The Artic Essays (816 words) - Biology, Artic, Nature, Pollution

The Artic The Artic Introduction. The Artic is a region at the upper most tip of the Northern Hemisphere. The Artic includes the area around Greenland, USSR, Canada and Alaska. Much of the Artic circle is permanently frozen ice. The Artic is a pristine environment, clean and void of human interference. However as humans move into these areas and begin to extract what ever they can be balance can be tipped, resulting in pollution and destruction of the environment. Climate. The Artic winters much longer than the Summer. In the winter the sun never rises and in the summer it never sets. The average temperature for the Artic is zero degrees of less. Industry and the Artic. There was once a time when the land of the Artic Circle was considered useless and only hospitable to those native to it. However once vast quantities of oil and fish had been found there was a rush of interest in the land. Fishing in the Artic has occurred for thousands of years but in recent years man has been fishing the Artic; in greater numbers and taking more fish. Professional fishermen are taking all kinds of fish as well as whales and seals. In some areas fishermen have become so efficient at their job that quotas have needed to be put on to limit or stop the capture of certain animals. There are many mineral deposits within the Artic Circle. In Russia: nickel, iron ore, apatite, diamonds, gold, tin, coal, mica, and tungsten. In Sweden: iron ore. In Greenland: lead, zinc, molybdenum and cryolite. Spitsbergen: coal. Canada: uranium, copper, nickel, lead, zinc, tungsten and iron ore. The digging out of minerals would inevitably disturb the natural habitat as well as the environment there would be a great cost to maintain the site. Industry that is designed to process various minerals have waste products that would be most unwelcome in the Artic. A good example of this is the pollution that has arisen as a result of the smelting of metals in the Artic. It is for this reason that there is very little industry in the Artic. However Russia, Canada, Greenland and Iceland have several small scale manufacturing plants. The largest industry in the Artic is oil. The rush began in 1968 when a large oil field was discovered, there was a great deal of protest but the development went ahead. Oil extracted from the felid makes its way to Port Valdez via a 1300 kilometre pipeline. Although steps were taken to limit the pipelines affect on the environment it still disrupts the migration of caribou. In 1989 the unthinkable happened and the super tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground spilling millions of gallons of crude oil into the Prince William Sound. The effects of the slick were devastating. Within a week workers counted 24000 dead sea birds and 1000 sea otters. The effects of the slick were felt throughout the food chain from photoplankton to bears. The Exxon company funded the clean up but there was no compensation for the hundreds of people that lost their job as a result of the slick. Pollution of the Artic A large threat to the Artic is transboundry pollution and bioaccumulation. These are both complex subjects but are easily explained. Transboundry pollution is the pollution of the Artic from other countries. The ocean currents and wind conditions result in large amounts of pollution being deposited in the Artic. In winter when the sun is low thick blankets of haze can be seen over the Artic. Bioaccumulation is the process where pollutants build up in the Artic because they cannot be broken down due to the extreme cold. Once harsh chemicals find their way into the food chain they stay there forever, trapped in the animals and sediments. A result of increased pollutants in the atmosphere is the occurrence of acid rain. Sulphur and Nitrogen dioxides drift from developed countries and when they mix with water in the atmosphere they can produce acid rain as strong as lemon juice. The acid snow melts in summer and spring producing an acid shock that can kill animals and plants alike. In 1986 the nuclear reactor in Chernoybl exploded sending a nuclear cloud into the atmosphere that among other places contaminated plants and animals in the Artic region. Particularly affected were lichens, lichens are a plant that makes up the majority of a reindeers' diet. When the reindeers ate the lichens they became radioactive and many thousands had to be shot. Tourism vs conservation. In the battle between tourism and conservation, tourism seems to always win. However in the Artic tourism has so far had little effect (compared to other human activity) on the environment. The scenery and wild life of the Artic are seen as so special that people pay thousands of dollars for a small glimpse of the Artic. It is believed by many that Artic tourism will spread a general concern for the environment. There is no denying that if tourism is not controlled people will destroy what they have come to

The Myth of Daedalus and Icarus Essay Example

The Myth of Daedalus and Icarus Essay Example The Myth of Daedalus and Icarus Paper The Myth of Daedalus and Icarus Paper Daedalus, an ingenious Athenian craftsman, having murdered a potential rival, fled with his son Icarus to the island of Crete. There he was commissioned by King Minos to design a labyrinth as a place of confinement for the monster Minotaur. Daedalus contrived a labyrinth so intricate that escape from it was virtually impossible. By falling into disfavor with the king, Daedalus himself, along with his son Icarus, were eventually imprisoned there. Not to be outdone, the famous artificier, Daedalus explained to his son Icarus that, although their escape was checked by land and by sea, the open sky was free. He devised two pairs of wings, and father and son immediately took flight from Crete. Daedalus warned his impetuous son not to fly too high lest the heat of the sun melt the glue and his wings fall off. But Icarus, filled with a sense of power in his flight, disregarded his fathers commands and soon his wings, heated by the sun, fell off, and he plunged into the sea, the waters closing over him. Daedalus means the artful craftsman. He symbolizes mans inventiveness and is credited with other inventions, such as the ax and the saw, in addition to human flight. Icarus, on the other hand, illustrates the dangers which beset human inventions. Daedalus and Icarus together indicate how contradictory and precarious is the human condition: we are both resourceful and very vulnerable. To rose above the earth is an ancient human dream or desire. You know something of birds and their migrations, of the history of human flight, of air travel and air raids, of rockets to the moon and air disasters, of the eagle that stands for national sovereignty and the dove which symbolizes purity of spirit. This is a fascinating and significant subject, but complex, difficult. In Joyces symbolic language, Dublin is a modern labyrinth, a place of confinement, from which Stephen must escape. To Stephen, the city represents a shabby, dusty world of restraint and spiritual paralysis. At times, Stephen is identified with the crafty inventor Daedalus (his namesake), and at other times, with Icarus, the ill-fated rebellious son. Think carefully about the several dimensions of the problem of human flight. There is more to it than saying we need airplanes for transportation and for military protection. Why, in your opinion, does man wish to rise above the earth? What is up there in the nature of man that makes him want to fly always farther and faster and higher? You may not be able to come up with final answers, but you should clarify in your own mind the lure and the dangers of flying, and you should be able to justify human flight.

Interaction between Police, Prosecutors, and the Courts Research Paper

Interaction between Police, Prosecutors, and the Courts - Research Paper Example The smooth and well orchestrated interaction between police, prosecutors, and the courts is necessary to keep the peace and economic viability of the community. The police officers keep the criminals and persons under trial in jail while they are processed for trial. When convicted by the courts of law, the police officers will jail the convicted person in jail the serve the jail sentence handed down by the courts of law. The prosecutors present evidences to the courts to prove the guilt of the persons charged. The courts determine whether the person charged is guilty or innocent of the crime charged. The police officers must ensure that they will implement a high quality investigation to feret out the criminals from the innocent persons as the officers roam the streets of the United States community. The police officers should take extra care of the evidences gathered in order to ensure that the court’s verdict will be correct. The police officers’ presentation of fals ified evidences may result to the court’s erroneous verdict. The erroneous verdict may be to convict an innocent person because of circumstantial evidence. Another erroneous verdict is to declare innocence a person of a crime due to some legal technicalities. One such legal technically is the police officer’s gathering of evidences by using force on a person, against the person’s will. ... The prosecutor must ensure that the court will receive case evidences as a basis for issuing a guilty verdict as well as issue court ruling using legal doctrines. For example, the prosecutor must use the proper section or law references to back up one’s thesis. The court is challenged to prioritize cases. For example, the court must prioritize cases where the person accused is being held under lock and key by the police officers. The court must ensure that the police officers and the prosecutors do not violate the basic rights of the accused persons during their incarceration. For example, Samuel Walker (1993) emphasized â€Å"The videotaped beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers on March 3, 1991--an event that electrified the country—dramatized the problem of police discretion. The officers involved acted out their worst impulses, obviously believing they would never be caught or punished. The fact that a sergeant was present and that the officers later discussed the incident over the police radio is the most damning evidence of their sense of immunity†. The above Rodney King case shows an extreme of the American justice system. The police officers took the law into their own hands. They manhandled the victim, Rodney King of Los Angeles, California. Consequently, the prosecutors must put into motion its duty to gather enough evidences to prosecute the abusive Los Angeles police officers. The police officers must do their best to reduce the crime rate in the community. In their frustration over the unabated crime incidents, some police officers may be triggered to act irrationally. The police officers must uphold the rights of the accused. One of the