Impact of Human Activities on Natural Hazards Essay Example for Free

Impact of Human Activities on Natural Hazards Essay Natural hazards are naturally occurring phenomena that have disastrous impact on humanity. These phenomena had been in existence even before the advent of humanity. The hazardous dimension of these natural phenomena are in the context of the impact that such a phenomenon would have on human population in the area affected by that phenomenon. In this essay, the effect that human activity has on these natural hazards would be analyzed. Some human activities may be exacerbating the factors that cause the natural hazard, like the impact of excessive and unplanned logging on floods and droughts. In certain other cases the human activities may cause subsequent or supplementary hazards to a primary hazard event, like building dams in earthquake prone zones may lead to flash floods and landslides in the event of a rupture. A hazard can be defined as an event that has the potential to cause harm. This potential may be on account of its unexpected timing of occurrence or the actual intensity of the event itself. Human societies can withstand these events within a normal scale of occurrence. However, human societies become vulnerable when these events occur unexpectedly or are of an intensity or duration that falls beyond that normal scale (O’Hare and Rivas, 2005). Natural hazards can be broadly classified under the heads of geological, hydrological, climatic and diseases. This essay would limit its scope to analyzing causal relationships, if any, of human activities on landslides, floods and drought and the secondary hazards triggered by those activities in the event of an earthquake. Of all human activities that have a direct or indirect impact on natural hazards, deforestation is by far the most significant. Deforestation is the removal or destruction of forest cover of an area. It may occur due to unscientific logging practices without regeneration and may be accompanied by subsequent conversion to non-forest usage like agriculture, pasture, urban, mining or industrial development, fallow or wetland. At a very broad level, it has been argued that deforestation is a major cause of global climatic changes. It has been predicted that removal of forest cover will lead to violent and unpredictable environmental fluctuations. At a smaller landscape, deforestation has a direct bearing upon the climatic, hydrological, edaphic and biological aspects of that area. Deforestation is associated with higher levels of soil erosion and landslides, sedimentation in river beds and changes in fluvial geomorphology (Haigh, 1984). Quite a few of these effects of deforestation have a direct bearing on the natural hazards that will be covered in this essay. One of the major functions of a forest is to maintain the humidity level in the atmosphere. Trees withdraw groundwater through their roots and transpire the excess water through their leaves. Forests return a major part of the rainfall received by them through evapotranspiration. Annual evapotranspiration in tropical moist lowland forests ranges up to 1500 mm per year, with transpiration accounting for a maximum of 1045 mm per year (Bruijnzeel, 1990). This process of evapotranspiration in the leaves of trees takes the latent heat of evaporation from the surrounding atmosphere. Thus evapotranspiration has a cooling effect on the atmosphere that aids precipitation. Deforestation denies the atmosphere of this cooling effect and is thus a contributing factor to lowering of annual rainfall in an area. Further, the effects of deforestation generally compound the severity of drought. Lack of trees translates to the lack of root fibers that hold the topsoil. In the event of a drought, the topsoil flakes and gets blown by the wind, leading to severe dust storms. This phenomenon had devastated the American Great Plains for close to a decade in 1930s. The dust bowl covered farming areas in Colorado, Kansas, north west Oklahoma, north Texas and north east New Mexico. The fertile soil of the plains was exposed due to lack of vegetation cover and actions of the plow. These farming techniques that led to severe soil erosion, coupled with prolonged periods of extremely low rainfall, led to a series of severe dust storms that ranged up to the Atlantic coast. Much of the fertile topsoil was lost in the Atlantic (Cartensen et al. , 1999). Direct causal relationship between human activity and drought is yet to be conclusively established. However, there are studies available that point to a positive correlation between the two. For example, climate-modeling studies have indicated that the 20th century Sahel drought was caused by changing sea surface temperatures. These changes were due to a combination of natural variability and human induced atmospheric changes. The anthropogenic factors in this case were rise in greenhouse gas levels and aerosols (GFDL Climate Modeling Research Highlights, 2007). The effect of human activities like deforestation is rather more direct and pronounced in case of hydrological hazards like fluvial floods. Fluvial floods occur when the discharge of a river exceeds its bankfull capacity. Forests create deep, open textured soils that can hold large quantities of water. When the forest cover is removed through logging, the soil becomes compacted. More rainwater is converted to runoff or near surface flow and less proportion percolates as groundwater. Research has shown significant increase in monthly runoff following logging activities (Rahim and Harding, 1993). The runoff rainwater carries with it considerable amounts of loose soil particles. Removal of vegetation cover through excessive logging activities or overgrazing leaves the soil bare. In such a situation, the upper layer of the soils becomes susceptible to erosion by surface runoff. These suspended soil particles are deposited on the riverbeds. The effect of this type of soil erosion by surface runoff is even more pronounced when the deforestation happens in the riparian zones as well.

Plagiarism and the Internet :: Cheating Education School Essays

Plagiarism and the Internet Copyright infringement, i.e., plagiarism is a crime that is occurring at epidemic rates in todayà °s society. Plagiarism can be found everywhere in this new age of technology. This is partially due to the fact that it is so easy to commit, as there are numerous resources on the Internet that people can use to pass off as their own work. However, it is also becoming easier to catch, as there are many sources on the web that work with people to catch those who are attempting to pass off other peoples ideas and words as their own. Today I decided to do a search on Yahoo about buying papers on the Internet. To my surprise over seven hundred thousand results came back with web sites where you could purchase a paper or essay of some sort. Although these web-sites all contain a disclaimer stating that under no circumstances should you try to pass their papers off as your own, the urge is just too hard to resist for some people. They see this as an easy way to get out of writing that paper they have been dreading working on even though it is illegal and these web sites state that you must site their web-site if you use any portion of the paper that they provided you with. Other people canà °t bring themselves to pay the money for a paper so they choose to simply cut and paste information from a web site with their topic into their own paper. Although there are many people that blatantly plagiarize, there are also some that do so unintentionally. It is easy to plagiarize if you dont know how to cite information in a paper properly. Countless amounts of people put quotes or the citation in the wrong place, which often results in plagiarism. This can also occur when a person does not properly paraphrase a statement that they got from a source. Therefore, it is quite easy to commit plagiarism whether you mean to or not. In this new decade of technology it is becoming easier for teachers and professors to catch plagiarizers, for example the web sites such as www.

49 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth Essay

Some of them, with their complicated timers and instant start-up features, constantly consume small amounts of electricity. (â€Å"Even the TV?† my wife asks. â€Å"Good thinking,† I tell her.) 3. SEPARATE YOUR GARBAGE. At our house we have separate garbage cans for glass, paper, plastic, aluminum, wood, organic matter, natural fabrics, synthetic fabrics, and rubber. (We split the work—my wife does the separating, I drop everything off at the recycling center.) 4. USE LESS WATER. We have two bricks in our toilet tank. But there’s a much simpler way to save water: Don’t flush every time! (â€Å"Don’t take the sports section in there with you!† is my wife’s tip. A sense of humor isso important.) 5. DON’T MOW THE LAWN. Let it grow. Naturally. Like a meadow. (â€Å"Like a dump!† jokes my wife.) See more:  Perseverance essay 6. DON’T SHAVE AS OFTEN. I shave once a week. (â€Å"If it’s good enough for Don Johnson,† I quip. â€Å"That was passà © years ago,† my wife informs me.) 7. DRIVE SLOWER. I try to maintain a nice, steady 40 miles per hour, the legal minimum on most highways. Also, I roll up the windows. It reduces wind resistance — and noise. (â€Å"You can’t hear those horns?† my wife asks, incredulous.) 8. SHOP WITH A RE-USABLE SHOPPING BAG. And, if you can, walk to the store. (â€Å"It’ll do wonders for your figure,† I mention casually to the missus.) 9. BOYCOTT! Boycott polluters, or anyone who sells any product that can cause pollution, or any product that might contain an ingredient that can cause pollution. (â€Å"What does that leave?† my wife asks. â€Å"Just the good stuff,† I reply.) 1 0. DO YOUR LAUNDRY BY HAND. It may be drudgery of the lowest order to have to hand-launder your clothes and hang them on a clothesline, but it saves water and energy. (â€Å"Whistle while you work,† I kid my wife. â€Å"Hitler is a jerk,† she continues. I’d forgotten that verse!) 11. TURN DOWN THE HEAT. Especially the water heater. (â€Å"They take cold showers in Sweden,† I like to hint. â€Å"Go to Sweden!†Ã¢â‚¬â€my wife.) 12. TAKE FEWER SHOWERS. But don’t share them, even if it’s been touted, albeit humorously, in other â€Å"x-number-of-simple-things-you-can-do-to-save-the-earth† books. Why? It uses more water. Figure it out for yourself. Better would be to take a bath in â€Å"recycled† bath water. Best: An occasional sponge bath. (â€Å"No, I’m not kidding,† I tell the wife.) 13. REPLACE METAL DOORKNOBS. During the winter, when it’s very dry, touch a metal doorknob and you get a little shock from the static electricity. That’s wasted electricity, I figure. We’ve replaced all our metal doorknobs with ones made of non-conducting rubber, wood or glass. (â€Å"You’ve got a screw loose,† my wife points out. And she’s right!) 14. GO SOLAR. For a small investment of about ten thousand dollars you can convert your house to solar energy. It’ll pay for itself in twenty years, I estimate. (â€Å"What next?† my wife wonders, as we all do.) 15. MOUNT A WINDMILL ON YOUR ROOF. It’s cheap—about eight hundred dollars—and easy to install. (â€Å"A little more to the right,† I yell up to her.) 16. MAKE YOUR OWN HONEY. In addition to producing delicious honey, our beehive is a real conversation starter. (â€Å"We have to talk,† my wife says. See?) 17. WORK AT HOME. Recently, I quit my job of twenty years to become a full-time writer. I write at home, on a computer. I’m not using up any gasoline or motor oil, I’m not wearing out any clothing or shoes. To put it simply: I’m not a drain on the environment. (â€Å"You don’t move,† my wife observes, exaggerating slightly.) 18. BOARD UP THE WINDOWS. Windows are nice, but they either let in too much heat, or let out too much, or vice versa. (â€Å"This is better than mini-blinds!† I shout to the wife, who can barely hear me over her own hammering.) 1 9. GET RID OF THE TELEPHONE. Think you can’t live without a telephone? Think again. We’ve done fine. (â€Å"Who would call us?† my wife rationalizes.) 20. GET RID OF THE BED. Many leading chiropractors say that sleeping on the floor, with no mattress or cushion, is the best way to sleep. (â€Å"We certainly haven’t needed a bed much lately,† my wife confides to a mutual friend.) 21. GET OUT AND ORGANIZE. At my wife’s suggestion, I got out of the house and into the community—to organize. Now I work with a diverse group of community activists and we meet four times a week—at our house. (â€Å"Whoare these people?† my wife asks. â€Å"They are the people,† I tell her proudly.) 22. BAN ALL CHLOROFLUOROCARBONS. Not just spray cans, but the refrigerator and the air conditioner. Get rid of them! We now have ice delivered to our house every day. (â€Å"You’re crazy!† my wife shouts from the kitchen. â€Å"So was Van Gogh!† I shout back.) 23. TREAT WOUNDS NATURALLY. If you’re injured, cut on the head, above the eyebrow—from a sharp piece of ice, let’s say—treat it naturally. Salt and lemon juice is the combination my wife favors. (â€Å"I want a divorce,† she says, pouring salt on my wound. â€Å"Ouch!† I say.) 24. KNOW THE LAW. And know a good lawyer. (My wife does.) 25. WHEN YOU MOVE, BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR. Having recently relocated to a smaller environment—an apartment—I can empathize with anyone who has had to go through a â€Å"moving experience† as I call it. Remember, along with a new habitat come new co-inhabitants. Get to know them. They are your neighbors and, as simplistic as this sounds, they are the keys to your survival. (When I explain this simplistic theory to one of my new neighbors, she’s fascinated. Maybe the beard works!) 26. CARPOOL. At my new part-time job I carpool with a couple of the ladies from the office. We’re saving gas, money, and we’re getting to know each other better. (â€Å"He used to have a fear of intimacy,† my wife tells the judge. On the advice of Barry, my lawyer, I can say nothing.) 27. MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR. I know, I know. But, if I could just use one earth-saving tip to draw your attention to the beautiful and cosmic experience of making love with a truly giving and understanding sexual partner. (Takethat, you lying, blood-sucking witch!) 28. SHARE YOUR SHOWERS. I’ve done a complete one-eighty on this one. Use a kitchen timer. (Or Ravel’s Bolero!) 29. WOMEN! Or should I say, women judges! (This just in: She gets the car, the house—everything except the profits from this book, Dear Reader.) 30. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. When someone (especially someone much younger and less experienced than yourself that you only met two weeks ago) tells you that one person can’t make a difference—that no matter how much shouting and yelling and â€Å"whining and complaining† one person does nothing will change, that â€Å"you’re too old to be acting that way,† that â€Å"you should settle down and focus on one thing and do that well†Ã¢â‚¬â€when someone lays that trip on you, it’s time to split. (â€Å"I can make a difference!† I tell her, gathering my things.) 31. BUNDLE AND RECYCLE NEWSPAPERS. Sorry, I lost sight of what we’re trying to do here, which is save the earth. Take all your old newspapers, bundle them together, and bring them to a recycling center. They’ll give you a few bucks, which is nothing to sneeze at. (What happened?) 32. BUY A â€Å"RECYCLED† CAR. There are some good deals in used cars—if you take the time to look. (I didn’t, and boy am I sorry.) 33. DON’T LITTER THE HIGHWAYS. Be considerate. There are laws, but they’re rarely enforced. (Except in my case, of course. I told the officer I wasn’t living in my car—it had broken down, I was tired—but: A $100 fine for vagrancy, a night in jail, a towing charge of $75, and a ticket—I’m getting rid of this damn car!) 34. KEEP FIGHTING. That’s right. No matter how tough it gets, the fight to save the earth will go on, with or without you. (Right now it’s without. I’m back to my old habits again—smoking, drinking, and hanging out with a bunch of losers. One of them is a real nut, calls himself â€Å"The Master.†) 35. DONATE OLD CLOTHING. There are people out there who can get some good use out of your old moth-eaten sweater or sports jacket or worn-out pair of shoes. (I’m a 41 short.) 36. FOLLOW THE MASTER. The Master has forged an â€Å"alliance with the human spirit† that allows him to speak directly and simultaneously to every living thing on this planet. (Follow The Master.) 37. THINK FOR YOURSELF. Take it from someone who, after having his self-esteem obliterated by a persuasive con man and his gang of sycophants, escaped on foot—with nothing to eat for nine days but wild berries and mushrooms—and lived to talk about it! (You might have seen the story in the papers—†DAZED FOLLOWER OF DIZZY GURU FOUND ON FREEWAY†) 38. HI, HOW ARE YOU? I knew it was her before I picked up the phone. (The cobwebs that covered the receiver were now sticking to my face. â€Å"Fine,† I said.) 39. DON’T BE FOOLED. A wise consumer is a protected consumer. (I told my ex this when we got together for some Irish coffee at the mini-mall, near the old house. She ended up selling that barn for—get this—$650,000! â€Å"Honey, it seems like old times!† I whooped.) 40. RECYCLE! REVIVE! RERUN! Excuse my exuberance, but something is finally happening out there—something positive, something good. People are separating their garbage. They’re using biodegradable, ecologically safe, recyclable and reusable materials. Everything old is new again! (When my ex-wife and I decided to re-marry, I suggested a â€Å"Save the Earth† clause be added to our pre-nuptial agreement. â€Å"We have to talk,† she said, showing great interest at the time.) 41. MOVE TO THE COUNTRY. Inherit the land again. That’s what we did. Bought forty-three acres in Upstate New York. It’s a working farm, where my wife can go out to the barn and milk the cows, pick out the freshest eggs and knit our clothes from the wool she shears from our very own sheep. (And I can finish this book!)

Essay about Israel And The Palestinians - 2991 Words

Israel and the Palestinians Israel is situated at the connection of Africa and Asia. It is 20,000 square kilometres and unlike its neighbour Arab states it lacks natural resources. Lebanon and Syria border it in the north, Jordan in the east and Egypt to the south. Israel has also been holding Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of the River Jordan since 1967. It has an extremely varied geography and climate. Most of the coastline lies on the Mediterranean Sea. In the south are the valleys of Jezreel and Hulveh. There is the lake Tiberias and in the east the hills of Samaria ad Judea on the west bank. There is also the Negev desert to the south, which makes up sixty percent of the total land area. Coastal inhabitants face a†¦show more content†¦In 1922 France declared a mandate over Syria, and in short Britain and France together controlled all of what is today Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Syria and Iraq, leaving south Arabia as a nominally independent Arab territory. Palestinian Arabs were encouraged by Transjordans’s independence from Britain 1928 and Iraq’s in 1932. Meanwhile Britain had already ended its Egyptian protectorate in 1922; in 1936 she limited her presence there to a Suez Canal garrison. In Palestine Britain was now caught between Jewish and Arab demands, and found it increasingly difficult to satisfy both sides. Reacting to the phenomenal Nazi oppression of Jews, fully 225,000 Jews had left Germany and East and Central Europe for Palestine between 1933 and 1939. In February 1947 after various partition plans had failed in the face of Arab command on a unitary state, Britain referred the Palestine question to the newly formed United Nations. â€Å"A Special Committee (UNSCOP) drew up a new partition plan: it called for (i) a Jewish state in three linking segments, eastern Galilee in the north, the coastal plane from Haifa to Rehovot in the south, and the Negev desert; (ii) an Arab state, made up of western Galilee, central Palestine, a southern littoral bordering Egypt, and the port of Jaffa; (iii) an international zone in Jerusalem and Bethlehem; and (iv) economic union betweenShow MoreRelatedThe Palestinian And Israel Conflict2619 Words   |  11 Pagescompromise is the Protestant and Catholic conflict in Northern Ireland during the 20th century. For the dispute that has not been able to create a successful policy agreement, I am focusing on the Palestinian and Israel conflict in the Middle East. The problem in which I analyze is whether or not Palestine and Israel can put together some ingredients that can lead to a recipe of compromise and peace. In the paper I argue that the International Criminal Court is a key i ngredient the conflict has been missingRead MoreEssay on Israel and The Palestinians1427 Words   |  6 Pages In the Middle East region, there is a single country that stands out from the rest, a beacon of light on the very edge of civilization; that country is Israel. A country surrounded on all sides by its sworn enemies, determined to bring about its downfall. These resilient people have not only survived this tumultuous area but have prospered, and in this short essay paper, we will examine the reasons why this is by primarily examining their culture. We are going to do this by taking a close lookRead MoreThe Palestinian-Israel Conflict Essay2191 Words   |  9 PagesThe Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been in existence since the end of 19th century. The conflict became an international concern when Israel got its independence in 1948. This conflict has resulted in a lot of minor conflicts and 5major wars. Tensions between the Arabs and Zionists started after the 1800’s when the immigration of the European Jews to Palestine was on the increase. The population of Palestine from 1882-1883 was 468,000 and the population consisted of 408 Muslims, 44,000 ChristiansRead MoreThe Israeli Palestinian Conflict : Israel Palestine Conflict Essay1516 Words   |  7 PagesSome studies on the Israel-Palestinian conflict postulate that the nature of the conflict has always been about land, meaning the partition of the holy land (e.g., Newman, 2002; Klieman, 2000; Alpher, 1995). But a tectonic shift occurred with the swift Israeli victory in the 6 day war of 1967, when Israel occupied the territories. Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories bar Gaza strip ( territorially miniscule) has morphed into a sort of colonialism as Israel has buil a number of settlementsRead MoreEssay about Improving Israel-Palestinian Communication485 Words   |  2 PagesThe Israel-Palestinian conflict i s a part of the greater Arab-Israeli long-running conflict in the Middle East. The main point of this conflict is the existence of the state of Israel and its relations with Arab states and with the Palestinian population in the area. Since the establishment of Israel, the Palestinians and the Jews have been fighting over the land for several years. Both believe that they have greater claim than the other. Even though, these two races share a variety of customsRead MoreThis paper is about the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict and favors the side of Israel. Basically a persuasive essay and argues for Israel.2639 Words   |  11 PagesSince the establishment of Israel in 1948, there has been constant fighting between Israelis and Arabs. The Israelis have the right to live peacefully in Israel, but there is a conflict because the Palestinians feel that Israel is their land. During recent years the conflict in the Middle East had been exploded on to our television screens. Day after day images of violence and suffering have dominated the news. 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The method used in the process of investigation consisted in accessing English and Israeli websites, including the official website of the Parliament of Israel, in order to collectRead MoreWhy Is a Solution to the Israel-Palestine Conflict so Hard to Achieve?1053 Words   |  4 PagesIsraeli–Palestinian conflict could be described as a clash that between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs as they attempted to compete the same piece of land briefly (Dowty 2008:1, 4). The reasons that prevent a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem will be discussed and will be divided into three parts, Israeli reasons, Palestinian reasons and the common problem between two countries. In terms of Palestinian reasons, there are three reasons, the United Nation General Assembly (UNGA) ResolutionRead MoreThe First Two Uprisings Of The West Bank, Gaza And East Jerusalem1341 Words   |  6 Pagesin this literal sense the first two uprisings in 1987-1993 and 2000-2003 failed to achieve the goal of Palestinian autonomy or eventual independence. The First Intifada took place on the 8th of December 1987. This protest was against Israeli’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. At the crowded checkpoint Israeli truck swerved and killed four The Palestinians. Palestinians in revenge swept across the Gaza Strip, spread to the World Bank and set into motion a blaze of nationalistRead MoreThe State of Israel and The BASEL System1579 Words   |  6 PagesWar broke out the day after Israel was established in May 14, 1948, when neighboring Arab armies invaded. The United Nations General Assembly ratified resolution 181 on November 29, 1947, this would break Great Britain’s Palestinian mandate into separate Jewish and Arab states. The religious areas neighboring Jerusalem would remain under international control according to this resolution. This was refused by the Palestinians. They thought that this favored the Jews and was unfair to the Arabs that