Sunday, February 23, 2020

Environmental Ethics - Climate Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Environmental Ethics - Climate Change - Essay Example This lack of action on climate change has the potential to turn this world into an inhabitable place for the future generations. Climate change can be considered as one of the most challenging issues in this era of development, and it has to be the moral responsibility of every individual and government to take action against climate change to make this earth a safer place for future generations. A recent report commissioned by the World Bank has stated that by the end of this century the world will become warmer by 4oC and to avoid this, stringent measures need to be taken immediately. The report has already observed the negative impacts of climate change on human health from events like rising sea level, draughts, heat waves etc (Climate Change Report....., 2013). Climate change Some of the sun’s heat that reaches the earth’s surface gets absorbed and the rest gets radiated back to the atmosphere in the form of infrared heat. However, 90% of the heat gets absorbed by the greenhouse gases like water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide etc and is radiated back to the earth’s surface thereby rising the temperature of the earth. Human activities are to a large extent responsible for the creation of these gases. The most common factor is burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil which increases the level of carbon dioxide (CO2). Some lesser contributory human factors for production of greenhouse gases are clearing of land for agriculture and industry. Today, human beings heavily rely on industrial activities, and these have â€Å"raised atmospheric carbon dioxide levels from 280 parts per million to 379 parts per million in the last 150 years.† The general belief among climate scientists is that greenhouse gases produced by human activities have a 90 percent contribution towards the rise of earth’s temperature in the past five decades (A Blanket around the earth, n.d.). The impacts of climate change are manifold. Ice ha s been melting at a rapid pace all over the world especially at the poles like mountain glaciers and ice sheets in West Antarctica and Greenland, and also Arctic sea ice. There has been an increase in rain and snowfall across the world, and sea level has risen considerably in the last century. Continuous global warming can cause increased rate of natural calamities like hurricanes and other storms, floods and draughts (Effects of global warming, 2007). Climate change is also affecting the economy and health of human beings. The increasing heat and heat waves can have extreme effects on health and can also cause deaths. Climate change also increases the probability of diseases that get transmitted by food, water and insects (An Introduction to climate change, 2011). Climate change is also having negative effects on global economy. According to a recent study, nearly 400,000 people are dying annually all over the world that puts a dent in the world economy by $1.2 trillion. This decre ases the world GDP by 1.6%. The effect is more common in developing countries whose main occupation is agriculture. Climate change can destroy crops and other agricultural products and this leads to massive deaths caused by poverty, malnutrition, hunger and other related diseases. Burning of fossil fuels causes air pollution that kills almost 4.5 million people per year. But the extreme impacts of economies will be caused by weather extremities like droughts, floods and hurricanes

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Tomkins PLC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tomkins PLC - Essay Example The declaration of dividend is often almost solely dependent on the internal condition of a company. Accordingly, a company is only able to declare a cash dividend if its operation in the fiscal year had been profitable and if it has enough cash. Capital gains on the other hand, are determined by various factors internal and external to the company. Operating performance, investor financial ratios, revenues and profits are often determines the price level of stocks. Other external factors such as interest rates, competitors, and other company issues are irrefutably integrated in the investors' perception of the intrinsic value of a stock. Thus, the creation of wealth for shareholders is often reflected at the dividend pay-outs and the appreciation of its stock price. This report will look at the shareholder value creation of Tomkins PLC for the past ten years. The next section will give a brief background on the company. The paper will then present how the company maximized shareholder value through dividends and capital gains. Relevant investor ratios will also be examined. Lastly, the report will conclude on how the company can further develop its wealth creation record. Tomkins PLC is player in the international engineering industry listed in both London (LSE) and New York Stock Exchanges (NYSE). Generally, the company is subdivided into two business segments namely, industrial and automotive, and building products. The company expressed that "Our primary business objective is to achieve a long term sustainable growth in the economic value of Tomkins through strategic development of our businesses." Tomkins PLC was recognized by the Euromonitor as one of the top companies in the world in terms of Ownership Transparency and Rights, Financial Transparency & Process, Board Structure, Stakeholder Relations and Alignment of Managerial Interest. The company garnered a high score as it ranked number two in developing countries and the best of four British companies in the top ten (Tomkins top for Corporate Governance 2003). This just reflects the company's commitment in enhancing transparency for investors on the real value of their stocks. Tomkins Chairman David Newlands expressed, "We are very pleased with this accolade from Euromoney, which acknowledges the enormous amount of work that we have put into Corporate Governance. At Tomkins we have made corporate governance and delivering shareholder value our top priorities and this survey is recognition of how far we have come. We continue to concentrate on maintaining the highest standards of transparency and delivering value to our s hareholders." Dividends As stated above, dividend is an indicator of shareholder value creation. Through dividends, each stockholder is compensated for holding the company's stock. It is