Abstract
This paper relates that the greenhouse effect is essential to life here on Earth and how it simply is the absorption and emission of infrared radiation by atmospheric gases. Without the protective dome created by the effect, life could not be sustained. The paper then goes on to examine how, unfortunately, human activity is now seriously threatening the survival of not only out own species, but of all life on Earth. The paper explains the background and discovery of the effect, the controversies surrounding it and steps that can be taken for a less damaging conformable lifestyle.

From the Paper
"The Greenhouse gas effect occurs in the surface-troposphere and was discovered in 1824 by the French mathematician and physicist, Joseph Fourier, and subsequently experimented on in 1858 by John Tyndall. The idea of the greenhouse effect was finally published by Svante Arrhenius in 1896. The Greenhouse effect is part of the reason Earth supports life; without its relatively constant temperature, the delicate balance of life would be tipped. The main Greenhouse Gases are water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane and ozone. The effect is when the warmth of the sun gets trapped in the lower atmosphere, owing to the fact that the atmospheres' shell was weakened and allows more radiation in than the plant gives back. Consider the way heat in a greenhouse gets trapped by the glass, and how that heat in the greenhouse support the life it contains. However, these gases could not prepare for a distructive, carbon-based life form error. "

Tags:global, warming, pollution, toxins, tropopsphere

Abstract
This essay deals with four areas which are causing Canadian National Parks to disappear--extreme government cut-backs, identity crisis, improper management and ecosystem destruction. It also suggests ways in which the government can change its polices to save these parks.

From the Paper
"Canadians look at the infamous National Park's landscape and see a vast and beautiful range of Canada at its best. Unfortunately, what one sees is often deceiving. The truth is that the state of Canada's National Parks is alarming. Entire species are disappearing, vegetation is being destroyed by development and urbanization, and the pristine lakes and rivers are being contaminated by pollution. The Canadian Government has not been fulfilling its managerial role in protecting the essential resources that are comprised in Canada's National Parks. The problems that have generated in the Park's system have often dismissed due to their seemingly insignificant characteristics. Unfortunately, all of the insignificant problems joined together to create a devastating picture of dysfunctionality of the National Parks. There are four pivotal points that have caused the Park's disastrous spiral aimed at oblivion. Extreme cuts to the Parks Canada's budget has forced them to compromise their principles on how the parks should be run, and resorted to doing what they could. Parks Canada has found itself in an extreme identity crisis, as financial pressures are pitting conflicting philosophies against one another. The Canadian Government is the root which many, if not all of the posing threats the National Parks has emerged from. Their improper management and mentality has potentially shattered any chance of Canada's ecosystem to flourish. Until the Canadian Government stops seeing the nation's national Parks yet another way to generate a clever income for their institution, the parks will continue to lose their ecological integrity until they fade from man's sight completely."

Tags:canada, crisis, cutbacks, degredation, forestry, government, identity, management, national, park

Abstract
Discussing how gang activity is on the rise throughout the United States, along with the poverty that is the root cause. Comparing two articles that deal with this issue - Tim Lucas' article focuses on the general panic across America concerning the presence and spread of gangs. It explores the barriers built between the white majority and the impoverished Hispanic minority in Santa Cruz's Beach Flats area, and discusses how these barriers have affected the rise of gangs. The second article details a study in which Australian street kids were observed and interviewed. This study focused on gender relations between street kids as well as social organization and moral conduct. These two articles are compared on several grounds, this first being an assessment of the main points of each, second is an evaluation of their contributions to the literature on this subject. Next, the differing approaches to research are contrasted, as well as the results of this research. Finally, the strengths and weaknesses of each article are compared.

From the Paper
"The issue of urban poverty, homelessness and gangs is a very serious one, and will only continue to gain importance as more and more of the world develops. These two articles both deal with this issue but in very different ways. Lucas tries to develop a model that can be universally applied to urban gangs, and does this through the example of the Beach Flats area of Santa Cruz. It's main conclusions are that although youth crime is increasing, there is an over inflated fear of this increase, and that it is the boundaries formed in the midst of this moral panic that the problem of youth gangs is exacerbated. Winchester and Costello's article is at the opposite end of the spectrum, in that it focuses solely on a single group of homeless children, in an attempt to understand their nature more thoroughly, but with no attempt made to provide deeper insight into the problem of homelessness as a whole."

Tags:australian, cultural, geography, homelessness, living, poverty, youth

Abstract
This paper explores how in today's society neo-liberalism and capitalism go hand in hand. As governments scramble to find new ways to save money by cutting costs, many economic policies have had negative influences on regulatory bodies in the area of environment and society. The writer reviews the reductions in the size of the governments environmental watchdogs, the department of natural resources as well as the department of fisheries and oceans which have thus hampered in the efforts to monitor and control the environment. The paper concludes that barriers placed on environmental resources have become stronger as corporations grow to consume larger and larger amounts of capital, and the resources necessary to create that capital. The main theory behind neo-liberalism is to allow the markets to dictate everything and to have governments remain an influential bystander. The writer finds that it is difficult to imagine how an environment could survive on its own.

From the Paper
"If the demand is there for a large market in house furniture, the neo-liberal state would allow for the consumption of whatever amount of lumber was necessary to create the furniture, even if that demand meant that an entire country were left forestless in order to provide those trees. Neo-Liberals would argue that those trees would be replaced afterward but as we can see from the current illustration we can deduce that that replacement would only come when it was absolutely necessary for the good of the corporations that need the trees."

Tags:economy, environment, depletion, natural, resource, politics, trees, markets, trade, capital

Abstract
This paper covers many of the aspects which have had an impact on the recovery of Lake Erie. This assessment includes both previous and current initiatives and the paper 's attempts to relate these initiatives to the lake's overall recovery success.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
U.S.-Canada Air Quality Agreement
The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
Lake Erie's Success
Conclusion

From the Paper
"In the past Lake Erie has been the site of numerous research studies, mainly attributed to its high pollution, and more recently on the restoration of the lake. Lake Erie receives its water from the Detroit River, which is known for its heavy water and then releases the water into the Niagara River (Al-Aasm et al, 1998). Lake Erie is by far the most polluted of the Great Lakes. This can be attributed to a century of abuse, exploitation, and to a lesser degree the physical features of the lake."

Tags:management, plan, research, restoration

Abstract
The vast numbers of tourists concentrated in particular regions across the world that have had an increasingly negative effect of destruction on the natural environment. This paper depicts the harmful effects of tourism in the regions of Prince Edward Island, Jamaica, and Kenya.

From the Paper
"Prince Edward Island is one of the major tourist destinations in Canada. Tourists are attracted to the small province because of its numerous white sand beaches, its rolling pastoral landscape, and many tiny villages. Perhaps the reason it is best known is due to the stories by Lucy Maud Montgomery of Anne of Green Gables. Few of the tourists who grace the island every year realize the damages that they are having both directly and indirectly on the environment. The most visible sign of environmental and ecological changes are towards the many sand dunes on the island, among others environmental factors."

Tags:africa, air, america, animal, anne, assets, beach, canada, caribbean, central, coral, countries, country, damage, destination, destruction, developing, dunes, earth, ecological, economic, edward, effect

Abstract
This essay contains the history of the pesticide DDT and it's uses within the environment. DTT is a harmful pesticide which has been detrimental to the environment, and has caused a decline in a variety of species. The author focuses specifically on the effects of the pesticide on the environment.

From the Paper
" As earth's population grows so does the demand for food, and the use of pesticides has become essential in meeting this demand. The first important synthetic organic pesticide was a chlorinated hydrocarbon, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane or DDT. DDT was discovered in 1939 by Swiss chemist Paul Meller. In its early days, DDT was a popular pesticide because it was toxic to a wide range of insect pests, yet it appeared to have low toxicity to mammals. DDT was also persistent, which meant the pesticide didn't break down rapidly in the environment and therefore did not need to be reapplied often and since DDT was insoluble it did not wash off by rain or other weather conditions. Although gradually throughout time it was discovered that many insects had developed resistance to DDT, and it was discovered that DDT did in fact pose to be harmful to the ecosystem. This discovery created wide public interest and made people aware that chemicals were polluting the environment. As a result DDT was banned for use in North America and other countries in the early 1970's. Though pesticides, such as DDT, may decrease the number of insects, throughout history it has been proven that there is a detrimental effect upon the environment, animals and humans as a result."

Tags:ecology, ecosystem, damage

Abstract
Soil is an incredibly important resource and maintaining the fertility of our soils is a pressing issue at the forefront of environmental science as we try to feed an expanding global population. Queensland, Australia is one area of the world where soil is being depleted and degraded at an alarming rate. Through an examination of this specific resource management problem, this essay analyzes the concept of impact assessment to develop fair, efficient and effective solutions to this environmental problem.

From the Paper
?The preservation and conservation of the worlds soil is a serious resource management problem. The sustainable use of our soil will be a major challenge for the human species for many years to come. When assessing the impact of any resource management problem and developing feasible solutions to that problem certain factors must be taken into consideration. Examining the fairness, efficiency and effectiveness of a proposed solution is paramount to its potential success. A solution for soil loss that is completely unfair to farmers or ranchers will be rigorously opposed and impossible to implement.?

Tags:agriculture, argoforestry, arid, crop, degradation, depletion, desert, desertification, farmland, land, management, marginal, resource, salinisation

Abstract
This paper begins by providing a brief geological history of the mountain, separating it into nine different periods. It then examines various lava types found in the area. The paper moves to modern day when the first actual threat was realized for eruption. It discusses the process of eruption and the different types of blast - lateral blast (direct blast zone, channelized blast zone, seared zone); vertical blast and pyroclastic flows. It concludes with an analysis of the aftermath and its effect on wildlife in the area.

From the Paper
"On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helen's in southwestern Washington erupted with a massive explosion. Leading up to this day was increasingly intense earthquake activity. There were also lots of relatively weak eruptions and many locations of minuet gas discharge. The devastating impact of the suddenly unleashed volcanic energy caused the worst volcanic and geological disaster in the recorded history of the United States."

Tags:lava, volcano, pyroclastic, zone, blast

Abstract
This paper examines the dangers of the notorious chemical DDT and shows why it should be banned by the year 2007, as environmentalist groups have aimed to do. The paper covers issues relating to the chemical including a growing resistance to its use, effective alternatives and the extent of its environmental destruction.

From the Paper
"The environmental damage that DDT causes is enough in itself to justify a total ban. DDT is a very persistent chemical and because if its molecular structure breaks down very slowly within nature. There are rough estimates that the half-life of DDT is around 12-15 years depending on the climate it is exposed to. This is partly why it is so dangerous in the environment. Another factor is that DDT is able to travel great distances, and is found every where throughout the globe. This is a strange and disturbing discovery because some places have never been sprayed before, such as Antarctica and the ocean bottoms. The spraying of DDT has unintentionally killed some main predators of the mosquito. Dragonfly larva hunt mosquito larva in puddles and stagnant ponds and also the adult dragonfly will hunt adult mosquitoes further reducing their numbers. DDT has worked in the past but as it destroyed fragile ecosystems it has now increased mosquito numbers. DDT is also the linked chemical responsible for the decline in the population of the Bald eagle and the Peregrine falcon. These two species are at the top of the food chain, thus their prey usually have been exposed to DDT."

Tags:bioaccumilation, malaria, Bacillus, Thuringiensis