Philippine Airline Industry and the Environment Essays

Philippine Airline Industry and the Environment Essays Philippine Airline Industry and the Environment Essay Philippine Airline Industry and the Environment Essay Environmental management in the Philippines over these past few years has focused on regulating production industries, such as manufacturing and mining. However, there has been an increasing interest in the environmental effects of the service industry (Goedkoop, van Halen, te Riele, Rommens, 1998). And this industry comprises a variety of activities, from restaurants to hospitals to financial institutions. The service industry merits its attention because of its large size and consequently the potential for environmental impacts (both negative and positive). And one of the service industries that will be discussed in this paper is the Airline Industry. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization and the Air Transport Bureau, the aviation industry impacts the environment in a way that aircraft engines emit noise pollution, gases and particulate emissions. It also contributes to climate change and global dimming. The toxic emissions produced by airports and aircraft are chiefly six pollutants: nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, ground-level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and sulphur dioxide (Whitelegg and Williams, 2000). These emissions have a definitive impact on the already growing problem of global warming as well as being very deadly to people exposed to them. In this study, the researchers will have to identify the positive and the negative environmental impacts that can be found in the airline industry in the local and global aspect and how could the industry minimize these negative impacts. This paper is significant because the airline industry gives a positive economic impact to the community. Business travelers are important to airlines because they are more likely to travel several times throughout the year and they tend to purchase the upgraded services that have higher margins for the airline. Airlines have also made significant progress in addressing climate change and are continuing to do so while being driven to be fuel efficient. According to the IATA, the airline industry has already improved fuel efficiency by 70% over the last four decades and new, more fuel efficient aircraft on order will replace aging, gas guzzling jets and increase fuel efficiency again by 25%. According to the report of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA), the airline industry is believed to be a â€Å"dirty† industry; that it is wasteful of resources and is responsible for the major threat of ozone depletion by the generation of greenhouse gases. But aviation, like all forms of transport, does pollute but its impact on the environment is exaggerated and the solutions put forward don’t address the environmental impact. Thus the attempt to penalize the industry and its flying public is misguided. The most damaging effect of aviation, in terms of its pollution of the upper atmosphere is best dealt with by emissions trading. This study focuses on adopting a global perspective of the Airline Industry because air transport itself operates globally and its impacts on the atmosphere, particularly those that could result in climate change, will have worldwide consequences and the Airline Industry’s contribution to the local and global environmental conservation.

Propaganda Maps

Propaganda Maps All maps are designed with a purpose; whether to aid in navigation, accompany a news article, or display data. Some maps, however, are designed to be particularly persuasive. Like other forms of propaganda, cartographic propaganda attempts to mobilize viewers for a purpose. Geopolitical maps are the most explicit examples of cartographic propaganda, and throughout history have been utilized to garner support for various causes. Propaganda Maps in Global Conflicts This map from the film depicts the Axis powers plan to conquer the world. In maps such as the aforementioned propaganda map, authors express specific feelings on a topic, creating maps that are meant not just to describe information, but also to interpret it. These maps are often not made with the same scientific or design procedures as other maps; labels, precise outlines of bodies of land and water, legends, and other formal map elements may be disregarded in favor of a map that speaks for itself. As the above image shows, these maps favor graphic symbols that are embedded with meaning. Propaganda maps gained momentum under Nazism and Fascism, as well. There are many examples of Nazi propaganda maps that were intended to glorify Germany, justify territorial expansion, and decrease support for the U.S., France, and Britain (see examples of Nazi propaganda maps at the German Propaganda Archive). During the Cold War, maps were produced in order to magnify the threat of the Soviet Union and communism. A recurrent trait in propaganda maps is the ability to portray certain regions as big and menacing, and other regions as small and threatened. Many Cold War maps enhanced the size of the Soviet Union, which magnified the threat of communisms influence. This occurred in a map titled Communist Contagion, which was published in a 1946 edition of Time Magazine. By coloring the Soviet Union in bright red, the map further enhanced the message that communism was spreading like a disease. Mapmakers utilized misleading map projections to their advantage in the Cold War as well. The Mercator Projection, which distorts land areas, exaggerated the size of the Soviet Union. (This map projection website shows different projections and their effect on the portrayal of the USSR and its allies). Propaganda Maps Today choropleth map maps The maps on this site show how political maps can mislead today. One map shows the results of the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, with blue or red indicating if a state voted majority for the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, or the Republican candidate, John McCain. From this map there appears to be more red then blue, indicating that the popular vote went Republican. However, the Democrats decidedly won the popular vote and the election, because the population sizes of the blue states are much higher than those of the red states. To correct for this data issue, Mark Newman at the University of Michigan created a Cartogram; a map that scales the state size to its population size. While not preserving the actual size of each state, the map shows a more accurate blue-red ratio, and better portrays the 2008 election results. Propaganda maps have been prevalent in the 20th century in global conflicts when one side wants to mobilize support for its cause. It is not only in conflicts that political bodies utilize persuasive mapmaking however; there are many other situations in which it benefits a country to portray another country or region in a particular light. For example, it has benefited colonial powers to use maps to legitimize territorial conquest and social/economic imperialism. Maps are also powerful tools to garner nationalism in ones own country by graphically portraying a countrys values and ideals. Ultimately, these examples tell us that maps are not neutral images; they can be dynamic and persuasive, used for political gain. References: Boria, E. (2008). Geopolitical Maps: A Sketch History of a Neglected Trend in Cartography. Geopolitics, 13(2), 278-308. Monmonier, Mark. (1991). How to Lie with Maps. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.