Environmental Impact of Green Companies Essay -- earth-friendly, Fair

There are many companies out there that claim to be â€Å"green†. But are they really and how much impact does it have on the environment? Labels such as â€Å"organic†, â€Å"biodegradable†, â€Å"earth-friendly†, vegan and â€Å"Fair Trade† are everywhere in today’s market. These labels are marketing tools used to influence consumers. Greenwashing is defined as â€Å"The dissemination of misleading information by an organization to conceal its abuse of the environment in order to present a positive public image † and â€Å"superficial or insincere display of concern for the environment that is shown by an organization † by thefreedictionary.com. â€Å"Going Green† may not be what it seems. It is not necessarily good for the environment. The Green movement is not about the environment as much as about consumerism and political agendas. While green products may be a better choice, they are still not enough to save the environment. When green is applied to food, it suggests foods that have been grown with minimal or no pesticides, organic fertilizers, no growth hormones, and humane conditions. However, this belief does not always accord with the reality. The example that I will discuss is eggs . I have chosen this example both because eggs are part of our everyday diet and because they get much attention in the media. Many people chose free range, organic brown eggs , believing them to be vastly superior. Brown eggs are usually more expensive than white eggs. The only real difference between a brown egg and a white egg is that brown eggs are laid by dark hens with red earlobes. However, many consumers believe that brown eggs have been laid by hens who have been fed food grown with minimal pesticides and fertilizers or that white eggs have been bleac... ...Kenner. Perf. Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser. 2008. Hardner, Jared and Richard Rice. "Rethining GREEN CONSUMERISM." Scientific America 286.5 (2002). Peattie, Ken and Andrew Crane. "Green marketing: legend, myth, farce, or prophesy?" Qualitative Market Research: An International Joural 8.4 (2005): 357-370. Pedersen, Esben Rahbek and Peter Neergaard. "Caveat Emptor- Let the Buyer Beware! Environmental Labelling and the Limitations of 'Green' Consumerism." Business Strategy and the Environment 15 (2006): 15-19. Terra Choice Group Inc. "The Seven Sins of Greenwashing." 2009. unknown. E.7 Can green consumerism stop the ecological crisis? 2 Dec 2009 . Women's Voices for the Earth. "Issue Reports." September 2008. Women and Environment. 4 December 2009

Media and the Idea of Beauty Essay

Elizabeth Rosales Cultural Anthropology-A18: Yi,Zhou April 21, 2011 Response Paper: Killing Us Softly Who are we? Who am I? With the average American exposed to approximately 3,000 ads a day they all remind us of who we are not and who we should be. The images we are constantly bombarded with by the mass media don’t just sell products they â€Å"sell values, images, concepts of love, sex, and normativity†, standards to which we so often compare ourselves to. Ads reinforce gender binaries, all making a statement about what it means to be a woman in this culture of thinness stressing a particular importance on physical beauty. Jean Kilbourne’s film Killing Us Softly explores and exposes the detrimental effects of the objectification and dehumanization in the representation of women in the popular culture, specifically advertisements. With only less than five percent of women of the entire population that reflect the images of the women advertised, the majority of women are left to feel ashamed for not trying hard enough. Women’s bodies are increasingly subjected to strict scrutiny under a magnifying glass by our superficial culture, these actions bring forth and further feed the shame and embarrassment women associate with their bodies, their sexuality, their size, and their weight. Spending self-conscious days, weeks, months, and even years in front of a mirror and scale, inspecting our bodies in front of a mirror comparing ourselves to the images spread over magazine covers as women we are repeatedly reminded that our bodies are home to imperfections and there is always room for improvement whether that be through exercise, plastic surgery, dieting, or over the counter â€Å"beauty and health† products. Rosales 2 Is this self-improvement or self-destruction? Today, 1 in 5 women are likely to develop an eating disorder and cosmetic surgery is more popular than ever before. More and more women each day are going under the knife for breast enhancements losing all sensation in their breasts. Such procedures dehumanize and objectify women transforming them from â€Å"subjects to objects†, all because as women we are conditioned by the dominant culture to want to feel desirable and seek the approval of men. The breasts, therefore, become a source of pleasure for the men and not the women who undergo the procedure. These internalized feelings drive many to strive to obtain an unattainable beauty and live up to certain impossible expectations whether it’s consciously or not. We fail to recognize that most of the images we are exposed to are computer generated, they are not real women they have been photo shopped and manipulated to look like that and yet we continue to perpetuate these images as the standards for beauty. Much more, the standards that women are expected to live up to is a paradox of ideas, we are to be both â€Å"innocent and sexy, virgin and experienced† child/doll-like and sex objects simultaneously. Can that be any more absurd? Gender is a performance that the mass media is largely responsible for defining, if we are not thin or beautiful enough then we are not feminine enough. The oppression and misrepresentation of women is not limited to gender though, race plays an active role in the representation of women. Asian women for example, are depicted as docile and passive lovers, whereas black and Hispanic women are hyper sexualized and portrayed as exotic promiscuous â€Å"creatures† dressed in animal prints. The perfect ideal woman was manufactured and it’s time we recognize this, she is an illusion that doesn’t exist outside of caricature. Instead of altering our Rosales 3 bodies to fit those Barbie doll like measurements we need to start portraying the large diversity of women accurately and stop condemning those who are not thin enough, tall enough, light enough, as not being beautiful because they aren’t trying hard enough to fit those categories.

Meralco’s Pricing: an Assessment

I. Introduction Meralco is a natural monopoly. Natural monopoly exists when a firm is able to supply the total market demand more efficiently because of economies of scale that allow the firm to lower its cost as it expands capacity. However, like any firm in a market situation where there is imperfect competition or in a less-than-competitive market, a natural-monopoly firm, when left to its own, tends to limit its output to a point where its marginal cost equals its marginal revenue but charge a much higher price than what would have prevailed when there is a highly-competitive market.In a highly-competitive market, the output tends to settle at a point where marginal cost equals marginal revenue, which also equals its price and where the unit cost of production is the lowest possible because of competition. When the price is greater than unit cost and profits are high, more firms will come to compete in the market and drive down the price back to where it is just equal to unit cos t. When the price is below unit cost, the resulting losses will drive out some of the firm from the market, thus raising the price back again to where it is just equal to the unit cost of producing the product concerned.Because a natural monopoly, like any firm in an imperfect market, charges a price way above the equality of marginal cost and marginal revenue, it also produces at a certain level of output that is less than what would have prevailed when the market is highly competitive. These twin evils (higher price than necessary and lower output than possible), which arise from the presence of a monopoly, make for a very strong case for government intervention. In line with this, the researchers ought to know if Meralco has really an absolute control over the output produced and therefore charge the highest price to increase their profit.They also want to know the basis of pricing per kilowatt hour (kWh) and how do they implemented this to their consumer. II. Methodology The des criptive research method was used in this research, as it points out conditions and relationships that exist or do not exist. Furthermore, this method emphasizes more on descriptions rather than on judgments or interpretations. Descriptive research is thus a type of research that is primarily concerned with describing the nature or conditions and degree in detail of the present situation. (Landman, 1998:59)Descriptive data for research are collected by using different methods. It may be presented qualitatively or in verbal forms or symbols, or quantitatively in mathematical symbols, depending upon the nature of the material and the purposes for which one is doing research. III. Respondents of the study The respondents of this study consisted of Meralco consumers and some people from the Department of Energy (DOE). The above-mentioned respondents qualified to the most needed criteria of the researchers, who were currently situated at the survey site. IV.Discussion A. Overview of Mono poly A. 1 Definition of monopoly Pure monopoly exists when a single firm is the sole producer of a product for which there are no close substitutes. A. 2 Characteristics of Monopoly Here are the main characteristics of pure monopoly: a. Single seller. A pure, or absolute, monopoly is an industryin which a single firm is the sole producer of aspecific good or the sole supplier of a service; thefirm and the industry are synonymous. b. No close substitutes. A pure monopoly’s product isunique in that there are no close substitutes.Theconsumer who chooses not to buy the monopolized product must do without it. c. Price maker. The pure monopolist controls the totalquantity supplied and thus has considerable controlover price; it is a price maker (unlike a pure competitor,which has no such control and therefore is a pricetaker). The pure monopolist confronts the usualdownward-sloping product demand curve. It canchange its product price by changing the quantity ofthe product it produc es. The monopolist will use thispower whenever it is advantageous to do so. d. Blocked entry.A pure monopolist has no immediatecompetitors because certain barriers keep potentialcompetitors from entering the industry. Those barriers may be economic, technological, legal, or ofsome other type. But entry is totally blocked in puremonopoly. e. Nonprice competition. The product produced by a puremonopolist may be either standardized (as with naturalgas and electricity)or differentiated (aswith Windows orFrisbees). Monopolists that have standardized products engage mainly in public relationsadvertising, whereas those with differentiated productssometimes advertise their products’ attributes.B. Meralco and Pricing The  Manila Electric Company  ,also known as  MERALCO  , is the Philippines' largest distributor of electrical power. The word MERALCO, is an  acronym  for  Manila  Electric  Railroad  And  Light  Company, which was the company's original name from 1903 to 1919. MERALCO is the  Metro Manila's only electric power distributor and holds the power distribution franchise for some 22 cities and 89 municipalities, including the whole of  Metro Manila  and  Mega Manila  region. B. 1 Retail price compositionIEC confirmed that the main component or 65 percent of the average of Meralco’s retail pricing is the generation charge. Charges by independent power producers comprised 44 percent, National Power Corp. ’s transmission billing was 35 percent, spot market pricing was 13 percent, and the ancillary service charge was 8 percent. The table below shows the composition of the total of retail price charged to consumers: IEC also estimated that the embedded fuel costs comprised approximately 50 percent of the total generation charge, while the transmission charge comprised 9 percent of the average tariff.VAT and other taxes and statutory charges comprised 10 percent. Lastly, the distribution charge, which is the only part of electricity billing that goes to Meralco, comprised 16 percent of the average tariff. All other charges were thus collected by Meralco on behalf of third parties. B. 2 Price as Compared to other Countries IEC conducted a detailed survey and analysis of retail electricity tariffs and costs in 13 countries and two U. S. states, as well as a supplementary, less comprehensive â€Å"meta-analysis â€Å" of 27 countries in the Euro area and the 50 remaining U. S. states.The 15 core markets in the survey included Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan (Kansai), Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia (WA), Sri Lanka, NZ, California (PG;E), Hawaii, Canada (Ontario) and South Africa. For each of the core markets, retail tariffs were calculated for residential, commercial and industrial customers. IEC enumerated seven factors behind Meralco’s pricing as compared to other countries: subsidies, high intrinsic cost of supply, import-parity fuel, grid size/plant mix, higher financing cost, geographical challenges and cross-subsidy in transmission rates.Surprisingly, a number of countries in the study like Korea and Taiwan have electricity prices that are lower than Meralco’s because of government policies that provide subsidies of up to 50 percent. The subsidies come in the varied form of frozen tariffs, sale of fuel to utilities at below market rates, and utility losses shouldered by the government. IEC noted that Meralco’s estimated cost of supply was in the top quintile (9th highest and 19 percent above the average) among the 44 markets surveyed.The cost of producing and delivering electricity in Luzon (and in the Philippines, more generally), it seems, was intrinsically high largely because of the high price of imported fossil fuel. Interestingly, IEC also pointed to the relatively small grid size, geographic challenges of transmission and higher cost of financing costs as reasons for high intrinsic cost of electricity that Mer alco sells. If fact, IEC noted that eight of the 10 highest cost markets in the survey are island nation/states, and this factor may be a fundamental cost multiplier.Because 80 percent of power generation in Luzon was fuelled with imported fuels, electricity prices are expected to remain high. This is the reality of a country that is dependent on imported fuels. Also, the Luzon grid size is smaller and therefore had a high dependence on hydro which requires a higher reserve margin requirement. The weighted average cost of capital in the Philippine power sector is higher than most countries in the region. Debt cost is relatively high and loan tenors are shorter. Transmission costs are also inherently high as power has to be transmitted across several islands.Lastly, the higher cost of transmission to consumers in the Visayas is subsidized by consumers in the Luzon grid. A study conducted by the company and commissioned by Meralco found that at the beginning of 2012 the Philippines ha d the 2nd highest electricity rates in the region and the 9th highest out of 44 international markets. In the study, which was standardized for type of customer, time period, currency price and resource rates, he came to a number of conclusions about why consumer electricity rates in the Philippines are relatively high for the region and internationally.Several of the issues don't seem to have a near term solution in sight. 1. The government doesn't subsidize energy. The main reason prices are likely to stay high is the Philippines can't afford to subsidize its electricity as other countries in the region do,3/4 of the reason energy costs are high is because the government doesn't apply subsidies to keep tariffs artificially low. Several neighboring countries — Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea and Taiwan — all have lower tariffs because of government subsidies.He said up to and sometimes over 50% of costs in these countries are subsidized since government policies freeze tariffs, sell fuel at below market rates and make government shoulder business losses. 2. It's expensive to produce energy in the Philippines. Philippine power generation relies largely on imported fuel pegged to high international fuel prices, The country is making efforts to explore more of its own natural gas resources, but finding deposits and setting up production facilities will take years. In the meantime, the country is reliant on high cost international fuel. 3. Challenging geography.Because the Philippines is made up of thousands of islands, it does not have a unified electricity grid and there are several providers. â€Å"In principle,† said Morris, â€Å"the bigger the grid the cheaper the cost† which can be spread out among more customers. However he thought that creating a unified grid in the Philippines would be problematic given the terrain. He noted that transmission costs are more expensive because power has to be sent across several islands. I EC found that 8 of the 10 highest cost markets in the survey were island nations or states, which could be a â€Å"fundamental cost multiplier. He said, â€Å"It is expensive to make electricity, transmit it and distribute it in this country†¦ I can't see that problem changing in the next 20 years. † 4. Ineffective plants. He pointed out that when some plants don't work well, it is necessary to have a reserve plant, which means additional costs. â€Å"The higher your reserve margin the higher the total cost of supply,† he said. He added that the reserve margin of the Philippines was probably around 20% but should actually be between 33% to 35% since the country has had brownouts in the last year, which he said â€Å"means you don't have enough capacity to meet reliable demand.C. Government’s Intervention to Pricing Natural monopolies traditionally have been subject to rate regulation (price regulation), although the recent trend has been to deregulate whe rever competition seems possible. For example, long-distance telephone calls, natural gas distribution, wireless communications, cable television, and long-distance electricity transmission have been, to one degree or another, deregulated over the past several decades. And regulators in some states are beginning to allow new entrants to compete with existing local telephone and electricity providers.Nevertheless, state and local regulatory commissions still regulate the prices that most local natural gas distributors, regional telephone companies, and local electricity suppliers can charge. These locally regulated monopolies are commonly called â€Å"public utilities. † Meralco as Regulated Monopoly Meralco is a publicly owned and listed company, meaning that anyone can share in the potential price appreciation of its shares and can receive a portion of company profits when dividends are declared. This company is a public utility, which means it has a monopoly in the delivery of service to the public.In return for the benefits of not having any competition, the government regulates how much profit the company can make. Normally, the regulated price that it sells its services to the public depends on the rate of return or profit the company will make and that is controlled by the government. In theory, without government regulation, Meralco could charge whatever price it wanted and the public would have no choice but to pay or not have electric service. But Meralco prices are under government control.Therefore, the government has an obligation to keep the price charged as low as possible to serve the best public interests while, at the same time, allow enough return to keep the company financially sound, able to expand and enhance company business interests and allow the shareholders to make money on their investment. V. Conclusion A public utility must serve both the public interest and the interest of its investors. However, because of the government c ontrol of pricing, it is the absolute obligation of government regulators to protect and serve the public interest.It is not the job of the Meralco management to protect the public. That is the government’s job. It is not the job of government to protect the Meralco shareholders. That is the management’s job. Then, after the regulations are set, it is management’s responsibility to protect shareholder interests within the boundaries that the regulators establish. If we were the shareholder of Meralco, we want the company to charge P50 per kilowatt-hour so my company can make a lot of profit. As a consumer, we want the government to keep electricity prices as low as possible while insuring reliable service.Any reasonable person can see that there can be an inherent conflict of interest in those two positions. That is why public utilities function best when privately owned and operated and regulated by the government. VI. References 1. http://rp1. abs-cbnnews. com /views-and-analysis/05/29/08/meralco-what-issue-really-john-mangun 2. http://www. rappler. com/business/10737-electricity-prices-in-ph-likely-to-stay-high-in-the-short-term 3. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Meralco 4. http://www. bizlinksphilippines. net/102312. htmlPolytechnic University of the Philippines College of Accountancy Sta. Mesa, Manila Meralco’s Pricing: An Assessment ECON 2023 Submitted to: Submitted By: Janine Simbulan Christian Derrick Villafranca Ma. Margarita Matawaran Jemilyn Milan Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Methodology III. Discussion A. Overview of the Monopoly a. 1 Definition of the Monopoly a. 2 Characteristics of Monopoly B. Meralco and Pricing b. 1 Retail price composition b. 2 Price as compared to other countries D. Government’s intervention to Pricing IV. Refenrences

athletic training essays

athletic training essays Hypothesis: How fast does your muscle fatigue? I think it should not take a persons muscle very long to cramp and be in pain. The person that was squeezing the ball in my group told the rest of us that his hand was not in much pain. When we looked around the room we saw that the people squeezing the tennis ball could not keep a continuo pace for the three trials. Some of the people said that their forearm was the part the was starting to cramp. Background: Muscle fatigue in a person is the exhaustion of his/her muscles. The fatigue is caused by the lack of ATP (adenosine triphosphate). As a result of the lack of ATP the myosin cross bridge can not tell the muscle to contract more than it already is. Myosin cross bridge is the head of the myosin molecule. The myosin molecule is one of the four protein molecules the make up myofilaments. Myosin is usually shaped like a gold club. The head of the myosin is attracted to the actin molecule which is located in the thin filaments. Myosin is usually located in the thick filament. If there is a lack of ATP there could be a reduction of the oxygen or glucose in the muscle fibers. Some other factors that contribute to muscle fatigue are high levels of lactic acids and metabolic waste. 1. Squeeze tennis ball rapidly for three minutes. 2. Count the contraction and record every fifteen seconds. 4. Repeat squeezing for three minutes. 5. Repeat fifteen seconds count contraction and record. 7. Repeat squeezing for three minutes counting contraction every fifteen seconds and recording. Results: In this lab I broke down three trials that went for the time of three minutes. Each minute was broken down into four sets of fifteen seconds. In the first trial the first minute remand constant between forty-four ...

Position Paper essays

Position Paper essays Every four years there's always a presidential election. We the people have to choose whod be the right person for the spot. Who would give us what we need and who would make our environment a better place? Now we are thinking about whom do we want to vote for . . .Bush or Kerry? Over the last four years the air has become more cleaner and our water more pure. Thanks to Bush! The Bush administration developed a plan called The Clear Skies Initiative and submitted it to congress in February 2003, as a proposal to amend the clean air act, which is primary federal law governing air. But Clear Skies is a clear misnomer because if congress passes The Clear Skies Bill, the result will be weaken and delay health protections already required under law. The Clear Skies plan would allow three times more toxic mercury emission. He has proposed several Clean Air Initiatives that will dramatically improve air quality and public health. Bush also proposed a hydrogen-generated autombile. Which we are spending billions of dollars to come up with the technology to do that. Bush also wants to tackle global warming, which he acknowledges may be a real treat. He pours scorn on the Kyoto Treaty on climate change and says he favors market friendly alternatives. Instead he recognizes that global warming should be taken seriously but will require a decision to be based on the best science . In conclusion, Bush has everything planned on what he wants to do with the environment. So if he wins his second term we can expect a cleaner air and better chances of living a healthier life. ...

Business Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 17

Business Plan - Essay Example The SmartHand pointing and teaching device is a touch screen instructor that accurately figures commands that include clicking, double clicking, moving the mouse, as well as left and right clicking. It is designed with the aim of enhancing the teaching quality of the instructor. It helps in getting the job done and minimizes the waste of time in lectures since it allows the lecturers to write on the projection screen remotely. The lecturers are also able to change windows as they move away from the computer. It is a great appeal to those who are interested in an incorporate and advanced technology in the educational use. It is made in a way that the computer has a customized action by hand gestures such as the screen, capture; minimize windows and the rotating objects in design software. With this, it is customized for those lecturers who yearn for convenience and portability. The SmartHand is available for sale at most of the electronics retailers such as the Bestbuy, and the softwa re download is available at the company website. About 57% of all the Universities professors, targeted at Architecture, Engineering, Design schools are expected to present content using their computer screens, which help in the illustrations. These include drawings and plans of different structures. There are about 1,267,700 post-secondary school teachers, 5,726,160 individuals employed, by the large, entrepreneurial firms and 211,500,000 individual gamers. 70% of the professors have computers that they use to teach, 27% of them possess projectors while 5% have alternative pointing devices that make their work easier. Very few of them have portable devices that they can use remotely to illustrate from any position in the classroom. Thus, the main target market of the SmartHand pointing device are the lecturers in universities and the tutors who are faced with the challenge of having to move around the classroom in

Behaviorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Behaviorism - Essay Example What do you think is happening in the poem, based only on reading it one time?† This will get students focused on beginning class, and will give them the opportunity to conduct an initial reading of the poem. They will have the opportunity to consider what they think the poem means based on their own prior knowledge, but without contextual information. Once context is provided later in the lesson, students will be able to compare their original thoughts on the poem with their more informed analysis. (5 minutes) 3. Presentation of New Information or Modeling: The teacher provides a brief introduction about the author, Gwendolyn Brooks including biographical information and background on the society in which the poet wrote. The teacher introduces this information by navigating through various parts of (and having students read aloud) the Norton Anthology of Poetry website as a whole class, using the projector screen (http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nap/we_real_cool_brooks .htm). The purpose of this introduction is to provide students with a context for the poem, and a basic awareness of the differences between today’s society and the time during which the poem was written. Providing information on the author exposes students to a famous author who is a minority, and knowing more about the poet gives students further context for analyzing the poem. The teacher then goes over the poem with the students, and has them share their original thoughts on the poem prior to discussing how their ideas have changed in groups. The teacher asks students to focus on what the pool players are doing in the poem, and what becomes of them during... Principles of behaviorism should be part of every elementary classroom (Monchinski, 2008). Although not all activities or ideas are behaviorist in nature, it will help to incorporate behaviorism in some parts of the lesson. The reason behind this is that students in grade school are not yet mature and they need guidance in order to learn proper behavior and skills. Activating prior knowledge, providing models for activities, and giving rewards are some ways to incorporate behaviorism in the given lesson. Incorporating behaviorism into the lesson plan serves the teacher in three ways. First, by activating prior knowledge, the teacher will have the chance to check students’ understanding of the previous lesson. Likewise, by doing such, the students will feel the need to review past lessons, thus reinforcing good study habits among students. They will be inclined to think that past lessons should not be taken for granted; thus taking down notes, reviewing them, and even memorizi ng will help them get a better grade. Moreover, activating prior knowledge will make students see the link between the previous and the current lesson (Monchinski, 2008). Using principles of behaviorism, the teacher also provides model for learning a new skill. In the given lesson, students will be taught directly how to work on the thesis statement and subsections of the speech. This effort could guide students to perform the task appropriately and produce the expected output. Also, telling students what to do or what is expected to happen prior to performing the activity could lead them to write the best speech. The key is to condition learners to act as expected.