Why are Geographers interested in Marston Vale?

Marston Vale lies upon the Oxford clay, between Bedford and Milton Keynes in UK. The soils in this area are very fertile. Because the majority of English houses are built in bricks, and the location of Marston Vale is also near London, many brickwork industries were set in this area over last hundred years. Most of the clay extracted here is sent to London to build houses. Today, the extraction of clay and the brick making is still busy, and the Stewartby brickwork industry is one of the biggest industries formed in Marston Vale. Millions of tonnes of clay are extracted from the clay pit everyday, then the clays are transported by conveyor belt to the brickwork, where the clays are drained, moulded and then fired in kilns to make the red bricks that are used to build houses. After all the clay that is valuable to mine has been extracted, huge holes are left on the ground. The topsoil has been removed from the ground during clay extraction, and so no plants will be able to grow in such areas. The area turn to worse if there is rain, the whole area will turn muddy and dirty. A chain of pits stretches along the A421 from Bedford to the M1 near Milton Keynes. This was one of the worst areas of rural derelict land and damaged Ecosystem. The noise, pollution, traffic and bad view that has been produced by the extraction pit and brick making factory affect local residents badly. What can be done to improve the situation? In 1989, 12 National Community Forest project were launched. These Forest will cover 470,000 hectares , which take over 3.6% of all land area in England and Wales, nearly equal to half the total land area used by the National Parks. The Community Forests is a national programme of improving the environment, which affects half of the people in England. Improving the countryside around towns and cities by planting woodland is the main aim of the Community Forests, especially in the areas of the derelict land. This will improve the environment and benefits the local people. In theory, the land must be made to contribute the local communities, e.g.: Creating jobs, Creating farmlands, Creating an attractive environment, Creating a variety of different landscapes, Creating sports facilities, Creating settlements. The Marston Vale Community Forests. Marston Community forests is one of12 National community forests projects which introduced in 1989. The Marston vale community forests cover a total area which more than 150kmà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. About 25,000 people are living inside the forest area, about 145,000 people are living on the edge of the area, most of them are in Bedford and Kempston, about 500,000 people are living within 20 minutes' drive. (These figures are from GeoActive) In order to succeed in this project, local people should put efforts in planning, planting and looking after the woods that are planted. The past experience has shown us that most environmental management, which involved local people, are more likely to succeed. Local people are encouraged by the Forest team to grow their own seeds in Marston Vale Community Forest project. The results of that are small woodland have begun to grow in their villages. Forest team also need to encourage landowners to allow their land to be planted with trees and organise seed collection and planting days. (This information is from GeoActive.) From this act, we know that the Marston Vale Community Forest project does not just involve the restoration of the clay extraction pits, but also allows local people to get in. It encourages people to plant trees, to protect the woodland created, to take a part in the development of the forest. The most important thing is people will love what they have planted, in order to love the whole nature. The restoration of the clay extraction pits in Maston Vale community Forest. There are three possible ways to restore the clay extraction pit: 1) The main restoration for the clay extraction pits is by changing them to an artificial forest. The way of doing so is to spread 3-4 metres of topsoil over the top. Then trees may be able to be planted in. The local people are involved in the development of the Marston Vale community forest. The plan is for local people to plant 100 ha of woodland each year and 5 Km of hedgerow each year. Farmers can apply for grants from the Forestry Commission for planting woodland. 2) The huge hole left on the ground can also be turned into an artificial lake by pouring water into the pit, or just leave them until the rain season comes. Separate clay extraction holes may be joined together by digging out the soil between them. The Stewarby Lake is an example of this restoration. 3) There's also another restoration, which is making it into a landfill site. I personally think this is a fantastic restoration, because this is also a waste solution. Million tonnes of waste can be buried in the clay extraction every day. This solved the crisis of waste in London. After the waste is filled in, plants can also be planted on top. After a long time, a chemical reaction will be happen when the waste decays and the methane gas is produced in this process. We went to an L-field landfill site, which is run by Shanks company; more information on landfill site will be in the back. *Questions On my coursework. 1) How brickwork, clay extraction and landfill sites effects local people ‘s life 2) What's local people's knowledge on Marston Vale Community Forest Project? 3) How successful is the Marston Vale community forest project? Both in attempting to solve the problems of pits left on ground after the clay extraction, and to create the better environment for local people. These are three questions that I set through my coursework. The answers for these questions will be in the end of my coursework in details. For first data collecting, the school organised a day fieldtrip to the Marston Vale area. On the day of the fieldtrip, we visited the following places: *Community forest centre, the artificial forest that has been restored from pits. *Stewartby lake, an artificial lake in the forest, also a different landscape created from clay extraction pit. *The Quest pit, one of the present clay extractions pits run by Hanson Company. *Wootton village for the questionnaire, to ask a few questions on how the brickwork and the landfill site affects local residents. *Randalls Farm, to do some water tests on the Elstow Brook River located there. *Landfill, to see what is the landfill site is like. Issues in the Maston Vale to look at. A Geographer will particularly look at the environmental issues in this area, such as how clay extraction damages the area's Ecosystem, how this affects local people, and what can be done to solve the problems, and finally are these attempts successful or not, and what can be improved? To answer all these doubts, I will first introduce the area to the readers, give them the exact location of the Marston Vale area and what transportation is available to get there. To let readers understand more about my coursework, especially on the day we went to the Marston Vale. I'll explain clearly what we've done on the fieldtrip; where we did them; why we did them; and what are the data can tell us.

PlayStation 3 Case †Planning and Strategy Essay

There is very little Sony can do to turn around the sales of the PlayStation 3. It has been nearly six years since its launch, the full lifetime of most gaming consoles. While the Nintendo Wii and Micrsoft Xbox360 have drastically lowered their prices to move existing stock, Sony has only dropped their price in the last 2 years. Now priced at $300, the PS3 is still over $100 more expensive than the competitors. At this point in time, it would be wise for Sony to discontinue the manufacture the sale of the PS3 and focus on its next game console. Sony’s strategic approach to new product development has always been to be a market leader in new, innovative technology. This approach has brought them huge success, but also some notable failures. For instance, the Sony Betamax, which was introduced in 1975, was supposed to be a direct competitor to VHS. It provided higher quality images, but did not offer the longer playtime of VHS. Sony stubbornly refused to change its format for eight years, but eventually switched over to the far more popular and cheaper VHS. Despite this notable failure, the Sony Walkman was one of its greatest successes, with 100 million units sold within its first decade. The key success factors in the video gaming industry today are content, price, availability, and compatibility. These have remained factors since consoles first began emerging in the late 70s. For gamers around the world â€Å"Content is King. † It doesn’t matter how crisp and beautiful the quality of the images if there are only fifteen games, which, coincidently was the number of games with which the PS3 launched. Gamers who rushed out to buy the PS3 quickly realized that the limited number of games made the PS3 little more than an expensive TV attachment. Sony tried to counter this by touting the Blu-Ray capability of the PS3, but gamers weren’t interested in watching movies on their PS3, they wanted to play new games. Another factor in the success in video gaming is the price. At $600, the PS3 was, and still is, the most expensive gaming console ever sold. While the original PlayStation and the PS2 were priced at $299, the PS3 nearly priced itself out of the market. With the Xbox and Wii selling for around $300, the ludicrously expensive PS3 couldn’t possibly hope to live up to the expectations its price was promising. When gamers realized that the PS3 was not better than the Xbox in gaming quality, they quickly rushed back to stores to return them. By 2007, more PS3s were being returned than were being sold. The last two factors in video gaming success, availability and compatibility, are also weaknesses in the launch of the PS3. Initially Sony planning on manufacturing one million consoles. On November 7, 2006, North American retailers had fewer than 200,000 units. By the time retailers had enough units to meet demand; gamers had begun to return their units at an alarming rate. With compatibility, the PS3 initially promised backwards compatibility with the PS2 games. This seemed to vary per unit, with some units, like the upgraded unit being able to play Sony Platform games like Final Fantasy, but the base model not being able to play any PS2 games. The launch of the PS3 was one of the largest in video gaming history. Sony spent over $150 million in advertising that aimed to convince gamers to hold off purchasing an Xbox 360 and wait for the PS3. IN 2006, they developed the slogan â€Å"Play Beyond† for the Electronic Entertaiment Expo . Unfortunately, people soon because spoofing the slogan and replacing it with â€Å"Pay Beyond,† protesting the high cost of the console. The competitive advantage of the PS3 was supposed to be in its superior gaming quality. IT was supposed to be the most advanced, the most practical and the most visually stunning video game platform in history. The PS3 promised free online play, Blu-Ray capability, online surfing ability, and using the PS3 for pictures, videos and music storage. The weaknesses in the PlayStation3 were numerous. There were only 15 games available initially, of which, only about five were interesting to avid gamers. The video quality was equal to the much cheaper Xbox360. The free online play had limited and fairly useless content. The online surfing was cumbersome and useless for users who already owned computers. This was also true of the music, video, and picture storage, which customers could already use on their computers or even their iPods. With their limited initial availability, and spotty backwards compatibility, the PS3 was too much money for too little content. When compared with the marketing program of the Nintendo Wii, the PS3 seemed to target the avid gamer. Traditionally men aged 15-35; these men were interested in serious gaming. They want high quality content and high quality visuals. The Nintendo Wii chose another market, the family. While the PS3 touted its amazing video quality, the Wii emphasized fun and togetherness. They offered fun games for multiple players of all ages who could enjoy the physical activity of using the Wii controller. They put of silly, colorful, low-resolution games at a reasonable price or bundled in with new Wii consoles. Nintendo also had the advantage of two major game legacies, Mario and Zelda, which had been favorites of serious gamers and children alike. While Wii was selling fun, the PS3 was selling serious. Families were much more willing to buy a Wii that the whole family could use for less than $400, than spend over $600 on a gaming system that did not offer a range of games for all ages.

Pilgrimage of Grace

DBQ Pilgrimage of Grace The Pilgrimage of Grace was to protest Henry VIII’s actions such as his Act of Supremacy. This lead to the implementation of new polices such as taxes, the expansion of the royal power in the North of England, the dissolution of monasteries, and the confiscation of Catholic Church lands. These actions took their toll on the country, and led to the Pilgrimage of Grace from October 1536 to February 1537. The Pilgrimage consisted of marches and protests and armed demonstrations. The re-creation of a banner of a marcher depicts God suffering, a plow and a cattle horn.This symbolizes the motivation for the Pilgrimage of Grace. It can represent the peasants who are suffering just as Jesus did (3). Peasants, clergy and gentlemen were involved in the Pilgrimage of Grace. Each of these groups of people had a distinct part in the pilgrimage. Those who opposed the movement killed many of the rebels, as they feared the rebellion of authority. The participants of th e Pilgrimage of Grace were concerned for their country and safety from enemies, and therefore, their goals were more representation, and a restoration of the Catholic organizations such as monasteries.The peasants and clergy were the largest group in the Pilgrimage of Grace, and the most affected by Henry VIII’s actions. Due to the closure of the monasteries by the government, the peasants made a declaration that they must now rely on charity, faith, poverty, and that they must be ready to help one another should thieves or Scots try to rob them (2). This reason for protest contradicts other reasons such as the â€Å"Oath of Honorable Men†, which states that one should not enter the Pilgrimage for wordy gain, but for his love of God (1).The Catholic clergy, who now could not practice their faith in England, had their land taken away and were heavily convicted by the government, as shown in the lyrics to a ballad a monk wrote, â€Å"†¦And held in bonds. Robbed, sp oiled and shorn†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (4). The clergy and peasants were concerned for their future in northern England, and protested to get back the land and religion, which the government had taken from them. Gentlemen also were involved in the Pilgrimage of Grace.Some who were members of Parliament did not like Thomas Cromwell’s influence on the King, which took power from the Parliament. In an anonymous pamphlet, Cromwell is called a traitor and that he should be removed from office to restore authority to Parliament (6). Robert Aske gives the goals of all those who participated in the Pilgrimage in his petition to the member of the King’s Council, which includes having the head of the church be the pope in Rome, to have Thomas Crowell punished, and to have the monasteries and church lands restored (5).Throughout the Pilgrimage, there were riots in which both commoners and gentlemen were involved (8). Many of them were arrested and convicted. The closing of the monastery w as a detriment to the country in the eyes of the gentlemen, as can be seen in Robert Aske’s testimony, in which he asks the king to return to the ways of the Catholic Church (11). Although many common people, clergy, and gentlemen supported the Pilgrimage, it was opposed by the creators of these laws, King Henry, and high ranking officials.In Richard Madison’s â€Å"A Remedy for Sedition†, Madison argues that the inferior must be content that the wiser rule them, which is necessary in a commonwealth. If this order isn’t in place, then no one would obey and there would be chaos (7). Nicholas Leche criticizes the gentlemen who did not stand up against the opposition in his testimony (8). Henry VII himself gives a speech pardoning the commoners would have rebelled against him on the grounds of ignorance, so long as they immediately stop protesting and submit to his monarchy (9).In the trials against those involved in the Pilgrimage of Grace, 67 percent of th e gentlemen tried were convicted, and 62 percent of the peasants that were tried were convicted. In comparison, 80 percent of the clergy tried were convicted. This reflects heavy opposition against the clergy, who in the government’s eyes were the cause of the Pilgrimage. In spite of the efforts of the participants of the pilgrimage of Grace, none of their goals were met. England was not reconciled to the Catholic Church, nor did the monasteries reopen. Cromwell’s moves toward Protestantism were final.

Cold War Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cold War - Research Paper Example Beginning in 1947 and lasting until 1991, the Cold War can be defined as the sustained state of military, as well as political, tensions that existed between western hemisphere countries and their NATO allies and the Eastern hemisphere that was dominated by countries in the Warsaw Pact dominated by the USSR1. Following the success of the wartime alliance formed temporarily against Hitler’s Nazi Germany, the only two superpowers in global affairs were the United States and the Soviet Union. However, these two countries had profound differences in their political and economic ideologies, and this led to the beginning of the Cold War. The Second World War had a profound effect on global politics, with the early efforts of leaders in the US and the USSR attempting to shape the international system that was emerging after the war. In my opinion, the beginning of the Cold War can be traced from encouragement made by the Europeans, especially the British. Their encouragement of the U nited States to make their policy tougher towards the USSR was vital in the beginning. From my reading of the article, The Origins of Post War America, I believe that former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill reinforced this policy during his iron curtain speech2. As Americans, we decided to pursue this policy because it would advance our interests, which resulted in the French, British, and other Western European countries joining us in the sphere of influence. Free elections in these European countries worked towards ratifying the support of Western Europe governments for us. However, the CIA, through its support for anti-communist intellectual organizations and labor unions, did manipulate the outcomes somewhat. From being egged on by the Europeans, we as a country took over the resistance to the communist Eastern Bloc to head it and influence the European powers3. For those European countries that immediately were not up to standard such as Turkey, Greece, and Spain, we us ed economic leverage. As a country, we projected an image of minimal constraint, economic robustness, and civility that highly contrasted with that of imperial USSR, and so began the Cold War in earnest. Following the devastation that was meted on Europe and large parts of the Soviet Union by the war, our country’s promise of democracy reverberated across the world. The United States emerged from the war as the only major country that had escaped massive damage. While we faced a period of reconversion, our European allies faced a period of reconstruction4. The war had completely overturned the old order and two countries arose from the rubble, the US and USSR. Together, we were eager to seize the opportunity to extend our influence, and we clashed over policies of occupation in Korea, Austria, Japan, Italy, and Germany. This led to a new bi-polar structure, which ensured that the decisions we made determined the manner in which other countries made their decisions. However, t he bi-polar nature of the world was more of an asymmetry than a balance, as we held predominant power that enabled us to build up even more5. Our economy was also much stronger than all the rest and our power as a country arose because all other nations were weakened. The atomic bomb, which effectively ended the Second World War, ensured that the nuclear race continued to destabilize the world during the Cold War as we and the USSR looked for, ways to deal with it as atomic development programs spurred on. The bomb throughout the Cold War period was uncontrolled, copied, and envied, making it a major obstacle to getting peace in the postwar international system6. The issue of how to control to use, spread and development of the atom bomb dogged the entire period. Our government was worried that our monopoly would end with an increase of nuclear proliferation. These fears were further intensified with the successful trial of an atom bomb by the USSR in 1949. The weapon turned to be a way for various countries to pry concessions or deter

Project Reflection - Walmart's CSR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Project Reflection - Walmart's CSR - Essay Example Social corporate activities may be mush or the destinations may be several. In this case the firm has to make weighed decisions on what to accomplish, the rank of accomplishment based on priorities, when to perform and the methods that will be involved to achieve different objectives and activities. Walmart Company is one of the famous firms whose activities in relation to social responsibility are sustained and recognized. In order to improve the corporate social responsibilities Walmart Company use different methods. These activities vary from monetary donations and money given to the poor and the unfortunate to community activities by non-governmental organizations to improve the lives of those within (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2011). The firm acts with an aim to reduce qualms that are associated with the bad interactions with the external communities. Operations are performed in such a way that the communities in the outside are comfortable and enjoy the services. The company is involved in the protection of the environment and engages in many activities relating to environmental sustainability such as planting trees, teaching individuals living nearby on good control of water, ways to reduce soil erosion and proper farming activities. The company is involved in many activities that promote the living standards of people and that encourage the works of various classes of people like the students. Not only do the neighboring communities benefit from its availability, but also, the far and reachable places benefit based on the donations that the company sends. I continuously argue that the firm is a good corporate citizen. The ability to be involved in most activities relation to the external environment by an organization varies among firms and is influenced by many factors. Not all firms are able to work with the societies in which they live or even donate funds towards the

Questionaire Desgin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Questionaire Desgin - Essay Example There is a complete process in questionnaire design, over which the questions to be asked are decided, the steps are: specifying the information needed, specifying the type of interviewing methods, determining the content of individual questions, designing the questions to overcome the respondents inability and unwillingness to answer, deciding upon the question structure, determining the question wordings, arranging the questions in a proper order, identifying the form and layout, reproducing the questionnaire and last as the pretesting of the questionnaire. Regarding the question's design, there are few important points need to be focused upon, as a poor design can provide a poor data. There are many types of questions such as unstructured questions that are need to be answered in own words of the respondents, they should be as minimum as possible as the respondent's time is also important and people also hesitate to provide personal information. There are structured questions as well such as multiple choice, which should be used the most, dichotomous questions, which are having only two answers "yes" and "no" or even "don't know", they also should be used frequently to save respondents time and making it easier for the respondent to answer.

Lawful Discrimination Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Lawful Discrimination - Essay Example Having a mind of one's own is a selfish act which could result to discrimination, even lawlessness and chaos. As what a national government implements laws to a country, a state should all the more impose and adhere to the laws put forward by the national government since the general welfare has to be taken care of. A state should not create its own set of rules that strays away from the established law. Neither is she allowed to break it in favor of personal gains. Thoreau noticed this as he mentioned the governor in his speech, of whom the state recognizes as her center of authority. The governor is responsible that the laws of the land are being enforced but according to Thoreau, he is the exact opposite since he is permissive enough to let the laws of the state "go unexecuted." A law clearly doesn't exclude anyone. It applies to all, no matter what race a human being belongs to or whatever the skin color he has as long as he is a recognized citizen of the land. With respect to the established law, judicial decisions, too, should be based from a recognized set of rules and should be strictly observed. The freedom and liberty of a person, whether a human being that is being tried is either free or a slave, depends upon the judge's decisions. In Thoreau's speech, an act known as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 states that "any official who doesn't arrest a suspected runaway slave could be fined $1,000." This brings pressure to any officer to act or else risk being fined. After capturing, the slave is tried and then returned to his or her rightful owner. How many times have officials captured a suspected runaway slave or remained indifferent to others but ended up capturing or letting go of the wrong person Anthony Burns experienced being tried in the courts of human beings. This act also has its tendencies to make a slave out of a free soul. An example of this is Thomas Sims. Even then, there are already resentments against this law as what was expressed by Thoreau. And then, there are those who are against racial discrimination. Plessy is recognized as a legitimate citizen of the United States and is entitled to equal rights and privileges being enjoyed by a white American. Yet, despite paying for first class train ticket, he was not only forcibly ejected out of an East Louisiana Railway train but also ended up being imprisoned in a parish jail in New Orleans. Just because sitting in an area reserved for whites even though he has every right to do so, he suffered this predicament. The reason that he was different from the whites made his situation even worse. Clearly, racial discrimination even after the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified. A law can neither be of use to the general public if an institution doesn't at all observe it. By modern standards, the East Louisiana Railway did not recognize the ratified Fourteenth amendment because of the Plessy case. The constitution forbids "making or enforcing any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, or shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or deny to any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." However, equality isn't observed since a railway companies such as the East Louisiana had been instructed either to provide additional coaches or