Drinking Water Is An Essential Part Of Life On This Planet...

An essential part of life on this planet is water. Water is in practically every living organism and it is absolutely necessary that water is readily available when it is needed. Over seventy percent of the planet is covered in water, of which only about three percent is fresh water that humans can consume which a lot of is trapped in glaciers and icecaps (FAO). In many parts of the world, there are places where fresh drinking water is not available for people because it is contaminated or hard to reach or some other kind of obstructive factor. In the current media, places of this nature include Flint, Michigan where the water source is contaminated, the state of California where there is a drought, and several places in Africa where there†¦show more content†¦These new innovations do face some amount of opposition, however. There is not an enormous amount of funding being put forth for finding new ways of generating fresh drinking water. There are also not many scientifical ly proven techniques to do so. Currently, the only techniques that are really implemented include: distillation, carbon filtration, membrane filtration, ultraviolet irradiation, reverse osmosis, and ion exchange (Roush). However, these current techniques are very costly and they require a large amount of energy to be used when done. Alternative techniques that are cheaper and more energy efficient need to be given more attention and funding. Implementing new biotechnology for water purification will leave a positive impact on society by creating a greater amount of fresh, drinkable water, creating more readily available water sources in parts of the world that are currently lacking, and by keeping a necessary resource for human life available in a constantly consuming society. One place that has constantly gotten recognition in the current media for having a lack of fresh drinking water is Africa. From lack of sources to undrinkable substances in the water, ideas have been circulati ng about how to improve the situation there so that people may get clean water.

Urban Poor Free Essays

The squatters in the Philippines have wreaked havoc in the country and they are out of control. The problem is quite obvious and the solution is staring everyone in the face; there are just not enough public servants with enough guts to address the issue. But someone has to put an end to the vicious cycle of squatting particularly in Metro Manila where most poor Filipinos from the provinces seem to converge. We will write a custom essay sample on Urban Poor or any similar topic only for you Order Now Arrogant Filipino squatters The squatters or illegal settlers need to move out of wherever they have been squatting for years or even decades because they simply do not belong there. They have long enjoyed their stay, living on abandoned or unoccupied areas of land without being asked to move out. Some of them clog the rivers not just with their garbage, but also with their human waste, which eventually result in the flooding of the streets and residential areas of the cities specially in times of heavy rain. As long as the squatters remain where they are and are allowed to flourish, the Philippines will not reach its full potential as a business hub that finds favor in the eyes of foreign investors. Squatters indiscriminately dump waste onto Manila’s waterways. In other words, the activities of the people squatting are foul. They have no concern or respect for the rights or property of others and have total disregard for the environment and welfare of other people. Some squatters can also be quite arrogant, defiant and selfish when law enforcement agencies finally clamp down on their illegal activities. One video shows illegal settlers berating the court sheriffand demanding to know when and if they are going to be paid by cash or check before they agree to being relocated. Some even joked that the check better not bounce. They appeared to be enjoying their few minutes of fame in front of the camera relating their tales of woes. One wonders why the news crew tends to focus only on their plight and not the story behind why they were allowed to stay there for so long. There is a lot to be said about why they were allowed to stay squatting to begin with. The squatter problem in the Philippines has been made complicated by misguided Filipinos who think that it is the Philippine government’s sole responsibility to provide housing, education and health for them. Not only is this notion unsustainable, it is an unfair burden on taxpayers. Retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno recently said that â€Å"Filipinos must be able to demand from their government their right to housing, education and health, or these socioeconomic rights would remain mere words on paper. † While Puno’s sentiments seem noble, Filipino taxpayers simply cannot afford to fund the growing number of Filipinos living below the poverty line. Some of these squatters, despite living in tiny quarters no bigger than a box, have no qualms about multiplying at a fast rate. Perhaps they have been led to believe that their children can be used to gain access to hand outs from the government. Filipino politicians do not help solve the problem of squatters at all. If anything, they actually contribute to their proliferation. The root cause of the squatter problem seems to be the lack of urban planning from each Barangay and weak enforcement of the law by members of various agencies who are not doing their jobs properly. Obviously, they did not nip the problem in the bud. Had they been doing their jobs, they could have easily evicted the first squatter before they multiplied and became the enormous problem they are today. Apparently, there are times when the law enforcement agencies that include the police and the court sheriff are helpless in certain situations. They are supposed to act independently from elected officials but are unable to do their jobs until they get instructions from city Mayors who hold off on evicting squatters during election season or when their popularity is waning. This was evident when Davao Mayor Sara Duterte assaulted a court sheriff 2011 because the latter initiated the demolition of shanties in Davao’s Agdao district without her go signal. She said that she felt compelled to punch the sheriff to prevent violence from ensuing. The irony in justifying the Mayor’s actions escaped her and a lot of people who supported her when she attracted criticism. Duterte’s actions probably made a lot of squatters think they need to be handled with kids’ gloves. These politicians have emboldened squatters who are now quick to throw a tantrum and use violence whenever they are dissatisfied with the government’s approaches and arrangements to relocate them. Bianca Gonzalez: the long-awaited messiah of anti-squatter activism! Lately, the squatters’ sense of entitlement and tough stance have finally caught the attention of some of the members of the upper and middle class who are fed up with the troubles they are causing. A celebrity and social media activist, Bianca Gonzalez have spoken out against the way the Philippine government treats squatters like â€Å"babies†. She is getting a lot of kudos for her unwavering stand against the lack of fairness in how the issue is being handled. She highlighted that law-abiding citizens work hard to save money to be able to buy property legally but still get taxed for it while squatters don’t even pay anything to stay in illegally occupied lands. It’s been noted that a lot of the squatters show their arrogance while demanding compensation from the taxpayers. Speaking of babies for that matter, some people who can’t afford to feed themselves shouldn’t have more babies. It has come to the attention of many Filipinos too that a convoluted law on squatters introduced in 1997 has made it difficult for the government to evict squatters. Republic Act 7279 merely punishes the â€Å"professional squatters†. They are defined by law as those who can afford to pay for legitimate housing or those who have received housing units from the government but have sold or leased it to others so they themselves can settle illegally again in another urban area in order to deceive the system by asking for more compensation. In other words, most squatters don’t even get penalized anymore for their illegal activities. They even get rewarded for wreaking havoc in the community. No wonder a lot of Filipinos would rather stay as squatters and have adopted a squatter mentality. Who can solve the squatter problem in the Philippines? Certainly, the incumbent President Benigno Simeon â€Å"BS† Aquino cannot solve it. Someone even said that the Aquino-Conjuangco clans also act like squatters who have occupied Hacienda Luisita for decades. Violence and intimidation were key to helping them keep the lands that were meant for the poor farmers. BS Aquino seems more preoccupied with his popularity than providing a permanent solution to the country’s long-standing issues. He will not risk the wrath of the squatters because the Liberal Party still needs to get their votes in the next Presidential election. The President could even increase the number of recipients of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) or dole outs to the poor as a way distracting them from the lack of progress during his term. The reaction of the members of the thinking class is long overdue. They need to step up and call out what the government is doing, which is simply coddling the squatters. Philippine politicians need to quit being overprotective of people who abuse the system just to get the votes in the next election. This abusive behavior from both the public officials who buy off votes using tax payer’s money and squatters who take advantage of the situation need to end lest every corner of the country get run over by squatters. [Photos courtesy Australia News Network, Lucy Who, and Asia Society. ] Related Posts: * A sustainable solution to the squatter problem in the†¦ * The problem of squatters in the Philippines cannot be solved * Land ownership Hell: The Philippines is Squatter Central†¦ * Party-List politicians seek audience with Anti-Squatter†¦ * Bianca Gonzalez’s Tweet Reveals The Pinoy Middle Class n How to cite Urban Poor, Papers

Personal Planning Development

Question : Analyse thepersonal planning development. Answer : Introduction The strong definition of transferable skills contains wide range of skills that are not meaningful for wide range of jobs. It also helps students to develop the productive career as a scientist researcher. To evaluate the data critically and write it effectively in different styles and range of communication, it is important to use these skills in different jobs. Communication is done via presentations and other successful media and information. To develop the core competency in these areas and skills are important for the better scientist. It is very important to understand the role as a researcher that will dramatically shift and it will also meet the progress of student. This way, it will help to understand the learning and to manage the finance and lead the teams of scientist in terms of transition to remain the principal investigator. Thus it does not seem to be the most transferable of skills. Personal planning development is quite important for everyone. Such plan helps the individuals to analyse the personal skills and evaluate the weakness that can affect the performance at the workplace. The strategies to analyse the plan for personal developmental program has to be done in an effective manner. This will help in analysing the challenges and developing an effective program through which the required changes in terms of challenge handling can be implemented. The process adopted for analysing the skills, strengths, areas that needs to be worked, and attributes has to be analysed. This will help in implementing an effective program that will serve the purpose and needs of the individual. Through such an analysis it is possible to adopt and implement the steps that will help in the developmental program. Such an analysis will be helpful in developing skills that will be useful in professional and personal developmental program (Atlay, 2000). What is personal planning developmental programs? Personal development planning is also called as PDP refers to the process for creating an effective action plan that is completely based on the awareness, reflections, values, goal settings, planning, and other activities that are considered to be quite important for the individuals. Such an analysis and plan preparation will help the individual in accomplishing the task that is required at the workplace and in personal life. This term is also used in reference to the career, relationship, and self-improvement. The relevance of the personal development plan, also referred as the individual development plan is related to the goals that have been set forth by the individuals in professional life. The stages that needs to be worked upon is analysed and the best plan is prepared with an intention of accomplishing the same. At the time of preparing the plan, the individual is expected to analyse the strength and the competency level, as both are required for accomplishing the gals that ha s been set forth by the individual in personal and professional life. It is necessary to differentiate or classify the plan into various stages. This will help in accomplishing the set target, which will help the individual to develop in their personal life. Through this process, the priorities has been highlighted which will encourage the members to do the right things that are required for accomplishing the task that has been set forth in live. Such a plan also encourages the members to prepare alternative plans, which will assist the individual to prosper in the professional life (Ball, 2008). Personal developmental plan for career At the time of pursing higher education, it is quite essential to prepare a plan that will include the steps that needs to be followed for accomplishing the task in the educational life. This also includes analysing the portfolio that will be based on evidence related to the skills that can be gathered over the period of time. The skills have to be analysed on a real time basis, as this will help in accomplishing the target that has been set forth by the individual. With the help of preparing PDP strategy at the time of accomplishing education will help the individual in creating self-directed methods that will improve the possibilities of scoring well during the course completion. In other words it will help the learners to adopt better strategies through which the progressive plan can be introduced by the learner that is required for the course completion. Such factors will help in accomplishing the studies in the best possible manner. The plan adopted and followed for preparing PD P plan differs from one individual to the other. Through this method, the individual can improve upon the life circumstances that will help in meeting up the challenges that is faced at every stage. Such plan also helps the individual in overpowering the negative aspects that are associated with the improving personality, reducing weight or reducing the negative trait. In this process, it is recommended to follow certain strategies or steps that will help in accomplishing the task, within the set timeframe. Some of the recommended steps include - 1. List down the details of the resources that are available for the individuals. It also includes listing down the factors that needs to be changed or worked upon (Bimrose, and Brown, 2009). 2. Allocation of time frame that is required for accomplishing the task. In order to achieve better results, it is recommended to make and implement the plan well ahead of time. This will provide the individual with enough time to work on the weakness. 3. It is necessary to evaluate the steps that have to be followed for accomplishing the task. The stages has to be checked and the corrective steps has to be taken in case of any deviations 4. Prepare a strategy for action plan, which also includes alternative plan. This will help the individual to overpower the negative aspects, in case one of the plans doesnt work. 5. Analyse the results 6. Make the necessary changes, in case anything has to be done. PDP for career Developing plans for better carer life is quite an important task, and it requires planning and effective implementation procedure. Before preparing the plan, it is recommended to conduct self-analysis through which the strengths and weaknesses can be analysed by the individual. This is one of the most important factors that will help the individual to cope with the challenges that an individual expects to face. The negative aspects need to be analysed as this will help the individual in creating an effective development opportunity. One this has been done, it is necessary to assess the current skills through which the areas of concerns can be worked upon by the individual (Bimrose et al., 2008). With the help of an effective personal development plan, an individual can identify the areas that need to be developed and worked upon. Through the analysis procedure the individual can either acquire new skills or work towards developing the existing skills that is related to the behavioural attributes. Both the factors are considered to be quite important for the effective implementation of the PDP plan. In this process, the behavioural attributes are also included as this will hep in the development of the tasks that are considered to be necessary for accomplishing the task that is related to development in career. For accomplishing the set target, the following aspects are taken into consideration Develop strategies for enhancing the personal skills that is required for performing the current role within the organization Analyse and evaluate the steps that need to be followed for enhancing the performance for improving the current role (Brown, Rhodes, and Carter, 2004). Analyse the challenges and develop an effective to work towards the same. These aspects are considered to be quite important and have to be analysed n the best possible manner. In some cases, the employers of the company recommend the employees to prepare an effective plan through which the required changes can be implemented by the management. Analysing the weak aspects often individual will help in adopting different steps for improving the personal skills to work as a team member is developed and implemented. Some of the skills that re required for the individuals to perform better at the workplace include Ability to work as a team-member Capable to handle the challenges that exists at the workplace (Burden and Lee 2006). Analysing the challenges and working towards finding an effective solution for the same Developing skills through which the issues that exist at the workplace can be easily handled by the individual. In order to analyse required skills for performing the tasks, it is recommended to undertake skill test that will help the individual to analyse the areas that needs to be worked upon. In this process, it is essential to develop the objectives through which the weakness areas can be worked upon. Such an analysis will also help the management in developing the better methods through which the objectives for developing the required skills can be catered in the best possible manner. Such factors are required for analysing the weakness and strengths that needs to be worked upon by the individual. In this process, the challenges and other factors should be calculated on the real time basis. In other words the information that is mentioned in the system has to be real and there shouldnt be any fake information included into the process (Eraut, 2009). In this process, the below mentioned points needs to be mentioned in the best possible manner 1. Personal objectives - Such factors include the growth prospective and the future expectations of the company. These things have to be analysed and the corrective steps needs to be taken to implement the required changes through which the quality for accomplishing the task can be listed down. In this process, the weak areas also have to be clearly mentioned. This will help in accomplishing the task in the best possible manner. For this, the required skills for performing the tasks have to be listed down in the right manner. 2. Analysing the strengths In this process the challenges that are faced by the individuals at the time of accomplishing the task has to be analysed and the same needs to be communicated with the members. The strengths include the ability to perform the task, the steps that need to be taken for analysing the challenges, and other factors that will be useful in performing the tasks at the workplace (Fuller, A. and Unwin, 2008). 3. Weakness - In this case the challenges that are faced by the individuals at the time of reforming the task has to be checked. This has to be evaluated as this will help in accomplishing the task. Also the area that needs to be worked upon has to be evaluated. This will have to be analysed and the procedure that needs to be followed for finishing the task has to be included in the plan. 4. Listing downs the priorities - This is one of the most important factors that need to be considered at the time of preparing the list for the PDP. At the beginning of the job, the priority is to earn well and learn the different procedure for accomplishing the task. Once this has been done, the individual needs to plan different methods through which the individual can progress in career path. This also includes developing plan for growing the care which is considered to be one of the most important tasks (James, 2008). 5. Analysing the requirements - In this method, the individual has to list down the features that are considered to be quite critical for performing different tasks at the workplace. This is followed by analysing the beneficial factors that are considered to be not so critical for improving or performing at the current role. In the similar manner, it is crucial to consider the factors that are considered to be quite beneficial for progressing in the career. Such analysis is considered to be quite important and needs to be evaluated at the time of preparing the PDP plan. The skills and weak areas are some of the major factors that need to be analysed by the individual at the time of preparing the plan. Based on the skills that is adopted by the individuals essential set can be taken for implementing the necessary changes that will be useful in the future development (Moon, 2005). Conclusion PDP is considered to be quite an important factor that plays a key role in developing the best plan that will be useful in implementing the changes that are considered to be necessary for the individual. The challenges that are expected to be faced by the individual have to be analysed and corrective steps to improve upon the same has to be taken. References Atlay, M, 2000. Integrating PDP in the curriculum. In PDP and Employability. The Higher Education Academy Learning and Employability Series. Pp17-30. Ball L, 2008. Bold resourcefulness: re-defining employability and entrepreneurial learning. University report. Bimrose, J. and Brown, A, 2009. Older workers transitions in work-related learning, careers and identities. In K. Ecclestone, G. Biesta M. Hughes (Eds) Transitions and Learning through the Lifecourse. London: Routledge. Bimrose, J., Brown, A. and Barnes, S-A, 2008. Researching careers, learning and identities: Career attachments as anchors or chains? Perspectives in Education, 26, 3, pp. 71-81. [ISSN 0258-2236]. Brown, A., Rhodes, E. and Carter, R. (2004) Supporting learning in advanced supply systems in the automotive and aerospace industries. In H. Rainbird, A. Fuller and A. Munro (Eds.) Workplace Learning in Context. London: Routledge. Burden P and Lee A, 2006 Personal Development Planning: A Resources Guide for Academic Staff at the University of Surrey. Eraut, M., 2009. Learning at Work during placements and after graduation: what needs re-contextualisation and what is completely new? Paper presented at TLRP workshop on Careers and Learning: Higher Skills Development in a Life Course Perspective, University of Warwick. Fuller, A. and Unwin, 2008. Towards Expansive Apprenticeships. London: TLRP. Moon, J (2005) We seek it here...a new perspective on the elusive activity of critical thinking: a theoretical and practical approach. QAA Guidelines for Progress Files (2001), accessed February 2009 egy, policy and practice in higher education institutions. Sandberg, J (2001). Understanding competence at work. Harvard Business Review 79, 3, 24 - 28. Ward, R, et al (revised edition 2009) Personal development planning and employability, Learning and Employability Series 2, York: The Higher Education Academy Ward, R and Watts A.G. (2009). Personal Development Planning and Employability. In Personal Development Planning and Employability. The Higher Education Academy Learning and Employability Series. Pp 4-16. Westwood, J. Implementing Personal and Professional Development Planning at Napier University. Powerpoint presentation accessed December 2009.