08+Shireen

Part One: DEFINITIONS


 * ~ UNITED NATIONS || # An intergovernmental body facilitating international cooperation between countries (governments), NGOs and corporations, in areas including international security and human rights, mainly for the purpose of world peace ||
 * ~ NEOLITHIC AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION || # The first agricultural revolution, in which humans progressed from nomadic hunter-gatherers into settlers and harvesters (agriculture)
 * 1) Management of local resources in a sustainable way around settlement, including water, food, fuel ||
 * ~ INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION || # Period from the 18th to 19th century beginning in the United Kingdom, in which major changes in lifestyle areas including agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation and technology affected socioeconomic and cultural conditions of the time
 * 1) Rise of the urban consumer society, with population growth and resource usage escalating, higher demands including mining minerals and burning fuel ||
 * ~ GREEN REVOLUTION || # Significant increase in agricultural productivity (in reference mainly towards India, creating worldwide yield), introduced by high-yield grain varieties, pesticide usage and effective improved management techniques
 * 1) Mechanisation of agriculture and boosting of food production relied heavily upon the building of machinery and burning of fossil fuels, technology applied to agriculture, resource use and waste production escalated ||
 * ~ ENVIRONMENTALIST || # Supporter of the environmental movement goals, political and ethical movement seeking to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to harmful human activities
 * 1) Views; preserve, restore, enhance ||
 * ~ MODERN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT || # Based on three principles; natural resources are finite, natural environment and life must be preserved for the future, and our pollution and activities endanger life on Earth
 * 1) Scientific, social, political movement addressing environmental issues, conservation and green politics, spearheaded by the environmentalists
 * 2) Influential individuals wrote books, NGOs campaigned, media reported, UNEP organised Earth Summits, businesses marketed as environmentally friendly, governments formed nature reserves and put environmental issues on agenda
 * 3) Changes in public policy, individual behaviour to foster sustainable management of resources and stewardship of environment ||
 * ~ PRESERVATIONIST || # Maintain untouched present condition areas of Earth, concern that mankind is encroaching environment at a rate that landscapes are exploited, losing what is “natural”, not human-centred approach or focus on human needs and interests
 * 1) John Muir (one of the first preservationists) fought for the preservation of Yosemite National Park for its own sake, and not as a resource for humans to use or exploit. ||
 * ~ CONSERVATIONIST || # Sustainable use and management of resources, maintenance of sufficient quantities, development necessary for a better future, managing resources including fossil fuels and renewable resources like trees, human centred approach, based on human needs and interests
 * 1) Can conflict the views of preservationists' ||
 * ~ STEWARDSHIP || # Responsibility, care for an environment, and improving with time, ethic embodying cooperative planning and management of environmental resources with organisations, communities, et al, to prevent loss and facilitate long-term sustainability ||

Part Two: NEWSPAPER HEADLINES


 * 2 Jan 2011, Sunday || ==[|Record floods swamp Australia's northeast] == ||
 * 3 Jan 2011, Monday || [|Australian floods submerge towns] ||
 * ^  || ==[|Texas files again to block EPA carbon rules in state] == ||
 * ^  || ==[|Factbox: EPA begins to regulate greenhouse gases] == ||
 * ^  || == U.N. Dedicates 2011 to Forests' Health  == ||
 * ^  || ==The discovery of the ruins of ice: The birth of glacier research == ||
 * 4 Jan 2011, Tuesday || ==[|Icy rains force 58,000 to evacuate in southern China] == ||
 * ^  || Advancing Alaskan Glacier Holds Clues to Global Sea Level Rise ||
 * ^  || ==[|Australia floods force evacuations, recede in coal mine area] == ||
 * ^  || ==[|Australia floods pump coal prices higher still] == ||
 * ^  || ==[|Analysis: Steel mills face higher costs after Australia floods] == ||
 * ^  || ==[|EU will surpass 20 percent green energy goal: report] == ||
 * 5 Jan 2011, Wednesday || ==<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">[|More rain on way as Australia sees third-wettest year on record] == ||
 * ^  || ==<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">[|South Korea pumps up support for renewable energy] == ||
 * ^  || Dust In The Wind Behaves Like Broken Glass ||
 * ^  || ==<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">[|U.N. panel says has cut carbon offset backlog] == ||
 * ^  || ==<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">[|Indonesia divided over forest moratorium] == ||
 * ^  || ==<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">[|Special Report: With solar power, it's Green vs. Green] == ||
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 14.25pt;">6 Jan 2011, Thursday || ==<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">[|Australia flood rebuilding may take years: recovery chief] == ||
 * ^  || ==<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">[|Draining flooded Australia mines could take weeks] == ||
 * ^  || ==<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">[|Asia steel makers fret over long-term flood effects] == ||
 * ^  || ==<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">[|Global carbon market value edged up in 2010] == ||
 * ^  || [|Maryland's two million dead fish caused by cold water] ||
 * ^  || ==<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">[|China meets 5-year target to cut energy intensity: report] == ||
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 14.25pt;">7 Jan 2011, Friday || ==<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">[|China to control rare earth extraction, pollution] == ||
 * ^  || ==<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-decoration: none;">[|Analysis: Asia's climate steps could delay global CO2 market] == ||
 * ^  || == <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">Earth's Magnetic Field Shifts, Forcing Airport Runway Change  == ||
 * ^  || ==<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Climate Shifts Are Changing New Weather 'Normals' == ||
 * <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 14.25pt;">10 Jan 2011, Monday || ==<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">California’s Heavy Rains Counter La Niña’s Ways == ||
 * ^  || ==<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Self-Cleaning Atmosphere on the Mend == ||
 * ^  || CLIMATE CHANGE TO CONTINUE TO YEAR 3000 ||
 * ^  || ==<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Great Barrier Reef 'should recover' from flood damage == ||

<span style="font-family: 'Kozuka Gothic Pro R',sans-serif; font-size: 37px; line-height: normal;">Part Three: QUEENSLAND GREENS

The Queensland Greens are part of the Australian Greens pressure group who actively participates on a wide scale in many environmental causes, and one of the most prominent, the idea of climate change. Climate change is a controversial issue that affects all on Earth, and the Queensland Greens recognise it as the greatest challenge facing Queensland and the world. They are dedicated to attaining solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, thus fostering a sustainable economy. This advocacy group supports the argument that global warming is caused mainly by human activities including fossil fuel burning, bringing about climate change through greenhouse gas emissions affecting our health, food supply and security.

Opposing arguments, though not necessarily directly towards this organisation, would include the belief that climate change is a natural occurring process that cycles every certain period of years, arguing global warming as a natural phenomenon without human contribution. Others argue climate change as a minor issue exaggerated by both media and scientists. Minorities of people find the computer climate models unreliable, when even the next day’s weather is debatable, while others see climate change as an effect of the sun’s upsurge in solar activity and not a pressing issue.

Though in a personal opinion, it is believed that climate change is evident, with sufficient evidence presentable from many reliable sources including data from NASA. However, even if the idea of climate change caused by human activities is not supported by some, it is still undeniable that our human activities impact the Earth negatively in ways including the excessive release of harmful components into our environment. Thus, even if climate change was not a threatening issue, our actions as co-habitants on this planet should still be reduced to safer and more environmentally conscious forms to foster the best environment and fulfil our roles as taking responsibility for our planet. It is also important to remember that the positive effects in which we apply to our surrounding will also yield more benefits through the interconnected system of the Earth.