Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The impact of climate change on our agricultural system
global water scarcity
global water scarcity
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
“Agriculture is a major user of ground and surface water in the United States, accounting for 80% of the Nation's consumptive water use and over 90% in many Western States” (“Irrigation and Water Use”). As population grows, our demand for food and agriculture also grows. Therefore, we need a more efficient irrigation system.
In “U.S. to tighten tap for farmers”, Bloomekatz mentioned that the government had reduced or even refused to supply water to some agriculture fields in 2009. In Central Valley, the government had refused to provide water for over 200 water districts. In the same time, the government had also reduced the municipal and the industrial allotment by half. Reduced water allotment forced farmers to grow fewer crops which eventually lead to the lay-off of current employees. This is when water shortage and irrigation are not only an ecological problem but also an economic problem.
Since most of our freshwater is used for irrigation, we are left with 2 options: find an alternative irrigation system or continue to waste water. Restructuring our irrigation system will solve a large portion of our freshwater shortage problem. In 1998, seawater irrigation came into the picture. “Seawater irrigation is defined as growing salt-tolerant crops on land using water pumped from ocean for irrigation” (Gleen, Brown, and O’Leary 77). Seawater irrigation is promising because 97% of our planet is covered by saltwater. Compared to 1% of freshwater, we will have greater flexibility with saltwater.
On the other hand, seawater irrigation also has some drawbacks. Salinity is the main problem. Salt concentration will increase over time if we don’t provide appropriate treatment to the soil (Ashraf, Ozturk, and Athar 189). However, authors mention that we can solve salinity problem by using an appropriate water drainage leaching system (189).
Another drawback is that most of our plants can’t survive saltwater. In “Irrigating Crops with Seawater”, Gleen, Brown, and O’Leary mention that the upper limit for most salt tolerant plants are 15ppm which is still lower than the 35 ppt salt concentration in saltwater (77). Authors argue that growing conventional plant with seawater will cause the salt to build up in the root and cause the plant to die. If we want to use saltwater, we have to come up with a much more salt-tolerant plants such as Halophytes.
Additional Benefits: Halophytes
Halophyte is a wild salt-tolerant plant. Gleen, Brown, and O’Leary mention that there are around 2,000 to 3,000 species of halophytes.
The problem of water shortage is one of the major limiting factors in food production and agriculture development in the arid and semi arid regions. Reclaimed water is one of the most significant available water resources that shall be consumed in agriculture and urban landscape maintenance. In order to investigate the impact of water quality and its application method on olive trees this experiment was carried out during 2010-2012 in the semiarid central part of Iran on young olive trees. The trees were irrigated by a new subsurface-leaky irrigation (SLI) system and surface irrigation in line with irrigation with recycle and clean water for 24 months. The results revealed that SLI system could enhance trees growth, leaf area, Fv/Fm and photosynthesis by68, 26, 4 and 42% respectively, although it decreased leaves soluble sugars (47%). In addition, irrigating trees by SLI system using reclaimed water could increase N and Mg uptake 138 and 8% respectively. Plants irrigated with RW showed improved growth (42%) leaf area26% and photosynthesis 23.4% compared with CL water. Furthermore Mg, Na, K, P and N surprisingly increase 12, 59, 30, 7, and 92 % respectively in leaf tissue in application recycle water. In overall, this experiment showed that recycled water could be a favorable resource for olive trees irrigation and SLI irrigation system was more efficient in irrigation in this research.
Meursault in the book tries to overcome his emotional indifference within himself. One example shows Meursault emotional indifference against Marie. In this quote, “A minute later she asked me if I loved her. I told her it didn’t mean anything but that I didn’t think so.” The quote explains how Meursault doesn’t really think about the consequences of other people’s emotions. When he said in the quote it didn’t mean anything to him, it shows he believes human life and emotions are meaningless. He also says I didn’t think so, showing he struggles to comprehend and make his own interpretations on human emotions from Marie and other people. Another example shown is Meursault against his mother’s funeral. In this quote ‘Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: “Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.” That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday.’ This quote also shows Meursault idea of human life is meaningless. This shows that Meursault believes it doesn’t really matter if his mother died, he’s probably implying that his mother was dying soon...
The novel opens with Meursault's mother passing away at an old people's home. When he tells his employer about his mother's death, he is concerned about the reaction he gets. He feels that the employer should feel sympathy for him but instead he feels angry. Later in the novel, after Meursault has been arrested and went to trial, the prosecution portrays him as a cold, heartless killer with no emotional indifference due to the fact that he smokes and drinks in front of his mother's body and seems to show no remorse for a murder he commits. At this point he begins to feel alone in the universe, thinking that his only companion was the universe itself.
Sartre believes that action is less important than the act of choosing that action, and the choice itself possesses value and indicates to the world your personal values. To supplement this theory, Sartre posits that human beings are “forlorn”—without God and therefore without “values or commands to turn to which legitimize [their] conduct” (349). Therefore, Sartre believes that man cannot make excuses for his actions because he cannot appeal or shift blame to objective moral standards promulgated by a God or a religious institution.
... indifference to things that happen and his own indifference bond Meursault and the universe. He even labels the world as “a brother”, unlike in the beginning, when Meursault was passively content. Now, at the end, Meursault finds that he is happy once he sees the reality in the human existence. Meursault also sees that he is happy where he is in society. He doesn’t mind being hated for his crime. He accepts that companionship will keep him from feeling alone, and he accepts that the companionship will be in the form of an angry mob on the day of his execution.
“We are left alone, without excuse. This is what I mean when I say that man is condemned to be free” (Sartre 32). Radical freedom and responsibility is the central notion of Jean-Paul Sartre’s philosophy. However, Sartre himself raises objections about his philosophy, but he overcomes these obvious objections. In this paper I will argue that man creates their own essence through their choices and that our values and choices are important because they allow man to be free and create their own existence. I will first do this by explaining Jean-Paul Sartre’s quote, then by thoroughly stating Sartre’s theory, and then by opposing objections raised against Sartre’s theory.
I will argue that Buber’s position is more insightful because his theory of human relations lays the foundation for an ethical system. I will first examine Sartre’s notion of intersubjectivity. Second, I will examine Buber’s view, comparing and contrasting it to Sartre’s view in two respects. I will first compare how the Other changes the subject’s worldview. My second comparison will deal with the idea that intersubjective relations for Sartre and Buber involve the subject viewing the universe through the Other. Lastly, moving away from the compare and contrast section, I will show how Buber’s model is more likely to give rise to an ethical relationship than Sartre’s model.
We choose, act, and take responsibility for everything, and thus we live, and exist. Life cannot be anything until it is lived, but each individual must make sense of it. The value of life is nothing else but the sense each person fashions into it. To argue that we are the victims of fate, of mysterious forces within us, of some grand passion, or heredity, is to be guilty of bad faith. Sartre says that we can overcome the adversity presented by our facticity, a term he designs to represent the external factors that we have no control over, such as the details of our birth, our race, and so on, by inserting nothingness into it.
Water plays an important role in our lives. All living things need water to live. 70% of the earth’s surface is water. Most of the water is salt water that is less likely to be used in our daily life. Less than 2% of earth’s water is freshwater that can be utilized by humans (Western Upper Peninsula Center for Science, Mathematics and Envorimental Education & Sustainable Futures Institute). Hence, freshwater resources are very limited. Moreover, such water resources are not evenly distributed across the areas. For instance, in China, north region only has 5% of the fresh water resources which supports around 40% of the population. Moreover, water is increasingly scarce in China due to population growth and rapid industrialization during the past decades. It is inevitable that total water use will grow along with China’s economy while the water scarcity is getting more severe, and therefore, the topic of water use and conservation is worth of discussing.
Meursault is a fairly average individual who is distinctive more in his apathy and passive pessimism than in anything else. He rarely talks because he generally has nothing to say, and he does what is requested of him because he feels that resisting commands is more of a bother than it is worth. Meursault never did anything notable or distinctive in his life: a fact which makes the events of the book all the more intriguing.
Camus writes in a simple, direct, and uncomplicated style. The choice of language serves well to convey the thoughts of Meursault. The story is told in the first person and traces the development of the narrator's attitude toward himself and the rest of the world. Through this sort of simple grammatical structure, Camus gives the reader the opportunity to become part of the awareness of Meursault. In Part I, what Meursault decides to mention are just concrete facts. He describes objects and people, but makes no attempt to analyze them. Since he makes no effort to analyze things around him, that job is given to the reader. The reader therefore creates his own meaning for Meursault's actions. When he is forced to confront his past and reflect on his experiences, he attempts to understand the reasons for existence. At first, Meursault makes references to his inability to understand what's happening around him, but often what he tells us seems the result of his own indifference or detachment. He is frequently inattentive to his surroundings. His mind wanders in the middle of conversations. Rarely does he make judgments or express opinions about what he or other characters are doing. Meursault walks through life largely unaware of the effect of his actions on others.
The leaching of soluble salts from the plant rooting zone is a pivotal concern when irrigating cropland. Irrigation water is used to maintain crop productivity, so drought conditions need not occur to induce irrigation measures. Irrigation simply provides supplemental precipitation that may not be achieved through natural processes, i.e. rainfall.
Georgia, Warren. “Humans Drive Biggest Mass Extinction Since Dinosaurs.” Sunday Times, The n.d. Newspaper Source. Web. 16 Apr. 2014
The problem of water scarcity has increasingly spread throughout the world as of yet, The UN reports that within the next half- century up to 7 billion people in 60 countries which is more than the whole present population will face water scarcity (Sawin “Water Scarcity could Overwhelm the Next Generation”). As well the demand for freshwater has tripled over the past 50 years, and is continuing to rise as a result of population growth and economic development. 70% of this demand derives from agriculture which shows the influence of water on food supply globally as well not just drinking water (Sawin “Water Scarcity could overwhelm the Next Generation”). But increasing water use is not just a matter of the greater number of people needing it to drink and eat; it also comes from pollution and misuse of water supplies, by either dumping or runoff of bacteria or chemicals into water. This also “causes other pollutions as well such as soil and air pollution, accelerating wetland damage and human caused global warming” (Smith and Thomassey 25). According to UN report, recent estimates suggest that climate change will account for about 20 percent of the increase in global water scarcity in coming decades.
Rogers, Peter. 2008. "Facing the Freshwater CRISIS. (Cover story)." Scientific American 299, no. 2: 46-53. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2010).