Anthills of the Savannah free essay sample

At the turn of the 20th century, it was often said that the sun never sets on the British Empire it covered a vast area of the planet that included parts of Europe, Africa, Oceania, North America and Asia. However towards the end of the 21st century few of it’s former colonies remained. The effort exerted by Britain during WW II had left the country exhausted and made Britons turn inward and look at their own country, which led to many of them swapping ideas of imperialism to ones of nationalism. As Britain struggled through the post war economic crisis, many in the new Labour government of Clement Attlee began to see the Empire as an unnecessary drain on public finances and felt that Britain should abandon it’s attempts to retain it’s overseas territories. (Arnestein 377) In Africa Britain’s Empire came to a swift end, with Britain often withdrawing from their former colonies rapidly, leaving the newly-independent states ill-equipped to deal with the challenges of sovereignty. We will write a custom essay sample on Anthills of the Savannah or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Although Britain had shed it’s former colonies it’s influence still remained strong and through this it played a very important role in shaping the history of Africa. Through the implementation of Frederick Lugard’s Dual Mandate ideas, which he expressed in his book The Dual Mandate In British Tropical Africa, it left an indelible mark on the African continent. Through this book Lugard had tried to create a wide-ranging theory of colonial policy that could be used by the British in controlling the African colonies. In it he proposed how Britain would rule Africa through a system of indirect rule using indigenous authorities. The object in view is to make each Emir or paramount chief, assisted by his judicial Council, an effective ruler over his own people. †(Lugard ) He felt that more progress could be made if white officials were utilized as advisors more than direct rulers. Lugard felt that the chiefs should be gradually given more responsibility, especially in the handling of public funds a portion of taxes collected could be retained in local treasuries to pay local officials and bureaucrats, fund local improvements and public works. There are fifty such treasuries in the northern provinces. of Nigeria, and every independent chief, however small, is encouraged to have his own. †(Lugard ) Lugard argued that Britain as trustees of Africa had a responsibility to educate the ruling class, so that they would be ready to fill the posts in the government and to take over from the chiefs. â€Å"The task of educating them in the duties of a ruler becomes more than ever insistent ;[ of the importance of education, especially for the ruling class, and for the filling of lucrative posts under Government:† (Lugard) This form of education would be based on the English education system and would use English teachers if at all possible. Moreover, as education spread, a new western educated elite began to emerge among Africans, some of these were the sons of ruling chiefs but many also came from common backgrounds While the British did devote some resources to education in Nigeria, one should not get the impression that they were substantial. In fact, many educational resources came from religious missions and not the government. Colonialism was creating a new, educated elite that differed from the traditional elite and they were not going to sit idly back and watch the British and tribal chiefs enjoy all the power and privilege. Many of these newly western educated people were the very ones who were pushing nationalist ideology to the common people. . This is where we join the story in Chinua Achebe’s Anthills of the Savannah, the fictional country of Kangan has shed it’s colonial bonds and it’s ruler Sam has been installed to power by a military coup detat. In the novel Achebe paints a picture of the political and cultural crisis that affects the countr when it turns from a former colony to an independent nation. In this post colonial setting we get a clear indication on just how strong a role Britian had in Kangan which is the thinly disguised country of Nigeria. The three main male characters all know each other, having met at the interestingly named Lord Lugard college when they were younger. â€Å"I had known him for close on twenty five years from that day long ago when we met as new boys of thirteen or fourteen at Lord Lugard college† (Achebe 11) In this British school the male characters were molded by their teachers to act as if they were British especially Sam. While in school Sam had expressed dreams of becoming a doctor, but these ideas were immediately abandoned when he was told by his head master â€Å"that the army was a career for gentlemen†(45) All Sam ever wanted to do was â€Å"what was expected of him especially by the English who he admired to the point of foolishness†(44) We see Sam take on the mannerisms of the English with his expressions and speech. When Sam says â€Å"its not cricket †(19) we know that its not enough for Sam to take on the mannerisms of ordinary Britons but those of the well to do classes. Although much like listening to the Mozart album at the wrong speed he does not use the expression correctly, the actual expression is â€Å"it’s just not cricket† this shows that although Sam aims to mimic his former colonizers he can never completely develop the nuances of speech and refinement that would make him just like them. This form of mimicry is based on the colonial’s desire to some how fit into and find a position for themselves within a world that although they are a part of they can never be a fully fledged member. It is not hard to imagine with Sam as leader that although the British government is no longer in power its soul still remained. The novel does not take long to show us how the influence of Britain still remains in it’s former colony. When the British departed, the vacuum it left was quickly filled by a powerful dictator whose rule like the British before him had not been legitimized by a democratic process. In much the same way as the British would have dealt with what they would have considered the not so bright peasants, we see that Sam deals with them in the same condescending manner, feeling that if he can fool them the impressionable peasants will leave him alone â€Å"Tell them if you like, that I’m on the phone with the President of the United States or the Queen of England. Peasants are impressed by that kind of thing, you know†(p. 16) Like their former masters , the new elite black rulers looked down upon the people they were supposed to be serving. We clearly see this at the public execution when Ikem looks at the public waiting for the executions to happen in the blistering heat and contemplates how is it possible for the poor to remain calm when they can see the empty shaded seats reserved for the elite. Mimicking what the British would have said about the Africans, the African elite now say about the poor. Rather than looking down on someone for the colour of their skin, now class has been racialized. â€Å"You see, they are not in the least like ourselves. They dont need and cant use the luxuries that you and I must have. They have the animal capacity to endure the pain of, shall we say, domestication. The very words the white master had said in his times about the black race as a whole. Now we say them about the poor. †(p. 37) Ikem knows that the real threat of colonialism is if you succeed in mimicking what the former colonists had done to your own people. He wrote this in a hymn at the end of a scathing editorial looking for the law on executions to be overturned. â€Å"The worst threat from men of hell, May not be their actions cruel, Far worse that we learn their way, And behave more fierce than they. (P. 37) In the novel another British influence that separates the elites from the common people is their grasp of the English language. It is a class divider with the elites speaking flawless English and the working class speaking pidgin English. The nation is fractured both by education and language. It was the African elites who spoke English correctly, were the ones to benefit when Britain left, creating a distance between them and the poor. This distance mirrored that created by the British between themselves and the native Africans. In the novel it is the main characters mimicking of the British that brings them respect and power and maintains the gap established by the British between the government and the poor. The Attorney Generals comments to Sam reflect this â€Å"As for those like me, Your Excellency, poor dullards who went to bush grammar schools, we know our place, we know those better than ourselves when we see them. We have no problem worshipping a man like you. Honestly I dont. You went to Lord Lugard College where half of your teachers were Enlgishmen†. (p. 22) While Achebe does rightfully explain that the elitism created in Africa was the result of colonialism he does not lay all the blame on the colonists shoulders. Rather a bigger problem in the post colonial state is the incapacity of the country’s elite to establish rapport with the poor, this forms the main premise of Achebe’s novel â€Å"It is the failure of our rulers to re-establish vital inner links with the poor and disposed of this country, with bruised heart that throbs painfully at the core of the nations being. †(p. 131) Achebe blames the national leaders for not upholding the interests of the poor

Educating Children With Autism †Childhood Development Essay

Educating Children With Autism – Childhood Development Essay Free Online Research Papers Educating Children With Autism Childhood Development Essay The numbers of children with autism has been growing in recent years. Questions about autism and educating those with autism has been growing even more. According to statistics from the internet for reasons unknown, autism is growing at a rate of 10-17% per year(â€Å"Autism,† 2000). Some speculations for children acquiring autism are vaccines containing Thimerosal (2000). Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative and know neurotoxin no longer used in childhood vaccines (2000). A Danish study showing all children born in Denmark between 1990-1996 shows no difference between children who received the Thimerosal vaccine and those who didn’t (2000). Likewise, Sweden, where Thimerosal was eliminated in 1993, shows autism continues to grow (2000). Researchers current thinking is that genetic factors are involved, but have yet to identify a single gene or â€Å"trigger† that causes autism- there are many, many other theories (â€Å"Autism,† 2000). Autism can usually be detected between 18 months and 3 years(â€Å"Autism,† 2000). Parents are usually the first to notice that there child is focused on one thing, have repetitive movements, stemming, difficulty, with social issues, and unusual responses to certain sounds or the way an object looks(2000). Autism is a spectrum disorder, symptoms and characteristics present themselves in a wide variety of combinations, from mild to severe and can include seizures and mental retardation, which ultimately causes problems in education, according to the article from remedyfind.com (2000). There is no cure, but evidence over the last 15 years indicates intensive early intervention, in optimal educational settings, for at least 2 years during the preschool years, results in improved outcomes in most children(â€Å"Autism,† 2000). Treatment approaches include occupational and physical therapies such as sensory integration and behavior modification techniques. Most important is the socialization (2000). Children with autism learn by example suggestions and appropriate responses for the situation in question; for example, teaching autistic kids how to dress for rainy weather (Elliot 2000). It’s raining, it’s cloudy, it’s cold, you wear a raincoat, and use an umbrella children with autism, also learn by example, experience or role playing (2000). Schedules and rule cards must be precise and used consistently (2000). Rewards, classroom setting and teaching autistic kids how to dress for rainy weather(2000). It’s raining, it’s cloudy, it’s cold, you wear a raincoat, use an umbrella (2000). To solve behavior differences, a medley of strategies are used to fit the individual, the environment and the situation(2000). This is regardless of the label that may be used (2000). A label gives us an inkling of characteristics that fit certain behaviors(2000). Mel Levine in Educational Week 12/00 insisted that â€Å"the brain is too complex for one method that will solve our education goals† (Elliot 2000). The goal is â€Å"to equip educators with the latest research about children’s brain development, and then help them put that knowledge to good use in the classroom† (2000). We must, in turn, assist parents, students and peers as well to accept, facilitate development and support educational efforts (2000). Autism Spectrum Disorders. (2000). Remedy Find. TRUSTe. 7 Mar 2005 from www.remedyfind.com/hc-Autism.asp Elliot, Laura.(2000).Visual and Social Strategies for Students Who May Have Communication Delays or Individual Behaviors That Must Be Accommodated. Retrieved 7 Mar. 2005 from Capistrano Unified School District at Research Papers on Educating Children With Autism - Childhood Development EssayInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenThree Concepts of PsychodynamicThe Project Managment Office SystemStandardized TestingResearch Process Part OneGenetic EngineeringThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UsePersonal Experience with Teen Pregnancy

Commodification of Biodiversity Conservation Essay

Commodification of Biodiversity Conservation - Essay Example ese organizations compensate for this by enhancing or restoring habitat of comparable ecological value as the one damaged by human activities, but in other geographical region (William & Scott, 2009). This paper thereby analyses such optimistic environmental expectations that are to be accomplished through commodification and nature selling. It visits the economic valuation controversies on ecosystem services in two prospects. First, the institutional setups upon which the environmental governance and policies are embedded, and second, the wider economic and sociopolitical influences that governs the pricing expectations into the previous non-marketed regions of the environment (Robertson, 2004). Finally, it maps the probable economic, social, and ecological problems or challenges of biodiversity commodification, as well as the necessary preconditions for biodiversity enhancements. Commodification of nature or biodiversity is a research area within the grave environmental studies, concerning the ways or methods in which natural processes and entities are made redeemable via the market, and their implications thereafter. Neoliberal conservation on the other hand refers to approaches through which the capitalist expansions and environmental protection are not only crucially complaisant activities, but also mutually companionable ones (Harvey, 2007). Amidst the contemporary environmental, economic, and financial crises, biodiversity has grown enormous vitality due to the role it plays for the ‘green economy,’ which is in turn consolidated by various agreements reached by the environmental organizational policies. The notion behind the biodiversity markets implies that if both negative and positive impacts on biodiversity are measurable as debits and credits, then they can be much easier to integrate as costs or benefits in economic decision-making. T hrough internalizing the traditionally externalized costs, the biodiversity markets opt to serve as powerful tools

Immigration, visa, I 20, I94, staying in status, ICE, SEVP, SEVIS Essay

Immigration, visa, I 20, I94, staying in status, ICE, SEVP, SEVIS - Essay Example The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is one of the bodies that ensure the security of the nation by making sure all those who enter the nation will not endanger the country in any aspect, in any form or manner. The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) assist the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of State to monitor non-immigrant students. To further this role, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) is used to store information about the arrival and departure of non-immigrant students, exchange visitors and their dependents. Studying in the United States is both a privilege and an opportunity however, one has to stay within the rules and regulations contained in the contract, where an individual binds himself with the country as a visitor. The most important of which is staying in status. Before the student’s visa expires, he should leave the country as agreed upon otherwise, the student will definitely suffer a great loss. Such record will affect one’s further applications for travel to the country in the

Special Education Law Analysis Essay Example for Free

Special Education Law Analysis Essay Education in the United States has had a reputation of un-uniformity and mistreatment of certain groups especially students with disabilities. However, the recent past has yielded some advancement. Federal legislation has put into place three major laws that have lead to better treatment and higher quality education of students, especially those with disabilities. These laws are the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act, and No Child Left Behind. Together these laws have formed the current education standard in the United States providing for better education for all students. Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act History Historically, children with disabilities have had few rights and little protection when it came to education. Before the mid 1970s, it was not unusual for children with disabilities to be turned away from public schools and if they were able to attend a school, there was nothing in place to assure that these children were receiving the attention and assistance that they needed. In the 1960s and 1970s parents of children with disabilities began to see that something had to change to allow their children to receive a quality education so families began suing state entities to gain access to educational services for their children (Smith, Polloway, Patton, Dowdy, 2012). Congress decided to take a step forward and attempted to persuade states to provide educational services to children with disabilities and this led to the passage of the Education for all Handicapped Children Act (EHA) in 1975. Education is a facet that is under the direct of state legislation; therefore, states were not required to comply with the new act. To persuade state governments to adopt the law, it was promised that forty percent of the funds used to educate children with disabilities would be reimbursed by the federal government (Smith et al. 2012). This forty percent was never actually realized; the federal government actually only reimburses less than  half the promised amount of funds. EHA was reevaluated by Congress in 1990. As a result, the law was changed to better suit the needs of children with disabilities and became the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA. IDEA remained active until the law was due for another reauthorization in 2004. This lead to the current version of the law: the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. Purpose  The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) was enacted to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education, to ensure that the rights of children with disabilities and their parents are protected, to assist States, localities, educational service agencies, and Federal agencies to provide for the education of all children with disabilities, and to assess and ensure the effectiveness of efforts to educate children with disabilities (34 CFR  § 300-301). The law covers children with basically any disability that impedes on their ability to learn in an educational setting without special assistance. IDEIA covers children from birth until age 21 with separate parts for children two years old and younger (part C) and children ages 3-21 (part B). (34 CFR  § 300-301) Implications IDEIA was obviously written for children with disabilities, but there many forms and varying levels of disabilities. The act defines a child with a disability as a child evaluated has having mental retardation, a hearing impairment (including deafness), a speech or language impairment, a visual impairment (including blindness), a serious emotional disturbance, an orthopedic impairment, autism, traumatic brain injury, an other health impairment, a specific learning disability, deaf-blindness, or multiple disabilities, and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services (34 CFR  § 300-301). The act states that children that are included in this definition should receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). This law is the foundation for special education in the United States today. IDEIA sets the standard for how we educate children with disabilities. FAPE is the goal set forth for the educational systems. Children should receive an education that meets the standards of the state educational agency from preschool through secondary school by way of an individualized education program (IEP) that leads to the attainment of the same diploma offered to children without disabilities at no cost to the parents. FAPE does not exclude parents from expenses that are incurred by parents of children without disabilities, but it does protect them from extra expenses that arise from the services that their child requires. Also, for a state to meet the FAPE requirements, each student with a disability must have an individualized education program developed for them. An IEP is an extensive document developed by a team that includes the child, their parents, their teachers, the school administrators, and any other school personnel involved in the student’s education. IEPs address the child’s specific needs and how the school plans to meet those needs. Schools must also allow students with disabilities to work toward the same degree or diploma that students without disabilities are also working toward. IDEIA also states that children with disabilities should be educated in the least restrictive environment or LRE. This means that students with disabilities should be educated with students without disabilities to the maximum extent appropriate (34 CFR  § 300-301). The LRE requirement has lead the emergence of inclusive classrooms. Inclusive classrooms are general education classrooms where students with disabilities and students without disabilities are taught together. This is usually accomplished through a co-teaching model where one general education teacher and one special education teacher, share the responsibilities of teaching all the children in the classroom. This allows for more direct attention and instruction for the students who need it most (Smith et al. 2012). Summary The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act is our country’s special education law. It defines for the states what classifies students as having a disability and also provides guidelines for developing educational services that meet their needs. The law frees parents of children with disabilities of the financial burden that comes with the individual care and assistance that their child needs by providing federal funds to help offset the expenses for the school systems. Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act. History The Vocational Rehabilitation Act was written during the fight for equality amongst people in the United States. It was enacted to protect people with disabilities from discrimination because of their disability. This law paved the way for fair and equal treatment for people with disabilities. This legislation lead to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. Even though this act reaches past the boundaries of education, section 504 of the act is of particular interest on this subject (Smith et al.2012). Purpose Section 504 states that no otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States, shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance or under any program or activity conducted by any Executive agency or by the United States Postal Service. The act defines a person with a disability as someone who has a physical or mental impairment which for such individual constitutes or results in a substantial impediment to employment; and can benefit in terms of an employment outcome from vocational rehabilitation services provided (Vocational rehabilitation act of 1973). This section provides protection for people with disabilities from discrimination in any establishment that receives federal funding. This includes all public preschools, elementary schools, secondary schools, and colleges and universities. The law does not give individuals with disabilities more rights that those without disabilities, but it does protect them from discrimination based on their disability alone. Implications At first glance, it may seem that section 504 of this act and IDEIA overlap or are superfluous because of each other, but each holds its own purpose. Section 504 protects people without disabilities away from the educational setting as well. Section 504 also allows students with disabilities the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities, whereas IDEIA only serves to the child’s education. Section 504 gives people with disabilities the chance at living the life they want without the fear of discrimination. Summary The Vocational Rehabilitation Act protects people with disabilities from discrimination based solely on their disability. Section 504 of the act is particularly important to education because it provides discriminatory protection for an individual from any federally funded entity. This law laid the ground work for future laws for people with disabilities and for equal treatment for people with disabilities. No Child Left Behind History. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was proposed by President George W. Bush in 2001 and was passed into law in January of 2002 (Smith et al. 2012). The proposal received overwhelming support because of the increasing gap in academic achievement between groups of students in schools. NCLB acts on the premise that setting high and challenging standards for students and teachers will allow for great improvement in the classroom. The law provides that all students in the public school system will be proficient in core class subjects by the end of the 2014 school year. Much like IDEIA, NCLB offers federal funding to schools that align their curriculum with the provisions set forth in the act. Purpose The purpose of NCLB is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments (No child left behind act of 2001). NCLB requires states to develop challenging performance standards for each grade level that are uniform across each district. The schools must also administer high-quality academic assessments that evaluate whether or not students are meeting these standards. Schools are also required to submit a plan of advancement showing the current plan to close the achievement gap among students (No child left behind act of 2001). Implications NCLB effects all students in the public education setting. The act is a plan to improve the education of every student. This law changed education in the United States in a big way. With schools implementing challenging standards for all students, there was and still is a tremendous pressure to advance. This pressure primarily falls on the administrators and teachers who, in turn, pass it to the students. NCLB also created accountability in the education system. The state performance assessment system gave teachers and administrators to see where they stand as compared to the standards that are set by the state (No child left behind act of 2001). It shows what areas need to be improved to allow more resources to be focused there. The pressure and accountability from NCLB raises the educational standard in the United States. Teachers know what is expected on them in the NCLB system, but because the standards seem to take away some creative freedom in classroom education. Schools are required to make adequate yearly progress every year under NCLB. This system is in place to help assure that funds received under NCLB are used toward academic advancement of students. Adequate yearly progress (AYP) is achieved by having more students scoring proficient in a content area standardized assessment as compared to the previous year’s scores. There is a system provided in the law for schools that do not make AYP and a plan to help them progress. If a school continually fails to make AYP it can be subject to a complete overhaul by the government. Summary NCLB is a federal plan to improve the education system in the United States. This law sets forth an accountability system of standards and assessments to close the academic achievement gap and bring all students up to grade level by the year 2014. Schools that align themselves with the requirements of NCLB can receive federal funding under the act. NCLB may have unrealistic goals, but it is a start in the right direction to providing a better, more complete education to our students. Conclusion Together, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act, and No Child Left Behind have changed the educational system in the United States. Our current standards and expectations are far from perfect, but education is headed in the right direction; toward higher standards and accountability and better learning conditions for all students regardless of their level of ability. References Assistance to states for the education of children with disabilities and preschool grants for children with disabilities; final rule, 71 Fed. Reg. 46540 (2006) 34 CFR pt. 300-301. No child left behind act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110, 115 Stat. 1425 (2002) Smith, T. E. , Polloway, E. A. , Patton, J. R. , Dowdy, C. A. (2012). Teaching students with special needs in inclusive settings (6th Ed. ). Boston: Pearson. Vocational rehabilitation act of 1973, Pub. L. No. 93-112, 93 Stat. 8070 (1973).

Essay --

In the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontà «, Jane isn’t really social. In her early childhood she was very much isolated. Her aunt and cousins didn’t like her so they didn’t deal with her. Jane was comfortable being away because she would always get in trouble. Jane would either defend herself or just be picked on and she gets in trouble. Jane found ways to cope with being isolated, she was different and she was fine with that. After Jane has been at Thornfield for a while, she is somewhat frightened by the laughing she hears while a fire breaks out in Mr. Rochester’s room. The frightening laugh gets Jane wondering if that person has committed this. Jane is able to put the fire out and save Mr. Rochester. After the fire incident, Mr. Rochester leaves for about a week or so. Since Jane and Mr. Rochester are secretly in love she constantly wonders when he is coming back. When he writes and says that he will be back soon with guests, the house begins to get ready because they don’t usually have guests. When everyone arrives, Jane sees that Mr. Rochester is sitting next to a women name B...

Speech on Global Warming Essay

I would like to begin with a statement. Our earth is in trouble. Can anyone of you argue with that? I suppose you could argue. And why is that? Because you have never deeply researched the concepts of either global warming or climate change. So what can we learn from that? The first step of solving a problem is being aware of it. So you would ask â€Å"what is global warming?† Global warming is exactly what you hear. The warming of the globe. The earth’s climate gets hotter and hotter until icebergs start melting causing massive floods, forests are burning and whole areas are left without any water because it has vaporized. So global warming can affect the economy of the countries, the health of the people and the life expectancy of our planet. If that is not a major problem, I don’t know what it is. So, being aware. In a set of explanatory studies and mental model interviews that was conducted in 1994 responders regarded climate change as both bad and high likel y. So far so good. But the majority of them confused stratospheric ozone depletion with the greenhouse effect which are two completely different phenomena. Explanation of ozone destruction with the two lines, the cloud and the human activities (a cloud that protects us from harmful sun rays. But it’s just a cloud. The gases that came from human creations like sprays and cars started â€Å"attacking† to the cloud and that was so fragile that it opened allowing some harmful sun rays enter our atmosphere.) So the responders were answering that the reasons for global warming are the use of car, emissions from industrial processes and pollution. And of course most of the solutions that they were proposing were things like â€Å"we have to focus on controlling pollution†. I have news for you. The hole in the ozone layer is not the main cause of global warming. Global warming is linked mainly to the green house effect which is caused by the gathering of too much carbon dio xide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxides are in the green gasses emitted from the burning of fossil fuels. Those dioxides trap infrared radiation and do not let it leave the earth’s atmosphere, resulting in warmer low atmospheric layers than the upper ones. Think of it as a blanket, trapping heat and warming the planet. I believe you are all familiar with sprays. Sprays used to contain some particles called chlorofluorocarbons, CFCs in short. Those were the main reason for the hole in the ozone layer. In 1989 CFCs were banned by the Montreal Protocol. Then,  it was noticed that global warming slowed down. But like I said, the slowing down was not because the destruction of the ozone was mainly paused but because CFCs were 17,000 times more effective at trapping infrared radiation than carbon dioxides. So after managing being aware of the problem, one has to also recognize its existence in order to solve it. Despite the desperate attempts of scientists and the earth itself to tell us that there is a major issue that needs to be tackled immediately there is still a number of people denying the very existence of the issue. There is a â€Å"climate change denial† which is, â€Å"quote†, â€Å"a set of organized attempts to downplay, deny or dismiss the scientific consensus on the extent of global warming, its significance, and its connection to human behavior.† So those people are denying, not ignoring, denying, the scientific proofs of global warming and the relation with the human activities. Yeah, so the earth one day decided to start destroying itself. As for the significance of the problem, I will let the events speak for themselves: 1) 2000, studies claimed confidently that greenhouse gases had contributed to floods in Britain, 2) 2010, heat wave (a long period pf time when a region has an abnormally hot weather) struck Russia, killing 50,000, 3) 2011, Hurricane Irene slams into the United states killing 45 people and leaving $10 billion in damages 4) 2011 Texas and Oklahoma suffer from the worst one-year drought on record 5) July 2011 – June 2012, the hottest 12 months ever recorded, 6) January – June 2012 the hottest 6 months ever recorded. I could go on until tomorrow. So its like the earth is screaming â€Å"I’m burning here!† and some people are just answering â€Å"yeah right†, or not listen at all. So now I will leave the decision up to you. Will you decide to listen?