What are the ethical responsibilities of American consumers Term Paper

What are the ethical responsibilities of American consumers - Term Paper Example Today's American economy stretches to every corner of the globe. It is the responsibility of the Senate to offer Enlightened Humanitarian conditions to the economic periphery. I am here today to remind the Senate committee about African human rights abuses which are unwittingly funded by American consumers through the trade of conflict minerals. The Senate first inspected the Congolese mineral trade in columbite-tantalite, cassiterite and wolframite in 2009. Senator Brownback sponsored S.891, titled â€Å"Congo Conflict Minerals Act.† This bill cites experts at humanitarian organizations, public health officials, economists and the United Nations. The consensus opinion condemns the Congolese mineral trade and the violence which it funds. The bill called for tighter economic control of conflict minerals in America. In the Congo, violent military forces are profiting from the trade in conflict minerals. These forces â€Å"continue to commit widespread human rights abuses† including â€Å"sexual violence and rape† (S.891, Sec. 2 (2), (4)). Sadly, the bill died in committee and American consumers have continued to unknowingly fund the violence in Africa. The Senate should do everything in its power to diminish the trade in conflict minerals. These actions should not be limited to economic sanctions, tariffs, political declarations or consumer education. This serious situation requires a broad approach based in the same Senate mandate that spurred humanitarian regulations of slaves, diamonds, child laborers and even green house gas emissions. Africa has long been the a source of raw materials for colonial nations. The Belgian King Leopold II first founded the Congo in the 19th century as a colonial asset. While Leopold's brutal regime was based in extracting rubber, the current crisis comes from military leaders funded by conflict minerals. (Polgreen). America consumes these materials as finished goods. Consumers must be made cognizant of the ec ological and human costs of this neo-Colonial relationship. New York Times columnist Lydia Polgreen described conflict minerals as â€Å"Africa's resource curse: The wealth is unearthed by the poor, controlled by the strong, then sold to a world largely oblivious of its origins† (Polgreen). Ethical consumers must be made aware of these origins. What can the Senate do to regulate American trade in conflict minerals? Two years ago, Senator Brownback would have required manufacturers which use conflict minerals to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (S. 891). In 2009, the primary concern was the identification of conflict minerals. Today we need to also educate American citizens about the humanitarian cost of consumption. Hopefully this knowledge will allow consumers to regulate their purchase of conflict minerals within the free market. While American consumers are often ethical, sometimes policymakers need to help define the nations economic scope, humanitari an obligations and ecological impact. America is an Enlightened nation with many trading partners. We are all responsible for the well being of the individuals who live on the periphery of our economic influence. We are quick to give philanthropic aid to African nations through the IMF and World Bank. On December 1 of this year, President Obama and this congress guaranteed $48 billion to Africa as part of the â€Å"President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.† This money will be spent over the next five years (Freeman). Our ethical consumption can mirror our humanitarian aid. Conflict minerals fund sexual violence in the Congo, here American consumption needs to be regulated in order line up with our

Yeasts Case Study Essay Example for Free

Yeasts Case Study Essay Yeasts are eukaryotic microorganisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described[1] (estimated to be 1% of all fungal species).[2] Yeasts are unicellular, although some species with yeast forms may become multicellular through the formation of a string of connected budding cells known as pseudohyphae, or false hyphae, as seen in most molds.[3] Yeast size can vary greatly depending on the species, typically measuring 3–4 Â µm in diameter, although some yeasts can reach over 40 Â µm.[4] Most yeasts reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding. By fermentation, the yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae converts carbohydrates to carbon dioxide and alcohols – for thousands of years the carbon dioxide has been used in baking and the alcohol in alcoholic beverages.[5] It is also a centrally important model organism in modern cell biology research, and is one of the most thoroughly researched eukaryotic microorganisms. Researchers have used it to gather information about the biology of the eukaryotic cell and ultimately human biology.[6] Other species of yeast, such as Candida albicans, are opportunistic pathogens and can cause infections in humans. Yeasts have recently been used to generate electricity in microbial fuel cells,[7] and produce ethanol for the biofuel industry. Yeasts do not form a single taxonomic or phylogenetic grouping. The term yeast is often taken as a synonym for Saccharomyces cerevisiae,[8] but the phylogenetic diversity of yeasts is shown by their placement in two separate phyla: the Ascomycota and the Basidiomycota. The budding yeasts (true yeasts) are classified in the order Saccharomycetales.[9]

Hocus Pocus Abracadabra - Is It All Just Words and Show? Essay

As a child the notion of magic was as simple as a magician sawing a woman in half, then piecing her back together, or the illusion of a human gravitating in mid air. Even as adults, we are still awed by such pastime entertainments of magic. On the contrary, Rebecca L. Stein and Philip L. Stein depict magic as a way of life similarly to elements of religion. In The Anthropology of Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft Stein and Stein illustrated magic as being a subcategory to religion; laws of magic; functions of magic; how it works; magic in society; and divination. In terms, of magic, what is it; and what makes it real? WHAT IS MAGIC? Magic refers to methods that somehow interface with the supernatural and by which people can bring about particular outcomes (Stein and Stein 136). Unlike religion, magic is geared to the satisfaction of an individual (e.g. Voodoo). Magic in contemporary societies has negative connotations affiliating magic to witchcraft or Voodoo like practices. Unlike religions rituals that tend to involve the whole of the community, magic is often centered on the needs and desires of an individual (Stein and Stein 137). However, in Western civilizations magic is the â€Å"answer† to unanswerable questions, and is the validation to which things are the way they are (dream interpretations, psychics). For instance, teenyboppers craze over horoscopes in Pop culture magazines. Readers feed into justifications to their emotions and faith, and hopes of true love. Overall, who wants to be in the world alone and lost? Therefore, horoscopes are the directions when one is confused when they are at the fork in the road. Based on that, is magic an omniscient power that can collectively derive from the supernatural? In some case... ...y will (Howie, et al 187). Hence, the nature of magic in objective of gaining a series of successful outcomes is purpose why magic continues currently. Works Cited 1. Howie, Linda, et al. â€Å"Some Thoughts on Magic: Its Use and Effect in Undergraduate Student Life.† Totem: The University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology 19.1 (2011): 187. Web 30 Mar. 2012 2. Stein, Rebecca L, and Stein L. Philip. The Anthropology of Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft. 3rd ed. *Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, (2011), p. 136. Print 3. Stein, Rebecca L, and Stein L. Philip. The Anthropology of Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft. 3rd ed. *Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, (2011), p. 137. Print 4. Zorich, Zach. â€Å"Archaeology† Fighting with Jaguars, Bleeding for Rain 61.1 (2008): n. pag. Web. 30 Mar 2012. http://www.archaeology.org/0811/etc/boxing.html.

Battlefield of the Mind

â€Å"Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind† Author: Joyce Meyer Reviewer: Lisa Hutson I believe many times in the Christian and especially in the Pentecostal realm, we tend to do things in the name of Christ because we â€Å"felt† like it was from the Holy Spirit and instead of determining that by lining it up with the Bible, the living word of God, we tend to trust that our â€Å"feelings† are correct. But what happens when those feelings steam from negative, confused, judgemental or passive thinking?I never realized until I read this book that the majority of the bad decisions I have made in my life were decisions I made based on present feelings and that those feelings came from faulty or negative thinking. After I read this book, I understood that it is the things that I think about constantly that are the things that soak up my life. If those thoughts are positive, I will reap positive benefits. If those thoughts are negative, I will reap negativity but it is all in how I think. There are three life lessons that I have learned to incorporate into my daily life in order to live a Christ filled life.When I tend to go through those â€Å"wilderness mentalities†, I have learned to always do my best to be positive, to regularly meditate on the Word of God, and to be thankful at all times. Explaining the importance of being positive, Meyer tells us the mind is a battlefield. After reading 2 Corinthians 10;4,5, Meyer says that we are engaged in a war, our enemy is Satan and that our minds are the battlefield. The devil works diligently to set up strongholds in our mind and he does it through strategy and deceit and that he takes his time to work out his plan (16-17).In order to prevent the devil’s lies from penetrating our minds, we must defend them. You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind. Your life will not get straightened out until your mind does (27-28). Positive minds produce positive lives. Negative minds produce negative lives. Positive thoughts are always full of faith and hope. Negative thoughts are always full of fear and doubt (41). What really struck me about this concept is how Meyer tells us that thinking positive isn’t ignoring the negative, but it is believing that God is bigger than you and your situation and that all things will work together for good as His word promises.I am generally a happy person. I laugh at everything, I like making other people laugh and having good conversations. However, when negative things do arise, I tend to get angry or seclude myself. If I am having a disagreement with a co-worker or an argument with my parents, I will just refuse to talk to them. When the Holy Spirit brings them to my memory, I let negative thoughts produce even more feelings of strife and it takes a long time to get over it. I remember one time last semester when I was so upset with my mother that I refused to talk to her for almost four months!Learn ing to be positive does not mean that the negative situation did not happen but it simply means that we believe that God will heal it or bring good from it. It means forgiving even if we don’t forget but allowing the Holy Spirit to work in our attitudes so that we do not become weighed down by our situations. Meditating on God’s word is another huge lesson I have learned from this book. I believe that my biggest mistake early on in my walk with the Lord was not reading His word for myself. I became a christian at the age of fourteen and filled with the Holy Spirit by the age of sixteen.However, I would rather go on Wednesday nights and hear my youth pastor tell me what the Bible said instead of reading it myself. When I tried to read on my own, I often became very confused and frustrated and gave up. I let other people tell me how to live instead of searching it out myself. I continued this all through high school and finally during my senior year I had a very hurtful situation occur between myself and another family in the church. Since I wasn’t solid in my faith and relationship with the Lord, I let it tear me down significantly and I stayed out the church for about a year and a half.I let another’s faith become my own and when they failed me, I equated that with God failing me. â€Å"This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success. † Joshua 1:8 The Bible tells us that if we want to be a success and prosper in all of our dealings, we must meditate on the Word of God day and night.The Word of God teaches us what we should spend our time thinking about (57). Meditation in this context means to spend a lot of time pondering and thinking on the ways of God, His instructions and His teachings (57). In my situation , I had let sermons, Sunday school, and people in the church mold my faith and thought process instead of spending time myself thinking about the Word. I thought about the Word while I was sitting in church but outside of that, I had not really let it sink in. Now, I am making a significant effort to seek the scriptures myself.Of course, I am involved in church again but I am also making an effort during my own time to spend quality time with the Lord, in prayer and in His word, allowing Him to mold me into what He has created me to be. The last thing that â€Å"The Battlefield of the Mind† has taught me is to be thankful at all times. How can the devil control us if we are going to be joyful and thankful no matter what our circumstances are? â€Å"I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. † Psalm 34:1We can be a blessing to the Lord by letting His praise continually be in our thoughts and mouths (162). Be a grateful person, one f illed with gratitude not only toward God, but also toward people (163). Expressing appreciation is not only good for the other person but it is good for us, because it releases joy in us. Meditate daily on all the things you have to be thankful for. Rehearse them to the Lord in prayer, and as you do you will find your heart filling up with life and light (163). During my teenage years, my family went through a financial crisis. We lost our home and our vehicles.I spent my junior year of high school with my parents living out of a garage that we made into a make-shift home. I remembered crying myself to sleep many nights in that garage. I was embarrassed about our situation, angry at my parents for getting us in this mess, and confused that the Lord could let this happen to us. After about fifteen months in that garage, things finally began to turn around. We were able to sell our property and the garage, move into a rental property and get decent vehicles to drive instead of the old sixties model truck my dad had bought for three hundred dollars during the crisis.I remember being so grateful for that new rental property. It was an old yellow brick home, but it was wonderful to me. I had a room with real walls! I spent all of my savings on making my own bedroom beautiful with new paint, picture frames and curtains. It was through that situation that I truly learned how to be grateful. My parents and I have come a long way from that old garage but I still have a picture of that old garage in a frame in my room at home. Sometimes even now, I find myself being selfish and ungrateful for my many blessings.I think everyone does. However, that memory always shows me how far the Lord has brought me and how much farther He can take me as long as I stay faithful. â€Å"Battlefield of the Mind† by Joyce Meyer has many solid lessons that have taught me a lot about how to live victorious in Christ. As a young Pentecostal believer, I always thought everything was spi ritually supernatural. If God wanted me to think a certain way, He would just zap it into my head. However, as I grow in my relationship with Him, I realize He is not going to spoon feed me forever.He wants me to seek Him. If I put His lessons and teachings into practice, I will live victoriously. Being positive, meditating on His word and always being thankful to Him and to the people around me are just a few ways I can make my life a living sacrifice to Him. However, its really not even a sacrifice, for the blessings and benefits I receive from these practices far out weight the negatives. I learn more and more about myself and about my Heavenly father as I delve deeper into His word.His word is what empowers my positive attitude and reminds me to be grateful not only for His sacrifice but also for the many blessings He bestows on my life daily. I loved this book. I’m sure I will keep it around to read occasionally and remind myself to get my mind in order! Thinking produce s feelings and feelings behaviors and if I’m not happy with any certain behaviors, I must stem it back to what I spend my time thinking about. My mind is the battlefield and when it is renewed in Christ, I will be able to battle the enemy with confidence, perseverance, and power.

Chemistry and Biotechnology

1. What specific topic did you choose to research and evaluate? I decided to conduct research on stem cells for medical use.2. List the resources that you used in your research of your topic.http://www.ama-assn.org//ama/pub/physician-resources/medical-science/genetics-molecular-medicine/related-policy-topics/stem-cell-research/basics-stem-cell-research.page http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/pages/basics6.aspx3. Describe, in a few paragraphs, the biotechnology that you researched. How is it currently being used and/or what are the hopes for its use in the future?Stem cell research is a fairly new study which has gained a large amount of popularity lately. Stem cells are cells that have the potential to become specialized into different types of cells within the body. What this can do is help replace damaged cells with healthy new cells since stem cells are able to adapt to what is needed. The research going on is to discover how this can be used medically to help cure major disease s out there in the world.There are many ways to acquire stem cells. The most popular form is through the umbilical cord from the birth process. The other way to acquire this is through the bone marrow and from blood. Some other minor methods include germ cells or organs of an aborted fetus, embryos made by in vitro fertilization and mature adult tissue cells reprogrammed to behave like stem cells. Most commonly however, stem cells are acquired through bone marrow and umbilical cords.4. Describe the positive aspects of this biotechnology, being as specific as possible.The positive outcomes of this can include a wide variety of possibilities. This has the potential to create multiple cures for diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, vision/hearing loss and much more. Also, if a soldier was to be wounded with a burn or fatal injury, stem cells may be able to repair these problems and help lower casualty and death rates in our military. In addition, with how convenient bone marrow can be found (seeing as every person has it), this can help those people, who are in need of stem cells, easily acquire it on such short notice.5. Describe the negative  aspects of this biotechnology, being as specific as possible.There is currently not enough research on stem cells to fully determine their potential as to what they can do. This is bad on both ends of the spectrum. If stem cells were to be proven useless, this would be considered a waste of time and money. If they prove to be extremely powerful and can transform into any cell possible, there may be talk that this kind of technology can be overwhelming. Overwhelming in the sense that what if these stem cells are powerful enough to make a brand new human being? What if people use these stem cells on themselves to make themselves look 21 years old until they die or remodel certain aspects of their body to make it so it fits their desire? It will be a sense of cheating out life by just getting the easy way out of a lot of issues. 6. Based on your research, what is your conclusion about whether or not this biotechnology should be used? Be sure to explain your answer.After conducting my own research I believe stem cells should have more research put into them to discover their complete potential. If proven to be used for medical reasons such as to cure certain diseases, this should definitely be implemented into the medical field (assuming there are no major side effects). This can be a huge advancement in the medical field and may be a breakthrough in saving many lives of dying individuals. I do believe that regardless of its potential, whether stem cells prove to be useful or useless, they should be kept away from the public and should only be kept in medical facilities and only used for medical purposes. I would not feel comfortable having people running around the streets with stem cells in their back pocket not knowing what they can do with them.

Egyptian goverment essays

Egyptian goverment essays The Egyptian government was the very first government. There were many reasons why the Egyptians had a good government. One example was that they were surrounded by natural boundaries to help them keep their land. Another is how they were excellent scientists. They had the Nile River, it was the reason they could grow 4 crops a year. There life was based on agriculture Egypts location help them a lot them from being conqured. All the cities and villages were along the Nile River because it was hard for them to be attacked. Also to the north they had the Mediterranean sea, to the west they had the Libyan desert, to the south they had more desert and to the east they had the red sea. All of these are reasons why they had such a great civilization for 1000years. The Egyptians were very smart people. They had many things that we have today, they had a solar calendar, they were excellent astronomers (365 day calendar), they used geometry to build they huge pyramids, they knew how to set broken bones. They knew how to take to chemicals and combine them or the chemical proceses, they produced their own natural medicines. Basically the Egyptians came up with a lot of stuff we use today. The Nile River was the base of the Egyptians culture, with out it they could not have a civilization. They Egyptians were the first civilization to be able to grow crops year around. They always had a crop growing no madder if it was hot or cold. It helped their exporting a lot. The Egyptians economy was based on agriculture. They grew wheat, barley, flax, raising sheep and cattle. They imported ivory, species, copper, and wood, they exported glassware, linen, and clay vases. They agriculture was very good for their time they dominated all other cavitations for 1000 years Those four examples are just some of the many reasons why Egypt had a conquering government for 1,000 years. Egypt was in the right place at the right time, they ha...

Hisory Of Soap essays

Hisory Of Soap essays Have you ever wondered where soap came from? We use it everyday for all kinds of things. Cleaning ourselves, washing clothes, and dishes. But this idea of cleanliness we have in our society today is no new thing. The origins of cleanliness date back to prehistoric times. The earliest people had to live near water because it is essential for life thus they knew of its cleansing properties. At least that it would wash the dirt of their hands. I would like to fill you in on some of the history of soap so the next time youre washing your hands or doing laundry you will know where that soap came from. The name soap originated from an old ancient Roman legend. Animals were sacrificed on Mount Sapo, and the rain washed a mixture of their fat and ashes down into the clay soil in a river. Women who would wash in this river found that this clay-like mixture cleaned their wash better and took a lot less effort. In an Article by Sarah Janes it is stated that the history of soap dates as far back as 2800 B.C. where a soap-like substance was found in clay. Ancient inscriptions reported that boiling fats and combining them with ashes was the method used to produce soap; however, the actual usage of soap was not recorded. According to the book Soap through the Ages, it is believed that this substance was used as a hair pomade rather then for washing purposes. Documents show that ancient Egyptians bathed and cleaned themselves regularly. A medical document from around 1500 B.C. reported that they combined animal and vegetable oils with salt to make a soap-like substance that was used for cleansing and treatment of skin diseases. As Roman civilizations advanced, so did bathing. The first of the famous Roman baths was built about 312 B.C. The Roman baths were very luxurious, and bathing was extremely popular. By the second century A.D. soap was being recommended by physicians for medicinal and cleansing purposes...