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Myths Of Ancient Times Greek myths are entertaining and meaningful, fictional and truthful. They tell stories of Gods, Goddess’s, children and animals. But most of all they teach a lesson. What was the point of Greek myths? What were some of the stories? Were they taken seriously? Why were they important? This paper will explain what Greek myths are all about. It will say why Greek myths were created, and what they mean. It will also give an example of a popular myth.

“A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes.” (James Feibleman) Although Greek myths are interesting and entertaining stories, they played a more important roll in the every day life of ancient civilization. “Greek Gods were simply the products of colorful imaginations.” (www.angelfire.com/mt/ahsb/intro.html) They were the imaginations of a civilization that told these stories as a way of explaining the unexplainable events that happened in their lives. These “unexplainable” things consisted of uncontrollable events, natural phenomenons and mind-boggling occurrences. The realization of these stories lead one to believe that they were “perfect humans”, but can benefit from being immortal as well. The Greeks gave them all the abilities, qualities and values that they themselves wanted. Once they did this, the Greeks idolized the existence of the Gods and they way they behaved.

The Greeks felt that these Gods and Goddesses had complete control and influence over their lives. “The poets were not alone in sanctioning myths, for long before the poets the states and the lawmakers had sanctioned them as a useful expedient. They needed to control the people by superstitious fears, and these cannot be aroused without myths and marvels.” (Mikhail Strabo) The Greeks were the first people to write myths. These myths were like parables; there was usually a “moral to the story”. There were heroes and Gods in these stories and as they were passed down from one generation to the next, they became accepted as logical explanations to situations and uncertainties that they didn’t understand. Greeks also relied heavily on these myths to inspire them, as well. They were inspired during their every day lives, but especially during battle. When dealing with human relationships and conflicts, a Greek would derive very evident morals on which to base their life and confront issues. These were taken very seriously. These myths were not only taught to other generations of Greeks, but to other cultures and civilizations as well.

The Greeks had many Gods and Goddesses, including twelve principal ones who lived on Mount Olympus. Zeus was the king and leader of the twelve. His symbol was thunder and when you see him as a statue, he appears to be holding one. Poseidon was the God of the sea and earthquakes. It was said that when he became angry, he used his trident to create massive waves and floods. Ares was the God of war. It was said that he was fiery tempered, bloodthirsty, brutal and violent. Hera was not a principal Goddess; her job was a subservient one. She was Zeus’ cupbearer. Athena was the Goddess of wisdom and the patron of Athens. Unlike Ares, she derived no pleasure from fighting, but preferred settling disputes peacefully using her wisdom. However, if need be, she went valiantly into battle. Hephaestus was worshiped for his matchless skills as a craftsman. When Zeus decided to punish men he asked Hephaestus to make a woman. So Hephaestus made Pandora from clay and water and, as everyone knows, she had a box from which sprang all the evils afflicting humankind. Apollo was the God of the sun and Artemis was the Goddess of the moon. They were the twins of Leto and Zeus. Apollo was also worshiped as the God of music and song which the ancient Greeks believed were only heard where there was light and security. Artemis was worshipped as the Goddess of childbirth and protector of children, yet strangely enough, she asked Zeus if he would grant her eternal virginity. Hermes was the God of the animals. His job was to protect the animal kingdom. Demeter was the Goddess of vegetation. Demeter was worshipped as the Goddess of earth and fertility. Aphrodite was the Goddess of love, who rose naked out of the sea. She had a magic girdle, which made everyone fall in love with its wearer. The girdle meant both Gods and Goddesses constantly pursued her because they wanted to borrow the girdle. Zeus became so fed up with her promiscuity that he married her off to Hephaestus, the u!

gliest of the Gods. Dionysos was the son of Hera and Zeus. He was so ugly at birth that he was horned and crowned with serpents. His parents boiled him in a cauldron, but he was rescued by Rhea and banished to Mount Nysa in Libya where he invented wine. He eventually returned to Greece where he organized drunken revelries and married Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos.

One very popular myth to the Greeks is “The Creation of Man by Prometheus.” Prometheus and Epimetheus were given the task of creating man, because they had not fought alongside their fellow Titans during the war with the Olympians. Prometheus used mud to shape man, and then Athena breathed life into the figure. Prometheus gave Epimetheus the task of creating the qualities of man, such as swiftness, cunning, strength, fur, and wings. But by the time Epimetheus got to man, he had already given out all of the good qualities he was able to. Therefore he decided to make them stand straight up, as the gods did, and he gave them fire.

Prometheus loved man much more than the Olympians had, who banished his family, or most of it anyway, to Tartarus. Zeus decided that man had to present a portion of all the animals they sacrificed to the gods. Prometheus didn’t like this idea, and so he tricked Zeus. He created two piles, one had bones wrapped in fat, and the other with the good meat hidden in the hide. He then told Zeus to choose. He picked the pile of bones, and since Zeus gave his word, he was forced to accept this future sacrifices. Because of the anger he had for being tricked, he stole fire away from man. But the Prometheus lit a torch from the sun, and brought it back to man. This enraged Zeus, so he inflicted a terrible punishment on both man and Prometheus.

To punish man, Zeus told Hephaestus make a mortal of stunning beauty. The gods gave this mortal many gifts of wealth. Then Hermes gave it a deceptive heart and a lying tongue. This creation was then named Pandora, the first woman. The last gift was a jar that Pandora was told never to open. After completed, Zeus sent Pandora to Epimetheus who was staying amongst the men. Prometheus warned Epimetheus not to accept gifts from Zeus, yet Pandora’s beauty was too great and he allowed her to stay. Eventually, Pandora’s curiosity about the jar became too much. She opened the jar and all manors of evils, sorrows, plagues and misfortunes flew out. However, in the bottom of the jar there was one good thing- hope.

Zeus was angry with Prometheus for three reasons; being tricked on sacrifices, stealing fire for man and refusing to tell Zeus which of his children would dethrone him. Zeus forced his servants to seize Prometheus. They took him to the Caucasus Mountains and chained him to a rock with unbreakable chains. He was tormented day and night by a giant eagle tearing at his liver. He was given two ways out of this torment. He could either tell Zeus the name of the mother of the child that would dethrone him or meet two conditions: an immortal must volunteer to die for Prometheus and a mortal must kill the eagle and unchain him. Eventually, Chiron the Centaur, agreed to die for him and Heracles killed the eagle and unbound him.

My feelings about Greek Myth’s are that they are stories for amusement purposes only. They are not true, and they no longer serve as much a purpose as today. Most Greeks do not still believe in many of the stories, but some continue to live by them. Yet they are still read in countries around the world for enjoyment purposes.

Bibliography:

 HSA.brown.edu/~maicar/briefhistory.html

 www.angelfire.com/mt/ahsb/intro.html

 www.math.utk.edu/~vasili/gr_link/greek.myth/creationman.html

 www.vacation.net.gr/p/mithos.html

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CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE BURNING ISSUE OF THE AUSTRALIA BUSHFIRES

The authorities in charge have previously easily brought this matter under control. Except that the recent bushfire has caused extensive destruction and has cost many people and animals their lives. This is why the main objective of the Australian case study by Bushfire is to understand its causes and effects. A thorough look at and measures to combat existing bushfire in Australia and explains the future consequences of the fires that took over the Australian bushfires have been incomparable in the 2019-2020 season.

About 3,000 homes, thousands of enterprises, and other buildings have been destroyed, including outbuildings. These losses may not be covered by insurance, but reconstruction by the community especially farmers is important. The extensive destruction of the habitat and inconceivable loss of animals is the result of wildlife rehabilitation and animal recovery effort over several years. Given the huge number of voluntary firemen, including government funding, sponsored and help to stabilize the social setting.

Bushfires are a natural occurrence, historically triggered by lightning ignition and high friction between leaves and bushes due to the massive winds. Although winds trigger the ignition process only the other major requirement is that the process is made simpler by sufficient fuel conditions. In Australia, more bush-fires than lightning or other natural sources are initiated by deliberate lighting. There are also several less apparent

in such situations where intentionally, fires do not harm property and cause injury. In many cases where a fire crew is needed to respond, the costs affect the organization or agencies involved, and often people volunteer for members.

During periods of risk in the bushfire that lead to these incidents, services can decrease their capacity to react to other fires. There is also a growing risk that firefighting crews can sustain injuries or accidents, whether on the roads or at the fire. Any fire can affect the environment by impacting floral or faunal populations, producing smoke, or reducing recreation facilities. Unforeseen fires will interfere with land management programADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“DOI”:”10.4018/978-1-5225-8362-2.ch019″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Harrison”,”given”:”Sara E.”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Johnson”,”given”:”Peter A.”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Crowdsourcing”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2019″,”4″,”3″]]},”page”:”349-373″,”publisher”:”IGI Global”,”title”:”Crowdsourcing the Disaster Management Cycle”,”type”:”chapter”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=67436dd9-bc26-3738-8cd0-e3b7b1ea2a3c”]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Harrison and Johnson)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Harrison and Johnson)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Harrison and Johnson)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}s (Harrison and Johnson). According to 2000-2015, 85% of the area burnt globally is in tropical savannas each year, representing 19% of the total land area. Although forestry accounts for just 10% of the total area burnt, its higher carbon storage capacity results in one-quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions associated with fire. Forest fires in all bio-months account for almost a quarter of all fire emissions. Tropical forests are less fire resilient and their contribution to the storage of carbon makes prevention a priorityADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Webster”,”given”:”Regine”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Center for Disaster Philanthropy”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2019″]]},”title”:”2019-2020 Australian Bushfires – Center for Disaster Philanthropy”,”type”:”article”},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=99e56cbf-ddc2-3beb-b16c-61089e7ae301″]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Webster)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Webster)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Webster)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Webster).

An increasing proportion of wildfires is due, intentionally or otherwise to human activities. It is estimated that 75% of all wildfires in recent years are responsible of climate change which causes increases the unpredictability of fire seasons. Climatic changes are often not realized until they reach a critical point depending on specific human activities. Real estate boom and urbanization have brought more human settlement areas that regularly experience fires in North America and Australia. The data collected points out, abnormally long fire seasons, have become more and more frequent, which complexities forest management and further increases the likelihood of uncontrolled wildfiresADDIN CSL_CITATION {“citationItems”:[{“id”:”ITEM-1″,”itemData”:{“DOI”:”10.1177/1326365×13517191″,”ISSN”:”1326-365X”,”abstract”:”Bushfires are a major part of the Australian natural disaster landscape; causing severe property damage and loss of life. Since 2009 there have been four major bushfire events in Australia warranting government inquiry. The recommendations from such inquiries are intended to drive future policy and decision making, reflecting a commitment on behalf of authorities to learn from past events. For authorities, ensuring the successful communication of bushfire safety is the key to securing legitimacy, yet communication within the public sector is characterized by politics, legal constraints, media attention and public scrutiny. The perception of risk and the desire to promote an image of competence can inhibit innovation, particularly in relation to public sector internet communications. We should not assume that governments want greater community participation when there is both economic and political risk involved in doing so. Nevertheless, greater community participation in bushfire communications appears to be a key recommendation of the recent bushfire inquiries and which the public sector generally and fire and emergency services organizations specifically, are under some pressure to accommodate. Internet-based communications have a key role to play in filling the gap, but must balance community desire Asia Pacific Media Educator 23(2) 351-365″,”author”:[{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Brady”,”given”:”Danielle”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-particle”:””,”family”:”Webb”,”given”:”Naomi”,”non-dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”container-title”:”Asia Pacific Media Educator”,”id”:”ITEM-1″,”issue”:”2″,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2013″,”12″,”24″]]},”page”:”351-365″,”publisher”:”SAGE Publications”,”title”:”Communicating Bushfire Safety in Australia: The Challenge for Government of Increasing Community Participation”,”type”:”article-journal”,”volume”:”23″},”uris”:[“http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=4307a998-4405-3b24-8c74-304076a5586d”]}],”mendeley”:{“formattedCitation”:”(Brady and Webb)”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:”(Brady and Webb)”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”(Brady and Webb)”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json”}(Brady and Webb).

Bushfires are a critical aspect of Australia’s natural disaster landscape; causing serious damage to property and life loss. Many species are also at risk of complete extinction. It is believed that over one-third of the koala population has been killed, while habitat loss will significantly influence the recovery of the species. An Australian government study revealed that fire affected 471 of the plants and 191 invertebrates, with at least 30 percent of their habitat loss among the most severely affected species. Moreover, ranchers have lost a great deal of livestock. These investigations aim to encourage future policy and decision-making, reflecting the authorities’ commitment to learning from past events.

The successful communication of bushfire safety for the authorities is the key for the securing of legitimacy, while communication is characterized by policy, legal restrictions, attention to the media, and public scrutiny. Risk perception and the desire to promote the image of competence can inhibit innovation, especially in relation to the Internet communications sector of the public. Nevertheless, greater participation of the community in communication with bushfire seems to be a key recommendation of the recent bushfire surveys, and that is subject to some pressure from the public sector, fire and emergency services. Internet Communications help in bridging the gap, but community willingness to take active participation in government needs and reduce the risk and act effectively.

Work Cited

ADDIN Mendeley Bibliography CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Brady, Danielle, and Naomi Webb. “Communicating Bushfire Safety in Australia: The Challenge for Government of Increasing Community Participation.” Asia Pacific Media Educator, vol. 23, no. 2, SAGE Publications, Dec. 2013, pp. 351–65, doi:10.1177/1326365×13517191.

Harrison, Sara E., and Peter A. Johnson. “Crowdsourcing the Disaster Management Cycle.” Crowdsourcing, IGI Global, 2019, pp. 349–73, doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-8362-2.ch019.

Webster, Regine. “2019-2020 Australian Bushfires – Center for Disaster Philanthropy.” Center for Disaster Philanthropy, 2019, https://disasterphilanthropy.org/disaster/2019-australian-wildfires/.

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Climate change annotated bibliography

Cavicchioli, Ricardo, et al. “Scientists’ warning to humanity: microorganisms and climate change.” Nature Reviews Microbiology 17.9 (2019): 569-586.

This article talks about the Anthropocene, in which we live right now, and how climate change is affecting most life in the World. It also talks of how microorganisms back up the survival of higher trophic forms of life. To comprehend how a human being and other living creatures on Earth can endure the anthropogenic climate change, the article says it is essential to combine microbial ‘unseen majority’ understanding. It suggests that we ought to study not only the way microorganisms impact climate change (comprising of consumption and production of greenhouse fumes) but moreover exactly the way they it will be impacted by change in climate and extra-mankind doings. This article is well thought out because it shows the main role and global significance of microorganisms regarding the biology of climate change. Additionally, it places humanity on warning that the climate change impact will hinge heavily on microorganisms responses, which are crucial for attaining a sustainable environmental future.

Clayton, Susan, and Bryan T. Karazsia. “Development and validation of a measure of climate change anxiety.” Journal of Environmental Psychology 69 (2020): 101434.

In author of this journal talks about how there exist cumulative focus to the destructive emotional reactions linked with climate change awareness. The journal displays three readings developing an anxiety climate change scale. In the first reading, the scale was validated and developed in a 197MTurk sample. It states that the experimental factor scrutiny of their item pool discovered a structure of four-factors, with cognitive-emotional damage, behavioral engagement, functional damage, and experience evolving as distinctive factors. Functional impairment and Cognitive-emotional damage were well-thought-out to constitute anxiety of climate change subscales; alongside behavioral commitment, all of them were linked up to experience and also to emotions that were harmful. Neither climate change nervousness nor anxiety and depression generally were linked to behavioral commitment.

The second study of the journal duplicated the factor structure and also the correlation pattern in a subsequent 199MTurk sample. The journal’s third study scrutinized the connection between adaptation responses and climate change nervousness in the 217 samples and tried if the anxiety of climate change marks could be impacted through the climate change framing of a message. I think this journal is credible because, in its outcome, it proposes that anxiety in climate change isn’t rare, particularly amongst younger grown-ups; and that there worry may be distinguished from a more severe impact on someone’s life; the journal also says that anxiety of change in climate is connected with emotions however not behavioral reactions to changes in climate.

Hallegatte, Stephane, and Julie Rozenberg. “Climate change through a poverty lens.” Nature Climate Change 7.4 (2017): 250-256.

This Study breaks down and scrutiny of the economic influence of climate change, typically putting in mind regional or national economies and evaluates its effect on macroeconomic combinations like the (GDP) gross domestic product. The study hence doesn’t examine the distributional effects of climate change inside states or the poverty impacts. This Perspective targets to narrow this gap and offer a climate change assessment impacts at the domestic level to examine the climate change consequences for poverty and also poor persons. The study does it by joining the physical impacts assessments of climate change in numerous sectors with surveys of households. To be precise, it highlights how inclusive and rapid growth can decrease the future effects of climate alteration on poverty..Hsiang, Solomon, et al. “Estimating economic damage from climate change in the United States.” Science 356.6345 (2017): 1362-1369.

This paper says that approximations of change in climate destruction are essential to the plan of climate policies. The paper seeks to cultivate an architecture that is flexible for computing destructions that incorporates climate science, process models, and econometric analyses. The paper utilizes this method to make probabilistic, empirically, and spatially clear obtained evaluations of destruction economically in the U.S from an alteration in the climate. The joint marketplace value and non-market destruction through scrutinized sectors—, crime, agriculture, energy, coastal storms, labor, mankind and mortality—rises four times more in universal mean temperature, pricing approximately 1.3% of GDP per +1.1°C averagely. The author says that threat is dispersed unequally through localities, producing a large value transfer westward and northward that raises economic unfairness. The author says that by the latest years of 21st century, the counties third poorest are estimated to experience disruption that ranges between 3and 17% of county revenue (89% chance) beneath business-as-usual releases.

Ray, Deepak K., et al. “Climate change has likely already affected global food production.” PloS one 14.5 (2019): e0217148

This article seeks to analyze how to crop productions are anticipated to decline under the future climate situations and that the latest research proposes that productions have by now been impacted. However, the article says that current effects on crop diversity sub nationally and consequences for food security are still not clear. It talks of how they made linear regression relations utilizing the climate and reported crop information to evaluate the possible impact of change in climate on the products of the best eight worldwide crops– maize, cassava, sugarcane ,rice, barley, oil, wheat, soybean, and sorghum, at ~20,000 political units. It was figured out the influence of universal change in climate on harvests of diverse products from trends in climate varied from -3.4% (soybean) to 13.5% (oil palm). It was found out that the outcome displays that influences are generally undesirable in Australia, parts of Europe, and Southern Africa however largely encouraging inside Latin America. In Central and Northern America plus Asia, impacts are mixed up. This article is reliable because it shows how in about half of food-insecure nations, expected caloric accessibility decrease and also how results propose that climate change has by now impacted food of production globally.

Seidl, Rupert, et al. “Forest disturbances under climate change.” Nature climate change 7.6 (2017): 395-402.

The author seeks to elaborate on the way disturbances of forests are delicate to climate. The article talks of how our comprehension of disturbance aspects in reaction to changes in climate stays to be incomplete, specifically regarding patterns of large-scale, dampening feedbacks and interaction effects. The author offers a global synthesis of change on climate impacts on vital abiotic (drought, wind fire, ice, and snow) and biotic (pathogens and insects) disruption agents. The author says that drier and warmer conditions specifically are a catalyst for fire, insect, and drought disturbances, whereas wetter and warmer surroundings escalate disturbances from pathogens and wind. Widespread connections amongst agents have a higher chance to intensify disturbances, whereas indirect climate impacts like changes in vegetation can diminish long-term disruption sensitivities to climate. The author concludes that both society and ecosystems ought to be equipped for an increasingly troubled future of the forests.

Works cited

Cavicchioli, Ricardo, et al. “Scientists’ warning to humanity: microorganisms and climate change.” Nature Reviews Microbiology 17.9 (2019): 569-586.

Clayton, Susan, and Bryan T. Karazsia. “Development and validation of a measure of climate change anxiety.” Journal of Environmental Psychology 69 (2020): 101434.

Hallegatte, Stephane, and Julie Rozenberg. “Climate change through a poverty lens.” Nature Climate Change 7.4 (2017): 250-256.

Hsiang, Solomon, et al. “Estimating economic damage from climate change in the United States.” Science 356.6345 (2017): 1362-1369.

Ray, Deepak K., et al. “Climate change has likely already affected global food production.” PloS one 14.5 (2019): e0217148

Seidl, Rupert, et al. “Forest disturbances under climate change.” Nature climate change 7.6 (2017): 395-402.

Climate Change as A Current Issue

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Introduction

Climate change is one of the controversial topics in existences. Climate change can as well be referred to as global warming. Climate change is a term used to describe weather phenomena that involves an increase in the temperature of the global environment. It is most times used interchangeably with the term ‘global warming’ but they are very different. Science communicators prefer to use climate change because it not only includes the increasing global temperatures but is also about the effects of climate caused by this increase such as the rise of sea levels, mass loss of ice in Greenland, Antarctica, the Arctic and mountain glaciers, changes in plant and flower booming and other extreme events of weather. While different natural phenomena can affect the climate, scientists agree that global warming and the resultant effect on the climate is largely a result of human activity.

Currently, climate change is a subject of political controversy, especially in the USA. Scientists have come up with conflicting evidence for the support and for the denial of the existence of climate change. However, the growing clarity and consensus make it difficult to ignore the fact that climate change is definitely real. Skeptics have various reasons for their skepticism but rather than become skeptical, it is important to embrace the challenge and find out ways on how to combat climate change. Climate change is real but there but despite the various opposing positions to this claim and there measures to help combat the issue.

Arguments Climate Change Does Not Exist

The first counter argument is that there have been no significant and prolonged temperature changes ever since 1997. According to the scientists who argue against the existence of climate change, the rise in temperature began in 1975 up until 1997 and since then the temperature has been flat. However, had there been no rise in temperature changes, ice caps and glaciers would not have melted. For the second argument, the skeptics of climate change have argued that not enough historical data is available to prove climate change. They point out to a recent gathering of 31,000 researchers in the environmental science field in which consensus was not reached. However, the scientific consensus is clear in the reports of the Integrated Panel on Climate Change that was created by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environmental Program to evaluate matters of climate change. Finally, that Arctic ice has increased by 50% since 2012 is a counterclaim to the claim that climate change has caused the melting of ice caps and shrinking of glaciers. Some scientists have gone ahead to claim that global warming does not cause Arctic ice to melt. (Whitmarsh, 2011).

Claims on the issue of climate change

Human activities cause climatic change, and activities such as deforestation, greenhouse farming, burning of fossils and wood to produce fuel have ended up causing global warming. When substances are burnt to release energy, gases are emitted which pollute the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the gases emitted from the burning of fossil fuel. Australia is among the world largest CO2 producers.

The first claim is that climate change exists because of the rise in sea levels. Sea levels have risen in most parts of the world because of the melting of ice caps and glaciers and the changes of gases contained within large water bodies. Also, thermal expansion due to the warming of the ocean has resulted in a rise in sea levels. Research findings indicate that the global mean sea levels have risen two times as compared to the 20th-century trend of 1.6mm per year. In the past century, there was a rise in the levels of the global sea by approximately 6.7 inches.

The second argument is that climate change exists because there has been a rise in the average temperature of the earth. For the past half of the century, global temperature has continued to rise. One of the reasons for this rise in temperatures has been the increase in greenhouse gas emissions that has, in turn, increased the greenhouse effect which has resulted in the rise of temperatures. The burning of fossil fuels results in the emission of these greenhouse gases. According to findings from scientists, temperatures rose strongly in the 70s before there was a lull in the 90s and then a rising pattern again in the 2000s (“Is Global Warming Real? Top 5 Arguments in Favor and Against it – Conserve Energy Future,” 2016).

Thirdly, the shrinking of glaciers is a reason to claim the existence of climate change. Glaciers, especially those in mountain ranges like Greenland and Antarctica, are shrinking. This is because gases that helped to maintain temperatures have reduced and also, there have been changes in the climate of regions. Research evidence from a study by NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment indicate Greenland lost between 36 to 60 cubic miles of ice yearly from 2000 to 2006 (“Is Global Warming Real? Top 5 Arguments in Favor and Against it – Conserve Energy Future,” 2016). Indeed, there exist a change in climate from the previous years to what is being experienced now.

Deforestation as One of Key Causes of Climate Change

Trees aid in locking up Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere where they take up CO2 and release oxygen to the atmosphere which is then used by animals and humans during breathing. Cutting down trees means that carbon dioxide is retained in the atmosphere which in turn causes global warming. Trees use carbon dioxide during photosynthesis and this reduces CO2 Levels in the atmosphere, which results in long-term fluctuation of this gas (Hunt, C. A. G. 2011).

Carbon dioxide is a heat absorbing gas which then absorbs the heat meant to go back to space and later releases it to the atmosphere causing a rise in temperature thus global warming. The process of trees using up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is called carbon “sink” where deforestation hinders the effectiveness of this activity. Per every two acres of tropical forests, it is believed that 350 metric tons of carbon are stored thus cutting down an acre at once implies 180 metric tons of carbon dioxide gas is released to the atmosphere which is dangerous (Hunt, C. A. G. 2011).

How Climatic Change Comes About

Trees, directly and indirectly, affect the earth’s temperature which brings about a global warming case. Trees are responsible for climatic change and when cut down they impact negatively on climatic change. Trees aid in the drawing up water from the earth soil and releasing it into the environment, that is the atmosphere. This is commonly referred to as the water cycle where cutting down trees interrupts the water cycle. Since trees have been cut down thus the failure to draw water from the soil making the atmosphere dry. In most cases when you go to deserted places, areas where trees are few and turning centers you will always find the humidity level to below (Grover, V. I. 2009). In tropical areas where there is more tress, there are high levels of moisture in the atmosphere thus low and favorable temperature conditions for human living. When the environment is less humid it leads to an increase in the atmosphere’s temperature. Cutting down trees without replacement aids in the long-term climatic change such as desertification characterized by temperatures above 26 degrees Celsius.

Long-term effects of deforestation are felt when there is no carbon intake and the levels in the atmosphere increase causing a rise in temperature. The temperature of the earth mainly comes from heat due to the sun, where the level of temperature is between heat from the sun and the one bouncing back into space. Albedo is a process is affected by deforestation. Albedo refers to the fraction of electromagnetic radiations reflected by a body or surface according to the dictionary. Weather scientists refer the albedo process to the event in which radiations from the sun are reflected back into space which in turn reduced temperatures in the atmosphere. In most cases, radiations from the sun are always reflected by snow surfaces. Cutting down trees leads to reduced moisture which affects snow formation thus less of the sun’s radiations are reflected in space. When most of the radiations are absorbed in the atmosphere there results in warming which after a period of time becomes global warming. General Circulation Models (GCM’s) have explained that deforestation leads to a slower albedo rate by the land (Hunt, C. A. G. 2011).

Lastly, industries aid in global warming where gases and other fuels are burnt to produce energy where in this process Carbon dioxide and other gases are released into the atmosphere. Also, in industries such as the paper industry, petrochemical industry and metal industries, there are gases emitted such as nitrogen, methane and carbon gases. Humans engaging in greenhouses for food production also leads to climatic change where there are gases emitted in this type of farming. The gases include methane, chlorofluorocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, which absorb heat from the space and later release to the atmosphere resulting in global warming. Cattle ranching and livestock farming is another source of greenhouse gases, burning of fossil fuels releases carbon and nitrogen oxides which also contribute to global warming.

Natural induced climate change

Other than the human activities, there are natural earth cycles that also result in climate change. Solar irradiance is one such natural activity. The sun being an important energy source that drives the climatic system, changes in its output will definitely result in climate change. Research shows that solar variability has contributed to past climatic changes. For example, the Little Ice Age of between 1650 and 1850 is thought to have been triggered by a reduction in solar activity, when Greenland was separated by ice from 1410 to 1720s and glaciers increased in the Alps. However, the current global warming cannot be evidenced by changes in the sun energy (“Climate change causes: A blanket around the Earth,” 2018).

Effects of Climate Change

The effects of climate change are adverse and this calls for measures to control the situation. In the USA for example, hotter summers and milder winters have been experienced. This in turn has resulted in a direct impact on food crops and the survival of animals. Some species of animals are likely to go extinct due to unbearable climatic conditions. When large forests are destroyed local communities and species that rely on them are likely to suffer. Droughts and floods are likely to increase as well.

It is feedback when trees are cut down they cause global warming, and this climate change later destroys other trees or prevents fast plant growth. The first effect of global warming is on the forests is that increased temperatures in the atmosphere will lead to a slow growth rate of trees. Also, heating up of the atmosphere in some environments mostly leads to shifting of the geographical habitat of some tree species thus depreciating forests coverage in the affected regions. Specific tree species grow in specific conditions; an example is the mahogany tree which grows in tropical conditions thus if the region’s conditions are no longer favorable the species might end up being extinct in the region reducing the population (United States. 1989). Cactus is known to grow in arid and semi-arid regions thus global warming in a specific region will lead to this type of species being common in the arid region.

Climate change affects food availability for both plants and animals. Global warming increases the risk of drought and dry season in some areas and flooding and heavy rainfall in the alternate areas. The risk of drought implies that there will be less plant growth when such season come. Drought makes it hard for humans since it in turn cause decrease in food availability (Grover, V. I. 2009), thus cases of starvation and malnutrition in areas such as the Saharan region. Lastly, global warming causes flooding which in turn causes soil erosion making the affected areas to have less soil nutrients. At the oceans, warm currents due to global warming build up slowly giving time form the storm formation and when they make a landfall they are characterized by heavy rainfall. Scientists say that climate change may result in intensified storms which can cause floods due to the record rainfall (United States. 1989).

Other effects of global warming include ocean acidification due to an increase in the concentration of gases in the atmosphere. Change in ecosystems since animals and other creatures will migrate to other regions that favor them compared to the harsh conditions in the drought region (Grover, V. I. 2009). Reduced crop production which will, in turn, affect food availability which will result in migration by humans. Human activities lead to global warming which then affects their general health since drought brings issues such as lack of food and water scarcity which may long-term lead to malnutrition. Drought also leads to the death of wildlife and wildlife diseases because of unfavorable conditions characterized by high temperatures, less food and lack of enough water.

How to combat climate Change

Climate change is not just a government’s issue. Every individual citizen in every corner of the world has a responsibility to combat climate change as well. There are numerous ways that climate change can be combatted. People should reduce emissions by embracing alternatives to driving like cycling or sharing a car with someone else so as to reduce the amount of harmful gases emitted. Energy saving by not leaving devices on standby will help salvage the situation as well. If people consume less energy and time, then energy usage will reduce. A switch to using LED light bulbs for example, is a great way to reduce energy usage. If people learn to reuse, reduce wastage and recycle half of the garbage produced at home will reduce. Also, a reduction in meat processed food consumption will help and finally, promoting renewable energy by the government will help. Governments need to control the climate pollutants such as carbon dioxide as well by coming up with national policies and regulations that will fasten the fight against climate change within a short while (Thompson, 2007).

Many people are less aware of the long-term effects of deforestation such as global warming, drought, and loss of species living in the forest. To help solve the problem the first thing is to educate on the dangers and disadvantages that come with deforestation as a human activity.. Advocating for reforestation is the best way to solve deforestation since there is the need to cut down forest then replanting is the best thing to do. When one cuts tone tree then he or she needs to plant two, this should be a policy in all the regions. (Wolvekamp, P. 1999). Law and regulations need to be in place which they will advocate for replanting trees once one has the permit to cut down one and in failing to abide by the rules, there should be huge fines and consequences that will make people have no choice. Also, laws on industries emitting harmful gases should be in place as well as limiting production of cars emitting exhaust fumes.

Green business should be the way to go by everyone where it encourages reusing and recycling products. Greenways of manufacturing and using minimal the resources possible can help reduce the rate of deforestation. Recycling wood used in fires can be through using the charcoal produced for fuel production, recycling industrial gases as well will help reduce the rate at which climate changes. Plastics and paper can be recycled save trees and reduction of single-use plastics (Webster et al, 2014). People should have the option of using recycled paper to reduce the demand of new products

Also, technology should be on the lookout to come up with new ways to expand the roads, for example, investing in underground roads and railway tunnels rather than clearing forested land for expansion. Community forestry should be encouraged where schools, government, and organizations team up to protect their local forests by advocating for conservation (Wolvekamp, P. 1999). Community forestry also entails planting trees in areas left bare to make the environment sustainable. Schools also need to be planting trees during ceremonies, sports days and on the worlds environmental day to increase the number of trees in their environment.

Human activity takes up the greater percentage of activities that result in climate change. It is the responsibility of everybody to ensure that they reduce the amount of toxic gas they emit in the environment and that is why it is important to regularly calculate one’s carbon footprint. Despite challenges like uncontrollable harmful human behavior, the world has joined hands to fight global warming and that is why treaties such as the Paris Agreement were created (“Climate change explained | OVO Energy,” n.d.).

Things to Note

The Amazon forests produce about 20% of the oxygen in the world thus we need to protect this forests and other forests to maintain current oxygen levels.Climatic change may be a threat to biodiversity as over 25000 species may go extinct in the next 100 years if deforestation continue to increase. Among the endangered plants that may go extinct if deforestation rates continue to increase are Rafflesia and Orchids (Wolvekamp, P. 1999).

The Amazon, Cerrado, Eastern Australia, Congo Basin, Borneo, Greater Mekong, New Guinea, Sumatra, Eastern Africa, Atlantic Forest and Choco-Darien are among the top ten forests that are under the danger of deforestation. This forests are home to over 50% of the animal species and need to be protected (Owens, C. 1999).

Conclusion

To conclude, the issue of climate change is real and no matter the number of rebuttals from the skeptics, accepting and embracing the challenge will help combat the situation before it gets to irredeemable levels. Those not in support of the existence of climate change could have evidence to support their claims but also the evidence from scientific bodies about the realness of the issue should be taken with the seriousness it deserves. If everyone takes measures to combat the situation, the debate may as well be put to rest. Climate change has continued to increase over the years majorly as a result of human activities such as deforestation and an emission of toxic gas from our daily activities such as production in industries. Climate changes, for example, global rise in temperature, glacial retreat, reduced snow cover, rise in sea level, extreme events and acidification of the ocean have been a result of global warming.

Reference

Climate change causes: A blanket around the Earth. (2018, October 15). Retrieved from https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/

Climate change evidence: How do we know? (2018, October 15). Retrieved from https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

Climate change explained | OVO Energy. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ovoenergy.com/guides/energy-guides/what-is-climate-change.html

Durham, W. H., & Painter, M. (1998). The social causes of environmental destruction in Latin America. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.

Grover, V. I. (2009). Global warming and climate change: Ten years after Kyoto and still counting. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Hunt, C. A. G. (2011). Carbon sinks and climate change: Forests in the flight against global warming. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Is Global Warming Real? Top 5 Arguments in Favor and Against it – Conserve Energy Future. (2016, December 25). Retrieved from https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/is-global-warming-real.php

Owens, C. (1999). Deforestation. Chanhassen, MN: Child’s World.

Thompson, A. (2007). Extreme measures. Nature Reports Climate Change, (0712), 92-92. doi:10.1038/climate.2007.63x

United States. (1989). The potential impact of global warming on agriculture: Hearing before the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, United States Senate, One Hundredth Congress, second session on the potential effects of global warming and global climate change on U.S. agriculture and forestry, December 1, 1988. Washington: U.S. G.P.O.

Whitmarsh, L. (2011). Scepticism and uncertainty about climate change: Dimensions, determinants and change over time. Global environmental change, 21(2), 690-700.

Wolvekamp, P. (1999). Forests for the future: Local strategies to prevent deforestation, economic blunders and injustice. London: Zed.

Climate Change as a Public Health Issue

11/04/2020

Kadeane MooYoungWest Coast University

Climate Change as a Public Health Issue

Environmental injustice can be well-defined as the unduly exposure of societies of the poor and color to pollution, and its related impacts on the environment and health, in addition to the uneven ecological protection and ecological excellence provided through regulations, laws, and government programs. Environmental injustice came from the element that several human groups or communities are excessively exposed to greater levels of an ecological threat than other parts of the community (Bick et al., 2018). There is real proof that environmental injustice is triggered by various factors, including unequal political power, misguided regulatory policy, unequal regulation enforcement, discriminatory siting, and higher exposure to environmental menaces. Social status and particularly low salaries are majorly linked to greater exposure to ecological risks in the residential location or private.

Science ought to play a critical part in the creation of a public health strategy. For a new and complex emerging matter such as environmental justice, science regularly cannot give policymakers with examination data to point decisively to a certain solution (Whyte, 2018). Among the environmental injustices met by ethnic minority and racial communities, one feature that is regularly overlooked is the impact of discrimination on the environs that the society is founded in. The common examples of social injustice that such communities undergo include: homophobia, discrimination, and ageism.  

Public health is the art of improving and protecting the wellbeing of individuals and their societies. It is attained by responding and preventing infectious sicknesses, promoting healthy lifestyles, and investigating sickness and injury prevention. The advantages of approaching a health disparity as a public health issue normally yield health welfares, indirect and direct. Public health supports the well-being of the whole community, safeguards its safety and safeguards it from the spread of environmental hazards and infectious disease, and aids in ensuring access to quality and safe care to profit the populace. Public health should insert social justice to decrease rates of medical conditions caused by injustice. 

Reference

Bick, R., Halsey, E., & Ekenga, C. C. (2018). The global environmental injustice of fast fashion Environmental Health, 17(1), 92

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-018-0433-7

Whyte, K. (2018). Settler colonialism, ecology, and environmental injustice. Environment and Society, 9(1), 125-144.

https://doi.org/10.3167/ares.2018.090109

Climate Change as a Public Health Issue

Date

Name

West Coast University

Climate Change as a Public Health Issue

Environmental injustice can be well-defined as the unduly exposure of societies of the poor and color to pollution, and its related impacts on the environment and health, in addition to the uneven ecological protection and ecological excellence provided through regulations, laws, and government programs. Environmental injustice came from the element that several human groups or communities are excessively exposed to greater levels of an ecological threat than other parts of the community (Bick et al., 2018). There is real proof that environmental injustice is triggered by various factors, including unequal political power, misguided regulatory policy, unequal regulation enforcement, discriminatory siting, and higher exposure to environmental menaces. Social status and particularly low salaries are majorly linked to greater exposure to ecological risks in the residential location or private.

Science ought to play a critical part in the creation of a public health strategy. For a new and complex emerging matter such as environmental justice, science regularly cannot give policymakers with examination data to point decisively to a certain solution (Whyte, 2018). Among the environmental injustices met by ethnic minority and racial communities, one feature that is regularly overlooked is the impact of discrimination on the environs that the society is founded in. The common examples of social injustice that such communities undergo include: homophobia, discrimination, and ageism.  

Public health is the art of improving and protecting the wellbeing of individuals and their societies. It is attained by responding and preventing infectious sicknesses, promoting healthy lifestyles, and investigating sickness and injury prevention. The advantages of approaching a health disparity as a public health issue normally yield health welfares, indirect and direct. Public health supports the well-being of the whole community, safeguards its safety and safeguards it from the spread of environmental hazards and infectious disease, and aids in ensuring access to quality and safe care to profit the populace. Public health should insert social justice to decrease rates of medical conditions caused by injustice. 

Reference

Bick, R., Halsey, E., & Ekenga, C. C. (2018). The global environmental injustice of fast fashion Environmental Health, 17(1), 92

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-018-0433-7

Whyte, K. (2018). Settler colonialism, ecology, and environmental injustice. Environment and Society, 9(1), 125-144.

https://doi.org/10.3167/ares.2018.090109

Climate Change Education in China: Analysis of Existing CCE Organizations, development of CCE

Introduction

Today, schools and other educational institutions in China teach environmental topics on climate change and sustainable energy utilization as part of the “green education” mandate in the country. The environmental topics range from “carbon emissions” from various human activities, “sources and consequences of climate change” in the country, “behavioral guidance” on sustainable energy utilization, and “mitigatory actions” to control and prevent derogatory carbon production (Wiedenbach, 2020). Primary school curriculums focus on “stimulating junior pupils’ curiosity” on their living environment and topics like CO2 while secondary school curriculums subsume environmental and educational matters into broad topics of chemistry, physics and geography (Wang, 2021). Additionally, there are several climate change education organizations in the country that complement conventional teaching by fostering climate activism among the youth and rallying the whole public to take action against climate change by engaging in sustainable energy and resource utilization. These organizations work with the government, schools, and the local community to provide basic and advanced information on the current status in China, create innovative technologies to fight climate change, as well as contribute to policy and curriculum development in schools. This paper seeks to explore the development of these Climate Change Education (CCE) Organizations in China over the past twenty years by traversing the factors that have actively led to their proliferation in recent time.

The first part of this paper gives a comprehensive background for the research by detailing the developmental timelines for CCE organizations and climate change education in the country. It states some of the CCE organizations considered for this research and their contributions to CCE education in China. The second part is an extensive literature reviews that reconnoiters the characteristics of CCE organizations in the Chinese context by stating their fundamental features while separating them from other global CCEs. To further explore the development of CCE organizations in China, the literature review section explores the various factors that have contributed to CCE efforts and organizations in the country as well as providing an analysis of the challenges facing these organizations.

Research Background

Education and cognizance building regarding sustainable development, climate change, and global warming have been part of China’s educational curriculum over the past two decades. China introduced Climate Change Education (CCE) into its curriculum in the late 1990s due to increased global and national attention to sustainable socio-economic development that proactively protected the environment and the rising, irreversible dangers of climate change (Wiedenbach, 2020). After the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, climate change education in China strongly gravitated towards preparing learners to understand the causes and consequences of climate change, developing national policies for effective response to the global situation, as well as empowering students to take appropriate actions towards advocating for, and living more sustainable lifestyles. Since the adoption of “Guidelines for Implementing Environmental Education in Elementary and Secondary Education” in 2003 and China’s “National Climate Action Plan 2014-2020,” various organizations and institutions have sprung up across the country to help schools and universities realize the goals of the CCE curriculum. They include the China Youth Climate Action Network, a non-profit environmental organization that focuses on empowering China’s youth and university students to advocate for climate change; Tsinghua University, a comprehensive research institution actively engaged in creating, developing, and disseminating innovative ideas on sustainable energy systems, and the Hong Kong Combat Climate Change Coalition, an alliance between the government and private actors working on solving Hong Kong’s climate crises.

Research Questions

The following research questions will explore the development of CCE organizations in China.

What Characterizes CCE organizations in the Chinese Context?

What environmental, economic, and historical factors have contributed to augmenting CCE organizations and efforts across the country?

What challenges do CCE organizations face today?

Literature Review

In this section, I provide a comprehensive overview of the characteristic features of China’s CCE organizations as well as the environmental, economic, and historical factors that have contributed to their growth over the past two decades. Some of the challenges facing CCE organizations in the country are also discussed through the nexus of existing literature.

Characteristics of Chinese CCE organizations

Education

The Shanghai Environmental Education Center, a joint program between Shanghai’s Environmental Protection Agency and the Ministries of Education, UNEP, and Tongji University founded the “Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development” to provide an interdisciplinary and international learning environment for Chinese students in matters related to climate change (Lee, 2007). Therefore, one of the characteristic features of Chinese CCE organizations is that they are proactively engaged in offering education to students on this contemporary mater. Lee (2018) believes that education significantly encourages people to change their attitudes and regulate their behaviors on climate matters. On the other hand, Cordero et al. (2020) state that offering developmental education for children on matters pertaining to climate change is critical for concise building because it makes them aware of their “individual lifetime carbon emission levels.” When developing the rubric for “National and World-System Explanations of Educational Reforms,” Ginsburg et al. (1990) identified climate change as one of the factors leading to educational reforms in many countries across the globe. Educational policy developers are therefore concerned about the role of education in raising environmentally concise and ideologically woke students.

Chinese CCE organizations see to it that teachers are well trained on matters pertaining environmental conservation and climate change. Some of the organizations actively engaged in providing comprehensive teacher-training lessons on climate change include the Shanghai Environmental Education Center, the China-UK low carbon college in Shanghai, Shangri-la Institute for Sustainable Communities, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences- “Climate change, the development of the Arctic waterway, and the prospects for Sino-European cooperation” (UIL, 2020; Q. Wang et al., 2022, and Chen, 2020). The Ministry of Education Service Center and the National Institute of clean and low carbon energy are governmental organizations that regulate policies on climate change education as well as develop response actions for students as they receive these pertinent instructions (Tian & Wang, 2015). Environmental subjects taught in primary and secondary schools in the country are part of the “green education mandate” which seeks to ensure that all students are introduced to environmental matters affecting their lives. Land degradation, waste detachment, biodiversity, low-carbon travel and efficient use of natural resources, recycling, and psychosocial guidance on good “low-carbon behavior” are just a few of the topics covered (Wiedenbach, 2020).

Activism

Additionally, CCE organizations in the country are actively engaged in environmental and climate change activism. Non-governmental organizations like the “Friends of Nature,” the “Green Earth Volunteers and Wild China Movement,” and the “China Environment” are spearheading environmental activism to the next level (Xu, 2010). These activist CCE organizations are publicly protesting against increasing carbon emissions in the country, filing lawsuits against corporations that contribute to climate change through their exploitive activities, as well as exposing corrupt practices across environmental agencies in China. Dunlap (2015) argues that environmental activism is one of the most successful ways of ensuring that climate action is taken seriously by the government because it indicates an awaken society. World society perspectives also encourage societies to take up activism as one of the most radical but effective ways of advocating for change (Ramirez, 2012). Activist groups in China are therefore advocating for climate change, rallying the society to support climate change, as well as pushing the government to regulate on climate change.

Policy development

China has also created a number of policies and programs connected to education for sustainable development (ESD) and climate change education, recognizing the importance of education in fostering sustainable development (SD) (CCE) (Han, 2015). Climate change and environmental protection education has been taught in Chinese primary and secondary schools for more than two decades, though at varying levels of intensity and topic depth. Relevant materials are standardized as part of the official curriculum as part of other science-related courses. There do not appear to be any stand-alone environmental courses, though (Huang & Cheng, 2022). Beyond the formal level, it appears that teaching climate change and environmental protection is based on the preferences of individual teachers, who also bring relevant material adapted to their class (Wiedenbach, 2020). Environmental or climate change-related extracurricular activities differ from school to school and area to region, depending on instructor interest and the readiness of school administration and parents to embrace such themes. Some schools, however, major on ensuring incorporation of both curriculum and extra curriculum time in educating on the impact of human behavior and climate.

Schools are currently experimenting with new approaches to include sustainability information into education, in addition to developing and implementing dedicated sustainability education curriculum and textbooks. For example, in Beijing, one school teaches sustainability by incorporating the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations into the current school curriculum, particularly connecting each goal with relevant courses for each grade. The other institution takes a “whole school approach” to sustainability, incorporating it into students’ everyday routines on campus. The school, for example, offers a recycling area where students can learn and experience sorting recyclable paper products, various plastic products, hazardous wastes, and useable things for donation. All these efforts have been augmented by CCE organizations that are actively calling for climate change action in the country. They therefore develop new policies and guidelines to guide schools in adopting CCE education as well as help authenticate the new approaches to CCE education in the country.

Sustainability content typically gets lost when integrated into relevant disciplines in China, as it does in many other Asian countries and areas, and is easily overlooked by instructors if the information is not related to standardized tests. Even though the subject is assessed through tests, the methodology often concentrates on test preparation, with little emphasis paid to developing students’ knowledge, attitudes, and values, all of which are important factors in incorporating sustainability lifestyles and behaviors. Furthermore, the high pressure of teaching a standardized curriculum leaves teacher with little time or energy to experiment with new pedagogies or organize extracurricular activities. As a result, in the absence of broader educational reforms and changes in classroom instruction, ‘ongoing curriculum design will need to include more innovative delivery modalities.

Environmental Factors Contributing to growth of CCE organizations and efforts in China

Coordination of environmental factors and economic development has become a global concern, and China’s ecological destruction and pollution have been in the limelight. Applying climate change knowledge could be a possible mitigation to the detrimental proponents that affect China’s environment. Education and creating awareness towards achieving sustainable development have been part of China’s education syllabus for over two decades. Chinese Ministry of Education had established an environmental policy for primary and secondary education known as the “Guidelines for Implementing Environmental Education in Elementary and Secondary Schools (Wiedenbach, 2020). However, China has witnessed an increase in Climate Change Education programs due to the increased industrialization that has been deemed to influence the global climate adversely. The economic factors are linked to numerous environmental sustainability challenges due to its large population, and perhaps this might have shifted the Government’s attention to more CCE programs.

The environmental factors have influenced various CCE programs and efforts across China. A report by CNBC revealed that China’s greenhouse emission is responsible for 27% of total global emissions (Newburger, 2021). The intense environmental issues intrigued China’s desire to participate in CCE programs to enhance a more secure environment for her citizens. Increased greenhouse gas emission has increased China’s efforts to manage climate change. China launched a system known as tradable performance standards (TPS) in July 2021 to help reduce China’s carbon emission by half as of 2060 (Yang & Goulder, 2021). The environment-related literature offers insight into the relationship between the emission of greenhouse gases and how it affects the climate in a particular area. Beijing has implemented policies to help reduce emissions and stem continuous degradation by signing the Paris Agreement in 2015 to pledge carbon neutrality (Maizland, 2021). Practical efforts produce model accomplishments through closing down wasteful warm power plants with a rough limit age of 34.21 GWs from 2006 to 2008 (Khan & Chang, 2018). Examination of energy changes demonstrates the public anticipating green sustainable power assets, e.g., sunlight based, wind, sea, and warm energies. The Chinese Government’s endeavors contributed to administrative measures to beat natural difficulties. Indeed, China is driving the world in the wind power age, with the most outstanding introduced limit contrasted with any state and with continually developing, new wind offices.

Overpopulation has been an environmental factor affecting China’s climate and has been a concern to the federal state. Yao (2021) believes China’s demographic crisis is taking a new toll, and more resources are exhausted. Yao claims that China’s population will reach its peak in the near future, an implication that her vegetative cover will reduce with time. It is no doubt that overpopulation is a significant contributor to global warming. Overpopulation has increased the efforts to promote Climate Change Education in China. To positively influence climate change, the human population has to be controlled. A report by Sustainable Development Goals reveals that China’s National Development and Reform Commission in the country was formed to ensure Chinese citizens are well informed about the detrimental effects of overpopulation on their climate (UN, 2020). China upheld its one-child policy to reduce population pressure and land degradation.

China’s environmental health challenges have been a significant factor that has led to the growth of CCE organizations. China’s groundwater in more than 60% of large towns is contaminated, and her significant rivers are unsuitable for consumption (Khan & Chang, 2018). Insufficient waste disposal facilities and treatment has been the leading cause of health problems influenced by climate change. The water crisis in some parts of China has thwarted arable farmlands into a desert; this is accompanied by poor farming practices and overgrazing which affects the climate. In 2019, Beijing received its first-UN accredited climate educator; project-based climate education had been adopted to help in educating on matters about climate change (Gupta & Gu, 2019). Environmental health challenges as a factor affecting the environment have steered the desire for numerous CCE programs to educate on keeping our environment safe. The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) was moved up to the Service of Environmental Protection (MEP). It acquired gigantic significance as a virtual office of the State Council (Suharman & Karo, 2020). The MEP is answerable for laying out and carrying out homegrown approaches related to contamination and natural issues. It holds an order to assess and carry out natural strategy throughout China. At the same time, the NDRC takes care of the issues related to the advancement and decrease of ozone-depleting substances.

Economic Factors contributing to the growth of CCE organizations and Efforts in China

Climate Change Education relies on economic factors to ensure numerous programs to help carb extreme climatic conditions. According to Zhu et al. (2019), exhaust cloud contamination has turned into an undeniably genuine ecological issue that truly compromises its good financial turn of events. China is one of the globe’s most prominent manufacturing economies; this implies that more effluents are released into the atmosphere (Zhang, 2017). As per the Annual Report on the State of the Environment in China, intense contamination issues and biological annihilation continued until 1996. (Kovaleva et al., 2021) In 1997, enhancements were noted in certain areas. From 1999 forward, the pattern toward escalating natural contamination has been put under broad control interestingly, yet environmental annihilation has stayed a significant issue to date. Manufacturing activities increase the propensity to set up more CCE programs to help monitor unethical economic activities that pose many environmental risks.

The attempt to forge a balance between public and industrial effluents and sustainable economic development has shifted the focus on establishing more CCE programs. A zero-tolerance policy should be adopted to address natural issues and difficulties. In such a manner, public endeavors are made to explain the matter; by taking reasonable steps, serviceable and result-situated procedures to accumulate and carry out the general environmental approaches are accomplished (Khan & Chang, 2018). The Chinese Government has been underway to solve the climate issues related to climate change. It has emphasized environmental protection approaches to reduce emissions into the atmosphere.

China’s desire to overtake the global market might be an economic factor that influences more CCE programs. China’s GDP has expanded by 6.3 times. This accomplishment, notwithstanding, has brought about issues of net energy imports, natural contamination and biological obliteration at home, cross-line contamination, and mounting carbon dioxide (CO2) discharges. Taking a gander at the future, the Chinese Government set up an objective of quadrupling the size of its GDP in 2000 by 2020. Notwithstanding, it is conceivable that this target might decline the issues of energy security, homegrown and territorial climate, and an unnatural weather change, which is providing a reason for concern. This study intends to explain the current state of energy-related and ecological issues hiding behind China’s high development and afterward evaluate what self-improvement homegrown endeavors and worldwide participation will be essential to limit the effects of these issues. This aspect encourages the formation of numerous CCE programs and intensifies the government efforts to uphold economic well-being and the climate of the region.

To ensure more reliable CCE organizations, the financial aspect of environmental performance has to be recognized. Improvement of the financial sector has acquired an eminent significance because of its financial and mechanical developments. Monetary advancement is capable of channelizing the reserve funds of the economy and dealing the financial specialists to keep resources in fluid structures and empower ventures (Wang et al., 2020). The progressions in monetary and innovative areas are coming about with acute effects on ecological execution and influencing climate change. The financial sector offers various assistance by increasing the expansion of industries, albeit causing increased pollution. The formation of CCE programs ensures that they are channeled to educative environmental programs when such financial services are issued.

Ideally, an individual’s willingness to pay for environmental protection has a causal effect on how the CCE programs are managed and how various efforts are implemented to realize a positive climatic change. Economic classes influence types of CCE programs and what should be done to uphold the existing ethics. Since everyone values the quality of the environment, the level of sacrifice towards protecting by contributing a specified amount of money might be a challenge since those with low wages would prefer to satisfy their basic needs. As the financial plan limitation is relaxed, the worth of an extra unit of utilization falls, and the compromise among utilization and environmental quality turns out to be less limited, expanding interest for the last option (Jayachandran, 2021). Besides, in more financially evolved locales like China, individuals are more mindful of the well-being and usefulness expenses of environmental well-being and its influence of climate change, which offers another explanation they could uphold climatic protection.

Historic Factors Leading to growth of CCE organizations and efforts in China

Dalian bay turns black

According to Zhou (2008), this is one of the top-notch disasters brought about by climate change in China which led to contamination of a massive chunk of the land. Previous investigations on the area revealed a shocking revelation that the incident occurred due to the continued release of untreated industrial waste in the area. The loss was enormous since it recorded the damage of approximately 5000 kilograms of sea cucumber and that of shellfish was 100,000 kilograms (Zhao et al., 2014). The year 1972 witnessed an accident that occurred in Dalian Bay where the rising tide brought with it black water and a lot of dead fish (Zhong, 2020). Following this event and the advice of Enlai Zhou, China sent a member to the Stockholm conference where it was noted that environmental degradation does not go down only as a technological problem but also a social and economic problem (Zhong, 2020).

The second event that occurred in the same year took place in Beijing where the fish was poisoned by metals in form of industrial discharge in the surrounding. More alarming was the fact that the individuals who consumed the fish risked their health since they later exhibited signs of poisoning from the fish. Prior to its pollution in 1997, the Guanting Reservoir posed as a major source of water for Beijing. The symptoms displayed by the residents included vomiting, stomach upsets, nausea, and headaches (Ruff, 1989). Current studies have suggested that fish poisoning in its severe case can be detrimental to the point it leads to pain in the muscles and can cause heart attack to the victim (Soni & Verma, 2018). The remedy to fish poisoning is attained through various ways of relieving the severity of the symptoms since the antidote for the same has not yet been achieved by the medical practitioners in line with the response to fish poisoning. Following the investigation was the setting up of a team to deal with the evident pollution in the reservoir. This was the pioneering team of its kind in China to be set up to deal with the adverse effect of pollution. Zhou, who later succumbed to blood cancer in the year of 1976 is seen as a revolutionary leader since under his premier leadership he foresaw the first project aimed towards treating pollution

National conference on Environmental Protection 1973

 After the two historic incidents occurred in China, the Peoples Republic of China which was the main party started to push for efforts to protect China’s environment from the booming industrial activities in China at that time. coupled with the attendance of the Chinese delegate to the conference that took place in Stockholm was the first-ever domestic conference to be held which was the National Conference on Environmental Protection 1973. It was organized by the nation’s planning committee as per the instructions by the state council.

During this conference, several regulations were set up that were to enable the protection of the environment and the improvement of the same going forward. Even though these regulations were only meant to be trials, they soon became permanent upon continuous practice. During the same conference, the youth were also urged to conduct research and to lead the role of educating the other members of the public on the need to protect the environment. The youth were chosen due to their pivotal role in the society which bestowed them as the heir to the leadership of the next generation. In addition, the regulations came with a unique stipulation that necessitated the tertiary learning institutions to award certificates, majors, and honors to courses on environmental education. According to Tian and Li (2016), this move acted as one of the first steps towards achieving environmental education in China which was inclusive of climate change education in the country. Thereafter, some universities around China including Beijing engineering University commenced an offering of environmental courses (Mc Beath et l., 2014). This was a faster rate compared to that witnessed in primary and secondary institutions in the country which was pioneered five years later.

In 1979, China then passed its pioneering environmental law which offered more emphasis on the tertiary institutions to teach environmental courses for the country to end up with specialists who would, in turn, teach the common members of the public who could not make it to the tertiary institutions to learn about climate change themselves (Qu, 1993). In addition, the law emphasized on the content to be taught concerning the environment and climate inclusive where it mandated that the primary and secondary students could be subjected to a certain concentration of content in order not to bombard them but to ensure effective learning. According to Zhu and Dillon (2001), the second national conference on environmental protection was crucial just like the first one since it was during this event that the reigning vice-premier of the country announce that environmental protection would be enacted as a long-term policy of the state. In accordance with the policy, environmental protection studies were included in the biology syllabus at the national level which meant that all syllabi being produced by different publishers were mandated to include the subject matter in their books failure of which would be viewed as defiance to the state policy.

In 2005 when the United Nations embraced the idea that China should enter into a decade of sustainable development because of its huge contributions in terms of industrial emissions, the same body had acknowledged that the first conference held in the country opened gates for a movement and policy that has the potential to steadily restore the country to its environmentally friendly days (McBeath et al.,2014). Climate change is a problem that has firm roots in China and it displays itself through various ways such as flooding of certain areas which lead to the displacement of people. on the same note, climate change education has taken huge strides in the country and is viewed as a remedy to the effect of climate change.

Challenges Facing CCE organizations in China

Limited financial resources 

According to Monroe et al. (2017), climate change education is vital as it coaxes the local population to contribute towards mitigation and adaption of practices that provide a positive impact on climate change. A majority of the climate change education organizations in China are non-Governmental organizations including Shangri -Ia Institute for sustainable communities, the China- UK low carbon college, and the China Association for NGO Cooperation – creative. A huge proportion of these organizations face the problem of acquiring funds since they rely massively on donors and getting donors with the appropriate conditions for funding is an uphill task (Alonso, 2017). Pruneau, khattabi, and Demers (2010) argue that lack of financial resources as a structural challenge makes it near impossible if not impossible to put into practice and implement educational activities regarding climate change education. Furthermore, the climate change education by organizations can begin with efforts such as mobilizing the community through events, these events require funding. Recently, China has marked two decades since it began the incorporation of climate change education into its curriculum. However, required to drive this program is the training of staff and funding of research projects in the universities (Filho et al., 2021). According to (, 2021), nations all over the world are concerned with health and climate, however, they lack proper funding which has been fueled further by the post effects of the COVID 19 pandemic. Without proper funding systems and support from the government and voluntary donors, the efforts towards climate change education are rendered inefficient.  

Failures of environmental policies.

The Chinese political system is aligned in such a way that it prioritizes economic growth over environmental a case which has resulted in a thriving economy but a continued degradation of the environment (Xu & Faure, 2016). In addition, Xu and Faure (2016), continue to argue that whereas there have been environmental policies targeted towards soothing the impacts and causes of climate change, lack of inclusion of the public during the formulation of these policies has been the downfall of the policies. Therefore, teaching these policies in institutions has not been effective due to the dynamism of the policies. The organizations have also found it hard to adapt and align their activities with environmental policies because they change rapidly. According to (Smith, 2015), China produced more stringent policies against environmental degradation. This action provides evidence for the continuous improvements in the environmental policies in the country. 

The complexity of climate change 

From a general understanding, the climate of the earth is complex since it comprises the atmosphere, the water bodies such as the oceans, the land surface, and the flow of energy. The changes in the climatic conditions are a result of the different compositions of the gases in the atmosphere. In its description alone, the atmosphere consists of four zones, therefore understanding climate change is an intricate process. Although climate change is one of the crucial issues of the twenty-first century, understanding the factors that lead to it is complex given that more effort knowledge on this field tends to complicate matters more (Swift, 2015). According to (Bangay, 2010), numerous education materials on climate change tend to focus on how the knowledge is transferred rather than the complexity of the issue and how it can be integrate

My World View Paper

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Professor’s Name

Date

My World View Paper

1. My Identity

a) Who are you?

My name is XXX. I was born and raised in Iran until I was 3 years old.

b) What are your social identities?

Being born in Iran I consider my ethnicity as an Iranian. Besides, I identify with the Iranic culture. Having been born from an Islamic populated country, I am characterized with strong Islamic influence. Also, I speak Iran language.

c) My Values

My values are fundamental and essential beliefs that motivate or guide my actions and attitudes. Most importantly, they help me determine what is more significant in my life. My values describe the personal attributes that I embrace to guide my activities; the kind of person I want to be; the way that I treat myself and others; and the way I interact with the environment around me. I believe that my good values serve as the overarching principles that govern my behavior. Specific values have shown me to be resilient throughout my life; they represent conduct that is consistently moral or appropriate. Some of my values include; kindness; I always believe that the act of being kind, compassionate, polite, and thoughtful have the possibility of making the world around us a happier place. Being kind has boosted my feelings of being in control, happy, and confident and has assisted me in inspiring others to emulate my suitable activities. In addition, I am an honest person, and this attribute has made it possible for other people to trust me by being trustworthy, loyal, and sincere.

Moreover, I am a responsible person, and I always believe that recognizing my faults and taking ownership of fixing them has been critical to my growth and success. Besides, being accountable and getting things done have boosted my self-esteem and improved my interactions with others. Another value that I possess is integrity. I always try to live according to my deepest values, be honest to others, and keep my word. My integrity value has been so helpful since, in most cases, I have been considered for vital promotions and leadership positions. Also, I am respectful, and I always accept other people for who they are, even if we differ or I can’t entirely agree with their opinions. When it comes to relationships, I believe that respect builds feelings of trust, well-being, and safety. I have learned that being respectful does not have to be a natural value; instead, it is something we know as we grow. Furthermore, I am a courageous person, and this value boosts my self-confidence and gives me the strength to go after the things I believe are important to me without fear. Lastly, I am a generous person; this value has proven to be good for my health since I always feel happier, fulfilled, and more peaceful when I am helpful to others.

d) My Biases

Despite the good values that I possess, I still have some biases. I believe that everyone has their own biases; thus, I don’t regret having mine, either. It is crucial to recognize and work through any unconscious prejudices that an individual may have to improve our interactions with others. Among my biases include; gender bias. As I grew, I watched women being discriminated against in several situations. As a lady, I was not too fond of it, and thus why I became gender-biased, favoring women over men. I always believe that women can do better and that I work hard toward women’s empowerment. The other bias is confirmation bias, the affinity to search and use information that confirms my views and expectations.

e) Thesis = how your social identities shaped your values and biases

Been born from one of the richest countries, I believe in success. Besides, I consider myself to be a high standard, educated, and a brilliant person. I always want to be on civilization and this has given me a reason to work hard and become responsible. In addition, been a religious person I have an understanding of why we should life in harmony with other people and why we should be kind to others.

2. My Personality

i) My Meyer’s Briggs Personality type

After completing Meyer’s Briggs Type Indicator, the results revealed that my personality type is a protagonist (ENFJ-T). I possess extraverted, intuitive, feeling, and judging personality traits. Being extraverted means I get a lot of energy from interacting with other people, and I express my enthusiasm openly. As an Intuitive person, I may be predisposed to focus on nebulous concepts and hypothetical outcomes. Besides, my feeling personality characteristic shows that I always emphasize social harmony, expressing my sensitivities and feelings, cooperation, and empathy. In addition, with my judging personality characteristic, I am well-organized and decisive. Besides, I always value clarity, and I prefer planning over impulsiveness. Lastly, my turbulent traits make me sensitive to stress and a goal-oriented and self-conscious person.

i) My Strengths

Being a protagonist, I have various strengths, such as being a tolerant person and always considering other individuals’ opinions even though their views are not similar to mine. Also, I am reliable, and thus I always make other people feel safe around me by not letting them down. Besides, I am very responsible in my duties and always remember to fulfill any promise I make to a person. Additionally, I am charismatic, and I value this strength because it helps me influence others and help them find their way into leadership positions easily. I find it fascinating to inspire others through my thoughts and actions. My last strength is that I am an altruistic person meaning that I am a loyal and caring person with a solid aspiration to solve other peoples’ concerns and problems.

iii) My Areas of growth

Despite my strengths as a protagonist, I have several areas of growth that I need to address. First, I need to look at my weakness of being too sensitive and focusing too much on other people’s requirements which leaves me emotionally exhausted. Thus, I need to focus more on my emotional well-being. Another area of growth I need to consider is that I am over-idealistic. As a protagonist, I strongly believe in my ideals, and thus due to over-idealism, I tend to set very high goals, which sometimes I do not achieve. Therefore, I need to set achievable goals so that I avoid some frustrations. In addition, I need to grow my self-esteem and start being confident in my abilities. I need to learn how to maintain high self-esteem and respect my worth and skills even when I do not achieve my set goals. Lastly, I need to pay as much attention to my needs and desires as I am focused on other people’s needs and requirements. 

3. Factors that Shaped my Identity

a) My privileges

I possess several privileges, such as religious privilege. I am privileged to be Christian, a dominant religion where I live. Having a religious privilege means that I am not likely to be persecuted based on my religious affiliation, meaning I can worship safely and freely. Another privilege that I have is a socioeconomic privilege; thus, I do not have to worry about managing to pay for necessities such as shelter and food, and I do not have the burden of debt. Besides having socioeconomic privilege, I can afford quality physical and mental health care. My last privilege is a heterosexual privilege, meaning I never feel unsafe when associating with my romantic partner in public.

b) How My Privileges have Shaped My Values and Biases

Having a religious privilege has helped me gain respect from many people since, where I live, people from the dominant religion are respected and are not judged based on their religious affiliation. Besides, having socioeconomic privilege has helped me be generous to others. When I can cater to my needs, I can also help others who do not have the little I have. Lastly, through heterosexual privilege, I have boosted my self-confidence, loyalty, and honesty.

c) Oppressions that I Carry

One of the oppressions that I carry is sexism. Being a lady, I have often faced discrimination based on my sex and gender. Also, I take classism oppression where being a middle-class person; I am always discriminated against by high social class people who are wealthy and powerful. Lastly, another oppression I carry is lookism since my body fits well in social ideals, and I am sometimes treated differently from people whose bodies and faces do not.

d) How My Oppressions have Shaped My Values and Biases

Even though I do not appreciate that I have to face these oppressions, they have helped me shape my values and biases. For example, facing sexism has made me a gender-biased person, always aiming for women’s empowerment. Also, facing class oppression has helped me become more generous by proving that not only those in high social classes can help those who do not have one, but also middle-class people. Facing lookism oppression has helped me boost my self-confidence.  

4. Understanding and Transforming Biases

a) How Biases will make it difficult for me to work with Certain Populations

Having a confirmation bias will make it difficult for me to involve with information that challenges my views, thus leading to poor decision-making. Having a confirmation bias will limit me from working with people who have better ideas than mine since I will always feel the urge to reject their opinions believing that my thoughts and beliefs are correct. In addition, being a person who always favors women over men, it will be difficult for me to work with men since I will always feel that I am only supposed to work with women in the name of women empowerment. b) How to Counteract My Biases to ensure I do not Unconsciously Oppress Others

One thing that I can do counteract my biases and ensure that I do not unconsciously oppress others in my social work practice is to make considered decisions. I will ensure that before making any decision, I consider other peoples’ opinions and views to ensure that I come up with the best decision. Secondly, I will widen my social circle by interacting with individuals from diverse academic and cultural backgrounds to gain insight into how people approach different situations. Lastly, I will utilize rotas to ensure equality and minimize the potential for gender stereotyping.

5. Becoming who I am meant to be in the world

a) How My social Identities, Privileges, and Oppressions have Shaped My Values

My social identities, privileges, and oppressions have played a significant role in shaping my values. My privileges, such as religious privilege, have influenced my values and morals in multiple ways. Being religious has helped shape how I think about and respond to the world around me. I have understood why we should make the world around us happier by being kind, polite, and compassionate to others. Besides, being religious has helped me shape values such as honesty, integrity, and loyalty. In addition, socioeconomic privilege has helped me shape my value of generosity by constantly feeling the desire to share what I have with those who do not have it. Lastly, heterosexual privilege has helped me learn the importance of being loyal and respectful to my romantic partner.

Moreover, some of my oppressions have helped me shape my values. For example, facing sexism has taught me why we should not discriminate against anyone despite their gender or sex. This has helped me remember the importance of practicing equality in all circumstances. Also, facing classism oppression has helped me become a respectable person who always respects other people despite their social class.

b) How My Meyer’s Brigg’s personality Type Informs about My Future Plans

Knowing my personality type has played a significant role in planning my future since it has helped me better understand myself and those around me. Besides, it has helped me to comprehend better how I can achieve more than what I have by setting a concrete goal that I believe I can achieve. Knowing the protagonist as my personality type has helped me to identify my plan based on my strengths and personality preferences.

c) Introducing My Future Plans

Having a protagonist personality type, I desire to serve others; thus, I plan to work as a social worker. Being a protagonist, I have a lot of passion for helping others, and I love making a change in people’s lives. Therefore, social work is an ideal field for a person like me who wishes to be a force of change and empower individuals who need the most help. Since I have always wanted to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves, I believe that working as a social worker will help me a chance to help different people as much as possible.

d) How I will Work for Social Justice in My Future Career

As a social worker, I will work for social justice by empowering groups and individuals to influence institutions and social policies to promote social justice. In addition, I will work for social justice by advocating for a change to guarantee that all individuals, despite their social class, have equal access to opportunities and resources needed to satisfy their basic needs.

Mythic Tragedy

Hydra was a beautiful island…and then the plague came. The farmers of Hydra took great pride in their crops and livestock. Their beasts of burden were admired throughout the land because of the highest quality of health they possessed. So naturally, it came as a shock when the first oxen were discovered dead lying in the plains. Suspicions arose as to the cause of their sudden deaths. Many physicians analyzed the dead carcasses, but found no abnormalities in the slain animals.

Then little by little, more farmers began to lose their cattle to the same irrational disease. It was thought that by quarantining the animals from the general population, the growth infection could be controlled, seeing as how the farmer’s centurion population had been not noticeably been infected. But those who had been assigned as caretakers of the remaining flocks, which had dwindled to a handful, began to exhibit certain behavioral changes.

Their tempers were quickly ignited, and they were prone to violent bouts. But with the continuing intermingling of the caretakers amongst the general population, the entire centurion fellowship began to erode. Fights were started, family structure began to break down, yet the cause of such sporadic violence and societal degradation was still indecisive. Many who had seen the effects of the contamination fled the so-called safety of the clan of centurions, only to be hunted down by the psychologically changed centurions. One was fortunate enough to make it to the sure after capture and severe torture…beaten almost to the point of death he struggled toward the coast, freeing a boat from the docks used for various trades in agriculture.

In an effort to escape the wanton bloodshed and demoralized culture now becoming rampant in his once beloved home land the lost centurion wrecked his boat on the shores of Anelis. Stumbling upon the rocky cliffs, the waves pummeling his weakened body, he hears the sounds of life…ever so faintly. As the battered escapee dragged himself along through the dense forest, toward the strange noises he hears, he fears for his own life. These new trees, this surrounding, it was all very disconcerting. He grew fearful for his own life. What creatures inhabited this strange island? Of what mind set were the creatures? Were they a race of tranquil and gentle beings? Or were they savages, incapable of feelings of mercy and kindness?

Where they prone to the same ravaged warfare that had ransacked the home he was now fleeing? The sudden rush of anxiety flooded the bruised explorers mind as he pressed on in his sojourn toward the signs of habitation. Finally the creature finally decided to rest, for it was beginning to get dark, and the two moons where completely shielded by clouds. The gods must have frowned upon him. He thought best to continue the search by land in the day, when he would have the security of the light to shine upon his misguided footsteps in this new world. The first sign of light beamed through and opening in the canopy of trees and awakened the traveler. He quickly scrambled to his feet and continued his odyssey. Then suddenly the forest seemed to open and strange structures appeared…they were tall, extremely elegant, and seemingly impenetrable.

There were figures moving around in the village doing what seemed to be everyday chores. The tired journeyer stumbled toward the outwardly peaceable beings that stood upon two legs and wore garments of fur. Upon seeing this burdened soul who was obviously stricken with many blows, a female of the village felt pity and as the custom of their people she aided the creature to her dwelling. There she dressed his wounds and nursed him back to health. In the comfort of the courtesy extended to him the centurion finally rested. No questions where asked of his condition or how he had come to the island of Hydros from his far away home until he had fully recuperated from his injuries. He regaled a group of these oversized-bipeds with the heroic tale of his escape from his home. He had been welcomed into the fold of these new creatures with hospitality and concern.

Now stories of his tale had reached far and wide, to the far north of the island and as far south as the south shore. Even to the ears of Obelix, the mightiest of the giants. Stories of the giants valiance was known to every man woman and child. Stories of how he had slain the evil five-headed serpent, and of how he made a border of rock to barricade the city from pending doom when Mount Olvius had erupted were as common as bed time stories to children. He had become a legend before he was even 345 years old…which was relatively young. Obelix traveled from his home to the central part of the island to here of the tale himself. Upon hearing of the sudden change in the attitudes of a calm nation of people Obelix became outraged, for he knew of the cause. It was very well known to him that this was no rare disease or contamination. To Obelix the cause was plain and simple.

There was only one being capable of such atrocities. Bronte. Obelix turned to leave but vowed to end the cause of such a violent and evil plot. He girded his loins with a sword and his back with a quiver and took his bow in hand and set out to locate this island. The centurion asked to travel along seeing as his home was becoming only a memory to him. Hesitantly he allowed the traveler to return home with him. He proved useful in mapping out the land for Obelix. After reaching the island of Hydros, Obelix asked the centurion to remain at bay with the boat and he consented.

Knowing of Brunte’s powers he knew he had to be near by, and the fact that he was coming unaware had given him an advantage over his opponent. See Obelix was also a skilled hunter veered by many. In searching the land he found a certain cave, but the cave wasn’t normal. It seemed to have not been a cave made by nature, and it wasn’t. This cave had been created as an observatory, and Obelix knew by whom. He also knew that at this point Brunte was aware of his presence. Obelix pulled his sword from its sheath and carefully entered the cave. All at once a force beyond his knocked him to into a wall almost knocking his sword from his grip. “Good to see you too brother!” Obelix said as he lunged at the identical figure, and a fierce battle erupted between the two giants. Swords clashed, blows were exchanged and all at once the ground shook. “Why won’t you let these mortals be?” Obelix grit his teeth after landing a blow to his evil counterpart. “Why do u care?” grunted Brunte after swing his sword “They’re nothing to us.

We have the power to control there thoughts, why should I deny myself the pleasure of a game or two!!!” In fast lunge Brunte fashioned himself on the end of a pointed blade, dashing thru his stomach. “Because I won’t let you. We are not the beast we used to be. I am not going to allow your craving for death harm the beings of this frail planet. You will not win!” The sword then found its way thru the chest of Brunte releasing his mental hold over all the evil he had controlled. Returning to the boat, he boarded with someone a solemn attitude for he had killed his own brother. Upon reaching the shore he looked back once more to bid his fallen sibling farewell.

His new companion looked at his wounds but his scars seemed to be not as external as Obelix let off. Something still felt weird to him. He had a chill as if something was different with Obelix, the sorrow of killing changed him, but all he did was kill an evil entity. So what was wrong? The sail back was long and tiring. Not much talking occurred and conversation was kept to a minimum. Obelix had been in a world of pain his arm had several gashes…and his torso contained many stab wounds. Obelix waited patiently to return home to eat the fruit of the Jifi tree. Its healing abilities where remarkable, although it left a smell that forbade contact for at least 3 days. The centurion reflected on all that Obelix had trained him in along the journey there. The mind protection techniques, the various telekinesis abilities along with many battle skills where learned. He doubted that he would ever need to use them but the telekinesis had come in handy with the steering of the craft.

It was mentally tiring. When land was within sight he awakened Obelix. The shore was lined with many villagers. There hands were filled with many gifts, foods of all sorts and wine. The centurion docked the boat, and went through the procedures that were customary to make sure the boat wouldn’t drift away. The crowd welcomed him home with opened arms but the tired warriors dragged his bow and quiver behind him and continued walking toward the mountain top, where he lived. He ached inconsolably. Obelix’s aids came to assist him but he turned them away. The confused men and women servant left his living quarters wondering about the change in his attitude. Meanwhile back in the cave the body of a fallen warrior stirred, slowing climbing the ruins of a destroyed lair.

Struggling to make it out of the cave and back to the shore line of Hydros…and back to his home, of Anelis. His brother had been slick in taking his identity, and leaving him there to perish, but foolish enough to leave him alive. Brunte made the same error that Obelix had…and that was to show mercy. The humane feelings of kindness had become unneeded in battle, but they were brothers after all, identical since birth. So naturally the switch would be easy, and with the abilities to read minds all that was needed was a quick scan of his mind and all knowledge would be transferred easily and with no problems he should be able to memorize it. Obelix knew this fact very well. He also knew that he had to make it back home and expose the wicked scoundrel. He staggered along the forest grasping trees for support. From the ravaged townships of the fallen centurions he gathered supplies…for he knew in his weakened condition he would be no match for his brother.

Brunte had no doubt begun healing himself from the fruitage. Cursed thief!!! Back on Anelis, Brunte disguised as Obelix, maintained a certain distance from the people…studying them learning of there traditions and behaviors. In a sharp pain as if someone stabbed him Brunte sat up…he quickly realized his predicament. His brother would come back if he didn’t die, and…HE DIDN’T!!! He could sense his brothers’ life energy as if he were in the very next room. How could this have happen? He dealt him a mortal wound that left him unconscious and bleeding. Brunte at once began preparing himself for he knew that if the gods would allow his return he would certainly battle him again…and he was in no where near ready to fight.

The centurion had noticed certain things about Obelix that weren’t normal though. He didn’t seem as open as he had at one time. More often than not he preferred the company of solitude. Back on the island of Hydros some of the older centurions who had survived the dark days had taken care of Obelix teaching him various techniques. Many skills, different abilities anything he could pick up. One particular gift he learned was the ability to conceal himself mentally…which went hand in hand with his dematerializing techniques. When he was strong enough Obelix left the island on boat…he had devised a plan in which to fool his brother. Along the journey back he had run into the rocks. Brunte which had been in deep meditation in order to prepare and keep an eye on his brother had been watching this…sensing his brothers despair and evident demise he relaxed.

Rejoicing in the fact that his opposing brother Obelix could no longer oppose his reign of evil, he allowed his meditation to calm down. Then suddenly he felt another sharp burst of pain but this time it was physical. To his sudden shock it was his deceased brother. But how? He felt his presence leave…he felt him die. “Don’t worry my ill fated brother…your end will not be in this manner.” Obelix looked upon his deceitful other with utter hatred. After seeing first hand the lost of life on the island of Hydros, he no longer felt the pity he had at their previous encounter. “Touch my hand and we will leave this place, we will go to a place of seclusion where we can finish this fight of ours away from the people here.” Brunte searched his brothers mind and heart and found no deception…no secrets. “Fine…brother…let us leave these mortals and battle as gods were meant too!” Upon touching Obelix hand Brunte felt his physical being depart…but his mental consciousness remained intact.

When his body completed its reconstruction he stood and released his sword from its container. Obelix unhooked his quiver and threw it to the wayside along with his bow. His sacred sword was released from a shield that he placed down. “Fare thee well, my blood brother!!” In an effort to commence the battle Brunte lunged at his brother with all his might barely missing his opponents’ ear, and ducking so as to avoid the counter swing delivered by Obelix. Obelix ran and jumped off a tree trump over his stunned enemy and swung downwards but Brunte had already moved and slashed at his brother.

“You have improved but your abilities are still limited…Obelix!!!” Brunte grunted this words as Obelix sword grazed his shoulder cutting his garments. Out of anger Brunte swung his blade as hard as he could at Obelix missing his neck but freeing his sword from his hand, and at the same time shattering his own. Brunte then dove at Obelix and the battle continued thus forth without blades…a series of blows landed on Obelix as he kicked Brunte toward a rock embedded in the ground knocking him through a hollow in the ground. Obelix jumped underground and followed his assailant into this cave and a super fast exchange of hits and kicks were shown out with great dexterity but then the rage of the fallen centurion triggered a transformation and a set of wings sprouted from Obelix’s back and he grew in speed and strength.

Simultaneously Brunte’s jealousy and anger in his brothers’ goodness triggered a similar transformation. The two took flight and the cave began to quake with the new fighting commenced among gods…one of evil and one of good. After continuous blows it became very clear that Obelix power far surpassed and in a last effort Brunte tried to kill his brother by surprise…but failed. In turn Obelix grabbed Brunte by the throat holding him over a bottomless pit in the cave and finding his sword vowed to end his tyranny. “Brother no please DON’T!!!!” His pleads fell on death ears and the mighty lunged the sword through his brothers heart, “YOUR BLOODSHED ENDS THIS VERY NIGHT!!!!!!!!”

Bibliography:

Leadership Reflection Paper

Name

Institutional Affiliation

Date

My Worldview

I believe in effectiveness, in learning, and in creating connections that are meaningful. I also believe that increasing my spirituality helps in boosting my individual characteristics that relate to patience, self-awareness, kindness, and self-acceptance. I believe in God, not necessarily religious, but I believe in something greater than myself. I am drawn more towards the Christian teachings on life. These teachings have a moral and ethical basis, similar to rules and regulations that govern a society. In my journey as a leader, the belief in God and Christian teachings allow me to be more flexible, to learn, to accept situations, to be wise, to adapt, and to be understanding. I also found that spirituality gives confidence regarding issues and situations that are outside of my control.

I understand people as assets, essential components that influence the direction of an individual not just as a leader but generally as a human. I agree with Lips-Wiersma and Mills (2014) that the human nature is one of several factors that dictate who we become. Humans are an essential part of the environment that shapes people. Therefore, people are profoundly important. People change or create cultures, form institutions, and together form a chain that creates interdependence. Understanding people and their nature gives critical insight into how to treat them, as a leader or a follower. Knowing these human issues means that one understands what it entails to belong to a society. Moral actions, ethics, and normative pursuit is integral to how we relate with each other. Overall, I think people are interconnected and always available towards ensuring progress of a societal structure.

I believe that the most important aspects of life are integrity, responsibility, and hope. Just like there are primary colors that create every other shade, I believe that the core values of integrity, hope, and responsibility give rise to every other value including honesty, courage, faithfulness, service, freedom, honor, trust, kindness, growth, love, appreciation, and patience, and so on. Integrity is all about walking the talk. Moorman and Grover (2009) define it as speaking and acting as per one’s beliefs and convictions. An agreement between actions and words breeds consciousness in everything one is tasked to do. Responsibility is an obligation or a burden placed on an individual. Being responsible means that one embraces their role and is both dependable and reliable in executing it. Hope is more spiritual; it allows one to look forward to situations with reasonable confidence and desire. In the spiritual realm, hope is used to mean confident expectation, strength, and faith that something will happen. It allows difficult tasks and situations to be handled with relative confidence. Combined, these three values allow me to live my life with ease. They are my guiding principles and influence every decision I make.

Leadership Philosophy

I firmly perceive leadership as a combination of different strategies and approaches depending on the situation and the environment. Nonetheless, I am more attracted to the transformational leader. In the transformational leadership approach, the leader is driven by a desire to improve. The main mode of operation is to empower team members as a way of streamlining and improving upon conventions (Buil, Martinez, & Matute, 2019). I think this approach suits almost every organization and business regardless of size and structure. Focusing on the big picture and believing on the people as opposed to strict management and control is more effective in getting individuals to be creative, to show initiative and commitment, and to be participative in the process of driving an organization forward. I am also driven to include participation as a part of the leadership style. Participation allows team members and followers to contribute towards the decision-making process. I find this helpful because it brings in input from people working on the ground, maybe in the field, on a project, or line managers, who would otherwise be excluded from the decision-making structure and process. I believe people want to see strong leaders who are focused on an end goal. A leader is supposed to set a target, create objectives, and then work towards getting these targets met. For example, a visionary leader who wants to transform an organization to compete with companies doing exceptionally well must articulate this to every team member. It is important that followers also feel valued. Therefore, participation and involvement are some of the aspects that make the transformational leadership style one of the most effective in leading people.

Worldview and Leadership Perspectives

I would like to be a leader in one of the Charitable Foundations in the future. I am confident that this will allow me to invest back on the people, to contribute positively to society, and to ensure that I use my leadership skills to drive a cause that is beneficial to mankind. I would be a transformational leader because I would be focused on changing how organizations interact with the people. I have a firm belief that people are assets and should always be treated as such. By being a leader in a charitable organization, I would lead others to changing their views on those that are disadvantaged in the society. I would change the capitalistic narrative that those that have less are lazy. It would give me a platform to create a new corporate culture, one that invests in the people, follows ethicality and moral views, and genuinely sets out to make life better for others in different situations. As a transformational leader, I would aim to not only transform charitable organizations but also be part of a new narrative in helping people and organizations to interact better.

References

Buil, I., Martínez, E., & Matute, J. (2019). Transformational leadership and employee

performance: The role of identification, engagement and proactive personality. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 77, 64-75.

Lips-Wiersma, M., & Mills, A. J. (2014). Understanding the basic assumptions about human

nature in workplace spirituality: Beyond the critical versus positive divide. Journal of Management Inquiry, 23(2), 148-161.

Moorman, R. H., & Grover, S. (2009). Why does leader integrity matter to followers? An

uncertainty management-based explanation. International journal of leadership studies, 5(2), 102-114.