Teaching for Social Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Teaching for Social Justice - Essay Example History has been the mute witness to countless killings and wars waged on account of superficial differences. The principle of equality has been espoused the world over as an essential quality needed for fruitful coexistence and mutual benefit. Though no two individuals are "equal", on a set of any given parameters, as a principle, however, one has to respect and interact with the other on an equal footing. But this is always not the case because of many forms of discrimination prevalent in society to sanctify which efforts were launched to assign it a scientific basis. The shameful history of scientific racism in the 20th century is well known wherein fashionable genetic theories were quickly reflected in public policies, from compulsory sterilization in the US to Nazi death camps in Germany. Later, the notion of race was found to be a myth far removed from biological fact. Modern molecular genetics has established that genetic profiles cannot divide humanity into any definitive types. There arent any genetic markers for race or ethnicity. In fact intermingling of genes is a characteristic feature of the human species that has resulted due to years and years of travelling, trading, migration, pilgrimage, invasion and conquest. The nurture and active proliferation of inequality in varied forms and in many cultures can be related to or is a result of the arrogance of power. The subjugation of vast masses and the control it affords to those holding the reins of power, to write the destiny of hapless individuals, is a heady mix. It intoxicates the powerful with furthering their economic interests giving them a reason to stereotype the subjugated and the weak with irrational lies. 'They' are not capable; are unintelligent; carry many cultural disadvantages; do not fit the 'mould'; are below the par; less than average; these are some of the remarks hurled around to describe people from disadvantaged backgrounds, who live in utter poverty and neither have education nor 'hope' forcing them to accept their lot as something preordained or deserving of such pitiful condition.  Ã‚  

The Swedish Climate Scientist - Svante Arrhenius Essay

The Swedish Climate Scientist - Svante Arrhenius - Essay Example Global warming is considered to depend upon two major factors: excessive emissions of carbon dioxide and other 'greenhouse' gases and fluctuations in temperature trends.  During the last decades of the 20th century, global warming was predominantly viewed as one of the numerous side effects of human activity. 99.9% of the overall atmospheric volume belongs to only three gases: nitrogen (78.09%), oxygen (20.95%), and argon (0.93%). However, the climate depends on these three major gases much less than it depends upon the remaining groups of gases that constitute only 0.01% of the Earth's atmosphere. These gases are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and ozone (O3) and they are known as "greenhouse gases or radiatively important trace species (RITS). They are radiatively important because they influence the radiation balance or net heat balance of the Earth" (Hardy, 2003: 3).  For nearly three centuries the mankind has been raising the concentration of carbon dioxide and other 'greenhouse' gases in the atmosphere. Numerous factories, fossil fuel power plants, and vehicles produce astonishing volumes of carbon dioxide; millions of tons of decomposing garbage coupled with a highly increased population of methane-belching cattle result in the release of excessive volumes of methane; nitrogen-containing fertilizers - the cornerstone of contemporary agriculture - raise the concentration of nitrogen oxide.  In figures, the rise seems rather impressive: while the preindustrial concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere did not exceed 280 ppm, these days the concentration of this gas is approximately 370 ppm which corresponds to more than 30 percent increase. The same tendency is observed in the concentration of other greenhouse gases.