Great Gatsby Ending Essay

This book interprets the overall theme of hope as what Gatsby had been driven by but in the end did not achieve. The green light of Daisy’s dock drove Gatsby and he believed in it. He was eluded by it in the past, but there was still hope that he would one day achieve his goal. This book shows how Gatsby worked to achieve his goals relentlessly but in the end he failed to achieve his hopes and dreams. The ending of the book interprets that you cannot live in the past, because it will hinder your hopes and dreams. You can have hopes and dreams, but living in the past will hinder your achieving them. Fitzgerald leaves the ending to the book open to interpretation. The point of having hopes and dreams is to achieve a goal, however Gatsby did not achieve his in the end. Gatsby is delusional and cannot accept the fact that his dream is gone. He will continue to strive for his goal, denying the fact that in the end it will not happen. The overall theme of the book is that you can have hopes and dreams that will drive you, but ultimately these hopes and dreams are probably unattainable. Ultimately, the American Dream may be a myth, but that does not mean that you shouldn’t chase your dreams. The ending of this book stresses that Gatsby every day was committed to his dream of being with Daisy again. The green dock light reminded Gatsby of this goal every day and he focused his hopes and dreams upon this and dreamed that they would one day be together again. This however, was a bad move because Gatsby lived in the past in order to believe that his hopes and dreams would occur. He had once been engaged to Daisy five years earlier and thought that even though she was married and had a kid that she could just drop it all so that things for Gatsby would just go back to the way that things were. This living in the past does not help dreams and goals.

Development Of Christianity

Christianity developed as a combination of Jewish monotheism and Roman universalism. It developed this way because it started out in a society that was anti-Jewish and Roman, and ended in a society that was Roman and Christian. Christians were originally persecuted by the Romans along with the Jews, who also persecuted them. One of the earliest people to spread Christianity to Greece and Asia Minor at the same time was the apostle Paul. Pauline Christianity synthesized the role of Jesus as a divine figure with Greek traditions.Christianity emerged from Judaism, but there are key differences to remember. The Jews view themselves as inheritors of a historical religious tradition that binds their society together no matter where it is. Christian eschatology does not view the coming of God as a historical event. The apostle Paul still left a definitive and lasting impression on Christian history and the way Jesus was thought of by the mass numbers that Paul was able to convert in Greece and Asia Minor.Paul, who received a vision of Jesus that blinded him, and then was miraculously healed, became one of the first Christian evangelists, spreading the word of Jesus throughout his lifetime. His traditional pattern of teaching was to begin speaking at a local synagogue, get thrown out, and continue to preach to the masses in more bucolic areas, establishing small churches through the teachings of Jesus that were later expanded in other evangelical trips.Through his wide travels, purposeful indifference to persecution, and the expostulation and sometime exhortation of the idea, still generally applied, that Christians cannot impose an ethnicity upon those who come into the faith, Paul spread the word of Christianity, performing exorcisms and miracles, guided by his concept of otherworldly forces while still being grounded in his ability to tell their voices from his own. Paul set a whole new precedent for participating in Jesus.It is also arguable that the prevailing con ception of Jesus changed with the social territory Paul covered, graded upon the inhabitants’ prior belief systems as adaptive mechanisms that accepted while changing the idea of Jesus in ways that were primarily Jewish (paternalistic, monotheistic), Greek (Dionysian), and Roman (universalist). As time went on, the idea of Jesus returning to earth became less popular and the religion shifted from being persecuted to being accepted, revitalized, and set in a system of official theology.The idea of Jesus at this point changed as it was determined universally by council what was to be thought of Jesus; whether or not he was human or divine, submissive to the idea of the father, etc. It is easy for any society to take the parables of Jesus and do virtually anything with them, since many of the parables are so open-ended. Some of these confusions were cleared up by councilor definitions, and others were added.All of the gospel writers had a different agenda in presenting the life of Jesus; this is perhaps the main reason, apart from the natural flux of a changing  society, that the understanding of Jesus was capable of changing from age to age: the definitive texts on his message are often contradictory and are fairly open to interpretation. The formation of Christianity was basically a combination of Jewish monotheism and Roman universalism, perhaps with some Greek paganism as well. One of the earliest relationships between Christianity and the surrounding culture was highly influenced by the journeys of the apostle Paul. Paul went into different geographical regions as he spread the word of Christianity, as mentioned.â€Å"Paul worked intensely to collect money for ‘the poor among the saints at Jerusalem†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Considering the importance that Paul attaches to this mission, and also the stress on economic themes in Luke-Acts, it is very odd that Luke fails to mention either the poverty of the Jerusalem church or Paul’s Great Collecti on† (Schneider, 2002). All of the gospel writers had a different agenda in presenting the religion is not necessarily a whole and functioning world that is intrinsically separated from society; since it relies upon society to thrive, it must necessarily make allowances as this society changes.When dealing with Christianity and conceptions of Jesus throughout the Christian age, one must take into account societal and religious shifts as they occur synchronously. For example, for hundreds of years after the death of Jesus, Christians were not fully accepted, and were condemned and executed by the Romans. An exploration of the evolving understanding of Jesus at this point revolves around his parables and also the onset of Pauline Christianity.Although some skeptics outside of Christianity attribute the apostle Paul’s states of grace to a disease the apostle himself perhaps mentions in the Bible, and even within the Catholic church some argue that his visions may have been hallucinations or perhaps the result of a CNS disorder which carried him to spastic heights of epiphany, Paul still left a definitive and lasting impression on Christian history and the way Jesus was thought of by the mass numbers that Paul was able to convert, thus changing the face of Christianity to its status as a scourge in early Roman times to an official state religion towards the fall of Rome. REFERENCE Schneider, J.R. (2002).   The Good of Affluence.   Grand Rapids, MI:   William B.  Eerdmans.

Facing My Fears

Individual Project The individual project that I did was Blood donation for the first time and STD Testing for the first time. For both of these projects I was so scared of doing. I am scared of needles when it comes to me getting poked by it. But I found out about the blood donation by walking around campus and there were signs up all over the campus about a blood drive in October. I found out about the STD testing by looking at the syllabus and looking to see my other options and I saw STD testing.So I talked to Tiffany Stacy who said she had done the STD testing so I could get more information on the STD test. When I found out about the blood drive I was like that’s a great idea considering my cousin died because he couldn’t get a blood transfusion. So I got the information and before I actually gave blood, I thought about every possible thing that could happen, the good and the bad. The reason is because I am really scared of needles when it comes to puncturing thro ugh my skin.But I thought it out and I said to myself â€Å"me being scared of needles is nothing when I could just suck it up and maybe saves someone else’s life even if I couldn’t save my cousins† So that is when I decided to stop thinking about the needle and I just went to where the blood drive was at and I sucked it up and donated my blood. I have to be honest I was so scared I was going to pee in my pants. But I survived. But 5 hours later I went shopping with my friends and I had blacked out in the store, about 4 more times after that.So I called the nurses that were on the card that I was given and they told me I am not allowed to give my blood again. They said my health is more important than giving up blood. So I am bummed but I know I did a great deed and I am proud of myself for sucking up my fear of needles. The location of the blood drive was at the Du Bois Center and it was from October 23-26. When I found out about the STD testing me thought why would I want to do this I would have to deal with another needle. NO WA Y I told myself not another needle I cannot.But then I talked to Tiffany Stacy and she said that it was not that bad. All you have to do is make an appointment at the Fronske Health Center on campus and tell them you want a full STD testing. So I listened to that so I had an appointment and I asked her â€Å"so what do you have to do for the test? † And she said â€Å"all you have to do is pee in a cup for a urine sample and get your blood drawn† I was like ok that’s not that bad. I just have to do the two things I hate doing. But that’s okay I said.So I went to my appointment and I had peed in the cup and I was getting ready to get stabbed by another needle. They had to stab me twice because they missed my vein. I was thinking oh my goodness can you please get this right. My arm was so sore after that. I still haven’t gotten my test results back yet but I don’t think I have an STD because I am not sexually active. So I am good to go as long as I keep it up. These two experiences have been great! I am still scared of needles stabbing me in the arm but I can survive.But the blood donation was the scarcest of both because I had major side effects towards it where I am not allowed to donate again. Which hurts but I know it is the best for me. But I am glad I did it because now I can say I gave blood and I can say I know what an STD testing is like. I expected way worse then what it really was which has its good and bad sides. The good points of that are that I can prepare myself for the worst but the bad point is that I can bring on my own effects towards it.

Global water crisis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Global water crisis - Research Paper Example For purposes of this particular study, the author will seek to discuss some of the triggers of the global water crisis that is currently taking place, the means by which this crisis impacts upon the economically disadvantaged, sick, and poverty stricken to a disproportional degree, and some of the most promising solutions as they exists within the modern technologically developing world. As such, certain cases will be analyzed under the lens of two possible scenarios for leveraging water resources within areas around the globe within the next 50 years. In such a way, by analyzing the two means by which a high level of fresh water resources can be procured, it is the hope of this student that such a recommendation and approach can help to both inform policy makers within the government, society, and industry with the ways that current changes to extant realities can positively impact upon the future of these regions. Although it may seem convenient to approach the water resource short age from purely a regional perspective, the fact of the matter is that water shortages, as well as the overall purity of these water resources, is an issue that globally effects 780 million people (Ellis, 2011). As has briefly been discussed within the introduction and regional information overview, two factors that continue to have a profound and noticeable effect on the existence of water shortage issues is the growth of the world’s population in tandem with the changes to precipitation that global climate change have affected. Due to the fact that many previously populated regions of the world have experienced a great degree of desertification, the extent to which the natural environment can continue to provide the ever increasing demands of the native population comes into question (Kishore, 2013). Environmentalists and researchers are in agreement that unless fundamental changes are made with regards to the way the world’s water resources are utilized, within the next few decades the access to water will become a far greater issue than it is currently. Besides the rapid growth in human population, the rise in industrialization and the means by which the developing world is rapidly seeking to integrate with the global economy by supplying consumer goods to the developed world can be seen as one of the primary issues that trigger some of the global water shortages that are exhibited within the current time (Hull, 2009). Ultimately, industrialization is not only a polluting process but one that utilizes high levels of steam or water power as both a means to cool the process and machinery of production and as a type of power to drive it. Moreover, in poorer regions of the developing world, non-technologically advanced farming methods see millions of gallons of irrigation water squandered while entire regions go without basic potable water needs. Similarly, the actual size of most water supplies around the world has shrunk as a result of climate change and the ones that are remaining have oftentimes been tainted by pollution; so much so that entire populations that had previously had ready access to potable and sustainable levels of drinking water find themselves in a water shortage and/or water crisis within the current time. Due to the fact that the resource of water is the very fundamental building block of all forms of biological life on planet earth, it is of vital and daily importance to

Leadership in Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Leadership in Nursing - Essay Example This paper approves that there are many cities across the globe that is a home for new immigrants and physicians are bound to encounter patients who are unaware of dominant language. This form of language barrier results into health disparity comprising of differential mortality rates. Communication barriers are greatly linked with length of stay in hospital and reduced health status. Physicians and patients not communicating in a common language or social structural features are able to compound a medical situation. The rapid growth of modern clinical practice appears to be a challenge for effective communication. This is mainly because decisions need to be taken quickly and are dependent on history. This essay makes a conclusion that linguistic diversity is highlighted within this report and it is evaluated in relation to doctors working for primary care. The need of language translation is a must for health professionals who are practicing overseas. To be more precise these skills support health professionals to efficiently handle diverse cultural background patients. These professionals even share knowledge and understanding of health expectations and beliefs. However there is a high need for change since interpretation skills at times might not deliver appropriate results. On the other hand, modern techniques have to be incorporated so as to meet common goals or objectives. This study would even analyze effectiveness of organizational change in relation to certain theoretical frameworks.

Module 6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Module 6 - Essay Example Having built their reputation, Disney expected that it can easily penetrate the European market. Although there were other theme parks in Europe, the company’s reputation makes customer’s lack close substitutes. As matter of fact, Disney entrance in France, not only deployed the monopolistic advantages that existing companies but also increased competition in the region hence improving quality. Tourism industry in USA is always negatively impacted by the strengthening of the dollar. Reduction in number of tourist reduces Disney’s revenue significantly. To counter this, Disney opted to enter the European market. Research has shown that the euro and dollar strengths counter each other hence Disney can still capture their customers during dollar peaks. In a nutshell, Disney aimed at capturing tourists who are not willing to visit USA. Another motivating factor might be reduced costs of production. Although the cost French labor may not differ to US labor, capital is relatively cheaper. Moreover, France ought to be the best European country of their choice due to the availability of government subsidies on land. In accordance with the above, it can be concluded that Disney’s choice of France as an expansionary strategy increased its sales as well as customer base. However, Disney maintained its reputation by equally treating the new parks and not jesting on quality deliverance and customer satisfaction. In an effort to reduce US imports from japan, the US government threatened to impose a quota. The aim was to discourage Japanese from exporting to US and in response invest directly into the US economy, inform of FDI. In contrary, japan decided to withdraw their imports instead, hence making the US economy suffer. By 1981, there was great demand for cars in US. For that reason demand exceeded supply hence need

Toyota Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Toyota - Essay Example This paper seeks to explain and illustrate the Toyota’s corporate responsibility to its consumers, environment, employees, stakeholders, and to the general public. This will be done through looking into the company’s corporate responsibility page and showing examples of how this company helps others. According to the Toyota’s corporate responsibility page, the company embraces corporate social responsibility initiatives; this includes information regarding policies, people and organizations that are related to the corporate social responsibility of Toyota Company. Toyota Company engages and promotes both with their partners and individually social contribution events and activities that aid in strengthening communities and contribute to supporting and enrichment of the society. In addition, Toyota embraces environmental responsibility. For example, everything from the basic stance of Toyota Company to its specific initiatives is put in place to make the environme nt better. In-depth annual environmental activities coverage is part of Toyota’s social and environmental initiatives. Toyota Company has been in support of SOS children villages’ mission to provide safe homes to thousands of children orphaned in the country. Toyota has also been a pivotal partner in the progressive development of the SOS children village from 2010 as a major part of the company’s corporate social responsibility program. Toyota Company has also made contributions to Mater Heart Run in 2012. This is the company’s fifth year in sponsoring a noble program aimed at helping children from poor families who are unable to afford the expenses of cardiac surgery. In other cases involving Toyota and its customers, the company’s public relations department helps the consumers to their satisfaction in case of crisis. Toyota also remains socially responsible and solves its customer related issues. For example, The Toyota’s public relation department has the mandate to handles customer complaints and grievances. When there was a Toyota Acceleration case crisis, Toyota tried to deny the existing problem and responded very slowly to the crisis. The Toyota Company had realized the problem much earlier but responded late. The public relations department of the distressed company could calm customers down neither. Toyota however never complied with the law and failed to notify the authorities of the technical problem. This led to the failure of Toyota failed in rectifying the manufacturing problem; thus, failed to restore its image as a customer safety oriented company (Rothaermel, 2013). Those held accountable for the crisis was the board for miscommunication and focusing on varying values and goals. The Japanese managers who failed to make quick decisions and confined information to them. However, after the crisis, Toyota initiated an effective way to manage the aftermath. It changed its motto and issued 4 letters to th e public apologizing for the problem within a span of one month. These effectively calm the customers down as they felt considered and understood. After the apology went through, Mr. Toyoda managed to resume the management of the company in order to show a refocus on the strategy and values of the company. Mr. Toyoda committed his personal time in his testimony to the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government reforms. The management of

Media Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Media Journal - Essay Example in her Ballet class and she often hears them pass weird remarks about themselves such as their skin is blemished or with pimples or that they had had a fat day. Some of them went to the extent of saying that they looked disgusting. Being a blogger herself, Julia brought this problem to the attention of other bloggers by starting an online petition drive. Julia took it a step further by taking the Seventeen Magazine to school and showing it to many of the kids, both boys and girls and asked them if they agreed with the petition where she asked the Seventeen Magazine to â€Å"commit to printing one unaltered — real — photo spread per month.† (Julia Bluhm, 2012) Most of them agreed with it and signed the petition. In fact, the total was a staggering 46,000 people. Julia, with the help of her mother and a few friends visited the Seventeen Magazine office and held a demonstration outside. Ann Shoket, the editor -in - chief invited them inside and both parties thrashed out the problem together. Even though the editor explained that things like freckles and moles could be covered by make up, Julia was not convinced stating that it was not possible to cover up everything and so strongly feels that they were using digital

Project Management Theory & Practice Assignment - 1

Project Management Theory & Practice - Assignment Example Seeing that when customers turn out to be more stylish, well knowledgeable and their desires and expectations develop, the simply approach a corporation can endure and flourish is by providing assurance to quality (BSiGroup, 2010). In this scenario, ISO9000 is a globally acknowledged standard of quality, which offers rules and regulations for achieving the ISO9000 quality standard. In addition, the corporations can be audited to receive ISO9000 certification (Management Help, 2010). Moreover, a quality management system (QMS)  for instance ISO 9001 offers a management support  that provides the organizations the required facilities to deal with threats and examine and determine quality of your products. Furthermore, it can also help the organizations to improve their representation and status and allow them to search for enhancements through inside and outside communications (BSiGroup, 2010). This stage of the Marriott International Hotels business project will be based upon the superior quality which guarantees the entire stages of the project and major analysis of the new and innovative deployments. In this regard key jobs will be about the evaluation of the quality concerning the latest bedding and their setup standards. This will definitely assure an improved and superior quality management plus useful project completion. No doubt, Quality is vital to each and every project and particularly for business activities and functions. For an enhanced business support and successful project completion we must have to ensure project quality. Here I will present the project quality management plan for the Marriott International Hotels business project. Here we will use the quality assurance tools planned for the Marriott International hotel bedding and renovation scheme. These quality declaration tools will make sure that the entire needs and requirements have been fully satisfied as they were mentioned at the commence of the project. Here we will establish a plan

Brand Loyalty for the Apple iPhone in the UK Market Dissertation

Brand Loyalty for the Apple iPhone in the UK Market - Dissertation Example It is a multinational company that produces consumer electronics, personal computers and business-to-business (B2B) computer software products. Incorporated in 1977, Apple has since evolved throughout the technological revolution, maintaining a significant competitive advantage in key target markets against other large technology companies such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Samsung, and many other successful technology-focused companies domestically and internationally. The company’s 2011 Annual Report boasts sales volumes of $10.8 billion, an increase of over $4 billion in one year (Apple 2012). This further represents growth of over six billion USD since 2009. How does Apple Inc. accomplish these sales successes and continue to maintain such high market share with its technology products in a highly dynamic, evolutionary and competitive marketplace? Throughout the recent years (2007-2012), Apple Inc. has become a profoundly adept marketing agency that understands the dynamics of consumer lifestyle and attitude, and thus produces advertising and promotional material that appeals to these values and needs. With the launch of the firm’s iPhone 1 in 2007, Apple has achieved significant brand loyalty for its innovative smartphone designs and concepts from customers that appreciate its competitive features, user-friendly design, and diverse systems and options. With each new release of the iPhone product, currently moving through its fifth evolution with the recent launch of the iPhone5, Apple continues to delight its target customers that have a strong preference for this brand.

How obamacare relates to the practice of nursing and healthcare Essay

How obamacare relates to the practice of nursing and healthcare - Essay Example The name Obamacare was ironically given to it by Mitt Romney in 2007 as a pejorative term and was readily picked by media and then by Obama and other democrats. When Obama was talking about healthcare reforms, Romney took it as a threat and warned his supporters and Republicans in an address that Obama was just doing it to earn fame and to brag about it later. Romney mockingly said that if Democrats win and implement their healthcare policies, they are going to be more about their fame and less about the public welfare and the Democrats would probably name their policies according to their own names like Obamacare and Hillarycare etc. Romney also called it â€Å"socialized medicine† (Pham, 2013). When Obama was asked about it later, he very proudly said that â€Å"Yes, Obama cares†. This reform underwent a lot of ups and downs before getting signed. A very lengthy debate was held on this topic in the Senate and the House of Representatives and a lot of media hype was gi ven to the issue. Due to all this highlighting, it became one of the popular topic of debates and discussions among all and sundry and at the same time it gave rise to bravura of confusions and myths. It became one of the most debated topics in USA and ironically, most of the people didn’t even know actually about its exact implications (Wallace, 2012). The American citizens were already having healthcare facilities and insurance under the Medicaid laws that were being practiced. Being used to the existing healthcare and insurance policies, Obamacare became a hard pill to swallow for the American citizens and especially for the elderly people. With lack of awareness and confusing debates on media no one in America exactly knows whether Obamacare is actually going to help or to add more to their sufferings. Actually Obamacare is the overhauling of the already existing policies of healthcare and insurance. It adds more to the healthcare system of the country by increasing quali ty and affordability of health insurance. This affordability and quality is aimed to be achieved by lowering the insurance rates and increasing public and private insurance. There are many provisions that are going to be practiced under the banner of Obamacare. These are specifically designed to get more and more public attracted towards the new policy and by making the conditions easier or at least apparently easier for the public. This policy ensures same premium price for everyone, despite of their existing conditions. So this is going to be affordable and available for all without any discrimination. It also prohibits denial due to pre existing conditions. This policy is going to help people with low incomes. It is going to give them equal health benefits and thus going to be very useful. It is also going to provide subsidies for low income individuals and families. These subsidies are going to be provided to people who are earning between 100% and 400% of Federal poverty level. This is a very practically helpful step for people with low incomes and thus they can have good and affordable healthcare with provision of this subsidy that covers a lot of people with low incomes. This subsidy will also encourage people to get insured because of its affordability and thus it will practically help in getting nearer to the notion of universal healthcare. There are also going to be many reforms in the Medicaid payment systems and with these reforms Obamacare will

A short story that is written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Essay Example for Free

A short story that is written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Essay This is a short story that is written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. At the time in which this short but very good story was written it was one of the first detective fiction story. This review of it will guide you through why it is a typical but very well written story. It includes the most famous detective in the world and is still a household name to this very day. The detectives name is Sherlock Holmes and has been written and read about for a number of decades. The main frame of the story is a lady called Helen Stoner who is worried about her life and comes to Sherlock for help and advice. Holmes with his partner Doctor Watson investigates Helens sisters death and hopes to find out the reason for this sinister crime. After looking and analysing the story it is evident that it has the right ingredients for a good detective fiction story. The ingredients that have been well placed into the story are a good opening. The opening starts with Sherlock waking up to his companion Watson and explaining that he is needed as a client is in deep worry. The other essential ingredients are drama, suspense a heroine or a such as Holmes as the hero and Helen stoner as the heroine. Detail is important in every story and detective fiction is no exception. Without detail the reader cannot properly understand what the situation the detective is in. Also the story has to have a good ending to it or maybe a twist like The Speckled Band does. The twist in this is totally unexpected as the killer is the father. The most important ingredients to a story, which I think is essential to the reader, are characters with good and believable characteristics. Without this ingredient the story is simply not a story. The reader has almost to know the character and then when this is accomplished they read on knowing that the person will follow the description that they have been given by the author. A good example of this is Dr Roylett. The words that are used here give a basic impression of him. violence of temper, ferocious quarrels with whoever might cross his path, shut himself up in his house. From reading these statements the reader can imagine that this Roylett man will be any help with Holmes investigation. If they read on from here then they find out that he is not.

Sociology Essays Tattooing Body Mutilation

Sociology Essays Tattooing Body Mutilation Tattooing Body Mutilation Sociology Cultural Studies Question. Undertake a case study of any contemporary cultural practice or set of practices of your choice, explaining what you consider to be their sociological significance. Tattooing Body mutilation has long been part of non-Christian cultures as a positive mark of identity, while in many modem Body modification practices are so prolific that an exhaustive account of the practices of body magic and marking around the globe is nearly impossible. Body mutilation such as tattooing often functions as part of a healing ritual, protection against forces that may cause injury and admission to a social group. Cultural practices of body mutilation are often functionally akin to prayer as a practice that spiritually elevates an individual. Tattooing is not the hideous custom which it is called. It is not barbarous merely because the printing is skin-deep and unalterable. -Henry David Thoreau. Several major religions exhibit complex attitudes toward self-mutilation and adornment. In the Old Testament, Leviticus 19.28 prohibits followers of Judaism from marking the body: Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor imprint any marks upon you. The â€Å"Holly Koran† forbids marking the body. The Christian Bible associates body markings with sin as shown in the story of Cain, who was marked in punishment for slaying his brother. Still, many people apparently have continued to feel a need for confirmation of their religion by marking their bodies. The Judaic custom of circumcision persists. Coptic, Armenian, Abyssinian, Syrian, and Russian pilgrims returning from the Holy Land frequently acquired souvenir tattoos to commemorate their journey. At the turn of the nineteenth century, it was traditional for Gypsies to tattoo these pilgrims, and the tattoo marks became part of the pilgrims social status. An example of this is the Armenian title for one who has made the pilgrimage which is Mahdesi, which translates as I saw death. Because only religious pilgrims were tattooed, the religious tattoos were also known as Mahdesi. The tattoo is a code indicating a spiritual passage, or at least a religious pilgrimage. Similarly, in Turkey the souvenir tattoos were known by the Turkish word for one who has made the religious pilgrimage, Haji. These religious tattoos became symbols of entry into a higher plane of spiritual existence and exemplify the overlap between Christian beliefs and body magic. First documented by a traveler in 1660, common marks included dots in the shape of a cross at the base of the fingers and crosses on the back of the hand or inside of the wrist. Biblical scenes marked the bearer as a devout Christian, but also served magical purposes. Women chose Annunciation scenes to ensure fertility, and sufferers of illness placed tattoos on ailing parts of the body to promote healing. Although Greek and Latin Christian churches have criticized these practices, they persist, and many Muslim Arabs tattoo in disregard for the Islamic prohibition on marking the body. Even today, many American tattooees have permanent religious icons and emblems as well as personal magical symbols inked upon their bodies. Tattoos are prompted by the primitive desire for an exaggerated exterior and are manifestations of deep psychological motivations. They are the recording of dreams, which simultaneously express an aspect of the self and recreate and mask the body As products of inner yearnings, self-concepts, desires, and magical or spiritual beliefs, designs on the human body formed by inserting pigments under the skin have been crafted by nearly every culture around the world for thousands of years. Definitive evidence of tattooing dates to the Middle Kingdom period of Egypt, approximately 2000 B.C., but many scholars believe that Nubians brought the practice to Egypt much earlier. There was little anthropological attention to tattooing in the early part of the century because of preconceived notions of its insignificance to cultural analysis. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Maya, Toltec, and Aztec cultures performed tattooing and scarification, and that the practice is thousands of years old in Asian cultures. Although tattooing was practiced in pre-Christian Europe, the word tattoo does not appear in English until Captain John Cook imported it after a journey to the Pacific Islands in the eighteenth century. Although no connection has been made between the words tattoo and taboo, it seems highly likely that they are related. While enduring the process of acquiring socially meaningful marks, the tattooee is being formed and shaped into an acceptable member of society. Prior to the completion of the tattoos the person is not only physically vulnerable because of the possibility of contamination during the penetrating process of tattooing but symbolically vulnerable as well. No longer without a tattoo, but without a finished tattoo, the persons body and therefore the self are not yet completed. The person is a luminal entity not yet in society and therefore taboo. Although the origin of tattooing is uncertain, anthropological research confirms that tattooing, as well as other body alterations and mutilations, is significant in the spiritual beliefs of many cultures. Various peoples tattoo or scarify during puberty rituals. In traditional South Pacific Tonga society, only priests could tattoo others and tattoos were symbolic of full tribal status. Eskimo women traditionally tattooed their faces and breasts and believed that acquiring sufficient tattoos guaranteed a happy afterlife. In many African cultures scars indicate social status and desirability as a marriage partner. Scarification patterns often identify the bearer as a member of a specific village. Many of these practices are changing and fading as Western influences enter African cultures. Until the mid-nineteenth century, Cree Indians living on the Great Plains tattooed for luck, for beauty, and to protect their health. Cree men with special powers received tattoos to help them communicate with spirits. A dream conferred the privilege of receiving a tattoo, which would be inscribed during a ceremony conducted by a shaman authorized to tattoo. The ability to withstand the painful and tedious process of tattooing, which often lasted two to three days, confirmed the tattooees courage. Blood shed during the process was believed to possess magical power and was absorbed with a special cloth and kept for future use. The ritual recreates the flesh bequeathed to initiates by their parents and experienced during childhood. The physical change marks a symbolic rebirth into a new spiritual, social, and physical reality as well as a real physical change. This magical use of the body reiterates the idea that physical and spiritual existence and their interactions are deeply entwined. European civilizing cultures often attempted to eradicate body marking practices, often in the name of religion. In 787 A.D. Pope Hadrian I decreed a ban on tattooing. Constantine prohibited tattooing as an act of altering the body that God molded in His own image. Puritans in the New England colonies connected body markings with witchcraft, and those suspected of practicing witchcraft were searched for devils marks as proof of their alliance with Satan. Quoting the Old Testament interdict against printing or cutting marks upon the flesh, the Puritans also condemned Native American tattooing. By the 1850s many Native Americans had adopted the settlers customs of dress and began to view tattooing as unnecessary and uncivilized. Africans brought to the colonies as slaves often bore scarification marks of royalty, social standing, or servitude, which were probably perceived by the colonists as heathen tokens of savage cultures. In some cultures, the elite class marks the bodies of individuals considered pariahs or marginal members of society. In the Near East, slave masters sometimes tattooed slaves as a sign of degradation and branded incorrigible slaves. In late medieval and early modern Europe, slaveholders branded their slaves, a practice continued in France until the early 1800s and in Russia until the mid-1800s. Runaway slaves in Brazil, the renegade quilombos who were branded if recaptured, considered their brands marks of honor and infamy. In Yoruba, where body markings placed one within society, slave owners denied their slaves distinguishing marks of social status. Exemplifying a much different assumption about body marking, slaveholders in the Americas branded and tattooed their slaves to place them firmly outside mainstream society. During the eighteenth century, prisoners incarcerated in France were physically marked. The use of body markings as positive signs of identification and inclusion in many African societies contrasts sharply with European use of the marks as signs of degradation and marginalization. The American association of tattooing with exoticism solidified in 1851 when Dan Rice hired a tattooed man named James F. OConnell to appear in his circus. During this time Rice was also fascinating America with another body image in popular culture, the blacked-up minstrel. The minstrel representation of the black body was replete with complex meanings of manhood, race, and class. The tattooed body on display was probably less familiar but equally intriguing. Without evidence of what kind of tattoos Rices employee had, or whether or not he performed, or served only as a display object, it is difficult to assess the meaning of his existence. Perhaps OConnell conjured images of a white savage, halfway between the articulate, civilized white man and the Native American who expressed his culture with paint and body markings. Perhaps audiences saw the tattooed man as Melvilles Queequeg incarnate; exotic, half-blackened with ink-and half† black, but not without feeling or humanness. P.T. Barnum followed Rices success by displaying an elaborately inscribed Albanian named Constantine, who was an extremely popular attraction. Barnum was the first to exhibit a tattooed woman, in 1898, which added the erotic element of viewing the female body. During the latter part of the nineteenth century as the public became more familiar with the art of tattooing through the circus, which was primarily a working and lower-class entertainment, tattoo was also developing commercially. The first known professional tattooist in the United States was Martin Hildebrand who had an itinerant practice during the Civil War and opened a shop in New York City in the 1890s. At the turn of the century, tattoos showed up in titillating and disreputable places. Tattooing became a shop-front industry in the disreputable Chatham Square area of New York City. Electric tattoo machines made tattooing cheaper and less painful and good tattoos easier to render. With this new technology, tattooing became popular among the lower classes and quickly came to be associated with blue-collar workers and ruffians. Although tattooing was an upper-class trend for a brief period, by the 1920s the middle class considered it deviant. Tattoos were considered a decorative cultural product dispensed by largely unskilled and unhygienic practitioners from dingy shops in urban slums, and consumers were seen as being drawn from marginal, rootless, and dangerously unconventional social groups. In the 1930s, the American fascination with body alteration as a deviant practice, continued. During this time a psychiatrist and writer named Albert Parry often wrote about the significance of tattoos and embedded stereotypes of deviance in the public discourse. Although Parry was an avid fan of tattooing, and bemoaned its decline in popularity, he called tattooing a tragic miscarriage of narcissism. He claimed tattooing was a substitute for sexual pleasure, evidence of homosexuality, and a source of masochistic pleasure. Parry associated tattooing with abnormal sexuality. Although the exhibition of a tattooed woman in the circus in prior decades was tinged with a hint of sexual voyeurism, Parry explicitly constructed images of tattooed women as abnormal and accessible commodities. He claimed that five percent of American women were tattooed and insinuated that beneath their conventional clothes, these disguised women had marked their bodies with signs of desire and erotic adventure. Parry stated that prostitutes in America, as elsewhere, get tattooed because of certain strong masochistic-exhibitionist drives. Parry reasoned that prostitutes obtained tattoos because they desired yet another reason to pity themselves and were seeking to be mistreated by clients. He also asserted that they believed tattoos would prevent disease and that they obtained sexual pleasure from the tattoo process. As proof of the prostitutes urge to self-humiliate, Parry described several tattoos of cynical humor and sexual innuendo inscribed upon prostitutes, such as pay as you enter. Conflating racism, homophobia, and the idea of women as a sexual commodity, Parry also claimed that English prostitutes etched names of their pimps on themselves or likenesses of their Negro lovers, much to the chagrin of American sailors, while French women inscribed the names of their lesbian lovers, and gay men tattooed themselves in order to seduce young boys. Parry relished the stereotype of tattooing as a perverse and deviant activity. His assertions reverberated for decades in the assumptions psychologists held about tattooed man and women. Tacitly based on the preconception that marking the body is deviant, psychologists have sought to determine a connection between tattoos and psychopathology. Members and potential members of the military who bear tattoos have served as subjects for several studies that correlate tattoos and social adjustment. A study in 1943 concluded that psychopathology or social or emotional maladjustment is significantly higher among tattooed than among non-tattooed men. A 1968 study concluded that sailors with tattoos were more likely to be maladjusted, and military men with Death before Dishonor tattoos were more likely than non-tattooed sailors to be discharged from the service. Other studies conducted during the late 1960s link tattooed women with homosexuality and masochism and tattooing practices in institutions with high levels of aggression, sexual insecurity, and social maladjustment. These studies both pre-selected the subject pools and ignored the effects of the institutional milieu on the tattooees. Other studies of imprisoned populations reveal motivations to tattoo that are similar to the motivations to self-mutilate as a reaction to the surrounding environment. Similar to inmate self-mutilation, tattooing may provide relief from the numbness of incarceration and establish individual or gang identity. A 1964 survey of the public perception of tattooed persons revealed that a majority of people perceived tattooed individuals as physically strong and psychologically aggressive. This survey concluded that whether or not tattoos are indicators of social maladjustment, they may function to enhance the bearers self-image and integrity. Returning to the theory of confirmation of the self in a pain-enduring interaction, one can understand the connotation of toughness and integrity that a tattoo confers. One psychoanalytic case study observed that a dominatrix in this relationship bore her tattoos as evidence of her ability to manage the ritual infliction of pain adroitly. This self-mastery and toughness earned her the right to control her submissive partners and proved her ability to alter, both own and her partners consciousness and identity. The lack of understanding of the functional purposes of both the tattooing process and the final marks have led to a perception of tattooing as barbaric, deviant, and sexually perverse. Dominant American culture has considered tattoos as marks of degradation, criminality, and marginality. Without an understanding of manipulation of the body to inspire sacred awe in viewers and bearers of tattoos and other body alterations, one can not grasp the significance of these alterations as tangible establishment of personal, spiritual, and social identity. Although body modifications such as tattooing and piercing have been construed as signs of deviance, during the past two decades body alteration has begun to filter into mainstream culture as a popular form of self-expression. Articles about tattooing and piercing proliferate in popular literature. Fashion magazines show models with tattooed ankles and pierced navels, and recruit well-known tattooed musicians for their pages. Children are able to play with tattooed dolls. Exhibits of tattoo art are shown in art galleries. Piercing boutiques and tattoo shops are conducting brisk business. Several factors have encouraged a tattoo renaissance since the 1950s. Post war prosperity along the West Coast combined with a new interest in Asian cultures, many of which revere tattooing. The Japanese, for instance, have a long tradition of tattoo as an intricate body art. New technology and interest in tattooing as a fine art have produced new aesthetic standards, a wider clientele, and an infinite variety of tattoo designs, including neo-tribal stylistic forms that are heavily influenced by tattoo traditions of other cultures. Today, as sociologist Clinton Sanders notes, tattooing has become more professional and more of a fine art. Tattoo artists are much more likely to have formal artistic and academic training than in previous years and to consider their tattooing practice a creative pursuit. A more diverse population is getting tattooed in the past two decades. New tattoo clients are better educated, have more disposable income, and care more about the decorative and aesthetic elements. Customer’s often custom design their own tattoos and the tattooer-customer relationship is changing from one of service provider and buyer to a collaborative effort. The relationship between a piercer and his or her client may be even more intricate and personal. With or without conscious realization of the significance of body making in other cultures, Americans today are adopting similar practices. To understand these practices as cultural phenomena, we must first understand their significance for individuals. Tattooing and piercing are not just adornments added to the body surface like jewelry or cosmetics, but they penetrate the flesh. Piercing is a quick process followed by several weeks of tenderness while healing. Tattooing is a tedious, painful process followed by a period of transformation in which the wound heals and the redesigned body emerges. These adornments, like self-starvation and self-cutting, accrue significance from both the process of physical transformation and the final product. The tattoo procedure is often a highly social act in which an individual manipulates and asserts identity within a specific social milieu. Getting a tattoo is often a social event experienced with close associates, who provide moral support, offer advice, and help pass the anxiety-filled waiting time. Many tattoo artists and piercers comment on the large percentage of their customers who belong to college fraternities or sororities and get pierced as part of the initiation process. It is rare that these individuals tattoo or pierce alone. Often several associates accompany the initiate to provide companionship and fortification. Many cultures attach social status to body alterations and consider pain a crucial element for imparting meaning to body alteration. Yoruban scarification is not only considered aesthetically pleasing but announces the marked individuals fortitude and ability to endure pain. A Yoruban woman acquires her markings when she is old enough to marry and accept the painful ordeal of childbirth. Her kolo cicatrices exhibit her willingness to bear pain. Aesthetic value is bound up with the value of endurance and the willingness to bear discomfort to accomplish a greater good. Tiv women remark on the ability of scarification to indicate masculinity and the desire to withstand pain in order to be attractive: What girl would look at a man if his scars had not cost him pain? Withstanding the pain of tattooing and other body alterations is also significant in American culture. The tattooee or piercee, like any initiate, vulnerably awaits the pain and new status the procedure will impart. Enduring pain is often considered crucial to gender constructions and demonstration of toughness. Although some tattooees have a difficult time bearing the pain, others see it as a good pain. Part of the pleasure of a tattoo is the macho implication of being able to bear the pain, and during the 1950s and 1960s getting a tattoo was a common rite of passage into adulthood for many young men. Still today, withstanding the tedious and painful process with bravado may be required to gain membership in a youth gang, or to demonstrate rebellion against authority. College fraternities may require members to get tattooed or pierced as a sign of their loyalty. One tattoo artist with many tattoos connects the pain of the process with the pleasure of creativity. Its a strange metaphor to say that pain is like an orgasm, but it is in a way. And its like labor too, to go through this pain to create a thing, to get it out of you. The design is inside of you, it just wants to get out. The creative expression of identity is enhanced by the feeling of aliveness that accompanies the pain of the process for many people. This sense of existing, of feeling, of enjoying life, [comes] to many with the touch of the needle. The prolonged pain produces euphoria for many, and pain is also a meaningful and enjoyable element of the piercing process for some piercees as well as people who indulge in body branding or scarification.62 Individuals who tattoo and pierce imbue the body with narcissistic or magico-religious powers to confirm identity and connect them to a deeper self-awareness, a social group, or a vision of integration with the cosmos. Similar to the way in which the self-mutilator or anorectic physically demarcates a change in self-awareness and interaction with the surrounding milieu, an individual who chooses to self-mark physically confirms a change in status. The badge of admission may carry personal meaning as well as a message of affiliation with a religion, one other person, a community, a youth gang, a fraternity, a military organization, or any specific group. The complexity of the action lies in the fact that the confirmation of identity is based on distancing the self from a large non-marked portion of the population. Body markings are marks of disaffiliation with the mainstream and visually proclaim a sense of camaraderie to others so marked.† The change in status, similar to the self-mutilators change in tension level and temporary cure of feelings of fragmentation, Body alteration functions in similar ways in Western culture, but it accrues a different potency as a deliberate choice of identification because of the stigma it incurs as a rebellion against, rather than an embodiment of, dominant cultural values. American women, fully aware of the stigma attached to tattooing and body alteration that doesnt help achieve standard beauty goals for women, are more likely than men to choose adornment that is not publicly visible and attach more personal meanings to their markings. In a culture that has taught them to preserve their bodies for the enjoyment of others, women who tattoo themselves are implicitly making a declaration of independence from at least some aesthetic standards expected of them by families, friends, and society. One 21-year-old woman explained the reaction of her mother to her tattoo. She asks me to keep it covered if we go out in public. It is a sign of disrespect to her. One woman explained, I did this not for my husband, not for my parents, not for a boss, not for anyone else but me, my internal reason was to make a statement. Women mark their bodies as an act of reclamation of their identity after a divorce, as a gesture of healing from sexual or other physical abuse, or simply as self-celebration. Body alteration symbolizes control over and pride in the physical self for many women. Centuries ago, this tangible evidence of self-control and self-celebration may have been enough to convict a woman of witchcraft and sentence her to death. If a devils mark was found on the body of a woman accused of witchcraft -whether self-imposed or organic in reality-it was interpreted as a chosen mark that confirmed the womans autonomous nature and rebellion against prescribed behavior. Her willful desecration of her God-given body proved her collusion with the Devil. Today, a womans self-creation carries less formidable consequences. Similar to the ways of punk styles of leather and metal access forbidden gender symbols and behavior for women, tattoos and piercing provide a form of gender rebellion also. The 1970 study highlighted this idea when one of the woman subjects proclaimed her motivation to tattoo as I want to act like a boy anything they can do I can do better. Tattooing and body piercing blur previous assumptions about gender roles for both women and men. Historically considered a salacious and pagan badge by Western cultures, deliberate body alteration proclaims defiance of cultural standards for both men and women, and many body modifiers enjoy the shock value of their adornment and take pride in their stigmatized identities. Piercers and tattooees reject mainstream norms of adornment while simultaneously embracing subterranean status. This is an especially important component of the body modification trend for adolescents who are trying to establish social identity and autonomy from parental authority. Recreating the body differentiates one from ones previous childhood body, and conventional familial and cultural milieus. One connection between body alteration and youth and popular culture is explained by Daryl Bear Belmares, who had been a professional piercer for nine years in 1996 Belmares attributes the rise in piercing popularity since 1990 to the influence of media and describes two general motivations to pierce. Some people are entranced by the trends of the look. They come in and say I saw it on MTV. Theyve seen the Aerosmith video that has a model with a pierced navel and think it looks sexy. Their main motivation is a desire to be different. These individuals are likely to let their piercing heal over after a few years. Other piercers are functional piercers who spend more time premeditating their decision and pierce for sexual enhancement, to consciously mark a transition in their life, or to heal emotional scars. Although one might think that women are more likely to pierce as a narcissistic use of the body to establish identity, based on the proportion of self-starvers and self-cutters who are women, Belmares denied this gender distinction, noting that his clientele is 50 percent men and 50 percent women. In 1969, Edward Podvall noted that not only does the iconography of self-mutilation appear continually on the landscape of our culture as something seemingly more honest, authentic, pure, or disciplined, but it can be found as an unexpected posture within one particular developmental epoch. He concluded that individual self-mutilation is an attempt to fend off developmental anxiety, and its prevalence may indicate exoneration and approval by the surrounding culture. As a cultural phenomenon, the iconography of self-mutilation may be interpreted in several ways. Podvalls depiction of self-mutilation as part of a developmental process, like Turners delineation of body marking as a resolution of an initiation process and like psychoanalytic theory of body narcissism and self-mutilation as attempts to combat fragmentation of the ego, reveals the cultural significance of body modification. Self-starvation, self-cutting, performance art, and painful, permanent body adornment are potent expressions of rebellion, desire for autonomy, and need to disseminate tension. They are attempts to self-heal, self-initiate, and self-symbolize. Self-mutilation may augment self-awareness, provoke euphoric feelings of spirituality, and resolve a state of liminality by culminating in marks of identity. In the context of culturally sanctioned rituals, these marks incur social inclusion and demarcate social status. In American society, which has considered body alteration practices barbaric and has few formal coming of age rituals that mark the body, the perception of these marks as deviant or perverse has been changing as they have become more common. Conclusion: Although the extent to which contemporary Western society accepts self-mutilation is debatable, many forms of self-mutilation are becoming increasingly popular as real and symbolic forms of self-creation. The public and private, individual and social spheres in which body alteration is significant are entwined. Self-mutilation cannot be separated from the culture in which it exists. As David Napier points out, American culture is obsessed with coming of age as a never-ending process. This struggle to achieve identity is reflected by the implosion of self and identity into the physical symbol, and reality, of the body. The human body is an accessible and viable pathway to holistic integration of self and is a terrain upon which to carve and etch ones deepest desires for identity and meaningful connection to both earthly and spiritual realms. At times altering the body is a form of play and adornment, assuming a mask, playing a role, at other times it is a desperate attempt to feel alive and combat a feeling of alienation and disassociation. Altering the body is an exploration of limits and boundaries of the self, whether in the arena of staged art, subculture, or the local tattoo shop. As individuals test their own limits, they test and change the limits of society. Although still considered distasteful and non-mainstream by many people, body piercing and tattooing are being adopted by individuals seeking to fulfill spiritual and social identity needs. In contrast to societies in which body marks are inscribed according to cultural tradition, the self-chosen marks of todays modem cultures are marks of disaffiliation with convention and historical values. Finally, as individuals modify their bodies as exploration of their individual identities, the culture composed of these individuals begins to explore what it means to be human and what role the body plays in civilization. Tattooing is an act which is very much painful in some cases so why should someone get the tattooes even when they are so terrible. This is society‘s responsibility to set such standards for such unusual things so that every body can have clear mind about these weird things. Bibliography 1. Edward Westermarck, â€Å"The History of Human Marriage† Volume: 1. Macmillan. London. 1921 2. Alfred Metraux, Easter Island: A Stone-Age Civilization of the Pacific Oxford University Press, New York. 1957 3. Tattooing and Civilizing Processes: Body Modification as Self-Control Michael Atkinson Journal Title: The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology. Volume: 41. Issue: 2. Publication Year: 2004 4. Tattooing, Gender and Social Stratifica

Environmental impact of the life cycle of tap water with the life cycle of glass bottled water

Environmental impact of the life cycle of tap water with the life cycle of glass bottled water Abstract In this report, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is applied to compare the lifecycle of tap water and bottled water using the four assessment methods. The results of inventory analysis and impact assessment shows that the tap water and glass bottled water production processes play an important role in almost all of the analysed parameters. The processes that have was examined include production and transportation, the quantification of the energy used and the potential contributions to impact categories was also evaluated. It was realised that the glass bottle water production shows a relatively higher energy requirement as well as overall higher contribution to environmental impact in Climate change, ozone layer, Exotoxicity, acidification/eutrophication, respiratory organics, respiratory inorganics, radiation, carcinogens, land use and minerals. 1:Introduction Presently, industries and businesses are assessing how their activities affect the environment due to increases environmental awareness. Also, the Society is becoming more concerned about the issues of natural resource depletion and environmental degradation and many industries have responded to this awareness by providing sustainable products and using sustainable processes. Drinking water is a basic necessity, but how can this basic need be satisfied in an environmentally friendly manner. This analysis compares the entire life cycle from the water extraction to serving it up in a glass bottle in a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The systems that have been assessed in this study are: the production of inputs of tap water and glass bottle, transportation, energy used and the manufacturing process. This study was carried out with the use of the SimaPro 7 software for the inventory and interpretation of the analysis. Eco-indicator 99 (l) V2.02/Europe El 99 l/l was used as an assessment method in which the various materials and products are weighted with regard to the impact caused by them to the environment. 2:Benefits of conducting Life Cycle Assessment * Life cycle analysis encourages a more informed and broader view of the environmental impact of a product. It helps decision-makers select the product or process that results in the least impact to the environment. This information can be used alongside other factors, such as cost and performance data to select a product or process. * LCA helps to avoids generalisations about the environmental performance of a product in isolation to its total life cycle. Rather, it openly acknowledges the assumptions made, and tests the effects of the assumptions. * LCA allows producers and consumers to compare relatively, the significance of different types of environmental impacts with caution. * LCA helps to avoid the Shifting environmental problems from one place to another; It allows a decision maker to study an entire product system thus, avoiding a sub-optimization that could result if only a single process were the focus of the study. For example, when choosing between two rival products, it may appear that product A is better for the environment because it generates less solid waste than product B. However, after performing an LCA it might be discovered that the first product actually creates larger cradle-to-grave environmental impacts when measured across all three media i.e. air, land and water e.g. it may cause more emissions of chemicals during its manufacturing stage. Therefore, the second product that produces solid more waste may be viewed as producing less cradle-to-grave environmental harm or impact than the first technology due its lower chemical emissions. This ability to track and document shifts in environmental impacts of products can help decision makers to fully characterize the environmental trade-offs associated with product alternatives. By conducting an LCA, analysts will be able to; * Analyze the environmental trade-offs associated with one or more specific products to help gain stakeholders acceptance for a planned action. * Quantify the environmental emissions to air, water, and land in relation to each life cycle stage and the major contributing process. * Develop an efficient assessment of the environmental consequences associated with a given product. 3:Challenges encountered in conducting Life Cycle Assessment Performing an LCA could be time and resource intensive. Depending on how comprehensive the user wishes to conduct, gathering the data can be problematic, and the availability of data can greatly impact on the accuracy of the final results. Therefore, it is important to consider the availability of data, the time required to accomplish the study, and the financial resources necessary against the anticipated benefits of the LCA. Table 1 below shows the general challenges of LCA. Table 1:The general challenges and difficulties of LCA methodology. Goal definition and scoping In conducting an LCA, the cost may be prohibitive to small firms; also, the required time to conduct LCA may exceed product development constraints especially for short development cycles; the temporal and spatial magnitude of a dynamic product system are complex to address; definition of functional units for the evaluation of design alternatives can be problematic; allocation methods used in defining system boundaries have inherent weaknesses; complex products (e.g. automobiles) entails huge resources to analyse. Data collection Availability of data and access can be limiting e.g. proprietary data; data quality, including bias, precision completeness and accuracy ,are frequently not well addressed. Data Evaluation Sophisticated models and model parameters for evaluating resource depletion, human health and ecosystem, may not be available or their ability to represent the product system may be repulsive. Thus most times, uncertainty analyses of the results are often not conducted. Information transfer Design decision-makers often lack knowledge about environmental effects, and aggregation and simplification techniques may distort results. Synthesis of environmental effect categories is limited because they are incommensurable. According to (Keoleian, 2003)Both cost and time constraints currently limit the practice of LCA. Most small companies are not likely to be able to afford specializing in LCA and even for larger firms, the benefits of investment in LCA may not be apparent immediately. In some cases, possible cost savings may not be identified unless full cost accounting systems have been instituted. Therefore, in other for it to be more cost effective, it should be incorporated into the existing environmental management system and information systems within a firm. Also, LCA will not conclude on which product is the most cost effective or works the best. Therefore, the information developed in an LCA should be used as one component of a more comprehensive decision process in assessing the trade-offs with cost and performance, an example is Life Cycle Management. 4:Present quality examples of uses of LCA. One example of the uses of Life cycle assessment is its application in the pulp and paper industry. Life cycle assessment is used to compare the environmental impact of the use of two kinds of fuel i.e. heavy fuel oil and natural gas, in the pulp and paper production process. Another, LCA methodology can be applied to agricultural production. An example is the Life cycle analysis of sugar beet production using different forms of nitrogen fertilizers. It could be used in this aspect to quantify and evaluate the impact of the choice of different N fertilisers on the environmental burden associated with the sugar beet production system. Also, it could be applied in the bakery industry. An example is the life cycle analysis of bread production by comparing homemade bread or industrial bread. In this context, it could be used to compare the environmental effects of producing bread at home or at the bakery showing which type of bread production has less environmental effects and how the environmental effects can be reduced. 5:Guidance and LCA standards There are international standard which help us undertake LCAs in a standard way. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO member bodies) and the ISO technical committees produce international standards on a variety of topics. The ISO 14000 series The ISO 14000 series relates to numerous facets of environmental management. These series includes ISO 14040 14043 and they were prepared by the Technical Committee ISO/TC 207, Environmental Management Subcommittee SC 5, Life Cycle Assessment. While ISO recognizes that LCA is still in a growing stage of development, ISO 14040-14043 is a consensus-based, voluntary set of standards pertaining to LCA. ISO 14040 Environmental management Life cycle assessment Principles and framework: Specifies the general framework, principles, and requirements for conducting and reporting life cycle assessment studies, but does not describe the life cycle assessment technique in detail. ISO 14041 Environmental management Life cycle assessment Goal scope and definition and inventory analysis: Specifies the requirements and procedures for the compilation and preparation of the definition of goal and scope for an LCA and for performing, interpreting, and reporting a life cycle inventory (LCI) analysis. ISO 14042 Environmental management Life cycle assessment Life cycle impact assessment: Describes and gives guidance on the general framework for the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase of LCA, and the key features and inherent limitations of LCIA. It specifies requirements for conducting the LCIA phase and the relationship of LCIA to other LCA phases. ISO 14043 Environmental management Life cycle assessment Life cycle interpretation: Provides requirements and recommendations for conducting the life cycle interpretation in LCA or LCI studies. It does not describe specific methodologies for the life cycle interpretation phase of LCA and LCI studies. (Dooley, 2002) ISO 14040:2006 Environmental management Life Cycle Assessment Principles and framework PAS2050:2008 Specification for the assessment of life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services (Patterson, 2009) These standards set out the general process that should be followed when undertaking any Life Cycle Assessment and are not legally binding or enforceable. 6:Methodological framework 6.1:General requirements This analysis was performed using a methodological framework based on ISO (International Organization for Standardization) recommendations stated above and according to ISO, there are four phases in LCA: goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment and interpretation. 6.2:Goal and scope definition 6.2.1: Purpose The purpose of this study is the identification and assessment of the environmental impacts associated with the production, use, disposal and recycling of tap water and glass bottle water. The main reason for conducting this study is to compare the environmental impact of the life cycle of tap water with the life cycle of glass bottled water, to provide information on which of production processes has less environmental impact, to understand which of the processing stages account for the highest or lowest environmental effects and to evaluate how the environmental impacts can be reduced. 6.2.2: Functional Unit (FU) The main purpose of the functional unit is to provide a reference unit to which the inventory data are normalised. In this assessment, the appropriate functional unit of water is related to 1 kg of portable water to be consumed and the equivalent amount which is 750 grams of water in the bottle 6.2.3:Study Questions The study seeks to answer the following questions: * What are the environmental impacts of tap water and glass bottle production? * What are the different materials used in the manufacture of these two products? * Which of the production processes has less environmental impact? 6.2.4: Product description The products being assessed are glass bottle and tap water. The raw material used in the production of glass bottle are dolomite, sand, feldspar, limestone, silica sand, natural gas, 2 litres of water and electricity while the raw material used in the production of the tap water are water from lakes, water from river and underground water, chlorine, hydrogen peroxide, ozone, charcoal and electricity. 6.2.5: Product system boundaries The system being assessed produces glass bottle water and tap water using the typical life cycle stages. * Cradle to material production for glass bottle and reuse. * Treatment and distribution of tap water. 6.2.6:Process flow charts The process flow for the glass bottle is represented in figure 1 below and it includes the following; Water, dolomite, soda, limestone, feldspar, sand, silica sand, natural gas, electricity, transport and waste disposal (land filling and recycling). Figure 3:The network of the Life cycle analysis of the glass bottled water. Figure 4:The network of the Life cycle analysis of the tap water. 6.4.2:Impact Assessment of the tap water and glass bottle water The comparison is made up of the environmental impact of glass bottled water and tap water. For the glass bottle water, the environmental impact is also determined by the power requirements, the basic infrastructure and in this case, the waste disposal scenario is taken into consideration which involves the recycling of the glass. The power requirements and basic infrastructures includes; Electricity, soda powder at the plant, natural gas, transport, manufacturing of the empty white glass bottle and assembly of glass bottle full of water. The analysis of the inventory carried out for the tap water shows that the environmental impact of tap water is determined by power requirements and by the basic infrastructure i.e. the electricity production medium, the pump station, portable water , water supply network and supply of water. By contrast, the recycling equipment used in water treatment is less relevant in this context. The power consumption figures (percentages) are relatively accurate as they make a 100%. Eco Eco-indicator 99 (l) V2.02/Europe El 99 l/l method was used in this study with regards to all the impact categories. For each of the two systems analysed using the SimaPro 7 LCA software, the potential contribution to climate change, ozone layer, Exotoxicity, acidification/eutrophication, respiratory organics, respiratory inorganics, radiation, carcinogens, land use and minerals are characterized. The results are presented below in histograms and in tables. Generally there are 3 steps in Life Cycle Inventory Analysis, namely: * Classification and characterization, * Normalization, and * Weighting Classification and characterization are mandatory element while normalization and weighting are optional elements (Guinee, 2002; Hauschild, Jeswiet, Alting, 2005; ISO14000, 2000). 6.4.3:Characterisation Chart 1:The characterisation under impact assessment for the life cycle analysis of the glass bottle. According to the characterisation chart above, the environmental impact is at the waste disposal scenario and assemble of glass bottle full of water but less at the transport process for all the impact categories. Table 4:Table showing the characterisation result of the impact category in glass bottled water Climate change Climate change is the change in the statistical distribution of weather over a period of time ranging from decades to millions of years. From chart 1 above, the main cause of climate change is more evident during the assembly of glass bottle full of water, emission of CO2, NOx, SO2 etc during the waste disposal stages and at the transport stage due to emission of CO2 by the lorry. These are indicated in table 4 above where they contributed 1.49E-9, -5.92E-8 and 1.31E-9 respectively. Ozone layer The ozone layer is a layer in Earths atmosphere containing relatively high concentrations of ozone (O3). This layer absorbs about 93-99% of the suns high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to life on earth. From chart 1 above, the main cause of the ozone layer is assembly of the glass bottle full of water, emission during the waste disposal stage and the transportation stage. These are indicated in table 4 above where they contributed 3.71E-11, -7.45E-12 and 6.47E-13 respectively. Ecotoxicity Ecotoxicity refers to the potential for biological, chemical or physical stressors that affects the ecosystems. Such stressors might occur in the natural environment at concentrations, densities or levels high enough to disrupt the natural biochemistry, behaviour and interactions of the living organisms that comprise the ecosystem. From chart 1 above, the main cause of the ecotoxicity is assembly of the glass bottle full of water, emission during the waste disposal stage and the transportation stage. These are indicated in table 4 above where they contributed 0.00779, -0.0171and 0.000516 respectively. Acidification/eutrophication Acidification is a natural process used to describe the loss of nutrient bases i.e. calcium, magnesium and potassium through the process of leaching and their replacement by acidic elements such as hydrogen and aluminium. Eutrophication is the increase in the concentration of chemical nutrients in an ecosystem to an level that it increases the primary productivity of the ecosystem. From chart 1 above, the main cause of the Acidification/eutrophication is assembly of the glass bottle full of water, emission during the waste disposal stage and the transportation stage. These are indicated in table 4 above where they contributed 0.022, -0.00425 and 0.000211 respectively. Respiratory organics From chart 1 above, the main cause of the respiratory organics is assembly of the glass bottle full of water, emission during the waste disposal stage and the transportation stage. These are indicated in table 4 above where they contributed 2.2E-10, -8.4E-11 and 2.02E-11 respectively. Respiratory inorganics From chart 1 above, the main cause of the respiratory inorganics is assembly of the glass bottle full of water, emission during the waste disposal stage and the transportation stage. These are indicated in table 4 above where they contributed 3.57E-7, -1.56E-7 and 2.94E-9 respectively. Radiation Radiation is energy that travels in form of waves or high-speed particles. It occurs naturally in sunlight and sound waves. If exposed to small amounts of radiation over a long time, it increases the risk of cancer and it can also cause mutations in genes, which could be pass on to generations after exposure. From chart 1 above, the main cause of the radiation is the assembly of the glass bottle full of water, emission during the waste disposal stage and the transportation stage. These are indicated in table 4 above where they contributed 1.11E-10,-1.25E-11 and 1.02E-12 respectively. Carcinogens A carcinogen is any substance or radiation, that is an agent directly involved in the exacerbation of cancer or in the increase of its propagation. From chart 1 above, the main cause of the carcinogen is the assembly of the glass bottle full of water, emission during the waste disposal stage and the transportation stage. These are indicated in table 4 above where they contributed 1.99E-8,-1.03E-8 and 3.41E-10 respectively. Land use Land use is the modification of natural environment into built environment such as fields, pastures, and settlements. From chart 1 above, the major impact on land use is caused by the assembly of the glass bottle full of water, emission during the waste disposal stage and the transportation stage. These are indicated in table 4 above where they contributed 0.00345,-0.00942 and 0.000176 respectively. Minerals Minerals are naturally occurring solid formed through geological processes with characteristic chemical compositions, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. From chart 1 above, the major impact on mineral is caused by the assembly of the glass bottle full of water, emission during the waste disposal stage and the transportation stage. These are indicated in table 4 above where they contributed 0.00586,-0.00357 and 0.00034 respectively. NB: From the characterisation impact category, the negative number for the waste disposal stage is caused by the uptake of carbon from the atmosphere during the water disposal scenario. Chart 2:The characterisation under impact assessment for the life cycle analysis of the tap water. From the characterisation chart above, the environmental impact occurred at the supply of water stage for all the impact categories. Table 5:Table showing the characterisation result of the impact in the tap water 6.4.4:Normalization Normalization is defined as the extent to which an impact category contributes to the total environmental burden (Guinee, 2002). When the values are normalized, comparison between impacts can be made. From chart 3 below, It was found that the main impact is from the assembly of glass bottle full of water. The main substances that contributed to this impact are; Carbon dioxide, fossil, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, lead, nitrogen oxides, particulates and sulphur oxide emissions that occurred during the manufacturing of the empty white glass bottle. The second impact is the waste disposal, this impact is caused during the waste scenario. The third impact being transport caused due to emission from the lorry taking the bottles to the retailer. Chart 3:The normalisation under impact assessment for the life cycle of glass bottled water Table 6: The normalisation under impact assessment for the glass bottled water. Chart 4: The normalisation under impact assessment for the life cycle of tap water From the chart 4 above, It was found that the main impact is from the supply of water. The main substances that contributed to this impact are aluminium, chloride and chlorine emissions that occurred during the production of the portable water. Table 7: The normalisation under impact assessment for the tap water 6.4.5:Weighting Weighting is a process by which indicators are aggregated into a single score. It makes use subjective weighting factors (Soares, Toffoletto, Deschenes, 2006). Based on table 7, the weighting under impact assessment for the life cycle of the glass bottled water is given the same as normalization. The main impact occurred at the assembly of glass bottle full of water. Followed by waste disposal and transport impact. Chart 5: The weighting under impact assessment for the life cycle of glass bottled water Table 8:The weighting under impact assessment for the glass bottled water Chart 6:The weighting under impact assessment for the life cycle of tap water Based on table 8 below, the weighting under impact assessment for the life cycle of the tap water is given the same as the normalization. The main impact from the supply of water. The main substances that contributed to this impact are aluminium, chloride and chlorine emissions that occurred during the production of the portable water. Table 9:The weighting under impact assessment for the tap water Conclusion / Recommendation From the analysis conducted, tap water contributed the least damage to the environment while glass bottle contributed the highest damage to this category. However, tap water still contributed even at a moderate effect and efforts are needed based on reducing the damages that could happen. Thus, from an environmental point of view, tap water is generally preferable to glass bottled water. If, as an exception, bottled water is consumed, its production process is much more relevant for its environmental impact than its assembly. Among the impacts identified are; * The empty glass bottles production process contributes damages to the human health and the ecosystem quality. * The electricity generation process which uses natural gas has reduced the natural resource. To overcome these problems, suggestions of corrections are as follows: 1. The use of plastic bottles water to replace the glass bottle water 2. The reliance on natural gas for electricity generation is suggested to be combined with other two types of renewable electricity generation namely: * Using 25% solar energy (considering most manufacturing industries to divert into the use of solar energy). * Using 25% hydro-electric energy 25% considering the fact that electricity could be generated from the flowing water in the water treatment plant. * Using 50% natural gas. References Air pollution information system website (2010) Acidification [online] Available from: http://www.apis.ac.uk/overview/issues/overview_acidification.htm [Accessed 12th April 2010] British Standard, Environmental management Life cycle assessment Principles and framework. ISO 14040, 2010. Curran (2006) US EPA Life Cycle Assessment: Principles and Practice. US EPA; Office of Research and Development; NRMRL; Sustainable Technology Division. Dooley. R (2001) Life Cycle Assessment Tools to Measure Environmental Impacts: Assessing Their Applicability to the Home Building Industry. NAHB Research Centre, Inc. 400 Prince Georges Blvd. Upper Marlboro, MD 20774 Jungbluth (2006) Comparison of the Environmental Impact of Tap Water vs. Bottled Mineral Water. i -ESU-services, Kanzleistrasse 4, CH-8610 Uster, Switzerland Keoleian. A (2003) The application of life cycle assessment to design. National Pollution Prevention Center, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Dana Building, 430 E. University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1115, USA Lopes. E and Dias. A et al (2002) Application of life cycle assessment to the Portuguese pulp and paper industry. Department of Environment and Planning, University of Aveiro, 3810 Aveiro, Portugal, Journal of Cleaner Production 11 (2003) 51-59. Medline Plus website (2010) Radiation Exposure [online] Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/radiationexposure.html [Accessed 12th April 2010] Patterson. T (2009) LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA). Sustainable Environment research centre, University of Glamorgan.

Gasoline Essay -- essays research papers

GASOLINE TOXIC COMPOUNDS AND ADVERSE EFFECTS ON THE ENVIRONMENT In the early 20th Century gasoline was being produced by oil companies using distillates from petroleum. Unfortunately, this was not enough energy to power the new atutomobiles that would soon be arriving. More chemicals, addetives and research had to be done. Around 1910 laws were passed that prohibited gasoline from being stored. Perhaps the car industries were growing so rapidly, it was then the government began to take note to regulate the use of gasoline for the protection of the environment. Lead and benzene are toxins found in gasoline that are confirmed to be regulated human carcinogens. Carcinogens have been tested also to induce cancer found in humans and animals. This paper will determine and discuss these two types of toxins identified in gasoline, the dangers of these toxins and how they affect the environment in which we live in. When gasoline is burned it releases a form of energy of hydrogen and carbon. This energy forms water and carbon dioxide. Carbon moxide may be formed as well if the compnents are not precise and complete. Gasoline is said to contain over 500 hydrocarbons. There are two types of hydrocarbons; saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons. Saturated hydrocarbons are somewhat stable found in leaded gasolines and burn a clean flame in the air. On the other hand, unsaturated hydrocarbons are unstable and tend to burn a dark smoky flame. Studies have proven lead poisoning can be obta... Gasoline Essay -- essays research papers GASOLINE TOXIC COMPOUNDS AND ADVERSE EFFECTS ON THE ENVIRONMENT In the early 20th Century gasoline was being produced by oil companies using distillates from petroleum. Unfortunately, this was not enough energy to power the new atutomobiles that would soon be arriving. More chemicals, addetives and research had to be done. Around 1910 laws were passed that prohibited gasoline from being stored. Perhaps the car industries were growing so rapidly, it was then the government began to take note to regulate the use of gasoline for the protection of the environment. Lead and benzene are toxins found in gasoline that are confirmed to be regulated human carcinogens. Carcinogens have been tested also to induce cancer found in humans and animals. This paper will determine and discuss these two types of toxins identified in gasoline, the dangers of these toxins and how they affect the environment in which we live in. When gasoline is burned it releases a form of energy of hydrogen and carbon. This energy forms water and carbon dioxide. Carbon moxide may be formed as well if the compnents are not precise and complete. Gasoline is said to contain over 500 hydrocarbons. There are two types of hydrocarbons; saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons. Saturated hydrocarbons are somewhat stable found in leaded gasolines and burn a clean flame in the air. On the other hand, unsaturated hydrocarbons are unstable and tend to burn a dark smoky flame. Studies have proven lead poisoning can be obta...

Y2k: Should We Be Worried? :: essays research papers

Some people wonder what Y2K is, and whether it is true or false. Should we be worried about Y2K? Some people are sure it is false, yet the news stresses that it is true. This has many people in fear for their life. Some have been preparing for over a year now because they think Y2K is going to hit and the power will go out and absolutely nothing will work. Should we believe this? Many people ask, "What is Y2K?". It made me wonder one day, "What does Y2K really mean?". I went to the search engine <a href="http://www.altavista.com">Altavista and typed in "What does Y2K stand for?". I looked and looked and finally found a page that answered mine and many others' questions. Y2K stands for Year 2000. Why K though? Why not Y2T? It is K because the Greek for thousand is Kilo so we use K to stand for thousand. Then comes another big question. What causes Y2K? There are two different factors in what causes Y2K. One factor being: Along time ago, approximately in the 70's different operating systems were being made for computers. The computer programmers decided to make the dates in these operating systems and programs with 2 digits(73) instead of 4(1973). That was all fine until about the early 90's when computer programmers noticed something. They saw that when the year 2000 rolled around the computers would read the date as 00 instead of 2000. The computer would think, "1900?", but I was made in 1973. This confuses the computer ,therefore, it resets it's self to 1980 and rearranges all of the settings in the BIOS (the programs that tells the computer which drive to load to, what kind of memory, what kind of CD-ROM the computer has, etc.). This could cause a problem, but nothing that could not be fixed in 5 minutes. One downfall to that is every time it got up to 2000 it would need to be fixed again. The upside being a program that reads the date with four digits is approximately ninety dollars depending on the kind of program wanted. The other factor is a computer programming language called COBOL (common business oriented language). This computer programming language is used by many businesses' computers. COBOL handles numbers and text so that businesses can produce reports and keep track of all sorts of data. It has no idea what a date is.

Representation of a Great Ruler :: Queen Elizabeth Ruler Essays

Representation of a Great Ruler In such a tumultuous time of England’s history, a ruler that could protect his people and also give them intellectual stimulation was no easy task. However, this is what the people expected from their ruler. This emblem is a basic representation of what the English people valued from the people that ruled them. The title says it all. â€Å"A Princes most ennobling Parts,/ Are Skill in Armes and Love to Arts.† If someone took this emblem and changed all the words from â€Å"he† to â€Å"she,† and then replaced the words â€Å"prince† to â€Å"queen,† we would have a perfect description of Queen Elizabeth I and what made her so great. Before we go into the text, it is worth analyzing the picture of the emblem. Though the huge discrepancy is that it is a man in the picture, there are still many parallels we can draw between him and Elizabeth. Appearance wise, the man in this picture seems to have a regal robe on, but pants that look like tattered rags. Making the comparison with Elizabeth, one can point out the time that she spent in prison. She had to don rags for a while, and then when she was released, she was made queen and she got to wear royal, exquisite dresses. In the picture, the man has a sword in his right hand and a book in his left. Obviously, the sword represents the military might and physical strength. The book represents wisdom and knowledge. Though it is at an angle, it still seems that the man is holding the book higher than the sword, showing that they value a wise ruler more than a mighty one. A great ruler however, must contain both of these qualities to be successful. After the emblem, we get a poem about qualities the people desire in their ruler. As stated earlier, from what we know of Elizabeth, this poem describes her qualities well. Before Elizabeth, England was in constant war with Protestants and Catholics fighting each other for power. In this time of constant conflict, the people looked for a ruler that would bring them tranquility.

The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle Chapter Fourteen

Bonnie shivered as she waited outside the tall Victorian house. The air was frosty this morning, and although it was almost eight o'clock the sun had never really come up. The sky was just one dense massed bank of gray and white clouds, creating an eerie twilight below. She had begun to stamp her feet and rub her hands together when the Forbes' door opened. Bonnie moved back a little behind the shrubbery that was her hiding place and watched the family walk to their car. Mr. Forbes was carrying nothing but a camera. Mrs. Forbes had a purse and a folding seat. Daniel Forbes, Caroline's younger brother, had another seat. And Caroline†¦ Bonnie leaned forward, her breath hissing out in satisfaction. Caroline was dressed in jeans and a heavy sweater, and she was carrying some sort of white drawstring purse. Not big but big enough to hold a small diary. â€Å"There she is, Aunt Judith. On the corner.† The car slowed to a halt, and Bonnie slid into the back seat with Elena. â€Å"She's got a white drawstring purse,† she murmured into Elena's ear as Aunt Judith pulled out again. Tingling excitement swept over Elena, and she squeezed Bonnie's hand. â€Å"Good,† she breathed. â€Å"Now we'll see if she brings it into Mrs. Grimesby's. If not, you tell Meredith it's in the car.† Bonnie nodded agreement and squeezed Elena's hand back. They arrived at Mrs. Grimesby's just in time to see Caroline going inside with a white bag hanging from her arm. Bonnie and Elena exchanged a look. Now it was up to Elena to see where Caroline left it in the house. â€Å"I'll get out here too, Miss Gilbert,† said Bonnie as Elena jumped out of the car. She would wait outside with Meredith until Elena could tell them where the bag was. The important thing was not to let Caroline suspect anything unusual. Mrs. Grimesby, who answered Elena's knock, was the Fell's Church librarian. Her house looked almost like a library itself; there were bookcases everywhere and books stacked on the floor. She was also the keeper of Fell's Church's historical artifacts, including clothing that had been preserved from the town's earliest days. Just now the house was ringing with young voices, and the bedrooms were full of students in various stages of undress. Mrs. Grimesby always supervised the costumes for the pageant. Elena was ready to ask to be put in the same room with Caroline, but it wasn't necessary. Mrs. Grimesby was already ushering her in. Caroline, stripped down to her fashionable underwear, gave Elena what was undoubtedly meant to be a nonchalant look, but Elena detected the vicious gloating beneath. She kept her own eyes on the bundle of clothing Mrs. Grimesby was picking up off the bed. â€Å"Here you are, Elena. One of our most nicely preserved pieces – and all authentic, too, even the ribbons. We believe this dress belonged to Honoria Fell.† â€Å"It's beautiful,† said Elena, as Mrs. Grimesby shook out the folds of thin white material. â€Å"What's it made of?† â€Å"Moravian muslin and silk gauze. Since it's quite cold today you can wear that velvet jacket over it.† The librarian indicated a dusty rose garment lying over a chair back. Elena cast a surreptitious glance at Caroline as she began to change. Yes, there was the bag, at Caroline's feet. She debated making a grab for it, but Mrs. Grimesby was still in the room. The muslin dress was very simple, its flowing material belted high under the bosom with a pale rose. â€Å"Did it really belong to Honoria Fell?† she asked, thinking of the marble image of that lady lying on her tomb in the ruined church. â€Å"That's the story, anyway,† said Mrs. Grimesby. â€Å"She mentions a dress like it in her journal, so we're pretty sure.† â€Å"She kept a journal?† Elena was startled. â€Å"Oh, yes. I have it in a case in the living room; I'll show it to you on the way out. Now for the jacket – oh, what's that?† Something violet fluttered to the ground as Elena picked the jacket up. She could feel her expression freeze. She caught up the note before Mrs. Grimesby could bend over, and glanced at it. One line. She remembered writing it in her diary on September 4, the first day of school. Except that after she had written it she had crossed it out. These words were not crossed out; they were bold and clear. Something awful is going to happen today. Elena could barely restrain herself from rounding on Caroline and shaking the note in her face. But that would ruin everything. She forced herself to stay calm as she crumpled up the little slip of paper and threw it into a wastebasket. â€Å"It's just a piece of trash,† she said, and turned back to Mrs. Grimesby, her shoulders stiff. Caroline said nothing, but Elena could feel those triumphant green eyes on her. Just you wait, she thought. Wait until I get that diary back. I'm going to burn it, and then you and I are going to have a talk. To Mrs. Grimesby she said, â€Å"I'm ready.† â€Å"So am I,† said Caroline in a demure voice. Elena put on a look of cool indifference as she eyed the other girl. Caroline's pale green gown with long green and white sashes was not nearly as pretty as hers. â€Å"Wonderful. You girls go ahead and wait for your rides. Oh, and Caroline, don't forget your reticule.† â€Å"I won't,† Caroline said, smiling, and she reached for the drawstring bag at her feet. It was fortunate that from that position she couldn't see Elena's face, for in that instant the cool indifference shattered completely. Elena stared, dumbfounded, as Caroline began to tie the bag at her waist. Her astonishment didn't escape Mrs. Grimesby. â€Å"That's a reticule, the ancestor of our modern handbag,† the older woman explained kindly. â€Å"Ladies used to keep their gloves and fans in them. Caroline came by. â€Å"I'm sure it was,† Elena managed in a strangled voice. She had to get out of here or something awful was going to happen right now. She was going to start screaming – or knock Caroline down – or explode. â€Å"I need some fresh air,† she said. She bolted from the room and from the house, bursting outside. Bonnie and Meredith were waiting in Meredith's car. Elena's heart thumped strangely as she walked to it and leaned in the window. â€Å"She's outsmarted us,† she said quietly. â€Å"That bag is part of her costume, and she's going to wear it all day.† Bonnie and Meredith stared, first at her and then at each other. â€Å"But†¦ then, what are we going to do?† Bonnie asked. â€Å"I don't know.† With sick dismay this realization finally came home to Elena. â€Å"I don't know!† â€Å"We can still watch her. Maybe she'll take the bag off at lunch or something†¦Ã¢â‚¬  But Meredith's voice rang hollow. They all knew the truth, Elena thought, and the truth was that it was hopeless. They'd lost. Bonnie glanced in the rearview mirror, then twisted in her seat. â€Å"It's your ride.† Elena looked. Two white horses were drawing a smartly renovated buggy down the street. Crepe paper was threaded through the buggy's wheels, ferns decorated its seats, and a large banner on the side proclaimed,The Spirit of Fell's Church. Elena had time for only one desperate message. â€Å"Watch her,† she said. â€Å"And if there's ever a moment when she's alone†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Then she had to go. But all through that long, terrible morning, there was never a moment when Caroline was alone. She was surrounded by a crowd of spectators. For Elena, the parade was pure torture. She sat in the buggy beside the mayor and his wife, trying to smile, trying to look normal. But the sick dread was like a crushing weight on her chest. Somewhere in front of her, among the marching bands and drill teams and open convertibles, was Caroline. Elena had forgotten to find out which float she was on. The first schoolhouse float, perhaps; a lot of the younger children in costume would be on that. It didn't matter. Wherever Caroline was, she was in full view of half the town. The luncheon that followed the parade was held in the high school cafeteria. Elena was trapped at a table with Mayor Dawley and his wife. Caroline was at a nearby table; Elena could see the shining back of her auburn head. And sitting beside her, often leaning possessively over her, was Tyler Smallwood. Elena was in a perfect position to view the little drama that occurred about halfway through lunch. Her heart leaped into her throat when she saw Stefan, looking casual, stroll by Caroline's table. He spoke to Caroline. Elena watched, forgetting even to play with the untouched food on her plate. But what she saw next made her heart plummet. Caroline tossed her head and replied to him briefly, and then Stefan looked toward Elena as he left, and for a moment their eyes met in wordless communion. There was nothing he could do, then. Even if his Powers had returned, Tyler was going to keep him away from Caroline. The crushing weight squeezed Elena's lungs so that she could scarcely breathe. After that she simply sat in a daze of misery and despair until someone nudged her and told her it was time to go backstage. She listened almost indifferently to Mayor Dawley's speech of welcome. He spoke about the â€Å"trying time† Fell's Church had faced recently, and about the community spirit that had sustained them these past months. Then awards were given out, for scholarship, for athletics, for community service. Matt came up to receive Outstanding Male Athlete of the Year, and Elena saw him look at her curiously. Then came the pageant. The elementary school children giggled and tripped and forgot their lines as they portrayed scenes from the founding of Fell's Church through the Civil War. Elena watched them without taking any of it in. Ever since last night she'd been slightly dizzy and shaky, and now she felt as if she were coming down with the flu. Her brain, usually so full of schemes and calculations, was empty. She couldn't think anymore. She almost couldn't care. The pageant ended to popping flashbulbs and tumultuous applause. When the last little Confederate soldier was off the stage, Mayor Dawley called for silence. â€Å"And now,† he said, â€Å"for the students who will perform the closing ceremonies. Please show your appreciation for the Spirit of Independence, the Spirit of Fidelity, and the Spirit of Fell's Church!† The applause was even more thunderous. Elena stood beside John Clifford, the brainy senior who'd been chosen to represent the Spirit of Independence. On the other side of John was Caroline. In a detached, nearly apathetic way Elena noticed that Caroline looked magnificent: her head tilted back, her eyes blazing, her cheeks flushed with color. John went first, adjusting his glasses and the microphone before he read from the heavy brown book on the lectern. Officially, the seniors were free to choose their own selections; in practice they almost always read from the works of M. C. Marsh, the only poet Fell's Church had ever produced. All during John's reading, Caroline was upstaging him. She smiled at the audience; she shook out her hair; she weighed the reticule hanging from her waist. Her fingers stroked the drawstring bag lovingly, and Elena found herself staring at it, hypnotized, memorizing every bead. John took a bow and resumed his place by Elena. Caroline threw her shoulders back and did a model's walk to the lectern. This time the applause was mixed with whistles. But Caroline didn't smile; she had assumed an air of tragic responsibility. With exquisite timing she waited until the cafetorium was perfectly quiet to speak. â€Å"I was planning to read a poem by M. C. Marsh today,† she said, then, into the attentive stillness, â€Å"but I'm not going to. Why read fromthis – † She held up the nineteenth century volume of poetry. † – when there is something much more†¦ relevant†¦ in a book I happened to find?† Very slightly, almost imperceptibly, Stefan shook his head. Caroline's fingers were dipping into the bag as if she just couldn't wait. â€Å"What I'm going to read is about Fell's Churchtoday , not a hundred or two hundred years ago,† she was saying, working herself up into a sort of exultant fever. â€Å"It's importantnow , because it's about somebody who's living in town with us. In fact he's right here in this room.† Tyler must have written the speech for her, Elena decided. Last month, in the gym, he'd shown quite a gift for that kind of thing. Oh, Stefan, oh, Stefan, I'm scared†¦ Her thoughts jumbled into incoherence as Caroline plunged her hand into the bag. â€Å"I think you'll understand what I mean when you hear it,† Caroline said, and with a quick motion she pulled a velvet-covered book from the reticule and held it up dramatically. â€Å"I think it will explain a lot of what's been going on in Fell's Church recently.† Breathing quickly and lightly, she looked from the spellbound audience to the book in her hand. Elena had almost lost consciousness when Caroline jerked the diary out. Bright sparkles ran along the edges of her vision. The dizziness roared up, ready to overwhelm Elena, and then she noticed something. It must be her eyes. The stage lights and flashbulbs must have dazzled them. She certainly felt ready to faint any minute; it was hardly surprising that she couldn't see properly. The book in Caroline's hands lookedgreen , not blue. I must be going crazy†¦ or this is a dream†¦ or maybe it's a trick of the lighting. But look at Caroline's face! Caroline, mouth working, was staring at the velvet book. She seemed to have forgotten the audience altogether. She turned the diary over and over in her hands, looking at all sides of it. Her movements became frantic. She thrust a hand into the reticule as if she somehow hoped to find something else in it. Then she cast a wild glance around the stage as if what she was looking for might have fallen to the ground. The audience was murmuring, getting impatient. Mayor Dawley and the high school principal were exchanging tight-lipped frowns. Having found nothing on the floor, Caroline was staring at the small book again. But now she was gazing at it as if it were a scorpion. With a sudden gesture, she wrenched it open and looked inside, as if her last hope was that only the cover had changed and the words inside might be Elena's. Then she slowly looked up from the book at the packed cafetorium. Silence had descended again, and the moment drew out, while every eye remained fixed on the girl in the pale green gown. Then, with an inarticulate sound, Caroline whirled and clattered off the stage. She exploded into comment, argument, discussion. Elena found Stefan. He looked as if jubilation was sneaking up on him. But he also looked as bewildered as Elena felt. Bonnie and Meredith were the same. As Stefan's gaze crossed hers, Elena felt a rush of gratitude and joy, but her predominant emotion was awe. It was a miracle. Beyond all hope, they had been rescued. They'd been saved. And then her eyes picked out another dark head among the crowd. Damon was leaning†¦ no, lounging†¦ against the north wall. His lips were curved into a half smile, and his eyes met Elena's boldly. Mayor Dawley was beside her, urging her forward, quieting the crowd, trying to restore order. It was no use. Elena read her selection in a dreamy voice to a babbling group of people who weren't paying attention in the slightest. She wasn't paying attention, either; she had no idea what words she was saying. Every so often she looked at Damon. There was applause, scattered and distracted, when she finished, and the mayor announced the rest of the events for that afternoon. And then it was all over, and Elena was free to go. She floated offstage without any conscious idea ofwhere she was going, but her legs carried her to the north wall. Damon's dark head moved out the side door and she followed it. The air in the courtyard seemed deliciously cool after the crowded room, and the clouds above were silvery and swirling. Damon was waiting for her. Her steps slowed but did not stop. She moved until she was only a foot or so away from him, her eyes searching his face. There was a long moment of silence and then she spoke. â€Å"Why?† â€Å"I thought you'd be more interested inhow. † He patted his jacket significantly. â€Å"I got invited in for coffee this morning after scraping up an acquaintance last week.† â€Å"But why?† He shrugged, and for just an instant something like consternation flickered across his finely drawn features. It seemed to Elena that he himself didn't know why – or didn't want to admit it. â€Å"For my own purposes,† he said. â€Å"I don't think so.† Something was building between them, something that frightened Elena with its power. â€Å"I don't think that's the reason at all.† She moved closer, so that she was almost touching him, and looked at him. â€Å"I think,† she said, â€Å"that maybe you need to be pushed.† His face was only inches away from hers, and Elena never knew what might have happened if at that moment a voice hadn't broken in on them. â€Å"Youdid manage to make it after all! I'm so glad!† It was Aunt Judith. Elena felt as if she were being whisked from one world to another. She blinked dizzily, stepping back, letting out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. â€Å"And so you got to hear Elena read,† Aunt Judith continued happily. â€Å"You did a beautiful job, Elena, but I don't know what was going on with Caroline. The girls in this town are all acting bewitched lately.† â€Å"Nerves,† suggested Damon, his face carefully solemn. Elena felt an urge to giggle and then a wave of irritation. It was all very well to be grateful to Damon for saving them, but if not for Damon there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place. Damon had committed the crimes Caroline wanted to pin on Stefan. â€Å"And whereis Stefan?† she said, voicing her next thought aloud. She could see Bonnie and Meredith in the courtyard alone. Aunt Judith's face showed her disapproval. â€Å"I haven't seen him,† she said briefly. Then she smiled fondly. â€Å"But I have an idea; why don't you come to dinner with us, Damon? Then afterwards perhaps you and Elena could – â€Å" â€Å"Stop it!† said Elena to Damon. He looked politely inquiring. â€Å"What?† said Aunt Judith. â€Å"Stop it!† Elena said to Damon again. â€Å"You know what. Just stop it right now!†