Australia Bushfire essays

Australia Bushfire essays Australia is the world's driest continent, and drought and bushfires are regular occurrences that, sadly, are a natural part of Australia's weather cycle. Australia has a history of severe bushfires. Such tragedies as the Ash Wednesday fires of February 1983 (71 deaths in Victoria and South Australia), the Tasmanian fires of February 1967 (62 lives, more than 1400 houses and buildings lost) and the New South Wales bushfires of 1994, place bushfires high on the list of Australia's natural disasters. But for now lets look at the huge bushfire occurred in 16th February 1983 (Ash Wednesday Bushfires). It was April 1982 to January 1983 in Victoria; the weather condition through these days was severe drought conditions and little rainfall, resulting in its driest period on record. A combination of dry grasslands and forests, very hot temperatures, low humidity and high wind gusts presented Victoria with a high bushfire risk. The temperature was 43 degrees Celsius on Ash Wednesday (16 February 1983), which caused huge bushfires that damaged/destroyed 2545 Building/house and huge amount of trees throughout the regions in Victoria. Also lots of lives got lost from fire. 75 (15 lives lost from firefighter) in total lives from fires, (47 lives in Victoria and 28 in South Australia) and there were hundreds of people injured due to their skin burnt. There were many other causes for fires including, clashing of electric power lines, tree branches connecting with power lines, fires being deliberately lit, and of course the weather. The fire started in Victoria at Cudgee and Branxholme and then the fire also started around Mount Macedon, Dandenong Range Cockatoo, Upper Beaconsfield and Belgrave Heights, Monivae, Branxholme, Warburton and in the Otways. The Fires were so big that it also spread around South Australia through Adelaide Hills and in farming country in the south east of the state. ...

Brettonwoods Institution Essays

Brettonwoods Institution Essays Brettonwoods Institution Essay Brettonwoods Institution Essay 1 . What are the Bretton Woods Institutions? = There are two Bretton Woods institutions that were established by the planners at Bretton Woods in 1945. These are International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The IMF works to promote global economic growth and stability to different countries by providing policies and financing nations that are in need. The World Bank, on the other hand, lends money to devastated countries because of war and needful countries for rehabilitation and development programs. 2. What circumstances led to its formation? There are 2 reasons that I can see that led to the formation of the Bretton Woods institutions based on my research. During the Great Depression, many countries, rich or poor, were affected economically. It was a devastating worldwide economic depression after World War II. And a lot of countries were afraid for this to happen again so this is one of the two reasons why they formed the Bretton Woods Institutions. They formed these institutions to promote global economic growth and stability so that the happening in 1930 wont happen again. Another reason behind he formation of these institutions is the reconstruction of the different countries that were devastated after the World War II. Countries that were devastated after the war needed aid from the US to rebuild their nation. US used this moment to make Britain choose. But since Europe was devastated they had no choice but to accept the aid and let US prosper in the global economy. This moment was very sad for Britain because not only war the affected them terribly but also the turning point where financial power was turned from I-JK to US. 3. How did this change the relation etween/ among countries and nation states? = The United States of America became more influential than before. This can be seen when France applied for a loan in World Bank. World Bank secured that France will be able to pay the loan. But before they approved the loan, the United States Department told the French Government that it had to remove first its members associated with the Communist Party. The French complied with this and only after hours that the loan was approved. In this scenario we can see how US influenced things to be done. Focusing on the third world countries, it was difficult for them. The Bretton Woods institutions were focused more on the First world countries that the third world countries cannot cope up with policies of the Bretton Wood Institutions. To make this more specific, here is an excerpt from an essay by Victor Dike about the effect of Bretton Woods institution to third world countries. Nigeriais external borrowing dates back to the colonial period. The last colonial loan was a 1958 World Bank loan to finance the Borno Railway extension (Dike 1990, p. 3). As we have seen, the experiences of other developing nations suggest that devaluation exert a contradictory impact on real output and employment. Yet they have continued with it. Why? The reasons are contradic-tory. When Nigeria approached the International Monetary Fund in 1983 for loan, the Fund massive cuts in public subsidies in Nigeria (e. g. gasoline) made life difficult for the people. In June 1986 General Babangida announced the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) for the period of July 1986-June 1988 for the country. As social scientists have noted, the SAP was a recipe for a chain of social and political instability in Nigeria. There were riots in urban areas across the nation during this period. Many local plants were closed for lack of material inputs and spare parts. The impacts culminated in massive retrenchment of workers. The adverse effects of the SAP programs are still with Nigeria today. The economic recovery programs (the austerity measures and the SAP) were within the policy-framework recommended by the World Bank and the IMF. The key elements of the SAP programs include: 1). Exchange rate devaluation; 2). Liberalization of export trade; 3). Cut in budgetary spending; 4). Reduction of subsidies; 5) Abolition of subsidized commodity board; 6). Privatization of public enterprises; 7). Rationalization of civil service employment; and 8). Tight monetary policy (Usman, March 1999, as cited in The Guardian, April 28, 1999). Comparatively, it is appropriate to indicate that the IMF and the World Bank operate loan policies that are favorable to the GIO nations (the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland. In this we can see that these countries would rather sacrifice their domestic economic growth for them to be able to borrow from World Bank. These loan policies should be not only focused on first world countries but also for these countries like Nigeria. As a suggestion, there should be friendly policies based on the domestic growth of a state. So that these institutions can promote global economic stability not only for first world countries but also for these kind of countries.

Coffin and Mummy of Paankhenamun Research Paper

Coffin and Mummy of Paankhenamun - Research Paper Example The illustration of the mummy of Paankhenamun is superb pieces of craft made by Egyptians artists during the period before Christ. It is avidly painted coffin of a deceased man named Paankhenamun, the gatekeeper of the temple of the Amun god. Therefore, the artwork reveals the way ancient Egyptians for ritualistic culmination functions and their beliefs of life after death. The mummy case is a wall piece of art resulting from the third, middle period, which is a decentralized period and fragmented end of the Egyptian bureaucracy. The artwork was done for a specific patron. The work was performed to reconstruct the cultural beliefs of the early Egyptians. Therefore, the artwork was meant for a certain person known as Paankhenamun who was the gatekeeper of the temple of the Amun god, thus his name meant that he lived for the Amun (Maria and Clarke 121). The art works is museum collection of artistic features placed in the institute or art, in Chicago. The artwork is a representation fo r the coffin for Paankhenamun; thus, the artwork provides a complex picture of mummification and the existence of the goddess of ancient Egyptians as indicated in figure 1. The case is significant because it reveals the way the ancient people view certain subjects. The ancient Egyptian culture believed that there was a life power, and the spirit existed inside the deceased. Therefore, they performed mummification as a ritual process of preserving the physical features of the deceased person in order to enable the body to dwell in the eternal life. The funeral psychology of the ancient Egyptian culture is that the death did not mean the end of life of an individual. However, it was an escape from the physical, human life and a gateway to everlasting being. Many ancient people believed that their life span was short; thus, they believed in life after death where they would be with their gods. Therefore, the mummification method enabled them to maintain the goddesses and royalty. The p reservation method was to enable the deceased to come back to life. Interestingly, the X-rays revealed that the case of the mummy of Paankhenamun contains mummy inside that dates from the 945 to715 B.C (Maria and Clarke 79). The function of the artwork of the mummy case was for ritualistic culmination functions. The coffin was used in the funeral feast and offering scene thus the decorative relief work of the coffin played significant roles to the ancient Egyptians. The entire decoration process of the coffin and the decorative features included in the surrounding walls reveals the celebration of life after death with his family members. The kinsmen delight in the soul nourishment and they give their sacrifices to the gods in favor of the departed. For instance, the inscription that cuts across the perimeter of the scene is significant. This is because it is an offering formula or way through, which the Egyptians perform the funerary feast in different ways. Moreover, the painted sc ene plays a significant role of primarily prayer representation. When focusing on the paintings, one will encounter various inscription represented on the offering table and scattered all over the room. The top of the table has slices of bread on top of it is a monumental leg of an ox (James, Mancoff, Kozitka, and Steinmann 122). There are bottles of beer on the side of the table and some geese; thus, they all represent the funeral offerings meant to appease the