Modern Science And Materialism Essays (1942 words) - Ontology

Current Science And Materialism Current Science and realism What is genuine? This inquiry has astounded numerous what is extremely genuine or what is reality. Reality as I will clarify is one that is as per realism and demonstrated by science. Realism is characterized, as the powerful view holding that issue alone is genuine. This is the thing that Hugh Elliot demonstrates in his contention Modern Science and Materialism. By utilization of his contention I will address the inquiries of what is genuine, what people need to know, in the event that it is conceivable to realize what is genuine and how, how to separate genuine for non-genuine, where people fit in, and how we can profit by realism. To begin with, what is genuine? The truth is just a single thing, and it is all standards of issue and vitality. At the point when you connect and contact something it is matter, when you look to the skies surrounding you sense this truth of issue and vitality from the light in the sky to the ground underneath us. Elliot says that the ?universe comprises of issue and vitality in a condition of perpetual change.?(Pg. 307 Modern Science and Materialism, Hugh Elliot) What Elliot is stating is matter is all items being observed, vitality comprising of movement, heat, light, solid, power, and so on., and lasting change is genuine. This perpetual change implies that everything when you investigate our universe it never stops comparative with the remainder of the universe, and even science has demonstrated this with the second law of thermodynamics it expresses that all frameworks will change suddenly to less arranged. Presently this is a terrifying idea that we wouldn't have the option to get a handle on the real world on the off chance that it generally changes all alone. This brings up a difficult issue, how might we comprehend or live as indicated by the real world on the off chance that it generally is evolving? Indeed, there is no compelling reason to stress over this reality of progress, since we can see how it functions we our not defenseless against nature. The universe will change as indicated by Elliot and science, yet the universe is certainly not a disorderly spot. It has techniques or fixed groupings that is tails it gives us people's information about occasions so sure that we can foresee what's to come. Elliot additionally expresses this he says that the universe ?it follows certain fixed arrangements generally called laws-which are distinct to such an extent that even in the current situation with information numerous future occasions can be forecasted with certainty.?(Pg. 308 Modern Science and Materialism, Hugh Elliot) Yes, presently we have something to follow as indicated by reality it is these, as Elliot states, laws. In any case, not at all like the laws of the administration that are now and again difficult to observe these laws of the universe our ?fixed arrangements? that can't be broken, and what a consolation. I have just referenced one of these laws, however there is still others that administer us for our great. One is the law of gravity that expresses that huge masses will apply a draw on different masses, and this is a law to benefit humankind. For if enormous masses didn't draw in we would lose our environment to space thus too we would be smothered into space. However, we have these laws that administer reality, yet is it feasible for us to pick up the information on all reality? All things considered, for us as people to have information we should have the realities, a definitive realities of the real world. At the point when a psyche has a modest quantity of genuine realities the truth that he builds is less genuine. The more realities that we can collect the closer we get the chance to genuine reality or what is extremely genuine. Hugh Elliot realized this he states ?before we can recognize the more profound connections of presence and the universe, we should think about these extreme facts.?(Pg. 308 Modern Science and Materialism, Hugh Elliot) This is the way is we know reality we should build it out of realities, and as Elliot expressed we should think about these extreme realities. This is the thing that makes Elliots contention so natural to accept on the grounds that he realized where to go to get these realities he picked up infor mation before he gave his contention. To cause this simple how frequently to have you felt that without a doubt you knew

Article critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Article scrutinize - Essay Example Sections are utilized to structure the contentions and to give a grouping to each point made. The language is very succinct and easy to comprehend. Not exceedingly significant terms have been obviously characterized. There is some supposition with respect to the writer that the peruser of the content is as of now acquainted with the subject of Islamic convention and culture somewhat. For instance, terms, for example, ‘Sharia law’ and Gallup poll’ are not plainly clarified however are utilized inside the content. These terms are very explicit and require elaboration for those new to such phrasing. There is adequate proof for the contentions. Each point is very much upheld up by reference to existing laws, writing, models, citations and contentions for influential people in the field and supporting proof of different sorts. Truly the contentions bolster the primary concern as they are profoundly applicable to the topic. By belligerence and featuring different contrasts in Muslim men’s and women’s rights under Islamic law and offering models, this backings the general case that there is a foul play here which should be tended to. The content is proper for the target group generally. It offers a fundamental synopsis of the issue with some foundation and authentic and political setting and it is clarified in an unmistakable and organized manner. Notwithstanding, there is opportunity to get better in that a few terms ought to be all the more obviously clarified. To a degree, the content encourages me to comprehend the subject. It gives a foundation and cultural setting to the contention which is useful and it offers contextual analyses and guides to feature the focuses. Thusly, it is very easy to grasp. One specific sentence evoked a solid reaction from me; â€Å"In the United States, numerous Muslim young ladies and ladies decide to wear hijab†. I saw this sentence as exceptionally astounding. The creator expresses this sentence in the main passage following

Argument Essay Samples - How to Use Them to Learn How to Write Your Own Argument Essay

Argument Essay Samples - How to Use Them to Learn How to Write Your Own Argument EssayThere are many resources that you can use to assist you in writing your own AAWA Argument Essay. One of the best tools you can use is AAWA essay samples, which are short worksheets used by many students to help them write their own Argument Essay.The main purpose of an Argument Essay is to make a compelling argument for why or how a particular action is morally correct or wrong. It is not necessarily to convince the other side that it is the correct moral choice. So, if you are looking for resources to help you construct your own essay, AAWA essay samples is just the thing for you.The great thing about using AAWA essay samples is that they are usually written by professional lawyers and judges who have actually written hundreds of essays of their own. They are very useful but also very limited. For example, AAWA essay samples are only used as examples.There are many reasons for this, and the most im portant one is that they do not show you specific examples of all the issues and points that you would need to learn to make your own essay. In addition, they do not provide you with the exact wording of any one question, nor do they indicate what you should actually write. You will have to search for essays online and read it to see what you should do.Another key feature of AAWA essay samples is that they do not give you enough information to write your own essay. AAWA essay samples are not designed to provide you with the proper grammar and word usage to use in a public statement. In fact, these resources do not even include your name or contact information.Instead, they are only designed to help you learn to make your own public statement. You can use AAWA essay samples to help you write your own public statement in different situations, including an employment contract, a public speech, or even an academic thesis. But, if you are trying to write a public statement that will be r ead by a wide audience, you will need a more extensive resource.The best resource for you will be a good book that teaches you how to write your own Statement of Reasons. And because a Statement of Reasons will need to have various clauses and preambles, the most comprehensive resource would be a book that provides you with the vocabulary and information needed to write your own Statement of Reasons.In summary, there are many resources available online to help you learn how to write your own AAWA Argument Essay. However, if you are looking for a comprehensive resource that will help you structure your public statement, a book or an online course is what you will need.

No Title Now - 1233 Words

2.3 Study Questions Early (Dark) Middle Ages Chapter Fifteen, â€Å"Europe to the Early 1500s: Revival, Decline, and Renaissance† The High and Late Middle Ages—Chapter Fifteen As compared to its experience in the early Middle Ages, Europe in the High Middle Ages was a. more decentralized. c. less militaristic. b. less isolated. d. more religiously diverse. Which is the best summary of the authors’ introductory overview of the late Middle Ages? a. Political and religious institutions grew steadily stronger throughout Europe. b. Populations grew, while cultural institutions faced severe challenges. c. Political conflicts†¦show more content†¦d. set limits on royal power and insured the right of representation to certain groups in society. Gothic architecture displayed all of the following characteristics except a. stained glass windows. b. soaring structures. c. much interior light. d. rounded arches. The Hundred Years’ War a. led to the reestablishment of the Holy Roman Empire. b. was waged between Charlemagne and the Byzantine Empire. c. was fought by the feudal monarchs of England and France. d. was the Muslim name for the Crusades. France suffered from what relative disadvantages during the Hundred Years War? a. internal disunity and less money b. smaller population and less money c. mediocre leaders and less effective weapons d. smaller population and less effective weapons All of the following were consequences of the Hundred Years War except a. the devastation of France. b. the awakening of French nationalism and movement toward unity. c. increased burdens on the English peasantry. d. the rise of Burgundy to the status of a major European power. Which of the following was not a contributing cause of the Black Death? a. infestation of Europe by diseased rats and fleas b. overpopulation of Europe c. increased trade contacts with the Near East and steppes d. pollution of the water supply of the major cities of Italy In Europe, the first known cases of the Black Death appeared in a. Italian and French ports and islands. b. the British Isles. c. the Ib erian peninsula. d. the Holy Roman Empire.Show MoreRelatedTitle Ix Of The Education1544 Words   |  7 Pages When it comes to Title IX most people just think of it as something that lets women play sports, or they just don’t know what it means. According The United States Department of Justice website, the definition of Title IX is â€Å"a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity. The principal objective of Title IX is to avoid the use of federal money to support sex discrimination in education programs and to provideRead MoreTitle Ix741 Words   |  3 PagesTitle IX is a law that states, No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance... —United States Code Section 20. There are most definitely people that would oppose this law, but most can agree. There should not be discrimination to women, and there s houldn’t have been from the start. Title IX provides women freedomRead MoreTitle Ix : An Important Part Of The American Culture811 Words   |  4 PagesTitle IX Sports have an important part in the American culture. Today’s ratio of girls in high school who take part in sports is 1 in 3. In 1970, the ratio was only 1 in 27. Now some of the greatest rising sport stars are women. 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The Board is to consistRead MoreAn Idea That Protects A Proprietor s Land Title1742 Words   |  7 PagesIndefeasibility Introduction Indefeasibility of title is an idea that protects a proprietor’s land title. It allows for the proprietor to be immune from attack by adverse claims and interests in the land, in which he, the proprietor, is registered. This concept is based around the Torrens system in New Zealand, this concept consists of three main principles, the mirror, the curtain and the insurance principles. This essay will discuss the concept of indefeasibility of title, the Torrens system and how these haveRead MoreWomen s Women Faced Gender Discrimination1737 Words   |  7 PagesCongress passed Title IX in order to end sex-based discrimination in higher education. Although, the act never explicitly states athletics, the act did become recognized frequently in the case of athletics in higher education. In addition to athletics, Title IX extends to prohibiting gender bias in education and the workplace. Even though, there are gains in gender equality with the passage of Title IX, stereotypical bias infiltrate prejudices that frame the full potential of Title IX. Despite theRead MoreHow To Make A Basic Web Page Essay945 Words   |  4 Pagesread, and that is how HTML works. Now that there is some, not much, but some idea of how these pages are written, lets look at some of the important commands that make a page work. As stated earlier, all web documents must begin and end with the *html* tag. So the first thing you would do would be to open Notepad, or even Microsoft Word and type *html*, and no the commands are not case sensitive, so it does not have to be upper or lower case letters. Now that the computer knows that you areRead MoreA Detailed Lesson Plan in English 41400 Words   |  6 PagesA DETAILED LESSON PLAN IN ENGLISH IV I. Objectives 1. Use easily confused verbs ( Two – word verbs) 2. Give a heading or title for texts read without title. 3. Writing a paragraph II. Subject Matter: 1. Use easily confused verbs ( Two – word Verbs) 2. Give a heading or title for texts read without title. 3. Writing a paragraph A. Materials: Visual Aids B. References: 1. BEC 2002 Handbook in English 2. Fun in English Reading 3. Fun in English languageRead MoreHarassment Towards Women Playing Educational Sports1657 Words   |  7 Pagesthe fields only applied to boys. Unfortunately, before Title Nine was established in 1972, there was a great deal of harassment towards women playing educational sports. This new amendment to the Civil Acts, broke down the barriers for women, and demanded proportionality between mens and womens athletic programs. Due to the way of society 35 years ago, Title Nine was necessary for women to receive equal rights in educational sports. Title Nine, an act passed in 1972, prohibits discrimination inRead MoreCycle Of Loans : The Loan Industry Essay872 Words   |  4 Pagesloan for $300 dollars, which was the smallest amount, and receives $255 dollars to pay for his car repairs. Now come Bob s next payday, he only gets a $100 dollars which means he doesn’t have enough money to pay for his weekly expenses. Bob is forced to roll over his loan or take out a new loan in order to survive. This causes the loan to continue to grow in size, until said loan is now for a thousand dollars, and Bob needs to borrow money in order to pay it off. These loans are essentially a financial

Essay on The Imagery of Othello - 2452 Words

The Imagery of Othello Talks In the tragedy Othello the Bard of Avon uses imagery to talk between the lines, to set moods, to create a more dramatic impact on the mind of the audience, and for other reasons. Let’s consider imagery in this essay. A surprising, zoo-like variety of animal injury occur throughout the play. Kenneth Muir, in the Introduction to William Shakespeare: Othello, explains the conversion of Othello through his increased use of animal imagery: Those who have written on the imagery of the play have shown how the hold Iago has over Othello is illustrated by the language Shakespeare puts into their mouths. Both characters use a great deal of animal imagery, and it is interesting to note†¦show more content†¦It is true that the play contains many references to â€Å"heaven and hell and devils.† as Wilson Knight has pointed out. But Mr. Knight has wisely refrained from drawing the conclusion that Shakespeare means thus to comment upon Othello’s ultimate fate. (66) The vulgar imagery of the ancient dominate the opening of the play. Francis Ferguson in â€Å"Two Worldviews Echo Each Other† describes the types of imagery used by the antagonist when he â€Å"slips his mask aside† while awakening Brabantio: Iago is letting loose the wicked passion inside him, as he does from time to time throughout the play, when he slips his mask aside. At such moments he always resorts to this imagery of money-bags, treachery, and animal lust and violence. So he expresses his own faithless, envious spirit, and, by the same token, his vision of the populous city of Venice – Iago’s â€Å"world,† as it has been called. . . .(132) Standing outside the senator’s home late at night, Iago uses imagery within a lie to arouse the occupant: â€Å" Awake! what, ho, Brabantio! thieves! thieves! thieves! / Look to your house, your daughter and your bags!† When the senator appears at the window, the ancient continues with coarse imagery of animal lust: â€Å"Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is topping your white ewe,† and â€Å"youll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; youll have your nephews neigh to you; youll have coursers forShow MoreRelatedImagery in Othello1781 Words   |  8 PagesThe function of imagery in the mid-sixteenth century play Othello by William Shakespeare is to aid characterisation and define meaning in the play. The antagonist Iago is defined through many different images, Some being the use of poison and soporifics, sleeping agents, to show his true evil and sadistic nature. Othellos character is also shaped by much imagery such as the animalistic, bla ck and white, and horse images which indicates his lustful, sexual nature. Characterisation of women is heavilyRead MoreUse of Imagery in Othello1555 Words   |  7 Pagescreate pictures through his words. A great author can create the same imagery for centuries to come. The function of imagery in the mid-sixteenth century play Othello by William Shakespeare is to add characterization and eventually define meaning in the play. The antagonist Iago is defined through various images, some being the use of poison and sleeping aids, to show his true evil nature. Othello’s character is also shaped by imagery such as the black and white, animalistic, and horse images, whichRead More Imagery in Othello Essay example1271 Words   |  6 PagesImagery in Othello  Ã‚         The vast array of natural imagery in Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello dazzles the audience’s minds. Let us survey in this essay the varieties of imagery referred to by the playwright.    The vulgar imagery of Othello’s ancient dominates the opening of the play. Francis Ferguson in â€Å"Two Worldviews Echo Each Other† describes the types of imagery used by the antagonist when he â€Å"slips his mask aside† while awakening Brabantio:    Iago is letting loose theRead More The Use Of Animal Imagery In Othello Essay1040 Words   |  5 Pages In William Shakespeare’s play â€Å"Othello† the use of animal imagery was evident throughout the telling of the story. Shakespeare explained several characters actions by comparing them to similarities in animals. The characters in â€Å"Othello† were often depicted as having animal-like characteristics. Some characters were even compared to animals by other characters in the play. By defining characters in terms of these characteristics one can get a clear description of what the character isRead MoreExploring How the Symbolism and Imagery of Blackness Help Shakespeare to Create Meaning in Othello795 Words   |  4 PagesExploring How the Symbolism and Imagery of Blackness Help Shakespeare to Create Meaning in Othello Shakespeare uses various symbol of blackness to express negative and racist attitudes. He does this to meet the expectations of the Elizabethan audience, who held certain misconceptions about black people. Shakespeare uses this early in the play and involves characters such as Brabantio, Iago and Roderigo, this also assist in the construction of imagery. These racist remarks areRead MoreThe Development of the Character of Othello as Shown by his Use of Language and Imagery in William Shakespeares Play2263 Words   |  10 PagesThe Development of the Character of Othello as Shown by his Use of Language and Imagery in William Shakespeares Play During the course of the play Othellos character goes through a series of changes, but ends up almost the same as when the play started, calm and in control. This change in Othellos character is like a rollercoaster; he starts off calm, collected and in control, and then quickly progresses to losing control and allowing jealousy to take him over. HoweverRead MoreTheme Of Black And White In Othello1072 Words   |  5 PagesShakespeare’s tragic play Othello is a tale of power, love, and deception. However, racial prejudice is also a critical component in the play’s larger assertations, and the abundance of black and white imagery throughout it suggests that white is synonymous with good and that black is synonymous with evil. As such, this imagery is vital to the play’s overriding paradox, which is that Othello â€Å"is far more fair than black† (Shakespeare 1.3.285). To clarify, Shakespeare portrays Othello as inherently ‘good’Read MoreIago : The Rhetorician Conspirator1680 Words   |  7 PagesDavin Truong Professor Bains English Writing 301 11/13/14 Iago: The Rhetorician Conspirator In William Shakespeare’s Othello, the antagonist Iago is arguably the most heinous villain in all of literature. His ability to shape shift in and out of character is what makes him unique. His tactics are similar to that of a cold blooded chameleon. Iago’s art of persuasion, his mastery of rhetoric as well as his ability to sense his victims’ insecurities and weaknesses, is what makes him so diabolicallyRead More Free Othello Essay: The Disintegration of Othello590 Words   |  3 PagesDisintegration of Othello nbsp; nbsp;nbsp; Shakespeares Othello is a play with unique characters. One such character is the one for which Shakespeare names his play. In the play, Othello disintegrates from a confident leader to a homicidal murderer. Linguistic changes throughout the play attest to this theory. nbsp; In the opening scenes, Shakespeare portrays Othello as a noble character. When Brabantio seeks vengeance (for stealing his daughter) on Othello, Othello expresses his actionsRead MoreIago, By William Shakespeare1669 Words   |  7 PagesIn William Shakespeare’s Othello, the antagonist Iago is arguably the most heinous villain in all of literature. His ability to shape shift in and out of character is what makes him unique. His tactics are similar to that of a cold blooded chameleon. Iago’s art of persuasion, his mastery of rhetoric as well as his ability to sense his victims’ insecurities and weaknesses, is what makes him so diabolically ruthless. Throughout the play, one can truly see the power of words and their delivery,

Girls And War A Two Film Analysis - 1436 Words

Girls and War: A Two-Film Analysis ‘Speculative fiction encompasses that which we could actually do. Sci-fi is that which we re probably not going to see.’ (Margaret Atwood) Speculative fiction and Sci-fi are often seen in the same light, although contrasting by a large margin. Speculative fiction is an extensive literary genre, imagining utopian, dystopian, futuristic, and post-apocalyptic fiction to create stories for many different age groups. Normally, the author explores, or speculates, how major issues in their time period will change the future. Speculative fiction texts are a product of the time period in which they were created. Ex Machina, directed by Alex Garland, and released in 2015 explores the issue of gender roles, and†¦show more content†¦As the end of Ex Machina nears, Ava manipulates all other main characters to conform to her plan of escaping, including Kyoko, another one of Nathans bots, designed as a maid. Ava then completely ignores all la ws of robotics and murders a human, while also leaving another human locked in an office to die. In ways, this scene can be watched from a subconscious viewpoint, to show women standing up against the male, to fight for themselves, and how females can be more powerful than males. This future, as shown by Ex Machina, shows how humanity is on the brink of mass AI, and the lead brain behind this is a sex-crazed billionaire. Every bot Nathan had made up to the point in the film had been made with an intention of sex, and this shows the male mind and the portrayal of females. Ex Machina is more of a film about a male fantasy of having a perfect, and subservient, sex robot than it really is about an â€Å"existential† threat. The drama in Ex Machina comes from the ultimate male fear: a woman who fights back and asserts her independence. Ava’s ultimate function is not to test new technology or to check the technological limits of consciousness, however to create the perfect lady for a selfish male who is, it s tacit, sort of tired of the important issue. Not once throughout Ex Machina do either of the lads think about the likelihood of a male-shaped mechanism. Or a child. No, it should be aShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Book Mad Max Franchise 1709 Words   |  7 Pagesinfluence Mad Max characters, their stories, and the series. Body Synopsis Mad Max: Fury Road follows the protagonist Max Rockatansky as he drifts around in a post-apocalyptic Australian outback. Early on, Max is captured by a gang later known to be the war boys of Immortan Joe, a ruthless dictator. Joe rules over The Citadel, one of few areas with vast amounts of water and greenery; things that Joe hoards to himself and those close to him. While Max is in captivity, Joe sends a top-ranking soldier, imperatorRead MoreSpirited Away : Film Directed By Hayao Miyazaki Essay1017 Words   |  5 Pages Spirited Away is film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The messages contained within Spirited Away are almost entirely steeped in symbolism. On the surface, the film can be seen as young girl that struggles through a terrifying situation while trying to maintain and develop her personal identity. This is indeed the story I believe Hayao Miyazaki intended to tell. However, there is symbolic representation behind almost every single character and object of the film. There are smaller metaphorsRead MoreAnalysis Of Anne Frank971 Words   |  4 PagesGenre Analysis Essay In 1942 war broke out in Germany, Hitler, the leader of the Nazi’s, sent out Nazi troops to rid the world of Jewish people and make Germans rule completely. Many Jews fled the country and went into hiding living under strict rules, in fear of being found. A young girl named Anne Frank lived during this time. While in hiding, Anne wrote down all her experiences in a diary and her story went down in history. Three different genres of information help describe Annes life duringRead MoreReview Of Grave Of The Fireflies And The Picture Of Accidental Napalm 1443 Words   |  6 Pagesthan one level of interpretation. The two texts which will used in this essay are the film ‘Grave of the fireflies’ and the picture of ‘Accidental napalm’. ‘Grave of the fireflies is the realistic drama which focusing on the story of the fourteen-year-old Seita and his four-year-old sister suffering and eventual starvation deaths by the World War II. In the photo of Na palm Girl which released on the June 9, 1972 about the image of nine-year-old South Vietnamese girl who running naked on the road wayRead MorePans Labyrinth Film Analysis Essay1208 Words   |  5 PagesVanessa Salfen 6/29/2012 Visual Analysis Pan’s Labyrinth: A Visual Analysis Pan’s Labyrinth, originally titled El laberinto del fauno, was published in 2006 by the Spanish director Guillermo del Toro. The story is set in the year 1944, in the country-side of a post-Civil War Spain. A young and imaginative girl named Ofelia, played by Ivana Baquero, travels with her pregnant mother, Carmen Vidal, who is very ill; in order to meet and live with her stepfather, a cruel and sadistic man named CapitanRead MoreHow Birth Of A Nation Reinforced Antebellum Stereotypes About African Americans1564 Words   |  7 PagesStereotypes about African-Americans In the early 1900s, the movie industry in America developed the atmosphere filled with racial and political medium, which later became a propaganda tool for selling of brute caricature. Many will recognize the films titled Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith, which was very historical since its technological innovation embraced or portrayed all the anti-Black caricatures, and other brutes. Sing Griffin was a Kentuckian, and someone who believed in the SouthernRead MoreEssay about The Third Man, Historical Analysis1550 Words   |  7 PagesThird Man, Historical Analysis A Review of the Film APA The Third Man, was filmed in post World War II Vienna, releasing in 1949. The film was written by Graham Greene, directed by Carol Reed, and produced by the American David Selznick and the British Michael Korda. The black and white, pessimistic film â€Å"is one of the greatest British thrillers of the post-war era, in the best Alfred Hitchcock tradition, and beautifully produced†¦.It was voted the #1 British Film of the 20th Century†Read MoreForrest Gump : Active Video Note Taking, Questions, And Analysis Paper1154 Words   |  5 PagesActive Video Note-taking, Questions, and Analysis Paper Directions: Now that we have practiced, implemented, and analyzed the first two standards in the Common Core Reading for Literature 9-10, students will attempt to apply these skills to another medium: a film. The class will watch Forrest Gump, and when finished, compose a detailed analysis based on both of the skills or standards that were instructed: Standard 9-1: Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says. Standard 9-2:Read MoreFarewell My Concubine Essay937 Words   |  4 PagesConcubine, addresses the Chinese political issues during the war against Japan via interpersonal issues of an opera troupe of young male actors. The movie is as long as it is engaging. With two orphan boys who are raised to act in an Opera for their entire lives, dedication obtains a whole new meaning. Dieyis training to act as a woman and to reflect femininity in his whole life increases the dissension that is observed within the film as well as its connections to the politics of China. The useRead MoreWomen s Impact On The Media Industry1067 Words   |  5 Pagesof women in media is shocking! Media is one of the most powerful tools to educate, effect social changes and spread political awareness in the world. From childhood our personalities have been shaped due to films and TV programmes, yet only 12% of protagonists in 2014s top 100 grossing films were female. This is only one of the many examples of how women are unfairly disadvantaged in the media industry. This is ridiculous in a world where gender equality is thought to be greatly improved. Woman have

Legal Relations Business and Corporations Law

Question: Discuss about the Legal Relations for Business and Corporations Law. Answer: Introduction: The case study describes an agreement between a father and his son, Richard, for the upkeep of the family compound at a weekly fee of two hundred dollars ($200). After four weeks the father reneges on his end of the bargain stating that it is Richards responsibility as a family member to care for the compound. He argues further that as Richard is getting free board and lodging payment should not be required. The scenario in question gives rise to various issues under Contract Law. It is evident that an agreement was arrived at between Richard and his father, however, whether this agreement creates a contract enforceable by law is the key issue to be discussed in this paper. Gulati (2011) believes that the essence of Contract Law is validating promises made by parties in exercise of their free will and independence. Generally, for a contract to exist an offer and an acceptance, intent to be bound by law, consideration, capacity and freedom to contract, as well as the comprehension and approval of the circumstances in place should be present (Elements of a Contract 2015). According to Andrews (2015), the intent to create legal relations doctrine goes hand in hand with the Doctrine of Consideration, that is, the element of a price paid. As such, should a person wish to sue on a promise he must first show the element of consideration exists and that secondly the promise was exchanged under circumstances illuminating an intent to create legal relations (Andrews 2015). Evidence on the existence of intent can be either express, by way of words, or implied in the parties actions (Latimer 2012). In Grant v Bragg [2009] EWCA Civ 1228, the court recognised that where parties have agreed that informal agreementsshould be finalised in writing, the effect is to render the parties dealingssubject to contract. With regard to intention being implied by the parties actions, McHugh JA in Integrated Computer Services Pty Ltd v Digital Equipment Corp. (Aust) Pty Ltd [1988] CA 365, stated that a contract may be inferred from the acts and conduct of parties as well as or in the absence of their words. This conduct should be analysed to determine consensus, this point was reinforced in Ormwave Pty Ltd v Smith [2007] NSWCA 210. With regard to intention, agreements have been categorised into those of a social or domestic nature and those of a business or commercial nature (Gibson 2014). Social or domestic agreements are those involving family members or friends as parties in which a rebuttable presumption that parties did not intend legal relations exists (Gibson 2014). Traditionally, agreements created under the social or domestic context were unenforceable as they were presumed, at first instance, to be lacking serious intention (Gibson 2014). It was believed that in respect of policy, contract law should not interfere in family situations as the courts would be flooded by petty family discords (McKendrick Liu 2015). The decision in Ermogenous v Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia Incorporated [2001] 209 CLR 95, change the test for intention from a rebuttable presumption to an objective analysis of the conduct of the parties (Gibson 2014). According to Lord Denning in Merritt v Merritt [1970] 1 WLR 1211 courts did not attempt to adduce intention by examining the minds of the parties but rather by inquiring whether a reasonable man would consider the agreement as an intention to contract (Gulati 2011). The leading decision in domestic arrangements, other than those between married parties, is Jones v Padavatton [1969] 1 WLR 328 CA where a daughter resigned from her job in the US and moved to London on her mothers invitation (Furmston Tolhurst 2010) The mother had promised to pay her $200 a month if she moved to London to study for the bar, after various attempts and failures at the examination the mother terminated the agreement and sort to repossess the house she had purchased for her da ughter based on the aforementioned agreement (Stone Devenney 2014). In this case, Salmon LJ analysed the facts rather than automatically applying a presumption and found that a valid contract was in operation although it had since expired (Andrews 2015). In addition to the objective test, courts have also in some cases opted to respect custom as a test for the intention to create legal relations among familial parties (Lucke 1970). This was illustrated in Tarverner v Swanbury [1944] SASR 194 where an Italian immigrant and market gardener hired his son for a number of years with the promise of his sustenance and some allowance. In this case, Reed J stated that intention to contract was absent in the agreement as it observed an Italian custom that was not normally subject to legal deliberation (Lucke 1970). The agreement between Richard and his father in the case study provided is one that falls in the bracket of social and domestic agreements. At first instance, it would be subjected to a rebuttable presumption that it was not meant to be legally enforceable. However, as courts have evolved to adopt objectivity in adjudging such cases, the question of intent will be answered by inferences from the conduct of Richard and his father. It is clear from the conduct of Richards father that this was not a matter he intended to be legally enforceable as it is every family members responsibility to care for the property. Should Richard decide to proceed with filing a suit to seek any remedy, he should be advised that the onus would be on him to prove that the agreement was a valid contract. He should also prove that it is not customary for parents to hire their children in his community, where such arrangements are free of intention to contract. It is important to note that proving intent in su ch cases is an uphill battle for the plaintiff and the reasonable solution would be to handle the matter amicably outside of court. Frere Bros contracted Joe, based on his prowess in the acting industry, for five years during which he was not to offer his acting services elsewhere. However, a year later, Joe engaged Pretty Pictures in an agreement to star in their film. The issue in question in this scenario is whether Joes actions constitute a breach of contract. This will be determined by analysing whether the exclusivity clause, restraining Joes freedom of employment, was valid. At face value, it would seem that there was indeed a breach of contract as Joe violated a term in the contract that he had previously agreed to. However, as will be seen, the issue of exclusivity clauses in personal service contracts is one that elicits great discourse due to its sensitive nature. There exists, in every contract, an implied requirement that each party act in good faith so as not to hinder the contracts execution (LaMance 2013). Employment contracts, in particular, expect good faith and fidelity from an employee in their service where fidelity simply requires an employees consideration for their employers interests (Contracts of Employment The Duty of Fidelity 2013). Smith LJ in Robb v Green [1895] provided the first expression of this duty in its modern form as an implied obligation of the servant to serve his master with good faith and fidelity (Frazer 2015). The Duty of Fidelity comprises of clear elements such as the duty not to compete with the employer which has been identified in case law as illustrated in Hivac Ltd v Park Royal Scientific Instruments Ltd CA 1946 (Brooks 2001). In this case, the plaintiffs employees worked for the defendant, who operated in the same industry, during their spare time; the spare time work was held to be a breach of contra ct based on the Doctrine of Fidelity (Brooks 2001). The orthodox standing of the law with regard to breach of exclusive service clauses has been the decision in Lumley v Wagner [1852] EWHC (Ch) J96, where Lord St Leonards granted an injunction restricting an opera singer from performing at a theatre as she had contacted to perform exclusively at the plaintiffs theatre for a period of three months (Brooks 2001). The rule in Lumley was also applied in Curro v Beyond Productions Ltd [1993] 30 NSWLR 337 to prevent a television presenter from breaching her service contract by switching to a different television channel (Latimer 2012). This rule has been keenly observed by Australian courts over the years, which have been more traditional than the British ones (Brooks 2001). According to Brooks (2001), with regard to restraints in the course of employment, British courts have adopted the category of specified services over the traditional one of special services restricted to the entertainment industry. They have opted to accept the legitimacy of exclusive service contracts on the grounds that the restriction on other employment is limited to the specific field in which the employer is concerned and that said restriction is reasonable (Brooks 2001). The test for reasonableness involves weighing the employees short-term loss of employment against the loss of skills to a competitor (Brooks 2001). The restraint will be enforced by a court of law if it is proved that the employer has a genuine interest to protect and the clause does not overreach in protecting this interest (Brooks 2001). Additionally, an employer who wants exclusive service must obtain an express agreement to that effect (Brooks 2001). Contracts for personal service are not usually subject to the doctrine of specific performance (Latimer 2012). This is because the effect of such a remedy would force the party in breach to either execute their end of the bargain or starve (Sullivan Hilliard 2016). This point was illustrated in Warner Brothers v Nelson [1937] 1 KB 209 where the courts granted injunctions rather than specific performance orders as remedies for breach of exclusivity clauses(Sullivan Hilliard 2016). Lord Cairns in Doherty v Allman [1878] 3 App Cas. 709 stated that where parties, at a reasonable price, who are well aware of the circumstances in question, agree to prohibit a particular act or omission, then the work of an equitable court, through an injunction, would be to simply enforce the agreement, that the particular act or omission is prohibited (Riley 2012). Additionally, where a term in a contract creates a requirement, which if infringed, renders said term valueless and ineligible for compensat ion then damages in such a case are likely to be inadequate (Riodan 2004). In the case study provided, Frere Bros made it expressly clear in their contract with Joe that they required exclusive service by ensuring he promised to work with only them for a period of five years. Additionally, Pretty Pictures is a business operating in the same industry as Frere Bros and as such they are competitors. Joes skill as one of the best actors in the industry would give Pretty Pictures a competitive advantage over Frere Bros. This goes to show that Frere Bros does, in fact, have a genuine interest to protect by restricting Joe from contracting with other film production companies. With this is mind it is clear that Joe has breached his duty of fidelity to Frere Bros. As a remedy of damages would be inadequate and that of specific performance highly prejudiced against the actor, Frere Bros can only seek an injunction to stop Joe from contracting with Pretty Pictures. References Andrews, N., 2015, Contract Law, Cambridge University Press. Brooks, A., 2001, The Limits of Competition: Restraint of Trade in the Context of Employment Contracts, UNSW Law Journal, 24(2), 346-381. Frazer, A., 2015, The Employees Contractual Duty of Fidelity, The Law Quarterly Review, 131(1), 53-77. Furmston, M. Tolhurst, G.J., 2010, Contract Formation: Law and Practice, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Gibson, A. Fraser, D., 2013, Business Law 2014, Pearson Education, Australia. Gulati, B., 2011, Intention to Create Legal Relations: A Contractual Necessity or An Illusory Concept, Beijing Law Review 2(3), 127-133. LaMance, K., 2013, Contract Good Faith and Fair Dealing, in Legal Match, viewed 5 September 2016, from https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/contract-good-faith-and-fair-dealing.html. Latimer, P., 2012, Australian Business Law, CCH Australia Ltd. Lucke, H.K., 1970, The Intention to Create Legal Relations, The Adelaide Law Review, 3(4) 419-430, viewed 5 September 2016, from https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AdelLawRw/1970/1.html. McKendrick, E. Liu, Q., 2015, Contract Law: Australian Edition, Palgrave Macmillan. OSullivan, J. Hilliard, J., 2016, The Law of Contract, Oxford University Press. Riley, J., 2012, Sterilising Talent: A Critical Assessment of Injunctions Enforcing Negative Covenants , Sydney Law Review, 34(4), 617-635, viewed 5 September 2016, from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2244676. Riordan, J., 2004, Equitable Remedies, Jaani Net Resources, 1-13, viewed 5 September 2016, from https://www.jaani.net/resources/law_notes/contracts/13_Equitable_remedies.pdf. Stone, R. Devenney, J., 2014, Text, Cases and Materials on Contract Law, Routledge. The Law Handbook, 2016, Elements of a Contract, viewed 5 September 2016, from https://www.lawhandbook.org.au/07_01_02_elements_of_a_contract/. TWN Solicitors, 2013, Contracts of Employment-The Duty of Fidelity, viewed 5 September 2016, from https://www.twmsolicitors.com/news-and-blogs/contracts-of-employment-the-duty-of-fidelity/.

Family Reunion free essay sample

A welcome speech is generally a custom tradition at family reunions. It helps to break the ice and get things going. It is also an opportunity to make a lasting impression on distant family members that have not been around for awhile. To begin a welcome speech for a family reunion make it fun and upbeat. Start out by thanking everyone for attending, and if there is anyone that deserves a special mention it is always a good idea to acknowledge them. Prior to the reunion it might help to contact several family members to get details about their current lives, and also speak with the elder family members and ask them to share their memories of times past. Family history and recalling events of another generation is always of interest, and can be very entertaining. Do not forget to use the younger kids in the gathering of memories. Send them off to ask their parents and grandparents questions about how it was when they were little. We will write a custom essay sample on Family Reunion or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Children always present what they know in an innocent, open manner. Things that should not be discussed during a family reunion welcome speech include: private family issues, embarrassing moments and anything that would bring up sour feelings amongst family members. Also avoid long sentences. Try to keep sentences short and to the point, and stay away from overly humorous sayings. This is perhaps one of the easiest speeches to make because it is entertaining, nostalgic and it means something to the people listening to it. Do not make it more difficult by worrying about what to say. Speak from the heart, re-tell old stories and share everyones memories with sincerity and appreciation. Most people will write their own welcome speeches, but they can also be pre-written by a professorial speech writer. Memorizing the speech verses reading from a paper is one way to make it seem more heartfelt. *Family reunions can be a stressful time for any one. The constant worry if every one is going to get along with each other, the seating arrangements, if food will be served and what type, and etcetra. The person who coordinates their family reunion take on a huge task and feel as though it is important to insure that every tiny detail is correct. Remember that there are likely to be small   children at the family reunion, and planning games and activities for younger children is an excellent way to keep them entertained while adults mingle. To begin a welcome speech for a family reunion make it fun and upbeat. Start out by thanking everyone for attending. If there is anyone that deserves a special mention it is always good to acknowledge them. Such people may include recent high school or college graduates, and/or marriages, anniversaries or baby announcements. Prior to the reunion, it is a good idea to contact several family members to get details about what is going on in their lives. Speaking with the elder family members to ask them to share stories or memories for every one to enjoy; this would especially be good for younger family members to hear. Family history and recalling events of another generation is always of interest and can be very entertaining. The younger children of the family could be to ask their parents and grandparents questions about how it was when they were little. Children always present what they know in an innocent, open manner. This is one of the easiest speeches to make because it is entertaining, is nostalgic and it means something to the people listening to it. Speaking from the heart makes stories more special and memorable, and adds an warm and fuzzy feeling throughout the family reunion. For more information, please see. * Family reunion poems are a great way to let everyone know how much everyone cares about one another. Its a great way to celebrate family by sharing memories, poems and photos of each other from past gatherings and holidays together. Although it is not always easy to get an entire family together for a reunion, when it does happen it is important to make the most of the event by taking plenty of  photos, keeping a guest registry book and also by sharing thoughtful messages and poems for all of the family to hear during the actual reunion. Sharing family reunion poems with all of ones relatives is a way to connect emotionally and to help bring the entire family closer. Finding free printable family reunion poems is possible online by using different websites dedicating to sharing messages and thoughts with family members. One website that features colorful and printable family poems (complete within designed paper) is the Family Reunion Planner section of the Fimark website (family-reunion-planner. fimark. net). On Fimark, visitors are able to quickly browse through the available selection of family reunion poems to choose the most colorful design or the most relevant poem that fits with the type of reunion that is being hosted. The family reunion poems range from thanking the elders of the family for creating the generations to spreading knowledge and wisdom to the newcomers of the family and the next generation. Another site for finding printable family reunion poems is Family Friend Poems (www. familyfriendpoems. com). On Family Friend Poems, users are able to submit their own poems which are personal or that can be relevant to others families as well. Family Friend Poems allows visitors to vote and rate for the best poem while also offering a print friendly version of each poem that is published on the site. Family Friend Poems also has an option of sharing the poems related to family reunions with others using social media buttons. More reference links: *Well, good morning, everybody. It is great to see all of you. Many of you Ive had a chance to see individually or in small groups over the last several months, *I’m very pleased to be here this afternoon to moderate this event *With that, let me now turn to our panel. I’m very pleased to introduce such distinguished speakers: Mr. Stephen Rapp, US Ambassador at large for War Crimes Issues; Ms. Elisabeth Rehn, Chair of the ICC Trust Fund Board of Directors; Ms. Luz Mende, President of the Advisory Board of the National Union of Guatemalan Women; and Mr. Saidu Conton Sesay, Commissioner on the National Commission on Social Action, Sierra Leone. Class reunion awards is something that every student looks forward to, because first of all the classmates they have not seen each other with years. And the class reunion awards helps to remember the now older student how far they have came. The class reunion awards can come in all types, which can be Plaque, trophies , and medals. The class reunion is one of the highest traditions that all   students enjoy. All students who got lots of medals in high school, and became most popular in the job field, will look forward to the class reunion awards to receive an award. Class reunion awards is something that every student looks forward to, because first of all the classmates they have not seen each other with years. And the class reunion awards helps to remember the now older student how far they have came. The class reunion awards can come in all *types, which can be Plaque, trophies , and medals. The class reunion is one of the highest traditions that all   students enjoy. All students who got lots of medals in high school, and became most popular in the job field, will look forward to the class reunion awards to receive an award. Start simple to open, like Its so wonderful to look out to see so many beautiful faces that I havent seen in awhile, its so great to have all of you here , to be able to stand before you to give this family greeting means the world to me. Some of us that were here on the last reunion is not here today but I thank God for the ones who are, all the Great aunts and Uncle, The Grandmother and Grandfather, the sister, brother,maybe youre a niece or nephew , cousin, but whatever you are you better believe you is what make this family a family, and I love you from the bottom of my heart Whatever you say just say it from the heart and you cant go wrong. Good Luck!!! *I have always wanted to have a big family , but this is ridiculous. I meant having many members, not having big members. some of you should count as two. Normally I would not want to associate with anyone from my gene pool. Looking around me, I figure there has been entirely too much of that sort of thing already. But I need a kidney transplant real bad and matches are hard to find. Anyone need to make a few extra bucks? You get a free bed and a glass of orange juice thrown in. Speak to me after the orgy. When these classmates graduated from high school or college years ago, they wore different clothes, styled their hair differently and might have had funny nicknames. Talk about what was happening at that time in history. Who was president and what war was going on? What cars did high school students drive? How did people get to school? Reminisce about what government buildings, stores and shops were up then that have since been demolished or changed. What was going on in town? What laws were passed at that time? What changes for women were made? *Talk about how the changes and wisdom that the classmates have experienced through the years. Whatever mistakes or catastrophes happened, they made each individual who they are today. Read aloud excerpts from the old school newspapers (if possible) and remind the audience how young they were then, and what has since happened in the world to change how they view things and how the world has become a better place. *Oh, how I love family reunions! In fact, Ive done a few family invitation reunion letters myself, when the usual person in my family who handled it got sick. These are truly fun, memorable events in which a video camera is never scarce. In my family we generally rent a picnic area for the day and have at it. A really great template for an invitation letter and/or flyer is here: reunionking. com  Be sure to add some personal detail to it. You can also jazz it up with some colored paper! *Finding a sample of reunion letters online can be simple. Simply type reunion letters sample into any search engine. If one is looking to write a letter inviting everyone to a reunion finding the right wording can directly translate into attendance. Reunions can be fun and depending on the type and how long it has been they can be very interesting as well. For instance more people are more   likely to go to a 10 year reunion than a three-week reunion. For many, the allure of finding out what everyone has been up to can be downright thrilling. The letter and its wording are ultimately up to the letter-writer, of course, but there are a few standard items that the writer should strongly consider including in the letter. Remind the recipient of the happy times and fond memories that the class enjoyed while at school; this can help to warm the recipient towards coming to the reunion. Point out any notable activities that are going to take place at the reunion, especially if they involve notable alumni or classmates that are featured as keynote speakers or in other functions. Of course, the reunion letter should clearly describe the location and dates of the reunion, especially if the reunion does not take place on the schools grounds. The letter should also go over how the guests should send his or her reply, as well as how they can make reservations for hotel space or the reunion functions. If the reunion offers any sort of memory book or other memorabilia that non-attendees can order, include some information about this as well. It is also useful if the letter suggests that the recipient get in touch with fellow classmates to see if they plan to attend as well. This interpersonal communication can boost attendance; if reluctant alumni know that their good friends plan to attend the reunion, then they may choose to go and see their old friends again. For more information, please see: *A great idea for making a family reunion invitation is to simply use some construction paper and some markers. This is a great way to get kids involved also. You can also print them out from the computer a great web site to check out is  familycircle. com  they usually have some great idea for invitations. On the invitation you should include the date, place, time frame, if they are to bring a   covered dish and what kind of activities will be provided. Most family reunions are held in local parks where it is easy access for all member invited. You may also want to include an RSVP number so that people can call if they have any questions. If people are unfamiliar with the area the reunion is being held in offer directions from that persons home to the event. *The purpose of a notification letter is simply to inform others. This notification can be formal or informal, and it may relate to anything, from advising a credit card company that a payment is arriving late to telling team members that a future meeting has been canceled. As with any kind of letter, there are a few things that are always included. These items include the name and address of the sender and recipient, as well as the date. Next, the first paragraph of the letter should explain in straight-forward terms the purpose of the letter. Additional paragraphs can be used to provide more information. A good notification letter provides all relevant information to the situation and attempts to answer any of the recipients questions before they are asked. *African Americans have a long tradition of hosting family reunions. It is a great time of fun, food, fellowship and reminiscing. It is also a big income earner for suppliers of T-shirts, food, and souvenirs. The African American Genealogists at  reunions. afrigeneas. com  provides information to help to trace your genealogy. It also offers resources for organizing and planning reunions. Legendary Heritage Collection at its website at  lhh. fimark. et  offer comprehensive resources for planning African American family reunions for a price. *Family reunions can be a stressful time for any one. The constant worry if every one is going to get along with each other, the seating arrangements, if food will be served and what type, and etcetera. The person who coordinates their family reunion take on a huge task and feel as thoug h it is important to insure that every tiny detail is correct. Remember that there are likely to be small   children at the family reunion, and planning games and activities for younger children is an excellent way to keep them entertained while adults mingle. To begin a welcome speech for a family reunion make it fun and upbeat. Start out by thanking everyone for attending. If there is anyone that deserves a special mention it is always good to acknowledge them. Such people may include recent high school or college graduates, and/or marriages, anniversaries or baby announcements. Prior to the reunion, it is a good idea to contact several family members to get details about what is going on in their lives. Speaking with the elder family members to ask them to share stories or memories for every one to enjoy; this would especially be good for younger family members to hear. Family history and recalling events of another generation is always of interest and can be very entertaining. The younger children of the family could be to ask their parents and grandparents questions about how it was when they were little. Children always present what they know in an innocent, open manner. This is one of the easiest speeches to make because it is entertaining, is nostalgic and it means something to the people listening to it. Speaking from the heart makes stories more special and memorable, and adds an warm and fuzzy feeling throughout the family reunion. For more information, please see *When I think about family reunion souvenirs one thing stands out. Those 5 pounds I packed on due to the wonderful food! Wow, on a more serious note, consider photos. They are great for albums or scrapbooks. You could save the pictures on your computer and email them in bulk. Or you could have t-shirts printed. Reunionking. com/ is a site that may be of interest to you. *A family reunion is almost always a rewarding and memorable event. However, organizing and hosting a reunion may seem like a daunting task. It doesnt have to be ot in the Age of the Internet. The Internet can make reunion planning much easier. Here is a page of family reunion tips and ideas. *Whether your reunion is large or small, its nice to have a Welcoming address to kick the thing off. It doesnt have to be long 5 10 minutes unless you have a  really  good speaker in the family. Here are a few things you might put in a welcoming address Welcome everyone to the reunion, and t hank them for coming. Mention which different families (or family lines) are at the reunion. Give a general outline of the days (or weekends) festivities. Thank the people who helped put the reunion together. And of course, add a few well-placed jokes or inspirational thoughts. The Station Robert J. Hastings Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent. We are traveling by train. Out the windows, we drink in the passing scene of cars or nearby highways, Of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling meadows, of city sky liners and village halls. But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour, we will pull into the station. Bands will be playing and flags waving. Once we get there, so many wonderful dreams will come true and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering waiting, waiting, waiting for the station. When we reach the station, that will be it we cry. When Im 18. When I buy a new 450SL Mercedes Benz! When I put the last kid through college. When I have paid off the mortgage! When I get a promotion. When I reach the age of retirement, I shall live happily ever after . Sooner or later, we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us. Relish the moment is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24: This is the day that the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. It isnt the burdens of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who rob us of today. So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough. Inspirational Thoughts A Tribute to our Ancestors  © Roy Stockdill 1997 from Rhyming Relations: Genealogy in Verse THEY did not choose us, nor we them; we never knew them, nor they us; yet we are inextricably bound together for all eternity and there is no law in the universe, no metamorphosis physical or spiritual, that can ever alter this inalienable truth. OFTEN we may wish for different ones and feel moved to deny the ones we have, but this is as futile as it is foolish to invent spurious ones, for our deception will surely be unmasked, if not by others, ultimately by our own conscience. WE owe everything, our very existence, to our ancestors, and yet we know next to nothing of them because mostly their lives were so humbly recorded. It is good that we seek to expand our knowledge of their lives so that we may better understand our own. THEY made us, body and soul, and we must accept without complaint or rancor what they were and what we are, for nothing and no-one can ever change this fact and it is barren folly to dwell obsessively upon it. WE recognize that the legacy of genetic inheritance is a double-edged sword. We should be grateful for those gifts of personality and disposition our ancestors bestowed upon us which we find beneficial and not rail against those traits we find less appealing, for it is surely in our own hands to change them. WE should take pride in our ancestors and their achievements wherever possible, whether high-born or low, rich or poor, prince or pauper, and not seek arbitrarily to revile or condemn them for acts of which we know nothing of the causes. WE must learn from them, from their mistakes as well as their successes; from their tragedies as well as their triumphs; from their sins as well as their virtues; from their hopes as well as their fears.

Rhetorical Analysis The Pack Rat among Us

Rhetorical Analysis The Pack Rat among Us Summary of the Article The article under consideration entitled â€Å"The Pack Rat among Us† is written by Laurie Schutza. Schutza dwells upon a very disputable issue, i.e. hoarding. The article starts with a description of an average hoarded house. The author does not only depict the house, but reveals her ideas and emotions when she is inside the house (305). Schutza then tries to understand why people become the so-called ‘pack rats’.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Rhetorical Analysis: â€Å"The Pack Rat among Us† specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The author assumes that things help people to cope with such problems as loneliness, fear, etc. The author argues that people are often attached to things as they do not have close relations with people. The author also claims that hoarding is a very extreme case, but she also notes that almost all people have certain traits assigned to pack rats. The author mentions people’s desire to use things as a kind of material memories. The author then tries to define the origins of people’s desire to hoard. Schutza notes that the origins of this trait can go back to pre-historic times when people had to accumulate things to survive as their future was really insecure (305). However, the author also claims that the instinct has become a kind of pathology as people now live in the world of ‘wants’ and not in the world of ‘needs’ (Schutza 306). The author states that people living in the throwaway world are simply driven to accumulate items which they do not even need. For instance, the author mentions such ‘drivers’ as shops, e-commerce, and even garage sales which make people become compulsive buyers and eventually hoarders. Thus, Schutza warns the reader that each individual can turn into a hoarder so it is necessary to remain reasonable. The author concludes that pe ople are â€Å"just a few steps away from the inhabitants of the house on the hill† where the house is a metaphor which stands for hoarding (309). Intended Audience and Purpose for the Essay The intended audience the author addresses is, in fact, each individual living in the throwaway society. The author asks: â€Å"how far removed are we, the consumers, from this tendency to collect and save?† (Schutza 306). However, it is possible to note that the author addresses Americans in particular: â€Å"America has become a nation of mass consumers† (Schutza 306). The author addresses the consumers with one major purpose. She wants to prevent people from turning into the pack rats. The author concludes that â€Å"a little â€Å"pack rat† resides in all of us† (Schutza 309). It is possible to assume that the entire article is a depiction of threats which can haunt big pack rats. So, the article is a warning to the consumers who are reasonable enough to re main humble pack rats. Schutza’s Support Strategies The author uses three support strategies: examples, evidence and appeals. The author begins her article with a colorful example. She depicts a hoarded house, which is one of her personal experiences as she states:† [i]t is also the home of people I love† (Schutza 304). It is necessary to add that there are other instances of the use of this support strategy. Apart from the author’s personal experience, she uses other examples.Advertising Looking for critical writing on rhetoric? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For instance, the author provides particular examples of the way to accumulate (or rather acquire) things. Thus, the author mentions â€Å"Sam’s Club and Costco,† â€Å"[g]arage sales, resale shops, flea markets, and antique malls,† and â€Å"Antiques Roadshow† (Schutza 307). It is necessary to point out th at these examples make the article more intimate. In fact, people tend to believe particular examples from real life rather than rely on vague assumptions. However, apart from examples, the author uses another support strategy, i.e. Schutza provides evidence. For instance, the author does not simply reveal specific examples from real life settings. She also makes her article plausible and reliable with the help of specific data. Notably, each of her claims is supported by another study or work. For instance, Schutza refers to several academic works revealing meaningful data: â€Å"more than 1.4 million homes in the United States alone are †¦ hoard homes† (qtd. in Schutza 305). Therefore, the author supports her claims referring to other reliable sources. It is important to add that these references make it clear that the issue discussed is really important as it is being discussed and analyzed. Finally, the author also resorts to the use of appeals. She puts rhetoric que stions: â€Å"aren’t we attached to our possessions to a certain extent?† (Schutza 309). The author also puts very important questions to be answered by every individual: â€Å"Do we really need everything we buy and save?† (Schutza 306). These questions make people more involved. The reader does not simply reads an interesting article. The reader inevitably tries to answer the questions put by the author. Admittedly, this technique helps the author to reach the major aim of writing: people are made to think over important issues. Of course, it is also necessary to add that the combination of the three support strategies makes the article so appealing, plausible and involving. Schutza, Laurie. The Pack Rat among Us. Inventing Arguments. Ed. John Mauk and John Metz. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. 304-309. Print.

3DCS & 3DMS part A Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

3DCS & 3DMS part A - Coursework Example development as it seeks to infuse aspirations, develop interpersonal and other required skills and make the employees equipped of the necessary skill set which makes them adept to handle their job responsibilities and grow in their career and life. As stated earlier, relationship between mentor and mentee is more on personal lines than formal based. This is so because it is not dependent on any specific task or outcome and as such, involves many outcomes and learning processes. Some of the key aspects in the mentor and mentee relationship are: Mentor mentee relationship is free from implied or open authority as enjoyed by coaches. This is so because coaches are deputed for some specific outcomes and its achievement is crucial to their training purpose. However, mentoring is a relationship free of power and based on mutual trust and respect as both the mentor and the mentee tend to gain from each other. While a coach can insist on the compliance, a mentee has full rights to decide upon the relationship tenure, intensity and focus. In a nutshell, self-selection is the initiator in the mentor mentee relationship where mentee picks up the mentor as contrasted to coaching where coach selects the trainee. The relation being an open and trusted one, objectivity substitutes subjectivity in the outlook of both the parties. When both of them learn from each other, it is essential that no single entity tries to impose one’s opinion or belief onto the other and provide complete freedom to think and act. A mentor is supposed to advise more than mere telling or commanding. In this light, it is imperative that the mentor is aware and knowledgeable of the best interests of the mentee. This is advantageous to allow the mentee think on exact lines as whatever will be advised by him will be taken seriously by the mentee. Thus, only such advises should be put forth which are sure to be accepted and relevant to the interest and situation for the mentee. Mentoring started off as

Food Security in Post-War Sierra Leone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Food Security in Post-War Sierra Leone - Essay Example This essay stresses that food production was negatively impacted raising concerns of international agencies owing to declining agricultural sector charged with feeding a conflicted nation. After years of confrontation, the rebels were suppressed and signed a treaty that marked the end of armed conflict and the beginning of recovery for the nation. Among the agenda by the newly elected regime was reconciliation, reconstruction of the country by adopting resolutions that upheld universal education, children rights, and food security. Focusing on food security, this paper seeks to examine the dynamics of agriculture with regard to effects of the civil war and strides towards achieving food security in Sierra Leone after the war. This paper makes a conclusion that the civil war halted economic development that is essential for enhancing agricultural performance in the country. The research systems related with agricultural practices were severely affected following the destruction of research infrastructure such as laboratories and farms. Similarly, the civil war saw the well-trained scientists and research personnel flee the country and abandon their role in food security. This characterized the breakdown of local authorities and other structures if devolved governance, which contributed to the collapse of essential services. The civil conflict also affected livestock in the country with marked depletion of herds of the common breeds. According to the World Health Organization (n.d.), food security describes the availability and consistent access to food where a household thrives without the fear of food shortage. Following years of civil war, Sierra Leone faced challenges with feeding its citizenry after su bsistent farmers were ejected from their farms or fled the conflict. For this reason, the country’s agricultural sector was in ruins and the country ranked among the poorest in the world. The establishment of comprehensive strategies towards rebuilding the nation after the war reveals a promising future of food security. Reconstruction and development of Sierra Leone after the war posed significant challenges with regard to food security and restoration of the country’s food basket. This was a presidential priority as the

Concepts for Environmental Sustainability

Concepts for Environmental Sustainability A Perspective on environmental sustainability? Environmental Sustainability The Commissioner acts as an independent voice that advocates, audits and reports on environmental sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to explore the meaning of environmental sustainability. The community needs a definition of environmental sustainability that is easily understood, is logical, and is helpful in facilitating understanding, communication and effective action by all key players (government, community, business, innovators, academia, communicators, etc.). The paper also explores the meaning of related terms and definitions eg. sustainability and related words in common usage ecologically sustainable development (as defined by the Commissioners enabling legislation) sustainable development (the Brundtland definition) triple bottom line. A preferred definition of environmental sustainability Environmental sustainability is the ability to maintain things or qualities that are valued in the physical environment This is the simplest and most fundamental way to express the concept.But people using the term environmental sustainability can specify or elaborate the term further to add extra meaning or to apply the concept to more specialised contexts. What is the physical environment? This is the physical surrounds to something.For example, the land, waters and atmosphere, physical resources and thebuildings and roadsand other physical elements go to make up the urban environment.Rural environments are made up of the farms and living areas of people andthe land and waters and atmosphere and biological elements (species utilised by agriculture, pest species, and native species, and ecological communities both human induced and natural).Natural environments are those where the influence of wild species (indigenous and naturalised) is dominant or very strong.Physical resources, of all sorts, including mineral resources, can be considered to be part of the environment. Physical environments can be considered on all scales from the micro to the local, global and even larger scales. There is no sharp distinction between the environmental and other domains (eg. social and economic) in fact the content of each domain overlaps other domains massively. The key to understan ding doesnt lie in trying to set non-overlappingboundaries between the domains but lies in being clear about the focus of different domains. (Link to) Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Act 00 The physical environment includes the natural and biological environments. What makes an issue a sustainability issue? A sustainability issue arises whenever a valued system, object, process or attribute is under threat.The existence of the valued system, object, process or attribute could be threatened or its quality could be threatened with serious decline. In other words there is a sustainability issue whenever there is something that is valued that faces the risk of not being maintained. Whenever there is a strong sense of urgency, there is always a sustainability issue involved.This urgency couldrelate to something thatalready existsortoan understood potential.For example biodiversity might be threatened with extinction or the chance to realise the potential of a human being might be threatened, for example, if they remain in poverty or their lives are threatened by violence or disease.(The latter would usually be thought of as being social sustainability issues.) What exactly are we trying to maintain in the physical environment and who decides? There is no automatic, fixed agenda built into the term environmental sustainability. We have to look to the context to see what might be sustained.And many people and organisations already have well developedideas about what aspects of the total environment should be sustained when environmental sustainability is pursued. In a place like Victoria, with our culture, political processes and physical environment, there is strong public pressure to maintain (sustain) things like: ecosystem services (eg. nutrient cycling, the water cycle, natural water purification, climate moderation, soil protection high quality urban environments areas of natural beauty other species and ecological communities the user value flowing from physical resources (eg. minerals, energy, renewableresources, water) What motivates us to want to sustain something in the physical environment? We might want to sustain something in the physical environment because it is useful to us: e.g. the quality of local urban environments. Or we might want to do it because we care about the wellbeing of other people or other species for their sake, not ours. That is we can be motivated by utilitarian concerns and/or altruism. Sometimes we maintain something in the environmental domain in order to make it possible to achieve another goal in another domain.For example, we might sustain marine habitats in order to support the livelihood of coastal townships.Or we might sustain renewable resources so that we can support economic development or genuine progress Genuine progress is development that creates new benefits without undermining or destroying old benefits that are still valued in the community.In recent years a lot of work has been done on ‘genuine progress indicators as alternatives to GDP measures .) How long should we try to sustain something? This question can only be answered after deciding specifically what needs to be sustained and why. For example, ecosystems services for clean air would need to be sustained as long as there are living things (including people) that need to breatheclean air.For all practical purposes that means forever . Living species seem to last on average a few million years before becoming extinct though some may evolve into new species.So if we maintained a natural extinction rate for species it is so low that for practical purposes we would need to manage in the here and now as if we wanted all species to survive, effectively forever. Sustaining the recycling of certain materials may only need to continue for as long as those material types are needed technologically, and depending on the pace of technical change this could be for centuries or for decades.It is risky to assume that resources are only needed for a short time however as society might find new uses for materials as technology, lifestyles and environmental awareness develop. When it comes to trying to sustain habitat on a site-s pecific basis, very specific localised habitat or ecological community patches might need to persist for anywhere between thousands of years and just a few years depending on the ecological system involved provided all of the dependent species can access these habitat or ecological community typessomewhere consistently and at adequate scale within their local ranges forever. Is there any connection betweenenvironmental sustainability and social or economic sustainability? Since humans depend in countless ways on the physical environment (both natural and human constructed) sustaining desired environmental conditions directly contributes to the sustaining of people and human societies, that is, to social sustainability.The viability of theeconomy clearly depends on environmental resources and service flows so economicsustainability depends on environmental sustainability. More generally it can be seen that sustainability in one domain can be necessary for sustainability in another.Sustainability requirements can be mapped to show complex dependencies across domains.We classify sustainability issues into separate domains, not because the sustainabilityissues are unrelated, but for reasons of convenience and tradition, for example, to allow specialisations to develop in RD and administration, to break up complex whole into mentally manageable chunks, to reflect historical connections, etc. Can the idea of environmental sustainability drive commitments to specific action? While the idea ofenvironmental sustainability is very broad in its possible scope, concerns for environmental sustainability can be translated in specific practical goals and these can and should drive action programs.See the section How to use the definition of environmental sustainability to facilitate effective action. on page . Is restoration part of an environmental sustainability program? In a world where life-support systems and other conditions required for sustainability have been run down,environmental sustainability can only be achieved through a combination of both preventive and restorative actions.So restoration is a key part of what needs to be done to achieve sustainability.In most instances it is better to avoid destroying environmental values in the first place rather than relying on restoration as the primary strategy.However, where damage has been done that could prevent valued elements of the physical environment being sustained, restoration should not be overlooked. If we pursue an environmental sustainability program how much should we try tosustain? The physical environment is powerfully affected by and is made up of evolving systems ecological systems, societies and economies.These evolving systems will create changes in some aspects of the physical environment and will prevent or resist changes in other aspects.So anenvironmental sustainability program could never aim to sustain or maintain absolutely every component and attribute of the entire physical environment.Anyenvironmental sustainability program must start out by being clear about what it is hoped will be maintained in the physical environment and what can be allowed to change or what will be made to change.Precisely what people set out to sustain within the physical environment will depend on their value judgements, needs, skills and technology and available resources to support the action program and the current state and the dynamics of the physical environment.We cannot assume that we automatically know what should be sustained (and what should not) in the physic al environment just because there is an environmental sustainability program operating.We need to work the answer out explicitly. The origin of the core word sustain and its main derivatives The word sustain has been in the language for thousands of years.It comes from the Latin sustenare meaning to hold up ie. to support.From there it evolved long ago to mean to keep something going or extend its duration, with an overtone of providing the support or necessities that made the extended duration possible eg. a sustaining meal.These days, for commonest non-specialised use of the word the closest synonym is maintain. Sustain and its derivatives (eg. sustainability, sustainable, sustaining) were first used in a micro or personal context.However several hundreds of years ago the Swiss and Germans invented a form of forestry designed to keep the forest going as productive systems over the very long term and this was called, in the English speaking world, sustainable forestry.The idea was then extended to sustainable fisheries. From there it was not such a big step for the term to be applied, during the 0s and 0s, in the macro context of environmental issues where there was a need to sustain the whole environment and human society.This usage was established by the time of the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm. The drifts in meaning Having reached a macro level of application sustainability was most often talked about in terms of sustainable development.The 0 World Conservation Strategy produced by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN or World Conservation Union) put forward the concept of sustainable development meaning development that would allow ecosystem services and biodiversity to be sustained.The Brundtland Report shifted the meaning of sustainable development to mean â€Å"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generationsto meet their own needs†. Then the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio set in train processes such as Agenda and Local Agenda that resulted in many people coming to the view that sustainability equals the integration or balancing of environmental, social and economic issues or simultaneous progress in the environmental, social and economic domains, often in t he context of strong programs of consultation and participation. Many people however felt uneasy with the notion of development as it is often associated with the destruction of environmental and social attributes that they value, so they felt better talking about sustainability rather than sustainable development. So, over time sustainability and sustainable development came to be treated by many people as synonyms.This trend was reinforced because some people found the term sustainable development to be a bit of a mouthful and they used sustainability as a convenient (if inaccurate) shorthand. As the scale of the taskof achieving a sustainable environment and society has become apparent many people have tried to insulate themselves from the enormity of the challenge by retreating into small incremental changes.So some people have started to say that sustainability is a process of change and not an end state, and that its the journey that counts, not the destination. As the terms sustainability and sustainable development have been used more and more in government and corporate circles, because of increasing discussion of environment and development, the business world has started using the terms more and more for its own purposes.Curiouslyin this context sustainable has quickly reverted to its earlier simple meaning of able to be maintained.So sustainable profits, or sustainable competitive advantage mean profits or competitive advantage that can be maintained for the longer term.The straightforward use of sustain and its derivatives within the domain of business is understandable because businesses face competition and hence the risk of decline and extinction every day of the week.This experience of threat leads business people to reproduce meanings of the terms that are the same as those in long-term common usage or those in the area of biological conservation. The benefits of definitional clarity and a strong relationship to core meanings The important benefit of definitional clarity is that it makes it easier to avoid logical problems and makes effective action more likely. A search on the web reveals hundreds of definitions of sustainability and sustainable development Although this diversity is a little overwhelmingit is not really. surprising given that there are many diverse people involved in the sustainability debate and there are legitimate complexities involved.However, a careful review of these definitions reveals that they fall into four basic categories only one of which (type ) is a normal dictionary-style definition.The other types are referred to in this paper as contextual definitions because they create a greater understanding of the context of a term rather than defining its essence.The four types of definitions are: Type : definitions based on the essence: x is/means y eg. sustainability is/means the ability to sustain something; sustainable development is development that can be maintained; sustaining development is development that sustains something Type : contextual definitions based onstrategies for achieving the thing being defined: the achievement of x requires y eg. the achievement of sustainability requires, for example, the integration of environmental, social and economic issues Type : contextual definitions based on the outcomes of the thing being defined: x results in y; eg. sustainable development results inthe meeting of needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations Type : contextual definitions based on what amovement with that label tries to achieve or is interested in: x is what the X movement strives for eg. sustainability is what the Sustainability movement strives for ie. Sustainability encompasses the protection of the environment and people, peace, and end to poverty, the meeting of human needs, enhancement of human wellbeing, promotion of happiness, etc., etc., etc. Furthermore any of these types of definitions can be framed in a more general or a narrower context eg. applied to whole systems eg. society and the environment or just to specific contexts eg. the environment of a particular species, or to specific human communities or a particular economy. The last three types of definition can be useful as they are carefully expressed so it is  clear what sort of context they are creating.But if they are written using words that See Susan Murcotts list of definitions of sustainable development in the Reference section. Where sustaining is used as an adjective (not as a verb). suggest that they are type , or dictionary-style, definitions then these types of definitions usually cause significant confusion. For example, the type definition the achievement of sustainability requires, for example, the integration of environmental, social and economic issues is usually presented as if it were a type definition ie. sustainability is the integration of environmental, social and economic issues.This produces the absurd implication that if we simply consider environmental, social and economic issues together that this somehow generates a sustainability outcome.Often the opposite is true because the issues are traded off against each other and one or more of the objectives are not adequately fulfilled leading to a decline (unsustainability) in the domains traded off. So in this case, a lack of clarity in the expression of the definition leads to a substitution of means for ends and the outcome is unsustainability. The much-used Brundtland definition of sustainable development is a type definition, that is, it describes what theoutcome will be of pursuing sustainable development.The wording that is universally used is â€Å"sustainable developmentis development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs†.But this is in fact a not-careful-enough paraphrasing of the original in the Brundtland report which read: â€Å"Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.† (definition quoted from p. of the Brun dtland Report).The Brundtland statement should have been paraphrased along the followinglines: â€Å"sustainable development can under the right circumstances result in the needs of the present being met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs†. This formulation then focuses peoples attention on what is to be sustained, what needs are to be met in different generations and what strategies are to be applied to get the desired outcomes. Not only is definitional clarity important but so is maintaining a strong relationship between the core meaning of words and their various derived forms.For example, the terms sustainability and sustainable development are now used interchangeably by many people.For some, the motivation fordoing this is to find a shorter term to substitute for sustainable development.Others prefer to use the term sustainability as a synonym for sustainable development because they dont like talking about development since in their experience it has negative connotations either for themselves or for others.  But the end result is that two terms that originally had distinctly different meanings which served practical communication purposes are now blurred into each other thus losing the distinction of meaning. Or sustainable development. Sustainability is about continuity and development is about change. There are manythings about life that we want to sustain (maintain) and many that we want to change.So it makes sense to create the notion of sustainable development that combinesdesired change and desired continuity -for example we might change exploitation,unhappiness, poverty, destructiveness, etc.and sustain the rest of nature, trust, tolerance, honesty, happiness, health, etc.Treated in this waysustainable development doesnt have to be an oxymoron (a combination of conflicting terms). While theory says that sustainable development does not have to be an oxymoron, it can sometimes take quite a bit of negotiation before a whole society can be comfortable with a shared definition of what should be maintained and what should be changed. Developing a preferred definition of environmental sustainability The meanings of words gain their legitimacy from shared use, so in the final analysis there are no independently correct meanings, just meanings that are well understood by many people But words also help to shape our understandings and then our. actions, so the key question is not what is the correct definition? but what do we want environmental sustainability to mean, what would be most desirable? How we choose to answer this questiondepends critically on our preference for treating environmental sustainability as either a practical goal or a utopian concept. The historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee wrote in A study of history () that: The twentieth century will be chiefly remembered by future generations not as an era of political conflicts or technical inventions, but as an age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective. Sometimes the meaning of words can evolve into almost their opposite.For example terrific used to mean to c ause extreme terror now it most often means extraordinarily good.The linking meaning was probably exciting eg. the roller coaster ride was terrific†. The quote by English historian Arnold J. Toynbee was used in Lester B. Pearsons Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in . (Pearson won for introducing the concept of peacekeeping through the United Nations.)From: http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates//pearson-lecture.html This could be extended so that we think of our present era as being distinguished as the age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of both the whole human race and the whole planet as a practical objective. If this is so then we can perhaps put aside the idea of seeingenvironmental sustainability as a utopian concept and, instead, opt for seeing it as a practical objective, that is, something to be both aspired to and achieved. But we should be doubly practical. We want to be able to use a definition of environmental sustainability that: makes it easier for us to get things done (the first practicality) and we want the definition to help us focus our minds on getting the most important or relevant things done (the second practicality). To help in getting things done a definition of environmental sustainability will need to: facilitate communication between all the people who need to be involved in the issue make it easier to identify actions that need to be taken in order to achieve environmental sustainability Before exploring how thechoice of definition ofenvironmental sustainabilitycan help us be doubly practical we need to identify some definitional choices that we can apply our choice-criteria to. Some of the basic types of definitions of environmental and sustainability that are used currently are: environmental. referring to just the biological environment referring to all possible environments(contexts) eg. social, economic, physical,intellectual referring to the physical environment including thebiological, the geomorphological environment and theconstructed and cultural physical environments sustainability.. meaning the integration or balancing of social, environmental and economic issues,or programs or actions based on stakeholder or community consultation meaning sustainable development or making people better off in an ethically sound way meaning the ability to sustain something. How should we select among these options if we want to facilitate communication? There is really no sectorof the economy or group of people in the community that should be uninvolved in efforts to achieveenvironmental sustainability.Soifitis possible to use simple definitions that are in common usage throughout the whole community there is a good chance that most people will be able to understand each0 other.Also definitions that are widely spread in the community are likely to be more stable because drifts in meaning that emerge in small groups are not likely to be taken up by the whole population. The compound-concept ofenvironmental sustainability is not widely used in the community, nor is the word sustainability.But the core concept to sustain is widely used, and the term environmentor environmental is widely used.In common usage to sustain means tokeep something going or maintain something.Environment means, incommon usage, either the context or surroundings of something, or itmeans, more specifically, the physical environment.Clearly the Parliament of Victoria, when it passed the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Act 00, was using the word environment in the sense of the physical environment rather than more universal meaning of the context for anything. How can our choice of definition make it easier to identify actions to take to achieve environmental sustainability? Having an action focus, especially where the aim is actually to achieve desired outcomes, means that it is not helpful touse definitions that are fuzzy or based on logical confusion.So treating sustainability and sustainable development as synonyms (ie. as having the same meaning) is not likely to be a good idea.Adding the word sustainable to development must change the type of development we are talking about otherwise why would we bother talking about sustainable development if we could more conveniently just use the word development?So if we say that sustainability has the same meaning as sustainable development what we saying in logical terms is: Concept A= Concept A + Concept B In other words it doesnt make any logical sense at all! This sort of definitional fuzziness and confusion can only persist where people are not trying to be clear about what they are talking about.And indeed some people argue that sustainability is anunattainable goal so they are not greatly fussed about the details of the definition that they use. (That is, they treat environmental sustainability as a Utopian concept rather than a practical goal.) However, if we want to use a definition ofenvironmental sustainability that makes action easier then we should avoid confusions like defining sustainability as sustainable development. How can our choice of definition help us focus our minds on gettingthe most important or relevant things done? We can only answer this by going back to what motivated societys interest in environmental sustainability in the first place.The historical record makes it clear that people became concerned aboutenvironmental sustainability when they discovered tha t aspects of the environment that they loved or depended on for survival or quality of life were threatened with extinction or serious degradation.There was an urgent concern about loss that made people think about sustainability.Were they originally thinking about integrating environmental, social and economic issues?Not at all.They were worrying about maintaining or keeping going something that they valued.How then did the ‘integration or ‘balance definition emerge?After some years of trying to achieve environmental sustainability people realised that unless they also dealt with the interacting social and economic issues they would simply not succeed in achieving their environmental goals.But did this practical/pragmatic (and perhaps ethical) realisation, change peoples environmental goals? Not really. So why did some people then change the definition of environmental sustainability to mean the integration of environmental, socialand economic issues? It was most likely because their practical focus of attention had shifted to the integration issue and they inadvertently made a classic mistake of confusing means with ends (ie. methods with goals) There is another issue that bears on thequestion of getting the most important or relevant things done.Andthat is, in what way does environmental qualify the notion of sustainability when they are compounded?Doesenvironmental sustainabilityimply the sustainability of thewhole physical environment?Or just parts of it?From a practical point of view the physical environment is so inclusive that no real-lifeenvironmental sustainabilityprogram would everset out to sustain and maintain every aspect.If we tried to do that we would, for example, freeze in place or maintain the distribution and abundance of pest plants and animals, the reduced distribution and abundance of native species, coal-fired power stations and an excessive allocation of land and resourcesto road-based transport, dangerous and resource inef ficient buildings, over-built flood plains, etc. Societys are always selective about what they want to sustain even if the agenda for action is still a huge one (eg. maintaining life support systems, maintaining quality of life, keeping native species going, maintaining the resource-base for the economy, etc.). Finally, if we are concerned to get the most important or relevant things done, what definitions should we rule out? Definitions of sustainability such as the integration or balancing of social, environmental and economic issues, or programs or actions based on stakeholder or community consultation no longer seem appropriate and definingenvironmental sustainability as applying to absolutely everything in the physical environment no longer seems useful. Pulling all these issues together, it is now possible to propose a preferred definition for environmental sustainability as follows: environmental sustainability is the ability to maintain things or qualities that arevalued in the physical environment . This happens because people have a way of expressing themselves that goes like this: environmental sustainability is all about .(insert the practical action or implication of their choice).Then people forget that this is not a definitional statement and they go on to treat it as one. A compatible suite of sustainability terms This suite of words has been developed to distinguish: between what is doing the sustaining and what it is being sustained ie. between means and ends the scope of what is being sustained Word (form) Meaning Suggested usage Incompatible usage sustain (verb) means to maintain something through time; to keep it going; to extend its duration eg. communities are working to sustain ecosystem services, or quality of life or other species sustainability (noun) means the ability or capability to sustain (maintain) something eg. will this community ach ieve sustainability for the things that it wants to persist through time (adjective) means related to or having to do with sustainability eg. a sustainability action plan is an action plan about sustainability not an action plan that can be kept in operation over an extended period sustainable (adjective) means able to be sustained, durable or able to be maintained (note: in this meaning the noun that the word is attached to is the thing that is sustained) eg. a sustainable policy is a policy that is kept in force over an extended period not a policy about sustainability sustaining (adjective) means having the propensity or tend Concepts for Environmental Sustainability Concepts for Environmental Sustainability A Perspective on environmental sustainability? Environmental Sustainability The Commissioner acts as an independent voice that advocates, audits and reports on environmental sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to explore the meaning of environmental sustainability. The community needs a definition of environmental sustainability that is easily understood, is logical, and is helpful in facilitating understanding, communication and effective action by all key players (government, community, business, innovators, academia, communicators, etc.). The paper also explores the meaning of related terms and definitions eg. sustainability and related words in common usage ecologically sustainable development (as defined by the Commissioners enabling legislation) sustainable development (the Brundtland definition) triple bottom line. A preferred definition of environmental sustainability Environmental sustainability is the ability to maintain things or qualities that are valued in the physical environment This is the simplest and most fundamental way to express the concept.But people using the term environmental sustainability can specify or elaborate the term further to add extra meaning or to apply the concept to more specialised contexts. What is the physical environment? This is the physical surrounds to something.For example, the land, waters and atmosphere, physical resources and thebuildings and roadsand other physical elements go to make up the urban environment.Rural environments are made up of the farms and living areas of people andthe land and waters and atmosphere and biological elements (species utilised by agriculture, pest species, and native species, and ecological communities both human induced and natural).Natural environments are those where the influence of wild species (indigenous and naturalised) is dominant or very strong.Physical resources, of all sorts, including mineral resources, can be considered to be part of the environment. Physical environments can be considered on all scales from the micro to the local, global and even larger scales. There is no sharp distinction between the environmental and other domains (eg. social and economic) in fact the content of each domain overlaps other domains massively. The key to understan ding doesnt lie in trying to set non-overlappingboundaries between the domains but lies in being clear about the focus of different domains. (Link to) Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Act 00 The physical environment includes the natural and biological environments. What makes an issue a sustainability issue? A sustainability issue arises whenever a valued system, object, process or attribute is under threat.The existence of the valued system, object, process or attribute could be threatened or its quality could be threatened with serious decline. In other words there is a sustainability issue whenever there is something that is valued that faces the risk of not being maintained. Whenever there is a strong sense of urgency, there is always a sustainability issue involved.This urgency couldrelate to something thatalready existsortoan understood potential.For example biodiversity might be threatened with extinction or the chance to realise the potential of a human being might be threatened, for example, if they remain in poverty or their lives are threatened by violence or disease.(The latter would usually be thought of as being social sustainability issues.) What exactly are we trying to maintain in the physical environment and who decides? There is no automatic, fixed agenda built into the term environmental sustainability. We have to look to the context to see what might be sustained.And many people and organisations already have well developedideas about what aspects of the total environment should be sustained when environmental sustainability is pursued. In a place like Victoria, with our culture, political processes and physical environment, there is strong public pressure to maintain (sustain) things like: ecosystem services (eg. nutrient cycling, the water cycle, natural water purification, climate moderation, soil protection high quality urban environments areas of natural beauty other species and ecological communities the user value flowing from physical resources (eg. minerals, energy, renewableresources, water) What motivates us to want to sustain something in the physical environment? We might want to sustain something in the physical environment because it is useful to us: e.g. the quality of local urban environments. Or we might want to do it because we care about the wellbeing of other people or other species for their sake, not ours. That is we can be motivated by utilitarian concerns and/or altruism. Sometimes we maintain something in the environmental domain in order to make it possible to achieve another goal in another domain.For example, we might sustain marine habitats in order to support the livelihood of coastal townships.Or we might sustain renewable resources so that we can support economic development or genuine progress Genuine progress is development that creates new benefits without undermining or destroying old benefits that are still valued in the community.In recent years a lot of work has been done on ‘genuine progress indicators as alternatives to GDP measures .) How long should we try to sustain something? This question can only be answered after deciding specifically what needs to be sustained and why. For example, ecosystems services for clean air would need to be sustained as long as there are living things (including people) that need to breatheclean air.For all practical purposes that means forever . Living species seem to last on average a few million years before becoming extinct though some may evolve into new species.So if we maintained a natural extinction rate for species it is so low that for practical purposes we would need to manage in the here and now as if we wanted all species to survive, effectively forever. Sustaining the recycling of certain materials may only need to continue for as long as those material types are needed technologically, and depending on the pace of technical change this could be for centuries or for decades.It is risky to assume that resources are only needed for a short time however as society might find new uses for materials as technology, lifestyles and environmental awareness develop. When it comes to trying to sustain habitat on a site-s pecific basis, very specific localised habitat or ecological community patches might need to persist for anywhere between thousands of years and just a few years depending on the ecological system involved provided all of the dependent species can access these habitat or ecological community typessomewhere consistently and at adequate scale within their local ranges forever. Is there any connection betweenenvironmental sustainability and social or economic sustainability? Since humans depend in countless ways on the physical environment (both natural and human constructed) sustaining desired environmental conditions directly contributes to the sustaining of people and human societies, that is, to social sustainability.The viability of theeconomy clearly depends on environmental resources and service flows so economicsustainability depends on environmental sustainability. More generally it can be seen that sustainability in one domain can be necessary for sustainability in another.Sustainability requirements can be mapped to show complex dependencies across domains.We classify sustainability issues into separate domains, not because the sustainabilityissues are unrelated, but for reasons of convenience and tradition, for example, to allow specialisations to develop in RD and administration, to break up complex whole into mentally manageable chunks, to reflect historical connections, etc. Can the idea of environmental sustainability drive commitments to specific action? While the idea ofenvironmental sustainability is very broad in its possible scope, concerns for environmental sustainability can be translated in specific practical goals and these can and should drive action programs.See the section How to use the definition of environmental sustainability to facilitate effective action. on page . Is restoration part of an environmental sustainability program? In a world where life-support systems and other conditions required for sustainability have been run down,environmental sustainability can only be achieved through a combination of both preventive and restorative actions.So restoration is a key part of what needs to be done to achieve sustainability.In most instances it is better to avoid destroying environmental values in the first place rather than relying on restoration as the primary strategy.However, where damage has been done that could prevent valued elements of the physical environment being sustained, restoration should not be overlooked. If we pursue an environmental sustainability program how much should we try tosustain? The physical environment is powerfully affected by and is made up of evolving systems ecological systems, societies and economies.These evolving systems will create changes in some aspects of the physical environment and will prevent or resist changes in other aspects.So anenvironmental sustainability program could never aim to sustain or maintain absolutely every component and attribute of the entire physical environment.Anyenvironmental sustainability program must start out by being clear about what it is hoped will be maintained in the physical environment and what can be allowed to change or what will be made to change.Precisely what people set out to sustain within the physical environment will depend on their value judgements, needs, skills and technology and available resources to support the action program and the current state and the dynamics of the physical environment.We cannot assume that we automatically know what should be sustained (and what should not) in the physic al environment just because there is an environmental sustainability program operating.We need to work the answer out explicitly. The origin of the core word sustain and its main derivatives The word sustain has been in the language for thousands of years.It comes from the Latin sustenare meaning to hold up ie. to support.From there it evolved long ago to mean to keep something going or extend its duration, with an overtone of providing the support or necessities that made the extended duration possible eg. a sustaining meal.These days, for commonest non-specialised use of the word the closest synonym is maintain. Sustain and its derivatives (eg. sustainability, sustainable, sustaining) were first used in a micro or personal context.However several hundreds of years ago the Swiss and Germans invented a form of forestry designed to keep the forest going as productive systems over the very long term and this was called, in the English speaking world, sustainable forestry.The idea was then extended to sustainable fisheries. From there it was not such a big step for the term to be applied, during the 0s and 0s, in the macro context of environmental issues where there was a need to sustain the whole environment and human society.This usage was established by the time of the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm. The drifts in meaning Having reached a macro level of application sustainability was most often talked about in terms of sustainable development.The 0 World Conservation Strategy produced by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN or World Conservation Union) put forward the concept of sustainable development meaning development that would allow ecosystem services and biodiversity to be sustained.The Brundtland Report shifted the meaning of sustainable development to mean â€Å"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generationsto meet their own needs†. Then the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio set in train processes such as Agenda and Local Agenda that resulted in many people coming to the view that sustainability equals the integration or balancing of environmental, social and economic issues or simultaneous progress in the environmental, social and economic domains, often in t he context of strong programs of consultation and participation. Many people however felt uneasy with the notion of development as it is often associated with the destruction of environmental and social attributes that they value, so they felt better talking about sustainability rather than sustainable development. So, over time sustainability and sustainable development came to be treated by many people as synonyms.This trend was reinforced because some people found the term sustainable development to be a bit of a mouthful and they used sustainability as a convenient (if inaccurate) shorthand. As the scale of the taskof achieving a sustainable environment and society has become apparent many people have tried to insulate themselves from the enormity of the challenge by retreating into small incremental changes.So some people have started to say that sustainability is a process of change and not an end state, and that its the journey that counts, not the destination. As the terms sustainability and sustainable development have been used more and more in government and corporate circles, because of increasing discussion of environment and development, the business world has started using the terms more and more for its own purposes.Curiouslyin this context sustainable has quickly reverted to its earlier simple meaning of able to be maintained.So sustainable profits, or sustainable competitive advantage mean profits or competitive advantage that can be maintained for the longer term.The straightforward use of sustain and its derivatives within the domain of business is understandable because businesses face competition and hence the risk of decline and extinction every day of the week.This experience of threat leads business people to reproduce meanings of the terms that are the same as those in long-term common usage or those in the area of biological conservation. The benefits of definitional clarity and a strong relationship to core meanings The important benefit of definitional clarity is that it makes it easier to avoid logical problems and makes effective action more likely. A search on the web reveals hundreds of definitions of sustainability and sustainable development Although this diversity is a little overwhelmingit is not really. surprising given that there are many diverse people involved in the sustainability debate and there are legitimate complexities involved.However, a careful review of these definitions reveals that they fall into four basic categories only one of which (type ) is a normal dictionary-style definition.The other types are referred to in this paper as contextual definitions because they create a greater understanding of the context of a term rather than defining its essence.The four types of definitions are: Type : definitions based on the essence: x is/means y eg. sustainability is/means the ability to sustain something; sustainable development is development that can be maintained; sustaining development is development that sustains something Type : contextual definitions based onstrategies for achieving the thing being defined: the achievement of x requires y eg. the achievement of sustainability requires, for example, the integration of environmental, social and economic issues Type : contextual definitions based on the outcomes of the thing being defined: x results in y; eg. sustainable development results inthe meeting of needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations Type : contextual definitions based on what amovement with that label tries to achieve or is interested in: x is what the X movement strives for eg. sustainability is what the Sustainability movement strives for ie. Sustainability encompasses the protection of the environment and people, peace, and end to poverty, the meeting of human needs, enhancement of human wellbeing, promotion of happiness, etc., etc., etc. Furthermore any of these types of definitions can be framed in a more general or a narrower context eg. applied to whole systems eg. society and the environment or just to specific contexts eg. the environment of a particular species, or to specific human communities or a particular economy. The last three types of definition can be useful as they are carefully expressed so it is  clear what sort of context they are creating.But if they are written using words that See Susan Murcotts list of definitions of sustainable development in the Reference section. Where sustaining is used as an adjective (not as a verb). suggest that they are type , or dictionary-style, definitions then these types of definitions usually cause significant confusion. For example, the type definition the achievement of sustainability requires, for example, the integration of environmental, social and economic issues is usually presented as if it were a type definition ie. sustainability is the integration of environmental, social and economic issues.This produces the absurd implication that if we simply consider environmental, social and economic issues together that this somehow generates a sustainability outcome.Often the opposite is true because the issues are traded off against each other and one or more of the objectives are not adequately fulfilled leading to a decline (unsustainability) in the domains traded off. So in this case, a lack of clarity in the expression of the definition leads to a substitution of means for ends and the outcome is unsustainability. The much-used Brundtland definition of sustainable development is a type definition, that is, it describes what theoutcome will be of pursuing sustainable development.The wording that is universally used is â€Å"sustainable developmentis development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs†.But this is in fact a not-careful-enough paraphrasing of the original in the Brundtland report which read: â€Å"Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.† (definition quoted from p. of the Brun dtland Report).The Brundtland statement should have been paraphrased along the followinglines: â€Å"sustainable development can under the right circumstances result in the needs of the present being met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs†. This formulation then focuses peoples attention on what is to be sustained, what needs are to be met in different generations and what strategies are to be applied to get the desired outcomes. Not only is definitional clarity important but so is maintaining a strong relationship between the core meaning of words and their various derived forms.For example, the terms sustainability and sustainable development are now used interchangeably by many people.For some, the motivation fordoing this is to find a shorter term to substitute for sustainable development.Others prefer to use the term sustainability as a synonym for sustainable development because they dont like talking about development since in their experience it has negative connotations either for themselves or for others.  But the end result is that two terms that originally had distinctly different meanings which served practical communication purposes are now blurred into each other thus losing the distinction of meaning. Or sustainable development. Sustainability is about continuity and development is about change. There are manythings about life that we want to sustain (maintain) and many that we want to change.So it makes sense to create the notion of sustainable development that combinesdesired change and desired continuity -for example we might change exploitation,unhappiness, poverty, destructiveness, etc.and sustain the rest of nature, trust, tolerance, honesty, happiness, health, etc.Treated in this waysustainable development doesnt have to be an oxymoron (a combination of conflicting terms). While theory says that sustainable development does not have to be an oxymoron, it can sometimes take quite a bit of negotiation before a whole society can be comfortable with a shared definition of what should be maintained and what should be changed. Developing a preferred definition of environmental sustainability The meanings of words gain their legitimacy from shared use, so in the final analysis there are no independently correct meanings, just meanings that are well understood by many people But words also help to shape our understandings and then our. actions, so the key question is not what is the correct definition? but what do we want environmental sustainability to mean, what would be most desirable? How we choose to answer this questiondepends critically on our preference for treating environmental sustainability as either a practical goal or a utopian concept. The historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee wrote in A study of history () that: The twentieth century will be chiefly remembered by future generations not as an era of political conflicts or technical inventions, but as an age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of the whole human race as a practical objective. Sometimes the meaning of words can evolve into almost their opposite.For example terrific used to mean to c ause extreme terror now it most often means extraordinarily good.The linking meaning was probably exciting eg. the roller coaster ride was terrific†. The quote by English historian Arnold J. Toynbee was used in Lester B. Pearsons Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in . (Pearson won for introducing the concept of peacekeeping through the United Nations.)From: http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates//pearson-lecture.html This could be extended so that we think of our present era as being distinguished as the age in which human society dared to think of the welfare of both the whole human race and the whole planet as a practical objective. If this is so then we can perhaps put aside the idea of seeingenvironmental sustainability as a utopian concept and, instead, opt for seeing it as a practical objective, that is, something to be both aspired to and achieved. But we should be doubly practical. We want to be able to use a definition of environmental sustainability that: makes it easier for us to get things done (the first practicality) and we want the definition to help us focus our minds on getting the most important or relevant things done (the second practicality). To help in getting things done a definition of environmental sustainability will need to: facilitate communication between all the people who need to be involved in the issue make it easier to identify actions that need to be taken in order to achieve environmental sustainability Before exploring how thechoice of definition ofenvironmental sustainabilitycan help us be doubly practical we need to identify some definitional choices that we can apply our choice-criteria to. Some of the basic types of definitions of environmental and sustainability that are used currently are: environmental. referring to just the biological environment referring to all possible environments(contexts) eg. social, economic, physical,intellectual referring to the physical environment including thebiological, the geomorphological environment and theconstructed and cultural physical environments sustainability.. meaning the integration or balancing of social, environmental and economic issues,or programs or actions based on stakeholder or community consultation meaning sustainable development or making people better off in an ethically sound way meaning the ability to sustain something. How should we select among these options if we want to facilitate communication? There is really no sectorof the economy or group of people in the community that should be uninvolved in efforts to achieveenvironmental sustainability.Soifitis possible to use simple definitions that are in common usage throughout the whole community there is a good chance that most people will be able to understand each0 other.Also definitions that are widely spread in the community are likely to be more stable because drifts in meaning that emerge in small groups are not likely to be taken up by the whole population. The compound-concept ofenvironmental sustainability is not widely used in the community, nor is the word sustainability.But the core concept to sustain is widely used, and the term environmentor environmental is widely used.In common usage to sustain means tokeep something going or maintain something.Environment means, incommon usage, either the context or surroundings of something, or itmeans, more specifically, the physical environment.Clearly the Parliament of Victoria, when it passed the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Act 00, was using the word environment in the sense of the physical environment rather than more universal meaning of the context for anything. How can our choice of definition make it easier to identify actions to take to achieve environmental sustainability? Having an action focus, especially where the aim is actually to achieve desired outcomes, means that it is not helpful touse definitions that are fuzzy or based on logical confusion.So treating sustainability and sustainable development as synonyms (ie. as having the same meaning) is not likely to be a good idea.Adding the word sustainable to development must change the type of development we are talking about otherwise why would we bother talking about sustainable development if we could more conveniently just use the word development?So if we say that sustainability has the same meaning as sustainable development what we saying in logical terms is: Concept A= Concept A + Concept B In other words it doesnt make any logical sense at all! This sort of definitional fuzziness and confusion can only persist where people are not trying to be clear about what they are talking about.And indeed some people argue that sustainability is anunattainable goal so they are not greatly fussed about the details of the definition that they use. (That is, they treat environmental sustainability as a Utopian concept rather than a practical goal.) However, if we want to use a definition ofenvironmental sustainability that makes action easier then we should avoid confusions like defining sustainability as sustainable development. How can our choice of definition help us focus our minds on gettingthe most important or relevant things done? We can only answer this by going back to what motivated societys interest in environmental sustainability in the first place.The historical record makes it clear that people became concerned aboutenvironmental sustainability when they discovered tha t aspects of the environment that they loved or depended on for survival or quality of life were threatened with extinction or serious degradation.There was an urgent concern about loss that made people think about sustainability.Were they originally thinking about integrating environmental, social and economic issues?Not at all.They were worrying about maintaining or keeping going something that they valued.How then did the ‘integration or ‘balance definition emerge?After some years of trying to achieve environmental sustainability people realised that unless they also dealt with the interacting social and economic issues they would simply not succeed in achieving their environmental goals.But did this practical/pragmatic (and perhaps ethical) realisation, change peoples environmental goals? Not really. So why did some people then change the definition of environmental sustainability to mean the integration of environmental, socialand economic issues? It was most likely because their practical focus of attention had shifted to the integration issue and they inadvertently made a classic mistake of confusing means with ends (ie. methods with goals) There is another issue that bears on thequestion of getting the most important or relevant things done.Andthat is, in what way does environmental qualify the notion of sustainability when they are compounded?Doesenvironmental sustainabilityimply the sustainability of thewhole physical environment?Or just parts of it?From a practical point of view the physical environment is so inclusive that no real-lifeenvironmental sustainabilityprogram would everset out to sustain and maintain every aspect.If we tried to do that we would, for example, freeze in place or maintain the distribution and abundance of pest plants and animals, the reduced distribution and abundance of native species, coal-fired power stations and an excessive allocation of land and resourcesto road-based transport, dangerous and resource inef ficient buildings, over-built flood plains, etc. Societys are always selective about what they want to sustain even if the agenda for action is still a huge one (eg. maintaining life support systems, maintaining quality of life, keeping native species going, maintaining the resource-base for the economy, etc.). Finally, if we are concerned to get the most important or relevant things done, what definitions should we rule out? Definitions of sustainability such as the integration or balancing of social, environmental and economic issues, or programs or actions based on stakeholder or community consultation no longer seem appropriate and definingenvironmental sustainability as applying to absolutely everything in the physical environment no longer seems useful. Pulling all these issues together, it is now possible to propose a preferred definition for environmental sustainability as follows: environmental sustainability is the ability to maintain things or qualities that arevalued in the physical environment . This happens because people have a way of expressing themselves that goes like this: environmental sustainability is all about .(insert the practical action or implication of their choice).Then people forget that this is not a definitional statement and they go on to treat it as one. A compatible suite of sustainability terms This suite of words has been developed to distinguish: between what is doing the sustaining and what it is being sustained ie. between means and ends the scope of what is being sustained Word (form) Meaning Suggested usage Incompatible usage sustain (verb) means to maintain something through time; to keep it going; to extend its duration eg. communities are working to sustain ecosystem services, or quality of life or other species sustainability (noun) means the ability or capability to sustain (maintain) something eg. will this community ach ieve sustainability for the things that it wants to persist through time (adjective) means related to or having to do with sustainability eg. a sustainability action plan is an action plan about sustainability not an action plan that can be kept in operation over an extended period sustainable (adjective) means able to be sustained, durable or able to be maintained (note: in this meaning the noun that the word is attached to is the thing that is sustained) eg. a sustainable policy is a policy that is kept in force over an extended period not a policy about sustainability sustaining (adjective) means having the propensity or tend