Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Frederick Douglass And Harriet Jacobs Two Humans Born...

Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs: two humans born into slavery. These characters had twistedly abusive masters, forcing them to live in the upmost inhumane way that none, of any era, deserve to endure. Douglass and Jacobs both had an intense passion to be free in a time when freedom depended on the mere color of skin. Their vision was to break the shackles of slavery, to be free, and live free. The vision did not only concern their freedom, but rather, the vision encompassed all fellow slaves who deserved the same absolute freedom. During the 1800s, salve narratives were extremely unlikely because most of the slaves were illiterate. However, Douglass and Jacobs were relatively well educated and wrote their own narratives describing the hardships they suffered during their journey to freedom. These narratives share a vast number of similarities and differences. Douglass’ and Jacobs’ lives contrasted by experience, yet their sacrifices were similar in oppression, and illustrating their heartbreaking narratives in the first person point-of-view, which would eventually, and greatly help the most historical movement of righteousness and freedom: the path to end slavery. Douglass and Jacobs were both concerned about the consequence of disobeying slave masters and how it would affect either close family members or other slaves. During his early years, Douglass was witness to violent whipping; he describes the man behind the whip as â€Å"a cruel man. He seemed to take pleasure inShow MoreRelatedA Comparison Of Writings By Harriet Jacobs And Frederick Douglass1718 Words   |  7 PagesA Comparison of Writings by Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass In this paper I will compare the writings of Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass. I will touch on their genre, purpose, content, and style. Both authors were born into slavery. Both escaped to freedom and fought to bring an end to slavery, each in their own way. Both Jacobs and Douglass have a different purpose for their writings. Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass were both slaves that wrote about their strugglesRead MoreEffects of Slavery1567 Words   |  7 Pages| 5/6/2013 | Joanne Jahnke The Effects of Slavery Olivia Nelson May 6th 2013 Joanne Jahnke The Effects of Slavery Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobson both write their compelling stories on what life was like as slaves during 19th century America. Both narratives define the harsh life of slavery and the unforgiving effects that occurred during their time as slaves. In the same way, both stories reveal the theme of the evils of slavery but also given their different gender roles, theirRead MoreEthos, Pathos, and Logos: Black Abolitionist Arguments Against Slavery1420 Words   |  6 PagesIn the mid-1800s the issue of slavery had emerged in the U.S. as a major conflict. In the northern states a small but very articulate group of abolitionists formed to speak out against the abomination of slavery. Several of the most influential and outspoken abolitionists were actually former slaves. Three such speakers during that time were Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Jacobs. All born into slavery, and having witnessed its horrors first-hand, these three black reformers publiclyRead More Interpretations of Slavery Essay3734 Words   |  15 PagesInterpretations of Slavery INTRODUCTION Slavery is known to have existed as early as the 18th century B.C. during the Shang Dynasty of China. Slavery was widely practiced in many other countries, including, Korea, India, Greece, Mexico and Africa. (Britannica 288-89). When most people consider slavery, however, they think of Western slavery in North America because it is well documented and it was such a horrible institution. Even though there is no one definition of slavery, the people who studyRead MoreThe Humiliating Nature of Enslavement, Sexual Savage Exploitation, and Degradation in Autobiographical Narratives of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Ann Jacobs2068 Words   |  9 Pagessexual savage exploitation, and degradation in autobiographical narratives of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Ann Jacobs In the age of Romanticism, slavery and the slave trade provoked sharp criticism and controversy and played a very significant role in shaping public opinion and causing moral opposition to injustice and tyranny. Since Columbus’s journey opened the doors of the Atlantic passage to African Slave Trade, slavery became man’s greatest inhumanity to man â€Å"converting† the victims into laborRead MoreTomas Kirklin. English 260. Paul Acosta. 5/9/17. Paper1522 Words   |  7 PagesTomas Kirklin English 260 Paul Acosta 5/9/17 Paper 3: Representing the body in Slavery Central to the experience to slavery is the body. Every tale, every Movie, and every story you have ever heard has concentrated on the slave and their body either with detail of how scared it is or what color and features it represents. And this is one mode of stripping a human being of their humanity, to reduce their existence to only their body and give them nothing else to look at or look forward to. OnlyRead MoreComparative Evaluation in Slave Life: Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass2566 Words   |  11 Pagesexperiences of two former slaves, Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglass. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, were both written during the same time period (the former in 1861, the latter in1856). These two books are compelling works of African American Literature. They are depressing but at the same time hopeful, discouraging but uplifting. Both authors go into many aspects c oncerning the brutality of slavery, butRead MoreHarriet Jacob : An African American Slave And Feminist1071 Words   |  5 PagesHarriet Jacob: An African American Slave and Feminist â€Å"Reader, be assured this narrative is no fiction† (Author). Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, is her narrative as a slave who lived in a slave state for twenty-seven years before escaping to live as a free woman in New York (Jacobs preface). Jacobs’ was motivated to write her story by a deep desire to share her experience in an effort to bring to light what slavery really was, a â€Å"deep, and dark, and foul experience thatRead MoreOlaudah Equiano s Narrative Of The Life Of Olaudah1993 Words   |  8 Pagesname was born in 1745 in a part of Africa that is now known as Nigeria. . Olaudah Equino’s narrative tells the story of his travels as a slave and then as a freeman through the Artic, North and Central America, the West Indies, Europe and Great Britain. This narrative was first published in 1789 and was written by him. When Equiano was eleven he was kidnapped along with his sister and sold to slave traders in the beautiful Island of Barbados. Equiano was of royal African blood and born to the chiefRead More Interracial Figures of the American Renaissance Essay2691 Words   |  11 PagesRenaissance      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This essay examines Cora from The Last of the Mohicans, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Ann Jacobs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The American Renaissance marks a period of social injustice and the fight of the minority to bring about social change. Women and African-Americans (who were freed or escaped from slavery) begin to gain a voice through literacy, and use that voice to start the movement to abolish slavery and gain women rights. The development of literacy makes it impossible to ignore women

Monday, December 16, 2019

Motivations and Emotions VS Formal and Informal Power Free Essays

Virtually all of our reading (Chapters 6, 7, and 8) has either a formal or informal power theme associated with them because in essence power is: intangible. Popular perspective is that power is considered a personal characteristic. Frequently people refer to power as the means to how one person exhibits domination or influence over another individual. We will write a custom essay sample on Motivations and Emotions VS Formal and Informal Power or any similar topic only for you Order Now In an organization, power is purely a structural characteristic required to mass control or procedurally influence the actions of the various employees or processes. It is vital to my analysis to reflect upon the motivations and emotions of the collective mind-frame and how informal and formal power in organization manipulates these psychological aspects in order to accomplish a goal. This comparative research paper shall initially focus on the conceptual understanding of power at an organizational level. When referring to an organization, people see organizations as bureaucratic entities created to fulfill a function using a variety of tools, hierarchical leadership, team ownership, process completion styles, and institutionalized rules or procedures. As organizations are often large and complex structures with large employee counts it is vital that a hierarchy be in place to organize tasks and indicate which employee needs to be assigned to which project. As a hierarchy is a formal process there are individuals aligned to various positions in the leadership chain. Power along this chain typically transfers downwards in order to assure that orders are carried out as requested. This authority along the vertical chain is accepted by people through an organization. Employees accept that top executives and project managers have the legitimate right to make key decisions required for a projects completion. Employees also accept that goals must be set by leadership in order to provide direction and procedures which everyone can follow and comprehend. This directing of activities enables workers to see that power throughout the organizational structure helps control the decision making process itself. In addition, it clearly allows for ownership and helps manager become accountable for projects or processes. As orders can be accepted or denied in an organization there is always an underlying emotion associated with the actual outcome. In addition, as some tasks or processes are considered more important then others there is also a certain amount of access to greater tools or resources granted to individuals assigned to those organizational contributions. These individuals are usually considered Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and are crucial to the continued prosperity or success of a division, department, or process flow. Rationally and politically, organizations must focus on enhancing people relationships in order to obtain a desired level of success in projects. Formally an organization wields power by striving to pool individual strengths to produce a result. Logically, organizations need to be considered a centralized power which lays out procedures, rules, and the foundation for which it upholds its mission, value system, and produces a product (whether it be physical or intellectual). Informally, an organization seeks to empower workers so they can participate in decision making roles. In general, an organization prefers to have satisfied employees versus disgruntled ones. In pursuit of this goal, organizations have taken to comprehending what motivates the every-day employee. Organizations have bestowed upon their management the responsibility of determining on an individual employee level the wants and needs of an employee which can motivate the employee. As there are many process theories associated with this motivation we shall be focusing on several aspects of this emotional and psychological requirements. Based upon Boons and Kurtz, the Motivation Theory can be categorized under 2 distinct approaches. The first approach is a holistic evaluation of factors within a person’s personality or psychology which reinforces appropriate behavior or stops inappropriate behavior. The second approach focuses on how, why, and what the actual behavior itself needs to be sustained or stopped. The second approach is consisted more analytical then the first. Within the first approach lie’s Maslow’s 5 level need hierarchy, Alderder’s 3 level ERG Theory and Hierarchy, and Herzberg’s two factor theory known as hygiene and motivators. Included in the second approach is Vroom’s VIE Expectancy as a theory of personal choice, Adam’s Equity Theory which correlates individual choice as they compare work practices/environments,   and the goal-setting theory that emphasizes that conscious goals and intentions are considered the detriments of behavior; though I will include only a few of these theories in this paper. These two approaches informally play on motivating and emotional factors. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, psychologists have established that motivated individuals are more likely to exhibit consistent satisfactory performance. Based upon this hierarchy the first rang of the hierarchy is the importance of the basic and psychological needs such as food, shelter, exercise, social interaction, and sleep. Psychologists have determined that it is human desire to have these basic needs fulfilled in order to be motivated to do a good job. These fulfillment needs are not true motivators though but necessities. Following this satisfaction, an employee needs to feel secure and protected from economic insecurities and protected from harm, violence, and disease exposure which enables them to be self-motivated and willing to accept self-management as the basic necessity is cared for. For instance, organizations must play a key role in securing dangerous materials which can potentially harm an employee. Often security and safety in the workforce goes hand-in hand and is considered a formal power that organization uses to control decisions. In terms of security, the most common ‘security’ is job security. If a project is nearing completion there is a level of apprehension from workers about their continued role in the company. Following this fulfilled need, is the comfort zone of social needs or requirements. These needs are vital in the informal organization as they include belonging, approval, and group membership. For instance, it is not uncommon for individuals who have been promoted to be concerned about ‘fitting-in’ with employees who were once on their own functional level. Thus, project managers should always build upon the team spirit and any opportunity for social activities to reinforce unity and emotional ties to the organization. Organizations sometimes become lost in the hierarchy of decision-making and must consider the emotional welfare of their employees. The last two needs based upon the Maslow’s hierarchy are esteem and self-actualization, and these two needs differ based upon personality types as well. In the capacity of these two needs, recognition and self-confidence are important to any professional whose role requires creation of a project or product. Self-actualization is acquired when employees are performing projects which interest, intrigue, or challenge their skill-set. Managers can informally motivate by using self-actualization and esteem techniques to provide employees with opportunities for career growth, chance for promotion or raises, recognition in the team for well-done work, job security, plenty of open communication, opportunity for growth in technical expertise, challenging projects, and proper management control measures. This informal power wielded by managers incites employees to continue to produce good work while been stimulated by a good work environment. Similarly, Alderfer’s ERG theory contains a set of 3 needs: Existence, Relatedness, and Growth. Based upon this theory the existence needs are Maslow’s first and second needs combined, the relatedness is Maslow’s third and fourth needs, and growth is Maslow’s fourth and fifth levels. Unlike Maslow who believed that each hierarchy skipped leads to more motivation, Alderfer insisted that each of these needs must be fulfilled at the organizational level and focusing on simply one need at a time does not sufficiently motivate the employee. In addition the ERG theory states that should the higher need remain fulfilled; the employee will regress to a lower level known as the frustration-regression theory. For example, if career growth or non-challenging work is provided coworkers might instead proceed to socializing with coworkers instead of working on projects. In addition, ample learning opportunities should be provided for employees to progress from one role to another if desired. Managers in this theory need to address each need separately and be aware that it differs from person to person. Interestingly Herberg’s Two-Factor Theory, also referred to as the dissatisfiers-satisfiers, are hygiene motivators or the extrinsic-intrinsic factors. The Extrinsic factors are job security, salary, working conditions, status, company procedures, quality of technical supervision, and quality of interpersonal relation. Intrinsic are achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, the work itself, and the possibility of growth. Though the theory of hygiene does not motivate employees it does negate any opportunity for dissatisfaction in the work environment and it empowers employers to seek good leadership, control, and leadership in the organization. These better conditions leave room for motivation for both project managers and employees to receive recognition, strive for achievement, advancement in roles, and further an interest in the project requiring completion. Project managers must adopt a positive attitude and provide each employee with the attention he or she requires. This power that managers have can be shown as they give assignments that provide challenges, provide a good working environment complete with team spirit, define performance expectations clearly and consistently, and provide honest critic as well as give credit for job well done. In all tasks, people weigh the value of their input to what they obtain as an output. In Adam’s Equity Theory, employees have a need for evenhandedness and equality at work and they strive to ensure that this occurs. For instance, if an employee believe himself or herself underpaid then the quality of work produced goes down as does the quantity of work produced and the vice versa for overpaid feelings. Therefore, it is up to the manager to provide market rates or ranges for a role, and empower workers to research how much they can make in particular roles. This is an incentive and motivation to pursue growth in the company. This communication of rates invites employees to take time to learn, communicate professional expectations, and grow with the company. Formally, an organization exercises the opportunity for a great deal of power by using a variety of methods to influence behavior and promote motivation of employees. In action, organizations can motivate employees using performance driven pay increases, merit pay, team awards as an encouragement method, team recognition, goal-setting methods, continued education, and positive reinforcement. These methods are drivers for motivation and enable growth in a company. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that an organization is run by individuals and motivations and emotions will never become completed forgotten. It is up to management to exercise power and control to help employees remain satisfied that their needs are being met and considered at all levels of management. Reference: Robbins, Stephen P. and Judge, Timothy A. `Organizational Behavior.` 12th Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall. 2007 How to cite Motivations and Emotions VS Formal and Informal Power, Essay examples

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Are the Rich Happy vs Homeless A Comparison free essay sample

Are the Rich Happy vs Homeless: A Comparison Are the Rich Happy is more compelling than Homeless because the author uses wry cynicism to shine a light on rich people’s money problems being about social status rather than money while Homeless is based on describing the homeless problem. Although both of these stories are written in different ways, one being a narrative while the other is descriptive, they are both dealing with two different ends of the human financial spectrum. Are the Rich Happy is a cynical and sarcastic piece about how the rich seem to always be unable to keep up with other rich people while Homeless describes the human condition of poverty and homelessness and how this makes people invisible in society. This essay will examine both these works and compare and contrast the similarities and differences. Are the Rich Happy is, in my opinion, the more compelling of the two works perhaps because it is the most unlike my own financial situation. In imagining all the woes of the rich, one would never think that any of their problems would be about their financial status. Stephen Leacock begins his story by declaring his lack of â€Å"adequate material† because he has â€Å"never seen any rich people†. This assertion by Leacock immediately contrasts to Anna Quindlen’s story where she had been researching and writing on the homeless, in particular a homeless woman named Ann. Their style of writing is very different as well as Leacock seemed to write with a bit of wry sarcasm and Quidlen seemed to be exploring the idea of homelessness and questioning how it could happen with seriousness. Needless to say, while I enjoyed both of these stories, I tend to favor the story Leacock wrote because he provide numerous examples of the rich stating â€Å"how impossible it is to keep up with the rich†, although during the time this story was written, each income he mentioned was fairly large and would have afforded the person speaking a good life. One line I found laughably outrageous â€Å"As far as I remember, I have never met Mr. Carnegie. But I know that if I did he would tell me that he found it quite impossible to keep up with Mr. Rockefeller. No doubt Mr. Rockefeller has the same feeling. † The irony in this line is palpable because both Carnegie and Rockefeller were enormously rich even by today’s standard of what rich is. Clearly Leacock was beginning to show his unbelief that the rich could ever be happy even when they are blessed with abundance. By contrast when he spoke with those persons of lesser fortune such as a janitor he hears of a rich uncle who â€Å"owns his own home†. Indeed by regular standards, owning a home was viewed as rich. As he moves further into his tale of woe of the rich, Leacock admits â€Å"My judgment is that the rich undergo cruel trials and bitter tragedies of which the poor know nothing. † The idea is that the rich constantly are worried with money concerns not only because of this own living costs but because they must compete with other rich people to keep up pretenses. Each example Leacock gives is more and more laughable and shows the near contempt or pity (depending on how you look at it) he has for the rich. The idiocy of rich problems caused me to laugh out loud, particularly in this piece of his writing: â€Å"I know a man, for examplehis name is Spuggwhose private bank account was overdrawn last month twenty thousand dollars. He told me so at dinner at his club, with apologies for feeling out of sorts. He said it was bothering him. He said he thought it rather unfair of his bank to have called his attention to it. † Leacock goes on to say that Spugg said hed have to â€Å"telephone his secretary in the morning to sell some bonds and cover it†. The fact that he has bonds he can sell to cover his debt to the bank makes it clear that he was not without means whereas those who truly lacked economic means would be unable to pay at all. In Homeless, Quindlen takes a much different approach to her writing. She humanizes the character, Ann, by telling us how Ann had essentially told her she was wasting my time talking to her because she was just passing through, although shed been passing through for several weeks. Ann then produced a picture of a modest house as evidence that â€Å"She was not adrift, alone, anonymous, although her bags and her raincoat with the grime shadowing its creases had made me believe she was. She had a house, or at least once upon a time had had one. Inside were curtains, a couch, a stove, potholders. You are where you live. She was somebody. † Quindlen goes deeper into her story with her admission that she has never understood homelessness. She describes the love she has of her own home and the things in it. Quidlen’s story unfolds in simple postulation into how the roots of the family had become less deep throughout time. She states â€Å"There was a time when where you lived often was where you worked and where you grew the food you ate and even where you were buried. When that era passed, where you lived at least was where your parents had lived and where you would live with your children when you became enfeebled. † This implies the breakdown of the family unit has led to people being homeless. Her story is short and to the point, it seems she rushed into a crescendo about how society had become desensitized to the plight of homeless people because we view them as â€Å"an issue, not a collection of human beings. † Ann, essentially in this story is used to make homelessness personalized or to give face to the issue as a whole and how in many ways society has failed to maintain the family which has led to large numbers of homeless. As short and succinct as Quindlen’s story was with its description of how homelessness has grown into what it is today, Leacock took his time weaving a cynical story ripe with examples of the excesses of the rich. He goes on and on about his friend, Spugg, who â€Å"would love to be rid of his wealth altogether but dared not give it away because it was his burden to bare. † Another example was of the Ashcroft-Fowlers who had lost their servants and because they could not care for their sprawling mansion alone during the winter and had â€Å"given up in despair†. They decided to â€Å"take a little suite of ten rooms and four baths in the Grand Palaver Hotel, and rough it there for the winter. † He ends this story by giving yet another example of rich problems when he describes the Overjoys who have had a financial downturn but still dressed impeccably and had not sold any possessions whereas poor people in the same situation would have sold what little they had. While these two stories are sides of the same coin, the style of writing and the intention of the writers are very different. Homeless is written in an effort to draw attention to the social problem of homelessness and how society must view those who are homeless as people rather than abstract issues. Are the Rich Happy is written to expose the folly of rich problems with all its cynical examples. Clearly, both these stories address economics from opposite ends of the financial spectrum. Homeless is written a real and compassionate way while Are the Rich Happy showcases the financial problems of the rich in a very sarcastic and comical manner. Quindlen’s writing seemed to be very straightforward and offered possible reasons for homelessness while describing how society ignores the problem. Leacock instead focuses on giving examples of ‘hardships’ rich people experience which are seemingly not hardships at all by the standards of regular (not rich) people. When reading these two writings together it is almost maddening to see what rich people considered to be their plight. Homeless was meant to be a more socially conscious commentary while Are the Rich Happy seemed to be written to poke fun at the problems of the rich. For this reader, however, there is no doubt that Are the Rich Happy is by far the more compelling story of the two.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Is Renewable Energy a Viable Option

One of the most critical questions that majorities ask and the main hurdle to renewable energy is whether renewable energy can ever efficiently become a viable energy option relative to the traditional, ready available sources of energy. This question has become relevant as the world continues to face an ever-growing energy and environmental crises due to negative impacts of burning fossil fuel.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Is Renewable Energy a Viable Option? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More As a result, many stakeholders such as environmentalists, scientists, governments and the public have embarked on reviewing the latest developments in the renewable energy sector. Renewable energy may be obtained from a wide range of sources such as solar, wind and biomass. These are cheap sources of energy, friendly to the environment, but they are not the mainstream sources, and account for low rates of energy consumed today. It is imperative to evaluate whether renewable energy is a viable option for the world energy crisis. This is a consequential explanation essay on adoption of modern technologies to create viable renewable energy to meet the world’s energy demands. Renewable Energy Technologies The traditional sources of energy such as coal, oil and other natural gases have shown that they are greatly dependable sources of energy, but their damaging effects on the public health and the environment have prompted the world to seek for alternative viable sources of energy (Herzog, Lipman, Edwards Kammen, 2001). These conventional sources of energy have created greater impacts on the environment, which are mainly related to global warming and the increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Clearly, continued use of traditional energies will escalate global warming and the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Renewable energies can cater for the global energy needs. In these attempts to meet the world’s energy demands, technologies have become critical aspects in generating renewable energies. Globally, biomass, solar and wind energy resources are abundantly available. If new efficiency measures and technologies are deployed, these renewable energy sources can meet the world’s energy needs. Renewable energy sources can provide decentralised energy and help in reducing the cost of infrastructures relative to centralised power stations (Herzog et al., 2002).Advertising Looking for essay on natural sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Technologies could be used to facilitate mass production of solar energy, wind power, biomass and hydropower. In this case, technologies will reduce costs of energy production and meet specific needs during production and service factors. Moreover, technologies have minimal impacts on the environment. In case activities from technologies generate negative impact s, such impacts do not cause severe damages to relative to centralised power stations, which may even result in acid rain and massive air pollution. Over the years, the cost of using technologies to generate renewable energies have continued to decline, whereas costs of producing energy from traditional sources have continued to surge. Generally, renewable energy technologies offer relatively low or no costs related to fuel usages. Costs of initial investments in such technologies may be considerably high. Technologies allow manufacturers to develop efficient photovoltaic cells with few mechanical components relative to other combustion systems of traditional sources of energies. This implies that photovoltaic energy systems are likely to be affordable on a long-term basis. As a result, costs of renewable energy systems will continue to decline considerably over the years with enhanced efficiency, reliability and low emissions. Figure 1: A forecast shows that costs of renewable ene rgy technologies will continue to drop (Herzog et al, 2001) On the other hand, some researchers in the energy industry have noted that prices of oil and natural gas have been â€Å"predictably unpredictable†.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Is Renewable Energy a Viable Option? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Conversely, some studies have shown that low incremental costs may be required to â€Å"increase the production capacity of wind and solar energy compared to traditional sources of energy† (Herzog et al., 2002). Still, technologies can enhance efficiency of renewable energy and make it competitive with the preferred energies from fossil fuels. Previously, analysts had focused directly on damages to river channels and pollution in urban areas and crops to understand environmental costs of traditional energy sources. They did not account for impacts of such energies on global warming, which coul d have shown high costs of depending on traditional sources of energy. It is imperative to note that the need to develop clean energy technologies for producing renewable energy has resulted from advancement in technologies, environmental concerns, competitive abilities and viability of such technologies to support clean energy initiatives. Moreover, traditional energy sources continue to lose their appeal to stakeholders because of massive investments required, heavy regulation, unpredictable growth and cyclical nature of the industry. Although the world does not show adequate support for innovative ventures that rely on technologies to produce renewable energy, clean energy players will continue to make inroads into the market to become leaders in the energy industry as costs of traditional energy production become unbearable. The major hurdle is, however, breaking a large-scale reliance on fossil fuels among users. A possible explanation to this scenario is that in the past, tech nologies were expensive and costs could not allow mass production to drive the generation of renewable energy. Moreover, various governments continued to offer subsidies for extractions of energy from traditional sources. This is, however, likely to change as costs of renewable energy technologies continue to drop. As a result, there would be mass production of technologies to support the generation of renewable energies from various sources (Pernick Wilder, 2012). In some instance, governments have even offered security for oil and gas extraction, facilitate the development of infrastructures and offered tax breaks to make traditional energy sources economically viable.Advertising Looking for essay on natural sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More One major drawback is the intermittent nature of solar and wind energy which affects renewable energy generation. Developing several systems to generate energy could eliminate this problem. This approach would ensure that there is adequate energy to meet daily needs of users at all periods. Renewable energy technologies must compete with well-established technologies in nuclear and fossil fuels. For several decades, many countries have focused on both fossil and nuclear fuel technologies, but neglected renewable energy technologies (Herzog et al, 2001). Such systems were designed to cater for existing infrastructures only and did not allow for the introduction of new technologies to support new sources of energy. Moreover, various governments globally have focused on expanding natural gas, oil, coal and nuclear fuel sources without accounting for alternative sources of energy. Such intentions aim at increasing the number of available power plants for the next many years (Herzog et a l, 2001). Most of these power plants will run on coal and natural gas. Hence, many countries will continue to depend on coal and natural gas than in the past years. As noted earlier, renewable energy technologies have relatively low environmental costs. These are, however, externalities which are neglected and do not influence the market prices. In some cases, costs that arise from such impacts may be considered when they have significant impacts. Although the Kyoto Protocol introduced carbon-based tax, some countries have failed to implement it. Renewable energy technologies can, therefore, play critical roles in developing new forms of energy that may protect the world from pollution, greenhouse gases and global warming. In addition, such technologies will eliminate expensive mitigation approaches by many nations and stakeholders. This should provide a basis for supporting renewable energy technologies to join the mainstream energy business (Pernick Wilder, 2007). Reference List Goodall, C 2009, Ten Technologies to Fix Energy and Climate, 2nd edn, Profile Books, London. Herzog, A, Lipman, T, Edwards, J Kammen, D 2001, ‘Renewable Energy: A Viable Choice’, Environment, vol. 43, no. 10, pp. 1-17. Lovins, A 2002, Small is Profitable: The Hidden Economic Benefits of Making Electrical Resources the Right Size, Routledge, New York. Pernick, R Wilder C 2007, The Clean Tech Revolution, Collins Business, New York, NY. Pernick, R Wilder, C 2012, Clean Tech Nation: How the U.S. Can Lead in the New Global Economy, Harper Business, New York, NY. Scheer, H 2006, Energy Autonomy: The Economic, Social Technological Case for Renewable Energy, Routledge, London. Shrader-Frechette, K 2011, What Will Work: Fighting Climate Change with Renewable Energy, Not Nuclear Power, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Simon, A 2006, Alternative Energy: Political, Economic, and Social Feasibility, Rowman Littlefield, Maryland. This essay on Is Renewable Energy a Viable Option? was written and submitted by user Paloma Q. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.