The Kyoto Protocol and climate change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Kyoto Protocol and climate change - Essay Example Global warming and Political climate Global warming is a phenomenon that occurs as a result of greenhouse gases (GHGs) averting thermal radiations from being reflected back to the space. (Wang and Wiser 2002). Coppock (1998, p.2) defines it as the increase in average global temperatures as a result of pumping CO2 into the atmosphere thus changing its temperature levels which in turn affect the water bodies such as oceans and seas leading to alteration of the Earth’s hydrologic cycle. The global warming not only creates fear to the planet’s residents because of rising global temperatures, (currently above 1Â ° C higher than 5 centuries ago) but also an increase in intensity of hydrologic cycles. This causes storms which are responsible to flooding that leads to destruction of farmlands, life and property (Painuly and Rowlands 2001). Generally global warming has more immediate consequences such as floods, rising global temperatures and far-reaching environmental, economi c and social impact that does not chose whether one nation is the main producer of emissions or not (Carr and Thomas 1998). The ecosystem, a natural sink( the uptake of greenhouse gas by forests, soil etc) is of paramount importance as the changes in climates may cause organisms of fresh water and wetlands to face new conditions due to higher temperatures and altered precipitation thus may have trouble producing enough organic sediments and root material that enable them to adjust. Contentious issues According to Schiermeir (2012 p.3), for the planet Earth to get rid of dangerous climate change, countries should limit global emissions to less than 2Â ° C above preindustrial levels, the EU’s threshold likely to prevent dangerous climate change. Further, he assert that to contain a... The Kyoto Protocol is seen by some researchers as a remarkable achievement in international affairs. The first it has put the world on the right path by bringing in the issues of climate change to the table so as the nations can chose to join the work force to regulate the emissions. The second it will leave a valuable legacy since it developed methodologies for reporting and verifying national greenhouse-gas emissions and land-use changes that will act as guide for future climate treaty as with any agreement containing specific quantified and legally binding commitments, issues of monitoring and compliance are central. Third, it has come with a way of trading carbon emissions through the EU’s Emission Trading Scheme among countries that face limits. Also through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) transactions, an establishment of market incentives is proposed for rich countries to get credits towards achieving their emissions’ targets by making cost-effective emissi ons cuts in poor. The CDM despite critics that it is plagued by bureaucracy, had an arm’s length investment worth almost U$100 billion supporting some 5000 CDM projects whose services range from provision of solar cookers to rural people, e.g. in China to supporting clean energy production projects such the 100-megawatt wind firm in Mexico.

The North American Berdache Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 8500 words

The North American Berdache - Coursework Example Such people are also called two-spirited people. Way back in history the Spanish 'Conquistadors' came across two-spirited individuals in almost every town or village they visited in Central America. It was believed in the past that these individuals possessed numinous powers. History says that once in an encounter between a tribe and a group of women the soldiers of the tribe found that one of the women was a Berdache they ran frightened when the women started running after them. This proves the point that Berdaches contained significance in North America. However some writers criticize these individuals. Natives were and are usually thought of as warriors. Now when it is discovered about the Berdaches, writers criticize it as being a social failure. The reason being that such individuals believe that these people do not possess masculine qualities in them and hence are failure for their culture and their tribe. The writer Lang comments that in the past cross dressing that is male dressing like a female or a female dressing like a male did not mean they were necessarily Berdaches. He believed that dressing did not describe a person's society role, gender or even the partner he or she would choose for his or her life. A child's gender was decided by his or her tendency towards masculine or feminine activities. Clothing only mattered at the stage of Puberty to display a person's gender. Two-spirited people with a male body could go on a war, could even indulge in male activities such as sweat lodges. However they even had the capabilities of performing feminine tasks such as cooking and other domestic jobs. However now such feminine males are looked down by the society. People take them as a shame to the society and no longer look at their dual capabilities. These two spirited people or berdaches had sexual relations with any of the gender. How ever in the early days and even now Female bodied berdaches were involved in sexual relations with the female gender (now who are usually named as lesbians). A classic example of a relationship or a marriage was seen in the Lakota tribe which had male bodied berdaches, which would marry usually other males whose wife had passed away. They could take up the job of nursing the children of the family. Such people how ever did not gain much recognition, but some people believed that having sexual relations with two spirited people would get them magical powers. It was even believed that male-bodied berdaches having sex with another male will lead to the increasing of the masculinity of the other male. Another example brings in a totally new study of these two spirited