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Listening Guide to Antonio Vivaldi – Spring Concerto
Students Name
Institution of Affiliation
Course Title
Date
Listening Guide to Antonio Vivaldi – Spring Concerto
The spring concerto is divided into three major parts depending on how fast or slow the tempo is played, and this is how the narration of the season is told. The three parts include joyful, slowly and the combination of joyful and slowly. In the first part of the spring concerto can be described as fast and joyful as a way of welcoming the spring. The birds celebrate the return of spring with festive songs, and the breezes softly caress the murmuring streams. Then the thunderstorms and lightening, that cast a black mantle over the heaven which later dies away to silence. The birds again take their charming songs. The second part has a slow tempo, on the flower-strewn meadow, with leafy branches rustling overhead, the goat herder sleeps along with his faithful dog beside him. The music in the second part sounds restful like someone is sleeping. The third part of the concerto is characterized by a tempo that is fast and joyful. It is led by the festive sound of rustic bagpipes, nymphs, and shepherds lightly dance beneath the brilliant canopy of the spring. At this time, bagpipes are first to be heard, progressing to musical passages that suggest that someone is dancing.
Potential Solutions to Global Environmental Challenges
Student Address
Date
Ms. Inger Andersen
Executive Director
United Nations Environment Programme
30552-00100 United Nations Avenue
Nairobi, Kenya.
Dear Madam,
Subject: Potential Solutions to Global Environmental Challenges
I need to draw your attention to current global environmental challenges. Over the centuries, collective human activities have affected important geochemical cycles of the earth. As people continuously change how they interact with the environment, crucial environmental support systems are increasingly compromised. Over the years, numerous environmental solutions have been suggested, and world leaders must implement these solutions. As a world leader yourself, I request that you take a firm stand and implement viable environmental solutions that will benefit our collective future.
Cultural interpretations of environmental degradations rely on change perceptions rooted in local knowledge. Therefore, while people may recognize their impact on the environment, they are likely to deny these effects by relying on their cultural perceptions (Baer, 2015). For instance, cultures that use trees as a source of fuel and building materials are likely to cause deforestation. Although they may recognize that clearing forested lands negatively impacts the environment, there are more likely to use their culture as an excuse to ignore this problem. Similarly, political factors impede the implementation of environmental solutions. Urban development is often viewed as progressive; therefore, environmental programs that limit development are met with resistance. For instance, in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, pro-development forces in the region opposed implementing an environmental management plan that aimed to limit development in the area (Brown et al., 2020). This political backlash derailed the implementation of the environmental plan.
Lastly, economic factors such as industrialization significantly affect the environment. Industrialization has resulted in both economic prosperity and environmental degradation. During the 18th and 19th centuries, America’s industrialization resulted in significant air, water, and soil pollution (Hough, 2019). Countries with high manufacturing capacities are the leading contributors to greenhouse gases. Despite this adverse effect, world leaders from these countries are unwilling to implement solutions that negatively affect their economic growth.
Various anthropological environmental solutions can solve current environmental problems while addressing the highlighted economic, political, and cultural concerns. For instance, in cultures reliant on trees for fuel and building material, governments can introduce reforestation programs that use fast-growing tree species to increase forest cover and be used as sources of fuel and wood. Such programs address the community’s needs while solving the problem of deforestation. Governments need to encourage locally driven solutions to solve environmental problems caused by economic factors. For instance, communities should be encouraged to use renewable energy. Reliance on renewable energy as a fuel source reduces the number of people reliant on national electric grids, reducing the amount of coal burnt in electricity production. Lastly, governments and world leaders need to work with conservation groups to develop and implement various environmental solutions.
If you use solutions that include all shareholders, I believe that solving current environmental challenges will be easier. Moreover, world leaders must urgently address these problems to ensure a prosperous collective future.
Yours Sincerely,
Student Name.
References
Baer, H. A., & Reuter, T. (2015). Anthropological perspectives on climate change and sustainability: Implications for policy and action. Brief for GSDR 2015.
Brown, N., McIlwraith, T., & de González, L. T. (2020). Culture and Sustainability: Environmental Anthropology in the Anthropocene. Perspectives: An Open Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, 2nd Edition.
Hough, P. (2019). Back to the future: environmental security in nineteenth-century global politics. Global Security: Health, Science and Policy, 4(1), 1-13.
Is Honest Really the Best Policy
Students Name
Institution of Affiliation
Course Title
Date
Is Honest Really the Best Policy?
The issue about honest is controversial as some of the time, it can be the best policy, while at times, it can never be an option. The society is built on truth and trust, and thus, people are required to be truthful and honest as a way to create openness in the society. However, lying is part of the human nature, as it is challenging to find someone who talks the truth all the time. Sometimes we even lie to our best friends or to those we love not because we hate them but because we want to protect something, whether on us or their side. On some occasions, such as the interview, it is advisable, to tell the truth since lying may come along with negative consequences not only to the employer but even to the new recruit.
One reason is that a person may be assigned the same piece of work which they lied to be professionals in and they end up failing or reducing the production capacity since they are not expertise on that side, on the side of the employers as well, reduced quality of products due to lack of the essential skills may lead to loss and therefore, in this case, lying is not an option. But there are other circumstances where lying maybe the only way to salvage yourself. One of such occasions include when you are surrounded by toxic people or when someone you loved so much ended up lying to you. When a person close to you betrays you, it is justified to lie since they might be finding an option to destroy the other you by exploring your weakness. Such occasions, one is justified to tell lies since it won’t haunt you in any way, and you only did it to keep the person at a distant.
All over my life, I have experienced different situations that require a person, to tell the truth, and some that compel one to lie. Lying in some cases is meant for defense, while some are intended to stop more questions. Some of the common lies that I can remember, one which I told a person and for which I knew I was wrong for telling, is a person who wanted to fat person that they were losing weight while the real truth was that they were increasing. The reason why I lied is because the person kept on saying how they were dieting, and there was no need to say no to stop the nagging. On another occasion, I remember back in high school when I used to be a performer, and my parents always knew that I was a good student. I can remember on one occasion I had not revised for my exams, and that time, I failed terribly. I didn’t know what I could tell my parents since they could have quarreled me up. I came up with a plan and resorted to telling them a close to true lie, which was, there was a problem with marking, and therefore, we could collect the results in the next reopening period.
Comparing the two lies, there are some similarities as well as differences. One similarity is that they are all lies, telling a person that they are losing weight simply to avoid more questions while in the real sense they are adding more weight is a lie since it is not the truth. The same case applies to lying to parents that you didn’t fail the exams, but there were some marking problems that led to the delaying of the results, but they would be ready by reopening. The parents wouldn’t remember by opening that I didn’t bring home last term’s result but will focus on the current results that will be brought. By telling a lie, I managed to save myself being quarreled and thus felt safe from the lie. I am pretty sure that if I didn’t lie, there were probable punishments that I could have been subjected to, such as grounding, and thus, I feel that the lie was justified.
Another similarity between the two lies is that they were told to avoid unnecessary consequences. In the first case, lying in regards to losing weight was to boost the person’s confidence though that wasn’t my intention and as well avoid much bragging about how the dieting was working for them. Some people are good at bragging and end up recommending the same to you, but to make sure that does not come up is better to keep them away through a lie. On the other hand, lying to my parents about my results was meant to avoid the consequences of failure, such as grounding and denial of some privileges at home. Considering the consequences of telling the truth, it was probable to lie rather than tell the truth.
According to the classification of lies by Benaji and Greenwald, the type of lies that I had used are gray and black lies. Most of the people, including me, tend to lie, and most of our lies are gray. Gray lies are used to help a person escape a reality while at the same time having some benefits, as they help both parties in a way. Gray lies vary in the shade of gray in regard to the balance of harm and help. But in most times, the gray lies are hard to classify. The lie that I made to my parents regarding academic performance can be classified as a gray lie. Both of us partly benefited from the lie. On my side, I never got quarreled and thus had the peace that I wanted in the course of the holiday. On the other hand, I saved my parents the stress of my failure, of which they could begin consulting the school what really was going on with my studies. Therefore, the gray lie helped both my parents and me by keeping us at peace.
Black lies, on the other hand, are about callous and straightforward selfishness. Most of the time, we tell the lies so that we benefit alone while others gain nothing. The primary purpose of telling a black lie is to get ourselves out of trouble by reducing the harm that may come our way. Besides, we tell black lies to gain something that we desire, thus increasing the benefits to our side. I think both lies can fall under this category as they have a selfish interest. The first lie – that of losing weight can be a black lie as my friend didn’t benefit from it and in fact, believed that they were losing weight as expected, therefore in the real sense gained nothing. On my side, my lie contributed more to a change of topic, which was a benefit to me as I didn’t like the topic before. Issues of weight loss are sensitive, and they may result in enmity if not addressed carefully, and therefore, I can say that I managed to salvage our friendship by quickly avoiding the topic. On the other side, lying to my parents concerning my school performance was not of any benefit to them but on my side reduced the hustles of being quarreled and made me a free person- free from grounding and enjoying various privileges such as going to outs with my parents. I don’t think the lies benefited my parents in any way, and through this, I can attest to say that I acted selfishly for my own gains.
Implicit bias played a significant role in the decision made, although in the first case, I was lying to change the topic, thus never thought of it deeply. However, overweight is a condition that not many people, including me, would like to have in our lives, and therefore, even without making deep thinking, the mind had already registered that no one wants to be obese. From the other lie, failure is not accepted in the society, and therefore, no one wants to be a failure or wants to be associated with one. Due to this, there was no need to let my parents know of my failure in academics as this would have a negative perception, and I had vowed to rectify the situation by working hard next time so that I would be able to explain myself if my parents demanded to see the previous results. Therefore, obesity and failure are issues that are highly stereotyped in our community, and this is how implicit bias comes out unconsciously.
Globally, people who are overweight are perceived to be sick and thus advised to cut off their weight to avoid such conditions such as hypertension that results from obesity. The world perception of obesity is stereotypic as well, and this is reflected in our society, and therefore, it directly registers into the mind that one should maintain a weight that is fit and proportional to their body to ease agility and flexibility. On the other hand, the world does not like failures, and neither does it entertain academic dwarfs. When a person fails in school, they lose a chance to join colleges as well as get white-collar jobs. People in the offices and those paid well are among the learned individuals. Being successful in any field, including education, directly raises the social status of a person, and thus, failing was not something to be proud of, and therefore, I had to lie. From the lies, I am the person who benefited the most as I maintained the friendship and on the other side, didn’t face the punishment that would befall if I had told the truth. The lies were a bit convincing, and this explains why I was not confronted.
Work Cited
Banaji, Mahzarin R., and Anthony G. Greenwald. Blindspot: Hidden biases of good people. Bantam, 2016.