The Controversial Relationship between Early Humans and their Environment :: Environment Environmental Pollution Preservation

The Controversial Relationship between Early Humans and their Environment In the very beginning of human history, there was no clear separation between man and nature. Early humans’ way of living was in unison with their environment and it is likely that it was pleasurable as well. Humans supported themselves by hunting and gathering and due to their small population size and density, they were able to sustain themselves without too much effort. Thomas Hobbes claims that the life of early humans was â€Å"nasty, brutish and short†, but modern theories reject such viewpoint (Ponting, p.19). Unfortunately, there is little direct evidence that shows what daily human life was like hundreds of years ago. Therefore, anthropologists and historians use studies on African tribes and Aborigines to build theories about the customs of early humans. Of course, such an extrapolation is not very reliable, but it is as close as one can get to the truth. It would not be too flattering for early humans to claim that they had a very modest and conscientious way of life. The tropical climate was very benign toward all forms of life, so humans did not have to preoccupy themselves with storage or conservation of food. Fresh plants were available and plentiful all year round, so obtaining food was not the main human concern. Judging from the diet of the bushmen in Africa, early humans probably had more nutritious and balanced meals than modern humans. As Ponting points out in his book, Green History of the World, the African bushmen consume the nuts of the mongongo tree, which adequately meet their nutritious and energy needs. Since the mongongo nuts are abundant and easy to gather, the bushmen have a steady source of food which they can rely on for subsistence. It can be concluded that early humans followed a similar pattern of behavior. They used gathering of plant material as main food source, because hunting was much more difficult and less efficient. According to Ponting, one out of ten attempts to kill an animal was successful, therefore hunting was used solely to complement the fresh provisions. Since early humans were completely dependent on their environment for survival, they carefully used the available resources without overstressing them. They took from nature as much as they needed, not only to protect it, but also to save time. Bushmen value food and leisure time equally, that’s why it is fair to suppose that early humans harvested only as much as they could consume, so that they can enjoy the rest of their time. The Controversial Relationship between Early Humans and their Environment :: Environment Environmental Pollution Preservation The Controversial Relationship between Early Humans and their Environment In the very beginning of human history, there was no clear separation between man and nature. Early humans’ way of living was in unison with their environment and it is likely that it was pleasurable as well. Humans supported themselves by hunting and gathering and due to their small population size and density, they were able to sustain themselves without too much effort. Thomas Hobbes claims that the life of early humans was â€Å"nasty, brutish and short†, but modern theories reject such viewpoint (Ponting, p.19). Unfortunately, there is little direct evidence that shows what daily human life was like hundreds of years ago. Therefore, anthropologists and historians use studies on African tribes and Aborigines to build theories about the customs of early humans. Of course, such an extrapolation is not very reliable, but it is as close as one can get to the truth. It would not be too flattering for early humans to claim that they had a very modest and conscientious way of life. The tropical climate was very benign toward all forms of life, so humans did not have to preoccupy themselves with storage or conservation of food. Fresh plants were available and plentiful all year round, so obtaining food was not the main human concern. Judging from the diet of the bushmen in Africa, early humans probably had more nutritious and balanced meals than modern humans. As Ponting points out in his book, Green History of the World, the African bushmen consume the nuts of the mongongo tree, which adequately meet their nutritious and energy needs. Since the mongongo nuts are abundant and easy to gather, the bushmen have a steady source of food which they can rely on for subsistence. It can be concluded that early humans followed a similar pattern of behavior. They used gathering of plant material as main food source, because hunting was much more difficult and less efficient. According to Ponting, one out of ten attempts to kill an animal was successful, therefore hunting was used solely to complement the fresh provisions. Since early humans were completely dependent on their environment for survival, they carefully used the available resources without overstressing them. They took from nature as much as they needed, not only to protect it, but also to save time. Bushmen value food and leisure time equally, that’s why it is fair to suppose that early humans harvested only as much as they could consume, so that they can enjoy the rest of their time.

Health, Safety and Security Essay

Explain potential hazards and harm that they may arise from each in a health and social care setting (P1) There are lots of hazards that may occur in health and social care settings, these hazards pose risks of harm that effect specific service user groups. The essay is based on a private residential care home for the elderly with dementia, these people have mobility issues and other health issues associated with old age, e.g. high blood pressure and diabetes. There are 20 residents with 8 permanent members of staff including a nurse and various care workers. Hazards in the physical environment The physical environment includes everything that is around you e.g. people, buildings, pets, objects, temperature and air; all of which have a dramatic influence on people’s well-being. There is a governmental National Minimum Standards which people must maintain for a healthy physical environment. These pose risks for the elderly residents due to their limitations in vision and with movement. The hazard is the obstacle of boxes left in the narrow hallways. This risk is that the elderly people will trip over the boxes and cause injuries to themselves, this is caused by their limitations of movement and vision thus them not seeing the obstacle or can’t move to avoid them so they are likely to fall over them. (http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/3/195.full.pdf) Hazards from equipment The hazards from equipment are any equipment you use or come in contact with in the work place; these could pose a hazardous risk. This is a hazard in the residential care home due to the residents needing regular medical tests to see if their medication is working and if not then a review of the medication is needed to assess what needed to be done to help the residents. If the medical equipment such as a sphygmomanometer gives false readings due to it been broken then it can cause patients to be misdiagnosed that there medication is needed at the dosage. This misdiagnoses could potently cause injury to the residents e.g. if a person has high blood pressure but the equipment gives a low reading then long term damage can happen to blood vessels such as ones in the kidneys. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2563463/) Hazards from infection Serious infections mainly only pose risks if procedures are correctly followed, if they are not followed then it causes unnecessary hazards to yourself and others. This is a potential life threatening hazard in the elderly residential care home especially for those who are immune compromised, which elderly people are. Diseases such as MRSA can spread rapidly around the care home if correct procedures in cleaning are not followed, this infection has been linked to over 1,000 deaths a year. These hazards of infection come from things such as incontinence pads not been disposed of, a lack of hygiene levels been maintained etc. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12652388) Hazardous waste Hazardous waste is any human waste and potently infected equipment, this waste needs to be disposed of correctly. Syringes and needles are a serious hazard which can cause needle-stick injuries; this can happen if these objects are not disposed of correctly. They should be disposed of in sharps boxes which are then incinerated; if not there is a potential risk of the spread of, HIV and Hepatitis B virus. Within the residential care home it is a large risk as if procedures are not followed for the residents, blood carried infection such as hepatitis B can be spread to other residents. This can happen by them having yearly flu vaccinations, if the needles are not changed for each resident then these infections are spread. Also soiled bedding and incontinence pads are a hazardous waste which should either be washed at a high temperature to kill the bacteria or be disposed of and incinerated, this will prevent diseases and infections spreading thus becoming a hazard. (http://www.epa.gov/ superfund/students/clas_act/haz-ed/ff_01.htm) Hazardous substances There are many hazardous substances in health and social care settings, most are only potential risks if correct procedures are not followed. This is a hazard particularly in care home as the residents can become disorientated and may ingest the chemical cleaning products without realising how hazardous it can be. By ingesting the chemical cleaning products it could kill or seriously damage the residents internally. To prevent this happening, all hazardous substances should be stored in either a lockable cabinet so residents cannot ingest them. Also medicines are a hazardous substance which if they are not stored in a lockable medicine cabinet can lead to residents ingesting them which can kill them. (http://www.rospa.com/occupationalsafety/training/riskassessment/control-of-substances-hazardous-to-health.aspx) Hazardous working conditions Working conditions are all aspects of where you are during your work. This includes things such as the staffing levels, hours of work and staff relations. There are a lot of regulations in the health and social care sector which helps maintain a standard of care. However there is a higher than normal levels of staff turnover with much staff shortages this causes the staff to have to rush over there work thus procedures are not always followed correctly leading to an increase in the risk of accidents and injuries. Also many staff members may have to work double shifts or long shifts which may lead to staff neglecting residents as been over tired means staff will forget doing things which is necessary. Within the care homes for the elderly this is a very dangerous hazard, due to their possible limitation in movement, it can cause the service users to come to harmed due to neglect caused by a lack of supervision by staff members as they are over worked. Hazardous security systems Security systems are put in place to protect the safety of staff and the service users. All social, health, yearly years care and residential homes have security system procedures in place to protect people. Within the residential care home there are lots of confidential personal medical records that have to be kept secure. If they are not kept secure then their bank details could be used and their money stolen without them knowing, this could lead to their family not been able to afford to pay for the care home and the person losing their place in the home. Also the residents have dementia so there is a security hazard as they may wonder off the premises and get injured. To prevent this happening all doors and windows must be locked. Doors can have electronic locks so only authorised people can enter or leave the home, yet if there’s a fire or emergency the doors unlock to allow residents and staff to leave easily

To Write Novels or not to Write

Modern world is really curious when it comes to its relationship with writers, most notably, writers of novels. On the one hand, it has never been easy to make oneself heard: submit your novel to any publishers you want, and quite often you don’t even have to bother about posting envelopes with your work because online admissions are more easily accepted; if you can’t find a publisher, publish the book on your own, it isn’t all that hard and costly; if you don’t want to spend any money at all, publish online and wait for the fame to come, if it is going to. On the other hand, a problem arises exactly due to the very fact of the openness of modern world. People today are bombarded with all kinds of information every moment of their lives. All the novels written in the past are still there, waiting to be read; thousands of new novels in all languages of the world get published every year; hundreds of thousands more never make it to the bookstores because they are rejected by publishers, but they still exist. Any new novel written today will be immediately lost in this ocean. So why one would want to write them, anyway? Statistics show that even among the writers who manage to publish their novels only about one in a hundred get any financial success from their work. In majority of cases there are much easier and effective ways to earn the same and greater amounts of money than spending time writing novels that are unlikely ever to be published and, if published, to sell. So, if you want to become rich, writing novels isn’t for your, period. Fame? The times when to write a novel was the best way to become famous are long gone. Today’s celebrities are movie actors and television personas, not the people who put words together for a living. Immortality? People have long ago ceased to perceive novelists as a special kind of people, the kind that deserves respect and admiration. Anybody can write a novel nowadays, all you need is a very basic level of literacy, and it removes the veil of mystery around this vocation. As a result, there is nothing special in any particular novel, and every novel lasts for a season at the very most. Afterwards it will be forgotten, buried under heaps of new novels, and nobody will ever remember it. But, despite all this, people still write novels, spend enormous amounts of time, energy and money trying to do it, publish it, and get it through to the audience. Everybody knows that fiction writing is a thankless toil, but it doesn’t stop them. Why? Probably for one single reason: writing novels is one of the few ways to truly live in fictional worlds, the worlds you rule, worlds that have never been but could be. And by writing novels you may, in your own little way, shape the future of the world you have to actually exist in.