Discussions Of Population Growth And Resources Environmental Sciences Essay

Discussions Of Population Growth And Resources Environmental Sciences Essay Natural resources are a subject of constant debate in the contemporary political and economic scene. Forms of appropriation, exploitation and trade of such resources affect in crucial way international relationships, and they are even a cause of violent conflicts. But its importance goes further. Their allocation has been always a crucial element due to its effects in the economy; its possession determines the economical organization and political development of a region. Today, there is an increasing awareness of the need for production systems to incorporate the objective of sustainable development. In order to manage this, natural resources should be renewal, in the sense that they are the determining condition for sustaining a long-term economic dynamic. Looking at this approach, natural resources are regarded as a link between societies and the environment. But what is the really relationship between population and natural resources? Is it sustainable? The study of interactions between population growth and the environment has a long history. According to Malthus 1, a growing population exerts pressure on agricultural land, forcing the cultivation of land of poorer and poorer quality. This environmental degradation affects natural resources and reduces the marginal product of labor and, through its effect on income, lessens the rate of population growth. The result is an equilibrium population that enjoys low levels of both income and environmental quality. But, the modern economic models replace agricultural land with nonrenewable resources. In this model, natural resources impose a limit to economic growth, with population pressures reducing economic development as scarce natural resources are exploited more intensively. However, a more recent theme in discussions of population growth and resources is the importance of environmental quality, measured by the stock of forests or by absence of air and water pollution. In this view the environment is seen not as a factor that limits productivity as populations expands, but as good whose quality is degraded by a growing population. In fact, population pressures, for example, are frequently cited as a cause of deforestation: population growth, by increasing the need for arable land, encourages the conversion of forest land to other uses. Moreover, it is related to the major cause of air, water and solid-waste pollution. In the past, the main cause of alarm was the depletion of natural resources. Many specialists repeatedly calculated how long the reserves of coal, oil, etc., will last. Now source of alarm is an entire complex of questions relating to the interaction between man and the environment. As in any other natural ecosystem, the increase in population means an increasing pressure on it. In the case of the human population, such pressure is even greater because it is not only a numerical increase, but also associated with the creation and diversification of new needs. This qualitative aspect is reflected in demands on resources, which are scarcer and scarcer. 2Nevertheless, the effects of population growth cannot be discussed independent of other factors that can cause resource and environmental pressures. While it makes sense to ask about relative importance of population in causing these pressures, it cannot be forgotten tastes, technology, institution policies and international relations. These and other determinants strongly condition the resource and pressure generated by population growth; they often change and affect the situation more than do demographic changes within specific time periods; and they often interact with each other and with demographic variables. But focusing on the sustainability of this relationship; there are at least three reason of why concerns about population growth have retreated over the last years. First,3 the demographic transition, which refers to the idea that at sufficiently high incomes, fertility tends to fall, owing to voluntary family size decisions. Indeed, fertility has fallen significantly in those parts of the world where most educated people live such as Unite States, Europe and East Asia. In spite this trend, population for the world as a whole is still growing rapidly. Second, population growth can be related to the technology optimism, which points out that increasing population is a positive force on living standards, largely because of induced innovation arising from population pressure. This model put an end on the Malthusian problem which 1said that there was a possibly tendency of human population to grow more rapidly that can be accommodated by arable land and other components of the source base. Third, it is related to political or ideological considerations. Population concerns are often in conflict with the strongly pro-natal positions of several major religions, particularly with the fundamentalist elements that have grown in influence over the past few decades. Cornering now about environmental degradation, especially air and water pollution, and concerning about depletion of natural resources like forests and oil reserves has become a significant issue. Both, environmental damage and resource depletion derive from the same fundamental question regarding the interaction of economic activity and the natural environment. Thus, important natural resources include environmental resources such as air and water, agricultural resources in the form of land and soil; renewable resources such as forests, fisheries and wildlife; and non-renewable resources such as oil and various metals and minerals. Global warming is a somewhat distinct topic, although it interacts closely with environmental, agricultural and renewable resources and is an important cause of resource degradation. Following studies like Limit to growth 4 put on the table whether the present growth trends continue unchanged, the limit to growth on this planet will be reached sometime within the next 100 years. The most probable result will be a sudden and uncontrollable decline in both population and industrial capacity. Looking at this premonition, the word sustainability becomes widely used in discussion of resource use. Unfortunately, the term was used in a variety of different ways, leading to significant semantic confusions. Therefore, extending this sustainable concept to an entire economy seems difficult. 5This concept cannot apply to non-renewable resources. Petroleum that is used up cannot be replaced by new petroleum. So, it makes more sense to apply the concept to energy sources that can replace the non-renewable ones. Building the right infrastructures might include facilities to produce hydroelectric power, solar energy, wind energy, and so on. The issue is whether this sustainable word has appeared too late, because human has already cause huge damages. Some of them have even affected our own specie. 5About 3 million people die annually due to contamination. In the past decade and in every environmental sector, conditions have not improved. For example, contaminated water, together with poor sanitation, kills over 12 million people a years, mostly in developing countries. Air pollution kills another 3 millions. And heavy metals and other contaminates also cause widespread health problems; Will we have enough food to feed everyone? In 64 of the 105 developing countries studied by FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture), the population has been growing faster than food availability. The population pressures have degraded some 2.000 million hectares of arable land, an area the size of Canada and the United States together. About the fresh water: The availability of freshwater is finite, but demand is rising rapidly as the population grows and increasing use per capita. By 2025, when projected to the worlds population reaches 8.000 billion is expected that 48 countries, containing 3.000 million people will face water shortages. Focusing now in coastal and oceans; half of all coastal ecosystems are under pressure due to high population densities and urban development. In the worlds oceans is rising tide of pollution. The ocean fishery is being overexploited, and fish catches or harvests have declined. 1 Clausen, AW 1985, Population Growth and Economic and Social Development, Journal of Economic Education, 16, 3, pp. 165-176. 2 Ridker, Ronald G. Population and Economic Growth: Resource and Amenity Implications of Population Changes. American Economic Review 64, no. 2 (May 1974): 33 3 Peyrache-Gadeau, V 2007, Natural Resources, Innovative Milieux and the Environmentally Sustainable Development of Regions, European Planning Studies, 15, 7, pp. 945-959 . 4Smith, V. Kerry, and John V. Krutilla. Economic Growth, Resource Availability, and Environmental Quality. American Economic Review 74, no. 2 (May 1984): 226 4HOMER-DIXON, T 2011, GROWTH WONT LAST FOREVER, Foreign Policy, 184, p. 56 5 Don Hinrichsen and Bryant Robey; Population and the Environment: The Global Challenge Johns Hopkins University report, september 2000

Economic Interpretaion (C. A. Beard) :: essays research papers

Charles Beard's "Economic" Interpretation In 1913, Charles A. Beard (1913 [1935]) consolidated various scholarly views of the Constitution and, in the process, offered what became identified as "the" economic interpretation of the Constitution. Beard (pp. 16-18) argued that the formation of the Constitution was a conflict based upon competing economic interests - interests of both the proponents and opponents. In his view, the Federalists, the founders who supported a strong, centralized government and favored the Constitution during its drafting and ratification, were individuals whose primary economic interests were tied to personal property. They were mainly merchants, shippers, bankers, speculators, and private and public securities holders, according to Beard (pp. 31-51). The Anti-federalists, the opponents of the Constitution and supporters of a more decentralized government, were individuals whose primary economic interests were tied to real property. Beard (pp. 26-30) contended these opponents consisted pri marily of more isolated, less-commercial farmers, who often were also debtors, and northern manorial planters along the Hudson River. However, Beard (pp. 29-30) maintained that many southern slave owning planters, who held much of their wealth in personal property, had much in common with northern merchants and financiers, and should be included as supporters of the Constitution. Beard (pp. 31-51) claimed that support for his argument could be found in the economic conditions prevailing during the 1780s. As a result, he suggested that the primary beneficiaries under the Constitution would have been individuals with commercial and financial interests - particularly, those with public securities holdings who, according to Beard, had a clause included in the Constitution requiring the assumption of existing federal debt by the new national government. Commercial and financial interests also would benefit because of more certainty in the rules of commerce, trade, and credit markets under the Constitution.

Blast Furnace

Blast furnace is a continuous unit of shaft-type. The charging of burden is conducted from above, through the typical charging unit, which is the gas damper of the blast furnace. It is reduced rich iron ore (at present time resources of rich iron ore are preserved only in Australia and Brazil), sinter or pellets in the blast furnace. Sometimes granular pellets are used instead of crude ore.Blast furnace consists of five constructive elements: top cylindrical part is top throat, that is necessary for the charging and distribution of burden in furnace; the highest splayed conic part is shaft, where the heating process of materials and the reducing of iron from oxides pass; the widest cylindrical part is belly, in which the process of softening and melting of the reduced iron passes; tapering conic part is bosh, where a reducing gas – carbon monoxide is generated, the cylindrical part is hearth, that is used to accumulate liquid products of blast furnace method – cast iron and slag.And the top element is tuyere zone, where is the injection of combined blast into the furnace, and the lower element is blast-furnace bottom. There are tuyeres on the top of hearth – holes for supplying of heated to high temperature blast. Blast is compressed air, enriched with oxygen and hydrocarbon fuel. At the level of the tuyeres temperature rises to about 2000  ° C. As the distance upward the temperature drops, and it reaches 270  ° C in the top throat. Thus, different temperatures are set at different heights in the furnace, because of that different chemical processes of transition of ore into metal proceed. pic] Blast furnace in  Sestao, Spain. Coke burns off and generates carbon dioxide and large amount of heat at the top part of hearth, where oxygen supply is big enough. [pic][pic][pic][pic][pic] Carbon dioxide, leaving enriched oxygen zone, reacts with the coke and generates carbon monoxide is the main blast furnace method reducing agent. [pic][pic] [pic] Rising upward, carbon monoxide reacts with iron oxides, taking oxygen and reducing to less oxidized oxide: [pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic]Resulting from the reaction, the molten metal drips the hot coal down, becoming saturated with carbon, and results in alloy, that contains 2. 14 – 6. 67% of carbon. This alloy is called cast iron. Except carbon, it includes a small part of silicon and manganese. In the number of deciles of a percent sulfur and phosphorus, detrimental impurities, are included in the cast iron composition. Except cast iron, in the hearth slag is generated and accumulated, in which all detrimental impurities gather. Earlier slag was tapped through a slag notch.Now both iron and slag are tapped through the iron notch at the same time, so the contact of cast iron and slag increases while mixing and the part of sulfur cast iron transits in slag. Separation of cast iron and slag passes already beyond the blast furnace – in a runner, with the help of th e plate gate of skimmer arrangement because of different melting liquid densities. Separated from the slag, cast iron proceeds into hot metal ladles, or into mixer ladles. Slag is poured into slag pots through slag runners. Blast-furnace foundationModern furnace together with all constructions and metal structures, lining (brickwork) and burden stock and melting products can have a mass of more than 30 thousand tons. This mass should be evenly transferred to the ground. The lower part of the foundation (sole) is made in the form of a massive concrete slab with thickness of 4 m. Columns lean on the sole, furnace metal structures (shell). The upper part of the foundation (pie) is a monolithic cylinder of refractory compression, on which is the furnace hearth. Blast-furnace hearthBlast-furnace hearth is the lower part of blast furnace, it is cylindrical inside and conic (sometimes cylindrical) due to the outer form. Hearth has cast iron and slag outlet assemblies (iron and slag notches ) and assemblies (tuyeres) for blowing warmed up (at cowper stove) to 1100-1400  ° C, oxygen enriched to 23-25 % air. Hearth blast furnace is the most main part of its construction. It collects up to 1,000 tons and more molten smelting products – cast iron and slag. The burden column, with the mass of 9-12 tons, presses the bottom of the furnace.The pressure of hearth gases is 0. 4-0. 5 MPa, and their temperature reaches 1700-2100  ° C in the coke combustion sources. Coke, liquid cast iron and slag hearth gases move and are restored continuously within the hearth. In fact it is a powerful, continuously moving reactor. In this regard, strict requirements for strength, tightness and fire resistance are demanded to these constructions. The main constructional elements of the hearth are shell, coolers, iron and slag notch, tuyere assemblies. Iron notch Iron notch is a rectangular channel, 250-300 mm broad and 450-500 mm tall.The channel is made in hearth brickwork at the heig ht of 600-1700 mm from the surface of the blast-furnace bottom. Slag notch channels are made at the height of 2000-3600 mm. The iron notch is closed by refractory mixture. The iron notch is opened via drilling out the hole of 50-60 mm diameter with drilling machine. After tapping of cast iron and slag (the tapping of cast iron and slag is carried out through iron notches on large modern blast furnaces), holes are blocked with the help of an electron-beam gun.The electro-beam gun tip gets in and refractory mixture of the notch is supplied under pressure. The blast furnace snag notch is protected by water-cooled elements, which are called slag stopper and compressed-air operated lever-type construction, controlled distantly. Large volume blast furnaces (3200-5500 m ? ) are equipped with four iron notches, working by terms, and one slag notch. The tapping of cast iron and slag from the blast furnace includes the following: 1. opening of the iron notch (if necessary in the slag notch); 2. aintenance, directly connected with leakage of cast iron and slag; 3. closing of the iron notch (if slag was tapped through the slag notch, then closing of slag too); 4. notches and runners repair. [pic] 1. Hot blast 2. Melting zone (bosh and hearth) 3. Reduction zone of ferrous oxide (belly) 4. Reduction zone of ferric oxide (shaft) 5. Pre-heating zone (top throat) 6. Feed of ore, limestone and coke 7. Exhaust gases 8. Column of ore, coke and limestone 9. Removal of slag 10. Tapping of molten pig iron 11. Collection of waste gases Blast Furnace Blast furnace is a continuous unit of shaft-type. The charging of burden is conducted from above, through the typical charging unit, which is the gas damper of the blast furnace. It is reduced rich iron ore (at present time resources of rich iron ore are preserved only in Australia and Brazil), sinter or pellets in the blast furnace. Sometimes granular pellets are used instead of crude ore.Blast furnace consists of five constructive elements: top cylindrical part is top throat, that is necessary for the charging and distribution of burden in furnace; the highest splayed conic part is shaft, where the heating process of materials and the reducing of iron from oxides pass; the widest cylindrical part is belly, in which the process of softening and melting of the reduced iron passes; tapering conic part is bosh, where a reducing gas – carbon monoxide is generated, the cylindrical part is hearth, that is used to accumulate liquid products of blast furnace method – cast iron and slag.And the top element is tuyere zone, where is the injection of combined blast into the furnace, and the lower element is blast-furnace bottom. There are tuyeres on the top of hearth – holes for supplying of heated to high temperature blast. Blast is compressed air, enriched with oxygen and hydrocarbon fuel. At the level of the tuyeres temperature rises to about 2000  ° C. As the distance upward the temperature drops, and it reaches 270  ° C in the top throat. Thus, different temperatures are set at different heights in the furnace, because of that different chemical processes of transition of ore into metal proceed. pic] Blast furnace in  Sestao, Spain. Coke burns off and generates carbon dioxide and large amount of heat at the top part of hearth, where oxygen supply is big enough. [pic][pic][pic][pic][pic] Carbon dioxide, leaving enriched oxygen zone, reacts with the coke and generates carbon monoxide is the main blast furnace method reducing agent. [pic][pic] [pic] Rising upward, carbon monoxide reacts with iron oxides, taking oxygen and reducing to less oxidized oxide: [pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic]Resulting from the reaction, the molten metal drips the hot coal down, becoming saturated with carbon, and results in alloy, that contains 2. 14 – 6. 67% of carbon. This alloy is called cast iron. Except carbon, it includes a small part of silicon and manganese. In the number of deciles of a percent sulfur and phosphorus, detrimental impurities, are included in the cast iron composition. Except cast iron, in the hearth slag is generated and accumulated, in which all detrimental impurities gather. Earlier slag was tapped through a slag notch.Now both iron and slag are tapped through the iron notch at the same time, so the contact of cast iron and slag increases while mixing and the part of sulfur cast iron transits in slag. Separation of cast iron and slag passes already beyond the blast furnace – in a runner, with the help of th e plate gate of skimmer arrangement because of different melting liquid densities. Separated from the slag, cast iron proceeds into hot metal ladles, or into mixer ladles. Slag is poured into slag pots through slag runners. Blast-furnace foundationModern furnace together with all constructions and metal structures, lining (brickwork) and burden stock and melting products can have a mass of more than 30 thousand tons. This mass should be evenly transferred to the ground. The lower part of the foundation (sole) is made in the form of a massive concrete slab with thickness of 4 m. Columns lean on the sole, furnace metal structures (shell). The upper part of the foundation (pie) is a monolithic cylinder of refractory compression, on which is the furnace hearth. Blast-furnace hearthBlast-furnace hearth is the lower part of blast furnace, it is cylindrical inside and conic (sometimes cylindrical) due to the outer form. Hearth has cast iron and slag outlet assemblies (iron and slag notches ) and assemblies (tuyeres) for blowing warmed up (at cowper stove) to 1100-1400  ° C, oxygen enriched to 23-25 % air. Hearth blast furnace is the most main part of its construction. It collects up to 1,000 tons and more molten smelting products – cast iron and slag. The burden column, with the mass of 9-12 tons, presses the bottom of the furnace.The pressure of hearth gases is 0. 4-0. 5 MPa, and their temperature reaches 1700-2100  ° C in the coke combustion sources. Coke, liquid cast iron and slag hearth gases move and are restored continuously within the hearth. In fact it is a powerful, continuously moving reactor. In this regard, strict requirements for strength, tightness and fire resistance are demanded to these constructions. The main constructional elements of the hearth are shell, coolers, iron and slag notch, tuyere assemblies. Iron notch Iron notch is a rectangular channel, 250-300 mm broad and 450-500 mm tall.The channel is made in hearth brickwork at the heig ht of 600-1700 mm from the surface of the blast-furnace bottom. Slag notch channels are made at the height of 2000-3600 mm. The iron notch is closed by refractory mixture. The iron notch is opened via drilling out the hole of 50-60 mm diameter with drilling machine. After tapping of cast iron and slag (the tapping of cast iron and slag is carried out through iron notches on large modern blast furnaces), holes are blocked with the help of an electron-beam gun.The electro-beam gun tip gets in and refractory mixture of the notch is supplied under pressure. The blast furnace snag notch is protected by water-cooled elements, which are called slag stopper and compressed-air operated lever-type construction, controlled distantly. Large volume blast furnaces (3200-5500 m ? ) are equipped with four iron notches, working by terms, and one slag notch. The tapping of cast iron and slag from the blast furnace includes the following: 1. opening of the iron notch (if necessary in the slag notch); 2. aintenance, directly connected with leakage of cast iron and slag; 3. closing of the iron notch (if slag was tapped through the slag notch, then closing of slag too); 4. notches and runners repair. [pic] 1. Hot blast 2. Melting zone (bosh and hearth) 3. Reduction zone of ferrous oxide (belly) 4. Reduction zone of ferric oxide (shaft) 5. Pre-heating zone (top throat) 6. Feed of ore, limestone and coke 7. Exhaust gases 8. Column of ore, coke and limestone 9. Removal of slag 10. Tapping of molten pig iron 11. Collection of waste gases

The Survival Game The Solution for Overcrowed Prisons Essays

With the constant flow of convicts streaming into prisons, the prison system has become over flooded with more inmates than the government has room for. According to Michael McLaughlin, Since, 2004 the federal prisons has incarcerated over thirty nine percent more convicts than the buildings are designed for, and this percentage keeps growing with each passing year, and in 2012, most systems housed an astonishing average of about forty one percent of inmates over the premeditated limit. This crisis is causing an overwhelming amount of risk to the guards working the prisons, the inmates who are being stored like can of sardines, and to the taxpayers’ wallet. I propose that the adequate solution for overcrowded prisons is to pass a†¦show more content†¦The government will be able to profit from the money that is gained from the yearly shows and off of the selling of the dead tributes bodies to zoo and cannibal tribes. Because the government will need someone to test the bodies for diseases, process and package the bodies, ship the merchandise, and set up the arena for the yearly survival games; this bill will create new jobs for inner cities minorities, because the minorities have a greater chance to commit crimes, go to prison, and therefore causing the prisons to overcrowd they should have to deal with the dead bodies. Because the bodies are preprocessed and tested the African and Australian tribes are less prone to get diseases, like AIDS or other STDs, from the meat they are consuming; since most prisoners are gross, diseased filled people and the American economy cannot afford lawsuits if the savages get â€Å"sick† from our product even though most of them already have AIDS and sickle cell. The processed foods are more humane, efficient, and cleaner form of food for the cannibals; this will help bring the savage like communities into the light of the modern world of civilization. The bones then can be shipped off with the products to serve as utensils, weapons, and jewelry as an extra perk of buying our products. Another advantage of killing off convict is that the left over and unclean bodies can be feed to wild animals; because they won’t care where their food comes from. This give the zoos, government ran