Marriage and Divorce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Marriage and Divorce - Essay Example This discussion takes an in-depth look at marriage and divorce including a brief historical assessment, statistics and trends regarding both marriage and divorce and the many varied factors that contribute to divorce. It also includes the story of a couple that are now happily married after both experienced divorce and input from two experts in the field who give advice on how to avoid actions and feelings that contribute to an unhappy marriage. The sanctioned ceremonial joining together of a man and woman can be found throughout all societies of the world and predates the written language, the use of sophisticated tools and expressions of art. However, this practice has taken on many forms in the long history of mankind (â€Å"History of Marriage†, n.d.). Ancient peoples formed societies because they found safety in numbers, the ‘pack mentality.’ Pairing-off into man-woman couples provides many advantages that are common to early and modern day people as well which includes the proliferation of bloodlines, a structured system that enhances the chances for successful reproduction and allowing for an orderly procedure in which to pass along property and other assets to family members. Marriage, in both early history and today, is the product of love and affection and, to roughly the same degree, a need for economic and social stability. The custom of wearing a wedding ring dates back to the days of Ancient Rome. Its round form was and is still believed to symbolize an eternal and never-ending union of two souls (â€Å"History of Marriage†, n.d.). Around the time of the fall of the Roman Empire, the practice of polygamy was officially prohibited and laws were enacted banning adulterous relationships as well as all other types of relationships that were considered inconsistent with a permanent, monogamous covenant. These

Character of Nicholas in Chaucers Millers Tale Essay Example for Free

Character of Nicholas in Chaucers Millers Tale Essay Nicholas, with his outrageous sense of humour and eager pursuit of love, functions as the charming, likeable hero in Millers Tale. He is introduced as hende Nicholas, and his conduct does not at all answer to the usual sense of the adjective which implies great courtesy, but its suggestion of approval is repeatedly invoked as the Miller refers to his hero by this formula. We learn at once that he is knowledgeable and of his interest in astrology. This is seen as a respectable branch of learning, but Nicholas is aware of its power to impress others, while he is able to supplement his income by weather-forecasting. He is also helped financially by friends. The imaginary flood of which Nicholas tells John shows us his cunning, his confident attitude, his inventiveness and especially his contempt for the stupid tradesman: Dont worry about that, said Nicholas, / His times been badly wasted, if a scholar / Cant get the better of a carpenter. (lines 191-193) In spite of this, however, the Miller presents the astrologer in a way that makes the audience like Nicholas. He does this by making John seem deserving of punishment for his unwise marriage and subsequent jealousy. Nicholass youth and attractiveness makes us less critical of his boldness, and the comic manner of the tales telling makes his conduct seem less worthy of censure than would be the case with real people. Nicholas seems a more appropriate partner for Alison than does John, and the Millers repetition of the formula hende Nicholas encourages us to be more sympathetic. However, it is important to note that Nicholas does not escape his daring plan without any consequences. His over-confidence and lack of prudence earn him a punishment appropriate to his offence, and in keeping with the farcical spirit of the tale he is scalded in the towte by his rival, who mistakes him for Alison. Thus, Nicholas may be the character that has the audience rooting for him by being likeable and providing good laughs, but his charming yet arrogant attitude does not prevent him from suffering the consequences of his actions. The Canterbury Tales [Oxford guides to Chaucer]. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989.

Urban Planning Urban Design

Urban Planning Urban Design Urban Planning Urban Design ABSTRACT The effect of over exploitation of nature resources by human and also lack of awareness of good planning and design in the cities causes many problems to many cities in the world. That is why it was crucial to have good planning system in the city and also to put the planning into practice with the design of the city itself. Urban planning is a mixture of planning in physical (like roads, maps and land use plan) but also it is dealing with nonphysical planning like regulation, policies in the city or regional levels. Furthermore urban designs are more focusing on the art of making places; this includes the way places work and matters such as community safety. The integration between these two fields is that urban planners are more focusing on the function of the city as a whole, and the urban designers will try to interpret it in the design of the city. One of the main elements in urban planning and urban design is green open space. The latter is the region or ground surface area which is dominated by plants that are promoted to a particular habitat protection functions. Green open space has many various functions which vary from social, economical and environmental aspects. One of the better ways to improve the green open space and conserve it is by implementing smart growth. The latter is one of the researches that have been conducted in USA to approach a sustainable development in America. These researches have produced ten principles of successful community from every part of the world. The principles in smart growth are considered to be good examples to be also implemented in other countries. Furthermore, the use of the smart growth principles needs to localize these principles regarding to the country condition, culture and legislation. In general, the understanding of the characteristics of different types of open spaces in an urban and rural matrix may guide authorities (local and country) in the long term planning process. The assessment of change in green open space system is equally important to take measures in maintaining livable countries and cities. Also planning and designing for a green open space are very important in promoting the development of any country. URBAN PLANNING AND URBAN DESIGN (Green open space) Since the existence of humankind, planning was among the main issues to deal with; this is so because planning helps him to organize his activities and to predict his future. It is on the basis of this that cities have also been put into account in planning. However, as the human society is growing up, this development is bringing some problems to our earth since there is over exploitation of the world resources. Due to this over exploitation of the earth, natural resources; and other mal- human activities (socio-economic), such as pollution and waste problems, lose of natures conservation, biodiversity, ecology and green coupled with the emergence and dangers of climate change, global warming and its negative implications on living quality in recent times and in future to the whole world, there is a growing interest in sustainability, sustainable development and its incorporation into plans of all sorts. Despite this issues of global warming, researches have shown that green open space can be one of the solutions of that problem. Green open space has effect on microclimates. Trees and planting can result in the reduction of peak summer temperatures by up to 5 ° Celsius. Thus, trees can be included in the Citys street scene designs wherever possible, to provide shade and cooling and consequently reduce global warming (City of London, 2009). Basing on the above said, we found important to discuss about urban design and urban planning: Green Open Space. CONNECTION BETWEEN URBAN PLANNING AND URBAN DESIGN According to Peter Hall, 2002, the verb ‘to plan and the noun ‘planning and planner, have in fact only the second general group of meanings: they do refer to the art of drawing up a physical plan or design on paper. They can mean either ‘either ‘to arrange the parts of or ‘to realize the achievement of ‘or more vaguely, to ‘intend. The most common meaning of planning involves both the first two of these elements; planning is concerned with deliberately achieving some objectives and it proceeds by assembling actions into some orderly sequence. It is on the basis of this that Gallion and Eisner, 1993, defined urban planning as an attempt to create an orderly development in urban areas and reduce social conflicts and economic conditions that would endanger the lives and property. On the other hand, urban design is about how to recapture certain of the qualities (qualities which we experience as well as those we see) that we associate with the traditional city: a sense of order, place, and continuity, richness of experience, completeness and belonging. Urban design lies somewhere between the broad-brush abstractions of planning and the concrete specifics of architecture. (Cowan, 1997). As we can see it through the definitions, there are some similarities and differences between these two subjects. Though, the above definition can be summarized as follows (see the table below): From this table, urban planning has a role to make sure that a city is working and functioning well that is why urban and regional planning is focusing on various issues such as economical, social and environmental issues while, urban design is more focusing on aesthetical values like sense of place, building character, pedestrian design and design of public space. Furthermore, sometimes urban planners can become very micro like urban designers. They can make some designs of the cities which is the main task of urban designers. In revenge urban designers can make plans for policies and guidelines. Because urban planning and urban design are very wide, we found important to discuss about green open space as a focus point. GREEN OPEN SPACE Green Open Space is the region or ground surface area which is dominated by plants that are promoted to a particular habitat protection functions, and / or facilities neighborhood / city, and / or network security infrastructure, and / or agricultural cultivation. (Directorate General of Spatial Planning, Indonesia Ministry of Public Works, 2007). Nowadays, the concept open space in complex matrix is not limited only to the urban park and preserves but also non park-non natural-places. Public spaces such as streets, school yards, outdoor sport complexes, cemeteries, and public squares are important green open spaces (Hall, 1998). Why plan and design for green open space? The process of getting everyone together to think about community needs is worthwhile endeavor in itself. An urban open space plan is much more than a land acquisition plan. It can make a wide variety of recommendations about the future of a country. So, we have to plan for a green open space because:  · A green open space plan is the flip side of a development plan. After identifying important green open spaces, it will be much more apparent where development should occur.  · It recommends land use regulations that will help to protect the community from uneconomic and inefficient sprawl. (Department of Environmental Conservation , California, 2004) It is for this reason that it is essential for urban planners to determine the function of green open space in order to increase its value (such as water conservation, wetland area, city lungs). When you talk about why plan and design for green open space, it is essential to look at the size and levels of green open space. Green Open Space (size and level) It exists two types of green open space: rural open space and urban open space. Rural open space is made of habitat, recreation, health/ safety (flooding/seismic), agriculture/ rangelands, river and stream parkways while urban open space is constituted by recreation, trails and parkways, stream and canal corridors, natural resources and public space (Department of Environmental Conservation, California, 2004). However, it is too difficult to determine an international size of green open space by different levels because every country has its policies, own physical characteristics and culture but we have an example from United Kingdom which can be a best practice. The United Kingdom Accessible Natural Green Space Standard (ANGS) mentioned that:  · No person should live more than 300 m from their nearest area of natural green space of at least two (2) hectares in size;  · There is provision of at least two (2) hectares of Local Nature Reserve per 1,000 population;  · That there should be at least one accessible 20 ha site within two (2) km from home  · That there should be one accessible 100 ha site within five (5) km;  · That there should be one accessible 500 ha site within (10) km. We can not only discuss about the size and levels of green open space in urban planning and urban design, we need also to recognize the functions of green open space because the latter are always planned for certain purposes. Function of Green open space Green open spaces are vital part of landscapes with its own specific set of function. Open spaces (natural or manmade) contribute to the quality of life in many ways (Burke and Ewan, 1999). Beside important environmental benefits (such as improvement of the quality of air, soil and water, decrease of noise levels, reduction of thermal amplitude variations, protection against the winds, waste Management, improvement of the infiltration and drainage of storm water, reduction of flood risks), these areas provide social psychological services (such as Recreation and Leisure, Increasing physical and Psychological well-being, Sociability) which are critical for the livability of the city and well being of urbanites (Chiesura, 2004). Thompson (2002) sees green open space as places to celebrate cultural diversity, to engage with natural processes and to conserve memories. Green open space has also economic function: it promotes the image of the city, increase the selling point. It contribute s ecologically because it diminishes the process of erosion and promotes biodiversity. These above functions can be combined each other. For example in Houten, we saw that green open space is combined with wet land area. The functions of green open space are water conservation and recreation. Also, green areas are used to encourage people to cycling. This is done by planning green open space along the bicycle pathways. Here, green space has multifunctional purpose like encouraging cycling and enhancing community health. As it is stated above, today, green open space is mainly planned with a purpose of fighting against global warming; this is why we found important to talk about its role in combating against this worldwide issue. THE ROLE OF GREEN OPEN SPACE IN FIGHTING AGAINST GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE There is a growing consensus that global warming is one of the greatest threats facing humanity. Different researches have shown that greenhouse gases are the first to keep the earth warm, human use of fossil fuels is the main source of excess greenhouse gases. By driving cars, using electricity from coal-fired power plants, or heating our homes with oil or natural gas, we release carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. Deforestation is another significant source of greenhouse gases, because fewer trees mean less carbon dioxide conversion of oxygen. This is why some scientists say that: â€Å"The bigger are the cities, the more the urban citizen is deprived of contact with the environment, the more he despises or simply ignores the other elements of ecosystem. He becomes more and more hostile and the men look for refuge during more time inside artificial environment† Monteiro, 2001. This author wanted to express that the growing of the city affects the environment because the forest, trees or green in general are replaced by urban infrastructures like houses, streets, public building, etc. This idea is also supported by Sing Chew, 2001 in his book: world ecological degradation. Accumulation, urbanization and deforestation, he said that: â€Å"In all the process of urbanization, depending on the nature and levels of consumption and production, generates ecological degradation when the nature becomes extremely exploitative. It is true that if you build a bigger city you will consume more sources and also you could have big impact to the environment, and if you are not limiting the growth of your cities you will lose a lot of nature area. However, big cities have a lot of advantages and opportunities thus we cannot do away from them because of green open space. Big cities are good for economy so to have big cities is not a problem; it depends upon of how you plan for them. You have to limit the growth of the cities, integrate cities with environment and make sure that people have more contact with environment. And as you know, you cannot achieve this without good planning, this is why it is important to discuss about green open space and planning. GREEN OPEN SPACE AND PLANNING According to Knopf, 1987; Gerlach-Spriggs et al., 1998; Cooper Marcus and Barnes, 1999), for thousands of years, there have been ideas to the effect that human health and welfare are influenced in a positive way by his spending time in natural surroundings wild nature as well as enclosed gardens. It is for that reason that green open space is the main issue to be prioritized in city planning. It can be primarily planned if you consider the green open spaces as your main priority; it means that you emphasize the environmentally friendly concept rather than other issues. For examples: Green Cities and Eco-Village. On the other hand, open space and green must be planned at the same level with other activities. Example if you are planning for a residential area you cannot prioritize green open space but you have to plan for it at the same level with housing. This is very important for sustainability and as we know, sustainability takes into account social, economical and environmental aspects. It also depends on the situation that occurs in that country, for example if the transportation issues like traffic congestion or urbanization are more dominant more than any other issues then the planning will give emphasis more on the transportation issues. Concerning the role of urban and regional planners, they can develop plans for long-and short-term land use and growth and regeneration of green spaces. Planners seek to optimize land for parks and other public facilities related to the green open space. They can help local leaders to lessen social, economic and ecological issues by recommending sites for green space. In order to enhance the awareness and understanding of this, urban planners could use media such as mass media, magazines, online media, radio, news papers, and television as tools of communicating with community and stakeholders, about how the urban planner arranges the space in the same understandings and meanings (Edison, 2009). There should be at least a diversion of responsibilities of all stakeholders in arrangement and using of spaces. In that way we could make a comfortable, safe, productive and sustain living environment (Fauzi, 2009).This work includes forecasting future needs of the population. Planners consi der the public opinions to ensure that these facilities meet the needs of a growing population and development. They can also help to make decisions about resource development and protection of green spaces. The planners can also help to legislate on the environment thus green open space will be well protected and will always be attractive. On the side of finance, they can look at the aspect of taxation, though they can plan for green open space near high class residential areas (taxes can be paid by high level income people). CONCLUSION: Grosso modo, green open space is among the infrastructures that contribute to the smooth development of our world because it has social, economical and environmental functions. Due to the functions and the role green open space plays in the cities, they are fundamental elements, inductors of quality of life. When they get organized in systems like the green structure, their value is potentiated and incremented then contributing more efficiently to the quality of life. It is for that reason that green open space has to be promoted in the whole world. In nowadays, green open space is well thought-out because of its role in fight against the global warming and climate change. That is why it is incorporated in different spatial plans around the world. At this juncture, urban planners are identifying important green open spaces and determine always much more apparent where development should occur. So, land use regulations that will help to protect the community from uneconomic and ineffi cient sprawl will be put in place. This planning is done at different level with various size of green open space (we have to note that this differ from one country to another). After analyzing the importance of green open space, we discovered that smart growth can be a solution for green open space (in planning) because it takes into account the concept of sustainability. (Heberle and Susan M.Opp, 2008) and it is in smart growth that we find the principle of mix land uses which always gives room for green open space (Wheeler, M. and Beatley, T. (2006). Thus, it is suggested to urban planners to think about smart growth when planning for green open space in cities. Here, urban planners are obliged to work with national, regional, and local partners to give the tools and means needed to ascertain and prioritize areas to realize smart green open space. The implementation of locally based, long term green open space plans is a critical element in achieving smart growth. Well-managed open space programs can safeguard the natural green infrastructure of a place, offering opportunities for recreation, preserving important environmental and ecological functions, an d enhancing community quality of life. REFERENCES Burke. and Ewan, J., 1999. Sonoran Preserve Master Plan for the Phoenix Sonoran Desert, City of Phoenix Parks, Recreation and Library Department. Chiesura, A., 2004. The Role of Urban Parks for the Sustainable City. Landscape and Urban Planning. 68, pp. 129-138. Cook, E. A., 2000. Ecological Networks in Urban Landscapes. Wageningen University, Wageningen. Cook, E. A., 2002. Landscape structure indices for assessing urban ecological networks. Landscape and Urban Planning, 58, pp. 269-280. Cooper Marcus, C. Barnes, M. (Eds.). 1999. Healing gardens: Therapeutic benefits and design recommendations. New York: John Wiley Sons. Cowan, R. (1997) The Connected City, London, Urban Initiatives. Retrieved from: http://books.google.co.id/books?id=ofW92R6svXICpg=RA1-PA28dq=Cowan,+R.+(1997)++The+Connected+City+,+London,+Urban+Initiativeshl=nlcd=1#v=onepageq=Cowan%2C%20R.%20(1997)%20%20The%20Connected%20City%20%2C%20London%2C%20Urban%20Initiativesf=fal at 1 December 2009. Eisner, S., A. Gallion, and S. Eisner. (1993). The Urban Pattern. (Sixth Edition). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. Retrieved from: http://iaps.scix.net/cgi bin/works/Show? Iaps_18_2004_138 at 1 December 2009. English Nature,( 2003). Accessible Natural Green Space Standards in Towns and Cities: A Review and Toolkit for their Implementation. External Relations Team English Nature. Northminster House. England Hall, P., 1998. Sociable Cites: The Legacy of Ebenezer Howard, Wiley, Chichester. Hall, 2002. Urban and regional planning. Fourth Edition. Routeledge. New York. Knopf, R.C. 1987. Human behavior, cognition, and affect in the natural environment. In D. Stoklas I. Altman, (Eds.), Handbook of environmental psychology (pp.783-825). New York: John Wiley. Morris, C. 1971. Writings on the general theory of signs. Approaches to Semiotics 16, 1-486. Lauren C. Heberle and Susan M.Opp, 2008.Local Sustainable Urban Development in a Globalized World. Ashgate publishing limited. Hampshire. Laboratory of Landscape Planning Department of Landscape Architecture Faculty of Agriculture IPB. 2005 .Workshop Papers Development of Green Open Space System in City. Directorate General of Spatial Planning. Indonesia Ministry of Public Works. Retrieved from: http://www.penataanruang.net/taru/Makalah/051130-rth.pdf at 1 December 2009. Thompson, C.W., 2002. Urban open space in the 21st century. Landscape and Urban Planning. 60(2), pp. 59-72. Wheeler, M. and Beatley, T. (2006). The sustainable urban development reader, Routledge publications, New York. Internet reference: Bowo, Fauzi. 2009. http://www.jakarta.go.id/v70/index.php/en/bangunan-cagar-budaya/176-latest/2569-hari-tata-ruang-dki-kembalikan-fungsi-jalur-hijau. Spatial Planning Day The Restoration of Green Lines function. The Official Website of Jakarta Province. Consulted at 13 December 2009. City of London (2009). www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/openspaces. Parks and open spaces. London. Consulted at December 8, 2009. Edison Naiborhu , Bahal . 2009. http://www.penataanruang.net/eng/detail_b_en.asp?id=841. Important Role of Mass Media towards Spatial Order. Jakarta. Directorate General of Spatial Planning, Indonesia. Consulted at 13 December 2009.

Impacts of Tourism in Vancouver Essay -- Tourism

Tourism is an endeavour sought by an individual or a party of individuals, which leads to a movement from one place to another with the idealism of a specific task, to visit a place or several places with the primary purpose of achieving entertainment and increasing knowledge of countries, cultures, and their history. The expression ‘largest industry in the world’ is universally used with mention to tourism, ensuring its recognition as the largest generator of wealth (over 11.7% of the global gross domestic product) and employment (7% of the world’s jobs); this shows that tourism is indeed an important industry that depends on culture and legacy.(Budeanu, 2002) Vancouver is feasibly one of the most prevalent tourist destinations in Canada due to many factors, from white-capped mountains to high-energy entertainment, and by recalling the most recent major event that occurred in Vancouver, the Olympics; it is evident that this city unquestionably has something for e veryone. Vancouver is considered a developed country; many people come to this city to become inspired by its beauty, but there is a rising concern that tourism expansion is leading destinations, such as Vancouver, to squander their cultural identity. By catering to the apparent needs of tourists they appear to forget their own roots and the culture that they were once proud of. The concern is the latent conflict between the economic and cultural interests, leading to traditions and customs being sacrificed for reasons of promoting tourism; creating a supplementary economic value at the expense of exhausting a cultural value. Tourism is a method to demonstrate the community’s pride and to teach others of their wonderful culture. Although tourism is astronomically i... ...-7 6e3dfcd8c82%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29w Z T1zaXRl#db=bth&AN=48793830#db=bth&AN=48793830 Morrison, (2003. Vancouver real estate market trends, news and outlook: Retrieved November 17, 2010, from: http:// www.realestatevancouver2010.com/market.html Ryan, C. (1991). Tourism and marketing - a symbiotic relationship? Retrieved November 17, 2 2010, from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6V9R-4 5TVFH6-4 1&_cdi=5905&_user=1067211&_pii=026151779190064Z&_origin=search &_coverDate=06%2F30%2F1991&_sk=999879997&view=c&wchp=dGLzVtb-zSk Wb&md5=73d880153e08b4913ee7d601f49f60fb&ie=/sdarticle.pdf Schloegel, C. (2007). 'Sustainable tourism', journal of sustainable forestry. 247 — 264(3). Retrieved November 17, 2010, from: http://pdfserve.informaworld.com/314885_770885140_902240910.pdf

Impetus for Global Warming

Although the whole world is aware of the global worming issue and is afraid of what its impacts could do mother earth in the coming future, there are those who still believe global worming is a fiction and does not exist. The global warming debate in many parts of the earth is ranging more than before. Many people assert to the fact that earth is jeopardized by daily human activities that we cannot do without while skeptics strongly continue to believe that human activities are not the cause to global (Haldar, 2011). Most of the skeptics do not understand how human activities are contributing to global warming. They do not realize that every time they turn on their electronic gadgets and drive cars they contribute to the problem. It is due to such ignorance in the past that the problem has continued to creep on us. Additionally, as much as many people understand that global warming, is a problem now; very few understand that each choice they make contribute to the problem while even fewer do not understand that it is the responsibility of every person to solve the problem by remaining conscious of their consumption choices. Global warming is based on the notion that the earth temperatures are increasing due to human activities such as burning fossil fuels. The increase in temperatures is caused by the increasing emission of carbon dioxide, CO2, into the atmosphere that is associated with trapping heat hence the greenhouse effect. According to Maslin (2007), human activities that include burning of fossil fuels are the main causes of global warming in our planet. The effect of increasing global temperatures is the main cause of changing global climate, which is the main effect of global warming (Haldar, 2011). This further affects different climatic regions in different ways such as faster melting of the glaciers in the arctic, famine and draughts, heavier rainfall in some regions while others hardly receive any, warmer oceans, loss of species and changing weather patterns amongst others. Therefore, there is a pressing need to protect the environment in the face of global warming especially in adversely affected areas where climatic changes are occurring rapidly (Haldar, 2011). Arguments for Global Warming Currently, many arguments in favor of the global warming issue exist. The most agreed upon argument is that human activities especially those that cause emission of carbon dioxide are quite high to be considered insignificant or negligible, as skeptics to global warming would term them. The other argument is that global temperatures are more constant and do not change over a short while. However, the current increase in the global average temperatures is an indicator of increasing greenhouse effect causing the global warming. Further scientific research indicate that over the past century when the world has undergone a huge transformation into industrialization temperatures have increased significantly especially in the last fifty years. Moreover, scientific studies agree that fluctuating temperatures are not only caused by human activities, but also other activities such as volcanic eruptions and solar activities amongst other cause (Biophile Magazine n. d). This indicates that arguments for global warming are supported by scientific research while skeptic arguments are not. Another argument for global warming is that carbon dioxide being one of the most important greenhouse gases cannot be removed from the atmosphere easily. It requires a lot of time to remove from the atmosphere considering that we currently produce it in huge amounts. The current amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can last for the next 200 years even if we stopped emitting any into the atmosphere (Biophile Magazine n. d). This means that its percentage in the atmosphere will continue to increase if no measures are taken to stop. A comparison of the earth’s climate with its closest planets can indicate how the effect of increase in carbon could jeopardize life. Mars, with a thinner atmosphere has almost all of its carbon dioxide in the ground maintaining its temperatures at -50oC. On the other hand, Venus that is closer to the sun has a thicker atmosphere with 96% of it containing carbon dioxide. This maintains its temperatures at +420oC. This is to mean that increase in carbon implies increased temperatures (Maslin, 2007). Arguments against Global Warming While there are many arguments for global warming, it is surprising that there are as many opposing views especially ones that are just fiction. One of the major opposing arguments is that even though the earth is warming up, we cannot for sure attribute this to human activities. Most of these opposing views from the skeptics attribute global warming to natural causes despite the fact that scientific studies have indicated the contribution of human activities to global warming. As a result, many people are confused over whether global warming is a fact of fiction. Even some scientists argue that global warming if it exists is beneficial since it allows longer growing seasons, efficient irrigation schemes and creates more climates that are conducive. Although this might be partially true, it is a known fact that such effect is only for a short period while the negative effects are permanent. Another argument from the skeptics is that carbon dioxide can be removed from the atmosphere quickly, meaning that we can reverse the effect quickly than it is changing (Biophile Magazine n. d). As aforementioned, this is not true and remains just a fiction. Further, they claim the negligibility of the human activities in causing the problem. These are arguments without scientific or in contrast to scientific studies, making most of them fiction. However, whether fiction or not fiction, such arguments have the effects of slowing the efforts of mitigating the problem. In conclusion, it is evident that two sides to the global warming fact or fiction debate exist with many still believing that human activities have nothing to do with global warming. The arguments presents two sides, one with people who believe that human activities are causing the global warming while the other believes global warming if it exists is caused by natural causes. The two sides of view dictate what one can do to prevent the problem from aggravating. With the view supporting global warming, the proponents are more likely to take up measures that reduce carbon emission especially changing their consumption behavior while the opposing side will just do nothing. It is important to understand both sides of the arguments in order to make better judgment concerning measures that can reduce global warming.

Know Your Competitors

Know Your Competitor A healthy competition among fellow people is always good for improvement in every field. Especially, a businessman needs to be aware of his competitors and the steps they are taking to draw more and more clients. There are a lot of ways, got with the help of advanced technologies, which can be used for acquiring enough data related to the market: Track the Ad: To track the advertising websites and the keywords used there by the competitors you need monitoring tools like Adbeat, AdGooroo, MixRank, Moat,SocialAdNinJa, WhatRunsWhere – any one of these. With the help of Adbeat, you can know about the strategies of the advertisements the competitors are using, many unknown fellow competitors and their advertising agenda. Even there is a 30-day free trial available. While with AdGooroo, the page-ranks and page views are available on a giant Display board. It includes SEM Insight Tool that helps to know the keywords, competitive intelligence, PPC and SEO related information.In MixRank the mixture of ll types ads companies are using are available like display ads, text ads, demographics etc. If you put the speculative competitor's brand mane in the free search tool of Moat, the search bar will produce some results on your screen showing the top ads they are using recently. Tracing the Keywords: Tracing the keywords is equally necessary to know about the recent trend of the market, what are the keywords that are attracting more page views and what are keeping rage ranks in the static position.For discovering avourable keywords, KeywordSpy, KeywordCompetitor, iSpionage, SEMrush, SpyFu and The Search Monitor are always helpful. All of them are used more or less for the same purpose, but the difference lies in the use of advanced technology. Researching on Backlinks: You can even check the backlinks by pasting the URL links, know about the present and historical records, IPs, top pages, anchor texts etc from Ahrefs, Majestic Site Explorer, and O pen Site Explorer etc.Checking Web Ranking: Get a detailed graphic picture of the targeted audience and nteractive clients of your competitor from Alexa, Compete, SimilarWeb which is famous for tracking web traffic along with many other important data. Social Media: It is really tiring and time consuming to go to the same website regularly to know about the competitor's next step. Google Alert, Social Mention, Talkwater, Topsy and Twitter – there are many options for monitoring the social media spaces of the competitors. Social media is a space with optimized potentiality and from Fan Page Karma, Twitter,