Environmental Crimes Essay Example

Environmental Crimes Paper The types of acts commonly recognized as environmental crime are: pollution or other contamination of air, land and water; illegal discharge, dumping and transport of, or trade in, hazardous and other regulated waste; illegal trade in ozone-depleting substances; illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; illegal trade in (protected) flora and fauna and harms to biodiversity; and illegal logging and timber trade. The major drivers Of environmental crimes are identified to be Greed and Ignorance. Individuals and organizations understand that a huge amount of money can be made by committing certain environmental crimes and for some businesses illegal version is more lucrative. The attractiveness of the profits is enhanced by the often minimal investment that is needed to commit environmental crimes and the relatively low risk of getting caught and prosecuted (Hyman Barack 2002). Ignorance covers genuine lack of awareness about environmental responsibilities (e. G. He subsistence poacher) or is the product of confusion about the intricacies of these responsibilities (e. G. The permit, licensing and record-keeping system required to breed and trade in native birds). Why is this issue important? Environmental issues have posed global challenges and have raised skepticism regarding the sustainability of nature to nurture human civilization. And among these environmental issues is the growing menace of environmental crimes. The threat that environmental crimes pose today is far period than it did a few decades ago. We will write a custom essay sample on Environmental Crimes specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Environmental Crimes specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Environmental Crimes specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In such a short span of time the rate of commission of such crimes has increased at such an alarming pace that it makes us question ourselves whether or not we will be able to survive this menace and see what will happens in the future. Environmental crime has come to be accepted as a genuine category of crime only very recently. It is because of the changing perceptions of people about the vulnerability of environment and the long term outcomes of their practices which are environmentally harmful. Even despite this growing awareness, environmental crimes often fail to prompt the required response y governments, the enforcement community and the public. Often perceived as victimless, environmental crimes do not always produce an immediate consequence, the harm may be diffused or go undetected for a lengthy period of time. The effects of a single environmental offence may not appear significant but the cumulative environmental consequences of repeated violations over time can be considerable. Also the impacts of such crimes affect the whole society. For example illegal logging contributes to deforestation. It deprives forest communities of vital livelihoods, causes ecological problems like flooding, and is a major contributor to climate change up to one-fifth of greenhouse gas emissions stem from deforestation. Illicit trade in ODDS like the refrigerant chemicals chlorofluorocarbons (CIFS), contributes to a thinning ozone layer, which causes human health problems like skin cancer and cataracts. Even some of the consequences of these crimes are irreversible. All these indicate the gravity of the danger associated with environmental crimes. Adding on to this danger is the fact that Environmental crimes by their very nature are trans-boundary and involve cross-border criminal syndicates. Environmental crime has been identified as one of the most profitable and fastest growing areas of international criminal activity. Environmental crime generates tens of billions Of dollars in profits every year, and it is growing. Due to such huge amount of money being involved organized criminal groups are attracted to its high profit margins. Organized criminals are adaptable and resourceful; they build networks and cast their nets wide to avoid detection. Moreover, environmental crime also proves to be a catalyst for corruption. Criminals perceive it to be an easy option to generate huge profits and in the name way individuals in positions of authority or power view environmental crime as an opportunity to cash in. Signing and forging import and export certificates; facilitating the transport of illicit goods and turning a blind eye are all examples of institutionalized corruption. Furthermore, corruption may be preventing the true cost and extent of environmental crime from being properly assessed or effectively addressed. Environmental crime is now also becoming an avenue for money laundering. It involves a cash economy and therefore organized criminals avoid conventional banking systems. Offenders clean their funds by laundering the money through other equally illicit networks, thereby forming strong links to other criminal arenas making it difficult, if not impossible, to put a price on the proceeds of environmental crime. Need more be said about the seriousness of the issue of environmental crimes? It is high time to wake-up to this menace and take the necessary measures to tackle the plundering Of our planet. Illicit Wildlife Trafficking Each year hundreds of millions of plants and animals are caught and harvested from the wild and then sold in markets across the globe. Though a retreat deal of this trade is legal and is not harming the wild populations, a worryingly large proportion is illegal. And this proportion of illegal trade is on a continuous rise. Illicit wildlife trafficking describes any environment- related crime that involves the illegal trade, smuggling, poaching, capture or collection of endangered species, protected wildlife (including animals and plants that are subject to harvest quotas and regulated by permits), derivatives or products thereof. In 201 2 the financial value of illicit wildlife trafficking was estimated to be $ 19 billion. But reliable estimates of its uncial value are hard to find mainly because the trade is illegal and the true cost and extent of this illicit trafficking is prevented from being assessed. Unreported and unregulated fisheries trade alone has been estimated at between CSS$4. 2 billion and SIS$9. 5 billion per year, the value of the illegal timber trade as much as SIS$7 billion per year, and the illicit wildlife trafficking (excluding fisheries and timber) as between US$7. Billion and US$II billion per year. Combining these numbers, illicit wildlife trafficking (including timber and fisheries) comprises the fourth largest global illegal trade after narcotics, unmans and counterfeit products. It has become one of the most lucrative illicit markets in the world today. Illicit wildlife trafficking is a major concern not only because of its growing proportions but also because of the threats it poses to international security, global biodiversity and public health. Much of the trade in illegal wildlife products is run by criminal groups with broad international reach, and the profits involved can be used to finance further criminal activities. Illicit wildlife trafficking is also linked to other forms of illegal trafficking and money-laundering. We also find corruption associated tit illicit wildlife trafficking which along with deterring investment can cause reduction in the effectiveness of governments, erode the rule of law, and affect the growth of local communities. Wildlife is considered to be an important asset by many communities and the illegal exploitation of wildlife is cap able of driving species towards extinction and severely damaging attempts of sustaining biodiversity. Illegal harvesting of animals and flora can exceed the environments reproductive capabilities, which in turn can cause a devastating decline in the population of various species that are of vital importance to their respective ecosystems, the loss of which cause even further implications. It may also lead to introduction of invasive species. Non- native species can affect human, animal, and plant health, causing considerable economic and environmental damage. Invasive species are as big a threat to the balance of nature as the direct overexploitation by humans of some species. Many invasive species have been purposely introduced by wildlife traders; examples include the American Mink, the Red-eared Terrapin and countless plant species. Not just this, the illegal trade of wildlife is a major intriguing factor in the spread of various animal diseases that can be transmitted to humans.

Merriam-Websters 2018 Words of the Year

Merriam-Websters 2018 Words of the Year Merriam-Webster’s 2018 Words of the Year Merriam-Webster’s 2018 Words of the Year By Mark Nichol Toward the end of every calendar year, Merriam-Webster, like other major dictionaries, shares a list of the words most frequently searched for on its website. As usual, this search traffic is largely driven by public discourse, as people look up words they see and hear in the media and in conversations, seeking to learn definitions of unfamiliar words or to clarify for themselves the meanings of words they know (or think they know). This post discusses Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2018 and ten runners-up. The Word of the Year, justice, was newsworthy in several contexts. The primary sense is that of administration or maintenance of fairness and lawfulness, and increasing concern about social justice has brought the concept, and the term that represents it, to the forefront in our society. But justice is a job title as well as a concept, referring to a judge on a national or state supreme court or similar body, and the controversy over confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh as an associate justice of the US Supreme Court also led people to check the definition. (The senior member of a supreme court is often titled â€Å"chief justice,† while the others are designated â€Å"associate justices.†) Finally, on a more trivial note, the Justice League is a team of superheroes created for DC Comics and appearing in various media, including a film released late last year. The runners-up include nationalism, which has figured prominently in the media as the concept gains traction throughout the world, including in the United States, where President Donald Trump recently unabashedly identified himself as a nationalist. However, he, like many people, appears to be unclear on the concept: Nationalism is often conflated with patriotism. However, while the latter term refers to pride in one’s country, nationalism denotes loyalty to a nation at the expense of international (and intranational) harmony. Nationalism is closely associated with fascism, a political philosophy that incorporates dictatorial control and centralization of authority and brutal suppression of individuals and groups deemed undesirable or resistant to fascists’ goals. In summary, to be called a nationalist is decidedly not a compliment, and to call oneself a nationalist does not invite compliments. Pansexual, incorporating a Greek prefix meaning â€Å"all,† refers to a conception of gender identity and sexual orientation as something that occurs along a spectrum, rejecting the idea of binary categorization. Lodestar, originally denoting Polaris, the North Pole Star, which for millennia has served as a navigational aid, now refers more broadly to a guide, inspiration, or model. (Lode is a Middle English word meaning â€Å"course† or â€Å"way; it’s seen also in the context of mining: A lode is a deposit of ore.) The term had a vogue this year after it was used in an anonymous op-ed in the New York Times purportedly written by a senior Trump administration official. Because Vice President Mike Pence is known to use the fairly obscure term, some people suspected him of being the author. An epiphany is an appearance or manifestation, but the term is most commonly employed to refer to a realization or revelation. Its popularity as a search term early this year likely resulted from the Christian holiday by that name, which on January 6 commemorates the visit of the Magi, or Three Wise Men, to where the infant Jesus lay; it derives from the Greek verb epiphainein, meaning â€Å"manifest.† Feckless, used by a television commentator to criticize Ivanka Trump for, in her role as adviser to her father, failing to criticize the Trump administration’s immigration policies, employs the root feck, of Scottish origin, meaning â€Å"value† or â€Å"worth.† Essentially, it is a rare synonym for worthless. Laurel, the word for a tree whose foliage was used to crown victors in athletic events in ancient Greece, became a hot search term when a debate erupted online about which of two words was being enunciated in an online dictionary’s pronunciation sound file. By extension of its original definition, the term came to apply to the celebratory object itself and to figurative honors; one idiom based on the term is â€Å"rest on (one’s) laurels,† which alludes to someone who, upon achieving an honor, refrains from attempting feats that bring further recognition. (Usage generally pertains to one who does not rest on one’s laurels, meaning that person does seek other honors.) Pissant was frequently looked up after a radio personality described a famous football player’s daughter with the word, which is a derogatory dialectal term formed from piss and ant. (This word is not to be confused with puissant, a rare term meaning â€Å"powerful† and etymologically related to power and potent. All three words derive from the Latin term posse, meaning â€Å"able,† which survives in English as the term for a group deputized to pursue a fugitive or, more loosely, to denote one’s entourage.) The death this year of Aretha Franklin, best known for her rousing rendition of the song â€Å"Respect,† prompted look-ups of that word, which literally means â€Å"look back.† (The second syllable of that word, meaning â€Å"look,† is also the root of spectacle, spectator, inspect, suspect, and so on.) Maverick is a term often applied to the late John McCain, a US senator and presidential aspirant, for his frequent opposition to party-line politics. The word, describing someone who often acts without regard for group or party loyalty, derives from the surname of a gentleman who, after taking a small herd of cattle as payment for a debt, neglected to brand them, rendering them vulnerable to appropriation by other ranchers, who rounded them up on the open range and applied their own brands to the livestock. Since then, the word has been a synonym for independent, though â€Å"stolen from a careless owner† would be a more appropriate association. The death of Marvel Comics mogul Stan Lee this year resulted in references to excelsior, the word with which Lee typically signed off in the columns he wrote for his company’s comic books. Though the primary meaning of the word is mundane- it was a trademark for a brand of wood shavings used as protective packing material and later a generic term- its origin is the Latin word meaning â€Å"higher†; excel, excellent, and so on are related. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:What Is Irony? (With Examples)Precedent vs. PrecedenceQuiet or Quite?

Parents and Their Children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Parents and Their Children - Essay Example Most parents do not seem to be concerned with the possible outcome of this problem within their families. Moreover, this problem is closely correlated with Judaism and Christianity which are considered as the world’s greatest religions. In most cases, sibling rivalry is attributed to hostility between siblings. This antagonism can be depicted in numerous methods, which are extremely dangerous. This shows that this conflict usually involves aggression; however, sibling rivalry is not related to sibling abuse. Sibling abuse is a situation whereby a child oppresses the other through unnoticeable techniques (Susan, 1992). According to psychologists, sibling rivalry can be defined as a form of competition that crops up among children in a home (Susan, 1992). This can also be referred to as enmity among children whether they are blood-related or not. In most cases, the rivalry arises from several factors that are contained either outside or within the family. Some of the factors include personality of the children, birth order, treatment of children by the parents and life experiences. This contention vastly affects children who are of the same gender or those who are born at a close range. As explained by most child psychologists, this issue is widespread and can involve belligerence among the children. In addition, the factors largely contribute to this conflict. For example, parental treatment is said to affect children, even in their teenage years. When these issues are not resolved, then the children might end up hurting each other or even killing their fellow siblings. Reports show that children of age 10-15 are those affected largely by sibling rivalry with the main issue being intellectuality. In prolonged situations, these jealousy issues can thrive to adulthood (Faber & Mazlish, 2012). This can negatively affect the whole family line.