Drilling Alaska: America Needs to Adopt Conservation Practices! Essay

Drilling Alaska I recently read an article in Scientific American (May 2001) titled â€Å"the arctic oil & wildlife refuge.† The article addresses the issue of whether or not science has the ability to clarify the potential economic benefits and the ecological risks of drilling into the nation’s last great coastal wilderness preserve. What I began to wonder after reading the article is, if we humans should continue our scientific and technological petroleum endeavors even though we are causing irreversible harm to our earth. My feeling is that we should not drill in Alaska’s Arctic. In the early twentieth century, science and technology brought the automobile. In less than one hundred years, humans especially Americans have grown increasingly dependant on the conveniences born from widespread use of the automobile. In turn Americans are the most reliant population in the world on petroleum. Last year, Americans consumed 19.5 million barrels per day. It is estimated that our use will rise to 23 million by 2010 (Gibbs 2001)! Our insatiable appetite for petroleum has sparked a fiery debate within this country and this congress on whether or not taping into the Arctic oil supply is necessary. Proponents of drilling cite that exploration and production can be done without causing any adverse impacts on the Arctic wildlife. Critics however believe drilling will cause unretractable consequences on the pristine Arctic ecosystem. The debate is now in the hands of Congress to decide. Senate bill S.389 could potentially open the 1002 Area of Alaska to oil and gas exploration and production. The bill would allow for the Bureau of Land Management to control activities to ensure that activities â€Å"will result in no significant a... ...y’s population is reliant on science and technology to get us through the challenges we face, I know that we can develop other means to meet our needs, conservation being the key. More Americans must learn to accept conservation as a science. Conservation on practices that require enormous amounts of petroleum and conservation of our environment must be adopted. It is amazing that the US, the most developed country in the world, is so far behind our friends in terms of conservation. It is about time we drill into the American conscious and extract conservative practices. While humans remain here on Earth we will further science and technology and hopefully our betterment will not come at the cost of our world. Work Cited Gibbs, W. Wayt. â€Å"the arctic oil & wildlife refuge.† Scientific American May 2001:pages 62-69. Drilling Alaska: America Needs to Adopt Conservation Practices! Essay Drilling Alaska I recently read an article in Scientific American (May 2001) titled â€Å"the arctic oil & wildlife refuge.† The article addresses the issue of whether or not science has the ability to clarify the potential economic benefits and the ecological risks of drilling into the nation’s last great coastal wilderness preserve. What I began to wonder after reading the article is, if we humans should continue our scientific and technological petroleum endeavors even though we are causing irreversible harm to our earth. My feeling is that we should not drill in Alaska’s Arctic. In the early twentieth century, science and technology brought the automobile. In less than one hundred years, humans especially Americans have grown increasingly dependant on the conveniences born from widespread use of the automobile. In turn Americans are the most reliant population in the world on petroleum. Last year, Americans consumed 19.5 million barrels per day. It is estimated that our use will rise to 23 million by 2010 (Gibbs 2001)! Our insatiable appetite for petroleum has sparked a fiery debate within this country and this congress on whether or not taping into the Arctic oil supply is necessary. Proponents of drilling cite that exploration and production can be done without causing any adverse impacts on the Arctic wildlife. Critics however believe drilling will cause unretractable consequences on the pristine Arctic ecosystem. The debate is now in the hands of Congress to decide. Senate bill S.389 could potentially open the 1002 Area of Alaska to oil and gas exploration and production. The bill would allow for the Bureau of Land Management to control activities to ensure that activities â€Å"will result in no significant a... ...y’s population is reliant on science and technology to get us through the challenges we face, I know that we can develop other means to meet our needs, conservation being the key. More Americans must learn to accept conservation as a science. Conservation on practices that require enormous amounts of petroleum and conservation of our environment must be adopted. It is amazing that the US, the most developed country in the world, is so far behind our friends in terms of conservation. It is about time we drill into the American conscious and extract conservative practices. While humans remain here on Earth we will further science and technology and hopefully our betterment will not come at the cost of our world. Work Cited Gibbs, W. Wayt. â€Å"the arctic oil & wildlife refuge.† Scientific American May 2001:pages 62-69.

The Transgenic Tomato Essay examples -- Science Genetics Papers

The Transgenic Tomato The Need for Genetic Engineering of Crops For most Americans, fresh vegetables come from the supermarket. One only has to walk down an aisle loaded with gleaming red tomatoes, juicy melons, fresh potatoes, and a plethora of other vegetables and fruits and gather whatever captures one's fancy or appetite. A person living in a Westernized culture often takes for granted the hard work, resource usage, and waste that occurs to bring food to him. Tomatoes, for example, currently follow a long and difficult route to the supermarket. To begin with, field workers must pick the tomatoes by hand while they are still green. The unripe tomatoes are then trucked to facilities where they are gassed with ethylene to artificially induce ripening (Engel 108). Treating green tomatoes with gas to make the red color appear before the tomato ripens allows them to be shipped with less bruising and spoilage because they are still hard, but this practice detracts from their flavor and makes them taste, as some like to say, like cardboard! After the tomatoes are gassed, the red (but tough) tomatoes are distributed to the supermarkets. The "cardboard" tomato problem illustrates a larger problem in agriculture - crop spoilage associated with the predations of insects and fungi and with shipping. We saw that picking fruits such as tomatoes while they are green and chemically ripening them is a solution to some of the spoilage problem in crops, while using other chemicals can prevent some damage by pests. However, these chemicals often create environmental hazards in areas where they are used, and pests can often develop resistance to chemicals used to destroy them, making the release of even more pesticides and fungicides int... ...ill form a string, and the tRNA molecules will be released into the cell. When this string of amino acids is completed, it is called a protein. Some proteins provide structure in living things (such as the protein in muscle tissue), while others can promote certain chemical reactions in cells (such as the breakdown of pectin in tomato cell walls). The above information was taken from Biology, Neil Campbell, et. al., New York: Addison Wesley, 1999, p.316. Works Cited Campbell, Neil et. al. (1999). Biology. New York: Addison Wesley Engel, Karl-Heinz et al., editors. (1995). Genetically Modified Foods: Safety Aspects, Washington, DC: American Chemical Society. Nettleton, Joyce. (1999, January). Wedging Science into Public Policy, Food Technology, p. 20. Wilson, Edward O. (1999). The Diversity of Life. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Why advertising is an ethical problem Essay -- essays research papers

Why is advertising an ethical problem? †¢ If it is, it is because it is often intrusive, deceptive, or manipulative -- or, at least, this is what people say about it. †¢ Another problem is the money and resources devoted to advertising; billions are spent each year (around $500 billion in fact) that, perhaps, could go to education, health care, research, reforestation, or other worthy causes. We'll come back to this, but first we look at the problem of deception. †¢ Could argue that it distorts our whole economy; it is not merely that we are bombarded by it all the time, but may even impede certain important functions such as free debate. What gets published in newspapers and journals often becomes a function of what advertisers are willing to support. Advertising also has an indirect but powerful impact on society through its influence on media. Many publications and broadcasting operations depend on advertising revenue for survival. This often is true of religious media as well as commercial media. For their part, advertisers naturally seek to reach audiences; and the media, striving to deliver audiences to advertisers, must shape their content so to attract audiences of the size and demographic composition sought. This economic dependency of media and the power it confers upon advertisers carries with it serious responsibilities for both. PROS†¦. a) Economic Benefits of Advertising 5. Advertising can play an important role in the process by which an economic system guided by moral norms and responsive to the common good contributes to human development. Advertising does this, among other ways, by informing people about the availability of rationally desirable new products and services and improvements in existing ones, helping them to make informed, prudent consumer decisions, contributing to efficiency and the lowering of prices, and stimulating economic progress through the expansion of business and trade. b) Benefits of Political Advertising Political advertising can make a contribution to democracy analogous to its contribution to economic well being in a market system guided by moral norms. So political advertising can make its contribution by informing people about the ideas and policy proposals of parties and candidates, including new candidates not previously kn... ...lve the use of subliminal messages Apply normative principles Business people could be introduced to different systems of ethical analysis., for example, refers to four normative first principles that he believes should be taught: i. The Utilitarian Principle: Act in a way that results in the greatest good for the greatest number. ii. Kant's Categorical Imperative: Act in such a way that the action taken under the circumstances could be a universal law or rule of behavior. iii. Personal Justice: Act so the least advantaged members of society will be benefited to some extent. iv. Personal Liberty: Act so the ability of other members of society to lead lives of self-fulfillment and self-development will be maximized Good ethics is Good business While this appears an admirable sentiment which would ensure ethical conduct, some writers take a far more cynical view, and argue that some corporations may be more concerned with public relations than action; "they want to appear good, not be good". On the other hand, this option does seem the most likely to lead to ethical behavior, even if the hypothesized links between profitability and ethical behavior are suspect.

Ethical Actions Worksheet Essay

†¢ Was there anything in either the University of Phoenix Student Code of Conduct or the Student Code of Academic Integrity that surprised you? If so, what was it? Why were you surprised? If not, why not? After reading the University of Phoenix Student Code of Conduct, like expected, I did not find any of the information contained within to be surprising. Like in any professional and sometimes even public settings, I expected nothing less from the University of Phoenix’ own Code of Conduct. The University of Phoenix Code of Conduct reflects that of many of the abovementioned settings in order to ensure an environment where when followed; the rules help ensure a positive learning and work environment where each and every individual can focus only on the tasks at hand, leaving behind any personal issues derived from unprofessionalism. †¢ What did you learn about the behaviors considered important for an ethical learner or student in the University of Phoenix learning community? I learned that in order to ensure a more positive learning environment, it is important for students who are enrolled at the University of Phoenix to always take into consideration whether or not their actions may be found offensive by other students. One must always keep in mind that what may not be found to be offensive by one individual, may offend another individual regardless of the similarities between the two. This is due to the various backgrounds and personal beliefs of students enrolled at the University of Phoenix. For example, one person of a particular racial background may find humor in a racial joke while another person of the same racial background may find the same joke to be offensive. †¢ Why are the Student Code of Conduct and Student Code of Academic Integrity important to you and the University of Phoenix learning community? The University of Phoenix Code of Conduct is important in order to achieve an environment where students can focus only on their main academic goals. The Code of Conduct minimizes distraction brought on to students when they are in an environment where their attention is focused on issues not of an academic nature. The University of Phoenix Student Code of Academic Integrity ensures that all students take advantage of the opportunity to learn new things, which in turn will be rewarding to each individual’s future. Academic Integrity ensures a safe and peaceful learning environment where students can focus on the studying.

I.C.T In Our Society Essay

This report is about how ICT has affected us as a society. For example, for entertainment purposes like games consoles, communication purposes such as mobile phones, storage purposes such as storing music on a CD or for social purposes such as email. E-mail The first thing I will look at will be email. With email you can quickly talk to friends, work colleagues, basically anyone who has an email address. I have two email accounts, one at home provided by hotmail, which is useful because I can log-on to it anywhere via the Internet. I also have one at school provided by Solihull L.E.A, which I can only access at school; both have a unique log-on I.D and password. With my personal account (hotmail) I can choose a unique login I.D and password when I register, providing it ends with @hotmail.com. With my school account I can only choose the password. As a student my school account is free and I get absolutely no junk mail thanks to the junk-mail filter and I can receive emails from anyone. The L.E.A also scans every email for anything suspicious such as files containing viruses; if one of these are found then the L.E.A will not let the email through. Email is useful and easy and is an efficient way to contact my friends and relatives. If I want to get in touch with several people in one email I simply put a semi-colon in between each persons email address. If I want to get in touch with several people, email is one of the easiest ways to do so. I can set up an address book which means I could email everyone in that address book at once, also by setting up an address book I don’t have to remember everyone’s email address and it helps me stop making mistakes. Workers in offices usually have email accounts open all day, which means if they receive an email the response time is very quick. The problem with email is that if the inbox becomes full I couldn’t receive any more emails until I had deleted some of my old ones. Pictures take up a lot of space and some pictures can be too big to send in the first place. Say for instance I had done a word document in history on Hitler and the Nazis, I may want to carry on with it at home but when I come to send it, I can’t because I have too many pictures on there that take up space. Also if someone doesn’t have broadband than it could take a long time to attach a document or presentation to an email and even with broadband it could take a long time depending on the size of the file. A good thing about most email accounts is that they are free but then I get a lot of adverts and pop-ups. If email companies are going to give people free email then they need to get the money from somewhere to make sure they can afford the payment of the site, this is where the adverts and pop-ups come in, other companies pay companies such as ‘hotmail’ to put their adverts and pop-ups on their websites hence ‘hotmail’ can pay for the upkeep of the site. I can set up a filter on my email account so that I only receive emails from people in my address book. The problem is though that before I can receive emails from someone I need to add them to my address book and if someone changes their email I need to edit my address book. The alternatives to email are fax, which can be quick but can cost a lot of money, or text that is quick so long as the other person has their phone on; you also need signal and credit, which can be a problem. Both can be useful if email is not available, but when compared to the quickness and the fact that email is basically free, email is the best thing to use. To conclude, email is useful to communicate with people no matter where they are in the world mostly free of cost, which means it can be better than a mobile phone or fax but due to the time difference between countries, there is no guarantee that they will receive the email in the time you need them to see it. Entertainment The next thing I will look at will be the entertainment side of ICT and for this I will look at games consoles. There is a lot of competition at the moment between the PS2 made by Sony, the Gamecube made by Nintendo and the Xbox made by Microsoft. People use games consoles for 3 main purposes; the first is single player use where the player simply plays the game on their own trying to complete the game. The second is multiplayer use where two or more people can play on one console and either try to complete the game cooperatively or go against each other in different game types. The third is online play, which has only recently taken off since broadband became so popular. At the moment there is no prospect for online play on the Gamecube but Xbox and PS2 have successful online play. Players who want to play online need broadband to play because dial-up can’t handle the speed that is required. The Xbox online play is called Xbox Live and players make an account for à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½40 a year and can make a list of friends and whenever their friends are online they can join them and play with them. The problem is that if two friends want to play together they both need the same game and both need to be online. Also, if broadba nd is not available then people can’t play online. I use an Xbox and play Xbox Live quite often. I have experienced problems though, for example my broadband router had broken and I couldn’t go on Xbox Live until I got it fixed, also the Xbox Live service had not responded which again meant that I couldn’t use the service. The other problem is that paedophiles are able to use the service so you never know if the person you are talking to is being genuine or not. People also use games consoles for watching DVD’s but this has only become available in the newer consoles. With the Xbox you can also put a CD into the Xbox and save it to the integrated hard disk and can then play the CD’s while your playing a game. Again this is technology that has only recently been introduced. Another type of entertainment is digital TV. Originally TV and radio used analogue signals but over the past few years more and more digital radios and digital TV’s have become available. A digital signal is basically a TV or radio signal that is computerised and has to be decoded at the receiving end in order to watch digital TV or listen to virtually crystal clear music on a radio. Digital television (DTV) allows you to receive digital transmissions from different TV stations that have installed digital transmitters and record their programmes using equipment that can handle digital signals. With DTV you can enjoy excellent quality pictures and clear sound. But all good things come at a price and in order to watch Digital TV you must buy either a digital TV adaptor for an existing TV, which will cost about à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½100, or you can buy a new integrated DTV television set known as a iDTV for about à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½500. I use Digital TV because I have Sky Digital. It is a good quality picture and good sound and also doesn’t cost too much at approx à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½20 a month. I have a digibox, which is basically a small box on top of or underneath the TV and the signal comes through a Sky dish on the side of my house. The signal is then transferred to the digibox and I can watch the channel I want on my TV. There are a lot of channels on Sky and I only have a few of them. There are also movie channels which show movies 24/7 on about 12 different channels, and sport channel which shows sport 24/7 on about 15 different channels, but to have all these channels can cost over à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½50 a month. The disadvantage comes when there is bad weather. In heavy rain the signal often gets interrupted which means that either no signal is received or a very poor signal is received. As in a thunderstorm, the signal gets interrupted and no signal can be received. Other problems can be if the station I am receiving the picture from is experiencing technical problems no signal can be received. Most of the time though the quality is good and there is no problem. A revolutionary new technology that Sky has introduced is called Sky plus. With this you get a new digibox and Sky plus allows you to pause live TV, record shows and watch them later without the use of a VCR. You can even rewind live TV if you want to watch something again, such as a good goal in a football match. If you do stop or rewind then a little counter comes up on screen that tells you how far behind the live TV you are, then by simply pressing play on the remote control you can carry on watching from where you paused it or you can just go back to the live TV by pressing the sky button. This is technology that has only recently been introduced and costs an extra à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10 on top of whatever sky package you already have. Storage Media There are a lot of different types of Storage Media. Originally data was stored on floppy disks but space was limited and the disks were quite large. Consequently there soon became a need for more and more space to store things on. Floppy disks could only hold 1.4mb of data but then zip drives became available which could hold different amounts of data, the maximum of which was 250mb. The disadvantage of this was that you couldn’t put the disk straight into your computer. You had to buy a zip drive which either connected to the computer through USB or you could plug it straight into the computer. This was only a short- term solution and demand came for more and more space. The answer was compact disks, known as CD’s for short. Originally designed to hold music, CD’s could hold up to 700mb of data, an ideal source for storing data. Nowadays computers are fitted with CD-Rewriters (CD-RW), which can store music on a CD, make a copy of a CD, or just store es.here are currently two types of disks available they are: CD-Record (CD-R) – this can only have files or music stored on it once and then you can’t add or take anything off the CD. CD-Rewritable (CD-RW) – this can have music or files stored on it as many times as you want. If you add something and feel you want to add more, you can easily do this. You can now get a DVD type disk. These can hold much more data than normal CD’s but they do cost more and will not work on some older computers. I usually use CD-R to store music because CD-RW does not work on some CD players, which can be a problem. If I want to store data on a CD however I usually use a CD-RW as most computers can read these and I can always add more data at a later stage. Businesses use CD-RW on their computers because if they have data that they want everyone in the office to have, then they can simply put the data on a CD and make numerous copies of it. They can then give everyone in the office a copy of the CD. At school we use CD-RW. For example, in the ICT course, the school wanted us each to have two CD’s. They had the two CD’s they wanted and then copied them and gave everyone doing the ICT course a copy to take home. The CD’s had useful software and information on that I will use while doing the ICT course. The obvious disadvantage to storing data or music on CD’s is that if the CD becomes full then no more data can be put onto the CD. If you want to put a PowerPoint presentation and a word document on a CD then the presentation may take up a lot, maybe even all, the space. This will depend on the content and how many pictures it has on it. If the presentation does take up all the space then there won’t be enough room for the word document and that would mean you would have to use another CD. That would be an inconvenient because you would have to carry two CD’s around. The alternative to CD’s is email but the amount of data that can be sent by email can be limited. Also the person who needs the information may not have access to a computer. Another alternative is to print all the information on paper and post it to the person who needs it. Communication Mobile phones are everywhere these days and virtually everyone has got one. Mobile phones used to be much larger than they are now and were a big inconvenience to carry around, as they couldn’t just fit into your pocket like the mobile phones of today. Only wealthy businessmen owned them, as they were expensive to both use and buy. As with all things, over time they got smaller and smaller and now they can be very small and more and more people have them. They are even regarded as a necessity to young people. People don’t just use mobile phones for calling other people though. Texting has become a very popular way to communicate, especially amongst the younger generation. There are two main types of message; Short Message Service (SMS) – this is the most common use of texting and one of the most useful. A message, just like an email, of up to 150 characters can be sent to one or more people at once for an average of 10p per message. Due to the small amount of characters a texting ‘language’ has developed to reduce space and therefore enable you to say more in a message. An example of this language would be ‘you’ has been shortened to just ‘u’. They both sound the same but one takes up fewer characters than the other. Hundreds of thousands of these messages are sent every day from mobile to mobile and providing signal is good and both people have there mobile phones on, a text message can be sent from here to Australia in an amazing 6 seconds. New services have become available using text messages. For example phone companies such as Vodafone allow mobile phone users to subscribe to a service where football or cricket scores can be sent to the subscribers phone as soon as they happen. Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) – Another recent development, MMS is an advanced form of SMS. Instead of just sending a message, new mobile phones will allow you to send photos, or you could send ringtones, or a pre-recorded voice message. These new phones are a little heavier then old mobile phones, but they are more sophisticated. For instance, if you go on holiday, instead of sending a postcard to your friends and family you could just take a picture using the inbuilt camera and send it using an MMS message. You can even add some writing to it. I have a new mobile phone with a digital camera; I can take good quality pictures and then send them to my friends. I also use a mobile phone to text my friends but to do this I need a good signal and sufficient credit. Businesses use mobile phones, especially people that travel around a lot and are not based in one location all the time. Salesmen would find it hard to manage without mobile phones, as they need to be able to keep in touch with their customers, and with one another, at all times. One major disadvantage of mobile phones is that they are thought to emit radioactivity. Although this has not been proven there are many people that believe that radio masts and mobile phones are a health problem to them and there are strict planning laws regarding the positioning of radio masts.

Recycling and Dear Fellow Friends.standing

Recycling Good morning to our beloved teachers, Puan Rusni and my dear fellow friends. Standing here today,I would like to deliver a speech entitled,†Recycling. † According to the Asian Development Bank,rapid development,rising personal consumption and unprecedented levels of waste in Asia where cities will generate on estimated 1. 8 million tonnes of rubbish per day by 2025. In Malaysia alone,we produce over 15,000 tonnes pf rubbish daily and it is a matter of time before we run out of space to dispose them.In dealing with this phenomenon,we shall discuss some of the suggestions that all of us can adapt through the process of recycling to conserve the environment. One of the ways to recycle is to sell old newspapers to the junkman who will eventually send them to the recycling centres. By selling the old newspapers,we can earn some extra money at the price of RM0. 03 per kilogramme of old newspapers. Buying recycled paper is also another option. On the average,about 17 m arket sized trees are felled to produce a tonne of paper or one tree is felled to produce 20 reams of A4 size paper.Today,we recognise the limits of resource demand and this is the reason why recycled paper is critical part of our aspiration for a healthy global environment. We should also use both sides of a sheet of paper because it cultivates the habit of not being wasterful while saving our earth from further deterioration. In addition,glass bottles should be recycled. The energy saved by recycling a glass container can light a 100-watt bulb for up to four hours. Avoiding the use of plastic products is another recommended way to protect our Mother Nature because plastic is non-biodegradable,it may survive as long as 700 years.Apart from that,it is indispensably necessary for us to save water and electricity as much as possible. We have to save electricity because we are running fast out of fossil fuels. The fossil fuels saved by turning off the water taps while brushing our teet h. By doing this we can save the energy used to filter purify and transport the water to the end users. On the other hand,electricity can be saved by switching off the light,television,radio and fan before leaving any rooms.This is because the primary environmental impact of electricity consumption is the production of greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming. Hence,saving electricity is the key preserve our Mother Nature, Another advice that everyone ought to take head of is not to throw away leftover rice but instead,make fried rice,tamarind rice,pepper rice and yoghurt rice. This is because many poor nations of the Third World countries are suffering from famine and malnutrition due to accute shortage of food such as Mozumbigue and Sudun and Myannar.Lastly but not least,we can also use water for washing clothes to wash our parents'cars and other non-drinking purpose such as watering plants,washing toilets and mapping floors. As a conclusion,our planet is in a bad shape but most people choose to be indifferent to the effects initiated by the goverment to safeguard to dire condition of the environment. Majority of Malaysians choose to ignore the gathering storm clouds and hope the problem will magically take care of itslef.In Klang Valley,for instance,it produces more than 5000 tonnes of rubbish everyday which can cover the whole of Petronas Twin Towers,one of the tallest buildings in the world,in ten days and this is the reason why we must reduce,reuse and recycle. Whether the planet lives or dies,it depends on us and so,everyone plays a significant role by starting to recycle even from homes because a small change in behaviour has a measurable impact on our Earth. Thank you for lending me your ears. I hope all of you are benefited from my speech today.

Mesoamerican civilization

In the civilization of the North and South America people, farming started later than the Afroeurasian. But the American civilization started on its own as opposed to the dependence of lending and borrowing of ideas from one community as was witnessed in the Afroeurasian civilization.The argument about the Mesoamerican civilization has been as a result of single culture (known as ‘mother culture’), while others claim that it was through learning and copying from others that the civilization developed, i.e. ‘sister culture’. The civilization arguments has to a larger extend been linked to the Olmec influence.   This is because the Olmec has been considered as the earliest civilization groups in the Mesoamerica.Hence some of its earliest civilization practices can only be found within the heartland of Olmec while others are beyond the heartland of Olmec. Some of the artifacts that are only found in the heartland of Olmec include colosal heads, earthen platfo rm and monolith alters.   There have also been cases where other Olmec style artifacts have been found in other different areas.There are objects that have been considered to be of Olmec – traditions in areas that are out side the heartland of Olmec appearing together with the traditional objects of that place.   For instance, at Las Socas, objects created in local tradition contain Olmec iconography (Reilly, p 371).This indicates that the traditional of Olmec was flowing from the Olmec heartland towards other areas and not vice versa.   In this case the argument of Olmec to be of the â€Å"mother culture† arises.   Michael D Doe is one of the proponents who argue that the Olmecs had a mother culture. â€Å"There is now little doubt that all later civilization †¦ whether Mexican or Maya, ultimately rest on an Olmec base,† (Coe, 2002, pp 62).Those advocating for ‘sister culture’ feel that the Olmec civilization took place simultaneously with the other places.   The argument is based on the fact that Olmec was only among the earliest equal civilizers.   Flannery and Marcus have agued that it is only through competitive interactive that civilization can take place.   â€Å"It is adoptive autonomy and frequ3ent competitive interaction of such chiefdoms that speed up evolution and eventually make useful technologies and sociopolitical strategic available to all regions†, (Flannery & Marcus, 2000. pp. 33).Therefore, looking at both the arguments of the mother culture and sister culture, it is not right to agree that the Olmecs civilization was a mother culture.   For instance, according to Pool (N.d),The Olmecs of San Lorenzo were only a handful of societies in the Americas that had achieved comparable degree of social and political integration by the end of the second millennium B.C. On the other hand, sociopolitical complexity varied among Olmec societies within the Gulf coast region, the intensity and effects of interaction with the Olmecs varied across Mesoamerica, and other Formative societies made significant contribution to the developemtn of a distinctively Mesoamerica civilization tradition, (Pp 2).The use of the term formative (preclassic) was developed by Gordon Wiley and & Philip Philips (1955, 1958), â€Å"Where it indicated the village agricultural threshold and/or sedentary life†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Pool, Pp.8).The formative period has various prehispanic historical changes taking place.   Before 200 B.C. most of the inhabitants lived in small bands that were characterized by several mobility and their main activity being hunting and gathering.   Then came the development of a lot of urban centers by 300 A.D.   These urban centers came about because with time, the mobility was reduced and the group settled into larger groups and thus staying at one place for longer period than before.The increased settlement was influenced by the fact that people have increased domes tication of crops and had also indicated the storage facilities.   â€Å"In the initial formative period (2000-2500 B.C.)†¦The processes of domestication and sedentarization combined to foster the spread of settled farming villages over much of the area that was becoming Mesoamerica,† (Pool, pp.8).The early societies of America shared the hunting and gathering activities with the other societies across the boarders.   These behaviors changed among the communities, as they become more settled and avoided movements.   This lead to the emergence of social hierarchies, centralized governments, and various religious concepts.   Their neighbours adopted the practices that emerged from one culture to another, including the OlmecsLike all other complex societies of the America, the Olmecs also depended on this hunting & gathering, domestication of food and animal as well as fishing for their daily needs.   These activities enabled them to build strong social and politi cal hierarchies that integrated many other small communities.Mesoamerican ReligionIn pre classical periods of the Mesoamerican people religion developed due to the influence of the seasonal cycles, â€Å"In their world –view, the development of the corn plant was one of the principle archetypes.   Another intrinsically tied to the former was the archetype of the alternating powers of fire and water, derived from the division of the year into two seasons, then dry and rainy seasons†, (Obafemi & Olupona, 2004, Pp 199).The Mayan community of the Mesoamerica developed their religion because of the belief that there was a relationship that existed between the human being and the supernatural power.   They nurtured and developed this belief to the extend of giving human sacrifices to the gods.   High priests of the Mayan religion performed the human sacrifices.   The key aspect of this religion was the great importance it gave to the agriculture and the time timeless of the harvests. â€Å"The Mayan religious calendar Ezolkin comprised of only 200 days and two cycles each comprises of weeks spanning 30 days and 20 days.   Another calendar called tun comprised of 360 days and five added unlucky days†The Mayan believed in the cycles of rails and to the harvest of the produce.   They considered the agriculture product to be a gift from God.   To the Mayans, human beings were supposed to be attuned to the cyclical changes so that they can obtain more benefits from them.The offering of sacrifices, of both human and animal was meant to appease the gods.   Songs and dances as well as competitions accompanied the sacrifices.   There was no separation of civil and religious life. Therefore, the kings acted as both rulers and principal intermediaries between human beings and gods. The other reason that was behind sacrifices was that, many gods needed human support which if was not forthcoming; they may weaken and eventually die.Life afte r death was determined by the position that a person held before the demise. Therefore if a person held a high status position on earth, that position will still be held even after death. While those with lower positions held again the same positions.About the universe, the Mayas believed that the universe would continue to be created and destroyed continuously.   The cycle for the destruction would be taking place after a period of about 5000 years.   The destruction and creation would be the exact duplicate of the previous one.   They perceived the earth to be the back of the giant caiman that was floating in the pool, with the exposed part being flat with four comers.   Above the earth, was the human with 13 levels (7 going up, and 6 going down), (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761580499_2/Pre-Columbian_Religions.html). This was of the same oscillation as the rising setting of the sun.The Maya gods and goddesses formed a family (pantheon), each having four color aspe cts.   The religious followers believed in deities in heaven, but also having counterparts on earth and vice versa.   The deities also comprised of counterparts of the opposite sex.   â€Å"For example the supreme celestial god Itzama, the aged patron of culture and learning.   Kinich Ahau, the sun god, may have been a youthful aspect of Itzama in addition to being his son†, (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761580499_2/Pre-Columbian_Religions.html).Like the Mayan, the Aztec believed in the destruction and creation of the universe, but that had multiple differences. They believed to be living in the fifth and final universe, which they considered to be the fifth sun. In this case, they believed that there would be no sixth universe after the fifth destruction, and that there was escape or avoiding of this destruction but it could only have been delayed. The sun was considered to be a warrior that fought a continuous unending war against darkness. Therefore, as long as the sun was still fighting, the fifth universe could not be destroyed. To make sure that the sun continued with the fights, they offered blood it through sacrifices. The sacrifices were especially of human who were war captives.Befitting their central role as allies of the sun, the Aztecs thought they lived at the center of the universe. Their earth was divided into four quadrants, each with typical Mesoamerica color-direction symbolism, though the specific pairings of colors and directions were different from those of the Mayas. The four quarters met at the main temple (Templo Mayor) of Tenochtitlan the Aztec capital. This temple was also the point where supernatural forces from the heavens and the underworld came together. The heavens were composed of 13 ascending levels. The sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars traveled through the lower levels. The upper levels were the homes of winds, storms, colors, and remote gods. The underworld contained 9 levels, all descending, u npleasant, and dangerous, (http://www.angelfire.com/realm/shades/nativeamericans/precolumbionrel4.htm).The pantheon of the gods and goddesses of the Aztec were more complex and performing different overlapping functions at different ceremonial functions. The gods were related to different practices. For instance, the Tlaloc was the rain god. There were also the gods that were related to the agricultural produce and deities related to fertility.BibliographyCoe, M.D (2002): Mexico: from the Olmecs to the Aztecs, London, Thames and Hudson.Flannery, K. & Marcus, J. (2000); A Formative Mexico Chiefdoms and the myth of theMother culture; a Journal of Anthropological Archeology, Vols. 19. Issues 1.History of Religion Manna Religion Retrieved on 2nd Nov. 2007 fromhttp://www.clearleadinc.com/site/religion.htmlObafemi J. & Olupona K. (2004):   Beyond Primitivism Indigenous Religious Traditions andModernity, Routledge, ISBN 041527 320X.Pool A. Christopher (N.d):   Olmec Archeology and Earl y Mesoamerica, Retrieved on 2nd Nov2007 from  http://assets.cambridge.org/97805217/88823/excerpt/9780521788823_excerpt.pdfReilly III, F. Kent, (N.d) â€Å"Art, Cultures and Relationship in the Olmec world in AmericansCivilization of Mesoamerican: A Recorder, Blackwell publishing Ltd..