Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce): The Digital Marketplace

Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce: 

The Digital Marketplace

According to the text, it is stated that the “existing and emerging web technologies are offering organizations unprecedented opportunities to rethink strategic business models, processes, and relationships. These e-opportunities are divided into three distinct categories namely: electronic marketing, electronic operations, and electronic services” (Turban et al., 2010). However, to support this preposition, Bill Gates answered in response to a question asked about how do we compete in the digital economy by stating that “competition is not among companies, but among business models” (Turban et al, 2010). Using the answer that Gates presented as a premise, this paper seeks to address the issue as to how Bill Gates’ comment can be helpful in understanding E-Marketplaces.

An Electronic Marketplace or e-marketplace is an online market, usually Business-to-Business (B2B), in which buyers and sellers exchange goods or services. According to Turban et al (2010), it can also be defined as a virtual marketplace in which sellers and buyers meet and conduct different types of transactions. The transaction could either be the selling and buying of goods or services or it could also be the exchange of goods for services or services for goods, also known as electronic bartering or e-bartering. It is significant to understand that within today’s economy, e-markets in general play a central and critical role in economic develop growth by presenting the opportunities for the exchange of information, the purchasing and distribution of goods and services at a fast, reliable, cost effective pace and also making the payment process for all transactions quicker, faster, reliable and safer.

In today’s fast economic and technological growth, the manner in which we carry on transactions also changed and this process will continue to change. Technologies have significant role in these changes. As such e-marketplace has also changed dramatically over the past decade and will continue to change as new technologies become available. Today, economic competition is not subject to our localities, company sizes and languages. We don’t need to be physically present at a specific location or speak a specific language before transacting with others. Through e-marketplaces, we are able to bridge those gaps or barriers created by the traditional system. The introduction of new technologies mostly the Internet or e-commerce and other sophisticated software, hardware and applications made marketing online easier than ever before.

Now concerning Gates’ comment that competition is not among companies, but business models and how this comment relates to our current and future understanding of e-commerce generally and e-marketplaces specifically. Before the introduction of e-commerce, the traditional system, which still exists today, was the principal means for all transactions. However, with the introduction of e-commerce and more specifically the Internet, the means of transactions diverted from solely physical to electronic. Therefore, as newer and newer technologies and applications were invented the need to transact physically and have physical malls is gradually fading away.

Different e-commerce companies employ different business models to attract buyers and other sellers to their website to transact. For example, Ford and General Motors all have excellent websites where potential buyers and other specialized retailers could build a vehicle in accordance with specific buyers choice. This system does not only benefit and satisfy the potential buyers and other sellers (retailers), but could also save the company lot of extra cash and resources by not piling up huge warehouses of unused car parts. Another perfect example of this strategic business model is how Dell.com allows buyers to customize their purchase of a brand new laptop or desktop. This model also allows that buyers to select what they want and not what some manufacturers think they will need. This allows the buyers to be part of the production cycle by selecting from an e-catalog of different choices laptop parts and eliminating unnecessary options.

The business model that a company employs as an electronic commerce has a significant impact on their performance and how competitive and successful their businesses become. It is true as Bill Gates said, “competition is not among companies, but among business models” (Turban et al, 2010). This is a factual statement, because a business models “describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. The processes of a business model design is part of business strategy”(www.wikipedia.org). New sales and “business models such as shareware, freeware, build-to-order, and pay-as-you-use are gradually emerging and as they become widely available to public access, they will significantly pervade other sectors of the business world and human life in general” (Turban et al, 2010).

Reference

1. Turban, Efraim; King, David; Lee Jae; Liang, Ting-Peng; Turban, Deborrah, (2010). “Electronic Commerce 2010: A Managerial Perspective.” Global Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010.

2. Wikipedia (2010). “Business Model.” Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_model. Accessed: 07/15/2010.

Medical Sociology: Comparative Health Care System

Comparative Health Care Systems

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” MTK, Jr.

The issues of public health care system are determined by policies developed by governments. Comparative studies in public policies have shown that one principle stands clear that “every public policy in every country is shaped by a unique configuration of forces” (Weiss & Lonnquist, 2009:373). These issues do not take into account whether the factors to be addressed in the policy concern matters of the environment, public school system, transportation, and health or relates to a specific geographic locality. A host of other factors are said to be fundamental determinants of policies formulation and development. As Leichter (1979) rightly puts it, that the range and number of factors that influence or determine what governments do or, for that matter, what they choose not to do, are virtually infinite. According to this description provided by Leichter, absolutely anything can be used by the government to determine what we receive or what we don’t receive as a public policy in relation to health care, education, financial aid, transportation and the like.

It is on this note that the Framework of Major Influences on Health Care Systems based on the work of Alford (1969), Leichter (1979), and Lassey, Lassey, and Jinks (1997) was developed to clarify these indefinite and infinite forces (Weiss and Lonnquist, 2009:373). The framework addressed issues related to the physical environment such as the presence of environmental pollutants, historical and situational events that influence health care such as (recessions, wars, depression), cultural norms and values (such as high increase in surgery, drugs, diagnostic procedures) and the societal structures (such as the extent of centralized government), economic factors such as the (level of national wealth), demographic characteristics such as age structure and social factors such as (social support versus reliance on family).

Globally, a number of recent studies have shown comparison in the health systems of various countries developed and developing alike. “Using information and concepts from these studies, it is possible to evaluate the health care system of the U.S. and other countries, with respect to such fundamental issues as cost of medical coverage, access to health care, and how well the health system succeeds in producing good health outcomes in a population” (Bureau of Labor Education, 2000; Weis and Lonnquist, 2009:374). The World Health Organization (2000) evaluated the health care system of 191 nations on health care delivery specifically taking into accounts those fundamental issues such as the cost of health care services, access to health care, and the successes associated with these health care systems in producing good and health outcomes in the population. According to WHO (2000) assessment, France ranked number 1 followed by Italy, San Marino, Andorra, Malta, Singapore, Spain, Oman, Austria, and Japan, while the United States ranked in the 37th place in its overall health performance.

Health care is a fundamental issue to almost all developing countries and this problem is intensified by the lack of appropriate technologies, more health problems that develop as a result of risky behaviors and fewer resources to invest in medical research both in the public and private health care sectors. Today, “most developing countries spend only about 4 percent of their income on health care, which constitute about one-half of what most developed countries spend” (Weiss and Lonnquist, 2009: 375). The issues of access to care, quality of care, and system efficiency are some of the challenges that most developing countries are presently experiencing and this is even worse in rural areas where transportation is a major challenge follow by high illiteracy rate. In the process of addressing some of these issues in developing countries, the United Nations through the offices of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other International Non-Governmental Organizations and governments of developing countries are working closely together in developing poverty reduction strategies frameworks to combat against most of the social, economic and environmental challenges, which include providing access to and funding for programs to address some of the global health issues such as eradicating HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Cholera, Tuberculosis and other diseases, reduce child mortality and improve maternal health. In order to assist developing countries and their governments to have access to resources to combat the various forms of health related issues that they encountered that the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UN MDGs) were established in 2000 to be achieved by 2015.

Roger suggested that in order to evaluate the distinctions in health care systems throughout the world, the level of affluence a country possess and its government’s degree of control will subsequently lead to four types of health care system and he termed these as: private insurance with private services, national insurance with private, regulated services, national insurance with public, regulated services and lastly, national insurance state-run system. It is in this background that countries such as China, Russia, Canada and Great Britain have been selected to discuss their health care systems with emphasis as to how they relates with the US Health care system.

China is one of the most populous nations on Earth with about 1.3 billion people. With most of the country’s population migrating to urban communities, China remains predominantly an agrarian society in which agricultural productivity is the hallmark of economic development. Mao Zedong presented four precepts as the ideological foundation for the health care system in China during his period and these include the following; that the availability of health care must be directed to the working people, the prioritization of preventive medicine over its curative counterpart, the addition of modernized health care to traditional Chinese approaches and lastly, the obligation of health workers to be actively involved in mass movements of health related policies. Notwithstanding, the introduction of the “Cultural Revolution” by Mao Zedong shaped China’s health care system. Access to health care was considered a right that everyone must enjoy and this had tremendous moral commitment. Health policies are formulated by the Ministry of Health followed by the establishment prices and also supervise medical research projects. With cuts in local subsidies or government’s fundings, the accessibility of health care in rural areas becomes largely depended on their ability to pay. The occurrence of health related illnesses differ between urban and rural settings. With the dominance of China’s private market economic system created several malfunction in the system.

Russia has a socialized health care system. Their system is based on these foundations that the state has the responsibility and provision of the health care system, the centralization and bureaucratization of the health care system, it is considered as a right of all citizens, the provision of preventive medicine at no cost, and orientation of medical research should be to addressed practical problem solving perspectives” (Weiss & Lonnquist, 2009: 381). It is stated in their constitution that health care must be free and as such it is guaranteed that all Russian citizens receive such services; notwithstanding, it is understood that only some part of the services are actually free. Currently, Russia’s health care system is at experiencing significant amount of challenges and these are indicated by specific markers as the increased in mortality rate, significant decrease in life expectancy and the high increases in infant mortality rate.

Canada, a neighbor to the United States has a current population of about 33 million people. The creation of Canada’s universal health care system was fundamentally influenced by three extreme determinants namely: the extreme prevalence of indigency created as a result of the depression, local governments inability to deliver assistance, and the issues of physicians not be paid for their professional services. In 1968, the Medical Care Act was passed in Canada, which unified all geographical provinces unto a universal health insurance program. This system “covers basic hospital and physician services and services as deemed to be necessary are covered” (Weiss & Lonnquist, 2009: 385). With this kind of system, Canada has one of the best health care systems in the world.

Great Britain has a current population of about 60 million people, which also include Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It health care system is owned and operated by the government and this include the establishment of health care policies, generating fundings as well as planning budgets for the entire system. With government’s funding, British citizens receive comprehensive health coverage.

Reference:

1. Weiss, Gregory L. and Lonnquist, Lynne E. (2009). “The Sociology of Health, Healing, and Illness.” Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River: NJ. U.S.A.

2. Bureau of Labor Education (BOE). “The U.S. Health Care System: Best in the World, or Just the Most Expensive?” University of Maine, Orono: Maine. U.S.A

Medical Sociology: Healthcare to Me

Health care to me is a basic human right, because everyone should be provided with the same basic medical services to live a happy and productive life. However, the question to this end becomes who should be held responsible to pay for the medical services of those who can’t afford the money to pay for their medical services? We are all created equal as social beings, but economically differs in terms of how much money we make and the services we received also become stratified.

The availability of a universal health care system has been an on-going debate not only in the United States and some developing countries, but globally touching the edges of every government. A population that is healthy can also become a productive workforce. The movie “Sicko” assessed the health care systems of the United States, Canada, France, Great Britain and Cuba. In the United States, health care is paid for by private and minimum public insurance plans. An individual can spend about $1,200.00 every year to cover his or her health. However, this can be substantially different from other states and also exponentially different if an individual becomes married with children.

The US Government, health care providers and insurance companies are becoming richer and some of the riches are split between the richer, middle class and the lower class creating social stratification and the gaps between the rich and the poor is increasing. Health is as important as education. If we in the United States support free education in the primary, junior high and high school public schools, why can’t we have free universal health care? It is assumed that the universal health care system is a socialist system. Now the question is what about our social security programs, welfare program, free public schools program, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program, students Federal Financial Aid program, summer free food state and federal grants? Aren’t these programs having some socialist motive and goals? Why should providing a universal health care be considered as a socialist ideology if we are already doing such? To me, we should follow the universal health care systems practice in order to developed nations and even some developing countries such as Cuba and Botswana. Considering the wealth that our current government has and the amount of taxes that we pay annually to individual States and the Federal Government, there should be a universal health care system.

Medical Sociology: Health and illness Justification

Health and Illness Justification 

At the beginning of the decade in 2000, Heads of States throughout the world attended a conference in New York City to commit their nations to a new global agenda in targeting major problems that the world is encountering. This new agenda and goal has specific targets to be achieved in the year 2015. Heads of States of the United Nations agreed to coined these goals and their specific targets as the Millennium Development Goals or simply put it MDGs. Each members nations of the United Nations which include developed and developing countries agreed to design and implement national programs to achieve these goals by the year 2015. Few nations are already experiencing immense progresses in the attainment of each of the goals and their targets. Majority of those nations are industrialized nations mostly in the west and Far East Asia leaving behind majority of the other countries still struggling in the process of attaining these goals. Most of those countries are located in Africa, Southeast Asia, South and Central America and the Caribbean. Within these goals there are specific targets about national and global health issues. Few of such health concerns are the widespread of HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Cholera, Tuberculosis, and other illnesses. A specific goal with specific targets were set to eradicate HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Cholera, Tuberculosis and other illnesses throughout the world most especially in developing countries. However, very little efforts have been made since the establishment of the MDGs in 2000 and the spread of HIV/AIDS continue to be a major health concern. Malaria which is the leading cause of death of millions of children annually in most developing countries still stands as a challenge even in the midst of technological advancement. Malaria which is a preventable and curable disease still stands as a major problem probably, because of extreme poverty, bad governance and corruption in most developing countries. To me the image of being healthy involves a clean environment, affordability and accessibility to clean and safe drinking water and healthcare, healthy eating practices, regular exercises, and access to money through employment opportunities.

A Personal View on the Movies Children of Men

The movie “children of men” to me captures a more social meaning of a collapse society in which greed, corruption, social stratification and alienation dives through societies that we have developed throughout our existence as oppose to a “religious” significance as some are suggesting. The movie tells of the future of humanity in 2027 when all of women on earth were considered to be infertile. This infertility becomes a point of hopelessness among humanity and subsequently led to collapses in societies in which humans’ values became worthless.

It was in the midst of this hopelessness after solid eighteen years of solid barrenness or “no child birth” that an illegal immigrant or supposedly a “refugee” girl became pregnant for the first time. This became the hallmark for a new direction of society giving a collapse society a chance to be restored to order, respect for humanity and human values and bringing back to life the hopes and dignity of mothers throughout the world.

On a more realistic standpoint, while it may seems rarely possible for all of the females on earth to be totally infertile, the movie sets the pace as a metaphor to create the awareness of what is happening in the world today, but on a much smaller scale and different spectrum. According to the World Health Organization’s 2008 report, 2 in every 5 children born in developing countries died before their 5th birthday. Malaria is the leading cause of death in most developing countries throughout the world follow by HIV/AIDS, TB, Cholera, and dysentery. These issues to me are the real threats to humans’ existence and hope on earth with extreme poverty and the global impacts of climate change gradually emerging as the next forces to test us.

Also worth mentioning is the universal impacts of civil wars. Since the end of World I and II, there have been countless battlefields throughout the world. Developed countries turned their surplus resources into financing civil wars in developing countries to overthrow tyrannical leaders, because of their interest on the basis of the rule of Law. For example, the 1989 civil war in Liberia supported by western countries led to the death of 500,000 people and caused about 750,000 refugees and internally displaced persons and subsequently the collapse social, economic and infrastructures over a period 18 years of bloody civil war that I personally experienced (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQSjyYRTDVM or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjSNzNOK4qU . Also, because of previous colonial influences there have been mass killings of one ethnic group over the other. This is what happened in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide that led to the deaths of about 800,000 people in less than six months.

Children of Men portrayed a typical society that has been victimized by civil unrest. In the movie, when I saw the scene when the people were dropped from the building it reminded me of what happened in Monrovia during the early part of the war.

Geography of Mutual Aid, Part 1

The article “Building A Prison Economy in Rural America” written by Tracy Huling provided information from both positive and negative impacts of establishing a prison in rural regions where economic developments seem to poorly developed. In the reading, Huling pointed out that people who support the establishment of prison facilities in rural regions see it as a mean of economic development; whereas, those against this perception see it as a form of demoralizing a community that is already suffering and can potentially hinder other investment opportunities in the area. The establishment of prisons in rural regions would not only serve as a mean of promoting a peaceful community and rehabilitating the inmates, but could also be seen as a possible medium for the creation of jobs for the local inhabitants and create the opportunity for those communities to be opened to other development opportunities to be operated by the prisons plus the cheap labor that are associated with prisoners' workforce.

The assumption that the establishment of prisons in rural areas would bring about economic development and a non-polluting industry is questionable on several fronts. Firstly, most of the people who are employed to manage the daily operations of prisons are in fact not original inhabitants of the local communities in which those prisons is situated. Secondly, prison workers have to drive several miles to work every day and this isn’t a good factor for the environment as by driving several miles seven days a week would leave a lot of carbon footprints in the environment thus contributing to global warming and climate change. Thirdly, the fact that a prison is located in a rural area will potentially scare investors wanting to come into the area. This will lead to potential employment opportunities been taken away. Fourthly, the establishment of prisons in a rural area creates economic hardships for existing inhabitants, since they have to compete with the prisoners and their officials for existing scarce and limited jobs. Prisoners are commonly known for their low pay labors. Prisoners who are paid low wages now doing jobs that should have been occupied by contracted workers either from the local community or perhaps by someone out of the community. Thus, this can evidently lead to workers displacement, dislocation and the subsequent downfall of those rural areas because residents will start relocating to other areas for better lives and greater employment opportunities.

Another aspect that needs to be mentioned is using prison as a form of business. The very fact that rural communities encourage themselves to invest into the prison business with the purpose of economic development into their areas points to how crimes in those areas start to develop. In my opinion, a rural community in the US has different means through which they can engage in a fruitful process of economic development instead of the prisons business. Some examples can be in the area of sustainable agricultural development, renewable energy investment, or the movie industry. The idea of establishing a prison to an area has more economic and social harms than goods.

A prison facility should be located in an isolated area where they can engage in various tasks associated with the sentences of inmates. I know this kind of sound weird, but prisoners committed crimes for which they are incarcerated and serving these sentences out of touch with other people outside the prison facility is prudent in the correctional process. This is why they are in prison, not for their cheap labor. Commodifying their labor could serve as a platform for people to engage in crimes and be thrown in prison just to benefit from this kind of opportunity, just as some people escape the health insurance scheme in the real world just to benefit from insurance in the prison.

The article “How Eminent Domain Ran Amok” written by Carla T. Main talks about how the government use their unexpressed powers listed in the Fifth Amendment to take private property on the premise for public use. The use of such power by the government to take away the property of its citizen is a violation of their rights to freedom, justice and equality. Those who wrote the 5th Amendments never had such intentions in their mind when they were drafting the documents. To me such takings should be associated with the implementation of facilities or resources that could be used by the general public without the motive of profiteering. Nevertheless, the takings of private property and then reselling those properties to other private corporations with the sole purpose of economic development is in contradiction to the original intent of the 'Founding Fathers.'

The article written by Nancy Fraser and Linda Gordon entitled “A Genealogy of Dependency: Tracing a Keyword of the U.S. Welfare State” is a very interesting piece to read. It states in middle of the first paragraph that “Dependency” is an incomplete state in life, which the writers suggested, that is normal in childhood and considered abnormal is adulthood. From the global perspective, this is base on cultural and social differences. In other cultures and societies where individuals in communities dependent on each other this could be considered as a productive efforts to enhance community relations, to promote survival of each other and the community at large. This is commonly practice in most developing countries where the community is an integral part of an individual’s life and development. In the United States, the decency to depend of others for survival is considered abnormal in this article and this is some how associated with weakness, laziness and burdensome to the entire community, state and the nation at large.

It is also interesting to know that while it is true that most Americans considered themselves to be independent, self-sufficient, self-reliant and productive citizens, which is true about 90% of the time, some policies instituted by the local, state and federal government do promote the very attitude and behavior that these two writers wrote about “dependency.” Some programs instituted by the local, state, and the federal government does undermine the very independent nature of most Americans and promotes the “dependency syndrome”. These programs include the welfare program, Mass Health, Financial Aid from the State and Federal Government, the Public Schools Feeding Program and Transportation systems, Medicare, Medicaid, and the new 'Obamacare fiasco'. The Department of Children and Families (DCF) is one such state run agencies that seem to take the place of an incompetent family or families.

While it is true that most Americans are considered to be poor, the rate of dependency on society on the state and federal government will continue to increase exponentially. The happy few have most of the nation's wealth and the sad many have fewer of the nation's wealth thus creating the organization and implementation of these dependency programs. To me, the gap between the rich few (independent Americans) and the poor many (dependent Americans) will continue to increase exponentially and at an unprecedented rate it this current economic trend continues. The problem is an economic system that makes one group (the rich) have access to most of the resources while other group (the poor) with limited resources.

Geography of Mutual Aid, Part 2

This is a response to the article written by Shellenberger and Nordhaus entitled “The Death of Environmentalism.” The focus of their work is that environmental community’s narrow definition of its self-interest leads to a kind of policy literalism that undermines its power to create substantial changes on how we relate to the environment in terms of production, industrialization and urbanization.

Shellenberger and Nordhaus presented several cases (from energy efficient light bulbs, to hybrid cars, etc) about how current environmentalists seek to institute policies affecting specific aspects of the environment in accordance with their interest, as oppose to seeing the environment as a collection of processes and substances that work together to create and sustain life. On this note, they concluded their study on the conceptualization that the current thoughts as what is constituted to be “environmental” has been narrowed down to definition of specific aspects in the environment, in this case, a “thing” or “substance” of “interest rather than a connection of processes and things in the Universe” (Shellenberger and Nordhaus, 2004).

They also asserted that in scope of the current trends in the environmental movement as pointed out earlier, which is solely base on political interests and their need to exploit the environment for a particular resource(s), that modern environmentalism is no longer capable of dealing with the world’s most serious ecological crisis, because as their study found, over the last 15 years environmental foundations and organizations have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into combating global warming and climate change. "We have strikingly little to show for it” (Shellenberger and Nordhaus, 2004). This is an overstatement of the fact because considering our economic system and how we live our lives in this country; people are trying their best to rethink how they use resources from the environment or how they conserve energy. Their statement underscores lots of community-based approaches, actions and statewide programs that seek to reduce our impacts on the environment. Considering our current economic development and lifestyle, it will be totally unworthy to degenerate our lifestyles into the lifestyles of prehistoric times. What I think should be done and is partly in progress is to redefine how we use resources from the environment in a sustainable manner. On this note, the invention of hybrid cars and energy efficient light bulbs and other equipments are necessary if we want to have a significant positive impact on the environment and thus reduce the release of greenhouse gases (GHG) into the Earth’s atmosphere. A change in our political system that will promote and enhance environmental protection and sustainability is a hallmark of what I think is necessary. We need people from the local, state and national levels in various offices both in the private and public sectors that will institute “good environmental policies” not on the basis of their political or personal interests, but for the interest of humanity and nature at large. This will be conditioned on excellent programs that will educate the general public (without bias) about issues concerning the environment and how life on Earth is dependent on how we use, manage, protect and sustain nature’s resources. This change is not the sole responsibility of some few individuals who call themselves environmentalists, but all of humanity. This rest on each and everybody and it is our collective and individual responsibilities to make sure that the environment is protected and sustained.

“In the face of perhaps the greatest calamity in modern history, environmental leaders are sanguine that selling technical solutions like florescent light bulbs, more efficient appliances, and hybrid cars will be sufficient to muster the necessary political strength to overcome the alliance of neoconservative ideologues and industry interests in Washington, D.C” (Shellenberger and Nordhaus, 2004). I think this statement is not realistic and seems to be an understatement about the efforts made so far to help reduce the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and through this mean conserve energy. Are they suggesting that we should do away with electricity? How can we be able to address the energy crisis, if we are limited by creativity in developing equipments that efficiently conserve energy? One means is through the development of energy efficient devices that will conserve energy as oppose to wasting energy.

This is a summary of what I understood from the article written by Stephen Healy (now a Professor at Worcester State College) and Julie Graham entitled “Building Community Economics: A Post-capitalist Project of Sustainable Development.” This article suggests that the economy is considered to be powerful, it is not the only source of power within a country or state. “The economy can be thought of as a global system or container that determines the fate of all localities irrespective of their localities, demographic characteristics, nations, regions within nations, or municipalities” (Healy and Graham, 2008). Localities are a subset of the global economy. Based upon the assumption that “export generates economic development, which brings money to the local area from other regions. This can subsequently lead to more available job opportunities for local community members involved in the input and output processes. The authors used the conception of “castration” to demonstrate the idea of the relationship between the global economy and the local economic development in which “firms function or act as the father when they decide on one community or against the other in an effort to get the biggest incentives package” (Healy and Graham, 2008). It is expedient for individual communities to demonstrate that they are ready to accomplish their demands in order to be permitted some modicum of the development package. This will also evidently involved for communities to sacrifice some rights, which may likely involved substantial impacts on the environment and adverse health impact by the activities and process of their economic development programs.

Energy Studies: Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emission

Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emission:
Calculations of Four Electronic Products

Energy is the ability to do work. All of life on earth is powered by solar radiation a fragment of the energy that is emitted from the sun. However, humans only use a small portion of the energy generated by the sun. Since the Agricultural and industrial revolution, our dependence on energy provided by fossil fuel is inevitable. However, with the exponential increase in the human population globally and an increase in the automobile industry as well as other aspects of our lives that are so much dependent on energy provided by oil, coal and fossil fuel we are deem to collapse if proactive measures are not taken immediately to conserve energy and develop efficient and sustainable option for our energy crisis.
The following calculations of four basic household electronic devices that we all use daily provide some evidence why we should now start thinking about energy conservation if we weren’t cautious of these issues before taking this class. As such, the purpose of this paper is to provide detail calculations of energy use for four electronic devices and how over a specific period of time these devices contribute to the release of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere thus leading to climate change and subsequently global warming.
The electronic devices to be considered for this analysis will include an Energy Star Insignia LCD 32” High Definition Television set with total energy consumption rate of 81 watts, an Energy Star Brother DCP 7020 Printer with energy consumption rate of about 75 watts when it is in the ready mode, an Energy Star Samsung Blue Ray Disc Player P3600 with an energy consumption of 65 watts and lastly my Macbook 13” which needs about 25 watts to operate and the battery when fully charged last for about 7 hours.
To calculate the CO2 emission per device I used the electricity (national weighted average including all generation types), which is 1.57 lbs/kWh. In order to calculate the energy use and total cost of the above listed electronic devices the following formula was used, because it best described the items involved in the calculations.
Formula 1: Total Energy Cost (TEC) = Watts * Hours used * Days of the year / 1000 watts * Cost per Kilowatts Hour.

1. Insignia LCD TV:
• Total Energy Cost (TEC) = 81watts * 3hrs * 365 days /1000 watts * $8.32/1kWh= $737.94
• CO2 Emission = 81 watts * 3 hrs * 365 days / 1000 watts * 1.57 lbs/kWh = 139.25 btu per unit of fuel used.
2. DCP Brother Printer:
• Total Energy Cost = 75 watts * 4 hrs * 365 days / 1000 watts * $8.32/1kWh = $911.04
• CO2 Emission = 75 watts * 4 hrs * 365 days / 1000 watts * 1.57lbs/kWh = 171.92 btu per unit of fuel used.
3. Samsung Blue DVD:
• Total Energy Cost = 65 watts * 4 hrs * 300 days / 1000 watts * $8.32/1kWh = $648.96
• CO2 Emission = 65 watts * 4 hrs * 300 days / 1000 watts * 1.57 lbs/kWh = 122.46 btu per unit of fuel used.
4. MacBook Laptop:
• Total Energy Cost = 25 watts * 6 hrs * 180 days / 1000 watts * $8.32/1kWh = $224.64
• CO2 Emission = 25 watts * 6 hrs * 180 days / 1000 watts * 1.57 lbs/kWh = 42.39

Radical Simplicity and Survival

Review of Radical Simplicity

by Jim Merkel and

The Triple Crisis of Civilization: Finite Resources, Population Growth, Eco-devastation (Survival Handbook)

“Merkel’s passion for creating a more humane world shines through on every page. A real inspiration,” where the words of Janet Luhrs, author of The Simple Living Guide and Simple Loving. Jim Merkel a military engineer by profession quit his position after the Exxon Valdez disaster, which occurred on March 24 1989. Jim devoted much of his life to develop tools for personal and societal sustainability. He also founded the Global Living Project (GLP) in 1996 as a proactive response to poverty, war, climate change and ecological destruction (www.radicalsimplicity.org/glp_history.html, 2010). His intention for establishing the GLP project was to learn from and create inspiring examples of wholesome, sustainable lifestyles. The book under review entitled “Radical Simplicity” is a product of such efforts. Jim also directs the Global Living Project that consults wit campuses and municipalities and offers workshops and lectures.
In this paper, I will be presenting in summary what I have learned from reading the book “Radical Simplicity” over the fall 2010 as part of the required readings for my Energy Conservation class with Professor Glenn D’Alessio. The book was written in 2003 and the New Society Publishers located in Gabriola Island in Canada did its sixth printing in 2009. Vicki Robin forwarded his book, a well-known co-author along with Joe Dominguez of the National bestseller “Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationships With Money and Achieving Financial Independence (Viking Penguin 1992). His book “Radical Simplicity” is decided into three parts. The first part of the book dealt with the journey to simplicity, the second part discussed the issues of the three tools and the last section of his book talks about the process of integration. Each of these parts is divided into chapters, which discussed the theme of the section under various sub-headings.
Part I discussed the journey to simplicity within the context of three distinct, but interrelating chapters. Chapter one discussed the proposal for building the case for global living in which he talked about how much resources we consume, if we are provided with a scenario to choose. He provoked his readers by asking the questions of “how much is enough to leave for your neighbors behind you in the line?” He furthered asserted based on evidence that resources that we consume here in the United States are extracted from other regions around the world. He also pointed out some of the perceptions that developed in our mind as we are face with opportunities in which we case we find ourselves in the first position to participate in taking what we think is best for us. Without doubt some of us will be so greedy enough that we will consume, abuse and waste these resources while others suffer in need. He also discussed the issues of how products we consume here in the United States and other countries have huge negative impact on the environment. He also asked the question to the readers “have you ever wondered where the pressure to consume comes from? He also goes on by asking “does the rush of modern culture keep you plunging forward on the same unquestioned path day after day” (Merkel 2003). He also went about discussing the impacts that the corporate media society has on the people of the United States by stating some statistical facts and these include: 99.5 percent of households in the United States have access to televisions; 95 percent of the US population watches TV everyday; the average home has a TV on for eight hours a day. The average adult in the US watches for five hours; children between ages two and five watch for three and a half hours; and adults over 55 years of age watches TV for nearly six hours. American ways of life has been characterized by watching TV. People spend more time watch TV then reading the local newspaper. He also pose the challenging question that if we want a sustainable future, then sharing Earth with all is humanity’s only compassionate, long-term choice (Merkel 2003). He concluded that section with the assertion based on empirical evidence that “our intellect, backed by the best of science, concludes that economic growth on a finite planet is suicide (Merkel 2003). In chapter three, he also lamented on the question about what could be learned from the native people who inhabited the land around San Luis Obispo.
In Part II, he discussed the issues of the three roots. Under five sub-headings including: sharing the Earth (Chapter 4), Getting Started (chapter 5), the first tool-ecological foot printing (chapter 6), the second tool-Your Money or Your Life (chapter 7) and the third tool learning from nature (chapter 8). Merkel proposes that in sharing the Earth, it is expedient for us to re-adjust certain daily practices and these include earning less, taking less of the available work, consuming less, making wiser choices and purchasing local products.
In 1902, the world’s population was around 1.6 billion people (Merkel 2003) as of 1926 the world’s population was around 2 billion people. The current world population is about 6.8 billion people with one in every five person being Chinese. The issue of Intergenerational Equity was also discussed in this section. This theory propose that, “the overall system; that is, the planet’s carrying capacity or capital would hereafter be drawn down and as such, consuming more than our average share, the difference would be paid by other animals and plants in the environment. The Earth is responsible for producing tremendous amount of life each year (Merkel 2003). Humanity at present takes about 20 percent more than is being produced and this could subsequently lead to wearing down the Earth’s systems. He challenge his audience to make a decision for a sustainable future by provoking them to answer these questions, if it be wise to scale back our annual take to help the overworked systems rebound (Merkel 2003). He further suggested, “We can either err on the side of caution or gamble with our children’s future (Merkel 2003). He also adopted the redefining progress, July 2002 by facilitating the process in calculating our ecological footprint, a system that can allow us to calculate our ecological footprint for what we have consumed in relation to what other people use and to what is available on the planet.
The third part of the book dealt with integration. This section is sub-divided into four chapters. These include: applying the change (chapter 9), the wiseacre challenge (chapter 10), the one hundred year plan (chapter 11), and toward a sustainable future (12). In chapter nine, he also listed some common stages to follow when an individual encounters pressures and these include the unconscious unsustainability, conscious unsustainability, conscious sustainability, and unconscious sustainability. The process of using the four above strategies to handle stress can be difficult to follow.
He also demonstrated how to calculate the monthly footprint of the energy we use and the results can also be used to compare with other equipments that we currently have. This methodology can allow us to be sensitive about electrical appliances we purchase for our homes, schools, colleges and universities, after-school programs, church, mosque, and entertainment centers.
Merkel also provided helpful hints in process of relocating our families of belongings. Some of his establish criteria for location selection includes the followings: is housing affordable, can I grow food there, is there area safe for our children, will I have a social network of family and friends and enough like-minded people to help keep me inspired, are the streets safe for cycling and walking, can I access nature under my own propulsion, is it a decent place to nurture my life’s work, are the air, land and water healthy and will you be there in 50 years. By placing ourselves where we actually want to be, we are making contextual efforts to sustainability.
In conclusion, Merkel’s book is a productive, resourceful, thought-provoking document that presents the reality of sustainability, what it involves and how we can start to address the issues of climate change and global warming by thinking locally, buying local food, using public transportation, carpool, and eating organic food substances. On an individual basis, it is great for us to drive less, bike a lot during the summer as oppose to driving or walking. Even small things like turning off our electrical appliances could safe us a lot of money, time and other resources.
It is now time for us to save the environment and the Earth by changing our perception and desire as to how we use these resources. It is surprising to note that about 25 percent of the World’s population consume about 80 percent of the world’s wealth, while, at the same time, about 85 percent of the World’s population struggle to survive on about 15 percent of the world’s wealth. Saving the environment as Merkel pointed our in his book should be our paramount concern here in the United States and we should continue to support this effort by drastically changing some aspects our lifestyles that has caused or is causing us to consume more.
The Triple Crisis of Civilization: Finite Resources, Population Growth, Eco-devastation (Survival Handbook) is an interesting piece of paper with diverse views on the issues that each discussed. The paper seeks to summarize the complex, interwoven, imminent multiple crisis that humanity is faced with. The paper also suggested that “energy” as we know it to be is considered to be finite; that is, energy at some point in human history will be depleted. This depletion process of energy, which has already begun is a serious and significant issue that when it is not addressed could cause the cessation and total depletion of oil. The paper is an attempt to sub name the vast information sources including books, websites, and news articles.
As of 2005, it became very clear that oil production could not continue to satisfy. It has been reported that about 75 million barrels per day of conventional oil has not been exceed into 2007 (Survival Handbook). The issue of “Peak Oil” has now been approved and it is no longer considered a theory. About 40 percent of our energy consumption comes from oil while natural gas (23%) and coal (23%).
We have become addicted to oil and its consumption, because almost all our industries still operate and use oil and coal is release a significant amount of CO2 emissions.
About 10,000 years ago humans were hunters and gatherers. They used very limited resources and had little impacts on the environment of their world. However, this trend changed as human societies generated advanced from the hunters and gatherers system to agricultural productivity when humans now started to domesticate and cultivate animals and plants respectfully. As a result of that system, the human population became to increased. With the introduction of the Industrial Revolution, advance tools and equipments were bought. The use of machines created the opportunities to cultivate large hectares of land. Currently, the world’s population stands at about 6.8 million people. Over the past 50 years, the world’s population increases dramatically posing immense pressure on the available resources.

My Energy Consumption

My Energy Use

Energy is the capacity and the ability to do work. It requires energy to do everything. The sun is the powerhouse of energy for the earth. The sun’s energy is use to power all metabolic processes in plants and animals, microscopic organisms, and also natural processes such as the water cycle, decomposition of dead plants and animals remains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and weather conditions on earth just to name a few. The sun is paramount in our daily lives.
However, overtime human has developed several technologies to process raw materials extracted from the earth to serve as different sources of energy for the operation of sophisticated machineries and equipments for their use. It is against this background that I would like to share how I use energy personally and professionally. In order to state my energy use I would like to mention all the technologies that I currently use and how often I use them.
I do have one vehicle (2008 Pontiac G6) runs on 30 MPG on the Highway, a Macbook version 13 (7 hours on full battery), an energy star Samsung Blue Ray DVD Player, an Energy Star 32” High Definition TV, an Energy Star Brother 7040 Laser Printer and a PlayStation 3.
I drive 7 miles to work for 5 days a week. I do not drive on Saturdays and Sundays. I stay home and do my work. If I have to go out I use my bike. In an event that I have to go out during or after a snowstorm I do use my car. I rarely drive during or after snowstorms. I watch television for an hour every night for the news and browse the Internet three times a week. On Sundays, I watch a movie using my Blue Ray DVD Player and play video games for 30 minutes. After that I walk or joke down to the YMCA for some routine exercises to keep my body healthy.
I also switch off all lights in my apartment when I am going out. To also save energy, I sometimes wash my dishes in the sink instead of using the dishes washer. Last year my landlord bought energy efficient washers and dryers. However, I use the laundry only when I have a full load of clothes instead of washing few clothes and eventually wasting lot of energy through that means.
During the summer months, I usually bike to work cutting down my driving and also saving enough money to pay my bills for the rest of the year. I work with the City of Worcester Department of Parks and Recreation during the summer and assigned at Elm Park.
I also grow vegetables locally at a community garden in Main South during the summer and volunteer at the Youth Grow at the Regional Environment Council. I also buy from other local gardeners in Worcester and totally discourage myself from eating fast food and processed food.
Professionally, I work at Claremont Academy near Clark University as an instructional assistant. At work, I have limited access to computers and the Internet, because most of the time I am assisting students on a one-on-one basis. At work I switch off the lights in the classroom before leaving. At school I am involve in recycling materials that can be recycled such a papers and cans.
In order to save energy for a sustainable future of the City of Worcester and for Worcester State College is to install more energy efficient lights bulbs in all the buildings on campus, install motion detectors in all classes. That way lights in individual classes will only be able to come on whenever someone is in the building. The installation of windmills on the campus of Worcester State college will not only primarily provide energy for the college, but it could also reduce the amount of electricity that the college use to run the buildings and power all the computers. The college should now start thinking of installing energy efficient computers. Can you imagine how much energy and revenue the college could save as a result of using energy efficient computers, projectors and printers? All the computers, printers and photocopiers on campus are not energy efficient. There is a need for the college to replace these equipments. It is going to be very expensive in doing this, but over time the college will benefit and will also reduce the amount of greenhouse gas release into the earth’s atmosphere.
In conclusion, there is a need for us to change the way in which we use energy to a more efficient and sustainable manner. These aspects should not be underestimated, because taking a little step now can make a big difference personally and professional, individually and collectively. Saving energy today saves the earth for future generations.

Middle East Studies-A Reflection on Iraq: Modern Mesopotamia

Jenkins Macedo
Prof. Mohamed Eskandari
04/17/2010

Chapter 13

Iraq: Modern Mesopotamia

Iraq has a historical, economic, cultural and geopolitical importance regionally and globally. Modern Iraq as we know it today, emerged as an independent Kingdom in 1932 and its boundaries and major institutions were defined in accordance with the League of Nations mandate under the British tutelage. Geographically, Iraq is a land of two rivers, Tigris and Euphrates, two of the three great rivers in the Middle East. The area upon which Iraq is situated was the eastern limb of the Fertile Crescent, which was the cradle of the earliest known civilizations and also served as the culture hearth from which the first idea of sedentary agriculture, domestication of animals, the wheel, writing and urban development are believed to have developed and diffused westward to the Nile Valley and eastward to the Indus Valley. Iraq hosts the cultural heritages of both ancient nations such as Assyria, Babylonia, and Sumer Akkad, which existed in about 3,500 BCE. Ancient and current days Mesopotamia has periodically function as one of the major political and military bases in the Middle East.
In terms of regional patterns, Iraq is cradled in the land segment of the great tectonic trough down folded between Arabian Platform to the southwest and the Zagros ridges to the northeast. Iraq also embraces four distinct natural geographic regions, each of which has played and is still play in the historical, political and economic life. These include the western and southern desert plateau, the Jazirah or northern Mesopotamian upland, the southern Mesopotamian alluvial plain and lastly, the northeastern uplands and Zagros Mountains. Each of these geographic regions has distinct geographical features and resources, which immensely contributes to the region’s significance locally, nationally, regionally and globally.
Population wise, as of 2004 Iraq had an estimated population of 25 million, which demonstrates how the country’s population has grown since 1950. The increase in Iraq’s population was primarily due natural increases as more women were given birth to children and decrease in infant and child mortality rates. Most of Iraq’s population is situated along the banks of rivers, and canals on the plains but is generally distributed in villages and towns in the Northeastern uplands and mountains. The first greatest concentration of people in Iraq are situated in sprawls westward and southward of Baghdad; while, the second greatest concentration of Iraq’s population are found in the south, where population in Basrah, in the marshes between Basrah and Nasiriyah, and in Amarah fluctuated wildly during the three wars of 1980-1988, 1990-1991, and 2003, the Mosul node in the far north, which is second to Baghdad and lastly in the northeastern piedmont.
Iraq has a distinguish population with unique ethno-linguistic groups. Some of the ethnic groups in Iraq have its own unique culture. However, there are some ethnic groups that maintained their separateness from other ethnic groups as well as identification with the nation. Ethnic and religious conflicts between the Arab and Kurd, and the Sunni Muslims and Shii Muslims have been issues that the nation has been encountering for years. With the Kurds concentrated in the North and he restive majority Shii dominant in the South, the minority Sunni elite in between has historically ensured its control of the state’s political leadership, economy, and territorial unity thus assuring its dominance among the others.
About 76% of Iraq’s population is Arabs, which has dominated other ethnic groups both numerically and politically for 1,000 years. The Arabs in Iraq considered themselves as the eastern bulwark against non-Arabs influences. The Iraqi Arabs represent a biological mixture of many people over thousands of years.
Economically, just like her neighboring countries Iraq was overwhelmingly agricultural. However, the country vast enviable agrarian lands challenged agricultural productivity in Iraq, as a result production from the agricultural sector was limited. Manufacturing in Iraq was associated with metalworking, weaving, and food processing. However, with the assistance of the British modern Iraq evolved a more diversified economy. With the discoveries of potential and productive oil fields in 1927, Iraq’s economic scope changed significantly regionally and globally. With the discoveries of oil, Iraq now possessed a superior economic potential, balanced between plentiful water and arable land, on the one hand, and enormous energy resources, on the other hand, with increasing productive labor to exploit them. Iraq has been long ranked in the oil business with countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait among the region big four.

Middle East Studies-A Reflection on Israel, Palestine, and Disputed Territories

Jenkins Macedo
Prof. Mohamed Eskandari
04/09/2010

Chapter 12

Israel, Palestine, and Disputed Territories

Since 1943 when many states became independent, Israel’s influence has unprecedented levels of international involvement, both in support and in opposition. The focus of this chapter is centered on Israel itself and also discussed local aspects of the territories Israel has occupied. Israeli consider themselves as located in the Middle East, but not of the Middle East. This statement creates the platform upon which Israel distinct themselves from their neighbors in the region.
Judaism, Christianity and Islamism all stamp out of the long historical developments of Palestine as recorded in the Torah, the Bible and Quran. The Zionist or Jewish claims of the “promised land” is associated with accounts in the Old Testament; whereas, more recent historical developments underlies the often-conflicting claims of Muslims and Christians. The subsequent defeat of the Ottoman Turkish forces in 1917 led to the establishment of the British mandate over Palestine in the 1920s. The absorption of thousands of Jewish immigrants in the region led to its partitioned in 1947 by the United Nations. Nevertheless, war erupted between the Jews and Arabs in controlled of Palestine.
Palestine in terms of its landscape and topography is about 265 miles or 425 kilometers long and about 47 miles or 76 kilometers wide. This area exhibits basically simple regional belts extending along most of the north-south axis: a moderately broad coastal plain along the Mediterranean; a broad arch of limestone hills down the center; and the deep Jordan-Dead Sea-Arabah trench on the east. Located in the southern triangle are areas of complex cross-folds and basins with about 3,390ft/1,055 meters on the highest anticline. Because of varied environments, the soils and vegetations in Israel and Palestine are complex. Water is a crucial element throughout the Middle East. Israel’s use of water resources in the Middle East has economic, political, social and environmental significance. With Israel’s unilateral annexation of Golan in 1981 and the subsequent occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza the same year caused Israel to gained systematic control over all the waters in those areas, putting millions of lives in danger. Israel’s achievement of these water sources was a fundamental part of their occupation of the areas.
Population wise, the goal of Zionism is to create a Jewish state in the territory of Palestine and this process require the exponential increase in Jewish settlements in Palestine before the end of mandate period. Thousands of unrestricted Zionist settlers entered the region without many restrictions from the British authorities. As a result, the Palestinian Arabs considered this an invasion of Europeans outsiders, which subsequently displaced the local indigenous population and occupation of their land. The current population structure of Israel consists of immigrants from former Soviet Union, Morocco, Romania, Poland, Iraq and Iran. Despite the diversities of people and languages that exist currently in Israel, this is a reflection of both the national origins of earlier immigrants and the perseverance of mother tongues.
The issue of who is a Jew constitutes a debate, since 1950 when the Knesset parliament passed the Law of Return. This question still continues officially and informally in Israel. However, the 1970 amendment of the Law of Return includes non-Jewish spouses, children, and grandchildren of Jews. This also includes professed Jews with Jewish mothers or those who have converted Judaism in accordance with the prescribed requirements of the faith. However, those who convert from Judaism to other religious believe such as Christianity and Islamism. However, the practice of Judaism as a religion is not a requirement for citizenship.
As per the territories occupied by Israel the West Bank and Gaza Strip has been an integral part of Palestine and they have both been in the half of the mandate allotted to the potential Arab state in the 1947 partition. Israel has continuously occupied these areas for twenty-six years until after the 1990-1991 Gulf Crisis, which galvanized the peace process. The first and second intifadah exploded in the Gaza Strip and West Bank respectively. Both the Gaza Strip and the West Banks over the years have emerged as the geographical and human symbols of the struggle between Arabs and Israelis extremists both claiming ownership of those regions. The occupation of Israel in the Golan, West Bank and Gaza Strip is a violation of human rights and the rights of a sovereign nation.

Middle East Studies-A Reflection: Syria

Jenkins Macedo
March 21, 2010
Prof. Mohamed Eskandari
Chapter 9

Syria

Middle East Heartland

This chapter opens the discussion of the book from the physical and cultural geographic features of the Middle East to its regional geographical aspects discussing Middle Eastern countries in detail in individual chapters. Chapter 9 as such is focus on the nation of Syria, which is situated in the center of the Middle East and has significant historical events to the region.
Syria is one of the oldest nations in the Middle East, which traces its origin to about 3,500 years ago. It lies between the Mediterranean Sea and middle Euphrates River and has since played significant roles in the overall historical, economic, military and cultural developments of the region. Syria reached its political dominance in Middle Eastern political history between 661-750. However, throughout the region’s long history, Syria has served as the epicenter of political leadership. Policies planning and relations have been associated with the country’s difficult economic development. For the sake of the reaction paper, the term “Syria” refers herein means “the Syrian Arab Republic which was officially named in 1961. There is a technical difference between the historical Syria from the modern day Syria, as we know it to be. The “historical Syria existed for more than 2,000 years and included area that are now distributed among Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, western Iraq, Israel and the Israeli-occupied parts of Palestine” (Held, 2006).
Physically, Syria has immense challenges. The country is subdivided into six regions namely: the Mediterranean coast plain, succession of mountains, geologic active zones (Palmyra Folds), steppe-lands that support agricultural activities, extensive basaltic lava flows of several geologic ages and the Jazirah that is located on the eastern portion of the Euphrates River. Syria has one the productive lands that support agricultural activities, which serve as sustainable economic inputs to its economy. Nevertheless, about two-thirds of the country posses a serious physical challenge which is as a result of the problems of aridity and rough relief systems.
Historically, the northern and western portions of the country were once the sites of earliest villages, towns and cities and can be dated as far back as the 9th millennium BCE (Held, 2006). The city of Damascus known in biblical periods and the banks of the Euphrates River provided significant evidence to these facts. Discoveries from archaeologists throw light on the ancient inhabitants and their cultures and how these affect current and future geopolitical significance of the region. For example, the earliest known alphabet with twenty-nine characters was discovered in Syria in the fifteen century BCE as a result of the excavation of Ugarit by archeologists. For about 1,000 years, the region of Syria was the epicenter of political and military conquests by various empires and kingdoms including the Amorites, Aramaeans, Greece, and Romans. The region was included in Alexander the Great Empire after the conquest of Persia in 334-326 BCE. Later with the rise of the Roman Empire in 64 BCE, the evolving Greco-Roman culture became infused with Christianity (Held, 2006). The country still has evidence of some of the historical imprints of the past such as several “dead cities,” ruins of churches and landmarks of ancient Greco-Roman buildings and architectures can still be visited today as tourists sites. With the invasion of the Arabs in about 636 CE, the Byzantines were potentially weakened and could not protect their Syrian possessions (Held, 2006). Subsequently, Syria became part of the Umayyad Empire and Damascus was declared as its capital. This period is known in history as the “Golden Age” of Syria, which lasted for about 90 years. As a result, Arabic was considered the official language, which considerably weakened Aramaic and Greek with Islam as the new dominant religion over Christianity, which still is influential in the region.
Population wise, Syria ranked the seventh among the sixteen Middle Eastern nations with a debated population size between 17.9 million and 19.1 million (Held, 2006). It is estimated that Syria has an annual population growth rate between 3.5-4 percent. This rapid growth in the population was attributed to socioeconomic challenges such as high unemployment, stagnant per capita income, scarce and limited housing. Because of the socioeconomic crisis, people of the majority of the population are now moving into ancient cities such as the dead cities to seek housing, which may cause further economic problems, because these sites generate income for the country as sites of tourists attraction.
In the midst of the French dominance, Syria developed economically. However, as a new state Syria encountered several challenges in the process to enter the modernized industrial economic systems. Also, external conflicts with other nations such as Iraq during the late 1940s, Israel and the United States had substantial negative impact on Syria’s economic potential (Held, 2006). Notwithstanding, Syria as an independent state began to experience economic growth and development in the 1960s. The country’s economic growth and development after 1961 can be expressed into five distinct stages namely: 1960s was a period of economic build up, from mid 1960s to early 1970s was characterized by economic improvements, 1982 to 1990 was considered to be the downturn of Syrian economy, 1990s was characterized by the improvement, downturn and finally leveled off of the economy and lastly, the opening of the new millennium brought exponential changes to the Syrian economic system. Agricultural production is still the leading productive sector of the Syrian economy. This sector is responsible for providing employment opportunities for about one-fourth of the labor force and continues to serve as the major sector of the GDP and export trade (Held, 2006). The government of Syria over the past few decades used the agricultural and oil industries as the leading industries for economic development priorities. Cotton, Wheat and barley are some of the agricultural produces that are grown in Syria. For example, in 2000 cotton production reached a record high and constitutes about 4 percent of the country’s exports.
However, the variation in annual rainfall in Syria is of significance, because as in other countries in the Middle East water is a key economic, social and political factor that crosses national borders and can either enhance production of crops and animals or severely hinder the production process. Damascus is a vibrant city that enjoys for many centuries fame for great metalwork, damask fabrics, muslins, linens, silk brocades, tapestries, carpets, tooled leather, carved and inlaid furniture, glassware, pottery, jewelry, mosaics and other forms of arts and crafts.
Politically, Syria’s political future came to the world stage after World War I. As such, she emerged as an independent nation in 1946. The amputation of Lebanon is a burning issue to most Syrians, because the piece of land upon which Lebanon is situated once belongs to Syria. This also includes some lands occupied by Palestine and Transjordan. The French and British influenced these annexations for their own gain.

Middle East Studies-The Earth and the State: Geopolitics

Chapter 8 The Earth and the State: Geopolitics

The Middle East is a region that lies at the intersection of three continents on the Earth and these are Africa, Asia and Europe. The region is well known for its historical development, rich deposits of natural resources and minerals, and the epicenter of thousands of languages, the cradle of ancient and scientific, mathematic, economic and religious thoughts. Studying the Middle East involves studying all the sixteen states located in the region and their political structures and landscape and these interact on the global scene. This chapter dealt with the “geopolitical pertains of the spatial interaction between geographical area and political phenomena” (Held, 2006). The term “Geopolitics” in the chapter is interchangeably used conceptually to refer to the political geography of the Middle East. This chapter discussed the geopolitics of the Middle East in several subheadings, which include: Hub and Heartland, the state in the Middle East, peace treaties and mandates, present basic patterns of the region, regional linkages, regional conflicts, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), Operation Desert Storm (1990-1991), Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-present), Strategic straits, the great-power rivalry and terrorism.
According to Sir Halford J. Mackinder’s paper of 1919 and 1943, he categorized the entire surface of the earth and its political leadership structure into a system of “Heartland” and “World-Island.” His theory which can be summarized as “who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island; who rules the World-Island commands the World” (Held, 2006) has received its part of criticism; even thought his concept of a World-Island throws some thoughts on the links among Europe, Asia and Africa. However, Professor Nicholas J. Spykman challenged Mackinder’s theory by suggesting that is it the control of both the Heartland and the Rimland by one superpower or power group that would eventually create an unmatched power base. The control of the Inner Crescent or most of it, which Spykman termed as Rimland, by one power would offset domination of the Heartland by another power (Held, 2006).
As of 1943, only seven of the sixteen states that constitute the Middle East was an independent nation. Great Britain played a significant role in the delay sovereignties of countries like Oman, Iraq, and Egypt. The political developments of states in the Middle East were as a result of the political inexperience and insecurity of newly independent nations. The geopolitical aspects of the Middle East were also influenced by conflicting peace accords or agreements. These agreements shaped the geopolitical boundaries, current patterns, crisis and conflicts in the region (Held, 2006).
In terms peace in events of political upheavals, civil unrest, and war Great Britain and France seem to dominate decisions in the Middle East. The 1915-1917 peace accord was difficult to adhere to and as such they agreed to the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which connects directly to the Balfour Declaration. As a result, they developed mandates and these mandates were designed to be temporary in nature. The mandates emerged from the proposal made at the League of Nations talks at the San Remo Conference in April 1920 and these mandates directly followed the Sykes-Picot Agreement.
The location of a state in a region is a significant determinant of its rule in a region’s geopolitics. However, other factors such as population and it composition, state institutions and raison d’être are of significance. No matter geographical and physical features of a state in relation to its location in the region, each aspect influences the country’s geopolitics. Every Middle East state contains some sort of seacoast, which is a significant factor for transportation, trade and tourism. The number, distribution, density and composition of a state’s population are also a very important aspect to be considered. Within each country, each tribal or ethnic group has a peculiar sense of identity and nationalism.
Religion is a key aspect that seems to link states and regions within the Middle East. Islam is one such religion that has huge followers. Israel and Cyprus lies outside the Islamic realm, with Lebanon between Christianity and Islamism. In the past, the Middle East was severely Islamic and there were more than one Muslim Empire. However, the evolution of localism, ethnic separatism, nationalism, religious zealotry, militancy and the selfish motives of leaders led to disunity (Held, 2006). However, in the midst of these issues regional cooperation continues. The creation of six regional agencies did just that and these agencies are: Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), Arab League, OPEC and OAPEC, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). Several attempted unions were established with the intent to develop solid Arab states, but these unions were short-lived. The establishments of military alliances also emerge in times of emergencies. These alliances were disbanded once the emergencies were solved. The Baghdad Pact created in 1955 was a US-British favored and supported encouragement to suppress and if possible eliminate the expansion of communism in the Middle East, which was been masterminded by the Former USSR.
As states in the region became independent, another problem developed and this problem was regional conflicts. There were disputes between countries about borders, access to scarce resources such as oil and natural minerals, competing ideologies, political, ethnic and religious leadership, and self-determination (Held, 2006). However, there exist tensions and conflicts between governments and paramilitary groups in the area as well.
Another aspect that is worth considering in this paper is the importance of water in the Middle East most importantly when it comes to Geopolitics. While it is true that petroleum and other minerals resources are of vital importance to the region, water is life. Without it an entire population could perish in matters of days considering the extreme climatic condition of the region. The transnational dynamics of river water is of international concern.

Middle East Studies-A Reflection:Riches Beneath the Earth

Jenkins Macedo
Prof. Mohamed Eskandari
Chapter 6 Reaction Paper
March 14 2010

Riches Beneath the Earth

The Middle East is well noted for its riches in natural minerals deposited in the region as a result of geologic processes over the period of Earth’s History. This chapter is focused on the enormous wealth of the region in the form of petroleum, natural gas resources in the form of associated and non-associated gases, which add on the region’s historical development and influences on the global economy, geopolitics, cultures and development. The presence of natural minerals and gases in the Middle East are associated with the deposition of sediments throughout geologic time scale, which are directly linked to the movement of oceanic and continental plates through the process of plate tectonics.
The chapter also discussed the riches beneath the earth’s surface in several sub-headings such as the historical development of petroleum in the region, patterns of reserves associated with each country, the influences associated with the production of petroleum and comparisons of the production of petroleum in each country in the Middle East. Also, the chapter discussed the major oil producing facilities in the region, which include but not limited to pipelines, terminals and refineries. Also, markets and marketing are also important components of the chapter as it involves geopolitical, political, cultural, and economic and social influences in the region and globally. A significant part of the chapter dealt touched on the formation and operation of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which was established in September, 1960 as a result of a meeting held in Baghdad to manage and control the prices of oil from the region and other members of the organization. As a result of the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, the formation of a parallel sister organization basically composed of all the Arab nations in the region was established and this group is known as the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC). The last section of the chapter discussed other minerals that are essentially found in the region which also have both local and global significance. Such minerals are classified as solid fuels, metals, and nonmetal.
Over the last few centuries, natural resources in the form of petroleum, natural gas and petroleum products constitute vast amount of the items produced from the region. At the 1999 and 2001 average production rate, the Middle East is able to produce petroleum products for the next ninety-two years. There has been no recent discovery of new oil fields in the region as of recent years. As such, oil-producing countries of the Middle East know how important and crucial the singularity of their resources is to their wellbeing and the fate of the world. The oil producing nations are informed of the significant external influences associated with the production, transportation, distribution and marketing of their resources.
However, civil unrest, political upheavals, wars, tribal tension, natural disasters are also factors that seem to have impact on the production of these resources in the region. The Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, the Gulf War in the 1990s, the invasion of Iraq in 2001 by a US lead coalition forces caused just to name a few have significant decreases on the net production of these natural resources and also negatively impacted on the local and global prices of oil and other natural resources.
Besides petroleum, the production and utilization of natural gas have been the epicenter of economic mineral activities in the Middle East (Held, 2003). The region also contains significant amount of mineral deposits that caused attention to be shifted on the region. For example, Turkey, Iran and Cyprus all lies along the mineralized Fold Belt that has long produced significant amount of solid minerals. Fold Belts are usually located in areas where two plates collide as a result of plates’ movement along subduction zones. Jordan, Syria, Israel, Egypt and Iraq produce potential amounts of phosphate from the Dead Sea; whereas, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are planning to revive and expand the mining of solid minerals in the form of crystalline.

Middle East Studies: The Desert and the Sown: Land Use

Jenkins Macedo
Professor Mohamed Eskandari
March 3, 2010

Chapter 5
The Desert and the Sown: Land Use

This chapter outlined and discussed in detail the topographical composition and land use of the Middle East within the context of Agricultural productivities, landholding and reform systems, precipitation induced farming, water resources, the roles and function of animals, forestry and fishery. Agricultural conditions, systems in the Middle East are significantly different throughout the region. The geographic landscapes of the region influence greatly the kind of crops that can be grown in each country. This is also influence by the climate system in each country in the Middle East. Lands that can be used to support agricultural activities can be grouped into three headings and these headings are: sub-humid and humid areas that can be used to cultivate crops that are reliant on precipitation without irrigation, irrigated areas are situated in deserts and semi-deserts regions and arid and semi-arid topography that can be used nomads and pastoralists for the grazing of their animals.
Before the establishment and use of oil as the chief economic products by some countries in the Middle East, Agriculture and fishing used to serve as the main economic industries. However, following 1950s and 1960s, this trend changed as about sixteen countries in the Middle East started importing more than 50% of their national products. Also important to mention is the establishment of the petroleum industries throughout the region, which have dramatic impacts on the region most especially the Gulf coastal cities and major towns. Mining is also an important industry in the area. For example, in Yemen mining accounts for about 27%.
Some other factors that seem to influence the productive nature of most Middle Eastern countries are associated with the physical environment. These include the climate system, soils and traditions, techniques and technology (Held, 2006). The problem is associated with the high moisture content in the soil and air, soil structure, texture and composition. However, in areas where precipitation is minimum irrigation facilities are set up to irrigate farming lands. Soils texture, structure and composition are enhanced by new agro-technology. Also, the distribution of mountains and other geographic features throughout the region creates the inability to engage in large-scale agricultural production.
Landholdings and land reforms are two important cultural and social aspects that are directly related to land use. Throughout the region, the predominant land tenure systems that are commonly practices are as follow: the state-owned land, private land ownership and lands own my religious institutions. Before the mid-1950s and early 1960s, relatively small amount of people in the Middle East including Egypt had access to larger amounts of lands. However, as a result of the land reforms, lands were redistributed and this reform process also affected previous landowners.

Middle East Studies: Patterns of Peoples, Cultures and Settlements

Jenkins Macedo
Prof. M. Eskandari
23 February 2010
Chapter 4

Patterns of Peoples, Cultures and Settlements

This chapter provided specific demographic details concerning the patterns of peoples, cultures and settlements of the Middle East. The Middle East has several complexities relating to the distribution of the population and people. These complexities are influenced by the region’s biophysical, cultural and historical developments over centuries.
Over the years, the populations of the countries in the Middle East increase exponentially and this can be attributed to the region’s favorable environmental conditions and its increasing economic importance in both the regional and the global sphere. Since the early 1950s, urbanization in various cities in the region greatly increased which can be directly linked to the result of population shift from settling in rural areas to urban communities. For example, “Turkey, Iran and Egypt have population approaching 70 million” (Held, 2003). These three countries constitute the hub of the power core of the Middle East with Iraq following behind as one of the most important country in the Middle East with immense historical, political and economic influences. Also, the trend of the forms of migration in the region also play significant role in defining its people. The issues of civil unrest, political instabilities, and the search for better economic opportunities, and war influenced the force migration of people as emigrants to the United States, Canada, Western Europe, and Australia. This forced movement of people from the Middle Eastern countries greatly impacted the population and economic development of the region in so many ways.
The people of the Middle East have a long history, which makes the region very interesting to study. The importance of the diversities among the people of the Middle East can be seen in the variations in their languages, religion, history, and cultures, which include their customs, dress, and values. The variations in their languages, religion and cultures serve as the platform for the establishment of different group identities and nations that is distinctive and peculiar from each other. Language and religion are two of the paramount cultural features to consider when studying the Middle East, because these are intertwine. More than half of the countries in the Middle East are Arab states; notwithstanding, about half of the population of the region is non-Arab.
The essential element through which every cultural value can be taught to current and future generation is language. It is the paramount characteristics in defining ethnic groups specifically if the variation has to do with ethnic-oriented linguistics. The Middle East has six predominant linguistic groups with about twenty-five other languages spoken by inhabitants of the “less accessible basins, valleys, and plateaus” (Held, 2003). The main languages spoken in the Middle East in accordance with the number of speakers are as follows: Arabic, Turkish, Farsi, Kurdish, Azeri and Hebrew. Other languages such as Baluchi, Luri or Caspian, Tajik, Pushtun, Punjabi, Hazara, Greek, and Armenian are also spoken there, but with fewer speakers.
Religion is an important aspect of the Middle East, because the Middle East is the birthplace and nucleus or epicenter of the three major monotheistic world religions, which are Judaism, Christianity, and Islamism. The historical, cultural, social, economic, and geo-political development of the Middle East has been a product of the region’s endless connection with religion. As of 2003, statistics show that the population of the Muslim faithful was around 297 million, which constituted about 92 percent of the region’s population. Christianity is the second largest religion with about 13 million believers and Judaism with about 5 million adherents. Other religions found in the Middle East include Kurdish Yazidis, Zoroastrianism, Mandaeans, and Baha’ism also with fewer followers.
The kind of settlement patterns found in the Middle East is dependent on each individual cities and states. There are varieties of settlement types, forms, and functions established in the context of each individual city and state historical, environmental, traditional and national systems. Settlement type is a function of the population size of the location, city or state.

Middle East Studies: Patterns of Time: Historical-Geographical Foundation

Jenkins Macedo
Prof. Eskandari
February 17, 2010
Chapter 3

Patterns of Time: Historical-Geographical Foundation

This chapter was my favorite, because it brought back to my knowledge what I learned about the Middle East several years ago in another cause related to the historical developments of the Holy Land before and after biblical periods.

The current geographic location upon which the Middle East is situated has been in existence since the discovery of humans’ civilization. It can be argued that the Middle East is the beginning place of human civilization, which started around the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in ancient Mesopotamia.
The region encompasses successive cultures, kingdoms and empires and also serves as the birthplace of the three main world religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islamism) and diverse languages (Towel of Babel). Throughout the history of the Middle East, past cultures, economic influences and empires can still be detected from ancient remains that were left behind. In the Middle East, the past is always becomes present. The evidence of the past relating to powerful cultures, empires and kingdoms are brought back to life through archaeological discoveries of ancient remains that guide us back to the past and points to the future.

Certain sites in the Middle East in the past had very significant religious influences and these same areas became the epicenter for later groups who continued in the steps of their ancestors. The annual pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina by the Muslims faithful in fulfillment of their religious duties is one of such examples. However, multiple religious groups use some sites together and this in most cases led to disputes and subsequent wars. Nevertheless, over the years, the Middle East also developed several infrastructures such as irrigation systems, transportation routes, and agricultural structures like the terraces for farm animals. Also, the use of natural resources in the region increased significantly as human population in the region increased. Culture and Art are also enriching in each society in the Middle East as every city and town has a distinct cultural makeup from each other. With the assistance of archaeological and excavation works done in the Middle East, we are able to discovered the magnificent past of the region, which shares light on the present. However, the illegal excavation and trading of ancient artifacts of the region on the black-market without due respect to the people and their cultures is a shame to humanity.

Historically, the Middle East played and is still playing a significant role in global politics. The region hosted the seats of some of the world’s powerful and influential kingdoms and empires. Some of the most important and significant kingdoms, which existed in the region and played important roles in shaping the cultures, economy, military and trade included but not limited to the Akkadians subdued the Sumerians in 2335 BCE originating from the Arabian Peninsula. The Gutians of the Zagros Mountains in about 2200 BCE later overran the Akkadians. The Sumerians reunited with the Akkadians and established their stronghold at Ur, but later reached their peak in 2000 BCE. This gives rise to another Semitic group to be established; that is, the Babylonians. Under one of the most influential Kings in the Middle East, Hammurabi, the Babylonians controlled all of Mesopotamia. The Babylonian Empire played an important role in the historical, cultural and military development of Mesopotamia for about 2,000 years. In about 539 BCE, the Babylonian Empire fell to the rise winds of the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great. The Persian Empire lasted for about 200 years before crumbling to horses of Alexander The Great in between 334 and 326 BCE. Alexander served his empire for only three years before he died of high fever at the age of thirty-three. His military commanders then divided his Kingdom. Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires emerged to be influential in Egypt and the Middle East. The Roman Empire was the next very important empire that emerged to control the affairs of the Middle East after the fall of Alexander’s empire and those of his Generals.

Middle East Studies-A Reflection

Jenkins Macedo
Professor M. Eskandari
Reflection on Chapters 2

Chapter 2 was lengthen than chapter 1 and provided detail geographic information of the landforms of the Middle East, its Water Systems, the region’s skies and winds that influence the climate system and other environmental features such as soil and their ecological relationships, vegetation and animal life.
The landform patterns of the Middle East include the stable interior province such as the Nubian-Arabian Shield, the Mobile Belt and the Median Trough, which is an intermediate between the two. The Nubian-Arabian Shield contains both the narrow coastal plain, “Tihamah that extends virtually the full length of the Arabian Peninsula’s to the Red Sea coast and supported by tremendous mountain ranges” (Held, 2006 pg. 19). Sedimentary materials found in the eastern Arabian Peninsula overlies the basement rocks found in the Fertile Crescent and the Syrian Desert which are located in the heart of the Middle East. Nevertheless, strata found in the central areas of the Middle East are more level and are mainly made up of Cretaceous limestone. An important “geomorphic feature of the western Fertile Crescent is the Levant Rift System, which is a great trench that extends from the northwestern end to the Red Sea up the Gulf of Aqabah and along the Wadi al-Arabah, Dead Sea, Jordan River Valley and the Bekaa of Lebanon” (Held, 2006 pg. 20). According to the plates tectonics theory this feature is located on a transformed fault, which is also an active geologic hot spot. The Mobile Belt or as it is sometimes called “Fold Belt” is a continuous band of folded, faulted and compressed mountains extending from the western to eastern Anatolia and southeastward leading to Iran and eastward to the Himalayas. The belt makes Turkey, northeastern Iraq, and Iran structurally extraordinary and complex.
Between the Arabian plate and the Iranian subplate lies the Mesopotamian-Gulf Trough, which is technically the southeastern edge of the Stable Interior Province and is considered to be one of the most important and conspicuous geomorphic features of the region. It is also the site of the world’s greatest petroleum province. Also, the Mesopotamian-Basin is located in the northwestern half of the shield and is above sea level and subdivided into two: low plateau located northwest of Iraq’s capital Baghdad and an alluvial-deltaic plain stretching from Baghdad to the Gulf.
The Middle East water system is a paramount feature just as any other region of the world. Water is life. There has be significant changes in the water levels in the seas and other water bodies in the Middle East. This can be attributed to “major modifications in response to slight crustal adjustments and variations in the conditions of the climate” (Held, 2006 pg. 25). During the Pleistocene glacial period sea levels fell to more than 393 ft./120 m below its current level. However, with the increase in precipitation throughout the region during the period of glacial maxima, the Middle East enjoyed an increased in water levels.
One important aspect that surfaced in the chapter in relations to water resources in the Middle East is the issue of the use of local water resources by oil producing industries. With the increase of oil companies currently operating in the Middle East almost everyday the local environment in which they operate receives significant negative impacts. For example, the trucks used in transporting equipments and finished products leave behind dusty roads and when those dust particles settled they pollute the local water reservoirs causing local human inhabitants, animals and plants life at risk. The use of water for agricultural purposes also leads to various forms of water pollution.
Water resources in the Middle East have significant influence on the weather (short term) or climate (long-term) conditions. The extensive and deep Mediterranean waters for example has profound effects on the climate of much of the Middle East, Southern Europe and North Africa.
Climate is the average weather condition of a particular place. Climate can also be considered as “Statistical weather.” Climate just as any other geographic features has direct or indirect influences on the people and the activities they undertake. Climate “affects the preferred places of human habitation, clothes people wear, the design of their houses, the vigor of their outdoor labor, energy use, agricultural activities, transportation, etcetera.