How Google is Changing Your Brain Article Analysis

How Google is Changing Your Brain Article Analysis When in doubt ask your all-knowing friend google. The authors Daniel M. Wegner and Adrian F. Ward who wrote How Google is Changing Your Brain published in 2013 in the Scientific American. Wegner and Ward argue that instead of relying on the diversity of our friends knowledge, people tend to ask google first. The article begins building credibility with convincing facts and examples; however, toward the end of the article, the sudden flip to how google is good weakens their credibility and ultimately, the article. In the article, the authors first set the stage by describing a birthday party scenario and how each person knows intuitively what to do. While one may remember the time and place of the party, the other may take note of the dress code.   The article then outlines that when presented with new information, people distribute remembering certain facts among their social group. When someone does not remember the right name or how to fix a broken machine they simply turn to someone who knows. The authors provide a few more examples to instill the idea of not only do people know the information stored within their minds; but, also the information of members of their social group. Throughout the entirety of the article, the authors use many strong examples and experiments that strengthens their claim, credibility and appeal to ethos. Mentioning the experiments boosts Wegner and Wards credibility showing that they have done their homework while providing statistics and facts. They also use their own experiments to support their claim which show they have first-hand experience with the subject. Adding to Wegner and Wards ethos appeals, they also have strong appeals to logos, with many facts and logical progressions of ideas. They point out facts, that show people are relying on computers to remember information, instead of the diverse information their friends may possess: We found that those who believed the computer had saved the list of facts were much worse at remembering. People seemed to treat the computer like transactive memory partners off-loading information to this cloud mind rather than storing it internally. These facts support the idea that people are beginning to rely on the internet and computers, instead of themselves and friends. Wegner and Ward continue with many more supporting ideas: it seems that the propensity for off-loading information to digital sources is so strong that people are often unable to fix details in their own thoughts when in the presence of a cyberbuddy. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ As we off-load responsibility for many types of information to the Internet, we may be replacing other potential transactive memory partners friends, family members and other human experts with our ever present connection to a seemingly omniscient digital cloud. These are a few of the many ideas, that support the authors claim that this is a real and substantial problem that humans are relying less on each other, and more on the internet. The convincing statements appeal to logos and presses upon the reader that this is a topic worth discussing. However, the end of the article lacks the same effectiveness of the paragraphs before it. For example, Wegner and Ward notes that the internet is up to date, not subject to the distortion that afflicts human memory, and quicker than calling a friend hoping they have the information you seek. This damages the strength of their credibility and their argument. Additionally, the authors last statement in the article, refers to the internet in a way that weakens the articles purpose. While returning to the introduction in the conclusion is a  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   frequently used strategy, they chose to abandon if not to totally disregard their beginning statement. Wegner and Ward states that humans are being freed from the necessity of remembering facts. The sudden dependence and off-loading of information to the internet is a movement that people should embrace. Though the article begins by effectively persuading to the readers the importance of the diversity of information their friends possess Wegner and Ward loses power in the end, where they need to drive home their argument. Readers can see a problem exists throughout the article; however, the sudden shift to downplay the problem, makes the reader not take it seriously in the end. Wegner, Daniel M., and Adrian F. Ward. How Google Is Changing Your Brain. Scientific American 309.6 (2013): 58-61. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Aug. 2016.

An Analysis of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Essay

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in London in 1797 to radical philosopher, William Godwin, and Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Wollstonecraft died 11 days after giving birth, and young Mary was educated in the intellectual circles of her father’s contemporaries. In 1814, at the age of seventeen, Mary met and fell in love with poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley. She ran away with him to France and they were married in 1816 after Shelley’s wife committed suicide. Percy Shelley was a prominent poet of the Romantic Movement along with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and Shelley’s friend, Lord Byron. As his wife and companion, Mary Shelley was exposed to the same influences as her husband, and this Romanticism influenced her work. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein after Byron introduced a challenge to discern whom among the three writers — Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, and Byron himself — could write the best ghost story. The tumultuous French Revolution, which began before her birth, but had far-reaching echoes in society and literature, as well as the Industrial Revolution of England in the 18th Century, were influences on Mary Shelley’s life and work. The mass production and dehumanization of the Industrial Revolution posed a threat to the Romantic ideals of the importance of the individual, the beauty of nature, and the emotional and free spirit. Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, can be seen as a protest against this scientific revolution. Scientific progress was a large part of this century of discovery. Darwin, a leading scientific figure with his theories of evolution, was a personal friend of Shelley’s husband, so science was not an ignored topic in her life. Advances in medicine and the need for cadavers also figured into the time in which Mary Shelley lived. At this time in London grave robbing was a common occurrence because men dubbed â€Å"the resurrection men† would sell the stolen bodies to teaching hospitals so that medical students could dissect and study them. This knowledge makes the idea of Victor Frankenstein  scavenging graveyards for parts seem less shocking. Frankenstein addresses common Romantic themes of isolation and the beauty of nature, but it also deals with loss, which Mary Shelley knew a great deal about. Growing up motherless, Mary also lost her sister to suicide, as well as losing three of her own children to miscarriage and early childhood deaths. In 1822 her husband drowned in the Gulf of Spezzia, and she was left, twenty-five years old, with only one remaining son. She remained unmarried and died in London in 1851. Although she wrote several other books, including Valperga (1823), The Last Man (1826), Lodore (1835), and Falkner (1837), Frankenstein is her most well known work. â€Å"The critics greeted Mary Shelley’s novel with a combination of praise and disdain† (Moss and Wilson). The unorthodox studies of Frankenstein were shocking to critics, but â€Å"despite the critical attacks, Frankenstein caused a literary sensation in London. The novel fit smoothly into the popular gothic genre† (Moss and Wilson). But more than just a popular culture novel, Frankenstein has lasted over time. â€Å"The novel became one of the triumphs of the Romantic movement due to its themes of alienation and isolation and its warning about the destructive power that can result when human creativity is unfettered by moral and social concerns† (Moss and Wilson) Mary Wolstonecraft Shelley PLOT Frankenstein, set in Europe in the 1790’s, begins with the letters of Captain Robert Walton to his sister. These letters form the framework for the story in which Walton tells his sister the story of Victor Frankenstein and his monster as Frankenstein told it to him. Walton set out to explore the North Pole. The ship got trapped in frozen water and the crew, watching around them, saw a giant man in the distance on a dogsled. Hours later they found Frankenstein and his dogsled near the  ship, so they brought the sick man aboard. As he recovered, Frankenstein told Walton his story so that Walton would learn the price of pursuing glory at any cost. Frankenstein grew up in a perfectly loving and gentle Swiss family with an especially close tie to his adopted cousin, Elizabeth, and his dear friend Henry Clerval. As a young boy, Frankenstein became obsessed with studying outdated theories about what gives humans their life spark. In college at Ingolstadt, he created his own â€Å"perfect† human from scavenged body parts, but once it lived, the creature was hideous. Frankenstein was disgusted by its ugliness, so he ran away from it. Henry Clerval came to Ingolstadt to study with Frankenstein, but ended up nursing him after his exhausting and secret efforts to create a perfect human life. While Frankenstein recovered from his illness over many months and then studied languages with Clerval at the college, the monster wandered around looking for friendship. After several harsh encounters with humans, the monster became afraid of them and spent a long time living near a cottage and observing the family who lived there. Through these observations he became educated and realized that he was very different from the humans he watched. Out of loneliness, the monster sought the friendship of this family, but they were afraid of him, and this rejection made him seek vengeance against his creator. He went to Geneva and met a little boy in the woods. The monster hoped to kidnap him and keep him as a companion, but the boy was Frankenstein’s younger brother, so the monster killed him to get back at his creator. Then the monster planted the necklace he removed from the child’s body on a beautiful girl who was later executed for the crime. When Frankenstein learned of his brother’s death, he went back to Geneva to be with his family. In the woods where his young brother was murdered, Frankenstein saw the monster and knew that he was William’s murderer. Frankenstein was ravaged by his grief and guilt for creating the monster who wreaked so much destruction, and he went into the mountains alone to find peace. Instead of peace, Frankenstein was approached by the monster who then demanded that he create a female monster to be the monster’s companion.  Frankenstein, fearing for his family, agreed to and went to England to do his work. Clerval accompanied Frankenstein, but they separated in Scotland and Frankenstein began his work. When he was almost finished, he changed his mind because he didn’t want to be responsible for the carnage another monster could create, so he destroyed the project. The monster vowed revenge on Frankenstein’s upcoming wedding night. Before Frankenstein could re turn home, the monster murdered Clerval. Once home, Frankenstein married his cousin Elizabeth right away and prepared for his death, but the monster killed Elizabeth instead and the grief of her death killed Frankenstein’s father. After that, Frankenstein vowed to pursue the monster and destroy him. That’s how Frankenstein ended up near the North Pole where Walton’s ship was trapped. A few days after Frankenstein finished his story, Walton and his crew decided to turn back and go home. Before they left, Frankenstein died and the monster appeared in his room. Walton heard the monster’s explanation for his vengeance as well as his remorse before he left the ship and traveled toward the Pole to destroy himself so that none would ever know of his existence. CHARACTERS Major Characters Robert Walton: Indirect narrator of the story, he tells Victor Frankenstein’s story through letters to his sister, Margaret Saville. Walton is a self-educated man who set out to reach and explore the North Pole and find an Arctic passage to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. While his ship is locked in ice, his crew sees Frankenstein’s monster pass by on a dog sled and Frankenstein himself, exhausted and weakened, not far behind. They take Frankenstein aboard and Walton nurses him and talks with him because he has been longing for a friend. In seeing Walton’s raw ambition to explore the North Pole at all costs, Frankenstein is prompted to tell the story of his destruction that a similar ambition brought upon him. After Frankenstein’s death and just before the ship heads back to England, Walton is also the last to see the monster before he goes north to kill himself. Victor Frankenstein: Frankenstein is the eldest son of a wealthy, Genevese man, Alphonse, and his young wife, Caroline. Victor grows up in the perfect family with a happy childhood and a constant and devoted companion in his adopted cousin, Elizabeth. He is sensitive, intelligent, and passionate about his interests and becomes absorbed in the quest to find out what creates life. While away at college in Ingolstadt, Victor creates a being from scavenged corpse parts and gives it life, but is repulsed by its hideousness once it lives. The monster, in retaliation for Victor’s negligence, destroys his life by killing off those Victor loves. Victor chases him to the far reaches of the Arctic planning to destroy him and then die to escape his misery and remorse at his creation, but he dies aboard Walton’s ship before he can catch the monster. The Monster: Created by Victor Frankenstein in Ingolstadt, the monster is a conglomeration of human parts with inhuman strength. He is so hideous that Victor, his own creator, cannot stand to look upon him. He is loving and gentle at the beginning of his life, childlike in his curiosity and experiences, but after several harsh encounters with humans, he becomes bitter. He seeks revenge on his creator for making him so hideous and rendering him permanently lonely because of his ugliness. He offers Frankenstein peace in exchange for a companion of like origin, but when Frankenstein does not comply, he vows to destroy him and begins killing off Frankenstein’s friends and family — those figures he most envies because he does not have them. After finding Frankenstein dead aboard Walton’s ship, the monster goes further north with plans to destroy himself and end the suffering that Frankenstein began when he created him. Elizabeth Lavenza: Adopted cousin of Victor Frankenstein. Elizabeth was a beautiful orphan being raised by an Italian peasant family when Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein adopted her. She became Victor’s constant companion and he watched over her as if she were his own possession from their meeting when he was 5 years old. Her beauty and kindness made her adored almost reverently by all who knew her, and it was taken for granted that she and Victor would marry. She is the gentling influence and the comforter for the  males of the Frankenstein family when Caroline dies, and her beauty and goodness are constant throughout her life. She and Victor are married, but on their wedding night, the monster strangles Elizabeth to punish Victor for not creating for him a companion creature. Henry Clerval: Life-long friend of Victor Frankenstein, Henry was poetic, sensitive and caring, and their friendship was a strong one. When Victor was in Ingolstadt so long without sending word to his family, Henry relocated there to study and to look after Victor. Henry nursed him through a long period of illness before Victor returned to Geneva. Later they traveled together to England and Scotland, but while they were there, the monster strangled Henry to punish Victor. Victor was accused of the murder, but was acquitted. Justine Moritz: Servant in the Frankenstein household, Justine was another beautiful, gentle, and kind addition to the Frankenstein family whom Caroline took in to care for and educate. When Caroline got scarlet fever, Justine nursed her, and after Caroline died, Justine returned to her own mother. Her mother too became ill and died, so Justine returned to the Frankenstein home to help raise the two sons Caroline had left when she died. Justine was a grateful and faithful part of their household, but she was accused of 5-year-old William Frankenstein’s murder when a locket he had been wearing was found in her dress. Although she had been framed by the monster and was innocent, she was executed and Victor considered her death his fault because he created the monster who framed her. Alphonse Frankenstein: Victor Frankenstein’s father, Alphonse was a wealthy and benevolent man who loved his wife and his children very dearly. He rescued Caroline Beaufort, daughter of his close friend, from poverty after her father’s death. He was a doting husband and father bent by the grief of loss after loss until he dies from accumulated sorrow and shock. Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein: Wife of Alphonse and mother of Victor, Ernest, and William, Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein was the daughter of a once-wealthy friend of Alphonse. Planning to aid his friend, Alphonse found  his home and went there only to find Caroline weeping over his coffin. Alphonse took her into his home and married her two years later. They had a loving relationship and cared for their children very much. She was a good, beautiful, and gentle woman adored by all her family until she died from the scarlet fever she contracted nursing Elizabeth back to health. Minor Characters Mrs. Margaret Saville: Sister of Robert Walton, ship captain, Mrs. Saville is significant only because she is the recipient of the letters describing Frankenstein’s story. Walton writes to her of the progress of his journey and his acquaintance with Frankenstein. Beaufort: Friend of Alphonse Frankenstein and Caroline’s father, Beaufort lost his wealth and relocated to escape the humiliation of his poverty. Caroline nursed him as his health declined and was weeping over his coffin when Alphonse found her and took her back to Geneva. M. Waldman: Chemistry professor at Ingolstadt. His lectures revive Victor’s interest in discovering the spark of life and creation. Ernest Frankenstein: Victor’s brother. Ernest is 7 years younger than Victor and is only mentioned a few times, the longest reference in a letter to Victor from Elizabeth. She mentions that Ernest wants to join the Swiss military. William Frankenstein: Victor’s youngest brother, William is sweet, happy, greatly adored by his family. William is strangled in the woods while the family was out for a walk. His is the first of the monster’s victims, and Justine is framed for the murder. De Lacey Family: Felix, Agatha, and their blind father. This is the family of cottagers near where the monster lives. They are French exiles living in Germany because Felix helped an unjustly imprisoned Turk escape. He watches them and over time learns to speak and read from observing them. The monster  becomes attached to them and chops wood for them as well as other small services without revealing himself to them. He craves their acceptance and affection and educates himself further to win them over. When he seeks their affection, however, they are afraid of him and their scorn sends him away. This rejection sends him on a quest to find Victor, his creator, and seek vengeance. Muhammadan: Turk Felix aided and for whom the De Lacey family was exiled to Germany. Muhammadan was unjustly condemned for reasons of religion and wealth, and Felix helped him escape, falling in love with Muhammadan’s daughter, Safie, along the way. Muhammadan promises to allow them to marry, but plans secretly to take Safie back to Turkey with him. Safie: Daughter of Muhammadan and Arabian Christian woman. Safie falls in love with Felix and doesn’t want to return to the oppressive country of her birth. When her father leaves for Turkey with the expectation that she will follow soon after with all of his possessions, she seeks out Felix and lives with him and his family in Germany. M. Kirwin: Irish magistrate who cares for Victor when he falls ill after being accused of Henry’s murder. Kirwin is sympathetic and believes Victor is innocent, so he has a doctor care for Victor while he is imprisoned and also sends for Alphonse. SETTINGS Geneva: Geneva, Switzerland. Home of the Frankenstein family where Victor grew up and to which he returned after college and the creation of the monster. The murders of William and Justine were located in the area around Geneva. Ingolstadt: Ingolstadt, Germany. Victor went to college in Ingolstadt and created the monster in his laboratory there. This was the city of the monster’s awakening. Mont Blanc: A mountain near Geneva. This mountain is referred to again and again in descriptions of scenery throughout the novel. It carries weight as a mark of Romanticism because it is the subject of a famous poem by William Wordsworth, one of Mary Shelley’s contemporaries. Orkney Islands: Orkney Islands, Scotland. Victor stays in a hut on one of the sparsely populated Orkney Islands to create a second creature to be a companion to the monster. North Pole: Destination of Robert Walton and his ship as well as the monster and Victor. Walton is bound for the North Pole to explore in the hopes of uncovering secrets of the earth and gaining glory for his discovery. Victor is following the monster to the North Pole to destroy him or die trying, and they meet while Walton’s ship is trapped in ice. Walton and Victor never make it to the North Pole because Walton’s men want to turn back for England and Victor dies. The monster, however, is last seen on his way to the furthest point north to destroy himself so that none will know of his hideous existence. Chamounix: Frankenstein traveled to Chamounix to escape his guilt and depression, but while he was in Chamounix, the monster approached him about creating a female monster companion for him. The monster lived in an ice cave not far from Chamounix. INTRODUCTION Mary Shelley was born in 1779 in London, England. At the age of sixteen, she met the famous British poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, whom she later married. The idea of a man who creates life-in the form of a horrible and grotesque monster-came to Mary in a vivid, waking dream. With her husband’s encouragement, she used this idea as the basis for FRANKENSTEIN. It was written when she was only nineteen years old. After Percy’s death, May Shelley continued to write but produced nothing to equal the success of this classic tale of horror. THE HISTORY OF FRANKENSTEIN 1816: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, daughter of one of the world’s first prominent feminists, writes the novel â€Å"Frankenstein† based n a â€Å"waking dream.† 1823: Richard Brinsley Peake’s â€Å"Presumption, or the Fate of Frankenstein,† the first stage adaptation of the novel, is performed in London. 1887: â€Å"The Vampire’s Victim,† a musical comedy featuring Fred Leslie as the creature, is presented as a Christmas show and includes dancing bears, two vampires and a female Dr. Frankenstein. 1910: The first movie version of â€Å"Frankenstein,† a 16-minute dramatization, is produced by Thomas Edison’s film company. It stars Charles Ogle as the monster. 1928: Hamilton Deane produces an adaptation of â€Å"Frankenstein,† which tours British provinces. Dean himself plays the creature. 1930: â€Å"Frankenstein† makes its West End premiere in London. 1931: 1957: A script written for a Broadway production is sued as the basis for the screenplay of the Universal Pictures film featuring Boris Karloff. Karloff’s performance steals the film.Hammer films produces â€Å"The Curse of Frankenstein,† the first Frankenstein film in color. Unlike earlier versions, it portrayed Victor Frankenstein as the outright villain of the story. 1972: An illustrated version of the story published by Marvel Comics is the first to be told from the monster’s point of view. The creature is portrayed as victim, not victimizer. 1973: A two-part television movie is produced and released as â€Å"Frankenstein, the True Story† in America and â€Å"Dr. Frankenstein† in the United Kingdom. In this story, Victor Frankenstein attempts to save a dying friend by replacing his brain in the reanimated body of a recently dead man. 1974: â€Å"Young Frankenstein,† written by and starring Gene Wilder, spoofs the Universal films of the 1930s with song and dance numbers. It’s the only â€Å"Frankenstein† film with a happy ending. 1978: Berni Wrightson publishes a lavishly illustrated adaptation of â€Å"Frankenstein† that visually portrays the creature as originally described by Shelly. 1981: Elaborate effects cannot compensate for a bad script when an ill-conceived stage version of â€Å"Frankenstein† is mounted on Broadway. It starred John Carradine and closed after only one performance. 1994: The feminist undertones of the original novel are developed in â€Å"Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein,† a film starring Tom Hulce and Helena Bonham Carter.

Food Security

Kirsten Highsmith February 1,2013 Eng & Humanities 2-1 Etymology Imperialism 1. (Noun): A policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force; (Noun) The system, policies, or practices of such a government; (noun) an instance or policy of aggressive behaviour by one state against another 2. Imperialism originated in 1826 in a Napoleonic context, â€Å"advocacy of empire,†also of Rome and of British foreign policy, from imperial and -ism. At times in British usage with a neutral or positive sense relating to national interests or the spread of the benefits of Western civilization. . Imperialism is still in use. 4. Although Imperialism originated in 1826 it was first recorded 1878. It was picked up in Communist jargon by 1918. The term Imperialism applied to Western political and economic dominance in the 19th and 20th centuries. (etymonline. com) 5. A modern, interesting use of the word is that â€Å"Imperialism† is the name of a turn- based Strategy video game. Matrix 1. (Noun): An environment or material in which something develops; (Noun): A mass of fine-grained rock in which gems, crystals, or fossils are embedded; (Archaic)The womb; Archaic)The formative cells or tissue of a fingernail, toenail, or tooth; (Noun) A rectangular array of numeric or algebraic quantities subject to mathematical operations 2. Matrix originates from the Latin, female animal used for breeding, parent plant, from matr-, mater. Its first known use is 1555. Its also from the Old French word matrice. 3. Matrix is still in use, except for the third definition listed above. 4. â€Å"Matrix† is the Latin word for womb, and it retains that sense in English. It can also mean more generally any place in which something is formed or produced. The term â€Å"matrix† for an rray of numeric or algebraic quantities subject to mathematical operations was introduced in 1850 by James Joseph Sylvester. (ualr. edu) 5. A modern or interesti ng use of the term â€Å"Matrix† is that â€Å"Matrix† is the name of the brand new 2012 Toyota sports Car Sugar 1. (noun): A sweet crystalline substance obtained from various plants; (noun):Used as a term of endearment or an affectionate form of address; (noun): A psychoactive drug in the form of white powder 2. Sugar first originated in the late 13 century, â€Å"sugre†, from Old French. Its Medieval Latin word was succarum, and its Arabic word being sukkar 3. Sugar is still in use. . Sugars Old World home was India and it remained exotic in Europe until the Arabs began to cultivate it in Sicily and Spain; not until after the Crusades did it begin to rival honey as the West's sweetener. 5. A modern or interesting use of the term sugar is that it is the name of a American alternative rock band which was first formed in 1992. Necromancer 1. (noun): A person who practices necromancy; a wizard or magician 2. Necromancer originated in c. 1300, from the Old French w ord nigromansere, 3. Necromancer is still in use. 4. The word necromancer is adapted from the word necromancy meaning a form of magic nvolving communication with the deceased. The word â€Å"necromancy† is adapted from Late Latin necromantia. Early necromancy volved from shamanism, which calls upon spirits such as the ghosts of ancestors. 5. A modern or interesting fact about the word necromancer is that in the popular video game Guild Wars a necromancer is a playable character who can call on the spirits of the dead, and even death itself, to overpower enemies and assist allies. Works Cited 1. â€Å"Dictionary. com. † Thesaurus. com. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013. 2. â€Å"Etymology. † Behind the Name:. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013. 3.EtymologyAbout Our Definitions: All Forms of a Word (noun, Verb, Etc. )Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n. d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013. 4. â€Å"Online Etymology Dictionary. † Online Etymology Dictionary. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013. 5. Dictionary. com. Dictionary. com, n. d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013. Kirsten Highsmith February 1, 2013 Humanities II 2-1 Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa Food Security can be translated into many different definitions. Webster’s definition of it is, â€Å"Food security refers to the availability of food in sufficient quantity in a safe and nutritious form and one's access to it for a healthy and active life. This definition for food security clearly sets out the different sections involved when discussing food security, globally. These sections include many different aspects of food security. For example: the physical availability of food, and economic access to food, and the sustainability of these aspects to deliver adequate levels of food security. â€Å"In Sub-Saharan Africa today, almost 33 percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa lack sufficient food security†( â€Å"Achieving Food Security in Africa: Challenges and Issues†1). The region of Africa as a whole remains constant to frequent food crises and famines hich are triggered by droughts, floods, and economic downturns. Food Security in sub-Saharan African households has been lowered because of the countries inability to produce the right resources to import food. Sub-Saharan Africa is dependent on agriculture which is most vulnerable to climate change making many methods of development futile but few methods supply satisfactory results. The use of agriculture can improve food security in sub-Saharan Africa by changing to different farming techniques such as using mulching, composting and crop rotation. Mulching in Africa can help improve food security in a multitude of ways. Mulches are materials placed over the soil surface to maintain moisture†(treesaregood). By using mulching plants and vegetables are able to contain moisture even under extreme weather conditions. This is beneficial to Sub-Saharan Africa because of the many droughts they get, it is har der for plants and vegetables to grow and soon end up dying. By maintaining water plants are able to grow healthier and stronger. Water conservation is not the only thing mulching can help with. â€Å"Coupled with conserving moisture mulching prevents the compression and crusting of the soil aused by watering, and rain†( Russell). Because of the unpredictable rain in the Sub-Saharan, the soil is compressed and losses water which leads to the drying out and crusting of plants. By using mulching it helps stops moisture from traveling up through the soil, and leaving behind the dissolved minerals as a crust which would have blocked the plants from growing to the surface. Mulches also provide food for earth worms. â€Å"Earthworms are a valuable resource in the garden, Earthworms tunnel deep into the soil allowing air and water to easily reach plant roots†( mulchingaround).By mulch attracting earthworms plants are able to obtain water and oxygen easier which allows the soi l to become richer and grow faster, which is exactly what the soil in the Sub-Saharan needs. Mulching helps improve food security by allowing plants and vegetables in the Sub-Saharan to grow at a faster rate which can be harvested and available more to different parts of the region. Tons of waste is generated through Africa and usually ends up in wastelands or turned into open dumps. Composting is an easy way of getting rid of waste in the Sub-Saharan and at the same time helping the environment. Composting is to fertilize with a mixture of decaying organic matter. †(Dictionary). Compost decomposes all the organic material and creates soil. By creating soil, it allows for a lot more room to plant and grown food making it widely available and easy to access. . â€Å"Small-scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and the entire African continent can improve yields by up to 100% through combining fertilizer micro dosing and manures application†( New Farming Techniques Help Impr ove Food Security). By adding different types of compost together farmers in the Sub-Saharan can help improve soil and plant growth by 00%, this percentage can drastically help improve food security all over the African region by using organic materials to help create compost. By using compost, Africa’s plant growth can improve by enriching the soil that it gets its nutrients from. â€Å"Compost also has the benefit of adding organic matter to the soil†( The New Vision for Agriculture: Transforming agriculture through collaboration). By adding organic material to soil it gives it the nutrients it needs to grow faster and helps contain water. There have also been new methods of composting called a â€Å"Compost toilet†. Composting toilets are toilet systems which treat human waste by composting and dehydration to produce a useable end-product that is a valuable soil additive†( What is a Composting Toilet? ). Compost toilets allow waste entering the toilet t o be evaporated into the atmosphere through the vent leaving amount of soil to be used as a natural fertilizer. As helpful as compost toilets are they are quite expensive which makes it harder for Sub-Saharan to use and can slowly but surely improve the food security issue. Crop rotation in sub-Saharan Africa isn’t anything new and has been allowing a more diverse roup of foods to grow which expands the choice of food. â€Å"A crop rotation is a series of different crops planted in the same field following a defined seasonal order† (merriam-webster). There is a wide diversity of cropping systems in sub-Saharan Africa. â€Å"A three years' trial was held in a farmers' field in Ghana to study the effect of sole crops â€Å"crops that are grown alone† compared to conventional crop rotation†( Magdoff). The studies showed that crop rotation allowed a faster growing and more diverse choice of food by using crop rotation. Through rotations, labor is educed and b etter distributed throughout the year allowing for a more organized labor structure. â€Å"Crop rotation can also balance the production of residues by alternating crops that produce few and or short-lived residues†(Toensmeier). This allows a lesser amount residues left over and allows them to be removed. With more residue removed it easier to grow more plants as well. â€Å"Many crops may have positive effects on succeeding crops in the rotation, leading to greater production overall†(Kroeck). Because of the positives effects of crop rotation sub-Saharan Africa has made it one of its number one food security support methods.By allowing greater production crop rotation allows for better access to food and availability which increase the amount of food security in the Sub-Saharan and other counties. There are many different reasons why Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from low food security one of them being the effect of greenhouse gases on the environment. â€Å"Greenhouse gas emissions per person from urban waste management activities are greater in sub-Saharan African countries than in other developing countries, and are increasing as the population becomes more urbanized†( waste management through composting in Africa). As Africa becomes more rbanized the waste becomes greater and harder to contain. The waste from greenhouse gasses effects the agriculture making it hard to grow food, which lowers its food security even more. Climate change also plays a huge role in agriculture. â€Å"African countries are particularly vulnerable to climate change because of their dependence on rain fed agriculture, high levels of poverty†(Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture). Because of the ever changing climate and the dependence on rain, it makes agriculture hard to become fully sufficient, if the crops aren’t getting enough rain and minerals needed.Manpowered labor is a necessity in increasing food security through agriculture. â€Å"It is to be expected that the HIV/AIDS epidemic will cause serious damage to the agriculture sector in those countries, especially in countries that rely heavily on manpower for production. †( V. IMPACT ON AGRICULTURE). Because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic many farmers and workers have become ill and unable to produce crops which leads to declining yields and agriculture production. The reduction of production because of HIV/AIDS in Africa has led to food insecurity. After researching the food security situation in sub-Saharan Africa and food security in ther countries the research shows that they cannot improve if more attention and support is not given to agriculture development. By using crop rotation, mulching and composting, farmers can cultivate their farms and use the same plots in repeatedly. Crop rotation allows for a more diverse choice of food and greater production overall. Mulching conserves moisture and improves the fertility and health of the soil. Composting is used as a soil conditioner and natural fertilizer. One major benefit of these farming methods is that it allows people to stop using slash and burn cultivation.Agriculture can be the basis for solid and diversified economic growth. Works Cited 1. â€Å"Agriculture and Food Security | World Economic Forum – Agriculture and Food Security. † Agriculture and Food Security. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013. 2. â€Å"Compost. † Organics South Africa. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013. 3. â€Å"CSIRO. † Facing Africa's Food Security Challenges. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013. 4. Devereux, Stephen, and Simon Maxwell. Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa. London: ITDG, 2001. Print. 5. â€Å"Economist Intelligence Unit. † Global Food Security Index. N. p. , n. d.Web. 17 Jan. 2013. 6. â€Å"New Farming Techniques Help Improve Food Security. † New Farming Techniques Help Improve Food Security. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013. 7. â€Å"New Farming Techniques He lp Improve Food Security. † Solomon Times Online RSS. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 Jan. 2013. 8. â€Å"SECTION I: SOIL COMPACTION-CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES. † Soil Compaction: Causes, Effects, and Control. N. p. , n. d. Web. 03 Feb. 2013. 9. â€Å"Reusing Organic Solid Waste in Urban Farming in African Cities: A Challengefor Urban Planners. † Urban Agriculture in West Africa. N. p. , n. d. Web. 03 Feb. 2013.

The Effects Of Global Warming On The Earth - 1587 Words

Global climate change is having disastrous effects on the planet and it is too late to change many of these impacts. However, there are some that can be limited by changes humans make in their daily lives. There is scientific evidence that shows how global warming is impacting the Earth. One example is how the global temperature has risen a few tenths of a degree (Sandor 2004). This may not sound like much but it can have huge effects on the plant life, like trees blooming earlier which in return affects animal life and more (Sandor 2004). Global climate change is mainly caused by the greenhouse effect and human activity and the impacts will eventually lead to devastation unless the current solutions are implemented. In order to prove†¦show more content†¦There has been a 0.74 degree Celsius rise in the mean temperature since the preindustrial times (Warren 2008). Some of the warmest years in history have been experienced within the past 20 years (Warren 2008). As a result o f the warming global temperature, ocean temperatures have also risen within the past decade. Oceans have absorbed a considerable amount of the atmospheric heat which has a lasting impact. An example is the Antarctic Peninsula, which has had an increase in temperature of around 2.5 degrees Celsius throughout the nineteenth century (Hughes 2000). The last effect that shows the scientific evidence on the global climate change is shrinking ice. It has been seen that an ice pack in the Arctic has reduced by 9% in 1990 compared when it was measured in 1980 (Hughes 2000). Also, glaciers in Europe have lost around 40% of their surface area (Hughes 2000). It has been seen that glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world because of the increased temperatures. These are the four main impacts that show the scientific evidence to prove that global climate change is occurring in our society. There is a range of possible causes for global climate change; however, there are two main ones that are the most realistic with backup support. These include the greenhouse effect and human activity. The greenhouse effect is the warming from trapped heat which is radiating from Earth to space