Water pollution Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Water pollution - Assignment Example is rising faster than any other region over the past decade, are similarly instituting factory farming (FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation of U.N., Report, 2008). A major byproduct of livestock farming is animal waste. Thus, animal husbandry leads to point source pollution. One of the major problems associated with animal farming involves the movement of excessive nutrients from manure and other byproducts to soil, water and air causing significant environmental problems. In the U.S., the production of livestock and their feedcrops transports about one-third of the nitrogen and phosphorous discharged (from all sources) into freshwater. Besides the nutrients, the other major polluting agents resulting from livestock farming are pathogens and antibiotics and hormones, fertilisers, and the pesticides used to spray feed crops. Elements present in animal waste such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and other minerals are essential nutrients for plant growth. However, the manure may run-off during rainfall and pollute the waterways if inadequately contained. Uncontrolled and prolonged discharge of animal waste into waterways can add excessive amounts of nutrients to the waterways causing excessive growth of algae or algal blooms which may be toxic and consume large amounts of oxygen when decaying, thereby reducing the dissolved oxygen concentration in water, and killing fish and other organisms through the process of eutrophication. Pathogens including protozoan parasites such as Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia duodenalis, bacteria such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, Escherichia coli, and Listeria monocytogenes and viruses are commonly present in manure and may runoff to surface waters with the possibility of   their eventual transmission to animals and humans (USDA, United States Department of Agriculture, 2008). Animal wastes including wastewater and manure can have large concentrations of pharmaceutically active compounds such as hormones and antibiotics

Dewey has a concept of body-mind very different from Plato. What is Essay - 1

Dewey has a concept of body-mind very different from Plato. What is body for Dewey- what is soul Explain how Dewey attempts to account for human intelligence, and why he rejects old notions of dualism - Essay Example In philosophy, the word dualism is used to represent the differences between body and mind. â€Å"In dualism, ‘mind’ is contrasted with ‘body’, but at different times, different aspects of the mind have been the centre of attention†(Stanford encyclopaedia of philosophy-Dualism). Famous philosopher Rene Descartes has put forward the idea of dualism. He believed that mind is a non physical substance whereas body is a physical substance. He argued that brain is the origin of intelligence and the mind, the origin of consciousness and self awareness. Plato, another famous philosopher, supported and elaborated the arguments of Descartes. He argued that our perceptions of distinct and immaterial objects are nothing more than shadows. Even though Plato succeeded in defining soul as an entity imprisoned in the body, he failed to give a clear answer to the question; what binds a particular soul to a particular body. The questions like; ‘what happens to th e soul and mind once the body faces death’ and ‘what happens to the soul and mind if all the materials used in the making of our body is substituted with some other materials from another planet’ are difficult to answer with the help of dualism theory. John Dewey rejected the dualism theory because of the above concerns and argued in favor of a single entity consisting of body, mind and soul. Dewey has elaborated his arguments with the help of following example. The being who eats and digests is also the one who at the same time is sorrowing and rejoicing; it is a commonplace that he eats and digests in one way to one effect when glad, and in another when he is sad. Eating is also a social act, and the emotional temper of the festal board enters into the alleged merely physical function of digestion. Eating of bread and drinking of wine have indeed become so integrated with the mental attitudes of multitudes of persons that they have assumed a