, Cornell University, New York, 2010, pp. 3-19. [11] Ibid [12]Ibid, pp. 27-37. BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. T. Hadjimichael, â€Å"Growth in Sub- Saharan Africa,† IMF Staff Papers, Vol. 43, Zimbabwe,2009, pp. 605–633. S. A. Madujibeya , â€Å"Oil and Nigeria's Economic Development†, African affairs, Vol. 75, No. 300, Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts,1976. R. A.Posner, A Failure of Capitalism: The Crisis of ’08 and the Descent into Depression, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2009. D. Sahn, Adjusting to Policy Failure in African Economies, Cornell University, New York, 2010. S. Seguino, The Global Crisis, Its Gender Implications and Policy Responses, Burlington, Vermont, 2009. R. J. Shiller, The economy and why it matters for global capitalism, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 2010. R. Triffin, The International Accounts of the United States and their Impact upon the Rest of the World, La Banque Internationale de Luxembourg, Luxembourg, 1985.

A good film just like a good book Essay

After I click the pause, the screen froze and there is a sentence remain on the screen, ‘Oh, this land was made for you and me. ‘ There is a feeling from my heart which I can not explain with words, this felling contains angry, disappointed, sadness, but the most is the powerlessness to face the reality of the food industry. This kind of feeling happens once before, after I watched ‘ The Cove’, feel anxious to do something and want to help, however, where to start and how? The first thought is to stop buying food from those company, thysoon, motannio, but what else can we buy, there are some, but not enough. But after a second thought, what will happen if we stop buying those food, the company will die together with millions of people will loose their job. But we know clearly that stop buying food from this kind of big and powerful company is impossible, there must be other way out. sometimes people are small, too weak to struggling for such a big problem, so the only way out is to rely on the organization which born for the people but people sometimes do not like and trust, the government. Organic food The film is just on of the most useful way to speak to the people and make them aware of the what actually our word is. But just like the film, we can not touch, smell and taste, only sound and scene may won’t leave the feeling too long. people who are actually doing something which like the mum in the film is because they are victims, people who are not doing things is because they have no chance to see the damage or in another way, they haven’t experience the nightmare. A good film just like a good book, they make people think and reflect their thoughts in the normal lives , it is successful even we just hesitate when we choose food in publix. People always think that they are small, however, water drops can wear away a sone, we can not just let the thought go over our head, we should catch it and pull it out, then actually do things which can really help, help ourself and also help others.