Overview of the Global Context of Climate Change Projection - 1650 Words

Overview of the Global Context of Climate Change Projection for Jamaica (Dissertation Review Sample) Content: Climate Change and Small-Scale Farming in Jamaica/Literature ReviewName:Institution:Course:Date:IntroductionAccording to IPCC indication, climate change refers to a change the state of the climate, that is identifiable, through by use of certain measures such as statistical tests through changes in the mean or its properties variability, and whose persistence is for a period that is extended, in most cases for decades or a longer period. Globally, climate change has led to shifts in seasons, climbing of temperatures and rising in sea levels. In addition, meanwhile planet earth needs to still supply human beings and all living things that rely on it for existence with water, food, air and safe living places. (Simpson et al 2012) warns that if appropriate measures are not taken with an immediate effect, the menace of climate change might lead to a rapid change of waters and lands that all mankind relies on for their survival, finally leaving our children and the grandch ildren with a world that is totally different. Some of the most dangerous consequences of the adverse climate change include higher temperatures, landscapes that keep changing, wildlife that is already at risk, seas that are rising, increased drought risk, floods and fire, the increased storm damage emanating from stronger storms, illnesses and diseases that are brought about by increment In heat levels and finally economic losses (Weis 2004,477).BodyOverview of the Global Context of Climate ChangeEvidently, the menace of global warming not only affecting Jamaicans but all parts of the globe already has effects that are significant and costly on the communities, health and climate that surrounds mankind. Immediate actions need to be taken to reduce emissions and global warming, failure to which the impacts will increase their intensity, grow even more damaging and costly, further increase their adverse effects to the entire globe, including all human beings, their community and fami ly as well. Globally, the average sea level has increased with a margin of eight inches since the year 1880, though it is rising even much faster on the East Coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico. Climate change, that has led to the global warming is already causing an acceleration in the rate of the rise in sea level, also leading to an increment in the risks of flooding to communities that are low lying and coastal properties that are at high-risk whose encouragement of development has been done by the system of flood in insurance today. Concerning the wildlife, there is an increase in wildfires and lengthening of wildfire season in the many parts of the world, more so the United States. Heat waves that are more frequent and intense worldwide cab also be attributed to the change in climate. Weather that is dangerously hot is already been experienced more frequently than it was the case in sixty years ago and scientists are already predicting the change of heat waves to become severe and more frequent as the intensity of global warming increases. (Webster et al, 2005) explains that the increase in heat waves leads to creation of health risks that are more serious, which can finally lead to heat exhaustion; aggravate existing medical conditions and heat stroke. National landmarks are also at a great risk worldwide. The consequences of climate change that are growing worldwide put many nationsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ historic sites that are most iconic at great risk. There is also widespread forest death in the Mountains that are rocky. Tens of millions of trees have died in the mountains that are rocky over the last fifteen years, climate-driven triple assault victims of insects that kills trees, stress from heat and drought and wildfires as well. Health and impacts that are costly have been on the rise. The change in climate has significant implications for people all over the world (Taylor et al 2007).The rising temperature have a high likelihood of increasin g air pollution, an allergy season that is more intense and longer, insect-borne diseases spread, heat waves that are more frequent and dangerous, and flooding and rainstorms that are heavier. All these changes pose costly and serious risks to public health. There has been an increase in extreme weather events, which include coastal flooding, heat waves events of extreme precipitation and droughts that are more severe. Global warming also creates conditions that can finally cause hurricanes that are more powerful. In (Simpson et al 2012), precipitation and flooding that is more heavier is also another effect of global change. As the temperature rises, the amount of rainfall increases during the downpours that are heaviest, thus increasing the flooding events risks. More severe draughts have also been experienced in certain areas. The change in climate has affected various factors that are associated with drought and has a high likelihood of increasing drought risk in certain region s. Due to the warming of temperatures the duration and prevalence of drought has increased in the Western parts of the world and the models of climate unanimously project increased drought in the American Southwest. There is also increased pressure on supplies of groundwater. As the climate changes due to the global warming, droughts that are longer and more severe are projected from the western regions. The results are dry conditions which increase the groundwater suppliesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ pressure as more is pumped so as to meet the increased demand even as less rain falls for its replenishment. (Segura et al 2010) further explains that electricity supply is also at a greater risk globally. The electricity infrastructure that is aging in many parts of the world is increasingly becoming vulnerable to the global warming consequences that are growing at a faster rate, up to and including the rise in sea level, extremely high temperatures, increased wildfire, water supply issues and drought . Seasons have also changed immensely. With the climate change that has been brought about by global warming, definite rainy and dry spell are no longer been experienced. For instance, in the United States Springs are nowadays arriving much earlier that it was ten years ago o average in the northern hemisphere. Melting of snow happens earlier nowadays. Reservoirs fill too early and there is an urgent need to release water for control of flood. Soils and vegetation dry out earlier, setting the stage for wildfire seasons that are longer and more damaging. In the planetà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s Polar Regions, temperatures are on the rise, especially in Arctic and in a large part of the worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s melting and glaciers faster that snow and ice that new can lead to their replenishment. Scientistà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s expectations are that the melting rate to accelerate, with implication that are way too serious for rise of the sea level in future. Food supplies have also been disrupted. According to Peil ke et al (2005, 1571),the rising temperatures and the impacts that accompany global warming like heat waves that are more frequent, rainfall that is heavy in certain regions and droughts that are more severe in other parts have significant effects for meat and crop production, not only in Jamaica, but worldwide. Global warming can easily disrupt the supply of food, drive upward drive costs and affect all crops ranging from coffee to cattle, staple food crops to the backyardà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s garden. With an increase in global temperatures, average temperatures of sea surface also increase. The elevated temperatures lead to long-term damage of the coral reefs. According to a document by scientists that has sustained water temperatures of as little as low as one degree Celsius above the supper maxima that is normal can cause damage that can not be reversed. Another world-wide felt effect of the climate change is a shift in plant and animal ranges. Their behavior change, leads to disruption s up and down the food chain. Some warm-weather range of species is expected to expand, while those whose dependence is on environments that are cooler will face habitats that shrink and potential extinction. Abrupt climate potential is also another effect. According to scientistsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬, the earth climate has undergone an abrupt change in the recent past. Even though, there is a low likelihood of occurrence in the near future, global warming may lead to an increase in the risk of similar events. One of the potential mechanisms that are most significant is a shift in a pattern of ocean circulation that referred to as thermohaline circulation which would have consequences that are widespread for Europe and the East Coast of the United Coast (Oouchi et al 2006, 270).Climate Change Projection for JamaicaSmall-scale farmers have been highly affected by global warming. (Neelin et al 2006, 6113) argues that even though the contribution of agriculture to the nationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬s gross domestic product has been on a steady decline in the last two decades, and stood in 5.2 percent in the year 2009, the sector has been absorbing twenty percent of the total employed labor force. Small scale farmers have been highly vulnerable to hydro-meteorological adverse effects and as such, should be the...

Significance of Blake and Dent in Cheevers The Five-Forty-Eight - Literature Essay Samples

John Cheever’s cynical ruminations on man’s loss of humanity in the modern world are artfully articulated in his short story â€Å"The Five-Forty-Eight† (Kennedy, 316). A brief recollection of an average man’s flight from a jilted, seemingly psychotic ex-lover in New York City to the suburbs allows Cheever to admonish the indifference, disdain, and lack of compassion he believes have infected society. The conclusion of the story offers no definitive resolution to this syndrome of hostility, which may highlight the author’s thematic position that our culture’s dissolute attitude toward respecting human dignity and value. To convey this pessimistic message, Cheever crafts and reveals the natures of two characters whose conflict is representative of the greater denigration of man. The main characters, Mr. Blake and Miss Dent, represent the clash between the unfeeling, sardonic predilection of society and its opposition to the faltering traces of reverent goodness left in men. To achieve this via characterization, Blake – whose name, not coincidentally, sounds like â€Å"bleak† – is categorized as a self-described â€Å"insignificant man† who subscribes to the â€Å"sumptuary laws† of fashion, rendering him â€Å"undistinguished in every way†¦ like the rest of us†. Such ambiguities lend Blake’s character and actions more universal application, which aids the author in critiquing society at large. Such behaviors and ideas elucidated include his habit of never â€Å"turn[ing] back and look[ing]† at other people, â€Å"bypassing an old friend or classmate† and pre-judging people as being â€Å"rich, poor, brilliant or dull† without ever communicating with them. More serious, though, is his estrangement from his wife and son, which he dismisses as â€Å"human nature†. Lastly, his high regard for his memory is thrice betrayed, as he fails to rec all Dent’s name despite their sexual past, misplacement of a coffee ring moments after its purchase, and utter inability to remember innocent boyhood. Such insights reveal a character emotionally severed from all persons, even his immediate family. In addition it is clear that Blake disregards the value of interacting with others beyond a quick assessment of wealth and position.Blake’s relationship with Dent exemplifies his devaluation of human contact. He suspects Dent of toting violence against him and flees from her. While we learn that his suspicion was correct, it began simply as uncouth paranoia and rejection; Dent may well have been following him only to exchange brief conversation, or not following him at all. Blake’s flight highlights his fear and loathing of communication. His shock at her being the â€Å"[first] of the thousand [he had seen] weep† shows the reader the extent of Blake’s emotional isolation – without extreme detach ment, how could one avoid the sight of weeping in a city as vast as New York?It is only after Blake begins to consider Dent’s plight that he feels â€Å"the full force of regret†, and only after being nearly executed by Dent that he displays emotion and cries. Yet after Dent leaves, he appears to recover without having learned from the experience – he appears as detached and insensitive as ever. Cheever herein laments our society’s unwillingness to acknowledge its emotional and virtuous deficiencies by proving that even after being threatened wildly at gunpoint, Blake – and society – will remain unmoved, with little chance of a return to human fellowship. The abrupt ending of the story underscores Cheever’s grim assessment. Cheever utilizes the fragile character of Miss Dent to represent the flailing goodness that survives, however tenuously, amidst the emptiness of modern society. The correlation between Miss Dent and the spirit of human unity is first underlined by the false conception that Blake forms of Dent. Despite her accounts of being in a mental hospital and her admittedly bizarre pursuit of Blake at gunpoint, she truly does only want â€Å"to talk to [him]’. Furthermore, Blake gaffes when trying to recall her name, sputtering â€Å"Miss Dent, Miss Bent†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , suggesting that it is not so much her personal character but more her message of compassion that Blake and others have misconstrued. Another misperception is Blake’s recollection of Dent as â€Å"dark, her eyes were dark†¦ a dark woman† and his feeling of repulsion toward her ungainly, crooked handwriting. Cheever suggests that just as Blake finds these benign traits threatening, so too does society mistake goodness for a threat.Another telling characteristic of Miss Dent is her fragility. She is noted as being â€Å"slender, thin†, â€Å"formless† and the wearer of â€Å"thin cloth,† sugge sting that she and her compassion are weak and easily overlooked. Her dreams of â€Å"picnics, and heaven and the brotherhood of man† are idealistic and almost childish in a world Cheever has framed as tainted and unemotional. Miss Dent’s goodly intention is finally confirmed in her quotation of the Book of Job, which includes one of the unfortunate but pious Job’s laments regarding the seeming absence of wisdom and goodness in the world. The religious undertones carried with the character of Miss Dent are punctuated at the conclusion f the story, where she assumes a semi- God like dominion over her captor, Blake. Her drawn-out, thoughtful judgment of him reaches its pinnacle when she commands Blake to kneel before her, conjuring a correlation between a disappointed God trying to warn man, however mercifully (Dent releases Blake upon his weeping), that man must repent. In conclusion, the contrasting parallels of the unchanging but rich characters of Blake and M iss Dent succeed in supporting Cheever’s criticism of human kinship in â€Å"The Five-Forty-Eight.† The names, appearances, inclinations and perceptions of the two characters, and the interaction between them, serve as an allegorical recreation of a cultural sickness and alienation. Works Cited X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia, eds. New York, Pearson Longman, 2007: The Five-Forty-Eight; 317-325.