Air pollution of fracking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Air pollution of fracking - Essay Example In this essay, we shall discuss the documentary and the changes that have occurred since its production in 2010. ‘Gasland’ is an American documentary film produced in 2010 by Josh Fox to educate and enlighten communities in the United States of America on the impact of natural gas drilling especially horizontal drilling otherwise known as fracking. Fox starts the movie with narrating how he received a letter in May 2008 requesting him to lease his family land in Pennsylvania for $ 100, 000 to drill for gas, a claim that Energy In Depth later refuted arguing that it did not offer anyone money to lease his land for drilling gas. Fox goes to the west where the process of mining natural gas through fracking has been for the last 10 years. He engaged and stayed with the residents as they narrated their stories and experiences of natural gas drilling in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Texas among other several states, he talked with residents of those areas who had developed chron ic ailments that can be directly traced to contaminated air quality and pollution of water wells and surface. Fox goes ahead to show how some of the residents who have been affected by the negative effects of pollution from fracking have obtained court injunctions and settlements in terms of money from the gas mining companies in order to replace the water supplies that have been affected with safe drinking water or portable water purification kits. In his documentary, Josh Fox tries to reach out to the scientists, politicians and executives and all stakeholders in the gas mining industry. In addition to congress sub-committee, which was tasked with discussing the ‘fracking responsibility and awareness of chemicals act’, which was intended to amend the ‘safe drinking water act’ to repeal the exemption of hydraulic fracturing from safe drinking water act. Since 2010, a lot of changes have happened in the gas mining industry with relation to the process of mi ning that uses hydraulic fracturing. despite the concerns that have been raised over the pollution levels of the process, the number of gas wells that are being sunk have been constantly increasing with estimations putting that there are at least 35 wells that are being drilled daily for the last one decade. This has been largely contributed by the federal government’s laxity to enact federal laws that regulate the use of hydraulic fracturing in mining gas. In 2012, more than 30 million cubic feet of natural gas were drilled, which signified about 25 per cent, increase since the year 2006 (Anonymous, 13). Most of the proponents of the process have argued that the process of hydraulic fracturing could help the country become energy independent by the year 2020 and supply the country with relatively cheap and clean energy for the next 90 years. In addition, the states that have been using hydraulic fracturing to mine natural gas have been able to create recession resistant econ omies that have withered the economic storm that had swept the country in the last 5 years. However, despite these benefits, people living within the areas that these mining companies operate have always complained about the noise and air pollution that include odours that comes from these companies. The environmental protection agency study in 2011, which tested water and air in Wyoming where

A comparison of Francis Bacon and Mary Shelley's views of science as Essay

A comparison of Francis Bacon and Mary Shelley's views of science as expressed in The Sphinx and Frankenstein, respectively - Essay Example Bacon theorized that science is a means to solving two riddles, one being the nature of things and the other the nature of man. His ideas for a way to solve these riddles are very similar to the widely utilized scientific method, believing that matter can be studied and understood by observation, trial, and error (Bacon). Bacon manifests his vision of science in the mythical Sphinx. The Sphinx is a monster with the head and voice of a young woman, the feet of the griffin, and wings of a bird. The creature and her riddles represent the riddles of science and how searching for the answers can either tear apart a man or cause a break through by answering the riddle and subduing the Sphinx, or quenching the man’s immediate thirst for knowledge. The man who finally defeats the Sphinx, a man with high intelligence and clubbed feet, demonstrates the need for patience and taking things slowly when confronting the riddles of science. If a man showed ignorance in the face of science, if he failed to answer the riddle correctly, the Sphinx would rip him apart. The griffin claws of the Sphinx represent the way that the pursuit of answers can take sharp hold in the human mind, effectively ripping it apart if the answers are not found. In the same vein, the face and voice represent the beauty of science and the wings are indicative of how the answers of science spread and fly quickly to the far reaches of the Earth (Bacon). Her riddles originate from the Muses, where the questions are ambiguous and have no emotional subtext. Once the riddles reach the Sphinx, they contain the unbiased cruelty of the pursuits of science, where the questions themselves do not care regarding the havoc they can wreak on those who dare to try to solve them. Bacon has taken an ancient myth and applied it to the mysteries of the universe. Mary Shelley’s view of science relates to Bacon’s in that she also viewed

Reflective Response on Gioconda Belli and Slavenka Drakulic books Essay

Reflective Response on Gioconda Belli and Slavenka Drakulic books - Essay Example Belli grew up in a high class Nicaraguan family and her entire family was very unsympathetic towards the Somoza dictatorship that reigned at the time, in Nicaragua. She was a political activist and was against the views of her family because right from a young age, she established a position for herself in the Sandinista Party and joined the revolutionary government. At the family front however, in order to not disturb the minds of her parents and close knit family members, she kept her bourgeoisie job at a lush advertising company. The story follows as she becomes a very immediate part of the totalitarian regime and upheaval taking place in her country. It is an account of a political as well as personal encounter with the realities that the revolution presents forth. She finds herself disagreeing to a number of things her family want her do, and soon is not able to take control of her heart because of a need to liberate it and set herself free from the active militant she had becom e. On the other hand, Drakulic wrote a nonfiction piece about the various ramifications of various social and political conflicts taking place in East of Europe. She has written an account of how the failure of Communism resulted in a failure to meet the needs of women belonging to several countries like Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Poland and Germany, with the help of primary information in the form of interviews that she took with women belonging to these countries. (The Country Under My Skin: A Memoir of Love and War) She has written the narrative in the form of an essay, explaining the impact of the political strata of society on women and feminism in general. She has made references and given examples as to how women were subject to oppression and were treated terribly during the time, for example, how they were forced to live under a careless government that refused to supply them with basic necessities including toilet paper and even tampons. Thus, Drakulic is different from Bel li in this aspect as she did not experience the totalitarian regime taking place in Europe on her own, but through the eyes of various other women living in different countries across Europe. At the same time, Belli was able to give a very personal and first hand stance as to the experiences she had and the times she went through under the totalitarian regime that reigned in Nicaragua during the course of her growing up. Belli lived under a right wing totalitarian regime by becoming a part of the government whereas Drakulic was completely against the Communist regime and tried her best to make an attempt and resist it. Belli managed to smuggle weapons, run roadblocks, and also form legions with various revolutionists. She writes about how she made arguments with Castro and his regime, and contributed to representations at Third World conferences in order to liberate Nicaragua. She was thus a true insider and has been able to provide an honest opinion from the view of a woman of that time. On the other hand, Drakulic criticized the Communist empire and helped women liberate themselves in order to achieve a level of empowerment. She has tried to point out the inadequacies of the government in power and how they thought they were radical, but in reality, they were far from reaching that stage. She has tried to express through her writing, how women were looked down upon and forced to undertake steps

A comparison of Francis Bacon and Mary Shelley's views of science as Essay

A comparison of Francis Bacon and Mary Shelley's views of science as expressed in The Sphinx and Frankenstein, respectively - Essay Example Bacon theorized that science is a means to solving two riddles, one being the nature of things and the other the nature of man. His ideas for a way to solve these riddles are very similar to the widely utilized scientific method, believing that matter can be studied and understood by observation, trial, and error (Bacon). Bacon manifests his vision of science in the mythical Sphinx. The Sphinx is a monster with the head and voice of a young woman, the feet of the griffin, and wings of a bird. The creature and her riddles represent the riddles of science and how searching for the answers can either tear apart a man or cause a break through by answering the riddle and subduing the Sphinx, or quenching the man’s immediate thirst for knowledge. The man who finally defeats the Sphinx, a man with high intelligence and clubbed feet, demonstrates the need for patience and taking things slowly when confronting the riddles of science. If a man showed ignorance in the face of science, if he failed to answer the riddle correctly, the Sphinx would rip him apart. The griffin claws of the Sphinx represent the way that the pursuit of answers can take sharp hold in the human mind, effectively ripping it apart if the answers are not found. In the same vein, the face and voice represent the beauty of science and the wings are indicative of how the answers of science spread and fly quickly to the far reaches of the Earth (Bacon). Her riddles originate from the Muses, where the questions are ambiguous and have no emotional subtext. Once the riddles reach the Sphinx, they contain the unbiased cruelty of the pursuits of science, where the questions themselves do not care regarding the havoc they can wreak on those who dare to try to solve them. Bacon has taken an ancient myth and applied it to the mysteries of the universe. Mary Shelley’s view of science relates to Bacon’s in that she also viewed

Behavior Description Interview Essay Example for Free

Behavior Description Interview Essay You have invested the time of several experienced employees and a good deal of expense to interview a number of promising entry-level accountants. However, you wonder if your interviewing techniques are really helping you hire the job candidates that will be superior performers and help your organization remain profitable. Your concerns may be justified if you are using a typical interviewing strategy in which there is no standard set of questions or a strategy in which interview questions do not explicitly focus on the past behavior of the applicant. Yet, there is an alternative. Studies in human-resource management suggest that behavior description interviewing may help you identify better performers from the rest of the applicants PRINCIPLES OF THE BEHAVIOR DESCRIPTION INTERVIEW The first principle of the Behavior Description (BD) interview is interviewers standardize or structure the interview. The most important aspect of standardization is asking applicants the same or highly Similar questions. This allows all applicants to have a chance to provide information about certain job-related concerns and allows interviewers to compare similar types of information. The alternative of each interviewer asking their own questions will have your organization comparing apples and oranges when trying to make hiring decisions. Often this leads to lower quality hiring decisions. An organization may also seek to standardize the location of the interview, the individual who conducts the interview, etc. Any efforts to ensure similar treatment of applicants should be encouraged. An additional benefit of standardizing interview questions is that the interview is more defensible in court. In the past, organizations that had standardized questions won employment discrimination lawsuits more often than those without standardized questions. The second principle of BD interviewing is to explicitly focus on past behavior. BD enthusiasts believe that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. They also believe more recent behavior is a better predictor of future behavior than older behavior and that longstanding trends are better predictors of behavior than isolated incidents. The belief in the effectiveness of using past behavior to predict future behavior leads BD interviewers to ask certain questions. These questions use a superlative adjective (e.g. most, least, toughest, etc.) to focus the applicant on one particular incident of behavior. For example, accounting firms need staff members who are willing to address both internal and client problems. To gather relevant information about an applicant, a BD interviewer might ask the applicant to tell me about the last time a new idea of yours helped an organization or group work better. The interviewer might also be ready with follow-up questions such as how did you develop this idea, how did you convince your supervisor or client to adopt it, and how did it help the organization? The follow-up questions may be answered a s the applicant discusses a particular situation, but their presence alerts the interviewer that this information is important. In another instance, accounting professionals are often called upon to make presentations to groups such as audit committees or boards of directors. Accordingly, an interviewer might ask a job candidate to tell me about the most difficult presentation you have ever had to make to a group of five or more people. Probes might include what was the presentation about, how did you prepare for it, and was the presentation evaluated or graded? In each case, the BD approach to interviewing should yield a large amount of high quality information to the interviewer and can help the somewhat anxious applicant have a particular incident to discuss. The BD approach to interviewing can be strongly contrasted with more typical interviewing strategies. First, typical strategies suggest interviewers let candidates take the interview where they want to, go with the flow, or let the interviewee talk about any subject they desire so that you can best assess their personality. While this advice is encountered frequently, it is highly inaccurate. Studies contrasting BD interviewing to this approach show that the BD interview does a much better job of predicting job performance. In addition, studies that statistically combine the results of 10,000+ interviews from many smaller studies strongly suggest that various styles of interviews that standardize questions or other aspects of the interview work much better than the nonstandardized interview styles. Second, BD interviewing seeks to avoid making judgments of applicants personalities. Assessing personality characteristics in a 345 minute interview would be highly difficult for a psychologist. As a result, many professionals rely on well established tests to measure personalitythey are cheaper to use and much more accurate. Additionally, many personality characteristics do not have a history of predicting job success. Currently, many human resource management professionals believe intelligence and dependability do differentiate higher performers from lower performers. Extroversion, considered by many to be a positive trait for auditing personnel, also differentiates higher versus lower performers in some situations. Other traits should be viewed with caution until they clearly are shown to relate to job performance. Care should also be taken in trying to match the personality type of an applicant to the personality of the office. While it is extremely difficult to measure either of the above, it is also potentially hazardous. The solution to this problem is to avoi d using most personality traits and ask applicants about past behavior that may be similar to behavior required on the job. Finally, the BD interviewer tries to avoid hypothetical and self evaluative questions. In most cases, there is little evidence to suggest that most hypothetical questions actually distinguish between better and poorer performing individuals. This may be due to the difficulty of injecting enough reality in the situation to make it a good predictor of job success. Self-evaluative questions such as describe yourself or are you computer literate also have no history of predicting job performance. In addition, they ask the applicant to do your job for you. You should decide how competent applicants are in a particular area since you are worried about their contribution to your organization. Applicants answers are influenced to a large degree by their desire to land a job. BD interviews differ from situational interviews. Recent literature has confused the two approaches. While the BD interview focuses on past applicant behavior, the situational interview asks applicants how they would behave in future situations (extensive research is used to create real situations). The situational interview can also require different types of rating scales to be used at the end of the interview. While there are several differences between BD interviewing, situational interviewing, and typical interviews, there are also similarities. BD interviewers also believe it is important to break the ice with applicants, that they should ask for an applicants preferred name, that they should take notes, and they should close the interview in a professional manner. These guidelines are important in any style of interview. STEPS TO CONSTRUCTING A BD INTERVIEW Three steps should be used to develop a BD interview. They are illustrated in the following hypothetical example involving the hiring of entry-level accountants in a CPA . Interviewers need to analyze the job and determine the key results areas. Key results areas are the major tasks or behaviors that an entry-level accountant must be able to accomplish. Key results areas may be defined by many different strategies including a discussion among recruiters, managers, and partners. Key results areas might include: 1. Communicate with other individuals-a. In verbal and written forms with other accountants including supervisors and peers; b. In verbal and written forms with clients; 2. Diagnoses organizational problems; 3. Recommend solutions to organizational problems; and 4. Use common computer software (e.g., spreadsheet programs, data retrieval software, on-line services, or tax-preparation packages). The above behaviors or tasks should be examined to determine the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that will enable them to be accomplished. Thus, an entry-level accountant should have: 1. Written communication skills to interact through letters and reports to clients and other accountants; 2. Verbal communication skills to communicate with clients and other accountants (not necessarily including making presentations to large groups); 3. Ability to diagnose problems in complex situations; 4. Ability to solve problems individually and in groups; 5. Ability to attend to large amounts of detail; 6. Ability to manage multiple tasks; 7. Knowledge of common software programs; The KSAs required lead to a selection plan that involves a series of BD questions. In this example it is assumed that there will be two interviews: a recruiting interview at the school and an invitation to the firms office. To evaluate the candidates KSAs the following questions and probes might be used. 1 Written communication skills a. Ask for a sample of writing from a professional or educational setting before the second interview. 2. Verbal communication skills: a. Watch for verbal communication skills throughout each interview and rate them at the end of the first and second interviews. 3. Ability to diagnose problems in complex situations: a. Tell me about the last time you recognized a problem in an organization in which you were involved. * How did you recognize the problem? * How did you study the problem? * How did you determine a solution to the problem? b. Tell me about a time in the last year in which you were gathering information from a person who was being uncoopeative. * What was the situation? * Why were they being uncooperative? * How did you feel? * How did you get the information you needed? * What was the result in this situation? 4. Ability to solve problems individually and in groups/teams: a. What was the most successful solution that you and a group of other individuals developed to a particular problem? * What was the problem? * What was your role? * What was the result of your solution? b. What is the toughest problem that you as an individual have solved in an educational or work setting? * What was the problem? * What was the result of your solution? 5. Ability to attend to large amounts of detail: a. Tell me about the last time when you had to gather large amounts of information to complete a project. *What was the project? *How did you organize the details? * What was the end result? * Did anyone assign you a grade for the project? b. Which class of yours required the most attention to detail. Please tell me how you dealt with the demands of the class. * How did it require attention to detail? * What was your strategy to deal with the detail? *What was the result? 6. Ability to manager multiple tasks: a. Tell me about how you managed your school work and extracircular activities during your busiest semester. * What made the semester so busy? * Did you have any priorities? * Where there any strategies that helped you cope? * How did the semester turn out (in terms of grades, activities, etc.)? b. Tell me about the last time you had to juggle several different responsibililties when you held a job. * What were the responsibilities? * Did you have any priorities? * Where there any strategies that helped you cope? 7. Knowledge of computer software programs: a. Please tell us about the most involved computer project that you have been involved with in school or in an organization. * What software was involved? * What was your role? * What was the result or grade? 4. Please tell us about the last time you learned a new piece of software. * What did it help you accomplish? * How did you learn it? * Did you enjoy the experience? c. Please tell us about any time that you used a spreadsheet program such as Lotus 1-2-3, Quattro Pro, or Excel. * Was individually or a group? *What did you need to accomplish? * What was the result or grade? Once the questions are developed, recruiters should organize the questions and probes into some logical order on an interview form. The form may provide reminders to greet the applicant warmly and any other reminders desired by the recruiters. It should definitely leave enough room for notes about the answer to each question. These notes can be extremely helpful when recruiters are trying to remember the remarks of each person recently interviewed. We recommend that recruiters practice with the new interviewing form. Recruiters may pair off and take turns playing the interviewer and the applicant, or they may wish to enlist a student to go through an interview. The trial interviews could be recorded on a video camera. The feedback from the video playback is often a very valuable learning experience. Lastly, an interviewer evaluation report should be designed to record ratings for each candidate. The process is relatively simple once the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) required by the job have been listed. We suggest that recruiters list all the KSAs down one side of the paper as seen in Figure 1. (Figure omitted) This will allow a systematic consideration of each applicant against job requirements. Next, recruiters should choose a rating scale. We have chosen a five-point scale anchored by very little of the KSA on one end of the scale and a great amount on the other end of the scale Scales should have from five to seven points and anchors meaningful to the recruiters. A place for notes or comments and a set of simple instructions is also recommended. Finally, there should be a place for an overall evaluation of the candidate. There are several different methods which can be used to generate an overall evaluation score. A recruiter can make an overall evaluation of the candidate on the same scale used for each KSA. Unfortunately, past research has suggested that this method is not very reliable. Another option is presented in the figure on page 77. In this case the recruiters add their ratings to form a final evaluation. This approach is relatively simple and often yields final recommendations quite similar to more complex methods. Furthermore, individual KSAs can be weighted differently. In this case, each KSA evaluation score could be multiplied by its weight. All scores would be summed to obtain an overall score For example, assume that the first four KSAs in the figure were assigned weights of .2 and the last three KSAs weights of .1. A candidate might be given a rating of 5 on the first two KSAs and ratings of 4 on the other KSAs. The candidates overall evaluation score would equal 4.8 (5 x .2 + 5 x 2+ 4 x .2 + 4 x 2 + 4 x .1+ 4 x .1+ 4 x .1). Either of the last two approaches is recommended. The authors would like to thank Paul Osting (Vice-Chairman, Human Resources, Ernst Young, New York, NY), J. Breck Boynton (Director of Human Resources, Elliot, Davis, Company, Greensville, SC) and Patricia G. Roth (Clemson University) for their comments and suggestions.

Fair Trade Coffee Starbucks Marketing Essay

Fair Trade Coffee Starbucks Marketing Essay Fair trade is a structured social movement that applies marketing approach whose goals and objectives is to help producers and farmers in developing countries get better trading deals for their produce and thus produce sustainably. The social movement campaigns for better pay, higher prices, better social and environment standards to the farmers in developing countries (Valkila Nygren, 2010, p. 321; Weber, 2007, p. 112). The main target is mainly on exports that are delivered to developed countries from developing countries where minerals, farm produce are targeted. Farm produce such as; cotton, fresh fruit, cocoa, coffee, chocolate, sugar, wine, honey, bananas, tea, and flowers where producers benefit from free trade movements (Davis, 2008, p. 22). Fair trade ensures responsible coffee production and trading in terms of product quality, economic accountability, social responsibility, and environmental leadership. Fair Trade Certified coffee has ensured that small scale farmers remain empowered while they are organized in cooperatives to invest in and develop their farms and society, look after the environment and equip themselves with business proficiency that will help them compete in a global setting (Valkila, Nygren, 2010, p. 324; Davis, 2008, p. 23). Thesis Statement In view of the fact that Starbucks were seen as exploitative due to their unfair handling of small scale producers of coffee in third world countries e.g. Ethiopia; this paper tackles fair trade movement and mainly focuses on fair trade coffee practices with respect to Starbucks Company. Fair trade Governance systems related to global production and trade have come under intense criticism from broad coalition of social movements which have been branded as distorted and lack justice (McDonald, 2007, p. 794; Fridell, 2009, p. 87). The social movements have tried to mobilize societies to end exploitation by firms that buy the products from farmers and campaigned for poverty eradication procedures and social justice. The coffee industry has been most hit where farmer and workers in the farms continue to survive and work in terribly poor conditions and adverse poverty levels. The social movements through Fair Trade Systems have enabled the stakeholders especially the companies that trade in coffee to be accountable to the society that produces the coffee. As cited in FINE 2001 by Weber, 2007 p.109 Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers- especially in the South. This means that any company willing to trade globally must act responsibly and ensure sustainable development in the developing countries and see to it that the lives and conditions of living of the marginalized in the trading society are improved. An example of coffee injustice is the Nicaraguan case where coffee is a major export accounting of 30% of the total export in income; on the other hand poverty levels among the workers and farmers remain very high (Valkila, Nygren, 2010, p. 324; Weber, 2007, p. 110). The farmers are faced with low, undeserved, unstable prices coupled with inadequate infrastructure, rampant insecurity, poor housing, and sanitation, poor health services access, poor social structure, and poor educational provisions (Weber, 2007, p. 110; McDonald, 2007, p. 793; Reed, 2002, p.226). Even those workers on large scale farms complain mainly on harassment and poor pay from their employers. In the developed countries where the coffee is traded the persons enjoy huge profits from the coffee that has been bought at low prices in developing countries. Minimizing this disparity is the role of Fair Trade systems. They tend to instill discipline and justice in the global coffee market especially for small scale farmers that are in democratic cooperatives. The bargain for fair price for the producer and better living conditions and other social benefits are pushed for by the free trade organizations. Free Trade coffee is certified by the Fair-trade Labeling Organizations international (FLO). Weber, 2007, p. 112 in his article Fair Trade Coffee Enthusiasts Should Confront Reality indicates that free trade organizations linked to coffee have fairly achieved improved living standards for farmers but the system remain unsuccessful in delinking promotional material and the real situation on the ground, excessive supply and marginalization of the producers and groups that are economically disadvantaged. Starbucks and CAFÉ The success of Starbucks which is a global coffeehouse chain with its headquarters in Seattle Washington can be linked to the trade of coffee from developing countries. With over 12440 stores in 37 countries and 145,000 baristas (employees) the company boasts of $7.8 billion net revenue and a yearly profit of $564 million in 2006 (Davis, 2008, p. 21; Valkila, Nygren, 2010, p. 325). It has remained at sustainable growth and can boast of serving 40 million customers globally. Since its inception in 1971 it has expanded year in year out with many joints being set up to serve high quality coffee (Davis, 2008, p. 21; Fridell, 2009, p. 86; Starbucks, 2004 para.3). Its success can be traced with the collapse of the International Coffee Agreement in 1989 where prices started declining and Starbucks maximized on the low prices with its growth at 5% annually since 1991 (Anonymous, 2003, p.22; Davis, 2008, p. 23; Fridell, 2009, p. 87).Despite this tremendous growth of the company workers in the company and farmers in the producing countries continued their outcry of poor prices and poor living conditions (McDonald, 2007, p. 794; Fridell, 2009, p. 88). The middlemen have also participated in fleecing the farmers who buy the coffee at reduced prices and resell at higher prices. Starbucks on its part never did anything at the time. Public outcry from the farmers in producing countries and workers was not enough to reverse the situation at the time. The establishment of the Coffee and Farmer Equity (CAFE) standards also seemed to be unfavorable to farmers in that only an approximate 30% met the Starbucks standards of the CAFÉ guidelines (Starbucks, 2004 para.4; Reed, 2002, p.224). This meant that the benefits trickled down to other sources other than those producing the coffee. In addition the standards were vague to implement and just acted as a blinding of the farmers. The CAFÉ has sets of product quality, economic accountability, social responsibility, and environmental leadership for farmers to qualify. For the product quality they must meet the green preparation and cup quality (Starbucks, 2004 para.6; Fridell, 2009, p. 89). For economic accountability they must demonstrate financial transparency, equity of financial rewards, and be financially viable. Social responsibility is graded in wages and benefits, freedom of association, working hours, child labor discrimination and forced labor avoidance, access to housing, education, health services, and work safe practices. The environmental guidelines include; protecting water and soil resources, biodiversity conservation, managing the environment and monitoring, waste management, effective energy use, and water conservation (Starbucks, 2004 para.7; McDonald, 2007, p. 795). Other companies such as; Nestle, Procter Gamble, Kraft, and Sarah Lee also contributed to the misery of farmers by buying coffee way below the production costs (Davis, 2008, p. 21; Reed, 2002, p.221). Farmers remained exploited without fair trade that will ensure the fair treatment from the companies dealing with coffee and other farm produce. Fair trade has given hopes to farmers and producers and societies in the producing regions of mutual benefits for their efforts to produce any cash crop (Reed, 2002, p.224; Fridell, 2009, p. 85). Starbucks and the CSR strategy According to Fridell, 2009 p. 87 in the article The Co-Operative and the Corporation: Competing Visions of the Future of Fair Trade major coffee companies have over the past few years started dealing in fair trade coffee that is integrated with their programs of Cooperate Social Responsibilities (CSR). The standards given by the FLO to the south have also not been applied in the north and regulations such as (a guaranteed price and social premiums, advanced partial payments, licensing fees and long-term commitments have been at times evaded in the north. Fair trade is mission driven while CSR is money driven; this explains the need for fair trade since it will help achieve society needs while still aiming at better trading terms. While CSR represents a shareholders move toward ethical business fair trade yearns for a stakeholders approach that benefits all stakeholders. CSR are seen as personal driven objectives that pursue business goals which is referred to as self regulatory while free trade aims at a integrated approach that is highly domineering to improve the well being of the stakeholders. During the start of the millennium only 1-2% of Starbucks coffee was from free trade, the company adjusted to a passive way of supporting free trade then but has currently changed. Starbucks has become successful in the coffee industry buying 1% of the worlds green beans and approximate 10% specialty green market coffee beans. Its acceptance to free trade was necessitated by immense pressure by the US/ Guatemalan Labor Education Project (US/LEAP) for the companies to put into operation a code of conduct for the Southern coffee producers (Fridell, 2009, p. 81; Valkila, Nygren, 2010, p. 326). The company was still passive to accent to the agreement but after a sequence of protest globally they agreed. This commitment would not be compared to its huge sales that it was enjoying at this time and thus selling FLO certified products would ensure the benefits went back to peasant farmers. But Starbucks was reluctant to such moves and as Fridell, 2009, p. 82 quotes When it comes to support for fair trade, Starbucks commitment is limited to the minimum needed to keep public criticism at bay. Starbucks management saw more importance in concentrating on its CSR rather than engaging in free trade; but the CSR was mainly done to improve its brand image as an alternative of benefiting society (McDonald, 2007, p. 797; Davis, 2008, p. 27). They have developed an atmosphere of a trendy cafà © where customers can hang around and read thus portraying a local community. This atmosphere has necessitated concentration to interior design, customer service, and public relations that make the customers feel at home at the expense of producers, workers and farmers (Fridell, 2009, p. 82; Valkila, Nygren, 2010, p. 327). The most awful bit is that this image has been widely accepted world over. Further it has invested in CSR that tend to neutralize negative publicity from neo-liberal reforms. The CSR build in on the self regulatory approaches that are effective in sustaining the brand image prominence in the market and building of the shareholders and stakeholders trust. The company aims to employ cheap labor such as prisoners who require low wages and fewer benefits and are dispensable at any time with minimal consequences while they hide in CSR (Fridell, 2009, p. 84; McDonald, 2007, p. 797). Comparing the wages of the Starbucks employees, services workers are paid very minimal wages while the management is among the highly paid in North America. Starbucks has the lowest employee turnover rate in the fast food industry which is a strategy embedded in the CSR and the brand image (Fridell, 2009, p. 85). Despite better benefits such as; basic medical, dental, and vision coverage, short-term counseling and basic mental health and dependency treatment than other service industries Starbuck employees are remunerated with low wages thus many opt out in less than one year. Other benefits the employees enjoy include a free pound of coffee per week free beverages while working, and financial assistance that is based on payroll deductions for emergencies which are all gimmicks of boosting a corporate image that ensure profitability at the expense of the workers. The 2000 case between Canadian Auto Workers, Local 3000 (CAW 3000) and Starbucks bring into the spotlight the commitment of the company to its employees since CAW 3000 tried to negotiated for a third phase of increased wages for workers while Starbucks still maintains it is an anti-union employer; the commitment to fair trade proves otherwise in view of the above fact (Davis, 2008, p. 25). Starbucks in 2002 imported 1.8 million pounds shade grown coffee that was certified by Conservation International (CI); 1.7 million pounds certified coffee and 1.1 million pounds of fair trade coffee this was a very small proportion i.e. 1 to 2% of fair trade (Fridell, 2009, p. 87; Davis, 2008, p. 24). Working with CI is a major cover up to fair trade since CI is mainly involved in conservation of trees in areas where they are extinct but they have no clear social role. Also CI cannot be ethically cleared since it works with other major environment destroyers globally such as; McDonalds, Chiquita, Mobil Foundation and Exxon; therefore it can be not be trusted as a corporate identity of fair trade (Davis, 2008, p. 27). It is clear that Starbucks have relied on the CSR for a successful implementation of its profits strategies. This method may however be risky for the sustained growth of the business (Fridell, 2009, p. 91; Davis, 2008, p. 28). Disadvantages and advantages Despite fair trade call there are issues that revolve around it that must be ironed out. Firstly include identifying the culprits of the process. Fair trade organizations may be blaming organizations who only work on profits as exploiting the society but the companies may be profiting through legal means. They may then blame corporations of breaking free trade agreements while they have used stretched resources to survive (Topik, 2010, p. 146; Fridell, 2009, p. 89). The participation of successful firms in transforming society may work but major issues such as a large gap divide may shift the advantage to the producer, therefore the producers expect more from firms which is unfair. Also a major concern on what signifies a living wage is a problem as firms make sales to improve the living income of the producers; in this case fair trade cannot guarantee anything to farmers (Weber, 2007, p. 109; Davis, 2008, p. 27). Fair trade is pegged on cooperatives of producers and thus the individual producer may be left out; the cooperatives mediate the prices and thus the producers only get what is quoted by the contracts. The prices quoted must meet or surpass fair trade limits with a deduction of the expenses incurred by the organization. The organization eliminates intermediaries and thus costs of sorting, processing and exporting may surpass the expected prices before payments to farmers. These costs may be so high to make fair trade markets be unreasonable (Weber, 2007, p. 111; Fridell, 2009, p. 88). Hired laborers are also believed to receive minimal wages somehow, since the fair trade agreements dont apply to those hired. The fair trade has also adequacies of trying to control the markets by establishing minimum prices; this however doesnt work since most fair trade certified produces trade only a fraction of their produce. This translates that farmers are never induced to grow more coffee in a bid to earn more from the dominant prices. This creates an imbalance between supply and demand and as Weber, 2007, p. 112 reports it has go on for more than 10 years. This was so grave that in 2002 FLO had to temporarily close out new members. Excess certified coffee in the market does not lead to dumping but rather increases barriers to entry and consequently increased producer competition for the limited contracts. And this can lead to exclusion of marginalized farmers that are purportedly supported by fair trade (Weber, 2007, p. 112; Davis, 2008, p. 26). With increased quality standards in the market FLO resulted to charging more to producer organizations this increases expenses and creates barriers to the market; this locks out young organizations that have no funds. Also they need extra funds to pay for inspections and other expenses thus the fair trade objective is not achieved since marginalized farmers are locked out (Weber, 2007, p. 113; Davis, 2008, p. 27). The main aims and objectives of fair trade are to bring change to the lives of the producers and workers that suffer in the farms, but the bad implementation has made the farmers be left out of the benefits (Fridell, 2009, p. 89). With good implementation fair trade can be expressed in its benefits to the society where there will be no exploitation of the farmers. There will be better living conditions, improved well being, and better working conditions for the workers (Valkila, Nygren, 2010, p. 326; Weber, 2007, p. 114). The benefits that come with fair trade are yet to bear fruit especially when markets are not regulated properly and farmers become marginalized. Conclusion Starbucks being the leading coffee server in the world has a mandate to transform the lives of peasant farmers who live from hand to mouth by sharing the huge profits they make annually. They can contribute to the welfare of the producers and workers through providing better prices, adequate infrastructure, security, better housing and sanitation, better health services access and better educational provisions in the producing areas to ensure sustained growth. In conclusion Fair trade certified coffee has brought about reforms to the society in certain areas but in other areas it still remains an elusive dream due to the management of the organizations that govern coffee. Standards of transparency and accountability should be established at all levels so that the coffee produced by farmers can contribute to their social well being rather than making huge profits in developing countries leaving the producers fleeced.

bruce almighty :: essays research papers

Bruce Almighty is Irresistible   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is a guilty pleasure one gets from watching characters we identify with struggle on screen, and we begin to think to ourselves that maybe our lives aren’t so bad after all. Such is the case in Bruce Almighty, a new release from Universal Pictures directed by Tom Shadyac. The movie is by no means sensational or groundbreaking, but it has an irresistible charm that draws in viewers in desperate need of a break from reality. The unfortunate protagonist (Jim Carrey) becomes convinced that God has abandoned him after he loses a coveted news anchor position to a slimy coworker. God (Morgan Freeman) grants Bruce his heavenly powers and challenges him to do a better job, pointing out that â€Å"†¦Gandhi only lasted a week!†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Predictably, events spin out of control as Bruce is overwhelmed by prayers (received in the form of e-mails), and he manages to lose the only woman who had ever truly cared for him. It’s easy to wonder what caring and compassionate Jane sees in the somewhat narcissistic and negative Bruce, but Jennifer Aniston pulls off the role beautifully, with an ease that assures her movie career will continue to thrive. Of course, Carrey provides the life force of the movie, and it is his inimitable physical humor and impeccable comedic timing which save a script bordering on cheesy and overdone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most satisfying of all is watching Bruce’s conversion from a self-absorbed man suffering from a middle age crisis to a considerate human being aware of other people’s emotions. As God he initially grants all wishes, and pandemonium breaks out, as the real God explains that humans usually don’t know what will truly make them happy.