Environmental Degradation: Causes and Effects

Environmental Degradation: Causes and Effects Introduction Thesis statement and Purpose statement Nowadays, the development of urbanization, which causes concentrated human population and habitat in small areas, has occurred at a very quick pace. Urban standard of living has risen roughly on the basis of technical innovations and changes in social structure. However, at the same time, there is a widespread concern about unsustainable city development and infrastructure due to the inequality between the progress and the environmental threat (Boyce, 1994, 18). The economic development brings both prosperity for people and damage to the environment, which includes air, water and soil pollution. Lovejoy (1993, p.125) argued this common occurrence is rampantly increasing all over the world, particular in developing countries. With limited time and resources, this paper will explore some common features of urban environmental degradation based on the authors experiences and geographical perspectives of Vietnam. The aim of this paper is to identify what urban environmental degradation is, and then understand the reasons and effects of this issue. From this basis, the research will refer to some assumptions and implications of other authors work and examples before suggesting some possible solutions to ensure the sustainability for new urban developments as well as the environment. Definition of urban environmental degradation Recognition of an environmental degradation is essential for the management of urban environment. Hackett (1993, pg. 116) writes that urban degradation is a result of the rapid growth in urban population and industrialization which causes many negative impacts on the urban landscapes and living quality of cities, such as poor quality housing, inadequate infrastructure and industrial pollution. Simultaneously, some factors seriously affect the environment as well as the balance of nature. According to Bolay et al. (1997, p. 185), urban environmental problems such as air and water pollution and solid wastes are becoming more serious in developing countries, and Vietnam in particular. Most cities in Vietnam have a high level of population density compared to other countries in the world. There are, for example, more than 23,000 inhabitants per square kilometers in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). The shortage of infrastructure and urban services in those cities has become alarming, which has led to the city amenities not being able to meet the enormous population demand (Bolay et al. (1997, p. 189)). Therefore, pollution of surface and underground water, soil and air by households and production has increased roughly these days. It is expected that the Government would take immediate measures in this issue by identifying and suggesting possible solutions to reduce these effects in order to improve the quality of the urban environmental. As can be seen in the Figure 1, urbanized area in HCMC has been expanding rapidly in the past five years. The population has roughly increased in the fringe areas of HCMC, while decreased in the city center (particular in District 1, 3 the centre Business district (CBD)) from 1999. This partly reflects the changes in the land prices. Higher land prices in the city center are affecting population decrease in that area and population increase in suburban areas. Besides, we can predict that the housing development of HCMC would increase in the West and Northwest directions and start occurring in East and South directions in the next ten years. Problem analysis Urbanization causes an overload on infrastructure, particularly in road network, water supply systems and drainage. As Lovejoy (1993, p. 126) referred, the sudden increase in population puts the city under pressure of basic infrastructure demand. There are many requirements for the expanding urban areas, rising food, water and infrastructure quality as well as offering more jobs. To cater for these demands, industrial companies have to increase products and exploit resources as fully as possible. This creates many environmental problems because the natural resources and urban amenities are limited (Satterthwaite, 2009, p. 546). The major problem of urban degradation is air and water pollution. In urbanized cities, air and water pollution is mainly emitted through industrial activities, especially from the production of electricity generated by fossil fuels. Transportation, households, hospitals, laboratories and pesticide used for crops are also responsible for the release of these pollutants into the environment (Satterthwaite, 2009, p. 546-547). Consequently, this dumping of dangerous waste on open sites produces poisoned air and water probably makes people living around the site suffer from diseases simultaneously increasing the incidence of allergies and other symptoms. In HCMC, due to the progress of urbanization, the quality of air and water gradually decrease these years. It can be seen from Figure 2, since 2003, the index of air pollutions has dropped dramatically and the water quality has been below the standard of Vietnam (TCVN). Especially, because the city residents are accustomed to using motorbike, the emissions from motor vehicles contribute high concentrations of air pollutants and smoke. Therefore, pollutions from traffic congestion are becoming one of the most serious environmental issues in HCMC. In addition, urbanization causes population density and increases the demands on urban amenities. Lovejoy (1993, p. 124) states most new dwelling places have no civic facilities, such as water supply, drainage, roads People living in these places discharge rubbish and dirty water directly to channels and rivers as they used to in rural areas. This condition leads to establish the new slums with many environmental and social problems. There are two basic reasons for the disordered urbanization for the past few years which involve the roles of local Government and residents. The first reason is the lack of specific urban planning. The urban planning management is rather passive and mainly depends on experiences (Lovejoy, 1993, p. 124). In many countries, local governments do not know exactly what the function of a specific land will be and how to control this issue effectively. Investor demands hardly meet government approval, and even worse, several projects have not been able to persuade local residents to accept and be carried out (Satterthwaite, 2009, p. 559). The other factor is the awareness of community about environment problems. Majority of residents are just aware of the visual environmental problems in short-term such as noise pollutions and smoke while the solid wastes and underground water pollutions are actually the elements destroying the natural systems in long-term. As a result, it is necessary to establish more and more education programs for citizens in attempt to rise the understanding of community in the quality of urban environment (Bolay et al. (1997, p. 192). Solutions: In my point of view, to improve the living quality and solve the environmental degradation, the government should establish a comprehensive planning system which includes socio-economic development plan, urban construction plan and land use plan. Planning should regulate where it is appropriate to have certain functions located, where it is necessary to have waste disposal sites or green areas and where is suitable to build industrial zones Besides, urban planning should take into account many other factors such as infrastructure and relevant works, making it favorable for development of an area where urbanization is taking place. As an illustration, Figure 3 shows an example of land use plan which respects the natural principles and probably leads to a sustainable development area. An establishment of laws, regulations and guidelines is also necessary in implementation of the Urban Master plans in each level, such as General plans and Detailed plans. For example, policy makers should establish specific socio-economic characteristics in each local area in order to make new and specific policies for urbanizing areas, which should be different from policies for districts already urbanized. Besides, apply indirect tools such as economic measures, including penalties that a production or company have to pay whenever it causes pollution, is also useful in avoiding the increase of urban environmental degradation. Conclusions Urbanization has clearly caused impacts on the city economic structure, especially in urbanized areas. There are positive changes in many social aspects. There is also environmental deterioration and pollution. If people are not noticed and properly solved, this issue will result in extremely consequences and cause negative impacts on the citys urban sustainable development. References Bolay, J.C Cartoux, S Cunha, A Du, T.T.N Bassand, M 1997, Sustainable Development and Urban Growth: Precarious Habitat and Water Management in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, Habitat INTL., Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 185-197, Elsevier Science, viewed 14 Dec 2009,. Boyce, J-K 1994, Inequality as a Cause of Environmental Degradation, Ecological Economics, vol. 11, pp. 1-20, Political Economy Research Institute, viewed 12 Dec 2009,. Chiapponi, M 1992, Environmental management and planning: The role of spatial and temporal scales, Ekistics 356-357, pp. 306-310. Hackett, B 1993, A landscape basis for planning, Ekistics 360 361, pp. 116-118. Lovejoy, D 1993, The vital role of the landscape architect in solving environmental problems, Ekistics 360 361, pp. 124 126. Satterthwaite, D 2009, The implications of population growth and urbanization for climate change, Environment and Urbanization 2009, vol. 21, pp. 545, Sage, viewed 17 Dec 2009,http://eau.sagepub.com >

Stereotyping Girls Who Drive Trucks :: Sociology

Stereotyping Girls Who Drive Trucks There is nothing more thrilling to me than being a girl who drives a truck. The sense of power you get almost makes up for the harassment. Driving a truck as a female automatically places you in one of two categories, whether they're true or not. You are either the cute lil' thang in Daddy's big pick-up, or you are a bull dike. Don't worry; there are ways to tell which category you're in. Should you be the cute lil' thang, you might be a little chunky or just plain little. You cannot however, be fat. One probably wouldn't want to be very tall either. Your pants should always be really tight, and skirts should be really short. These should always be worn with really small shirts. It should be noted that just tight or short, etc. is not accepted. "Really" must precede any adjectives. You should also thoroughly enjoy being called "sugar," and "darlin'" by mechanics trying to rip you off. Your truck must be really big and new. Even ridiculously big, and you should have trouble driving it (or at least give the appearance of such). Acrylic nails are big with this group, but not too long, and always maintained. The best advice is to imagine this group the cheerleaders of the road workers. The second group of lady pickup drivers is a substantially less desirable category. To be in this group, you need to be either skinny or fat. There is no in between. The hair should be worn in a ponytail or braid; a buzz cut is also acceptable. The lady mullet makes an occasional appearance as well. Cowboy hats (not the cute kind) and roper boots are good, and a big belt with lots of keys. If this is too much, a t-shirt and khaki shorts work too, as long as you promise to wear ankle socks and sandals. You truck should never be 4-wheel

Customer Relationship Management – Study Material

Customer Relationship Management â€Å"Customer relationship management is a comprehensive strategy and process of acquiring, retaining and partnering with selective customers to create superior value for the company and customers†. Importance of CRM * Identifying customer needs. * Identifying untapped business potential. * Identify strong & weak points of suppliers. * Benchmarking to achieve global excellence. * Help in rediscovering the customers and understanding them * Identify field requiring new technology and development. * Provide feedback to the suppliers on its total operations. Action plan to make organization customer centric. Goals of CRM * Build long term and profitable relationship with suitable customers. * Getting closer to those customers at every point of contact with them Enablers for the growth of CRM (Pg : 17-20 in the pdf you sent) * Emergence of service economy. * Global orientations of business. * Emergence of market economy. * Aging population of econ omically advanced economies. Criticality of Customer relationship * Non traditional competition * Market Maturity * Misalignment between revenue & profitSchools of Thoughts on CRM 1. Anglo Australian Approach – Explains relationship marketing as a Confluence (meaning : process of merging) of Quality management, customer relationship economics and service marketing concepts. 2. Nordic Approach – Explains relationship marketing as a Confluence of interactive theory, customer relationship economics and service marketing concepts. 3. North American approach – â€Å"Contrast† Organizations environment decides the relationship between buyer and seller. Fig : Nordic Approach Fig : Anglo Australian approachBrand Relationship Management – is as the process of establishing, maintaining and developing relationship between brand and its consumers. BRM Process Brand Loyalty – defined as the customers commitment to the brand and make repurchase over time. Ladder of Loyalty 1. Partner – An advocate who is actively involved in decisions of the company. 2. Advocate – A supporter who proactively works to improve the products & services of company. 3. Supporter – A client becomes a supporter when he is satisfied with the offering and refers to friends. 4. Client – A customer who make repeat purchases . Customer – A prospect who get attracted by the offerings and buy the product or service. 6. Prospect – Is a target, a possible customer. Learning about customers 1. Knowledge acquisition 2. Customer differentiation Customization of Marketing Mix 1. Product 2. Price 3. Place 4. Promotion 6 Types of Markets or Marketers * Customer market * Referral market * Influence market * Recruitment market * Supplier market * Internal market Misunderstanding of CRM * Database Marketing. * CRM is a marketing process. * CRM is an IT issue. * Loyality scheme. * Can be implemented by any company.Tools & process of C RM Value chain Primary Stage| Customer Portfolio Analysis| Customer Intimacy| Network development| Value preposition development| Manage customer lifestyle| Customer| | | | | | | | Supporting conditions| Leadership & Culture| | | Data & Information Technology| Profitability| | People| | | Process| | Zero Customer Defections * Price defector * Product defector * Service defector * Market defector * Technology defector * Organizational defector Customer Redemption program to reduce defection Step 1: Measure customer redemptionStep 2: Interview formal customers Step 3: Analyze, compile and service data Step 4: Identify switching barriers CRM Framework Red block – Major role Blue block – Minor role Relationship Style| Initiation| Development| Maintainance / Enhancement| Psychological Step| | | | Stwiching|   |   |   | Satisfaction|   |   |   | Trust|   |   |   | Commitment|   |   |   | Loyality|   |   |   | CRM in B2C Market Characteristics of services A. Intangibility – Could not be felt immediately B. Heterogeneity – differences C. Simultaneity – similar quality products offered at same time D.Perishability – shelf life of consumable products or zero inventory. Dimensions of Quality Services I. Reliability II. Assurance III. Tangibility IV. Empathy V. Responsiveness Cost of losing a customer 1. Reduces cash flow for firm in future. 2. New customers cost up to 5 times more. 3. More cost effective for services firm as they discover new traits of customer likes and dislikes. 4. Developed a higher level of loyalty can change more for their products and services. 5. If word of mouth is good, then firms have to spend less on advertisement and spend for attracting new customers.

What and When Were the 5 Delhi Sultanates

The Delhi Sultanates were a series of five different dynasties that ruled northern India between 1206 and 1526. Muslim former slave soldiers —  mamluks  Ã¢â‚¬â€ from the Turkic and Pashtun ethnic groups established each of these dynasties in turn. Although they had important cultural impacts, the sultanates themselves were not strong and none of them lasted particularly long, instead passing control of the dynasty to an heir. Each of the Delhi Sultanates began a process of assimilation and accommodation between the Muslim culture and traditions of Central Asia and the Hindu culture and traditions of India, which would later reach its apogee under the Mughal Dynasty  from 1526 to 1857. That heritage continues to influence the Indian subcontinent to this day. The Mamluk Dynasty Qutub-ud-Dà ¯n Aybak founded the Mamluk Dynasty in 1206. He was a Central Asian Turk and a former general for the crumbling Ghurid Sultanate,  a Persian  dynasty that had ruled over what is now  Iran,   Pakistan, northern India and  Afghanistan. However, Qutub-ud-Dà ¯ns reign was short-lived, as were many of his predecessors, and he died in 1210. The reign of the Mamluk Dynasty passed to his son-in-law  Iltutmish who would go on to truly establish the sultanate  in Dehli before his death in 1236. During that time, the rulership of Dehli was knocked into chaos as four descendants of Iltutmish were placed on the throne and killed. Interestingly, the four-year reign of Razia Sultana — whom Iltutmish had nominated on his death bed — serves as one of the many examples of women in power in early Muslim culture. The  Khilji Dynasty The second of the Delhi Sultanates, the Khilji Dynasty, was named after Jalal-ud-Dà ¯n Khilji, who assassinated the last ruler of the Mamluk Dynasty, Moiz ud din Qaiqabad in 1290. Like many before (and after) him, Jalal-ud-Dà ¯ns rule was short-lived — his nephew  Ala- ud-din Khilji murdered Jalal-ud-Dà ¯n six years later to claim rulership over the dynasty. Ala-ud-din became known as a tyrant, but also for keeping the  Mongols  out of India. During his 19-year reign, Ala-ud-dins experience as a power-hungry general led to rapid expansion over much of Central and Southern India, where he increased taxes to further strengthen his army and treasury.   After his death in 1316, the dynasty started to crumble. The eunuch general of his armies and Hindu-born Muslim, Malik Kafur, attempted to take power but did not have the Persian or Turkic support necessary and Ala-ud-dins 18-year-old son took the throne instead, which he ruled for only four years before being murdered by Khusro Khan, bringing an end to the Khilji Dynasty. The Tughlaq Dynasty Khusro Khan did not rule long enough to establish his own dynasty — he was murdered four months into his reign by Ghazi Malik, who christened himself Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq and established a nearly century-long dynasty of his own. From 1320 to 1414, the Tughlaq Dynasty managed to extend its control south over much of modern-day India, mostly under the 26-year reign of Ghiyas-ud-dins heir Muhammad bin Tughlaq. He expanded the borders of the dynasty all the way to the south-eastern coast of modern-day India, making its reach the largest it would be across all of the Delhi Sultanates. However, under the watch of the Tughlaq Dynasty,  Timur  (Tamerlane) invaded India in 1398, sacking and looting Delhi and massacring the people of the capital city. In the chaos that followed the Timurid invasion, a family claiming descent from the Prophet Muhammad took control of northern India, establishing the basis for the Sayyid Dynasty.    The Sayyid Dynasty and Lodi Dynasty For the following 16 years, the rulership of Dehli was hotly contested, but in 1414, the Sayyid Dynasty eventually won out in the capital and Sayyid Khizr Khan, who claimed to represent the Timur. However, because the Timur were known for pillaging and moving on from their conquests, his reign was highly contested — as were those of his three heirs. Already primed to fail, the Sayyid Dynasty ended when the fourth sultan  abdicated the throne in 1451 in favor of Bahlul Khan Lodi, founder of the ethnic-Pashtun Lodi Dynasty out of Afghanistan. Lodi was a famous horse-trader and warlord, who re-consolidated northern India after the trauma of Timurs invasion. His rule was a definite improvement over the weak leadership of the Sayyids. The Lodi Dynasty fell after the First Battle of Panipat  in 1526 duirng which Babur defeated the far larger Lodi armies and killed Ibrahim Lodi. Yet another Muslim Central Asian leader, Babur founded the Mughal Empire, which would rule India until the British Raj brought it down in 1857.