Health Psychology Health Belief Model Free Essay Example, 2500 words

A good example is the patients with chronic illnesses like tuberculosis and when a doctor makes the decision that the patient should quit some disastrous habits like smoking when suffering from tuberculosis, the patients who may be involved in smoking will be blamed but the doctors will also be blamed for not informing the patient of the best methods to quit smoking and hence not helping the patient to comply with the physician s decision. This means that both the patients and the physicians are to be held responsible if the patient does not comply with the decision of the physician. This is a psychological model that was developed by Rosenstock in the year 1966 and it was very instrumental in the studying and the promotion of the services that were offered by a psychologist. The model has been subject to many amendments throughout the years and the last time that the model was amended was in the year 1988. These amendments have been made to accommodate various developments in the f ield. It is important to note that the model was initially developed to study the behavior of the patients in relation to the response the patients had to treat. We will write a custom essay sample on Health Psychology: Health Belief Model or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The model initially concentrated on the response of the chronic and acute patients but in modern times, the model has been used to study more general patients (Rosenstock, 236). The health belief model has the basis that an individual will do an action that is related to health if the individual is aware that the health problem is avoidable. The individual will also take an action if the individual has a positive expectation that by the virtue that the individual is doing an action that is recommended by the health fraternity, and then the individual will avoid a health problem. The individual also feels that he or she can effectively and successfully to avoid a negative health condition (Conner, 165). In its initial inception, the health belief model was spelled out in four construct terms that highlighted the threat and benefits. The four constructs are susceptibility, severity, benefits, and barriers.

Gun Control in America - 758 Words

Nathan 3/30/08 Gun Control in America Ever since the days of the pioneers, firearms have been an element of the American tradition as defense and a means of hunting or activity. As we progress through the 21st century the use of guns has changed significantly. The reason that the use of the gun is changing is fast and steady increase in crime and the battle for the right to have possession of a hand gun, the introduction of legislation for gun control, to try to decrease the felony in the United States, has been a brutal debated issue in recent years. Even though many people believe that gun control violates the right of the people, set in the second amendment the right to bear arms.† Controlling distribution and sales and the†¦show more content†¦Metropolitan centers and a number of suburban communities of America are setting new records for homicides by handguns. Larger Metropolitan centers have ten times the murder rate of all Western Europe. For example in Washington, D.C. the re was an estimated 400 homicides including guns. In addition gun control has been seen as necessary because of the violence by criminals using guns. Gun control is wrapped in a series of social issues such as crime and drugs. GunsShow MoreRelatedGun Control in America785 Words   |  3 Pages There has always been and always will be a problem with crime in America. Gun control has become a hot topic when talking about crime prevention. Gun control is any law, policy, or practice created to regulate the possession, production, sale, and use of firearms by private citizens. The majority of the American citizens believe that we should be able to own firearms for protection, leisure and sporting purposes. These people believe that denial of ownership of firearms infringes our SecondRead MoreGun Control in America1480 Words   |  6 PagesGun Control in America On March 24, 1998, firing from the woods overlooking their school, 13-year-old Andrew Golden and 11-year-old Mitchell Johnson shot and killed four middle school students and a teacher and injured ten other students in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The two boys had a semiautomatic M-1 carbine with a large ammunition magazine, two other rifles, seven handguns and more than 500 rounds of ammunition which they took from the home of one of the boy?s grandfather, who had a large arsenalRead MoreGun Control in America1313 Words   |  6 PagesGun Control in America Peter Z Bliss ENG/215 February 2, 2012 Kim Holloway Gun Control in America Gun control is a debate topic that comes up every election and when a major event happens that involving guns. Pro-gun lobbyists say â€Å"Guns don’t kill people, people kill people† [ (Hagan, 2007) ] the anti-gun advocates want to take away the right to bear arms. This topic has no right or wrong answer it is a preference of the individual. This is why gun control is such a fiercely debated topicRead MoreGun Control in America2011 Words   |  8 PagesGun control is one of the biggest issues in America. Alfred Blumstein states, â€Å"As Americans, violence is a priority in everybody’s concerns in this country.† America is fighting a constant battle against crime and violence in this country. Murder is one of the biggest incidents happening on a daily basis in this country. 70% of homicides are reported to have some sort of firearm used in the crime. The depressing truth is that gun violence is increasing in young teens. Since 1985 people younger thanRe ad MoreThe Issue of Guns and Gun Control in America1146 Words   |  5 PagesIn America guns have been a part of the country’s society since it’s birth. Throughout history the citizens of the US have used firearms to protect the nation, protect their families, to hunt for food and to engage in sporting activities. The issue of Guns and gun control takes on a proportion of extreme magnitude. Weighing the rights and liberties of the individual against the welfare and safety of the public has always been a precarious balancing act. In the United States, gun control is one ofRead MoreThe Gun Control Debate in America1159 Words   |  5 PagesGUN CONTROL DEBATE IN AMERICA Gun control has become a very hot topic of contention in America today. What seems to echo here are two words: â€Å"guns† and â€Å"crime†, in a sense that are these words mutually exclusive to each other? Does the use of guns ultimately lead to crime? On the flip side, have the laws in America restricting firearm use been effective enough to protect the lives of the citizens? These are some of the questions that strike the hearts of many when the gun control debate music isRead MoreGun Control Laws On America1369 Words   |  6 Pages Many activist think that they could control the gun violence in America, just by taking away weapons from the people and making new laws. What they don’t know is that there are many loopholes in the laws that they make so peoples find ways to get guns. We already have gun control laws from back then. the government just passed more laws instead of enforcing the laws that we already. †The activists pass more and more laws thinking that the more laws we have the better they would be enforced.† (Drake)Read MoreGun Control in America Essay765 Words   |  4 Pages Gun control laws in America have been a long standing issue that is still a problem today. In America it is excessively easier to obtain a gun license than to obtain a driver’s license. Americans who want to obtain a license to drive in the United States must pass a written and a driving test with a government official driving instructor. Some states require a drug and alcohol course before issuing a license to drive. The same concept should apply for obtaining a gun license. Due to guns licensesRead MoreGun Control in America Essay828 Words   |  4 Pages Guns Control Living a life in America, we all get to have all the rights that included in the Constitution. One of those was the Second Amendment which is the rights to bear arm, the purpose was to protect ourselves from danger but nowadays a lot of people have take advantage of it and use it in the wrong way. I believe our government need to have a strict limit on guns possession. Gun control had been a phenomenal issue in our country. In December 15, 1791 the second amendment establishedRead MoreThe Effects Of Gun Control On America Essay1492 Words   |  6 PagesThe Effect of Gun Control on America Guns have been prevalent in the United State’s culture for hundreds of years. Firearms have been, and still are being used for hunting, protection and even sport. In fact, if it was not for the help of firearms, we would not be graced with the many freedoms we have today. Currently, owning and obtaining a firearm is a controversial topic that sparks heavy emotions. Many people argue for eliminating all guns, and applying heavier regulations to prevent tragic

Environmental Revolution Free Essays

string(61) " being driven or riding busses to school instead of walking\." The Next Step Broad Social Change Through Personal Commitment Introduction In the last thirty years, America has witnessed an environmental revolution. New laws like the 1963 Clean Air Act and the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act forged new ground in political environmentalism. Social phenomena like Earth Day, organized by Dennis Hayes in 1970, and the beginning of large-scale recycling, marked by Oregon’s 1972 Bottle Bill, have help change the way Americans think about the environment. We will write a custom essay sample on Environmental Revolution or any similar topic only for you Order Now As we approach the third millennium, however, we must reconsider our place on the planet and reflect on our efforts and progress towards a sustainable society. As global warming becomes a scientific reality, natural disasters make monthly appearances in the headlines, and communities continue to find their ground-water contaminated by industrial and nuclear waste, we must ask ourselves: are we doing enough? The environmental movement in the past has largely been a social and political phenomenon. While many of us recycle (yet still only 35 percent of us) and take dead batteries to our town’s Hazardous Waste Day, most Americans have not made the environment a personal issue. Very few of us have taken the kind of personal life-changing steps that are necessary to create an environmentally sustainable society. It is simply naive to believe that America’s present rates of consumption, waste production, and environmental contamination are sustainable. The kind of social change required can only happen when we as individuals embrace the effort in our everyday lives. Only then will corporate America and the government realize that they too must change to maintain their customer base and public support. This kind of personal commitment to change would also create a new social ethic based on the environment under which people and companies who do not care for the earth would be held socially and financially responsible. In six parts, this article will re-examine our place in the environmental movement and investigate exactly what changes we can make in our personal lives to bring about positive change. These areas are transportation, energy, recycling and waste management, toxins and pollution, food, and water. Some of the changes discussed will require sacrifice. But, more important, these changes will often simplify our lives, bring our families and communities closer together, and help us to better understand, revere, and coexist with the world upon which each of us is directly dependent. Transportation The invention of the automobile is one of history’s greatest environmental disasters. The automobile decentralized our society. People with cars moved out of the city and drove to work from their suburban homes. Before the automobile, agriculture was local. Food was grown by farmers living in what was soon to be the suburbs, and delivered fresh to markets in the cities. Because of the short distance food had to travel, farmers didn’t need to add preservatives or other additives to maintain freshness. Clearly, the automobile, like other harmful inventions, makes our lives easier in many ways, but how often do we consider the environment when weighing these benefits? Fossil fuels account for the automobile’s most significant effect on the environment. Not only are the emissions from cars and trucks toxic to every air-breathing organism, but every step of the fossil fuel process, from extraction to disposal, is bad for the environment. According to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), millions of gallons of untreated water contaminated by the drilling processes are dumped into waterways and oceans annually. Once extracted, fossil fuels are frequently refined on site, burying 179 million tons of toxic waste annually. During transport, an average of 1 million gallons of oil is spilled into the ocean each month. Upon arrival, fossil fuels are usually burned in automobiles or power plants. The average coal-burning power plant burns about 10,000 tons of coal in a single day. With even a low estimate of five per cent waste, that leaves 500 tons of toxic waste produced each day by a single power plant. If used in cars, oil must be refined further, wasting more energy and creating more toxic waste before drivers purchase it. The combustion engines used in cars and trucks emit toxic gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect and acid rain, deplete the ozone layer, and create more than 50% of the smog producing toxins that city-dwellers breathe every day. Even if we disregard the environmental damage caused by fossil fuels, we should recognize that, as a non-renewable energy source, the earth’s reserves will eventually run out. Hundreds of millions of years of organic decomposition will be wiped out in a single century. Conservative estimates say we have 30 to 50 years left of oil use. With more and more developing nations rapidly increasing their use of fossil fuels, and the continuing growth rate of fossil fuel use at four times the population growth, our time with fossil fuels could be significantly less. Just imagine the economic and political upheaval a major oil shortage would cause. Simply put, the country that depends on fossil fuels the least will be the most likely to survive the economic strife and wars resulting from global depletion. Fossil fuel consumption is deeply entrenched in the American mode of life. We rely on automobiles for almost all of our transportation needs, enjoy motor boats and jet skis on our vacations, and use gas-burning engines in most of the tools we use in the yard. (Although electricity is another major consumer source of fossil fuel consumption, that will be discussed in the Energy section. Yet we can make numerous changes in our lifestyle that will significantly decrease our personal consumption of fossil fuels. Let’s return to America’s biggest weakness: the automobile. Simply not driving is the best and most obvious solution to the problem of automobiles. Americans have gotten used to their cars and seldom walk or bicycle even short distances. Gym class became a federal requirement in the 1930s because students were being driven or riding busses to school instead of walking. You read "Environmental Revolution" in category "Essay examples" Americans have also become significantly more overweight since we started driving. Consider your Saturday errands around town. Most errands we make are to destinations less than a few miles away and frequently involve dropping off or picking up something small. These kinds of errands can just as easily be accomplished by walking or bicycling. Your body will thank you, and so will the environment. Public transport, if available, is also a great way to stay out of the car. Consider an area’s public transportation system in choosing a place to live, as some cities have significantly better systems than others. When your destination is too far to walk or bicycle, there are still numerous ways to minimize the use of automobiles. If you drive to work, find other people at your company or other companies near you that live in your town and start a carpool. Even carpooling once in a while makes a difference, so don’t get discouraged by occasional scheduling conflicts or other obstacles. When running errands, plan ahead to consolidate them into one trip and consider the most efficient route. If possible, park in a central location and walk to multiple destinations. Ask a neighbor or friend if they need to go out (everybody has to go to the grocery store, for example), and share a ride. For every ride you share, the fuel consumption and emissions for that trip are cut in half. There are also many ways that your driving habits effect the fuel efficiency of your car. Try to avoid fast accelerations, for instance. They use significantly more fuel than gradual accelerations. Likewise, avoid driving at excessive speeds. Every car engine has an RPM (revolutions per minute) at which optimal fuel economy is achieved; you’ll find it in your car’s manual. Check your tachometer and try to maintain that RPM while driving. Minimizing the work-load on your car is another way to increase fuel economy. Remove any unnecessary heavy objects from the car, and avoid using the air conditioner when possible. Finally, turn off your engine if you expect to be idle for even a short while. Starting a modern fuel-injected car uses less gas than idling for 30 seconds. Did you know that warming up your car by letting it idle in the driveway in cold weather actually causes engine damage? This is also when your car’s emissions are at their worst. The best and fastest way to heat up a car is by driving it. When it’s time to buy a new car, there are many ecological alternatives to the gas guzzling beasts typically driven by Americans. Many compact cars on the market today achieve stunning fuel economy. The four-wheel-drive trucks so popular in today’s market get comparatively bad gas mileage and usually carry one person over a paved road. Buy the smallest car you can, and don’t buy a larger car for infrequent needs-consider buying a used trailer for infrequent cargo hauls. If you’ve been putting off the purchase of a motorcycle as whimsical, think again. Many motorcycles (and scooters in particular) achieve significantly better fuel economy compared to even the most fuel-efficient cars, resulting in less over-all consumption and emissions. Maintenance is the final step in minimizing the environmental impact of automobiles. Modern cars have very sophisticated emissions systems and engines that must be finely tuned to achieve maximum efficiency. Regular check-ups for your car will protect your investment and ensure the car is in its best possible working order. The longer you keep your car, the more value from it you receive and the less waste is created and energy spent in the production of a new car. If you have to commute to work every day, consider an electric car. Electric cars have come a long way in price, distance and efficiency, and will soon be available from large manufacturers like Ford and Toyota. Several small companies around the country convert small gas powered cars and trucks to electric, zero-emissions vehicles and sell them for slightly more than a gas-powered car. As electric cars become more common and are manufactured on a large scale, their prices will drop significantly. Many hobbyists, with no prior automotive or electrical expertise, have created their own electric cars from their used gas-powered vehicles. Check your local library for one of the many conversion guides available. Today’s electric cars take about four hours to charge, plugged into a standard outlet, and can go anywhere from 50 to 200 miles on a single charge. While you wouldn’t want to take an electric car across the country (though this has been done), their distance per charge is plenty for a typical commuter to get to work and back. Most electric car owners keep a gas-powered car around for longer trips. Owners of electric cars generally find the increase in their electric bill minimal compared to the amount they save in gasoline. While electric cars create no emissions themselves, and create almost no waste (even the batteries are recyclable), the electric company is still burning fossil fuels to create the electricity needed to charge the car. Nevertheless, electric companies are capable of converting fossil fuels to energy much more efficiently and with fewer emissions than a gas-powered car. Electric cars also leave room for improvement in any method of large-scale energy production, such as biomass, hydro, and solar (see the Energy section). This section has focused primarily on cars, but Americans also use many other gas-powered engines. The small engines in motor boats and lawn equipment do not have to meet the emissions standards of cars, and thus, emit far more toxins into the air. Consider using a quiet, powerless mulching mower on your lawn if you have one, and an electric weed whacker rather than one that is gas powered. If you enjoy the water, consider learning to sail rather than motoring. Motorized water vehicles not only emit air pollution, they also pollute the water, contribute to sound pollution, and injure fish and other animals in the water. Energy in the Home Automobiles are not the only consumers of fossil fuels or sources of air pollution stemming from our personal lives. According to the EPA, furnaces, hot water heaters, and other fossil fuel burning appliances in American homes produce 20% of all U. S. carbon dioxide, 26% of sulfur dioxide, and 15% of nitrogen oxide emissions, the leading causes of acid rain and global warming. Note that these figures do not take into consideration the power our homes draw from fossil fuel-burning power plants. By making our homes as energy-efficient as possible and minimizing our personal use of electricity, we can significantly reduce our personal impact on the environment. The main sources of power consumption in our homes are the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Maintaining, repairing, or upgrading these systems will not only save us money, but also reduce the amount of energy needed to run our homes on a day-to-day basis. The EPA’s Energy Star Homes program brings environmentally aware developers and manufacturers together to build homes that are better insulated and utilize 90% efficiency or better HVAC systems. If you are looking to build a new home, call their toll-free hotline, (888) STAR-YES, for literature, or save paper and visit their Internet site at www. epa. gov for more information. Unfortunately, building new homes is not an environmentally sound thing to do. New homes require previously undeveloped land or disposal of the property’s old construction. Further, new wood and materials must be used unless costly measures are taken to restore materials from an old construction. Beyond environmentally unsound, new construction is many times more expensive and time-consuming than renovation and repair of most existing houses. Even if your house is too costly to upgrade, consider buying an already renovated house or one easily renovated before building new construction. A furnace using heating oil, natural gas, or electricity heats most American homes. Still others use a wood or pellet stove. Of these, electricity is by far the least efficient. One truth of energy conservation is that electricity should not be used to produce heat, whether in a stove, water heater, or central heating. The exception to this is the microwave, which is the most efficient way to heat small amounts of food. Edward Harland’s book, ECO~RENOVATION: the ecological home improvement guide, an excellent resource for anyone interested in environmental renovations, provides this revealing chart: Fuel Kg of CO2 Emitted per Useful Kilowatt Delivered (approx. ) Gas 0. 7 Oil 0. 5 Coal 0. 40 Electricity 0. 83 As you can see, electricity is more than twice as polluting as a coal burning furnace. Electricity is even worse if you take into consideration the amount of energy created by nuclear power, which creates nuclear waste instead of carbon dioxide (CO2). There is also a significant amount of energy wasted in cooling power plants and lost in the power grid, which further degrades electricity’s viability as an environmentally sound energy source. As the chart shows, natural gas, or methane, is the cleanest burning fuel. While most of the natural gas used in America is drawn from non-renewable reserves, it can be produced renewably through biomass production, a method currently used by China. Methane is produced in massive quantities by decaying waste and agricultural operations, so much that methane is one of the most serious greenhouse gasses. If methane could be captured from these sources, we would be slowing the greenhouse effect and using clean-burning renewable fuel at the same time. For these reasons, if you have an aging or inefficient oil burning furnace, consider converting to an efficient natural gas furnace. Wood or pellet stoves still fuel many homes in America. Wood, if used wisely, is a renewable and relatively clean-burning fuel. While burning wood does produce CO and CO2, new technology allows wood stoves to reuse unspent output by re-burning it before emission. Pellet stoves, quickly replacing log-burning stoves, use pressed recycled paper and wood pulp that look like rabbit pellets. Pellets, while more expensive, are more efficient to burn and take up less space during storage. Before investing in a wood stove, however, be sure to investigate which brands are most efficient and emit the least gases and particulate. Also, wood stoves must be used carefully and maintained properly to avoid inefficient operation, excessive emissions, and leakage of carbon monoxide into the home. The best way to minimize the amount of fuel-produced heat your home requires is to insulate it properly. Insulation is the most important factor in the amount of energy required to heat your home. Consider a hypothetical home with 100% perfect insulation. This home would need to be heated only once, and never again. This puts into perspective the idea that we only need to heat our homes as much as heat escapes to the outside. Most houses in America are poorly insulated at best; only one in four houses have insulated walls. Consider the fuel savings if you increased your home’s insulation quality by even 20%, which in many cases is a realistic goal. Initially, insulation costs time and money, but it pays for itself quickly in reduced fuel costs and a warmer, more comfortable home. Unfortunately, the finer points of insulating a home are beyond the scope of this article. An excellent resource on maximizing your home’s insulation is Home Insulation by Harry Yost. Your local library should have, if not this book, several books on insulation that will at least get you started. Beyond updating your furnace and insulating your home, consider your personal use of heat in the home. The average American household’s temperature during the winter is slowly rising because of increasingly sedentary lifestyles and lighter dress. The healthier we eat and the more exercise we get, the more internal heat our bodies will produce. The more above the outside temperature a home is heated, the less efficient its heating system becomes. If we simply wear more clothes, we will need substantially less heat. Wearing sweaters and slippers, eating nutritious food, and getting plenty of exercise are simple but frequently overlooked ways we can reduce our heating energy needs. Next to furnaces and stoves, the air conditioner is the second most energy-hungry appliance in American homes. Unfortunately, air conditioners rely on lots of electricity, the most polluting form of energy available. The use of air conditioners should be avoided at all costs. If you live in a climate with extreme heat, consider your air conditioner and its placement carefully. The EPA has outlined efficiency standards for most household appliances, air conditioners included. Make sure, if you buy an air conditioner, that it has the EPA’s Energy Star mark of approval. This does not mean that the air conditioner is good for the environment, but that it uses its electricity efficiently instead of wasting it as many older models do. If you must have an air conditioner, purchase a small, efficient model and place it in a small, closed-off room where you spend most of your time. Make sure this room does not contain any heat-producing appliances like a washing machine or clothes dryer, and that sunlight does not enter through windows. Under these conditions, air conditioning can be relatively efficient and economical. Central air conditioning, on the other hand, is extremely inefficient and usually goes largely unused. Outside of heating and air conditioning, almost all of the energy used in our homes is electricity. Many Americans take electricity for granted, leaving unused lights and appliances on without thinking. A simple awareness in turning things off can greatly reduce our electric bills. Further, choices can be made in the kinds of lights and appliances we use, and whether they need to be used at all. As for lights, there are several high-efficiency bulbs on the market that, for slightly more money than a typical light bulb, can get by on a fraction of the electricity. Fluorescent lights, for instance, are five times more efficient than incandescent (typical) lights. Standard incandescent light bulbs use electricity to heat a filament that glows to create light, whereas fluorescent lights send very rapid and brief charges of electricity through a filament. The days of flickering long tube fluorescent lights are over. According to Edward Harland, new Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) flicker at more than 20,000 cycles per second (compared to 60 in tube lights), are 30% more energy efficient than tube lights, and come on almost instantly. These lights, while more expensive, will significantly reduce your electricity bill and last five to ten times longer than standard light bulbs. Before even turning on the lights, make the best possible use of natural light in your home. Place your reading chair by a sunny window instead of in a corner facing out a window. Consider adding skylights to your home. These can create a surprising amount of natural light during the day, and contribute to your house’s heat during the winter. Mirrors strategically placed on walls can also make better use of light and heat from the sun coming in through the windows. Use only what electric lighting is necessary: low-wattage task lights for individual applications instead of high power lights to illuminate a large area. If you must use outdoor lights, consider purchasing a motion detector that will turn the light on and off only when it senses movement. When purchasing appliances, check to see that they are EPA Energy Star approved. These appliances use energy more efficiently than others. Most refrigerators, for instance, have compressors at their base which produce significant heat and cause the refrigerator to work against itself. During fair weather, consider drying clothes on a line outside instead of using a dryer, which inefficiently uses electricity to heat cold wet clothes. Your clothes will last longer, and you’ll see the difference in your electric bill. When undressing at night, ask yourself whether your pants can be worn again before washing. Americans, in particular, tend to balk at this sort of a suggestion. Allowing ourselves to think logically beyond social qualms and customs will allow each of our personal environmental movements to transcend many of our unsustainable habits. If you work in an office or at home, chances are your clothes aren’t that dirty at the end of the day. You’ll be surprised at the decrease in your weekly laundry load. The last big source of energy consumption in our homes is our favorite appliance of all. The average American household television is on 7 hours and 20 minutes per day, and 98% of all households have at least one television. At 170 watts per hour, that comes to 452,965 watt hours (or 453 kilowatt hours) of television use per year in an average household using one 25†³ television. Look at the breakdown of your electricity bill to put this number into perspective. You’ll see that America could save a lot of electricity and money by simply turning off the television. Instead, we can read a book, go for a walk or hike, work in a garden, or talk or play a game with our families. Quite simply, the less television we watch, the richer our lives will be, the less we will spend on electricity, and the more we will be doing for the environment. All of the information in this section has focussed on minimizing the use of energy in the home. Imagine if you could use electricity in your home without burning any fossil fuels and without any monthly electric bills. This is not only possible, but a reality for thousands of Americans. With one initial investment in a photovoltaic system (silicon cells that convert the sun’s light into electricity), you can end your dependence on polluting power companies and begin a new life of clean energy self-sufficiency. You can get started with a simple photovoltaic setup for a single zone of your home for less than one thousand dollars, or go all out with a top-of-the-line fully self-sufficient photovoltaic power center for about $13,000. If these prices sound high, consider the savings. If your monthly electric bill is $100, a top-of-the-line system that requires only a moderate degree of energy efficiency would be paid for in less than eleven years. And there is a whole spectrum of cheaper systems that can easily power a typical home. For less than four thousand dollars (paying for itself in about 3 years) the Real Goods Trading Corporation sells a system â€Å"designed to handle all the lighting, entertainment, and small kitchen appliances for a modest, energy-conserving household of one to four people in a full-time home. † This description is taken from the Real Goods Solar Living Source Book, 9th Edition. This seven hundred page tome covers everything from taking care of the land to water conservation and every alternative form of energy from solar to hydro to wind. It is a must-have for anyone who wants to live lightly on the earth, and is available at most major book stores and libraries. Recycling and Waste Management There is no environmentally sound method of dealing with the 200 million tons of municipal solid waste produced in America each year. There are many things we can do, however, to minimize, if not eliminate, our personal 4 1/2lb-a-day contribution to that figure. The now ubiquitous threesome, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, still defines what we all must do to bring our personal trash production down to a sustainable level. With the media and certain high-positioned nay-sayers claiming that recycling is worse for the environment than it is good for it, and laws making recycling just another stupid rule rather than a social imperative, perhaps a redux of America’s trash situation is called for. Households and other residences produce 100 of the 200 million tons of annually produced garbage in the United States. Most of that goes to land-fills, where it is covered up (if not purposefully sealed to prevent leakage) and starved of the oxygen needed for biodegradation. Here is just a taste of some garbage statistics from Geoffrey C. Saign’s well-researched book, Green Essentials: More than 1/2 of U. S. landfills have closed in the past 10 years, and nearly 1/2 of the remaining 5,800 landfills do not meet federal or state standards for human health and environmental protection. More landfills are being closed as they fail to meet 1993 and 1994 guidelines and as communities resist allowing new landfills in their area; 22 states will run out of landfill capacity within 10 years or less. The nation’s 10 largest cities use a land area for their garbage that is larger than the state of Indiana. And this is just landfills. Incineration is quickly becoming the chosen method of dealing with garbage. Incineration actually concentrates the toxicity of garbage by mixing volatile chemicals at high temperatures and reducing its harmless biomass content. Approximately 1/4 of the ashes produced in a typical incinerator escape into the atmosphere, where they combine with the toxic gases emitted to cause acid rain, smog, and global warming. The remaining ashes are highly toxic and dumped in landfills or stored in toxic waste facilities. A few states mix this ash with pavement, where it will slowly decompose and leach into the ground. The simple fact is that most of this waste could be recycled or composted instead of burned or buried. Green Essentials offers this breakdown of garbage ingredients by weight: Ingredient % by weight Alternative disposal methods available Paper and paperboard 34% Recyclable Yard trimmings 20% Compostable Plastic 9% Recyclable Food waste 9% Compostable Metals 8% Recyclable Glass 7% Recyclable Wood 4% Compostable, can be used as fuel Rubber and leather 3% Recyclable (tires) Textiles 2% Donate Other 4% As this chart displays, 58% (not counting the 3% for rubber and leather) of our garbage is recyclable; 33% of the remainder could be composted. That means that 91% of all the garbage produced in this country (that’s about 182 million tons annually) could be kept out of incinerators and landfills. Even a fraction of this ideal estimate would have a profound impact on the environment. Despite the amazing potential for waste reduction that recycling makes possible, The New York Times joined the media’s misinformed recycling myth extravaganza in their June 30th, 1996 article, â€Å"Recycling is Garbage. From the beginning, pessimists and special-interest industries have spread incorrect â€Å"myths† about recycling. These claims frequently charge (among other things) that landfill space is abundant and cheap; there is no market for recycled goods; and recycling doesn’t pay for itself. Consider the facts on these three points: Landfill space has become a precious commodity in the U. S. , with many states paying to export trash to other states or countries. Recall Geoffrey Saign’s statement that â€Å"22 states will run out of landfill capacity within 10 years or less. The market for recycled goods, while fluctuating like any burgeoning market, has increased with the amount of recycled goods available to create a powerful new industry. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, â€Å"U. S. pulp paper manufacturers have voluntarily built or expanded more than 45 recycled paper mills in the 1990’s, and are projected to spend more than $10 billion on such facilities by the end of the decade. † To argue that recycling doesn’t pay for itself is like arguing that landfills and incinerators don’t pay for themselves-of course they don’t. Recycling plants, even in the industry’s infancy, cost about as much to operate as conventional disposal methods, but are considerably more environmentally sound (costing less when environmental damage and cleanup costs are considered) and reduce pollution from manufacturing and mining for new production. Recycling is an easy thing to do, and good habit to get into as many towns and cities are requiring their citizens to recycle by law or charging by the pound for non-recycled garbage. First, find out what your town recycles by calling your local waste management facility. If your town or city doesn’t recycle or recycles only a few materials, consider getting a â€Å"recycling-only† dump permit for a near-by pro-recycling town or city. Next, reorganize your home’s main trash area to include receptacles for all the different materials you will recycle. Food containers like tin cans and bottles should be rinsed to keep your recycling receptacles from smelling. You’ll be amazed at the decrease in waste the next time you take out the trash. If we make a commitment to recycle our garbage, we must support the effort on the other end by buying recycled goods. Many products’ packaging claims â€Å"100% recyclable. † This is good, but keep in mind that it doesn’t mean the material is recycled. Look for the percentage of â€Å"post-consumer waste† to tell you if it is and how much of is recycled. Recycled products like paper and cardboard have come a long way in quality and price. Seventh Generation, a producer of a full line of 100% recycled and earth-friendly household products, posts a convincing advertisement on the side of their bathroom tissue packages: If every household in the U. S. eplaced just one 4-pack of 430 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissues with 100% recycled ones, we could save 1 million trees, 4. 1 million cubic feet of landfill space (equal to 4,618 full garbage trucks), and 427 million gallons of water (a years supply for 12,300 families of four). About 33% of the garbage we produce, like food scraps and yard trimmings, can be composted. Composting is nature’s answer to garbage control, converting organic waste back into the soil it came from. While many people compost to create nutrient-rich soil for their garden, you don’t have to be a gardener to compost your organic waste. You should cover your compost pile, but not suffocate it. The organic waste needs plenty of oxygen to feed the microbes that decompose the matter. You can build a box for your compost, or buy one pre-made at your local garden shop. Look for an organic gardening book at your library for instructions on building a How to cite Environmental Revolution, Essay examples

Accounting Financial Analysts

Question: Discuss about theAccounting for Financial Analysts. Answer: Introduction: Business operation in any country is very crucial and critical as the same depends on lot of external and internal factors of the business. Regulatory framework is one of such factors. Australia is considered to be very investment friendly country and investors often tend to invest in various ventures headquarter or incepted in the country. However, it has been identified that there have been few instances where the business grew in Australia and subsequently went into liquidation in a time span of 10 to 15 years. This essay considers the case of DickSmith Holding Limited (DSH) which went through similar situations that is to say the inception of the company, its growth, expansion, gradual problems and lastly the demise of the organization. In other words, the current study attempts to evaluate Dick Smiths history and formation with its initial success drivers and achievements. The study also explores the changes in companys structure, cause of the companys demise and its impact on t he society. This essay discusses about the brief history of the company and how it was formed. It also throws light on the key initial success drivers, financial milestones or achievements of the company. Also, major changes in its structure over the corporate life are also talked about. This essay also shows how the company managed to enter into various deals of mergers or demergers. Furthermore, this also depicts the generally accepted reasons that caused the liquidation of the firm and its consequential social impact, both internally on staffs and externally, across the wider business community and society in general. Lastly, this essay ends with a summary of the lessons learned and recommendations. Dick smith is a public company that was founded in the year 1968, and owned by Dick Smith and his wife till the year 1982. Dick Smith is a retailer of consumer electronic products. The company specializes in four broad categories: office, mobility, entertainment and other services. Dick Smith has two segments: Dick Smith Australia and Dick smith New Zealand. The companys network of stores consist of approximately 393 stores across Australia and New Zealand. In the year 1982 Woolworths Limited purchased Dick Smith. The company was later sold to Anchorage Capital Partners in the year 2012. In January 2016, Dick Smiths share price has fallen 80% in the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) as a result a halt in trading was requested and on July 25th 2016 Dick Smith was liquidated. Considering the previous content, Abdel-Kader Luther (2008) claimed that, due to the devaluation of Dick Smith Companys shares; it was forced to sell its rights to Kogan.com in May 2016. Dick Smith Holding Limited (DSH) was started in the year 1968 with initial capital of AU$610. The business was established in a rented premise of a car parking space. The founder, Dick Smith, named the company after his own name. In the words of Zhang (2011), Dick Smith introduced the concept of self serve shopping, which was included free in the popular magazine Electronics Australia and Electronics Today International. Dick Smith gained its profit majorly from the sales of CB radio during 1970s. Dick Smith took the advantage of exploding sales of personal computer; as a result the company established electronic components and kit lines. Dick Smith gained popularity with the sale of Dick Smith Cat (Apple II clone), which was highly successful in the production line. The company also gained popularity from the sale of VZ-200 and VZ-300. Dick Smith sold personal computers with brand name Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore 64. Dick Smith and Electronics Australia magazine entered a joint v enture to develop the Super-80 computer kit in the year 1981. Dick Smith was the fastest growing retailer of consumer electronic product in Australia, with the largest number of stores spread across the country. As per opinion of Block (2008), to put Dick Smiths initial success into consideration, the fact can be stated that, two years after listing in the Australian Stock Exchange with a valuation of $520 million, the company had a profit of $37.9 million. Dick Smith had a sale base of $1.3 billion and debt of just $40 million. In this context, Blndal (2011) stated that Dick Smith had an aggressive growth program. Dick Smith in its initial business days added 75 new stores, after initial public offering. The network of Dick Smith expanded at the rate of 25%. On the other hand the company launched new formats and brands in the market, entering in the category of small appliances. The company aggressively increased its offering in private label. The inventory base of Dick Smith grew from $171 million to $293 million. It was a major leap for Dick Smith, as its sales base grew over 70%, compared to a growth of just 10% in the last two years. Dick Smiths achievement was contributed majorly by its range of private label electronics during 1980s. In the year 2007, Dick Smith Electronics used its brand on a broad range of products, which included DVD players, set-top boxes, Television aerials, AV receivers and amplifiers, NiCd and NiMH rechargeable batteries, alkaline and lithium batteries, speakers, digital cameras, etc. In the initial days, the main activity of the business was installation and providing repair servicing of taxi radios. Gradually the business expanded to car radios. Few months later, the business grew more. The owner opened new line of service which is Dick Smith Wholesale. During 1970s and 1980s, the business expanded its product range further and sold products like answering machines, cordless phones, computer games etc. By 1980s, the company managed to open 20 stores. Dick Smith sold off 60% of the companys share to Woolworths Limited in 1980 and in the year 1982, Woolworths Limited acquired the balance share of the business. In this way, Woolworths Limited became the primary owner of the business against a total payment of AUD$25 million. In 1990s, Dick Smith Electronics Powerhouse was formed in New South Wales. This Powerhouse was established to provide products and services in the field of audio-visual and amateur radio areas. Booth Andrew (2011) stated that in the year 2003, the Powerhouse concept was rebranded to target the home appliances market such as kettles, coffee makers, toasters etc. In the year 2007, DSH introduced PowerSquad. It was a home installation service to install items such as television, computers and other electronics appliances for household. In the year 2012, Woolworths Limited announced that the business would close down approximately 100 Dick Smith stores across the country and sell off the business. Dick Smith, at that point of time, was still associated with the business against a very minor interest in the enterprise. The deal ultimately took place between Anchorage Capital Partners, an Australian investment firm, and Woolworths Limited under the supervision of Dick Smith. Value of the deal was AUD 20 million. Anchorage Capital Partners converted DSH into a public limited company by floating the shares of the firm in the market. At that time, the total market capitalization of the firm was around AUD 520 million. In 2013, business of Dick Smith allied with David Jones whereby Dick Smith acquired around 30 retails stores in the country and online. One year after, the business bought MAC1, an authorized apple service center and reseller. This deal was proved to be beneficial for Dick Smith. Also, in the words of Breal ey et al. (2013), an alliance with Trade Me platform further strengthened the market share of Dick Smith as millions of customers using online platform of Trade Me was able to purchase directly from Dick Smith stores. In the early 2016, the disaster occurred. Share prices of Dick Smith Holding Limited (DSH) dropped by more than 80% in the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). This had lead to a trading halt for the business. The very next day, the company went into receivership. National Australia Bank (NAB) and HSBC Bank Australia were primary creditors of the company and administrators cum liquidators were appointed by them only. Few months later, it was reported that Kogan.com, an online retailer, acquired the business of DSH. In July 2016, creditors of the company placed the company in liquidation. It was assessed that the creditors of the company would lose around AUD 260 million. Bushman Smith (2011) inferred that the primary reasons of the failure of DSH were almost in line with a dynamics of a competitive economy. It is a well known fact that if the business does not utilize the economic resources efficiently as the way the competitors are using the same, the business may fall down. The same situation happened in case of DSH also. Secondly, the method of accounting followed by the Woolworth Limited was also not accepted by Anchorage Capital Partners. In this context, Charupat et al.(2012) stated that these two companies were in disagreement with respect to the valuation of inventory. Anchorage wrote down the value of inventories of Dick Smith. This artificially inflated the profit position of the firm. Same policy was followed by the Anchorage in case of property, plant equipment. Investors got more attracted to the business. However, when these assets and inventories were sold off, these were not worth of the price these assets were shown at. Besides, Re bate based purchase also put negativities on the business profit. Choo Tan (2012) opined that due to the presence of profit, profit increased in the month of purchase. However, the profit remained flat in the month of sale. This impacted the general business transaction cycle adversely. The one of the most important and primary reasons of failure of Dick Smith Holding was the intention of Anchorage Capital Partners to reap of the benefit out of the said business as quickly as possible. Comment Jarrell (2011) stated that Private Equity firms (PE) in Australia are not much compliant with the regulatory provisions and hence the act of the PE firms often goes unnoticed and unregulated in the cou8ntry. This was one of the important considerations for the Australian Government after the massacre of DSH. According to Deegan et al. (2006), it was interesting to note that the financial statements of Dick Smith were audited by the auditors and no adverse findings were noted by the auditors. It might be understood that the auditors missed to identify any loopholes around the inventory. Since inventory is one of the most crucial factors in any retail business system, inventory management should have been one of the primary areas of interest for the auditors. Based on the clean chit provided by the auditors, stakeholders continued to keep maintaining faith in the management of the Dick Smith in the operations. As per the opinion of Degtiareva (2012), The impact of the gradual demise of the organization was adverse on the internal and external environment of the enterprise. Customers, who bought the gift cards for Christmas 2015, were intimated that the cards could not be used. Employees were given notice of retrenchment. Dick Smith had around 3,300 plus employees before the firm went into liquidation. The liquidation resulted in huge negative repercussion among these employees. Moreover, Dick Smith had borrowing of about AUD 140 million to NAB and about AUD 30 million to Macquarie group. These amounts proved to be bad. Conclusion: From the above discussion, it is inferred that the incorporation of a business does not need much of initiatives. However, a lot of plans and strategies are needed for the sustenance and growth of the business. According to Paramasivan Subramanian (2009), regulatory changes should be made in such a way so that the business acquisitions, financial accounting and reporting methodology are monitored and controlled by the regulators. Private Equity firms and other houses such as banks and financial institutions should also be brought under the regulatory umbrella. References: Abdel-Kader, M. Luther, R. (2008) The impact of firm characteristics on management accounting practices: A UK-based empirical analysis. The British Accounting Review, 40, pp. 2-27 Ang, C., Andrew, E., Hodrick, R J, Xing Y, Zhang, X. (2011), The cross-section of volatility and expected returns. Journal of Finance, 61(12), pp. 259299. Block, S.B., (2008), A study of financial analysts: practice and theory. Financial Analysts Journal, 15(8), pp. 86-95. Blndal, J. R. (2011), Issues in Accrual Budgeting, OECD Journal on Budgeting, 4:1, pp. 103-119. Booth, A. Andrew, S. (2011) "Capital Structures in Developing Countries," Journal of Finance, 56, pp. 87-130. Brealey, Richard, A. Myers, C.S. (2013) Principles of Corporate Finance. Seventh edition, McGraw-Hill publications. Bushman, R. Smith, A., (2011), Financial accounting information and corporate governance. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 32(24), pp. 237 333. Capital tier (2015) Available at: https://www.qcb.gov.qa/sitelists/CircularsToBanks/Lists/Circulars/Attachments/76/Circular%20no.%206-2014.pdf (Accessed: 18 July 2016). Charupat, N., Huang, H. Milevsky, M. (2012).Strategic financial planning over the lifecycle. New York: Cambridge University Press. Choo, F. Tan K.B. (2012), An Income Statement Approach for Cost-Volume-Profit (CVP) analysis by using a Companys CVP Model. Journal of Accounting and Finance, 11(4), pp. 23-36. Comment, R. Jarrell, G. (2011), Corporate focus and stock returns, Journal of Financial Economics, 37, pp. 6789. Commercial Bank of Qatar Financial Results for the year ended 31 December 2015 (2016) Available at: https://www.cbq.qa/EN/AboutUs/News-Room/Releases/Pages/Commercial-Bank-of-Qatar-Financial-Results-for-the-year-ended-31-December-2015.aspx?y=2016m=01 (Accessed: 18 July 2016). Credit rating (2016) Available at: https://www.cbq.qa/EN/AboutUs/For-Investors/Pages/credit-rating.aspx (Accessed: 18 July 2016). Deegan, C., Rankin, M. Voght, P. (2006), Firms Disclosure Reactions to Major Social Incidents: Australian Evidence, Accounting Forum, 24, pp. 101-130. Degtiareva, E. (2012), Minimizing risk by analyzing a lessees financial position: Analysis of financial position and projected cash flow. Leasing-Courier, 5(17), pp. 1-5. Paramasivan, C. Subramanian, T. (2009). Financial management. 1st ed. New Delhi: New Age International (P) Ltd., Publishers.