Behind The Gare Saint-Lazare :: essays research papers

As one of the world’s first photojournalists, Henri Cartier-Bresson has transformed the profession through his concept of â€Å"the decisive moment†, the dramatic climax of a picture where everything falls perfectly into place. Traveling extensively since 1931, Cartier-Bresson’s images have been renown throughout the world due to his remarkable sense of timing and his intuition in seizing the right moment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To fully understand Cartier-Bresson’s pictures, one must first understand his artistic philosophy. Born in 1908 in Chanteloup, near Paris Cartier-Bresson’s passion for photography erupted from his love for the early motion pictures. As he would later say, â€Å"From some of the great films, I learned to look, and to see.† Films such as Eisenstein’s Potemkin and Dreyer’s Jeanne d’Arc â€Å"impressed [him] deeply†. Cartier-Bresson yearned to capture real life. He believed in order to do this the subject must be oblivious to the photographer. Indeed, he has never in his professional career contrived a setting or arranged a photograph, an outlook that stems from his strong belief that the photographer should blend into the environment and not influence the behavior of his subject. Cartier-Bresson sees photography as, â€Å"†¦a way of shouting, of freeing oneself, not of proving or asserting one’s own origin ality.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cartier-Bresson worked only with a Leica camera, one of the quietest and fastest of the day. The Leica camera was perfect for Cartier-Bressons documentary style photography, but as an added effect he put black tape over the metallic front as to remain as hidden as possible, a technique that has been copied ever since. He used mainly a 50mm lens and black and white film. Cartier-Bresson shot his pictures with a 50mm lens, because in order to capture a decisive moment, one must be ready at any given instant, not allowing time to change lenses. Also, maintaining the full size of the original photograph was very important to Cartier-Bresson. He felt that cropping a picture would dilute its meaning.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Cartier-Bresson’s use of black and white film is a result of the technology of his day. Though color film was available as early as 1907, it remained difficult to use until the 1970’s. The early color film emulsions were very slow; causing close shots to look cramped. Also, blurred backgrounds in color were much less acceptable than they were in black and white. These limitations caused early color photographs to confine themselves to static subject or bright lights. So as a spontaneous photojournalist Cartier-Bresson had little choice in the matter.

Storytelling and its contribution to organizational theory

The storytelling approach towards the knowledge sharing is explored in detail. The story telling can be used to elicit tacit knowledge and can be used to flow the knowledge about previous events in the organization and any other work related knowledge in an interesting and effective manner. Since emotions are attached to the stories, they narrate the much value to the listeners and the listeners tend to keep what they have heard. In this sense, organization memory is created by the anecdotes of the stories being told.The lessons learnt from the past experiences are label to the employees working now. It is also studied the negative stories have much impact on the listeners. The story telling has the potential to capture tacit knowledge and how it is done in the context of IBM is explained. Moreover, the story telling in the organizations can be enhanced by the use of IT tools like intranet, emails and other knowledge management systems which helps employees to create platform to shar e their stories and communicate the values of the organization.This values and the knowledge base of the organization helps to form the organization memory. Table of Contents Introduction Storytelling is one of the approaches towards knowledge capture and codification, the first phase of KM cycle. This is used to elicit tacit knowledge, towards creation of new knowledge and to organize the content in systematic manner. In knowledge capture phase, the distinction between the capture of existing knowledge and the creation of new knowledge has to be made. Mostly, only existing knowledge is set into the pattern, which only forms the explicit knowledge.There is huge pool of knowledge, which needs to be captured towards generating the new knowledge and that knowledge is mostly tacit in nature, which resides within the heads of knower. Every organization also has a memory. The embodiment of the organizational memory is the experience of its employees, tangible data and knowledge stores in the organization (Walsh and Unison, 1991). The value of knowledge is increased when it is transferred otherwise the uncultured knowledge is devalued and ignored with time. In today's fast-paced economy, an organization's knowledge base is quickly becoming its only sustainable competitive advantage.This competitive advantage is owned by utilizing the organizational knowledge, the individual skills, thoughts and ideas. So Tacit knowledge management is must to capture the experience and expertise of the individual in an organization and making it available to anyone who needs it. Once the tacit knowledge becomes explicit, it needs to be organized in a structured document that will enable multipurpose use. The KM tools help to create knowledge and then leverage it across multiple channels, including phone, email, discussion forums, Internet and any new channel that come online.Story telling is one of the best KM tools to capture tacit knowledge. Organizational story can be defined as pa st management actions, employee interactions or other key events that have occurred and that have been communicated informally (Swap et al, 2001). The stories provide a rich context making it interesting for the listeners and also remains in the conscious memory longer. Stories reinforce organizational learning and communicate common values. The core capabilities of an organization are built by critical skills of employees, management systems and organizational values.This capability can be transferred in formal and explicit way. However much knowledge articulacy knowledge with rich tacit dimensions is transferred internally through processes of colonization and initialization. Story telling is one such transfer mechanisms that can leverage the tacit knowledge of the organization. Literature Review The use of the stories and storytelling may provide a powerful practice as a part of efforts by individuals, groups or organizations to share what they know. It breaks away from the tradi tional means of communication and adds new dimension to the knowledge management tools.Deeding, in his article â€Å"Telling Tales† tries to convey hat the age-old practice of storytelling is an effective method to be used as knowledge management tools but the stories told should match the situation and conditions in the organization. Storyteller as a leader should influence the listeners and the story should have enough detail to be intelligible and credible. Different narrative patterns like Sparking Action, Communicating who you are, Transmitting value, Fostering collaboration and Taming the grapevine can be used.Snowman's article titled â€Å"The new simplicity-context, Narrative and Content† focuses on the need f knowledge management to go beyond the boundaries of using best practices into the realms of uncertainty. Since both the human behavior and system are complex, the cause and effect of the system and the interacting agents can't be separated; the contextual stimulation is needed to capture the knowledge. The decision making pattern is important. Narrative is emerging as one of the most exciting approaches to knowledge management.It involves going and finding a person to ask questions whenever faced with the new task or encounter a problem and get context-sensitive answers. In short, stories allow the communication of complex ideas in a simple, memorable form. Karakul Shaffer B Kali in his research on â€Å"Transfer knowledge Using Stories: A Malaysian University Case Study † attempts to explore the usage of knowledge-embedded stories in a Malaysian institute of higher learning and will consider the understanding of organization members concerning storytelling in the organization.It provides insights on the culture of storytelling as a method of knowledge transfer medium and explores the practicality of using stories in the organization and the employee's perception of the usage of stories to transfer knowledge. This case reveal s that story telling is regarded as an acceptable approach in knowledge transfer. Mostly gathering sessions in the university stimulated storytelling. The case also presented the factors that influence the KM storytelling.The factors are an extension of the existing knowledge transfer factors mentioned in literatures, which do influence KM storytelling. Walter Swap, Dorothy Leonard, Mimi Shields and Lisa Abram in their research â€Å"Using Mentoring and Storytelling to transfer knowledge in the Workplace† explains that the knowledge with rich tacit dimensions is transferred informally through processes of colonization and naturalization. They have focuses on two transfer mechanisms mentoring and storytelling.Most stories told informally in organizations are negative. Therefore managers interested in how knowledge accrues in the organization cannot ignore these important transmitters. Stories that dramatist or illustrate managerial systems, values, norms are more likely to be believed and acted upon than mere statements of policies and norms. Finally, the use of information technologies can enhance the story telling. The effect of verbal storytelling can be enhanced through the use of multimedia.Consistent with the elaboration effect, seeing and hearing the storyteller can add weight and detail to the story as can visual about the environment in which the story occurred. Story-telling-a technique to capture tacit knowledge In KM, the knowledge capture and creation may be done by the individuals who work for the organization or a group within that organization, by all members of a community of practice (COP), or by a dedicated COP individual.So the creation, capture and the codification of the information is done at the personal level while performing activities at Job. Within the firm, individuals share perceptions and Jointly interpret information events and experiences (Cohen and Leviathan, 1990) and at some point, knowledge acquisition extends beyond the individuals and is coded into corporate memory (Napkin, 1995; Spencer, 1996; Monika and Takeouts, 1995). Unless knowledge is embedded into corporate memory, the firm cannot leverage the knowledge held by individual members of the organization.Knowledge acquisition from individuals or groups can be characterized as the transfer and transformation of valuable expertise from a knowledge source (human expert, documents) to a knowledge repository (organizational memory, facts and rules). Explicit knowledge is already well described but we need to abstract and summarize this content. Tacit knowledge capturing needs various techniques of which story telling is the one. Stories involve the detailed narrative of management actions and decision-making styles, employee activities and interaction and other events within the division that are communicated informally within the organization.A story can be defined as telling of a happening or a connected series of happenings whether true or fi ctitious (Deeding, 2001). This involved the group interaction and collaboration for story telling. The SEC' model developed by Knock and Takeouts also supports that story telling or narratives can be used to bring out tacit knowledge. Fig 1 :SEC Model by Monika and Takeouts Here, colonization process is involve which emphasizes the tacit knowledge exchange through Joint activities such as gathering, spending time together, informal talks and living and working in the same environment rather than through written or verbal instructions.The process of transferring one's ideas or images directly to colleagues or subordinates means to share personal knowledge and create commonplace or Baa. During extrapolation process, an individual commits to the group and thus becomes one with the group. The individuals' intentions and ideas merge and become integrated with the group's mental world. This involves the expressing of ideas or images as communicable manner such as metaphors, analogies, eve nt description or narratives. A number of conditions must be in place, however, in order to ensure that storytelling in its various enacted forms creates value in a particular organization.Sole and Wilson (2002) argue that although all stories are narratives, not all narratives are good knowledge-sharing stories. As an example, they cite movies, which tell stories designed primarily to entertain and therefore need not necessarily be authentic-?or even believable. In contrast, in organizational storytelling, stories are often used to promote knowledge sharing, inform, and/or prompt a change in behavior, as well as communicate the organizational culture and create a sense of belonging.In order to achieve these organizational objectives, knowledge-sharing stories need to be authentic, believable, and compelling. Stories need to evoke some type of response, and, above all, they need to be concise Deeding, 2001), so that the moral of the story or the organizational lesson to be learned c an be easily understood, remembered, and acted upon. In other words, organizational stories should have an impact: they should prevent similar mistakes from being repeated, or they should promote organizational learning and adoption of best practices stemming from the collective organizational memory.Deeding (2001) describes the power of a springboard story, knowledge that has been captured in the form of a brief story that has the ability to create a strong impact on its audience. He outlines a number of key elements required to use stories to encapsulate valuable knowledge, such as: The explicit story should be relatively brief and detailed Just enough that the audience can understand it. The story must be intelligible to the specific audience so that they are â€Å"hooked.The story should be inherently interesting. The story should spring the listener to a new level of understanding. The story should have a happy ending. The story should embody the change message. The change mes sage should be implicit. The listeners should be encouraged to identify with the protagonist. The story should ell with a specific individual or organization. The protagonist should be prototypical of the organization's main business. Other things being equal, true is better than invented.One should test, test, and test again Story telling and KM processes involved in context of MM. IBM has leverage on the power of story telling at the daily work place to enhance the employees' performance. IBM has a four-stage storytelling approach. 1 . Anecdotal elicitation through interviews, observation and story circles 2. Anecdotal deconstruction to analyses cultural issues, ways of working, values, rules and beliefs to lied the story's key messages 3. Intervention / communication design with a story constructed or enhanced 4.Story deployment Story telling workshops can be run to elicit the knowledge and cultural values of an organization as well as both its best and inhibitors to sharing and identifies business issues. Values, rules and beliefs of organization were identified. Storytelling provides the platform to the employees to share experiences and build social capital and networks and most importantly it achieves agreement among the participants The knowledge management framework developed by Olivia and Lieder (2001 a) is based n the view of organizations as â€Å"knowledge systems†.According to this view, organization consists of four knowledge processes Creation Storage / Retrieval Transfer Application Here in case of MM, knowledge creation process takes place by the creation of anecdotes, which are captured as tacit knowledge, and they are stored in a repository and aligned with communities, processes and subject areas. This shows the knowledge storage process.Then the knowledge transfer takes place through support discussion forums (lunch and learn), databases, intellectual capital, management systems (training), document management systems, bulletin boa rds, inline chats, portals (community kick-off days) and intranets. Ultimately, the people who make communities do the knowledge application process. The effective communities have valuable stories. Practice of dedicated Story Telling Sessions The practice of dedicated story telling sessions in some organizations have proved the increased level of knowledge exchange among employees.For example, NASA, Deducted and Malaysian university have Km initiative in form of story telling sessions. The ITEMS (Information Services and Media Services) Department has its own storytelling sessions. There are two storytelling session ITEMS Sharing Session- It involves the staffs from whole ITEMS department and it is conducted once a week to share the stories on the problems encountered and the solutions. Toolbox Session-alt only involves the units in ITEMS department. It gathers the support unit employees to share their stories on the problems raised.They have one program to stimulate KM storytellin g called Buddy program. In Buddy program, two employees from different department are paired together to work as a single department. Junior staff is paired with senior academic acting as mentor. Conclusion Stories are powerful conveyors of meaning and tacit knowledge and been in use from ancient times. It helps to share knowledge with context and emotion. It triggers the listeners to respond with other stories building new understanding.Stories can capture and hold the attention increasing the likelihood of hearing and listening. Story telling is very valuable in story telling network. Any organization has a set of its memories embedded from the time of its inception. These memories are the skills and knowledge of its employees while in an organization over the years of operation. So, the organizational memory has its role on forming the knowledge base of the organization. Employees can use the organization memory to learn and improve the effectiveness of their work.Employee's know ledge can be stored and then information and knowledge can be shared by KM. Organizational memory is one of intangible assets of one organization; it stores past experiences and knowledge, supports organization strategy and improves organization effectiveness. Accordingly, it is important to establishment and development of organizational memory for KM. Organizational culture can be stored by story, and it is one of retention facilities of organizational memory.The idea, spirit, and culture of organizations can be passed down by storytelling. Through storytelling, organization members emotionally connect to their organization and then identify their organization. Storytelling can store organizational culture, convey experience and knowledge, and improve acquisition, retention, and maintenance of process of organizational memory management. Organization value and spirit can be conveyed effectively by storytelling.

Salinity

Problems arise in the world due to salinity, as when the salt gets on to the top of the soil†¦.. it causes disaster to the plants and trees. Salt comes in many forms in the natural environment—calcium, magnesium, carbonate, sodium chloride, bicarbonate, and sulphate. Many landscapes are naturally saline, but secondary salinity isn’t so natural, occurring when salts from deep within the earth are dissolved and deposited into soil and water as a result of human activity. This can happen in one of two ways: Dryland salinity – from removal of deep-rooted plantsIn dry regions, deeply-rooted perennial plants, such as shrubs, trees, and grasses, play an important role in regulating groundwater levels. As water is applied to the soil, the plants drink it up and breath it out through a process called evapotranspiration. This ensures that the water table levels stay relatively stable. But this balance is thrown into chaos when farmers clear the land to gain more space for grazing animals and cultivating food crops. In doing so, they remove the deep-rooted plants and replace them with shallow-rooted annual crops.These plants do not take up as much water as once-plentiful native plants, and as a result, more water remains in the soil. Over time—up to 30 years—water accumulates in the land, causing the water table to rise. As it does so, it passes through layers of salt and dissolving the deposits that have existed in the land for centuries. The shallow-rooted plants can’t keep up with the rising water levels, which results in rising salt deposits in ever-increasing concentrations in topsoil. Irrigation salinity – from overirrigationMuch like dryland salinity, irrigation salinity results in a rising water table that brings deep deposits of salt upwards through soil layers. But instead of being caused by land clearing, it results from increased irrigation. As water soaks into the soil, it adds to existing water, raising t he water table, bringing salt along for the ride. During periods of irrigation, the water table will lower again, but salt will remain in surface soil, increasing the salt concentration with each irrigation cycle. What impact does it have? Contamination of ecosystems with excess saltBoth dryland and irrigation salinity result in similar environmental challenges: * Groundwater used for human consumption as well as agricultural and industrial applications becomes saline, making it unusable * Wetlands and bushland ecosystems are damaged, resulting in declines in wildlife biodiversity * Salt damages houses, pipelines, railways, buildings, roads, and water supply systems What has been done about it? Many conservation and regeneration options available There are many possible steps a community can take to prevent and/or reverse salinity: Identify areas where potential for biodiversity loss is significant due to salinity, setting targets to protect and bring back sensitive species * Protec ting key native vegetation species from being cleared and promoting reintroduction of these species in areas affected by salinity * Limit over-irrigation and the construction of dams in sensitive areas, such as wetlands and watercourses * Promote environmentally-sound property management planning * Educate farmers and the public about the risks of increasing salinity * Construct both surface and sub-surface drainage systems to prevent salinity that results from rising water levelsIs this action working? Reversing soil salinity a slow process – prevention is easier Progress in preventing and reversing the effects of salinization is slow and painstaking. Research is beginning to identify ways farmers can continue to cultivate their crops without increasing soil salinity. Planting salt tolerant, deep-rooted plants throughout agricultural lands in one way to see improvements, but like most solutions, it can be costly and requires by-in from farmers and communities alike. Further education of key stakeholders in communities at risk of salinization is required. Why is this? Effects of soil salinity take many years to appearIt can take up to 30 years for communities to begin to feel the effects of increasing salinity, making reversal of the problem equally time-consuming. It also requires significant funding. The Australian government, for instance, pledged to spend nearly $8 million on salinization remediation plans to 2008. Should it continue? On one side, there are those who are against Without remediation of soil salinity, great problems lie ahead Without long-sighted solutions, the problem of salinity, including loss of agricultural land, devastation of ecosystems, and the costs associated with damaged property, will continue to increase. In the US, it is estimated that 10 million hectares of land is lost to salinity every year. The challenge is equally serious in Australia.Environmentalists have been drawing attention to this growing crisis for years, an d only after seeing the effects of salinity are individuals and governments coming to terms with the magnitude of the problem. Failure to address salinity could result in widespread crop failures and even more devastating loss of biodiversity. Should it continue? On the other side, there are those who are all for it Hydro advocates oppose There are many who prefer to turn a blind eye to the problem of salinity, especially those with a vested interest in the industries responsible for the consequences. Salinity can increase in the presence of dams and other water reservoirs, making salinity an acceptable cost to advocates of large-scale hydro projects.The damming of the Colorado River, which flows into Mexico, has caused significant increases in the brackish (i. e. saline) quality of the water. Reversing these problems so that those down river can be supplied with high-quality water has been expensive for the US, resulting in costs upwards of several hundred million dollars every yea r. Farmers’ struggles Equally challenging is working with farmers who see the very long-range problem of salinity as minor compared to the desire to see short-term financial gains through over-irrigation of crops. Small and large-scale farmers alike struggle with the reality of spending money to prevent a problem that may not occur for decades.

10 Painful Signs Your Boss is Disrespecting You

10 Painful Signs Your Boss is Disrespecting You There are horrible bosses, cruel bosses, bosses who hate you and are truly out to get you. And great bosses. There are also a million kinds of bosses in between. Some are perfectly decent. Some just plain do not respect you. How can you tell if your boss doesn’t respect you? Rather than relying on your own imperfect intuition, try checking this list of signs that you are being disrespected.1.  Flip FloppingYour boss changes his  mind every day about what you’re meant to be working on. Your top priorities shift constantly. You can’t keep up. He calls you in panic about something that needs to be done ASAP- only to go silent without providing any further instructions- or giving you contradictory instructions later.2. Not Valuing Your TimeYou get asked to do something vague at the beginning of the day, but you can’t seem to get any more clarifying information until- whammo- at the end of the day, a project is dropped into your lap†¦ and needs to be d one an hour ago.3. Ignoring Your NeedsA good boss will check in a couple of times a year to see how you are doing, whether or not you need anything in the way of guidance or feedback, or whether you’re missing any crucial equipment or software to help you get your job done well. This isn’t any fault of yours- it’s just poor management.4. No ExplanationsWhen things change or you’re asked to do things you don’t quite grasp, you ask a question and are met with stiff resistance- the workplace equivalent of â€Å"mind your own beeswax† or â€Å"that’s for me to know and you to find out.† If your boss doesn’t think you need to know things, especially things that might be necessary to you completing your work, that could be a sign that you’re being frozen out. Your concerns and questions should not be uniformly dismissed.5. You Only Get Grunt WorkYou’re constantly getting assigned the mindless tasks that no one el se wants to do- even if you’re just as qualified or more qualified than your coworkers. Or worse, you’re asked to do tedious work that is actually unnecessary for your company or your team.6. MicromanagingEvery piece of work you submit gets over-examined  over by your boss- even if you’ve never made any mistakes and your work is exemplary. This is particularly worrisome if you’re the only one getting micromanaged or over-supervised. Remember, a good boss trusts you to do the job for which you were hired.7. You Feel ReplaceableEven if you have a ton of specialized experience, you’re not consulted. Maybe you know a lot more than your boss does. But you’re never asked. More than that, your boss seems to think that anyone could do your job- despite hiring you and your unique qualifications for that job.8. Bad FeelingsYour boss ignores you, avoids you, laughs at your expense, criticizes you disproportionately or publicly for the slightest mista ke. Her body language suggests she just can’t stand you. She doesn’t make eye contact. She  seems like a totally different and warmer person with everybody else- and a total stern grouchypants with you. A combination of any of these can give you the gut feeling that you’re just not being respected. And you’d probably be right.9. Lack of Face TimeYour boss is always texting or emailing- never inviting you into his office, never stopping by yours. Not even calling. Technology is great, but you can’t forge a real relationship with your boss if you never have any real human interaction.10. Lack of AcknowledgmentDid you just come up with a great idea but your boss can’t seem to admit it was yours? Or worse: did she steal it? Did you make a big contribution, but it’s going utterly unnoticed and unremarked?These are all signs that you’re definitely not being valued. And quite probably being outwardly disrespected. It might be time t o talk to HR or to start looking for another gig.

The Meaning of the Pseudonym Mark Twain

The Meaning of the Pseudonym Mark Twain Samuel Clemens used several pseudonyms  during his long writing career. The first was simply  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Josh,† and the second was â€Å"Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass.† But, the author wrote his best-known works, including such American classics as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, under the pen name Mark Twain. Both books center on the adventures of two boys, the namesakes for the novels, on the Mississippi  River. Not surprisingly, Clemens adopted his pen name from his experiences piloting steamboats up and down the Mississippi. Navigational Term Twain literally means two. As a riverboat pilot, Clemens would have heard the term, Mark Twain, which means two fathoms, on a regular basis. According to the UC Berkeley Library, Clemens first used this pseudonym  in 1863, when he was working as a newspaper reporter in Nevada, long after his riverboat days. Clemens became a riverboat cub, or trainee, in 1857. Two years later, he earned his full pilots license and began piloting the  steamboat  Alonzo Child  upriver from New Orleans in January 1861.  His piloting career was cut short when riverboat traffic ceased at the start of the Civil War that same year. Mark Twain means  the second mark on a line that measured depth, signifying two fathoms, or 12 feet, which was a safe depth for riverboats. The method of dropping a line to determine the waters depth was a way to read the river and avoid submerged rocks and reefs that could  tear the life out of the strongest vessel that ever floated, as Clemens wrote in his 1863 novel, Life on the Mississippi.   Why Twain Adopted the Name Clemens, himself, explained in Life on the Mississippi why he chose that particular moniker for his most famous novels. In this quote, he was referring to  Horace E. Bixby, the grizzled pilot who taught Clemens to navigate the river during his two-year training phase: The old gentleman was not of literary turn or capacity, but he used to jot down brief paragraphs of plain practical information about the river, and sign them MARK TWAIN, and give them to the New Orleans Picayune. They related to the stage and condition of the river, and were accurate and valuable; and thus far, they contained no poison. Twain lived far from the Mississippi (in Connecticut) when The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published in 1876. But, that novel, as well as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, published in 1884 in the United Kingdom and in 1885 in the United States, were so infused with images of the Mississipi River that it seems fitting that Clemens would use a pen name that so closely tied him to the river. As he navigated the rocky path of his literary career (he was beset with financial problems through much of his life), its fitting that he would choose a moniker that defined the very method riverboat captains used to safely navigate the sometimes treacherous waters of the mighty Mississippi.

Agricultural Climate Adaptation Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Agricultural Climate Adaptation Plan - Essay Example A climate change adaptation plan needs a set of responses that will highly improve rice production despite the changing climatic conditions rather than just maintaining the existing level of production. In rice production, adaptation to climate change is quite complex, and it is essential for it to entail a range of social, economic and environmental factors. It must also entail technological and financial constituents that are creative. This may include: improved awareness and application of indigenous knowledge and managing strategies. Climate change and global warming have negative impacts on rice production. Typhoons are a current occurrence in Luzon Island cause damages to the crops which in turn minimizes crop yields, cause destruction to forests; forests are responsible for maintaining water table balance, cause an increase in the cost of the rice transportation and affects access to water. Rainfall shortages and the long dry spells in the area make farmers rely more on irrigation that is quite expensive and cause rice paddies to have very little water because of high vapor transpiration. Floods in the area make the islands water sources to be saline which in turn results to degradation of cultivated land by making the soil saline and damages crops and cause yields to decrease. It is imperative for adaptation strategies to be employed. These include Biophysical, economic and socio-cultural adaptation strategies (Chen et al. 28). Adaptation process involves strategic, incremental and transformational adaptatio n. According to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, transformational adaptation results to changing of the basic features of the system while responding to climate change and its impacts Incremental adaptation is considered to be developing of activities and behaviors that are present downsize the losses or ameliorate the benefits that are as a result of natural climate shift and extreme events. One of the adaptation responses would be a

Benchmark progress towards sustainability Essay - 1

Benchmark progress towards sustainability - Essay Example It also implies involving as many individuals from the society as possible. For a corporate, a sustainable vision means monitoring the impact of its production, manufacturing and other operations on society and environment. Considering the future as well as molding the business strategy for greater good of the society can be regarded as an ideal sustainable stance (DeSimone & Popoff, 2000). With increasing globalization and urbanization, the environment is affected adversely and depletion of natural resources is beyond measures. Harmful carbon emissions, global warming and pollution are only few of the adversities. It is also known that if these environmental hazards are not taken care off now, then it will prove detrimental to our future generations, making their life more difficult compared to the present scenario. Sony is a multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company was founded in the year 1946 (Sony, 2014a). Sony deals with products such as, consumer electronics, video games, entertainment and media, semiconductors, telecom equipments and computer hardware. Apart from these, the company is also involved in financial services, credit finance, banking and insurance. The company even has an advertising agency under its umbrella. At present, the company is on the ninth position with Panasonic in the â€Å"Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics.† (Greenpeace, 2012). According to this guide, electronics companies are graded on the basis of their efforts towards preserving environment. Samsung is a multinational conglomerate headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. The company was founded in the year 1938 (Samsung, 2014a). After starting off as a trading firm, Samsung diversified into numerous areas such as, textiles, food processing, retail, securities and insurance. Late 1960s saw Samsung’s entry into electronics (Samsung, 2014b). Presently, the company is into