Essay --

Fate plays an important role in Romeo and Juliet. Who thought this four letter word would play such a big part in this play? In this play we see that the characters believe fate is what rules their lives, and that it is their reality. Their lives lie in the hands of fate. It always brings trouble, especially between the Capulet and Montague families. The fates of both Romeo and Juliet were predetermined in the prologue when it said â€Å"a pair of star crossed lovers take their life.†(Prologue) As their love for each other progresses, so does the ominous signs of death that show up. Characters start having premonitions and dreams of their unhappy ending. Even after the omens and signs, the lovers loved each other so deeply that they did not care about them as they just easily dismissed them. We as the audience know that Romeo and Juliet will die in the end, and their fate is shown and unraveled throughout the plot. Because as the audience we know the fate of Romeo and Juliet from the beginning, we are always hoping that they will take different paths of life. However, both their fates a...

Hesters Ambivalence in The Scarlet Letter :: Scarlet Letter essays

Hester's Ambivalence in The Scarlet Letter Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne's book The Scarlet Letter, Hester's attitudes toward her adultery are ambivalent. This ambivalence is shown by breaking the book into three different parts. In each part her attitudes change significantly. Hester starts by seeing her act as a sin that she is sorry for committing. She changes and no longer feels sorry for the sin. Finally, Hester sees the act as not sinful, but she regrets committing it. In the first part, covering the first six chapters, Hester thinks of her action as a sin. In chapter four she tells her husband that it was her fault for committing adultery when she says, "I have greatly wronged thee" (79). In chapter six Hawthorne writes that Hester knows "her deed had been evil" (92). This evil deed, in Hester's eyes, causes Pearl to act sinful, so Hester feels overwhelming guilt. At this point Hester feels that her actions were evil and were her fault, therefore she is sorry for committing adultery. In chapter five Hester's attitudes are the same but Hawthorne shows that these attitudes are not stable and are susceptible to change. Hester moves to a cottage on the outskirts of Boston, but because her sentence does not restrict her to the limits of the Puritan settlement, Hester could return to Europe to start over. She decides to stay because she makes herself believe that the town "has been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment" (84). This belief gives the impression that she views her action as a sin and feels a need to further punish herself. But this belief only covers her actual feelings. To the contrary, as Hawthorne describes, her real reason for staying is that "There dwelt, there trod the feet of one with whom she deemed herself connected in a union, that, unrecognized on earth, would bring them together before the bar of final judgment, and make their that marriage altar, for a joint futurity of endless retribution" (84). This comment means that the real reason for her staying is that Reverend Dimmsdale, the father of her child, lives there and she hopes to someday marry him.

Bush :: essays research papers

American Government Bush’s Address Before this speech I didn’t know what to think about Bush as a president. After reading his speech my view on him has changed greatly. Not only did talk about the American people but also other countries. Through out his speech he pleased both the anti-war Americans but the pro-war American’s also. Bush has a lot of respect, or bravery for saying that "the United States respects the people of Afghanistan--after all, we are currently its largest source of humanitarian aid--but we condemn the Taliban regime". It shows that he has his thoughts all collected and he is not rushing and attacking and putting blame on the people of Afganistan. He still has concerned for them, that they are just repressing their own people He tried to please every American by being saying there will be a war but not like other wars. By saying â€Å"Our response involves far more than instance retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have even seen.† He went on to say that it’s not a war against Afganistan but a war on terrorists'. I liked how bush puts his foot down and threatens the Taliban. Demanding them to close permanently every terrorist training camp and hand over every terrorist and everyone who participated to the proper authority. Saying that his demands are not open to negotiation or discussion so they must turn in the terrorists or "or they will share in their fate. He is threatening them but also has enough bravery to do it considering what they have already done In the last part of his speech he goes on how "we will come together† to strengthen American and so on then how he hopes that in the months ahead life returns to almost normal but how "our resolve must not pass". We will always remember that day and to whom it happened. I also liked how Bush showed the police shield of a man named George Howard, who died at the W. trade center trying to save others and how "This is my reminder of lives that ended, and a task that does not end. Then he ends it with how he will not yield, will not rest for the freedom and security for the

What is the purpose and role of a résumé?

I think the main purpose of a resume is to provide a company with an overview of your professional achievements and background. Your resume acts as a marketing document, whether on paper or online, and its purpose is to introduce you to potential employers, promote what it is you have to offer and entice them into wanting to know more. According to Lauri Harwood, â€Å"a resume is a brief document, typically one or two pages, that details your qualifications for a particular job or job target.†Describe each main section of a rà ©sumà © from the textbook and what should be included in each of these sections: 1) Contact Information 2) Objective 3) Profile 4) Qualifications 5) Work Experience 6) Related Experience 7) Education Contact Information – The header of your rà ©sumà © should include your name, address, phone number, and email address, if you regularly use it. When submitting a paper version of your rà ©sumà ©, it is visually appealing to use a large font fo r your name. Include both a local and permanent address and a phone number so that an employer can easily reach you.This is especially important for graduating students. â€Å"The objective is a concise statement of your immediate employment goal (not your long-term career goal). It is the first section of the resume, immediately below the contact information on the first page. † A job objective statement shows employers the direction you want to go, your work preferences, and serves as a focal point for employers to review and analyze your rà ©sumà ©. It allows employers to immediately identify the kind of position you want.If you are looking for jobs in a number of different fields, you need to have a different job objective for each position. The profile section is a brief statement that describes you by stating your most relevant experience and qualifications. â€Å"Use a profile instead of an objective on your master resume, if you can describe your qualifications wit h a job title (based on your overall experience, not just your current job), use the title as the heading for this section. † The qualifications section is a bulleted list of skills that highlights why you are the ideal candidate for the job.This is the place to put important or interesting information that does not fit anywhere else. With the advance of technology, it is increasingly important to include a section on computer skills. This should include any of your knowledge of computer programs, hardware, software, database knowledge, or Internet functions. If you have any other notable skills, such as foreign languages, musical talents, or writing skills include these here. In the work experience section of a resume, list the jobs you have held, starting with the most recent one.Start each one with the most important information; your job title and dates of employment. On the next line, list the name of the organization and the city and state, starting on the third line wri te a brief oriented description of your responsibilities. You would use the related experience section to highlight other experiences that relates to your job objective. Include activities such as memberships, awards, and leadership positions earned in professional or trade association such as honorary groups, social, service, and school organizations.In the education section you list your education in reverse chronological order (most recent first). List the technical schools, colleges and universities you have attended, the years of attendance, and the degrees or certificates you earned. In this section, include any information about your degrees, including where and when you graduated; dates; major, minor, or concentration; certification; and academic awards and honors. Make sure you use the official names for schools, degrees and majors/minors. I think you should include your GPA if it is an asset.

Symbolism of the Island

The Island Major Joe Ridge View High School English 1 Mrs. Walker December 17, 2012 There are many different symbols in the book Lord of the Flies. Some of the symbols represent peace and some represent war. Some of the characters themselves represent different symbols. The item of symbolism that stood out the most was the island itself. The island itself is an excellent item of symbolism because it uses the boys themselves to convey what it stands for thus almost making itself seem alive. The island represents peace, atavism, the struggle to hang on to civilization, life, and the struggle to hang on to humanity.The island itself stands for peace. It shows this through Simon. The special place in the jungle where Simon went shows the peaceful part of the island. There is not much of it but it is there hidden by all of the confusion other factors at work. â€Å"He came to a last place where more sunshine fell. Since they had not so far to go for light the creepers had woven a great m at that hung at the side of an open space in the jungle; for here a patch of rock came close to the surface and would not allow more than little plants and ferns to grow. The whole space was walled with dark aromatic bushes, and was a bowl of heat and light.A great Tree, fallen across one corner, leaned against the trees that still stood and rapid climber flaunted red and yellow sprays right to the top† (Golding 56). Simon found that place peaceful and beautiful. He goes there in the middle of the night just to escape the atavistic character of the island itself which is portrayed through the forest and Jack. The island also shows atavism through the forest and through Jack. Throughout the story the boys continued referring back to creepers â€Å"I can’t hardly move with all these creeper things† (Golding 7).Creepers are like vines that climb up tree trunks and grow across open patches of ground. They cover up the trees and ground and make it hard for the tree or the ground to get sunlight or water. The vines take the water from the trees so that they can survive in the conditions of the island. Jack and his hunters do similarly the same thing with the pigs. The boys engulf the pig with their presence and beat it to death making it nearly impossible for them to escape the rancorous attacks and also making it nearly impossible for the pigs to breed and fill the island with wildlife and swine.The island also portrays life. For this it uses the open space that Simon found and the fire. When Simon found his special part of the island, he noticed that the creepers did not grow there allowing the fruit trees and the flowers to grow there abundantly. The fire also symbolizes the life of not only the island but the life of the boys’ morale and hope of going home again. â€Å"The fire was dead. They saw the straightaway; saw what they had really known down on the beach when the smoke of home had beckoned. The fire was out, smokeless and dead ; the watchers were gone.A pile of unused fuel lay ready,† (Golding 67-68). The boys saw a ship passing by in the distance when they found out that the fire was dead. At that moment Ralph called an assembly. Jack and his hunters came from the forest with a pig. Ralph told Jack about the fire and the ship but the only thing the Jack was concentrated on was how he and his hunters managed to capture the pig. The Island also represents the struggle to hang on to civilization. The Island shows this through the scar that the plane left when it crashed.The entire island is in order with creepers and trees making an attempt to grow everywhere. The beach is sandy and the lagoon is not too far from the beach everything on the island was neat and in order. The plane crashed it left a scar that left a path of burned creepers fallen trees and overturned dirt and debris. The rocks on the island also had a role in breaking the rope of civilization. When Piggy’s glasses broke they fell on a rock after Jack smacked them off of Piggy’s face. â€Å"Ralph made a step forward and Jack smacked Piggy’s head. Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks.Piggy cried out in terror: ‘My specs! ’†¦ ‘One side’s broken† (Golding 71). At that moment in the book the normal world’s idea of civilization went out of the window and Jack’s idea took over. Ralph and piggy both wanted to keep the island as civilized as possible. Piggy gave ralph the idea to blow the conch and try to call all the boys to one central location. While resting on the mountain he realized the conditions of himself and the other boys on the island: With the memory of his sometime clean self as a standard, Ralph looked them over.They were dirty, not with the spectacular dirt of boys who have fallen into mud or been brought down hard on a rainy day. Not one of them was an obvious subject for a shower, and yet—hair much too long , tangled here and there, knotted round a dead leaf or a twig; faces cleaned fairly well by the process of eating and sweating but marked in the less accessible angles with a kind of shadow; clothes, worn away, stiff like his own with sweat, put on, not for decorum or comfort but out of custom; the skin of the body, scurfy with brine—He discovered with a little fall of heart that these were to conditions he took as normal now and that he did not mind, (Golding 110). This realization from Ralph shows that he misses the rest of the world and that being shut off from the rest of the world gave him and even stronger need to try to restore civilization on the island. The island also symbolizes the struggle to hang on to the humanity of the island. Before the boys came to island the pigs had no real enemy that was known. The boys were the same way.When the boys were luckily landed on the island the pig’s predator became Jack and his hunters. It was easy for Jack to find his first pig but not as easy for him to kill it. The second time he carried out his task. As the story continues Jack has to go through different procedures and tricks in order to find a pig. He painted his face, he crawled around on the ground following a pig slide and pig droppings. He ends up killing pigs almost every day for the group. The pigs adapt to Jack’s ways and try to avoid him.When Jack killed the mother sow, the amount of humanity left on the island was in question. â€Å"Rodger found a lodgment for his point and began to push till he was leaning with his whole weight. The spear moved forward inch by inch†¦ ‘Right up her ass! ’† (Golding 135). The island was the most important symbol in the book. Without the island and the natural features of it then one may not think that the island could stand for anything other than an uninhabited graveyard for an assortment of young boys.In order to really see the significance of the island one needs to look closely at the events that happen and where they happen in the book. The island talked to the reader through the characters of the story. Each character represented a different trait of the island. Jack was the fear of the island, Piggy was the gentle side, Ralph was the firm part of the island, and Simon was the peace on the island. There are many other situations like this in many other stories, one just has to pay attention and open their eyes. References Golding, W. (1954). Lord of the Flies. Salisbury, England: Faber and Faber.

Nutrition Assessment

Body mass index (IBM) is an index of a person's weight in relation to height used to estimate relative risk of health problems related to weight, a healthy body mass index is 18. 5 to 24. 9. My calculated IBM is 22. 5 which puts myself in the healthy weight range. The Hammy method calculates a person's ideal weight for their height. According to the Hammy method ideal weight for my height of 65 inches is 125 to 137 pounds (Duke, 2014). I weigh 135 pounds which barely places my weight in the ideal range.After recording my daily intake of food, I compared my consumption to the DOD pyramid which shows the recommended servings of each food group. According to the food pyramid, milk, yogurt, and the cheese group recommend 2-3 servings a day. My diary shows that my consumption of this food group varies. There are days that I would consume more than the recommended amount and other days I would consume within the normal range. My consumption of meat, fish, nuts, eggs, and poultry are within the recommended 2-3 servings.My consumption of fruits and vegetables are shown to be insufficient. Ironically, I love fruits and vegetables, but I do not have it in my daily diet as I should. For the bread, cereal, rice, and pasta group are shown to be within the recommended 3-5 servings daily. I have realized that when I eat foods with less carbohydrates and fats, I feel healthier on the inside and out. When I do eat foods that contain high fats and crabs it is as if I can feel the oils ad fat going through my body, which makes me fatigue and drowsy .When I eat sweets and pastries, I first feel the sugar rush and feel awake, but after a few hours I feel the crash and decreased ability to concentrate on tasks. When I eat vegetables and small portions of foods with high carbohydrates and more greens I feel happy, energetic, healthy, and alert (Choose My Plate, 2014). Being a student has a lot to do with my daily decision of what I eat because it is usually has to be quick and on the go, instead of eating a prepared meal with a consideration of daily nutrients, I Just eat what I can afford if I am out, or grab snacks from home.Luckily I can come home to prepared meals by my mother, but being Armenian, my culture has an influence on what we eat. In my culture, meats, food high in cholesterol and sodium are very common. Our main dishes almost all include meats. On a brighter note, the Armenian culture also has a variety of tasty salads with healthy grains, one specifically known as tabulate and ICC. In order to eat the healthier foods, I can take the time to pack a lunch to take with me with choosing the healthier choices of food in my fridge at home.At home, I can refrain from adding extra salt to my food or extra sauces such as ranch or mayonnaise to prepared sandwiches as well as moderate my intake of high fat and high Carr meals. Two strengths of mine is knowing I have the ability and will to eat in moderation and the ability to fight the temptation of eating Junk food. I use to weigh 25 pounds more than I do now, and I motivated myself to cut crabs and calories and incorporated exercising in the regimen and earned my results which is another strength of mine.My weakness is not putting in the effort to prepare healthy meals for the days I know I will be spending most of my day outside of home, this is when I tend to make the unhealthiest choices of foods to eat. Another weakness of mine, is not eating proportionally throughout the day, Vive learned that I usually do not eat until I am starving and then have a big meal, which is extremely bad for your body diabolism. My diet plan will consist of whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, and lean sources of protein to provide plenty of energy and lifelong health and weight control.Exercise is also an essential to add to my diet plan because I have had a sedentary lifestyle ever since I started the nursing program. My overall health a IBM are normal, but through this assignm ent I learned that if I do not make a change in my eating habits I will be on the path to developing health problems in my later years. I learned it is important to prevent health and nutrition imbalances from occurring, than trying to fix them after a health issue has arisen. When the body suffers develops a health issues, it won't be restored back the same.Here are my goals and implementations to improve on my nutrition, as well as the obstacles I will encounter: 1) Pre-pack my lunch for days I will spend most my time outside of home. I will prepare my meals the night before so they are ready to go in case I am running short on time. An obstacle for this goal is having to shop more often for my healthier choices of meals, rather than eating something prepared at mom that may not be as nutritious. 2) Read food labels and monitor my daily intake. I will record my intake of food into an application on my phone called My Fitness Pal.An obstacle with this goal is trying not to forget t o do so. 3) If I must give into sweet cravings, I must exercise for an hour within 48 hours. I will go to the gym at least twice a week. An obstacle with this goal is the ability to managing my time to incorporate exercise. Day 1: I had my cereal and milk with a cookie when I had woken up from my sleep. I ate this because I was craving something sweet. I ate a veggie urge for lunch at Everest with my mom. I had almonds as a snack at home while I was studying. I ate it because I wanted to have a snack before I studied with my coffee.I ate salmon for dinner because that was what my mother had prepared and I was at home. I later had my protein bar when I was at home while studying. Day 2: I had cereal in the morning when I woke up because this is m normal routine. I later ate rice pudding and had a cup of coffee around noon to begin to study. I had my oatmeal at school because I was hungry. Later I snacked on some fried at my friend's house. For dinner I went out with my boyfriend to C heesecake Factory and had fettuccine Alfred. Day 3: I woke up and had a granola bar and orange Juice to start my day.I had an Armenian dish called karmic pilaf, chicken kabob, and baked potato for lunch at home to spend time with my parents. Later while studying I had rice pudding and a granola bar at my classmates house for a study snack. For dinner I went out on a date with my boyfriend to Friday's restaurant and had a lime margarita with two fish tacos because they are my favorite choices there. Day 4: I had a cereal in the morning to start my day. I took my dog out to the park for a walk and grabbed a granola bar for a snack. For lunch, I had cup of noodles because I was on the go.I took a bag of strawberries and turkey sandwich with me to school as a snack. For dinner I had lentil soup and had black tea while I was studying. Day 5: In the morning I had yogurt and coffee before heading out to pick up my grandpa. I later had coffee to wake me up so I can begin studying. For lunch I was at home and ate chicken and rice because that was what my mother had prepared. Later I went over to my cousins house and had salted popcorn and pizza and watched a movie. Day 6: In the morning I had cereal and coffee at home.I went to my friends house to study and took with me oatmeal and rice pudding as well as aloe Juice to have as a snack. I ate these because I was craving sweets. Later that night for dinner I prepared a homemade meal of fettuccine Alfred. I had some more coffee to continue studying. Day 7: I woke up and had a granola bar. For lunch I went to a coffee shop to study and had a cup of noodle and some fruit. Later for dinner I had a buffalo wild wings with my boyfriend and as a dessert had honeydew frozen yogurt from Yogurts. Nutrition Assessment Body mass index (IBM) is an index of a person's weight in relation to height used to estimate relative risk of health problems related to weight, a healthy body mass index is 18. 5 to 24. 9. My calculated IBM is 22. 5 which puts myself in the healthy weight range. The Hammy method calculates a person's ideal weight for their height. According to the Hammy method ideal weight for my height of 65 inches is 125 to 137 pounds (Duke, 2014). I weigh 135 pounds which barely places my weight in the ideal range.After recording my daily intake of food, I compared my consumption to the DOD pyramid which shows the recommended servings of each food group. According to the food pyramid, milk, yogurt, and the cheese group recommend 2-3 servings a day. My diary shows that my consumption of this food group varies. There are days that I would consume more than the recommended amount and other days I would consume within the normal range. My consumption of meat, fish, nuts, eggs, and poultry are within the recommended 2-3 servings.My consumption of fruits and vegetables are shown to be insufficient. Ironically, I love fruits and vegetables, but I do not have it in my daily diet as I should. For the bread, cereal, rice, and pasta group are shown to be within the recommended 3-5 servings daily. I have realized that when I eat foods with less carbohydrates and fats, I feel healthier on the inside and out. When I do eat foods that contain high fats and crabs it is as if I can feel the oils ad fat going through my body, which makes me fatigue and drowsy .When I eat sweets and pastries, I first feel the sugar rush and feel awake, but after a few hours I feel the crash and decreased ability to concentrate on tasks. When I eat vegetables and small portions of foods with high carbohydrates and more greens I feel happy, energetic, healthy, and alert (Choose My Plate, 2014). Being a student has a lot to do with my daily decision of what I eat because it is usually has to be quick and on the go, instead of eating a prepared meal with a consideration of daily nutrients, I Just eat what I can afford if I am out, or grab snacks from home.Luckily I can come home to prepared meals by my mother, but being Armenian, my culture has an influence on what we eat. In my culture, meats, food high in cholesterol and sodium are very common. Our main dishes almost all include meats. On a brighter note, the Armenian culture also has a variety of tasty salads with healthy grains, one specifically known as tabulate and ICC. In order to eat the healthier foods, I can take the time to pack a lunch to take with me with choosing the healthier choices of food in my fridge at home.At home, I can refrain from adding extra salt to my food or extra sauces such as ranch or mayonnaise to prepared sandwiches as well as moderate my intake of high fat and high Carr meals. Two strengths of mine is knowing I have the ability and will to eat in moderation and the ability to fight the temptation of eating Junk food. I use to weigh 25 pounds more than I do now, and I motivated myself to cut crabs and calories and incorporated exercising in the regimen and earned my results which is another strength of mine.My weakness is not putting in the effort to prepare healthy meals for the days I know I will be spending most of my day outside of home, this is when I tend to make the unhealthiest choices of foods to eat. Another weakness of mine, is not eating proportionally throughout the day, Vive learned that I usually do not eat until I am starving and then have a big meal, which is extremely bad for your body diabolism. My diet plan will consist of whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, and lean sources of protein to provide plenty of energy and lifelong health and weight control.Exercise is also an essential to add to my diet plan because I have had a sedentary lifestyle ever since I started the nursing program. My overall health a IBM are normal, but through this assignm ent I learned that if I do not make a change in my eating habits I will be on the path to developing health problems in my later years. I learned it is important to prevent health and nutrition imbalances from occurring, than trying to fix them after a health issue has arisen. When the body suffers develops a health issues, it won't be restored back the same.Here are my goals and implementations to improve on my nutrition, as well as the obstacles I will encounter: 1) Pre-pack my lunch for days I will spend most my time outside of home. I will prepare my meals the night before so they are ready to go in case I am running short on time. An obstacle for this goal is having to shop more often for my healthier choices of meals, rather than eating something prepared at mom that may not be as nutritious. 2) Read food labels and monitor my daily intake. I will record my intake of food into an application on my phone called My Fitness Pal.An obstacle with this goal is trying not to forget t o do so. 3) If I must give into sweet cravings, I must exercise for an hour within 48 hours. I will go to the gym at least twice a week. An obstacle with this goal is the ability to managing my time to incorporate exercise. Day 1: I had my cereal and milk with a cookie when I had woken up from my sleep. I ate this because I was craving something sweet. I ate a veggie urge for lunch at Everest with my mom. I had almonds as a snack at home while I was studying. I ate it because I wanted to have a snack before I studied with my coffee.I ate salmon for dinner because that was what my mother had prepared and I was at home. I later had my protein bar when I was at home while studying. Day 2: I had cereal in the morning when I woke up because this is m normal routine. I later ate rice pudding and had a cup of coffee around noon to begin to study. I had my oatmeal at school because I was hungry. Later I snacked on some fried at my friend's house. For dinner I went out with my boyfriend to C heesecake Factory and had fettuccine Alfred. Day 3: I woke up and had a granola bar and orange Juice to start my day.I had an Armenian dish called karmic pilaf, chicken kabob, and baked potato for lunch at home to spend time with my parents. Later while studying I had rice pudding and a granola bar at my classmates house for a study snack. For dinner I went out on a date with my boyfriend to Friday's restaurant and had a lime margarita with two fish tacos because they are my favorite choices there. Day 4: I had a cereal in the morning to start my day. I took my dog out to the park for a walk and grabbed a granola bar for a snack. For lunch, I had cup of noodles because I was on the go.I took a bag of strawberries and turkey sandwich with me to school as a snack. For dinner I had lentil soup and had black tea while I was studying. Day 5: In the morning I had yogurt and coffee before heading out to pick up my grandpa. I later had coffee to wake me up so I can begin studying. For lunch I was at home and ate chicken and rice because that was what my mother had prepared. Later I went over to my cousins house and had salted popcorn and pizza and watched a movie. Day 6: In the morning I had cereal and coffee at home.I went to my friends house to study and took with me oatmeal and rice pudding as well as aloe Juice to have as a snack. I ate these because I was craving sweets. Later that night for dinner I prepared a homemade meal of fettuccine Alfred. I had some more coffee to continue studying. Day 7: I woke up and had a granola bar. For lunch I went to a coffee shop to study and had a cup of noodle and some fruit. Later for dinner I had a buffalo wild wings with my boyfriend and as a dessert had honeydew frozen yogurt from Yogurts.

Religious Ethics Essay

In this essay, I will be taking religious ethics to mean the ethical principles of Christianity, i.e. Christian Ethics. This includes the moral decisions based on the teachings of Christianity from such sources as the Bible. The term ‘environmental issues’ covers a broad spectrum of concerns. As far as ethics is concerned, the issue is how far our moral concerns should extend to the environment and how we should live out our responsibility towards it. By environment, the earth and all its living entities are concerned. As our concern for the environment has increased and our general awareness heightened, debates about morality towards the environment have emerged. Issues such as climate change, pollution, global warming and the extinction of species can all be linked to the actions of humans (e.g. CFCs and the burning of fossil fuels). Therefore, as the damage to our environment becomes more problematic, the link between its deterioration and the actions of humans becomes more prominent. Anthropocenctrism, usually attributed to the teachings of Christianity, places humans at the centre of the world and therefore the environment. Aristotle taught that ‘nature has made all things specifically for the sake of man’; he basically states that humans are the only beings on earth that have intrinsic value, and that everything else placed on this earth has instrumental value and is to be used for the benefit of humans. Humanity is placed at the top of Aristotle’s hierarchy due to their possession of reason; animals can move and feel pain so come next; plants who can only grow and reproduce are placed at the bottom; and he appears to place no value on inanimate objects as they don’t even have a vegetative soul. During the late 18th century and the early 19th century, the thinkers of the enlightenment period, also known as ‘the age of reason’, emphasised anthropocentric approaches and concluded that reason is the mark of authority. Scientific discoveries were made that bred confidence in man’s ability and shifted philosophical thought away from the teaching that God and the church are the centre of morality. Capitalism emerged which taught emphasising the success of the individual. Immanuel Kant placed humans at the top of his hierarchy with their intrinsic worth due to their possession of reason. Kant also viewed animals as of no moral concern to humans; the only time it is wrong to hurt an animal is when it could instrumentally harm a human. However, by Kant’s reasoning that we can only have concern for animals if the impact is on humanity, he is contradicting himself as he looks to the consequence, which denotes it as a hypothetical imperative and therefore immoral. He also decides on moral action using formulations of the categorical imperative; 1. universalisability, where no contradictions can occur. Kant did not intend his theory to be used as an environmental ethic as it was not relevant at the time. 2. Kant declares that only moral rational agents need moral consideration as ‘ends in themselves’ and we should exclude animals from moral worth which concludes it to be outdates and unsuitable to be used as an environmental ethic. Therefore, Kant’s ethic is likely to be an unsympathetic approach and would probably lead to damage to the environment. Christian anthropocentrism is mainly derived from the teachings of Genesis. The creation story (Genesis (1:26-28) teaches us to â€Å"fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth†. This implies that God has made all things for the sake of humans; that the only beings upon this earth that have intrinsic value are humans, and that everything else serves to benefit humanity (instrumental value). The only reason we need to have care for the environment is because our actions may have an impact, sooner or later, upon ourselves. St Thomas Aquinas also held this belief and stated that â€Å"injury to an animals leads to the temporal hurt of man, either the doer of the deed, or of another†. Dr Lynn White suggested that we need to re-examine our attitudes towards nature, which derive from our religious beliefs, in order to successfully address the ecological crises. He said â€Å"Human ecology is deeply conditioned by beliefs about our nature and destiny – that is, by religion†. He develops this suggesting that our destruction and damage to the environment can be traced to the technological advances of the industrial revolution and the enlightenment period which are a result of the despotic interpretation of the Judeo-Christian teachings declaring Western Christianity as â€Å"the most anthropocentric religion the world has seen†. Utilitarianism is another approach towards ecological issues that one can consider when deciding the best approach towards environmental issues. Peter Singer is a preference utilitarian, who doesn’t measure happiness in the measure of extent or duration of happiness but instead on the satisfaction of desires or preferences. Singer measures the importance of an individual or being, not on their possession of a soul or reason, but on their ability to suffer. To Singer, it doesn’t matter whether the being in question is human or not and both humans and sensory non-humans are equally entitled to moral concern. As we can imagine that their preference would be to avoid pain. He accused many moral philosophers and scientists of Speceism; refusing respect to the lives of other species, not just humans, and proposed that we need to include animals in the ‘expanding circle of moral worth’; â€Å"If possessing a higher intelligence does not entitle one human to use another for his own ends, how can it entitle humans to exploit non humans for the same purpose?†. The problem that arises from Singer’s theory is whether or not plants, and lesser life forms and non-life forms are included in the ‘expanding circle of moral worth’ as they are not conscious living entities so we don’t know what their preferences would be. Initially, Singer does not consider lesser life forms to have any moral significance, but in the second edition of his book states â€Å"the argument from intrinsic value of the plants, species or eco systems is at best problematic†. Singer’s utilitarian argument has weaknesses in so far as it has no clear boundaries as to where our moral concern should lie. Unlike Christianity’s anthropocentric approach which clearly places humanity as the centre of our moral concern, Utilitarianism only beholds vague ideas of where our moral concern should extend to. The utilitarian argument has its strength in its positioning of the capability of suffering above the possession of reason. This does bear a more sympathetic approach towards humans of lesser intelligence (i.e. those with special needs) but then suggests that they are on the same level as animals. This would suggest Christianity to be a better approach as it is more compassionate. Biocentrism, proposed by Paul Taylor, extends the circle of moral worth to include all living things and thus declares that humanity is not the centre of existence. Taylor argues that all life forms have intrinsic value which human beings have a duty to respect. We therefore have a moral responsibility towards them which would entail engaging in practices and policies aimed at specific ways of preserving the ecosystems. Taylor holds non-living things such as mountains to only hold instrumental value and therefore they bare no ethical status. Taylor’s argument is fairly balanced as it doesn’t presume that human beings are the only beings with intrinsic value but he fails to introduce any sort of hierarchy and places humans on the same level as bacteria, which seems absurd. He also implies that we should all be vegans, but fails to address this, and doesn’t consider whether a lion is acting immorally if it eats a zebra. Christianity therefore is more logical as it sets a clear hierarchy which allows mowing the lawn and eating meat. Ecocentrism is another approach to environmental issues. It recognises the importance of the ecosphere and the environment with out suggesting that any organism as more important than the other. Aldo Leopold proposed an ecocentric theory; ‘The Land Ethic’ which â€Å"simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soil, waters, plants and animals. Or collectively – the land†. He argued that current conservation policies are based on economic motives. He says â€Å"it is inconceivable to me than an ethical relation to land can exist without love, respect, and admiration for land and a high regard for its value. By value, I of course mean something far broader than mere economic value; I mean value in the philosophical sense†. He argues that Christianity’s teachings of ‘dominion’ saw us as conquerors of the land and that if we are to resolve the ecological crises we need to see ourselves as members of the community that also includes the land. Another ecocentric approach is that of ‘deep ecology’ devised by Arne Naess. It was born out of appreciation for non-Christian religions that recognised the sacredness of natural phenomena. This includes the notion of ‘biospheric egalitarianism’ which views that all living things have intrinsic value. Deep ecology views the world as a network of interconnected and interdependent phenomena; a ‘web of life’. These theories fail to determine how lesser life forms could have any moral interest, and how mountains and the like could have any moral interests whatsoever. This weakens it as Christianity. However it does appear to be more sympathetic as it concludes that other life forms have intrinsic value, not just humans. Another ecocentric approach is that of the Gaia Hypothesis proposed by James Lovelock. After discovering that it is the earth’s unique atmosphere that makes life on earth possible, he declared the difference between earth and the other planets was ‘Gaia’. All life forms are part of ‘Gaia’ and he saw the earth as a self regulating living system. In his words Gaia is â€Å"a complex entity involving the Earth’s biosphere, atmosphere, oceans and soil; the totality constituting a feedback or cybernetic system which seeks an optimal physical and chemical environment for life on this planet†. He saw the ecosystems of the earth as intelligently organised, not by God, but by Gaia’s self engineering. He concludes that if humans were taken out of Gaia, it would survive without us; therefore, humanity is not integral to the environment. Lovelock later suggested that as the environmental issues increase, the planet may not be able to recover and we are in the process of killing the earth, which he refers to as matricide. This suggestion that the earth is intelligently organised has much evidence (for example the water cycle, the reproductive system). However, by suggesting that the earth is alive and therefore self regulates these systems is weak as it is hard to prove. For Christians, the intelligent organisation is of course a result of God. The despotic readings of the creation story present Christianity negatively as White argues. Because we are made in the image of God we believe that the world was made for our sake only. However, one must look at other interpretations of Christian teachings that would suggest a more considerate approach to the environment. One could interpret the use of the word ‘dominion’ no as despotic, but as a call for stewardship. God has chosen humanity to regulate the response of the natural world to its creator so we must care and conserve and acts as the director of nature’s obedience to God. This makes Christian teaching more ‘theocentric’ than ‘anthropocentric’ as it suggests that the peak of creation is God. If we used this as a basic principle when approaching environmental issues, then it would be a strong theory, as it allows humanity to care for the land. Aquinas’s Natural Law theory is based on the thinking of Aristotle, that all things in nature are for the good of man. He extends this further to explain how things are not worthless, but valuable because they are what God intended them to be; they fulfil their own Telos. Humans are declared as the most valuable beings due to their creation in ‘imago dei’ and possession of reason but we should follow stewardship rather than despotism. This would however suggest that despite the strengths of being stewards, being a Christian Ethic, one must have a belief in God to conclude this to be a valid approach to environmental issues. Another Christian approach is Joseph Fletcher’s Situation Ethics which emphasises the importance of love in moral decisions, but was never considered an environmental ethic. Fletcher believed in ‘personalism’; that people are placed before the laws, again being anthropocentric in that we are suggested to be able to do what we want. He promoted ‘pragmatism’; that one must do something that would produced the most loving consequences in that situation. This would be a positive approach to the environment as people would be loving towards it. This could perhaps places the environment second to human needs which would be a negative attitude. However, Fletcher’s ethic is too vague to be considered in any depth as we can’t define what is the most loving thing, who it’s for or even what ‘love’ means. Attfield suggests a deeper interpretation of Christian teachings in order to accurately devise an ethical basis towards the environment. He saw that in Job (38:25) for example, God is said to send rain for the plants and uninhabited wilderness. And to have made wilderness for the Ass. Also the proverbs inform us that â€Å"a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast†. This would be the understanding that Jesus would have had, following the Old Testament teachings. There are New Testament teachings that would instruct a more sympathetic attitude to nature such as Jesus’ time in the desert amongst wild beasts after his baptism, and the use of nature and animals in his teachings and parables. However, there are the passages of the Gadarene swine and the cursing of the fig tree that suggest a more inconsiderate attitude is permitted. In Hebrew tradition, Kings were answerable to God, not absolute monarchs in themselves, therefore according to Attfield â€Å"the biblical dominion of man is no despotism†. However, White argues that in medieval times the embrace of Christianity and the rejection of paganism changed the relationship between man and nature. The pagan ideas of living beings having a soul or a spirit (animism) encouraged a positive attitude towards nature, which were corrupted by the growth of Christianity. Attfield however counter argues these claims and says the ecological crises can’t be blamed on ancient traditions as they have happened in more recent times (post 1945). Japan, for example, which is not a Christian country, shares many of the environmental problems that the West has. It is not just paganism and Buddhism that impose a limit on humankind’s use of nature. Attfield then concludes that we needn’t have a new environmental position; we just need to revert to stewardship rather than dominion. Walter H O’Briant proposed a ‘born again Christian’ belief in the rapture; that Christ will return and the bodies and souls of the saved will go to heaven. The earth is, according to O’Briant, a temporary home therefore it doesn’t matter what we do to the earth. After considering the theories discussed and evaluating their strengths and weaknesses I would argue that religious ethics are the best approach to environmental issues, provided we revert to a more ‘stewardship’ attitude, rather than the despotic interpretation.