Will the Environment Heal Itself?
The environment will heal itself, all right, but humans should worry how. The population explosion is causing damage at a faster rate than the earth's ability to recover, and the damage threatens to become permanent. Furthermore, when an expanding population meets shrinking resources, the results are starvation, poorer health and pitched competition for survival. Among other resources, the world has reached its limit in crop harvests, and is declining in animal species, rain forests, top soil, fish stocks, and fresh water.
There are two types of damage that humans cause to the environment. One is long-term, even permanent destruction, such as the extinction of a species or the radioactive poisoning of Chernobyl.
The second is short-term damage -- and this is where conservatives latch onto false hope. It is true that the environment has the capacity to heal itself in some ways. Endangered species can rebound, the earth can create its own ozone, the oceans can absorb greenhouse gases. The rate of recovery depends on the type of damage being done. Species can recover in a few decades; ozone, a century; old growth forests, several centuries; the cooling of radioactive waste, hundreds of thousands of years. But here is a critical point: the environment cannot recover while we are still increasing the damage to it. In many areas, humans are destroying the environment faster than it can recover, as the following statistics will show. And if we continue in our current ways, the damage will inevitably become permanent.
In surveying statistics on the environment, it is important to keep two opposing trends in mind. One is the population explosion:
World popu...
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...D.C., private communication with Lester Brown, April 27, 1992; pork data from Leland Southard, Livestock and Poultry Situation and Outlook staff, ERS, USDA, Washington, D.C., private communication with Lester Brown, April 27, 1992; poultry ratio derived from data in Richard V. Bishop et al., The World Poultry Market - Government Intervention and Multilateral Policy Reform (Washington, D.C., USDA, 1990).
14. Rush Limbaugh, See, I Told You So (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), p. 180.
15. Dina Umali, Irrigation-Induced Salinity: A Growing Problem for Development and Environment (Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1993).
16. Sandra Postel, Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1992).
17. "1992 Annual Transactions Review: Drought Stimulates Contractual Innovation," Water Strategist, January 1993.
...tion of courtly flirtation. Usually when a character speaks in courtly language, the author biases his word choice to French, since French was the formal language of the Court and people associated with the Court spoke French-derived English on a daily basis. Chaucer avoids that practice here and selects words based in Germanic-derived English, or Anglo-Saxon. Words like "ich," "wille," and "spille" and others persisted from Old English, and Chaucer's use of them through Nicholas gives the passage a decidedly rough tone, corresponding to Nicholas' sensual actions. Nicholas' language might have been courtly, but his intentions were definitely not as delicate as French.
In this paper I will compare two of Chaucer’s characters using both the interpretation of the characters as written and how those same characters would be interpreted today. The two roles I will be discussing are the Wife of Bath and the Summoner. I will attempt to show that although the Wife of Bath was supported as a good woman in part because of her sexual prowess as the character was written, the same sort of character - were she to tell her tale today - would be shamed and looked down upon as promiscuous and unworthy. The Summoner, on the other hand, would not be reinterpreted very differently and would be as reviled today as he was at the time of writing. His corruption, lechery and drunkenness would still be condemned.
Owens, James (nd). Is Limiting the Population Growth a key Factor in Protecting the Global Environment.
“The Canterbury Tales” was written in the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer. These tales constitutes a frame story which each pilgrim has to tell their own story to the Chaucer, the pilgrim; not the poet. As we know, the tale itself is a satire, but the stylistic structure in the tales creates a sense that can be a parody as well. To support this idea of parody, it is need to know the definition of parody and how Chaucer use this style to make his own ideas clear through the general prologue and the tales such as “The Miller’s Tale” and “The Knight’s Tale”.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Canterbury tales: The Prologue”. Our Literary Heritage. Ed. Desmond Pacey. 4th ed. Montreal, Que.: Mcgraw-Hill Ryerson ltd., 1982.
A man named Robert Laughlin once said, "The Earth is very old and has suffered grievously: volcanic explosions, floods, meteor impacts, mountain formation and yet all manner of other abuses greater than anything people could inflict. Yet, the Earth is still here. It's a survivor." Laughlin clearly believes in this quote that the Earth can take care of itself. The Earth has been through worse disasters than just pollution, and extinction of species and plants. Roderick Nash, an environmentalist and activist, says otherwise.
Chaucer’s book The Canterbury Tales presents a frame story written at the end of the 14th century. It narrates the story of a group of pilgrims who participate in a story-telling contest that they made up to entertain each other while they travel to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Because of this, some of the tales become particularly attractive for they are written within a frame of parody which, as a style that mocks genre, is usually achieved by the deliberate exaggeration of some aspects of it for comic effect. Chaucer uses parody to highlight some aspects of the medieval society that presented in an exaggerated manner, not only do they amuse the readers, but also makes them reflect on them. He uses the individual parody of each tale to create a satirical book in which the behaviours of its characters paint an ironic and critical portrait of the English society at that time. Thus, the tales turn satirical, ironic, earthy, bawdy, and comical. When analysing the Knight’s and the Miller’s tale, one can realise how Chaucer mocks the courtly love convention, and other social codes of behaviour typical of the medieval times.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales: Riverside Chaucer Third Edition. Ed. Larry D. Benson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,1987. 3-328 Secondary
Ellis, Roger. Patterns of Religious Narrative in the Canterbury Tales. Banes & Noble: Totowa, 1986.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed Mack, Maynard et al. W. W. Norton and Co. New York, NY. 1992.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales: Riverside Chaucer Third Edition. Ed. Larry D. Benson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,1987. 3-328 Secondary
The Medieval period of The Canterbury Tales is held on April 11, 1387. The writing style of tales are literary skilled. “There is clear evidence in them that Chaucer was familiar with a considerable number of the great book of his time, and it is fairly well established that his writings show a steady increase in his literary skill” (Chaucer xxxvii). Chaucer is a writer of surprise. His stories not only come from plots of other writers but also from his lifetime. “There is of course no explaining where or how Chaucer acquired his ability as a great storyteller. However, the fact that he was a man of affairs as well as a man of books, a civil servant who dealt frequently with people from all walks of life, seem to have had great influence on the writing he did at night when he returned home from the office” (Chaucer xxxv). The Prioress tells an anti-Semitic tale, which reflects her position among the clergy.
There are five ways that people affect, damage or harm the environment and the ecosystems. The pollution of the air we breathe, the human population is increasing because of technology, waste, energy, and natural resources. They damage the water and land by using the natural resources and cutting down trees in the forests.
According to World WildLife Fund, many ecosystems around the world are being destroyed, eliminating many plant and animal species that inhabit them (“Pollution”). 2. And acid rain, which is created when water in the atmosphere mixes with chemicals, ravage through rain forests and can even kill fish. 3.
"The Canterbury Tales," is the contrast of realistic and exaggerated qualities that is entitled to each of the characters in the story. When viewed more closely, we can determine whether each of the characters is convincing or questionable based on their personalities Chaucer has narrated. This essay will analyze the characteristics and personalities of The Wife of Bath, The Miller, The Monk, The Knight, and The Parson during the English fourteenth century from the most “sinful” to noble being.