Pollution Associated With Oil And Gas Production Environmental Sciences Essay

Pollution Associated With Oil And Gas Production Environmental Sciences Essay 1.1.1 Oil and gas production generally generates massive wealth for countries and contributes to the socio-economic development in the areas of foreign exchange earnings, provision of job opportunities, improved infrastructure, water supply, sewerage and waste treatment, health care and education, among others. Despite these economic and social benefits associated with the oil and gas industry, the exploitation of oil and gas reserves has not always been without some ecological side effects. Oil spills, damaged land, accidents and fires, and incidents of air and water pollution have all been recorded at various times and places. 1.1.2 The discussions that follow will seek to highlight the pollution associated with the various stages of the oil and gas production; and will discuss the wide range of approaches used by governments across the globe to regulate the attendant impact and pollution to the ecosystem. The discussion will also suggest an appropriate strategy to be adopted by the industry in order to achieve its overall goal of finding the right mix of regulatory, co-regulatory, incentives and voluntary mechanisms to meet the challenge of world energy demands, whilst minimising adverse impact on the environment by conforming to current good practice. The environmental impacts of the activities of the oil and gas industry exploration and exploitation, refining and products marketing have been of concern to government regulatory agencies, oil companies operators as well as the host communities. The potential for extensive and irreversible environmental and social damage from oil development projects is particularly acute in developing countries with inadequate regulatory frameworks or weak environmental and social legislation. The impacts of oil and gas operations generally occur in the form of human, socio-economic and cultural impacts, atmospheric impacts, aquatic and terrestrial impacts. Human, socio-economic and cultural impacts may include changes in land-use patterns, such as agriculture, fishing and hunting as direct consequence (for example, land-take and exclusion) or as a secondary consequence in the form of new access routes, leading to unplanned settlement and exploitation of natural resources. The impact could also result in changes in aesthetics because of unsightly or noisy facilities. It has been reported that in some places where oil is discovered, the economy develops rapidly, but it is an economy of misery.    Poorly built oil camps are carved out of the landscape and bring with them many social problems, such as forced displacement, alcoholism, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV/AIDs. Oil companies and governments regularly wash their hands of the communities mostly damaged by the oil development. In most instances, these communities are left on their own to try to determine how much and what kinds of harm the oil and gas industry has caused, and to search for ways to restore their communitys health. Protests by communities, often confrontational in nature, are the most eloquent testimonies of the resistance to the general pollution of the environment by the activities of oil companies. For example, in 1995, proposals by Shell to dispose of the Brent Spar oil storage facility provoked an extensive campaign of protests by activists from Greenpeace aimed at stopping Shell from dumping the Brent Spar in the North Sea. Spontaneous protests in support of Greenpeace and against Shell broke out across Europe, and eventually resulted in Shells eventual abandonment of plans to dump it deep in the Atlantic., Atmospheric pollution results from flaring, venting, and purging gases, fugitive gases from loading operations and tankage and losses from process equipment, combustion processes such as diesel engines and gas turbines. The main emission gases include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, volatile organic carbons and nitrogen oxides. Gas flaring exposes workers, communities, and wildlife to pollution with various health effects. The flares pollute the clouds, causing a black rain that poisons water sources. The Niger Delta in Nigeria is a typical example of a region adversely affected by the impact of oil and gas exploration and production. Pervasive gas flaring is one of the key factors that have worsened the environment of the Niger Delta, attracting concern from the international community. It has been reported that Nigeria has the Worlds highest level of gas flaring and flares about 16 per cent of the worlds associated gas. Aquatic pollution result from production water, spills and leakages, cooling water, process, wash and drainage water, drilling fluids, and chemicals used for well treatment. Oil is often spilled during transport through pipelines, trucks, and ships. When oil spills, it pollutes groundwater and waterways, harms plants and animals, and causes damage that may last for years to resources for hunting, fishing, and farming. Even once the oil appears to have dissipated, it can still lurk beneath the surface of beaches and the sea bed, severely affecting marine organisms that burrow, such as crabs, for literally decades. These burrowing creatures are also food for other animals, so the cycle of poisoning continues for many years. In addition to the impact on marine life, oil spills have a direct impact on humans too long after the initial media frenzy has died down. For example, some Alaskan communities were affected by the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989 as important commercial fishing and hunting grounds were contaminated for an extended period. Tourism was also affected. Oil and gas operations also have potential impacts on vegetation and soils resulting from deforestation, disturbance due to construction activities, indirect impact due to social change and contamination resulting from spillage and leakage or solid waste disposal. During the course of exploration oil, forests are cut down and homes are destroyed. Roads are built, and streams and rivers are blocked up. Seismic testing damages homes, wildlife, and the land.    Oil drilling can cause fires, explosions, and other accidents that endanger workers and the community. For example, in 1988, the offshore platform Piper Alpha, which was located in the British sector of the North Sea oil field and operated by Occidental Petroleum, was engulfed in a catastrophic fire and resulted in the loss of 167 lives, costing billions of dollars in property damage, and the shutting down of approximately 10% of total UK gas production. The dumping of toxic water is also a major cause of pollution. Laws about drilling in wealthy countries require the toxic water to be put back into the ground rather than dumped on the surface.   Oil companies often do nothing more than dig a hole and dump in crude oil, drilling wastes, toxic water, and other wastes leading to the contamination of groundwater and land. Pollution at the refining stage results from refineries releasing toxic waste into water, soil, and air and this leads to various health risks. This pollution also adds to global warming. The decommissioning phase of oil and gas production, if unchecked, can also present environmental problems by the disposal of oil platforms into deep waters. The end result could be hundreds of rusting platforms, obsolete subsea infrastructure and disused pipelines running all the way to land. It is important to point out here that the impact on the environment of oil and gas exploration and production operations depends on the stage of the process, the size and complexity of the project, the nature and sensitivity of the surrounding environment, the effectiveness of the planning, pollution prevention, and mitigation control techniques. While some of these impacts can be said to be the result of unpredictable acts of God, the occurrence of some of these potentially devastating impacts often result from accumulation of errors and questionable decisions, most of which are rooted in the organization, its structure, procedures, and culture. These organizational factors include flaws in the design guidelines and design practices, misguided priorities in the management of the trade-off between productivity and safety, mistakes in the management of the personnel on board, and errors of judgment in the process by which financial pressures are applied on the production sector resulting in deficiencies in inspection and maintenance operations. The Piper Alpha accident of 1988 is one of the cases that can hardly be attributed to an act of God: gross human error greatly contributed to this accident. Notwithstanding the fact that the coincidence of the final events that triggered the catastrophe was not in itself controllable, the failure resulted essentially from an accumulation of management errors. In November 1990, Lord Cullens report into the disaster severely criticised safety procedures on the rig owned by Occidental Oil. The immediate cause of the disaster was a failure in the permit to work system which caused a breakdown in communications between the day shift and the night shift. This led to the use of machinery which was undergoing maintenance and caused the escape of gas from an insecurely fastened temporary flange. Thereafter, there appeared to be a series of failures and errors of judgment which contributed to the overall scale of the disaster. In the case of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1998, the US National Transportation Safety Board ruled that drinking by the ships captain, a fatigued and overworked crew and inadequate traffic control by the Coast Guard all contributed to the enormous oil spill by the Exxon Valdez off the Alaskan coast in 1989. In another instance, the final Report by the Commission set up by US President Barack Obama to investigate the cause of the recent BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion on 20 April 2010 in which 11 workers were killed and led to an estimated four million barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico (the National Oil Spill Commission) concluded, among others, that the explosive loss of the Macondo well could have been prevented ; and that the immediate causes of the Macondo well blowout can be traced to a series of identifiable mistakes made by BP, Halliburton, and Transocean that reveal such systematic failures in risk management that they place in doubt the safety culture of the entire industry.

Negative Peer Pressure Essay -- Peer Pressure Speech

Go on." "Everybody's doing it." "It's only one drink." "You're such a loser." I didn't know what to do. All these voices were repeating themselves over and over in my head. I didn't want to give into them because I knew what I was doing was wrong. I didn't want everyone to think I was scared but what if my parents found out. Why was I here? Are these people really my friends if they are really doing this to me? These were the vital questions that I didn't know the answers to. I knew in my heart it was wrong but I gave in. This is usually the typical outcome of a scene like this. It is called peer pressure. It can be disguised in many different forms. In this essay I am going to look at different ways in which teenagers can be influenced by peer pressure. Many teenagers experiment with cigarettes, drugs or alcohol. It is likely that they take their first cigarette, drink or drug because of pressure from peers or friends. The influence of friends who smoke is the main reason teenagers start, although you are also more likely to start if your parents do. Cigarettes, like alcohol, are an acquired taste but over eight per cent of people who smoke in their teens become permanently hooked. Often adolescents drink to feel less uncomfortable and more relaxed with friends and peers and because they are encouraged to do so by other teenagers. Regular excessive drinking can lead to poor school work, social and emotional problems, the use of other drugs and sometimes even suicide, The main difference between alcohol or cigarettes and other drugs is that once you are over a certain age you can legally buy alcohol and cigarett... ...y develop other symptoms such as headaches or stomachaches. Some sufferers feel short of energy and want to sleep all the time; others will have difficulty in sleeping and become very tired. Tiredness, lack of interest and difficulty in concentrating can affect schoolwork. Depressed people often lose interest in hobbies and activities and feel cut off from the people around them. They feel worthless and believe they have no power to change the situation they are in. some young people turn to drug or alcohol abuse, sleeping around, crime, skipping school or running away from home. These can all be ways of distracting themselves from their feelings. Depression has to be taken seriously and sufferers need to seek immediate help. Counselling, psychotherapy or sometimes medication can make recovery quicker and easier.

Culturally diverse entity Essay

Listing down the sources of my cultural programming sure opened up my eyes to the realities that I am facing. As a person who is growing up and trying to come to terms with my identity as it interacts with the world, it is amazing to know that there are a lot of sources of my cultural programming. Although I consider my family as one of the main sources of my understanding of my own world, I realize that I am also bringing in cultural diversity to my family. As a part of the new generation of people in the world, we are different from our parents and much more from our grandparents. As such, through the technology I use and the ideas that I come across with, I am becoming more diverse in terms of culture. There are times that several sources of my cultural programming come into conflict. I can think of several ones. The church and the morality and faith it is teaching sometimes come into conflict with the kinds of movies and TV shows I watch. Quite honestly, there are times that I feel that church stuff is boring but when I also realize the wars, the way that people tend to forget courtesy and the sense of right and wrong, I feel that the church still has something to offer. Another source of conflict is perhaps the way that my family expects me to behave in a certain way and the way in which my friends treat each other and the way that media such as television shows and movies portray the life of a teenager. There are times that I get confused with the expectations of my parents and the way that I want to live. But I know that I have to respect them and listen to them. Culture is very broad and I think that as young people of today, we are exposed to more shapers of culture than did our parents and grandparents. That is why there are conflicts in these cultures as they are developed in me.

The Emirates Airlines Marketing Strategies

The Emirates Airlines Marketing Strategies Learning and Memory of Consumer Behavior in Emirates Business corporations conduct consumer studies for the improvement of their marketing strategies. This enhances their understanding on how the consumers contemplate, sense, and reason amid different products they offer. Emirates airlines, as one of the greatest developed long-haul carriers, are no exception in this realm. Learning and memory of consumer behavior in emirates is of greater importance and requires extreme attentions for the survival of the business in this dynamic global market.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Emirates Airlines Marketing Strategies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Learning within the consumers entails a rigorous transformation of the pre-existing memory as well as behavior. It is not exclusively knowledge based, but inducement by influence is also relevant. It focuses on the already known and enactment of subsequent concrete behav ior[1]. Learning and memory of the flight products are crucial at Emirates airlines. Various approaches of learning are taking course from which consumer awareness rests. One of such methods is a classical conditioning where consumers are natured to abide by the culture of the organization in terms of flight schedules, travelling conditions and all the benefits that abreast their products. Countless contemporary advertisers utilize the ideology to survive in the competitive market share. Restrictions in consumer awareness or information handing capabilities influence resolutions and marketing results. Concurrently, operant conditioning engages a diverse succession of events thus perceived as learning. The wide-ranging outline is behavior, consequence, and the possibility of the behavior to rise or descend. The Emirates Airlines embraces learning, as well as memory, to enact positive consumer behavior towards their products. They sometimes grant offers while trying out new products. Behavior arises from either individual realms, or groups. It entails the exploitation, disposal, and product acquisition. Importance of Marketers’ Understanding on Consumers Learning on Products and Services The marketers’ knowledge of how the consumers learn about their products is vital in the Emirates Airlines. The most fundamental one is for the marketing scheme meant to augment the promotion campaigns. The illustration of this concept is vivid by the discovery that travelers are more receptive to flight advertisements throughout December holidays when most tourists tend to fly abroad for leisure than any other season. The organization understands that new services primarily meet adoption by few individuals, and eventually the entire population.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The marketers must be patient as the product steers through these rigor ous phases while the organization has to finance the marketing projects to uphold the products buoyancy until they convene a commercial hit. The emirates marketers significantly understand how consumers learn about their services and support the gratification of initial customers, since they will in turn sway many successive clients’ brand preferences[2]. Emirates conditioning results Conditioning denotes the growth of behavior variation, which connects a desired behavior to a product with a previously unrelated stirring service. It aids in the successful promotion of new products. Emirates Airlines have effectively implemented such conditioning strategies with positive results. This extremely firm, with affirmative results, employs several aspects of conditioning encompassing typical, operant, and vicarious erudition. They employ unconditional stimulus, which brings forth unrestricted responses from the customers towards a new product. The corporation also embraces repositio ning, which engages an attempt to transform consumer perceptions of a brand, typically turning out to be less striking. Customer’s behavior and induced receptiveness are the key components of this achievement.  The rewarding of the customers behavior either at intervals or at some fixed duration is paramount in the arenas of conditioning[3]. In vicarious learning, the clients do not usually undertake the learning procedures by themselves. Occasionally, they possibly learn from examining their fellow clients. Bibliography Shaw, S. Airline marketing and management. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, Vermont, 2007. Shimp, T. Advertising Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing  Communications, Cengage Learning, Ohio, 2008. Taneja, N. Flying ahead of the airplane. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, Vermont, 2008.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Emirates Airlines Marketing Strategies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Footnotes T, Shimp, Advertising Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, Cengage Learning, Ohio, 2008, p. 145. S, Shaw. Airline marketing and management. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, Vermont, 2007, p.107. N, Taneja, Flying ahead of the airplane. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd, Vermont, 2008, p. 140.

East Carolina University GPA, SAT ACT Admissions Data

East Carolina University GPA, SAT ACT Admissions Data East Carolina GPA, SAT and ACT Graph East Carolina University GPA, SAT Scores and ACT Scores for Admission. Data courtesy of Cappex. How Do You Measure Up at East Carolina University? Calculate Your Chances of Getting In  with this free tool from Cappex. Discussion of East Carolinas Admissions Standards: Roughly two-thirds of the applicants to East Carolina University are admitted. The bar for admission, however, is not overly high, and students with decent grades and test scores have a very good chance of getting in. In the graph above, the blue and green dots represent accepted students. You can see that the majority of successful applicants had high school averages of B- or higher, combined SAT scores of 1000 or higher (RWM), and ACT composite scores of 19 or higher. Higher grades and test scores obviously translate into a better chance of acceptance. In the middle of the graph youll see some red dots (rejected students) and yellow dots (waitlisted students) mixed in with the green and blue. Some students with grades and test scores that were on target for East Carolina University did not win admission. At the same time, some students were accepted with test scores and grades a little bit below the norm. This is because the East Carolinas admissions process is not entirely numerical. The university evaluates the rigor of your high school curriculum, not just your grades. The admissions folks want to see that you have taken challenging courses that have prepared you for college-level work. Also, the university is committed to diversity, and students personal situations and backgrounds can play a factor in the admissions process. To learn more about East Carolina University, high school GPAs, SAT scores and ACT scores, these articles can help: East Carolina University Admissions ProfileWhats a Good SAT Score?Whats a Good ACT Score?Whats Considered a Good Academic Record?What is a Weighted GPA? Articles Featuring East Carolina University: North Carolina Colleges and UniversitiesSAT Score Comparison for North Carolina Colleges and UniversitiesThe American Athletic Conference If You Like East Carolina University, You May Also Like These Schools Wake Forest University:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphDuke University:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphElon University:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphUniversity of North Carolina - Greensboro:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphCampbell University:  Profile  North Carolina State University:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphWestern Carolina University:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphClemson University:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphWingate University:  Profile  High Point University:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT GraphUniversity  of North Carolina - Wilmington:  Profile  |  GPA-SAT-ACT Graph

CLA Final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

CLA Final - Essay Example od of the Middle Ages and renaissance, when Latin became the predominant language in the entire Europe for most international educated discourse, mythological names were made to appear in Latinised form. The archaeological site of Knossos refers to the complex building of the palace and the surrounding buildings of similar antiquity which were inadvertently excavated at the same time with the palace. For a very long time the name Knossos has survived, from ancient Greek references to the main cities of the Crete. Knossos was majorly identified with a lot of bronze age sites that was mainly supported by the tradition and by the Roman coins that were spread all through the whole field that surrounded the pre-excavation sites. Many of the sites were surrounded by the Knosions or Knos both on the obverse and on the image of the Minotaur and even the Labyrinth. All the signs and symbols that were derived from the myth of King Minos were supposed to have reigned from Knossos. The excavation sites were discovered in late 1870s by an archaeologist known as Minos Kalokairinos. The excavation later began in AD 1990 by another archaeologist called Sir Arthur Evans and the process continued for a period of 35 years. Other than having the history of many years in the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and the classical period, a lot of ruins in the age period of the archaeology have greatly undergone their own history (Latacz & Troy, 2004). From the excavation by renowned archaeologists, tourism and education to occupation of a headquarters by the ruling governments going into war over the control of the eastern part of the Mediterranean. The palace of Knossos became the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and culture. In most cases it looked a maze of the workroom, living spaces and even the storerooms close to the central square. However the palace was abandoned for some unknown period of time towards the end of the late Bronze Age. Except for the periods when

Illustrate how Shakespeare's Macbeth and John Clare's poetry use Essay

Illustrate how Shakespeare's Macbeth and John Clare's poetry use animals to present a message about human affairs such as politi - Essay Example It encompasses all religions, poetries, arts, histories, dramas, fictions and non-fictions. It enhances and reshapes the readers’ perception of life by providing them a wider spectrum through imaginary or factual narrations. It represents man’s relationship to man using images and symbols. As C. S. Lewis debates that â€Å"Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become"1. Thus, it is not a mere picture of reality rather it is a process of value addition in it; and represents prevailing cultures and norms of a particular society pointing out its various aspects. Literature can be regarded as a wise teacher. It presents examples, illustrations, and incidents in front of the readers to correlate their own lives and draw intellectual conclusions from them. Symbols and images are the most important tools of literature. Image represents reality whereas symbols stand for comparable aspects. The writers use them to create sharp and vivid images in the minds of the readers so that they may see their own worth in comparison to the characters and factors presented. Other than creating sharp fantasies, images serve to offer a deep penetration into the emotions and feelings of the characters in a particular situation. Thus, whenever a character in Ibsen’s plays feel emotional turmoil, he goes straight to the stove or fire. Fielding plays with the images of clothing and nakedness in ‘Joseph Andrews’ to use them as the symbols of human intentions,2 and status; Shakespeare uses them to explain seven stages of human life3 and Tennyson uses them to present facts in disguise. Animals have been a constant, continuous and effective source of symbols and images in English literature. Writers have used animals to represent and symbolise certain features of human nature. For exampl e, Shakespeare refers to snail to explain the pace of a school going child4; Jonathan Swift offered horse-like yahoos5; Alfred Tennyson has used the image of an eagle in his poem ‘The Eagle’ to explain the vigilance and crookedness with which authoritative ruler takes care of his estate6; Wordsworth has referred to Nightingale and cuckoo bird in ‘Solitary Reaper’ to explain the sweetness and thrill of maiden’s song and voice; Sylvia Plath has used bees7; Adrienne Rich referred to Tigers8, etc. For ages, this sort of imagery had been taken as aesthetics of writers. It is only now that cultural criticism is made upon this particular feature to highlight its social, political and religious aspects. This innovative field of critical study is called, ‘Ecocriticism’. Ecocriticism Ecocriticism challenges the study of literature’s relationship to the world. It is a key to the new awareness of life sciences. The main argument in natural sc iences states that the natural environment is an exclusive contributor to the human life and social values. Cultural change can be induced by the adaptation to the environment. It