The UK Conservative Government 1990-1997 and the UK Labour Government 1997-2002 Essay Example

The UK Conservative Government 1990-1997 and the UK Labour Government 1997-2002 Essay The Conservative Government of 1990 under John Major aimed to move urban politics in a new direction. The removal of Margaret Thatcher from office and the re-appointment of Michael Heseltine to the Department of the Environment signalled this change in direction. The policies of the 1980s were based on privatisation with respect to the redevelopment of deprived areas. The policies from the 1980s however received much criticism from the Audit Commission Report, as well as Conservative supporters alike. The Audit Commission had described Urban Support Programmes as a patchwork quilt of complexity and idiosyncrasy, and the economic decline, combined with changing patterns of economic growth led to poverty. During the 1990s however, the governments emphasis was placed on collaboration or local governance, which became more widespread. The need for a governmental change of view from the previous decade was realised in 1990 in the review of Action for Cities. The government called for a spirit of co-operation, of partnership between all of those involved in central and local government, including local businesses. The idea of partnerships between public and private sectors was introduced in May 1991. Much of the literature on the topic of urban regeneration policies is interested in the relationship between local authorities and businesses. The main reason behind this is the urban policy agenda established by the Conservatives in the early 1990s, which was principally about the pooling of resources between local government and businesses. We will write a custom essay sample on The UK Conservative Government 1990-1997 and the UK Labour Government 1997-2002 specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The UK Conservative Government 1990-1997 and the UK Labour Government 1997-2002 specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The UK Conservative Government 1990-1997 and the UK Labour Government 1997-2002 specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The new Conservative Partys first urban initiative, City Challenge was set up in May 1991. This policy was designed by Michael Heseltine, and the emphasis was on partnership and competition. The government invited local authorities to bid and compete with each other for regeneration funds. City Challenge placed local authorities back at the centre of urban policy. In the first round of bidding, 21 authorities were invited to bid, of which 11 were successful. In the second, all 57 urban programme authorities were invited to bid, and 20 were successful. The City Challenge scheme had many critics who questioned the selection process. The policy had run for 18 months when the government announced in November 1992 that they planned to wind down the urban programme and City Challenge. In 1993, the Urban Programme was brought to an end in the 1993 reforms. The Urban Regeneration Agency was formed and brought about the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) and English Partnerships (EP). EP was officially launched by the government in November 1993, and it brought together English Estates, Derelict Land Grant, and City Grant. It was designed to upgrade derelict land for redevelopment in partnership with local councils and the private sector. English Partnerships was given powers to override local authority planning restrictions, and used the funds to offer financial assistance as a means of gap funding for the areas deemed to be in greatest need. There was a lot of controversy over its role in the process of urban renewal. When the policy was launched, the government announced that there would be one senior regional director for each of the ten regional offices. This top-down implementation placed full control of the region with one senior officer, as oppose to the individual authorities being given more control as they were with the City Challenge policy. The SRB was launched in April 1994. It consisted of 20 existing programmes, which included City Challenge, and also brought about the integration of the regional offices of Whitehall. The budget they had to operate with was  £181million in 1994 and 1995, and  £ 220million in 1996 and 1997. The co-ordination of this policy was welcomed, but critics argued that instead of elected regional bodies, the government had increased central administrative powers. The SRB was considered to be the new flagship regeneration programme and consisted of three main strands: (i) partnership, (ii) integration of social and economic issues, and (iii) competition. Rounds 1 3 of the SRB were conducted under the Conservative Party, however the Labour Party was elected in the middle of round 4. The Labour Party in power (1997-2002): The Regional Development Agencies (RDA) Act was passed in 1998 and set out New Labours policy of delegating the task of urban regeneration to each specific region. The main purpose of the RDAs was to further economic development and the regeneration of the area in question. Other aims were to promote business efficiency, investment, competitiveness, and employment in the area, whilst also enhancing the development and application of skills relevant to employment in the area. The RDAs were officially founded in 1999 and eight were set up in each of the regions, and a ninth for London set up in 2000. The RDAs took over from English Partnerships in terms of the responsibility of regional development. The special functions of the RDAs include formulating a regional strategy in relation to their purpose, promoting regional regeneration, taking forward government competitiveness agenda in regions, and taking the lead on regional inward investment. Following consultation with regional partners, the RDAs presented the strategies to the government in October 1999, and in January 2000, the government responded by giving a broad welcome of the strategies. The governments response was to significantly increase the RDAs budgetary flexibility. New funding was brought together in a single cross-departmental budget by 2002-2003 of  £ 1. 7billion. Government Offices for the Regions were established in 1994, but under the Labour Government, were given an increasingly pivotal role at the heart of Government. The Government Offices (GOs) worked together with the Regional Co-ordinator Unit (RCU), which was established as the headquarters for the GO network in 2000, as a result of the Performance and Innovation Unit Report, Reaching out the role of central government at regional and local levels. Together, the GOs and RCU aimed to cut through bureaucracy and add value to delivery through its shared experience and best practice, bring together key stakeholders and local partners, and providing a high quality of service. This aim was to be provided by combining skills in the GOs at the local level, with the co-ordinating role of the RCU in influencing policy design and implementation in Whitehall. Regional Chambers (RCs) or as some are known, Regional Assemblies (RAs) form a partnership working between local authorities and regional partners. Each chamber has been formally recognised by the Government as being representative of the interests of the region in relation to the work of the regions RDA. Each RC is made up of 70% local authority members, and 30% from other sectors including industry, education, environment, NHS, and TUC. The RCs initial focus was primarily on the RDAs regional economic strategies, and they have also sought to build up effective working relationships with the RDAs, GOs and other regional interests and stakeholders. The Deputy Prime Minister announced a new role for EP in July 2002. The new role provided a fresh mandate and a clear strategy to support sustainable development and growth in England. As part of a mergence with the Commission for the New Towns, EP will work with the private sector, the Housing Corporation, and local authorities to help increase the amount of affordable housing. EP will aim to make best use of the nations supply of land by developing on brownfield land, and by using surplus land in the best way possible. EP will work closely with a range of partners in support of the RDAs regional strategies to try and achieve its targets. Another Labour policy to achieve urban regeneration is the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit (NRU). The NRU was set up to lead and oversee the national strategy for neighbourhood renewal, taking over this task from the Social Exclusion Unit in April 2001. The aim is to deliver economic prosperity, safe communities, high quality schools, decent housing, and better health to the poorest parts of the country. The overall aim is to bridge the gap between the poorest areas of Britain and the rest of the country. The NRU identified the 88 most deprived local authorities in the country and devised a best value programme, by which the Government are to invest a lot of money in improving public services in these areas. This strategy is being funded by the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF), which is  £300million in 2002/3 and will be  £ 25million for 2004/5. Another branch of the NRU is the New Deal for Communities (NDC). The NDC works in a similar way to the NRU, but it places local people at the heart of it. Local people, community and voluntary organisations, public agencies, local authorities and business are encouraged to work in partnership to deliver significant change by turning local peoples aspirations into action. The strategy is targeted over the next 10 years, and aims to develop a local strategy to tackle social exclusion in order to create vibrant and sustainable communities. Comparison and contrast between Conservative and Labour policies: The main difference between the various policies on urban regeneration between Conservative and Labour Governments is the socio-economic factor. The Conservative Party continued the 1980s theme of economic development, albeit with more cohesion and co-ordination. From the outset, the emphasis was placed on partnerships between local authorities and businesses to regenerate economic development, which would in turn provide more employment and bring about social improvements. The competitiveness encouraged local authorities to form partnerships with businesses as it gave a greater possibility of receiving a grant from the City Challenge fund. When the Labour Party first came to power, they formed the RDAs and to begin with, placed the initial emphasis on continuing the economic development. Whereas the Conservative Party only produced a transparent policy solely to increase partnership and competition, whereby local authorities only receive funding based on how well they can submit an application, the Labour Partys policy tied in a lot more objectives. Promoting business efficiency, investment, employment, and developing skills relevant to employment in the area is a much wider policy and the various regions will have different specific policies relevant to each region and sub-region. When the Labour Government integrated the Government Offices with the Regional Co-ordinator Unit, they highlighted the objective to cut through bureaucracy, a total contrast to the Conservative Government. It was the Conservatives policy to increase the level of bureaucracy with the SRB. The increase in administrative powers at the top followed by delegation of funding is a form of top down and trickle down implementation, the opposite approach to that of the Labour Party. It was Labours policy to bring together key stakeholders and local partners via the GO, and a much wider contribution was created in the form of the Regional Chambers. The RC took a bottom up approach in its purist form. It incorporated people from all corners of industry, the market place, and services to form a mixed composition, and worked hand in hand with RDAs to bring together the needs for the whole region. With respect to English Partnerships, the way in which the two governments implemented their policies varied significantly. While the Conservative Party focused mainly on economic growth and employment, the Labour Party dealt more specifically with the housing needs and social problems faced in Britains deprived areas, as they did with the NRU strategy. The Conservatives focused on the development of brownfield sites as a means of generating jobs and providing large flagship projects, as oppose to the Labour policy of providing affordable housing and building new communities. In general the two Governments used similar methods of integration of funds and resources as a means of generating the funding for urban regeneration. The amount of money invested in regeneration by the Labour Government was far greater than that of the Conservative Party and the programmes that the funds were invested in were different to. In conclusion, the Government of 1990-1997 took an economic viewpoint whereas the 1997-2002 Government placed their regeneration policies closer to home with social based policies.

A pot of oil

A pot of oil IntroductionOil this dark thing is one of the world's most valuable sources of energy. It is called "black gold". This essay will discuss the importance of oil to the national economy and world economy. This text will show an in-depth description about how the oil influences the economy. The emphasis in the text is understands the supply and demand theory to explain this questions appropriately. Oils are extremely useful for our daily activities, but extracting and using oils has a damaging effect on the environment and also if we are not careful, oil will soon become rare and very expensive. In this essay, it also will talk about environmental and ethical aspects of use of oil. Besides, the substitutions of oils are important to human.BackgroundOil plays an important part in our lives. Many million of years ago, oil comes from the remains if tiny water plants and animals.English: Supply and demand market curvesWhen there organisms die, they settle in the land and are slowly buried b y mud and sand. After million of years, the oil was formed (Mercer, 2003: 14). As we know, oil is one if the world's most valuable resources and our most necessary source of energy. The oil processed into petrol, diesel and other important things. Without the oil, millions of trucks, planes, cars, power station, furnaces heating systems and so on will stop work. Human life will back to remote antiquity. The oil also is a raw material for plastics, paint and countless other products (Parker, 2002:5). It plays an important part in our lives. It dominates our modern world. However, the oil is fossil fuels and it is not renewable. We consume them fast but they are not being replaced. If we keep using oil at today's rates, the oil may run out in perhaps less than...

OCEANIA Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

OCEANIA - Research Paper Example However, the human exploration of the Oceania environment was not without negative effects to the environment. As a result, the change of the environment bears significant impacts to the people and the ecosystems in Oceania. The human activities have been the greatest contributors to the change in the environment. The lack of regulation among the people in the region caused them to over exploit the resources without considering its effects to the other ecosystems. The alteration of the environment caused changes to the various ecosystems in the region. For instance, the environmental changes resulted to extreme changes of the temperatures in the region. The mean temperatures were extremely high than before, and this interfered with the lives of other a biotic processes. The temperature variability over time also influences the rainfall pattern in the region. As a result, the region became prone to interactions with new pathogens and invasive species. These were groomed by the varying temperature and rainfall patterns. Moreover, the environmental changes caused the region to experience extreme cases of natural phenomenon. For example, the alteration of the environmental systems in the region resulted to occurrences of storms in the region. Moreover, there have been extreme cases of floods resulting from human activities. In addition, the accumulation of the carbon gases in the air has resulted to climate change. This is a major contributor and trigger of the temperature and rainfall variability in the region. All these variations have affected the lives of the people negatively. In addition, they have altered the natural ecosystems in the region2. The Oceania region has a unique physical geography nature. The region is divided into four regions that include Micronesia, Polynesia, Melanesia and Malaysia. All these regions are characterized by different geopolitical attributes. As neighbouring nations, the political influence of the nations would be

Economic Policy Recommendation Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Economic Policy Recommendation - Term Paper Example Frictional unemployment is regarded as the easiest type of employment. It takes workers to shift from one job to another since some workers lose their jobs before they have other jobs lined up. This period of unemployment lasts for a short period and is not problematic from an economist’s point of view. Cyclical unemployment is the type that occurs during periods of recession or depression and the rates lowers during periods of high economic growth. During recessions, the demand for goods and services in a given economy falls. Companies react by laying off some workers and cutting production instead of reducing wages and prices. Unemployment therefore results since there are more workers in the economy than the available jobs. Economists put focus on the root causes of the economic downturns that result in this problem (John 2010).Structural unemployment occurs when the labour market has more workers than the available jobs. This kind of unemployment also results when workers possess skills that are not in high demand in the market place, and lack those that are in demand. Structural unemployment is significant since it is long term as the employers’ requirements and workers’ skills don’t match. Seasonal unemployment is another type that occurs in fields where worker demands vary widely over the course of the year. It is regarded as less problematic compared to structural unemployment since it is short term.Unemployment does not only affect the unemployed person but the society in general. It forces people to live in a way they do not wish, bringing unhappiness, despair and anguish. Unemployment is related to mental health problems such as depression, low self esteem and feeling unworthy. Ill health may also result from malnutrition, drug addiction, poor prenatal care which occurs in cases of unemployment. Many studies link unemployment to family disruption. Tension increases at home due to the quarrels and argument which is reflecte d in the increase in divorces. Unemployment is associated with increase in crime and violence in the society (Hall, 2005). The unemployed people are faced with financial insecurity which results in poverty and indebtedness. Other social problems that results from unemployment include homelessness, ethnic antagonism and school dropouts. Unemployment worsens an individual’s situation since the longer a person is out of job, the more difficult it is to secure one. Employment gap is a negative aspect as no one is willing to employ a person who has been out of job for long. Long period of unemployment causes a potential worker to lose skills. The living standards of unemployed persons are low. Due to job competition, even the salaries of employed persons are reduced which lowers their living standards as well. Unemployment can result into political instability

Andrew Jackson Essay Example for Free

Andrew Jackson Essay Andrew Jackson (1767 –1845) was the seventh President of the United States (1829–1837) and he was one of the most popular and controversial U. S. presidents in American history. Andrew Jacksons election to the presidency in 1828 created a new era with political and economic opportunities for the common man. He also became the father of the Democratic Party and achieved fame as protector of the common man. I think we couldnt deny that Jackson was still a human being; he couldn’t be perfect in every single thing. Its the reason to explain for what he did during his life, Jackson was considered as a hero, and also was he thought to be a villain in the eyes of many people. Although the fact that he raised the era of â€Å"Jacksonia Democracy† and he was appreciated as the representative of the entire generation’s ideology, he was the one who separated classes and discriminated brutally those not seen as true Americans. The relevant examples were the events in 1800s, notably Indian Removal Act. It raised a question whether Andrew Jackson was a democratic president. I think he had a good democratic ideology for the United States but his action as well as his wrong decision opposed his thought. Besides, Mr. Meacham (an author of American Lion Book) recognized â€Å"the tragedy of Jackson’s life is that a man dedicated to freedom failed to see liberty as a universal, not a particular, gift. † The role of Andrew Jackson’s presidency in affirming the new democratic politics Andrew Jackson grew up with a harsh childhood that he did not have parents and his literacy was sporadic. In his young life, he worked as a lawyer in Tennessee and a soldier when war occurred between the United States and Britain. Jackson became a famous military hero from his glorious victory in the war of 1812, especially from his win the experienced army in New Orleans in January, 1815 and â€Å"he would become Americas most influential–and polarizing–political figure during the 1820s and 1830s†. Moreover, he was different from his predecessors for being elected by popular vote. This proved that Andrew Jacksons strong influence on American politics had been pervasive prior to his time in office and it continuously spread out. A new era of American politics that followed the era of Jeffersonian democracy began with president’s role which made a bright situation and greater democracy for common man. His policy got first succeed which helps expand the right to vote for all white men and end the property qualifications for voting. Before Jacksons time, public officials used their own judgments rather than the expectation of many voters. However, under Jacksonian Democracy, their acts depended on the petition of people. During the two terms, he tried to expand the presidential power by using the veto which changed both the American politics and society. Jackson was the rare one that used his power as the chief executive in fighting against Congress. And these actions were said to be very aggressive. However, these policies were to describe himself as a president with a strong and stubborn style. For instance, having the national bank demolished was a very important milestone in Jacksons career. The reason why he ended the US bank system was that it took the role as a monopoly over foreign and domestic. Besides, he disagreed with the fact that these banks just cared about the interest of the rich, and truly to say they were held to serve the richest class in society. It could be seen that Jacksons decision to demolish these banks faced many arguments from only the richest class. And Daniel Webster through his letter also suggested Jackson about the risk to jeopardize peoples liberty when practicing his act. He stated that â€Å"it wantonly attacks whole classes of the people, for the purpose of turning against them the prejudices and the resentments of the other classes. It was suggesting that the veto could turn the classes of people to be above the other classes position. In the result, a lot of banks collapsed which pushed the national economy closer to the edge of deep depression. Although the decision to veto the Bank System faced many oppositions, â€Å"check and balance system† in American politics was exercised well to control over members of Congress. In this case, he did really a good job in the role of a president. In theory, although Jackson’s Era was the first step that created he principle in equality for people, it figured out a complex mixture of the best and the worst qualities of American society. â€Å"Age of Jacksonian Democracy† and the â€Å"Era of the Common Man† were modern standards, however, the United States was far from democratic. It was an imbalanced scale of gender and race. White men were always those who got benefit from that strong social critique. Women had no right in voting and they still had to dependon their husbands. Besides, Andrew Jackson also supported the slavery, he owned a lot of slaves, and freed none of them, even upon his death. Besides, According to an historian John Larson, he expressedâ€Å"wealth accumulation was tied to slavery Jackson practiced and defended what had been the accustomed way for white men to make money for 200 years†. There was no doubt that Democracy still remained masculine privilege and racial prejudice which offered no benefits to women, African Americans, or Native Americans. Jacksons Era wasnt democratic any longer. Indian Removal Act Andrew Jackson’s policy regarding to Native American was the most controversy in his presidency. There had been some horrible discrimination upon certain races of people, and the Indian Removal Act (1830) was the worst decision of Andrew Jackson. His act forced the Cherokees, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole to give up their lands and relocated West of the Mississippi. Jackson supported this act by stating: No state could achieve proper culture, civilization, and progress, as long as Indians remained within its boundaries. He looked down on Native American as illiterate, uncivilized like savage hunters even though 90% of the Cherokee Nation could read and write. In fact, they had assimilated many European-styles and Indians adapted the customs or beliefs of the white settlers into their traditional ways of life which historians called â€Å"selective adaptation†. In the 1830s, the Native American created their own language, and they could also use English. Moreover, they could do industrialized farming, work as merchants, and choose the leaders who favor them in government. Although Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson had good visions about Democracy, Thomas Jefferson was sympathy with Native People; he wanted the Native Americans and the U. S. to blend together, to intermix, and to consolidate steadily. He stated that â€Å"Surely it will be better for them to be identified with us and preserved in the occupation of their lands, than be exposed to the many casualties which may endanger them while a separate people. In fact, Jackson had strong ethnic bias and became a leading individual to support the policy which was known as Indian Removal. Before his election as president, he negotiated treaties and removal policies with Indian leaders to persuade some tribes to move to Arkansas Territory. After signing the Indian Removal Act into law in 1830, he tried to reject all Indians. Many a Southerner showed their approvals of the act just because the act helped them get access to the lands owned by the Native Americans as well as have gold that was discovered on the lands. Vowing not to fight, the Cherokee people used legal action to require federal government had granted them their land by treaty and therefore should be protected their lands. The Georgia Court gave the Cherokees no help at all, and the Cherokee lawsuit eventually reached the Unites States Supreme Court. However, it was not successful because Jackson refused to enforce it. When federal troops reached Georgia, they dismissed the tribes in such a coercive way. And in early 1831, the army came to appropriate Choctaws lands to let them migrate to Oklahoma. In 1835, after getting the great pressure from the American Government, the Native Americans chiefs have the act signed in such an in voluntary way. Therefore, it was totally unfair to the Indians. The Cherokees had to walk through more than 800 miles from the Mississippi Valley where they lived to Oklahoma. They suffered from a lot of bad things which caused 4,000 Cherokees deaths on the trip. And that miserable journey was later called the Trail of Tears. The number of sickness and death was very high especially among children and the elder people because of dirty water, poor nutrition and physical exhaustion. Remote and danger road created chances for many serious diseases such as smallpox, pneumonia, cholera and dysentery. It was a terrible obsession for many people who survived; a witness stated that â€Å"Long time we travel on way to new land. People feel bad when they leave old nation. Women cry and make sad wails. Children cry and make men cry, and all look sad like when friends die, but they say nothing and just put heads down and keep go towards West. Many days pass and people die very much. We bury close by Trail. After the â€Å"discovery† of Columbus which caused the genocide on Native America, Indian Removal Act was considered as the same crime. The Jacksonian Democracy during 1820s to the 1840s was indeed influenced President Thomas Jeffersons Democracy. Although The Declaration of Independence of Thomas Jefferson stated: that all men are created equal Native people under Jacksonian Democracy did not have that mentioned right. With the bad effect, Indian Removal Act (1830) of Andrew Jackson was not democratic because it violated legal and human rights of Native people. Firstly, Native American lived in their land for a long time so taking away the freedom and domain without the consent of Native Americans was a violation of the legal right. Secondl y, they were not treated like human beings and their dignity had been extremely devalued, and even considered subordinate to the United States by Andrew Jackson in his defense of the Removal Policy in 1830. Besides, there was a conflict in Andrew‘s policy, In Andrew Jackson’s first inaugural address in 1829, he promised, â€Å"It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people. † Nevertheless, following the Indian Removal Act of 1830, soldiers were asked to detain Native Americans in stockades. These Indian people responses were to protest and to go to courts. It said no power in US government was preserved for them to have their personal vote counted. They finally failed in court although Chief Justice John Marshall supported them by declaring: that an Indian tribe or nation within the United States is not a foreign state in the sense of the constitution †Native Americans were thought as a portion of the US but they had no democracy in their hands, no ability to advocate or to show out their desires. Limitation in the rights of Indian would come out as the extent of restraint in free African Americans rights. Blacks and Indians in the South and in many parts of the North were referred to free person of color, so it was very blur for Jackson to determine how many rights those people should have. Conclusion: When looking at some events in the role of democracy during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, Democracy Party could be seen as the embodiment of the common mans will. Jackson himself could realize the future ease in voting requirements, the development of the two-party system, and the rotation in government offices. Jacksonian Era was a good precedent, however, through the way he treated Native Americans, African Americans, women, and many other minority groups, Jackson showed his defectin fulfilling one of the most pressing tasks of the president to represent the people. I feel sorry for Andrew Jackson, a democracy president who devoted all of his life to pursue the liberty, equality, however, he had still not recognized that: Skins may differ, but affection Dwells in white and black the same

Baptism Essay -- essays research papers fc

Baptism is the door to life and to the kingdom of God. Baptism in Christian churches, the universal rite of initiation, performed with water, usually in the name of the Trinity or in the name of Christ. Orthodox and Baptist churches require baptism by total immersion. In other churches, pouring and sprinkling are more common. Most churches regard baptism as a sacrament, or sign of grace; some regard it simply as an ordinance, or rite, commanded by Christ. Therefore, Baptism is the sacrament of faith by which we, enlightened by the Spirit's grace, respond to the Gospel of Christ. Scriptural Basis Jesus was baptized by John at the beginning of his public ministry. Although it is uncertain that Jesus himself baptized, the risen Christ commanded his disciples to preach to and baptize the nations as the sign of God's coming rule. Thus, from the outset, baptism became the Christian rite of initiation. Purpose and Symbols The purpose of this sacrament is to purify your soul and to destroy all evil. That is one of the main reasons why water is used for a symbol. Water is both destructive and creative which matches baptism. Water was used as a symbol of purification in many religions at a very early date. Other symbols of baptism include oil, a white cloth, and a candle. People able to receive Baptism Infants were probably baptized in the early church. Baptism was often postponed as long as possible. Between the 4th and 6th centuries, however, infant baptism began to be required...

Deforestation Cause and Effects

â€Å"Scientist fear that 20 percent of the trees will be lost over the next two decades† (From â€Å"Last of the Amazon† by Scott Wallace). Deforestation can be caused by many things, natural or unnatural. The number one cause can be said to be illegal logging or erosion, but we all know that is not it. Deforestation in the world is caused by man and the effects are devastating to the environment and can also effect global warming. Man can cause deforestation because of his greediness to want everything.For example, loggers in the Amazon are illegally cutting down trees to either make space for crops and cattle, or to get the wood and sell it. Man can also show his greediness when it comes to money, well, to be exact gold. Back in the 1850’s when the gold rush started in California; people began to chop down redwood trees in order to build their homes and towns. Eventually, by the 1900’s most of the original old redwood forest was gone.As a result of man, the effects, such as deforestation, are devastating to the environment. In addition to all the illegal logging being done, erosion can affect the surrounding areas. Erosion washes away the soil that other trees or plants in the area need adding on to future deforestation. Furthermore, the mass logging being done can also disrupt the water cycle. By cutting down a large amount of trees, the rainfall in that area can decrease because the moisture released by the trees also decreased.As a matter of fact, this can then cause a drought and make things even worse. Global warming can also be elicited by deforestation. The cutting down of a large amount of trees can increase the amount of greenhouse gasses that can be released to the atmosphere. To illustrate, if trees are cut down, the amount of carbon dioxide that is taken by them decreases. As a result, the carbon dioxide that was not taken by the trees goes up to the atmosphere, trapping heat and creating global warming.Furthermore, tr ees are 50 percent carbon, meaning that when they have fallen or burned, the CO2 they store escapes back into the air. In summary, global warming and the devastation being done to the environment are all caused by deforestation taking place because man. In the end, the effects of man’s greediness have almost caused the extinction of the redwood tree and it is now affecting the whole world with global warming. In my opinion, there should be a law that makes loggers plant a new smaller tree after they cut down the big old one.