Generation

Introduction

In recent times, the focus and growth in our working world have shifted more towards millennials. This we expected as the years past, and Gen Xers have reached retirement age and exited the job market. This change caused many employers to explore what makes this set of workers tick and how best to challenge them so that their businesses can continue to be successful. With the constant changes within the technological sphere as well as a world filled with escalating socio-political catastrophes; business owners are more motivated than ever.

So how does one go about understanding millennials; well, continue reading this article as we share several surprising traits that make millennials excellent employees.

1.     Inquisitiveness

There has never been a generation that is so eager to learn new things. They consume and digest new information, new technology and new ways of doing things at an exponential rate. Because we live in a time of constant change, especially with technology; they have been forced to be adaptable. If you are a business owner, it makes sense that you invest in career development programs that will expand the skill-set of your workforce. This particular generation is not interested in spending the next 20 to 30 years in one job position, being miserable for the rest of their lives.

2.     Distinctiveness

Yes we know that everyone is different. That we are unique and somehow will make an important and distinguishable contribution to any company; well, millennials hold fast to this belief. The older folks might actually think this a bit unrealistic. They believe that the school system has totally ruined the millennial generation, with their ‘participation trophy’ philosophy and the ideology of making everyone feel special. Regardless of that, companies have a lot to benefit, by understanding this philosophy and exploiting it for the betterment of their organization’s bottom line.

3.     Social Consciousness

More and more people of this generation are thinking about and actively participating in initiatives that allow them to ‘pay it forward’ or ‘give back’ to their communities. These taglines are featured prominently in advertisements or as social media hangtags. It is a great way for a company to improve their corporate image and by extension fulfill the intrinsic motivational factors within their employees.

4.     Stable Income

Having gone through an economic recession and heard the echoes of the ‘Great Depression,’ millennials are big on having a stable income. Not to mention, the eight-ton gorilla in most rooms, student loan debt. Being fiscally independent is of great importance to them. It is not necessarily about being the richest man on the planet; however, it is more about being able to have enough so that if there are any global financial meltdowns in the future, they are prepared. It is ideal for these millennial employees to go with a company that offers 401k and assistance with school fees, rather than work for a company that offers none of these benefits.

5.     Modernization

There has never been a generation before them that is so intrigued with working with technology and incorporating this into their daily task. They appreciate the idea that technology and innovation make their work easier. Millennials are usually those people, who were born in the 80s and 90s. They were around not at the genesis of technology but at the age of its explosion. This group of employees uses social media countless times for the day. They understand the use, purpose, and possibilities of being a truly global community, where one can reach out and touch anyone across the globe.

These traits are certainly of great benefit to any employer. With mega companies like Amazon, Tesla and Apple reaching across the great divide to dominate the world market, businesses have to analyze and use the strategies that brought these businesses mega success. No more are we living in a world with just one business at the top of the pyramid for an extensive period of time. Successful global businesses rise and set with the sun.

Build Your Future Today Introduction If I were to ask you, “What is the next major decision you need to make in your life, what would it be? ” Perhaps you’ll be looking at your next investment proposal. Or perhaps you are thinking about how to celebrate your next wedding anniversary with your spouse. Or perhaps, you’re trying to decide whether or not you will Join our Toastmasters club today.

Madam Toastmasters, my fellow Toastmasters, dignitaries, and our most honored guests, to help you decide tonight, not only will you get an overview of our Toastmasters program, you will also walk away with some of the tips and techniques I learned from more experienced Toastmasters. Speaking Off the Cuff First of all, take a look again at the agenda. You will notice how there are three parts to every Toastmasters meeting: Table Topics, Prepared Speeches, and then Evaluations. For Table Topics, the purpose is to help you think on your feet by responding too question you didn’t prepare for, within 1-2 minutes.

Why? Think about Job interviews. By keeping your responses short and concise, I think you’re much more likely to establish rapport with your interviewers. I still remember how I recently had 4 Job promotion interviews. One of the questions they all asked was “tell us about software programs you are familiar with and how you used it for work. ” I answered the question! I gave them a list of examples and connected them with work examples. Unfortunately, it came off like a typical laundry list. Boring, forgettable, and “toss salad”. Not surprisingly, I was O for 4 in getting my rumination.

Then, in my 5th promotion interview, when I got the same question, I twisted the question. Instead of making the same mistake again, I actually asked, “What are the challenges for your unit? ” Then, after listening patiently to their challenges, I was able to make everything I said relevant for their unit. For instance, I addressed how I could help them produce memos and proofread documents. Also, impromptu speaking can help improve your interpersonal communication skills. Consider your conversations with your friends and family.

Are you likely to deliver 5-7 minute speeches? I hope not. As you can see, the ability to think on your feet is extremely valuable for reaching your professional and personal goals. Delivering Winning Presentations In addition to improving your impromptu speaking, you will learn how to deliver winning presentations. By working through the Competent Communication manual, you can improve many different aspects of public speaking, such as speech organization, body language, and vocal variety. Many people have difficulty coming up with material to talk about.

Just pick topics you are familiar with. For example, I three chunks, each lasting from 5-7 minutes. Then, when I need to deliver the actual presentation, I feel much more confident. You can do the same. Take material you know you’ll be presenting in the real-world and practice it here at Toastmasters. Evaluations After you’re done with presentations, you need feedback to keep improving. This is where evaluations come into play. When I first started out in Toastmasters, the hardest roles were Speech Evaluator and General Evaluator.

I remembered how my ere first speech evaluation was for our Distinguished Toastmaster, Ron Dowel. My hands were shaking as I brought my notes and his manual to the podium. My voice was shaking too: “Great… Gestures, great… Volume, great… Content. ” Seriously, I didn’t know how to evaluate an experienced speaker. As I gained more experience, this process became easier. Now you may be wondering, “Why does a giving effective speech evaluation matter to me? ” Consider how you need to evaluate other people’s ideas every day. Perhaps you need to evaluate ideas from your colleagues.

Or perhaps you need to evaluate ideas from your family and friends. How to critique their ideas without offending them? How to make your suggestions more useful and memorable? You can practice to master this invaluable skill here in Toastmasters. Conclusion As you can see, Toastmasters can help you improve your impromptu speaking, presentation skills, and evaluation skills. By investing Just $36 for every 6 months, you can change your life. Make the right decision by Joining Toastmasters today, because your future depends on it.

As part of the London 2012 Olympic Games the Great British Government presented a legacy that they hoped would aid them to win the bid to host the games. This included what they hoped would become beneficial long-term effects socially and economically for Great Britain. One of the claims made the government was: ‘Harnessing the United Kingdom’s passion for sport to increase grass roots participation, particularly by young people – and to encourage the whole population to be more physically active’. Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2010) Meaning that hosting the games would change the nation’s attitude towards physical ctivity, contributing to a hopeful increase in participation in sport. This investigation explores the link between hosting the Olympic Games and sports participation in the host country, in particular around the host city of London. The study focuses on measuring the legacy effects a year after the games began. This research is being created to gain a greater understanding about how the 2012 Olympic games has affected the nation – London in particular.

With this information we also would like to make the results more specific and find out: how the Olympic legacy has inspired people and how distance of residency from the Olympic stadium ill affect their perceived perception of the games and finally what economic and social barriers may stand in the way of individuals becoming involved post- Olympic Games. METHODS DESIGN Data generation was carried out from the Opening Ceremony (27th July 2012) to exactly one year after the Opening Ceremony (27th July 2013). The approach taken was twofold, firstly a questionnaire was conducted.

The first method of this study uses a self-completion questionnaire to determine a link between the London 2012 Olympic Games and the perceived impact on sports participation across England. This allows participants to self-evaluate the impact of this event, and thus provides a subjective evaluation, but still shows an important social indicator. The questionnaire includes close-ended questions for easier completion and so respondents do not tire, and therefore a larger response is more likely making the data more representative.

The Likert scale will be used; respondent’s attitudes will be obtained by asking them to respond to a series of statements, in terms of the extent to which they agree with them, where 1 was ‘Strongly Disagree’ and 5 was ‘Strongly Agree’. The number of uestionnaire. Examples of positive statements are: ‘grassroots participation would be boosted. An already sports-mad nation would get fitter and healthier. ‘ (Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2010). And, ‘These champions and potential champions provide an important inspiration forothers to ‘have a gd. McKay, 1991). Examples of negative statements for use in the questionnaire are: sports organisations need to ensure that marketing is sensitive to consumer resistance arising from an awareness of how difficult it is to emulate our sporting heroes and heroines. ‘ (Hindson et al. 1994).

And, ‘It’s no good having a great Olympics in 2012 and inspiring many young people to take up sport if we don’t have the facilities, coaching and infrastructure to get them involved and keep them in sport. ‘ (Draper, 2003). Research conducted by Hindson et al. (1994) concluded that the Olympics had a positive effect on club membership. Conversely, Edcoms (2007) found no clear correlation between hosting the Olympic Games and sport participation as a long-term affect, however, may lead to short-term gains. The second part of the process involved another questionnaire. This part of the study involved obtaining socio-demographic information including age, gender and distance of residency from the Olympic Park, all of which could affect a residents perspective of the event.

Previous research has indicated that reactions could be based on these key factors (Twynam & Johnston, 2004). Research has indicated that in ethnic minorities, such as East London, barriers exist such as unaffordable facilities and unavailable childcare, high crime rates, fear for personal safety and culturally inappropriate activities are of primary importance and may influence willingness to articipate (Seefeldt et al. , 2002). The chosen technique to distribute the questionnaires was the ‘drop and collect’ method.

This involves the hand delivery and collection of the questionnaires, providing a cost effective, reliable and very fast method to complete this research. Respondents are able to complete the questionnaire at their own pace therefore are more likely to complete it. The technique avoids interviewer bias and control over the selection process.

It is now more than three years since Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, wrote her ground-breaking book, . “Lean In,” I believe, is shorthand for “Go for it, if you want it.”

In her book, Sandberg acknowledges that there are many systemic obstacles to the advancement of women in corporate America. However, her focus is what women can do to maximize their chance of success in spite of these obstacles.

Well, more and more women are leaning in. That includes applying for leadership positions and/or negotiating for more equitable compensation.

There is some good news

Women who lean in do better than women who don’t. However, women who lean in are also facing substantial resistance.

Late last month, Sheryl Sandberg wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal entitled: “Women Are Leaning In — But They Face Push Back.” In what could be called “Lean In 2.0,” Sandberg focuses primarily on the systemic obstacles and not on what women can do to overcome or navigate around them.

Sandberg’s article came out on the same day as a study conducted jointly by LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Co. Among the findings: we are still more than 100 years away from there being gender equality in C-suite positions. Further, men are 30 percent more likely than women to be promoted into a management position.

This is bad news for women (and men). It is beyond dispute that businesses do not reach their full potential if there is not gender diversity among those holding leadership positions.

The ‘too aggressive’ penalty

One of the reasons for the absence of acceptable progress in terms of gender equality is what Sandberg calls the “too aggressive penalty.” Citing the McKinsey/Lean In study, Sandberg states in the WSJ article, “women who negotiate are 67 percent more likely than women who don’t to receive feedback that their personal style is ‘intimidating,’ ‘too aggressive,’ or ‘bossy,’ and they are more likely to receive that kind of feedback than men who negotiate.”

Don’t negotiate and don’t advance. Negotiate and wear the Scarlett B coded in other terms. This is the classic double standard, and it is indefensible.

So what do we do to shatter the double standard that provides a coat of cement for the glass ceiling? Six suggestions (for starters):

Acknowledge the problem

We cannot solve the problem unless those who have power to correct it acknowledge that it exists. And, too many still deny the problem. I have never experienced labor pains. But I would be a fool to deny their existence.

So share data with your leaders, for example, the McKinsey/Lean In Study. Consider sharing other academic studies framed in business terms that identify the scope of the problem. The Harvard Business Review and Catalyst.org are great resources, to name but two.

Don’t attack or admit bias

Don’t attack your leaders. That will do nothing more than make them shut down, if not worse. Plus, it may be used later as an admission of organizational bias. Instead, try something like, “we know this problem exists in the business world, and we would be a bit naïve, if not arrogant, to assume we are immune from the problem.”

Focus training on unconscious bias

As Sandberg and others acknowledge, some of the bias is undeniably unconscious. Focusing on the unconscious in training gives leaders a “safe” way to change. “I was not aware.” Well, now you are. Message to leaders: with conscious awareness, unconscious bias can and must be avoided.

Eradicating gender bias cannot be over-emphasized

When emphasizing the need for change, talk about the business imperative: bias is bad business. Do not call the training sensitivity training. Most leaders view that as soft fluff. This is business training to maximize profitability. The message would be the same if there were no men in leadership; make that clear!

Show leaders how to address unconscious bias

Leaders may not realize that their feelings are due to unconscious bias but they should be consciously aware of their emotional reactions (or they shouldn’t be leaders). When they find themselves feeling someone is too aggressive, pushy, bossy or strident (I could go on), encourage them (in their heads) to move from labels to specifics behaviors and then ask themselves the million-dollar question: do I laud this precise behavior when engaged in by a white man?

Hold leaders accountable

Training leaders is just a start. We need to hold them accountable. If there is conscious bias or unconscious bias (usually evidenced by a pattern), leaders must pay a price. However, this should be done in a way where you correct the wrong but don’t create an admission of bias. This is easy to say but deceptively complex to implement. But it can be done with reasonable legal risk and substantial business upside if thoughtfully implemented.

Let me end by quoting Sandberg from Lean In: “‘She is very ambitious’ is not a compliment in our culture.” It’s on all of us to change that for our collective benefit.

Long-run GHG and local pollutants decrease

The undertaking will ensue in coevals of power of 14,000 MWh at an one-year 80 % works capacity use factor utilizing sustainably produced fuelwood. This will displace an tantamount volume of electricity that would otherwise be generated by dodo fuel based thermic power workss and fed into the Sri Lanka national grid. Harmonizing to the long- term coevals program of the CEB, electricity demand is turning at an mean one-year rate of 7 – 8 % . Due to societal, economic and environmental impacts associated with the development, farther development of large-scale hydro resources is going progressively hard. The CEB forecasts thermic power coevals capacity to increase its 2005 degree of 1266 MW to a mark degree of 4,230 MW in 2019. The bing thermic workss include gas turbines fuel oil fired reciprocating engines, and combined rhythm workss. The enlargement works prognosis includes gas turbines, combined rhythm workss, Diesel workss, furnace oil workss, and coal workss.

Economic, societal, environmental and technological benefits

Economic benefits

The entree of electrification is tremendous difference in regional in the state. In the western state where about 90 per centum of family have entree to electricity while North cardinal state have entree to electricity about 65 per centum. In the Sabaragamuwa, Uwa, North Western and East between 40 to 50 per centum of families without entree to electricity. The entire figure of electrification of small town strategies was increased from 2115 to 14690 since 1980 and 1998. By 2015, the Government plans to provide electrification to about 100 per centum of the state ‘s small towns. Some 600 rural electrification strategies, covering eight states will supply electricity supply to about 112,500 extra families and other consumers, Some 600km of 33 kilovolts distribution lines will be supplied to beef up CEB ‘s bing webs in rural countries to cut down overloading and losingss on those lines. A scope of alternate energy beginnings ( solar, air current, mini-hydro and biomass ) will besides be developed through community-based organisations and the private sector to spread out rural electricity entree, peculiarly in the more distant, dry zone parts. Where capital costs for rural electrification are prohibitory, crystalline subsidies will be provided, to spread out entree.

Merely the agribusiness entirely would non be equal to increase incomes in the rural countries. There is discoursing facts that these rural households that gain the extreme portion of their income from off-farm income are cagey to work their manner out of poorness faster. Access of electricity is besides of import to any off farm activity. Electric illuming besides makes a important part to the quality and success of rural instruction.

Economic benefits of the undertaking are discussed farther below.

• Adequate electricity supply:

In order for the national economic system to turn, adequate and dependable supply of electricity should be available at low-cost monetary values. Despite puting big amounts of borrowed money on the electricity sector for the past many old ages, our state is unable to run into the turning demand for electricity. Furthermore, our electricity monetary values are one of the highest in the part.

These defects could be remedied if we could acquire our private sector to put on moderate graduated table decentralized power workss with autochthonal fuel supply. The survey carried out by the Ministry of Science and Technology with EU support reveals that over 4000 MW of biomass based electrical power could be generated by change overing the debauched fringy land available in the state. The proposed 2 MW works would turn out the commercial viability of this construct.

• Organic nitrogen-bearing fertilizer:

Nitrogenous chemical fertiliser such as urea had been extensively used in the agricultural sectors in Sri Lanka. The current one-year use is in the part of 0.4 million metric tons. The entire national demands of urea are imported at a cost of around US $ 50 million per twelvemonth. In the recent yesteryear, the monetary value of imported carbamide had been lifting steeply. In order to prolong the husbandman community and to guarantee equal supply of our basic nutrient, the authorities had been supplying some grade of subsidy for urea. At nowadays this has reached about a 3rd of the existent cost. Even with this heavy subsidy, paddy husbandmans are unable to do a populating out of rice cultivation. On the other manus, giver bureaus such as the World Bank/ IMF etc. have been exerting force per unit area through WTO on the authorities to minimise all signifiers of subsidies and let the market forces to find the optimal allotment of resources.

As explained in Chapter 3, from a Gliricidia energy plantation, the mean output of wood per hectare per twelvemonth is 30 metric tons ( at 20 % wet ) and the corresponding output of fresh leaf is 26 metric tons. Systematic surveies carried out by the Coconut Research Institute had revealed that the application of 50 kilograms of fresh Gliricidia leaf for a coconut thenar provides the equivalent of N from 800 gms of urea. Furthermore the application of leaf improves the wellness of dirt by increasing the organic content in dirt.

The aim of this undertaking is to show the commercialization of the construct of sustainable fuelwood production from Gliricidia energy plantations and the operation of an associated biomass power coevals installation. This 2 MW installation would necessitate the equivalent of 800 hour angle of Gliricidia plantations. Harmonizing to the survey conducted by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Land Use Policy Planning Division of the Ministry of Lands, the entire extent of debauched fringy land in the state is around 1.6 million hectares. This means that the entire potency of Gliricidia leaf production in the state is 1.6 ten 26 = 41.6 million metric tons yearly. This is tantamount to 0.67 million metric tons of carbamide. The states entire one-year use of carbamide is merely 0.4 million metric tons. The cautionary value of this is USD 96 million. This clearly shows the economic benefit of Gliricidia energy plantation to the agricultural sector.

•  Increasing the capacity of national milk production:

About 60 % of our national one-year demands of milk amounting to 500 million liters are imported at a cost of USD 125 million. One ground for our failure to bring forth our demand of milk is the deficiency of nitrogen-bearing fresh fish for our cowss. Though we have equal measures of carbonaceous fresh fish in the signifier of rice straw, nitrogen-bearing fresh fish is in short supply. Gliricidia leaf is an first-class nitrogen-bearing fresh fish. A 1-hectare plantation of Gliricidia would give 30 metric tons of wood and 26 metric tons of fresh leaf per twelvemonth. Along with 26 metric tons of rice straw, this measure of leaf is sufficient to feed 6 cattles. The one-year income from the sale of milk from 5 cattles would amount to USD 1,654 per twelvemonth. This construct of incorporating Gliricidia Energy Plantation with the rapid enlargement of dairy industry in Sri Lanka may non be realized in the short term. Equally far as this undertaking is concerned, it is expected that the present cattle population of 84 cowss would be expanded to 500 within the undertaking boundary. Possibly this would move as a accelerator for other countries to follow suit. In the average clip excess leaf produced would be used as organic fertiliser.

The 1.6 million hectares of debauched fringy land in our state could be used to bring forth the state ‘s full demands of milk.

Droppings from the cattles could be used as organic nitrogen-bearing fertiliser replacing urea as described in subdivision

above. It should be noted that the usage of leaf as fresh fish and the droppings as nitrogen-bearing fertiliser brings more benefits than straight utilizing the leaf as green organic fertiliser. Nitrogen in cow droppings is easy absorbed by workss therefore cut downing leaching and evaporative losingss.

Auxiliary harvests in the entree manner in energy plantations:

As described in Chapter 3, an entree manner with a 4-meter breadth will be provided at 11-meter intervals in the energy plantations. This spread is provided to supply entree for tractors to roll up and transport the fuelwood harvested in the 11-meter broad strips of trees in the energy plantations. These spreads are used as entree manner merely one time in 6 to 8 months. These spreads besides function as limit of blocks to ease systematic harvest home.

A major disadvantage of supplying this spread is it encourages the growing of weeds, peculiarly Guina A and B ( Panicum upper limit ) and Illuk ( Imperate cylindrica ) .

One manner of minimising the growing of weeds and optimizing the land infinite in energy plantations is to turn short-run hard currency harvests in these spreads during the two short rainy seasons ( April to June and October to January ) . Crops such as corn, sorghum, benne, black-eyed pea, mung bean, black gm etc. are suited for short-run harvests. Gross from these hard currency harvests would better the economic viability and heighten the sustainability of the plantations.

Leaf of Gliricidia subdivisions harvested could be used as organic fertiliser for the hard currency harvest. Gliricidia leaf has the undermentioned alimentary contents: 3 to 4.5 % N, 0.2 to 0.3 % P, 1.5 to 3.5 % K, 1 to 1.4 % Ca and 0.4 to 0.6 % Mg. Furthermore the debut leaf to the dirt increases the organic content and improves the dirt.

( vitamin E ) Conservation of foreign exchange-

Ever since the state adopted an “ unfastened economic ” policy in 1977, the para value of Sri Lankan Rupee has been deprecating in an exponential mode. Figure 15 illustrates this characteristic.

Start of Open Economy

The primary ground for this depreciation is that the demand for foreign currency is much higher than the supply of foreign currency. There are two ways of deciding this crisis. One is to increase the supply of foreign currency. That is by increasing exports and spread outing the services, which bring foreign exchange to the state ( such as touristry, foreign employment etc ) . The 2nd manner is to cut down imports. Unfortunately, since 1977, we have been following merely the first method. This has non resolved the crisis. Therefore, we need to follow the 2nd way every bit good. That is we should cut down foreign currency outgo. In other words, if we should try to bring forth locally whatever goods or services which can be produced locally at competitory cost instead than importing such merchandises at a higher cost. Electricity produced by IPPs is a authoritative illustration. For the twelvemonth 2004, the mean monetary value paid for imported fuel based electricity produced by IPPs was SLR 9.20 ( USD 0.0902 ) per kWh, whereas the monetary value paid for local resource based electricity for the same twelvemonth was merely SLR 5.49 ( USD 0.0538 ) per kWh. If the same mean monetary value is paid for both, the state could bring forth all the electricity demands from local resources.

The entire foreign exchange demands to run into the expected thermal based electricity from imported dodo fuel, including the foreign capital, fuel, runing and foreign transmittal costs for the twelvemonth 2005 to 2015 ( based on US Cts 8/kWh ) are given in Table 04 below.

It is of import to observe that by the twelvemonth 2015, the expected foreign exchange demands needed exceed the expected foreign exchange net incomes from traditional harvests – tea, gum elastic and coconut ( USD 1000 million ) . With such big demand for foreign exchange, and with the expected diminution in foreign exchange income from the local garment industry when the Multi-fibre Agreement comes into consequence in the twelvemonth 2005, the state of affairs would be wholly unwieldy.

If we develop local biomass resources, these demands could be reduced to manageable degrees.

Sri Lanka is wholly null of any proved militias of fossil fuels. All demands of crude oil fuels are imported from the Middle Eastern states. If we decide to import coal, so we would import it from Australia. Depending on imported fuels to run into most of our energy would put the state in a serious insecure place. Development of autochthonal resources would put the state in a unafraid place.

Social benefits

The undertaking has a big constituent for community engagement throughout-grower system. Fuelwood harvested from sustainable energy plantations will be used as fuel for the power works. Fuel wood plantations will be managed both as a big graduated table plantations every bit good as small-scale husbandman out-grower system. The out-grower system will cut down the poorness degree in the part, so that the undertaking has societal benefits. A farmer household can gain sum SLR 25,000 per twelvemonth from a hectare of land from cultivating Gliricidia for fuel wood. If this wood could be cut into 50 to 100 millimeter pieces, so the income would increase to Rs. 45,000 per hectare, as the current sale monetary value of cut wood ready for gasification or direct eating to boilers is Rs. 1.50 per kilogram at the farm gate and Rs. 2.75 per kilogram at the energy transition Centres.

The undertaking is be aftering to present an incorporate attack for fuel wood plantation, which include cowss farming utilizing leaf fresh fish, organic fertiliser utilizing waste, and outflowing fertiliser or biogas, and organic agribusiness merchandises. Farmers can gain around SLR 45,000 from selling 30 dozenss of fuel wood, SLR 7,350 from selling 32 dozenss of droppings as organic fertiliser and SLR 168,750 from selling 6750 liters of milk.

Around 2000 households are expected to take part in the out-grower strategy so that their income will increase the undertaking besides provides regular day-to-day emplacement for around 50 people throughout the twelvemonth in the fuel wood aggregation and transit activities. in the fuelwood aggregation and transit activities. In add-on to this, during the building phase, a big figure of skilled and unskilled workers will be hired from the local countries. Over 50 % of the employees are likely to be hired from the nearby communities.

Additional roads will be built by the company to entree the human dynamo and the plantations. These roads are available for usage by the local people and in some instances will supply motorable entree to their places where there were merely footpaths earlier.

The undertaking is expected to supply the undermentioned societal benefits.

• Supplying employment for rural hapless:

The Government of Sri Lanka yearly spends SLR 8,500 1000000s ( USD 83 million ) on poorness relief on the about 25 % of the entire population. Over halve of the entire population in the state are populating in the rural countries. Most of them are engaged in agricultural activity. Despite the huge sum of money spent in many agricultural development undertakings such as the Mahaweli Project, the farming community in the state is populating at subsistence degree.

Most of the husbandmans are engaged in paddy cultivation. This provides merely intermittent employment chance, numbering 5 to 6 months in a twelvemonth. During the balance 6 to 7 months, these workers look for alternate employment. Many of them are tempted to acquire involved in illegal activities.

The proposed method of sporadically reaping mature subdivisions and utilizing the wood as fuel for electricity coevals and the leaf as fresh fish and organic fertiliser would provide employment chance during the slack periods and  increases the one-year income well for the husbandmans in the dry zones.

The constitution of plantations and periodical harvest home provides around 30,000 man-days of work yearly for each MW of power works, averaging 76 man-days per hectare.

Assuming a household is entrusted with 1 hour angle of plantation and provided with 6 cattles, the one-year income for this household is as follows:

• Income from wood ( SLR/ha/y ) : SLR 45,000 ( USD 441 )
• Income from milk ( SLR/ha/y ) : SLR 168,750 ( USD 1,654 )
• Income from droppings ( SLR/ha/y ) : SLR 7350 ( USD 72 )
• Entire SLR.221,100 ( USD2,168 )

A household is expected to give merely 76 man-days of work per twelvemonth on these activities. Rest of the clip could be devoted to traditional rice cultivation.

• Nutrition for children:

It has been found that most of the rural kids are enduring of malnutrition. The production of milk in each family would ensue in deciding this crisis. The undertaking is expected to better the quality of the rural hapless through increased income, which will further ease the obliteration of child malnutrition.

• Electrification of villages:

The Government of Sri Lanka has revealed that merely 80 % of the families in the state would be connected to the national electricity grid. The balance 20 % of the population amounting to over 1 million is to be provided with off-grid system. The World Bank funded Renewable Energy for Rural Economic Development ( RERED ) plan is expected to cover approximately 5 % of this 1 million families.

The proposal to set up biomass based power coevals undertakings in rural countries would widen the national electricity grid to countries, which would non hold otherwise been reached. Besides the debut of this engineering would excite the constitution of biomass based off-grid systems to supply electricity to rural communities.

• Cleaner fuel for rural household:

The debut of 6 cattles per family would promote the use of biogas systems to these families. Biogas therefore produced could be used for cookery or for electricity coevals in stray single families. The usage of biogas for cooking would ensue in the wellness of the household vastly as it would extinguish fume from traditional wood ranges.

Environmental benefits

There are no issues related to pollution as a consequence of this undertaking. Fuelwood plantations will be established in under-utilised lands. This in fact will be a solution for the land debasement job of the state. Fuelwood plantation will back up to keep ecological balance in the part. Most of the debauched lands are in close propinquity to the rice Paddy Fieldss. The paddy Fieldss constitute the low-lying lands the debauched shifting cultivated lands constitute the high-lying lands. Normally, shortly after the harvest home of rice Paddy, the husbandmans cultivate the high-land country by the “ Slash & A ; Burn/ Shifting Cultivation ” method. By presenting Gliricidia as an energy plantation harvest, these husbandmans could change over these debauched lands into a sustainable and perennial harvest land. There will be no demand for firing or switching activities. Though non advocated in this undertaking, “ Alley Cropping ” system with Giricidia and chash harvests like maize has been demonstrated in Sri Lanka. In this system, Gliricidia ( or Leucena ) trees are planted in rows with a spacing of 0.5 metres within the rows and 2 to 3 metres between rows. These lines of trees lie in the East – West way ( along the way of the Sun ) . At the terminal of the monsoon rains in January, the side subdivisions of Gliricidia trees are cut go forthing the chief root integral. In between the lines of Gliricidia trees, short-run hard currency harvest such as maize is planted. In three months the maize would maturate and would be ready for crop. Gliricidia trees are allowed to turn and the subdivisions harvest at the terminal of the following monsoon season in January following twelvemonth. This manner, the husbandmans could acquire a significant income from three beginnings:

• Traditional paddy cultivation in the low-lying lands ;
• Short-run hard currency harvests:
• Perennial Gliricidia brush wood and leaf.

Environmental benefits of the undertaking are discussed below:

• Suspension of emanations of GHG and other pollutants:

Sri Lanka has ratified the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. Therefore, we have a moral duty to cut down emanations of GHGs. The ‘Business As Usual ‘ option adopted by contrivers depends to a great extent on coal as the major fuel in run intoing our hereafter electricity demand. Figure 16 illustrates the fuel demands for electricity coevals harmonizing to BAU scenario.

Coal

Oil

The estimated baseline emanation of particulates, SOX, NOX and CO2 are given in the tabular array 05. This undertaking will displace the tantamount sum of CO2 and SOX about in its entireness and to great extent of NOX and particulates.

Tendencies of baseline emanation from electricity coevals

As illustrated in Figure17, the emanations of GHG from the power sector will increase bit by bit while the particulate affair emanation will worsen if the baseline scenario continues. Harmonizing to the public-service corporation ( CEB ) , the largest beginning of particulates are IC engines used with furnace oil or residuary oil. With the debut of coal based power workss, the reciprocating workss would be phased out. Coal power workss will be provided with electrostatic precipitators and bag filters etc. to minimise particulate emanation. Hence, CEB expects the particulate emanation degrees to drop over the old ages. The proposed 2MW power works based on sustainable supply of fuelwood from SRC Gliricidia plantations would ensue in zero CO2 emanation, therefore dramatically bettering the emanation degrees. The undertaking besides expects to command other pollutants such as SOX, NOX and particulate affair. The proposed method of electricity coevals is an alternate to the dodo fuel based electricity coevals soon practiced and planned for future enlargement. Fossil fuels such as oil and coal would non merely breathe C dioxide, they besides emit big measures of sulfur dioxide and oxides of N. Sulphur and nitrogen content of woody biomass are undistinguished compared to those present in fossil fuels. All ash produced in the procedure will be returned to the plantation country and will be applied as organic fertiliser. Thus the bottom ash disposal jobs encountered in coal based power coevals would non be encountered in the proposed method.

The proposed system eliminates most of the environmental jobs encountered in dodo fuel based power coevals methods.

The impact of the proposed 2 MW biomass power works on the national emanation degree would no uncertainty be really undistinguished. But the possible in Sri Lanka for sustainable biomass based electricity coevals is really big. There are over 1.6 million hour angle of debauched land available for sustainable energy plantations. This would be adequate to bring forth 4000 MW of electricity with an one-year end product of 28,000 GWh. Our hydropower potency is around 6000 GWh per twelvemonth. Hence biomass plus hydro we have a potency of 34,000 GWh per twelvemonth. Our present demand for electricity is 8000 GWh/ twelvemonth. Even at 8 % steady growing, we could bring forth all our electricity ( without any fossil fuels ) for many 20 more old ages to come. By that clip there would be many renewable engineerings which are commercially feasible.

Furthermore, Gliricidia plantations from the 1.6 million hour angle of debauched land would bring forth 42 million metric tons of leaf. This together with the rice straw soon incinerated in the Paddy Fieldss could be used to bring forth biogas. This could be used as conveyance fuel ( like in Sweden in Switzerland ) . This would extinguish the emanations from the conveyance sector.

Change by reversaling land degradation:

About a 3rd of the land countries of the state amounting to approximately 1.6 to 2.0 million hectares are in a debauched province. These extents of land were productive dry zone forests a few hundred old ages ago. The primary ground for debasement had been unsustainable pattern of cut and burn signifier of switching cultivation adopted by coevalss of subsistence agriculture in these countries. Most of these countries receive an one-year rainfall of about 1250 millimeter. Most of this rainfall is received during the monsoon months of October to December. Agricultural activity could be practiced merely during this monsoon period. Consecutive cut and burn system of agribusiness with unequal fallow period to recover birthrate has resulted in debasement of these lands.

Locations of these lands are given in Figure 18 below.

 Locations of debauched fringy land

As the pattern of cut and burn signifier of agribusiness is still go oning in these countries, the extent of these lands is bit by bit increasing. Furthermore, the grade of debasement is besides on the addition due to firing followed by dirt eroding. The procedure of desertification has already started in some of these countries. Unless remedial methods are taken, these lands will stop up as comeuppances.

One possible manner of reconstructing the initial position of these lands is to present some tree screen with lasting closed canopy. The proposed method of seting N repairing Gliricidia trees at a spacing of 1 metre by 1 metre and periodical harvest home of selected mature subdivisions go forthing the chief root and the stamp subdivisions integral would be a satisfactory method of up-grading this land.

As ash from the burning of wood would be returned to the dirt, dirt foods will be sustained.

Renewable energy beginning and C sink:

The proposed method of seting N repairing Gliricidia trees at a spacing of 1 metre by 1 metre and periodical harvest home of selected mature subdivisions go forthing the chief root and the stamp subdivisions in tact would ensue in prolonging the C balance in the system. In the land readying stage, merely the weedy biomass would be removed. All productive bing tree harvests would be retained till they reach their economic life.

Organic nitrogen-bearing fertiliser to replace chemical urea fertilizer:

As mentioned in subdivision , the proposed method besides produces big measures of organic nitrogen-bearing fertilisers, replacing chemical urea fertiliser manufactured from fossil fuels. Apart from extinguishing the tantamount sum of C dioxide emanation, the usage of organic nitrogen-bearing fertiliser increases the organic content of the dirt therefore heightening the environmental impact.

Technological benefits

The new engineerings expected to be introduced by the undertaking include the followers

Biomass production engineering:

As mentioned earlier in Chapter 3 “ Modern method of fuelwood production ” , bio fuel for the proposed power works will be produced in Short Rotation Coppice plantation utilizing modern methods. This engineering, though introduced to the state late, it has non yet been practised in commercial graduated table operation. The debut of 2000 hectares of SRC plantations utilizing this modern method would transform the full dry zone country into a healthy, sustainable and profitable zone.

Biomass energy transition technology:

Apart from a few sugar Millss, a freshly introduced presentation unit and a power undertaking under building, there are no commercial graduated table bio fuel based electricity bring forthing installations in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, the Sugar industries use merely the waste baggase as fuel utilizing crude inactive grating burning systems. The freshly introduced presentation unit consist of a biomass down bill of exchange gasifier with H2O scrubber/ gas ice chest and a spark-ignition based IC engine-generator with an end product of 35 kilowatt. This is installed in a distant rural are to supply electricity to 100 families. The other works is a 1 MW power works with boiler-steam turbine system.

The proposed power works will utilize Circulating Fluidised Bed burning system with high force per unit area and high temperature steam coevals. These factors will well better the steam use efficiency, therefore cut downing the operational cost, peculiarly, if the cost of fuel constitutes a important portion in the concluding cost of electricity. Furthermore, the improved burning system would cut down the emanation degree.

Features of electricity coevals are discussed below. The alternator of the system is designed for 3200 kVA with a power factor of 0.8. This power end product would be 2.56 MW. But with parasitic burden, the expected net end product is 2 MW.

Fuel treatment:

Fuel wood from the plantations would get in dawdlers. These would be weighed and moisture degree determined by portable wet metres. These will be stacked in the storage country in the power station.

Fuel wood from the storage pace would be removed on a ‘first-in-first-out ‘ footing. These would be chipped to allow size ( for fluidised burning ) and stored in a hopper. Flue gas from the boiler would be assorted with ambient air and would be used to dry the wood french friess to the coveted wet degree for burning.

Combustion system and boiler:

The steam generator shall be of natural circulation, balanced draft, and fluidised bed burning ( FBC ) type, designed for firing wood french friess. The capacity of boiler is about 35 TPH on maximal uninterrupted footing at approximately 60kg/cm2 ( g. ) operating force per unit area and about 490oC temperature.

The economizer subdivision of the boiler shall be of nonaˆ‘steaming type. Super warmer subdivision shall be designed so as to keep rated steam temperature of about 490oC at mercantile establishment over the control scope of 60 % to 100 % MCR burden. A steam de-superheating station with proviso for spray H2O tapped off from feed H2O discharge shrieking shall be provided. Air pre-heaters of cannular type shall be provided for steam temperature control.

The AFBC shall dwell of in-bed / above-bed ace warmer subdivisions, bed evaporator, H2O walls/refractory walls, economiser and air preaˆ‘heater. The boiler shall be equipped with a suited fuel fire system.

The complete boiler shall be bottom-supported type and be provided with all back uping steel platform, galleries, staircases for easy attack and care of the units. Adequate conditions protection shall be provided for instruments and runing forces. Necessary liner and insularity along with repairing stuffs to restrict outside surface temperature to a safe degree shall be provided. Monorails and hoists required for managing motors, fans shall be provided.

A trim boiler provender pump shall be provided.

Turbine:

The turbine shall be of Multistage, Nozzle governed, Horizontal spindle, two bearings, Impulse type with hydraulicly operated halt and exigency valve and built-in steam strainer, hydraulicly operated Throttle/ Regulating valves shall be used as the chief power coevals equipment. Turbine steam recess conditions will be maximal uninterrupted footing at approximately 60kg/cm2  operating force per unit area and about 490oC temperature. The exhaust force per unit area shall be about 0.1 saloon.

Condenser:

The capacitor shall be of shell and tubing building, horizontal, divided H2O box with built-in hot good.

Cooling tower:

The chilling tower shall be of forced-draft type with concrete building and aggregation pool.

Alternator:

The alternator shall be an AC synchronal generator with 3200kVA, 3.3kV, 50Hz, 3-phase, 4-wire system coupled to the steam turbine through a velocity decrease gearbox complete with following:

( a ) Brush less exciter

( B ) Twin bearings

( degree Celsius ) AVR and excitement panel

( vitamin D ) Antiaˆ‘condensation warmers

( vitamin E ) VARs control

Auxiliaries:

The undermentioned aides shall be provided:

( a ) Auxiliaries for generator protection and control panel

( B ) Generator ledgeman

( degree Celsius ) Battery with care tools

( vitamin D ) Battery courser and DC distribution panel.

( vitamin E ) Standby Generator for ‘Black Start ‘ .

Fuel feed system:

The fuel provender system shall dwell of a chipper, a drier using energy in boiler fluke gas, a mechanical/ pneumatic conveyance system directed into the burning chamber of the boiler. The fuel shall be stored in the storage country and fed manually in to the splintering machine.

Ash remotion disposal:

Ash shall be collected at the underside of the ash aggregation system. The disposal shall be done manually by opening the ash disposal door and collected in an ash cavity. Manual disposal is required thenceforth. The ash can be used as a fertiliser for the plantations.

Features of fuelwood samples collected in the undertaking country have been analysed. Consequences obtained are as follows:

Other impacts of the undertaking

Positive impacts

This undertaking will be an illustration for an attempt to advance sustainable biomass energy based electricity coevals with community engagement. Experience of this undertaking could be shared at national, regional and planetary degrees.

Negative impacts

One of the negative impacts of the undertaking would be the force per unit area on demand for land in the hereafter. If this undertaking is successful, many similar undertakings will be established throughout the state. This will negatively act upon other land usage options, such as agribusiness and small town enlargement etc.

Generational poverty is an unfortunate issue which affects individuals, families, and cultures all over the world. Generational poverty is considered a very complex problem due to the length of time and ways it affects certain families as an entirety. The severity of this issue makes it extremely difficult to find any resolutions in improving this epidemic. If a family is experiencing generational poverty, they have had to live in poverty for a minimum of two generations.

According to Cleveland, “It is important to recognize this time factor to be able to separate it from “situational poverty,” characteristically understood as a lack of resources due to particular sets of events, i. e. a death, chronic illness, divorce, etc. ,” (n. d. ). Almost every family and individual decision is made for the present. Individuals are not taught to think ahead and plan for their future. This is a trending factor in the difficulty in overcoming generational poverty.

Members whom belong to generational poverty have a sense of entitlement from society. Individuals have a constant defense mechanism to society as a whole. The most significant aspect to families suffering from generational poverty is that the “momma” is the central figure and focus to the family. The mom is what feels safe to the family. She is the ultimate caregiver to individuals in her family and to her house. Even after her children have grown into adults, both the mother and children have a difficult time with the child becoming independent.

Love is the center of “momma’s” home. The male figure in generational poverty is responsible for the manual labor and will fight for their family. Although they display a rough outer layer, they still show a great love for the members in their family. Even though there is a constant, huge amount of love, most communication within the family maintains in a nonverbal form. Overcoming generational poverty can be a challenging task. There are several key factors when considering on improving the poverty status.

Some of these factors include: Education is key in getting out and staying out of generational poverty, being in poverty is rarely about a lack of intelligence or ability, individuals stay in poverty because they do not see “choice”, or if they do, they do not know how to access proper resources or people to get them to the point of actually “choosing” to organize themselves, complete assignments, behave respectfully, plan for the future, and communicate in conventional register (Cleveland, n.d. ).

Once a child is born into generational poverty, schools are one of the few places where they are exposed to certain choices and rules of how a higher class lives. This also allows the child access to resources and people who want to assist in the child rising from poverty. There are specific characteristics displayed in those suffering from generational poverty, which contribute to the difficulty in overcoming it. One of these characteristics is the “working memory”.

“Neuroscientists discovered that the working memories of children raised in poverty are much smaller compared to those in middle-class,” (Pinoy, 2009). An individual’s brain capacity is a crucial part of their development. If a child is raised in a stressful household, the stress causes a limited supply of new nerve cells in the brain and memory. This can make it very difficult for the child to solve problems, read and properly communicate. The most effective way to begin overcoming generational poverty is for society to have a clear understanding of the complexity of this issue.

Women face many unique challenges in the different stages of poverty life. Although, many issues that trap women and girls in generational poverty can be alleviated by a good education. Job prospects multiply with every level of school completed; better jobs bring more income and, consequently, more options for housing, transportation, child-care and healthcare. But, it is challenging for a woman to secure a good education due to the several setbacks. A woman in poverty does to have the ability or access to pay for necessary education for either her or her child(ren).

A woman in poverty is consumed with the hours she spends working to care for the home and kids and feels this is the number one priority. It is also normal for the women to not have access to reliable transportation. According to Knight, “For a girl who seems to be making her way up the ladder out of generational poverty, pregnancy can be an enormous setback,” (2012). Mental health is even more likely to be neglected. The research shows that starting early by teaching girls life skills, such as financial planning and goal setting, can reduce stress and increase self-esteem.

Girls who live with hope and support are more likely to feel that they have inherent value and don’t have to depend on others – including boys – for validation. In order to improve the challenges that women in poverty face, it is imperative for society to offer programs and convenience to teach these women on how to improve their life quality. Mentors should be available to provide services on sharing examples and how positive goals can be accomplished by taking the necessary steps.

I have learned a great deal of information after viewing the informational videos and reading all the material on generational poverty. It has definitely changed my perspective on how I approach this special population. As most of the general population, stereotyping is a part of my daily life. I never truly understood the depth of the generational poverty issues that are present. I have learned that not only is there a lack of school environment education, but individuals suffering from generational poverty need educated on how to “properly” live life each day in order to obtain goals.

I have also learned these families can love more than your average family. They have a very strong bond between the members within their family. While love is important and necessary, they also have a misperception of life goals. The implications of this destructive cycle are the reasons generational poverty continues to be an issue. It not only affects individuals, it affects the family structure for many generations. Society as a whole needs to determine more effective ways to break it.

Michelle Freeman 05/24/2012 English 101 Epistemic Opacity Computers, tablets, I-phones, I-pads, cellular phones, e-readers and more are now considered daily necessities as well as pleasure apparatus’ that society relies on exponentially to get through each day. From the time we wake until we lie our heads down at night, society is constantly “plugged in” to some sort of technological advance. Due to this dependency on these electronic devices, society has succumb to a world of bits and bytes with no real consideration to how these tools work or provide the connection(s) we have come to count on.

Sherry Turkle, an Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology states in her essay How Computers Change the Way We Think, “Some thinkers argue that the new opacity is empowering, enabling anyone to use the most sophisticated technological tools and to experiment with in complex and creative ways. But it is also true that our tools carry the message that they are beyond our understanding. It is possible that in daily life, epistemic opacity can lead to passivity” (568).

Epistemic opacity is a fancy way of saying that the understanding of how something actually works does not mean that you don’t know how to use or work that same something. Take a lawnmower for example; a person of general intelligence understands that gasoline needs to be put into the engine in order for it to run. That same person understands that depositing of oil is equally important for the engine to maintain lubrication and cooling. A turning of a sharp blade that is powered by the engine is what cuts the grass.

Intellectually we understand not only how to use the lawnmower but how the lawnmower actually works. Typically we are not passive in our acceptance of such general day to day use items, such as said lawnmower. Technology however, is different. The intellectual understanding of technology and how it actually works does not seem to be a priority for the masses of today. The importance of understanding of personal technologies is key to counteracting this opacity that appears to be more and more prevalent as technological developments continue to progress.

By not paying attention to the basic understanding of technology, we are willingly and openly allowing ourselves to be directed and manipulated in a way that removes individual opportunity for growth and understanding where technology is concerned; our development in this arena is left to creators of technology to decide. Intellectual lack and lesser intelligence regarding these tools of technology does not appear to be the consensus opinion among our fellow citizens but rather there is the general thought that we are all part of a growing technological wave that makes us all smarter and more advanced.

However, in all actuality, it is more that cognitively people are running the risk of intellectual deficiency and passivity as Turkle expresses. Turkle states that soon after she joined the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the late 70’s, which was coincidentally the end of an era of the slide rule and the beginning of the era of personal computers, she witnessed several senior professors in engineering complaining that the transitions from slide rule (a mechanical analog computer used primarily for multiplication and division) to calculators had affected their students ability to deal with issues of scale (564). The Professors were arguing that when students used slide rules, they had to insert decimal points themselves. They insisted that inserting the points themselves required students to maintain a mental sense of scale, whereas those who relied on calculators made frequent errors in orders of magnitude. Because of this, the students with calculators had lost their ability to do “back of the envelope” calculations, and with that, an intuitive feel for the material” (564).

It is possible that because society accepts at face value the technology that we have come to depend on, that the level of passivity is leading to a reduced intelligence as a whole. Personal experience has led me to witness many people more interested in the brand, make and model of their personal technological items than as to how these items send, receive, record and process information. The general core mechanics of each individual piece of technology should be made common public knowledge.

It is not so much that people need to understand the inner workings of every motherboard out there; as it is that we receive a general understanding of how personal technologies work. How does a touchscreen actually operate? How can picture messages float through the air and land inside another phone or make their way to someone’s email inbox? What do we know really about the implication of radiation, if any regarding consistently placing technology against the sides of our heads?

I cannot answer these questions and many others because that information is not something readily available to or sought after by the general public. Society accepts openly that these technological items do what they are marketed and sold to do. Through blind acceptance we become susceptible to a possible deprivation of necessary knowledge. It is important to comprehend the effects and/or implications of daily use, in order to facilitate continued intellectual growth that parallels the technological boom.

Charles McGrath, writer and editor for the New York Times, touches on epistemic opacity in his essay The Pleasures of the text. McGrath is referring to text-messaging when he states “text-messaging is “lateral” rather than “penetrative,” and the medium encourages blandness and even mindlessness” (474). McGrath suggests that as Americans we use text-messaging with no real consideration or thought. He is referencing a common practice among individuals who use text-messaging to convey quick, mindless jargon in an efficient and non-personal way (474).

This line of thought connects to opacity in that it shows how text-messaging is just one example of many how society has become so relaxed and comfortable in the use of technology that not only do we not consider how technology works, we have taken it even further and we don’t even truly consider what we put out into the world with our technological devices. Society has become lazy where this is concerned. Turkle supports this idea in her aforementioned essay when she expresses her personal witness to the psychological effects of computational objects in everyday life.

She states that passivity regarding technology is becoming more and more apparent in that the “people who built or bought the first generation of personal computers understood them completely. The next generation of operating systems were more complex, but they still invited that old-time reductive understanding”. Turkle states that contemporary information technology encourages different habits of mind. She goes on to say “today’s college students are already used to taking things at (inter)face value” (568). I witness this daily in my own life every time I see my children access all different types of technology.

When I ask them to explain the deeper operation of the technology they are currently using, they cannot do it. They explain it is not important to be able to use the current chosen technology. This attitude causes me concern because I worry that they are becoming a culture that does not ask the deeper questions. They just accept at (inter)face value as Turkle expressed. To grow along with the technological boom and to understand the deeper reasoning behind the operation of said technology will keep minds active and aware.

It is important that resignation to acceptance of our technological world does not continue to grow and expand. We can accomplish this by thinking for ourselves, preparing for our children and teaching future generations they must not blindly accept what is given to them. If they do, opacity and passivity will prevail to the point that we are all walking around filled with intellectual knowledge that has been directly controlled, removing individuality of thought and expression.

Technology today is an amazing and powerful thing, at times it might even be considered beautiful. I personally look forward to technological advances and the wonderful happenings that will accompany these events; however, it must not be at the cost of our own personal intellectual development. Opacity and passivity are not conducive to society maintaining an upward intellectual growth regarding technology. Let us grow with and because of, technology.